Deadly Distractions, A Stan Turner Mystery Vol 6
Page 54
CHAPTER 53
A LOOSE END
Although I tried to tell myself General Moya wouldn't go to the trouble to send an assassin all the way from Ecuador to kill me and Tex, I couldn't help but worry about it. Everywhere I went, I had this nagging fear that an assassin was lurking around every corner. My stomach was in knots and I had a constant headache worrying about it. I finally decided I couldn't live this way and had to do something about the problem. The only persons I could think of who might be able to help were Agents Ronald Logan and Maureen Cox of the FBI. They were surprised to get my call but agreed to a meeting. I went to their offices.
"Thanks for agreeing to meet with me," I said.
"Actually we were glad you called," Cox said. "Weren't we, Ron?"
Logan shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose we owe you an apology. We thought for sure you were in Raymond Farr's pocket."
"I know it may have looked that way. It's no big deal. I'm just glad it worked out okay."
"Yes, with all the evidence you dug up, and Lewis Lance's confession, we have enough to put Raymond Farr away for the rest of his life, not to mention putting an end to the CDA once and for all."
"That's great, but what are you going to do about General Moya? I feel certain he's going to send someone to kill me and Tex."
"Well, we can assign both of you some protection for a while, I suppose. After everything you did for the government they ought to spring for it."
"That's great for the short run but you and I know the government isn't going to protect us for more than a month or two."
"Well, there's the witness protection program," Logan said.
"No. I'm not going into hiding," I said. "Why can't you catch the son of a bitch?"
"Well, he's under indictment and we've been trying for several years to arrest him, but he's living out in the jungle and he's protected by his guerilla army."
"Then I want you to let me pay him the rest of the ransom. That's the only way he's going to leave me and Tex alone."
"We can't let you do that," Logan said. "He'll just use that money to buy more guns and ammunition to kill innocent citizens."
"Okay. What if we put up a reward?" I said.
"A reward?" Cox asked.
"Yes. Pass the word to all your operatives down in South America. We'll pay $900,000 if they put a bullet in General Moya's head."
Logan and Cox just looked at me.
"If I'm going to have to live with the fear of imminent death, then General Moya's gonna live with it too."
A smile came over Logan's face. He shook his head and said, "You know. That might just work. We'll send a message to General Moya and propose a truce. If he leaves you alone we won't put a price on his head."
"Okay. Let's do it. We don't have anything to lose."
Logan promised to get the message to General Moya and let me know if he got a response. In the meantime Tex and I were each assigned an FBI agent to protect us as best they could. It was almost ten days before we got a reply from General Moya. He said he wasn't worried about having a price on his head as he already had an abundance of enemies who wanted him dead, but he would agree to the proposal because it was well documented in the press that I had been prevented by the government from paying the rest of the ransom and he could hardly hold that against me.
I was glad to get this news, but I couldn't help but wonder if General Moya was sincere or just wanted me to let my guard down. I finally decided I'd just have to assume he was sincere or otherwise I'd go crazy worrying about it.
Rebekah was particularly pleased to hear my life was no longer in danger. She had been a nervous wreck for months and finally was starting to smile again. Paula was also relieved, as she didn't enjoy practicing law alone. I was feeling pretty good about how everything turned out, but there was still one unanswered question. Why did Don Harris get kicked out of the army? What could have happened to him to turn him so violently against the government? After the trial was over, I called Mo to thank him for his help and posed that question. He said he was curious about that too so he'd look into it. A week later we had the answer.
The unofficial report on Don Harris' general discharge was that he had been caught engaging in a sexual act with another soldier—Riley Davidson. The army had zero tolerance for homosexuals so it was suggested by his superior officers that he resign or face exposure and humiliation. Now I understood why Harris had been so hard on his women. He didn't like them much. They were only around for show. Then it occurred to me. He may actually enjoy prison.
EPILOGUE
One Sunday morning nearly four years after the Dusty Thomas' trial I sat down at the kitchen table across from Rebekah to read the Dallas Morning News. There had been terrible thunderstorms the night before and several tornados had touched down in various places in North Texas. One of them had done serious damage in Fort Worth and another one in Wylie.
With the thunderstorms came hail, and I was concerned that our roof had been damaged. I was planning to get up on the roof later that day and do a close inspection, but in the meantime I wanted to see what the newspaper had to say about it. The headline was about the Wylie tornado.
Massive Tornado Strikes Wylie
A massive cleanup operation was still under way in Wylie, Texas on Thursday after back-to-back tornadoes packing winds of more than 206 mph , smashed through the downtown area, killing four people and causing an estimated $30 million in damage. The death toll from the twisters stood at four, with one person missing and presumed dead. The downtown core of Wylie, a six-square-block area, remained closed to all but those involved in the cleanup effort.
Softball-sized hailstones kills man
The coroner's office said Carl Snyder, 67, was killed by a collapsing wall, and Howard D. Horton, 52, died after a truck trailer toppled onto him. The body of Arthur B. Poole, 24, was recovered Wednesday morning along a creek. Dickens and his grandmother, Adele Wester, 62, were in a car that was swept away by rising waters as they left their Lake Lavon home. Dickens remains missing and is presumed dead. Another victim of the storms, Dusty Thomas, 59, died Wednesday afternoon at Collin County Memorial Hospital. He had suffered severe head injuries when he was hit by a softball-sized hailstone in Princeton, Texas while he was mowing grass along State Highway 380. It was an unusual way to die, as there have been fewer than a dozen reported hail deaths in the 20th century.
"Oh, my God!" I exclaimed.
"What?" Rebekah said.
"Dusty Thomas was killed in that hailstorm last night."
"Oh, no. . . . Oh, Jesus. Poor Dusty."
I handed the paper to Rebekah and, while she read the story, I thought of poor Dusty being the victim of yet another bitter blow of fate. The thought of being pelted by rocks from the sky was chilling. What had he done to deserve such a fate? The newspaper hadn't made the connection between Dusty Thomas the hailstone victim and Dusty Thomas the murder defendant. But they would soon figure that out and Dusty's tragic life would be talked about for years. There would be no doubt about it now. Dusty Thomas was the world's unluckiest man.
THE STAN TURNER MYSTERIES
by William Manchee
Undaunted (1997)
Brash Endeavor (1998)
Second Chair (2000)
Cash Call (2002)
Deadly Distractions (2004)
Black Monday (2005)
Cactus Island (2006)
Act Normal (2007)
Disillusioned (2010)
Deadly Defiance (2011)