Killing Trade

by Don Pendleton

  “Are you all right?” Bolan asked, going to her and checking her neck.

  “I will be,” she said.

  “Is there anyone else here?”

  “There’s another one.” She pointed to the dead man on the floor. “He’s asleep in the bedroom. Oh, God! I thought they were going to kill me. I thought I’d never leave this place!”

  Bolan paused long enough to take her by the shoulders and look her in the eye. “Listen to me. You’re going to be okay. Wait here.”

  The soldier found the last of the El Cráneo murderers lying on the bed in the bedroom, a pair of headphones covering his ears. He appeared to be asleep. A sawed-off shotgun lay on the bed next to him.

  Bolan stood over him, the Beretta pointed between the man’s eyes, as he kicked the bedframe. The thug’s eyes shot open and he automatically grabbed his weapon.

  “Good night,” Bolan said.

  It was over.

  Bolan told Burnett he was on his way back up, asking the detective to contact the local authorities, finally. The police would follow up, interview the apartment’s residents and see to it the bodies were taken care of. Bolan, in turn, would need to get back to Stony Man Farm as soon as possible.

  Back outside Emilie Taveras’s apartment, Bolan knocked before letting himself back in. Burnett was just returning from the bedroom.

  “Just checking the old girl again,” he said. “Still asleep. If Taveras was right, she might never know anything happened.”

  Bolan jerked his chin to the corpse on the floor. “Not as long as we clean that up before she notices,” he said. He went to the kitchen table.

  “You look like you managed not to stop any bullets,” Burnett commented.

  “No,” Bolan said. “I do my best work when I haven’t been shot.”

  “Now what?”

  “This computer could prove exceptionally helpful,” Bolan said, picking up the open laptop and turning away from Burnett to take a closer look at it. “If Taveras was smart enough to use Stevens to create technology like he used here, he was probably keeping other records digitally. My people can take a look at this laptop, sift through it, even recover deleted data. There might be some hard evidence, or even just some clues, as to how all this came down, something to help us track down the person or people responsible. There are a lot of questions left unanswered. Someone has to answer for the leaks. There’s a thread that connects everything. This might help us find it.”

  Bolan heard the hammer of a revolver being cocked behind him.

  19

  “I’m sorry about this,” Burnett said. “I genuinely am.”

  Bolan did not turn. He set down the laptop. In the reflection of the darkened screen, he could see Burnett aiming a small stainless-steel Smith & Wesson .38 snubnose revolver at Bolan’s head.

  “You’re the source,” Bolan said. “The leak to NLI from within your department.”

  “Who better than the leader of the task force?” Burnett said. “Yes, it was me. I told you, Cooper. I had everybody wired for sound and video. Those bastards didn’t make a move that I didn’t know about in advance.”

  “But you let them kill innocent people anyway.”

  “The wiretaps were all illegal,” Burnett spit. “After all, we couldn’t trample the precious constitutional rights of a bunch of murderous drug dealers, could we? In order to know what was going on, I had to tap them, bug them, tape them, record them. But to do it right I had to go through a court system laced with judges, lawyers and lackeys who’ve been bought off! If it wasn’t Caqueta, it was Taveras, and if it wasn’t one of them, it was some lesser player who’d roll over for them. I told you, Cooper. If I played it by the book, I’d have been screwed.”

  “So you did it off the books and let them keep killing.”

  “Did I?” Burnett demanded. “Look around you, Cooper. I’ve done what none of my predecessors could. I’ve wiped out the two biggest drug gangs in New York City! I’ve put a stop to them. It was necessary. The ends did justify the means. Didn’t you ever, just once, think it a bit odd that I was so cooperative? Show me another cop in the city who’d tag along while you committed the equivalent of mass murder. I don’t know what government agency you really work with, but I can guess. You’re some kind of CIA wet works character, aren’t you? Some kind of government assassin. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

  “When did you go over, Burnett?” Bolan asked, finally turning to face the big man, careful to leave his hands at his sides away from his body. “When did you become a dirty cop?”

  “You say that like it means anything,” Burnett scoffed. “Look at what I’ve done, Cooper! At what we’ve done. You helped, after all. Hell, you did most of the work!”

  “I didn’t do it for you. I did what I did to stop the DU ammunition. To stop the killing. To stop the drug war in the city.”

  “And that’s what we’ve done!” Burnett insisted. “Why can’t you see it? It was a beautiful plan.”

  Bolan realized the truth. “You brought NLI into this,” he said. “Then you put me on to them to take them out.”

  “Of course,” Burnett said. “I told you. I had them all wired. When West and Stevens moved into town and set up shop, things started to get bad, to get bloodier than ever. Stevens, through West, was feeding both sides. I saw the future, Cooper, and it wasn’t good. The gangs would eventually grind each other up, but they’d take a lot more people with them than they’ve done so far. They wouldn’t stop, and their attacks were going to get more and more bold. I had to do something.”

  “You don’t consider what’s happened to be enough? A lot of people have died already,” Bolan said.

  “And that’s too bad,” Burnett said, his .38 never moving, “but it could have been a lot worse if I hadn’t taken steps.”

  “Just what did you do?” Bolan asked.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Burnett said, his voice edged with pride. “What do you do if you want to end a war? You let both sides weaken each other. Then you make sure one side wins. Once you’ve done that, you can take out the side that’s left. It’s neat. It’s orderly. It’s simple. And it makes perfect sense.”

  “You convinced West and Stevens to cut off the Caquetas,” Bolan guessed.

  “Who else?” Burnett said. “I knew all about their connection, all about how they were getting the DU ammo. Every time Caqueta, Almarone or Taveras said a word about it, I heard it. All I had to do was put myself in touch with West.”

  “You cut a deal.”

  “Why not?” Burnett said. “It’s what he expected. I let him bribe me, sure, but it wasn’t the money. It’s never been about that. I told him that to stay in business, I’d look the other way—but I made it very clear that I had a grudge against the Caquetas and wanted to see them hamstrung. He was happy to play up to Taveras, as I wanted him to do. In turn, he accepted that bribing me was the cheapest and most efficient way to stay in business here in New York.”

  “Why El Cráneo?”

  “Hell, you met the Caquetas and Taveras,” Burnett said. “Taveras was the stupider of them. The gangs were more or less evenly matched until I stacked the deck in El Cráneo’s favor. But I knew Taveras was less likely to wonder why fortune had smiled on him. Caqueta and Almarone were more suspicious by nature, less convinced of their own divine right to conquer. They didn’t suffer from Taveras’s delusions and dreams of power. That made Taveras the better pawn.”

  “So you figured you’d let Taveras kill off the Caquetas and establish himself as king of New York’s drug trade.”

  “Absolutely,” Burnett said. “That way I could focus my efforts on just one organization. It’s a lot easier to make arrests and win convictions when you’re not splitting your resources between two fronts. What I didn’t count on was you doing most of the work for me.”

  “That day in the hospital,” Bolan said. “You killed that Blackjack operative. Why?”

  “He was coming to report to me in person,” Burne
tt said. “I’d told them where to find you, but specifically warned them off. They thought they knew better, figured they’d take you out. They sent an errand boy to inform me of this fact.”

  “So you stuck a fork in his neck?”

  “You’re not exactly a ninja, you know,” Burnett said. “I heard you coming, in a big hurry. I figured it was either you or one of my officers. To be honest I thought it was one of my people coming to check on me, so I had to work fast. I had to silence my Blackjack messenger and then possibly even shoot one of my own people, depending on what he’d overheard in the hallway.”

  “You were going to shoot me?”

  “This—” Burnett motioned with his eyes to the .38 “—is a backup gun, and completely off the books. When I kill you with it, nobody will be able to trace it to me.”

  “Where does NLI fit into this?” Bolan asked.

  “You don’t think I’m stupid, do you?” Burnett said, sounding annoyed. “When the first reports of DU ammunition being used in drive-by shootings in New York hit the wires, they sent representatives from Blackjack Group to start sniffing around. I’m the task-force leader, remember? They found me first if they found anyone. I made it clear that I was more interested in getting the ammo off my streets than finding out where it came from. I know big money when I see it. I let them know that I was open to an expedient solution, if they wanted to make one happen.”

  “So you let them bribe you, too.”

  “It’s what they expected,” Burnett said again. “Tell people you’re just trying to do some good and they’ll suspect you from the beginning. Let them believe you’re a money-grubbing bastard, and they’ll have every faith in your low-down nature.”

  “You told NLI about Bryant Park.”

  “I did,” Burnett admitted. “Caqueta and Almarone got the information from West’s computer when they had him killed. Neither one of them is what you’d call a computer genius, nor were their people. They found West readily enough, since he was their contact to buy the ammunition anyway. They killed him to send a message to Stevens, and tossed his place and searched his computer to see if they could find anything of interest. They talked all about it—and what they knew, I knew. The fools couldn’t see any way to capitalize on the Bryant Park meet, but it was one of many loose ends NLI would be only too happy to tie up for me. So I contacted Leister and let him know so he could send a team to eliminate whoever was sniffing around. I also sent them to West’s apartment to destroy any evidence Caqueta and Almarone had probably missed.”

  “And you let NLI know about the meet with Caqueta.”

  “It was too perfect to pass up,” Burnett said. “It was a chance to chop the head off the snake, and it worked beautifully.”

  “Then you fed NLI the information on Taveras. You were herding Leister to me, so I could eliminate him for you,” Bolan said.

  “Well, I couldn’t very well have NLI’s Blackjack boys spilling their guts about the dirty cop who was helping them, could I?” Burnett said. “I knew from the moment you stuck your nose in this that I could count on you to help me tie it all up. Originally I was going to have to trust that NLI’s desire for secrecy would outweigh any lingering doubts they might have about letting me live knowing what had been going on. With you storming around, knocking down their people like bowling pins, it was easier to let you finish them than trust to fate alone.”

  “But Leister wasn’t a hothead. He came to talk to Taveras, to try to work something out. He was throwing around Blackjack’s weight but didn’t actually want to move on El Cráneo.”

  “He was smart,” Burnett admitted.

  “So you arranged for Taveras to hit Blackjack.”

  “I did,” Burnett said. “All it took was an anonymous phone call and an appeal to Pierre’s overdeveloped sense of pride. I told him Blackjack didn’t respect him. I told him Leister was laughing at him. Then I told him where to find Leister’s people.”

  “And after Leister was sufficiently motivated to come after Taveras, you made sure we were all in the same place at the same time. You showed me the video beforehand to herd Leister to me, make sure I’d take him out for you if the opportunity arose.”

  “Sure,” Burnett said. “I had Leister’s number, just like I had everyone else’s. I called him. I told him SWAT was going to move on Taveras in the morning, and if he didn’t want to lose the chance to silence Pierre before he talked, Leister should get his people moving. It stood to reason they’d hit that night. Leister thought I was just another frustrated cop who wanted to see the bad guys taken out by any means necessary. I told you, people have great faith in what they think are others’ sinister motives.”

  “That’s why you wanted to wait to go to the club,” Bolan said.

  “Absolutely,” Burnett said. “I needed us all there at once. Get everybody on the same page and get them shooting one another,” Burnett said. “All I had to do was try not to get plugged in the process. I wasn’t so much worried about you. No offense.”

  “You betrayed Leister to take him out of the equation.”

  “That’s right,” Burnett said.

  “How did you know where Blackjack was staging its operations?” Bolan asked.

  “I knew it because Stevens knew it,” Burnett said smugly. “The man was a scientist, not a criminal mastermind. All it took was some investigation into West’s phone records to trace a route back to Stevens. Then I tapped his phone. His security people kept him up to date, so whatever he knew, I knew. It’s a good thing, too. If I hadn’t found that and covered it up, the whole operation would have been busted long before the war got hot enough to really produce any real attrition on both sides.”

  “So you let the killing continue. You could have stopped Stevens, but you aided and abetted him. You needed him to keep selling his ammunition. And you did it all to help this city.”

  “Why not?” Burnett said. “Originally, once El Cráneo was in power in New York, I was going to let Blackjack’s hired commandos take them out. Taveras was a loose end who could possibly bring someone back to NLI, after all. Eventually NLI would get Stevens, too, either on their own or with my help. Once that was done, the city would be safe again, and I’d live out my days happily bribed by all concerned. You made things more complicated, but also safer for me. With you in the picture, I could let you take down NLI’s paid guns—and of course, you nailed shut Taveras’s coffin, too, which I couldn’t have counted on. You’ve helped wrap it all up, Cooper. All I had to do was hold your hand and point you in the right direction.”

  “I’d have done what I did with or without your interference,” Bolan told him.

  “Probably.” Burnett shrugged. “The only problem is, now you’re a loose end. I took a lot of risks to see this thing play out, get everyone shooting at one another. I knew I’d have to be flexible if it was going to work out. If I pushed and pushed, eventually I’d get what I was after. Still, I had some semblance of a plan. Taveras was supposed to take care of you for me, not the other way around. When he got the drop on me outside the motel, I told him right then and there who I was and why he couldn’t afford the heat for killing me. He didn’t care who was waiting for him to kill, so long as he got his payback. I figured there was a good chance everything would fit.”

  “You sure like to gamble,” Bolan said.

  “Maybe.” Burnett shrugged. “The whole thing would have worked out nice and neatly. Stevens sent Taveras after Leister in New Jersey, so I just made sure we headed to the same location. I figured nature would take its course. Taveras wasn’t good for much, it turns out. But he wasn’t as stupid as I thought he was, either. That computer could have just about anything on it. If it has anything in it that could point back to me, or to any part of my plan, sooner or later, you and your people—or other folks in positions of power—are going to know what I did. I can’t allow that. The chain has to end here, with you.”

  “That’s very noble of you,” Bolan said.

  “If you think
you’re going to make me feel guilty,” Burnett said, “you can forget it. I’ve buried better than you getting here, Cooper. I’ve had to look away while good agents got taken down so they wouldn’t uncover what I was trying to do before it was finished. You’re a decent man, and you’re working for what I’m trying to accomplish, more or less—but you’re not willing to see the big picture. You think there should still be some kind of rules. There aren’t. There are only results, Cooper, and that’s what I’m getting. I regret that it has to end like this. That doesn’t mean I won’t do it. You helped all this come down. Everyone else is gone now. Now it’s just you. With a single bullet, I can close this case.”

  “You’re going to gun me down right here?”

  “No,” Burnett said. “Too many questions will be asked if your body turns up. Some smart-assed forensics expert will find something I missed. The bureaucrats hate neat packages. They start looking for setups.”

  “Imagine that,” Bolan said.

  “Enough. Drop the guns, very carefully.”

  Bolan complied, easing the Beretta and the Desert Eagle to the floor and kicking them away at Burnett’s command. “Now what?” he asked.

  “You’re just going to disappear,” Burnett said simply. “It’s better for everyone that way.”

  “Better for you, perhaps,” Bolan said. “You know, Burnett—”

  The Executioner struck.

  While Burnett was focused on Bolan’s words, the soldier let his legs fall out from under him. As he dropped, his legs came within range of Burnett. The detective’s .38 boomed, but the bullet went high. Bolan was no longer there to be shot.

  The Executioner fired his right leg into Burnett’s shin with all his might. Something snapped. Burnett went down, screaming, and lost the .38 as he did so. With his enemy so close and his guns out of reach, there was one choice. Bolan threw himself onto Burnett.

  The two men wrestled on the carpeted floor. Despite the pain, Burnett had an advantage thanks to his size. As he and Bolan fought for control of each other’s limbs, Burnett managed to wrench his right hand from Bolan’s grip and put his palm on the butt of the Glock still in its holster at his side.