by David Archer
Conley’s eyebrows lowered as he grew curious. “Like Harmon? What do you mean?”
Noah picked up a sheet of paper off his desk and passed it to Conley. “That’s a background report on James Coolidge, a guy I hired this morning. My buddy Brett can find things that nobody else can, and he figured out that Coolidge is really a guy named Carl Wilson. Wilson was a CIA agent up until about four years ago, when he murdered three people. He’s been on the lam ever since, and there are a few more bodies that have turned up that are probably connected to him. I think he might be willing to take over the job, if we approach him right.”
Conley read the report, his eyes growing wider by the moment. “Holy cow,” he said. “This guy was some kind of major bad ass.” He looked up at Noah. “Trouble is, how do we know he isn’t still working for the government? Might be pretty dangerous to let him know what really goes on here, don’t you think?”
“I don’t think so,” Noah said. “When I read that, I called Brett up and talked to him. He says there is no doubt this is the guy, and he killed a cop six months ago in Denver, when they almost caught him. He’s not going to go running to anybody about us, but he’s probably got the kind of mindset we need. He’s here. Should we talk to him?”
Conley shook his head. “No, not while I’m here,” he said. “If you want to feel him out, go ahead. Don’t make any promises, don’t tell him too much just yet, but if you really think he’s got potential—well, hell, I guess we might as well get it over with. Go ahead and call him in, but you need to understand one thing.” Conley reached inside his jacket and pulled out a pistol. “I get the slightest bad feeling about this guy, I’m going to put a bullet through his head right here and now.” He slid the pistol down beside his leg in the chair, where it couldn’t be seen.
Noah watched him for a couple of seconds, then nodded his head. “Understood,” he said. He got up from behind his desk and stuck his head out the door, shouting down the hall for Marco to come to his office.
Marco arrived a few seconds later and looked at Conley before sitting in the chair beside him. “You called me?”
“Yeah,” Noah said. “Listen, Jim, I need to talk to you about something pretty serious, but first I want you to understand that you don’t have to worry about anything. Nothing that gets said in here right now is going to leave this room, okay?”
Marco had been expecting a conversation similar to this at some point, so he narrowed his eyes and nodded. “Okay,” he said. “What’s up?”
Noah pretended to take a deep breath, then picked up the report that Conley had passed back to him. “I ran a background check on you, Jim,” he said. “I just wanted to be sure of who I was hiring, you know? The thing is, I learned some things that make me think you might be a lot more valuable than just as a transporter.”
Marco kept his face impassive as his eyes were locked on Noah’s. “Yeah? And what did you learn?”
Noah passed over the report and Marco took it carefully. He looked it over quickly, then tossed it back onto the desk. “Somebody’s screwed up,” he said. “That isn’t me.”
“Jim, relax. Like I said, you don’t have anything to worry about. This is Mr. Conley, he’s sort of my boss. He and I think maybe we’ve got a place for you, a place where you’ll make a hell of a lot of money and can put your talents to work.”
Marco sat silently for several seconds, then glanced at Conley before turning back to Noah. “Assuming I had any idea what you’re talking about, go ahead.”
Noah looked at Conley, who seemed to be relaxing. “Jim, you know what we do here. We transport organs, human organs, to be transplanted into people who need them. Right?”
“Yeah,” Marco said. “That’s what you said this morning, anyway.”
“Well, here’s the thing. In order to deliver those organs, we have to have a supply of them. Now, we had a guy who was making sure we had that supply, but something happened to him. He’s gone, and we need somebody else to take over.”
Marco looked at Conley again. “And after you read that report, you think maybe I’m the guy?”
Conley grinned. “It looks like it,” he said. “Look, the way we maintain our supply of healthy organs is by locating certain people and—well, we make them disappear. We check them out, and if they are as healthy as they seem to be, we let the word out that we have certain organs. Kidneys, lungs, liver, pancreas, heart, there’s a lot of things that can be transplanted nowadays. Skin is a big thing, especially in burn centers. When we find the right buyers, then we do what’s necessary to procure the organs and ship them out. That’s why we make a hell of a lot of money.”
Marco looked him in the eye for several seconds. “So you need somebody to be your kidnapper,” he said. “Snatch up people and hide them somewhere until the doctors are ready to operate?”
Conley shrugged, with a grin on his face. “That’s a pretty fair job description,” he said. “If you’re the guy we can trust to do it, you can make an awful lot of money. I’m talking like thirty grand for every one you bring us.”
Marco nodded thoughtfully. “And how do I pick the people for this? Is there some kind of guideline?”
“You don’t have to pick anybody,” Conley said. “We can actually give you names, photos, address, everything. All you have to do is locate the person and pick them up when nobody’s looking. You bring them to a certain location and somebody else takes them to the holding pens. Pretty simple, right?”
Marco let his eyes bounce between the two men, then look back calmly. “Thirty thousand each? Is that for real?”
“It’s for real,” Conley said, “and the stuff on that report stays between the three of us. Nobody else will ever know about it, I guarantee it.”
As if to punctuate that point, Noah picked up the report and held it over his trashcan. He took a lighter out of his pocket and set it on fire, held it until it was about to burn his fingers and then dropped it into the can.
“What report?” he asked. “I don’t see any report, do you?”
Marco sat quietly for a few more seconds, then looked back at Conley. “I’m game,” he said. “Just one thing I want to make clear before we go any further with this. Anybody tries to doublecross me, I’m going to be pretty pissed off. And that little automatic you’ve got tucked down beside your leg isn’t going to do you any good.”
Conley’s face went white. He glanced at his leg and then up at Marco. “I can’t even see it from here,” he said. “How did you know?”
“The way you’re sitting,” Marco said. “Your left leg is all relaxed, but the right leg is being held tightly against the side of the chair. I can also see the outline of a shoulder holster under your jacket, and it’s a slim one. Looks like the kind that would hold maybe a nine millimeter automatic.”
Conley carefully reached down beside himself and withdrew the pistol, then tucked it into the holster. “Very good,” he said. “That was quite amazing. So, you’re interested in the job?”
“Do I look stupid? Hell, yes, I’m interested. When do I start?”
Conley chuckled. “You just hang out here with Rob and I’ll be in touch. I need to find out who was still on the list that our other man had and then I’ll bring you one tomorrow. The only thing is, we have sort of an agreement among us all. If one of us gets caught, we never give up the others. Can you live with that?”
Marco nodded. “As long as it goes both ways,” he said. “I’m a little bit overcautious, though. One of you guys disappears, I’m probably going to vanish as quickly as I can. I don’t need to worry about people coming after me, right?”
“Like I said,” Conley repeated. “We have an agreement.”
THIRTEEN
Allison left her office at eleven thirty for lunch, a little earlier than she usually did. She got into her car and drove to the Assassin’s Club, a restaurant and nightclub in the restricted area that catered to E & E staff. The place was secure and nobody had to worry about someone overhearing details
that were not for the public. She walked in and took a table, sitting where she could watch the door.
Her guests entered a short time later, and she smiled and waved to show them where she was sitting. They both came over and sat at her table and she greeted them.
“Been a while,” she said. “I guess you guys have been too busy to drop by and visit.”
The man sitting directly across from her smiled and shrugged. “You know how it is,” he said. “No rest for the wicked.”
The young woman beside him nodded. “It has been pretty busy, lately,” she said. “I’ve had a lot going on in personnel, just trying to keep track of all the new recruits.”
“Oh, new recruits are no big deal,” Allison said. “There’s always plenty of them, right? Actually, the reason I asked you to join me here for lunch is to talk about somebody we used to know. Do you guys remember Richard Belcher?”
Both of her guests hesitated, but only for a second. “Sure,” said the man. “We used to hang out here together, in fact.”
The young woman nodded. “I remember Richard,” she said. “I had a little bit of a crush on him, to tell the truth.”
“Yeah,” Allison said, “I remember. You were just about devastated when he got killed. I remember you moping around about it for about a week, but then you seemed to get over it.”
The young woman swallowed nervously. “Well, I guess you just have to accept that in this line of work. Sometimes, people die.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” Allison said. “I was really amazed at how quickly you got yourself back into shape, though. Especially when I remember what happened when Moose Conway died.”
Elaine Jefferson, daughter of Donald Jefferson, lowered her eyes. “Yeah, I was really torn up over Moose. I actually thought he and I were—well, that maybe someday we could actually be together.”
“Yes, I remember. The thing is, Elaine, I don’t think you had it any worse for Moose than you did for Richard. And yet, somehow, you got over Richard in just few days. I seem to recall it took you months to get over Moose. It was almost like Richard had come back from the dead, and that you knew he was still alive.”
Elaine looked her in the eye and swallowed again. She kept her mouth shut while the man beside her suddenly found his glass of water to be extremely interesting.
Allison turned to him. “Jackson,” she said. “Richard Belcher was arrested this morning. He and I had a nice little chat, and he threw both of you under the bus. According to him, you have both been feeding him information.”
Jackson, who was a physical training instructor for the organization, looked up at her. The resignation in his face told her that he wasn’t going to try to deny anything.
“We talked a few times,” he said. “I knew he wanted out, and when it looked like he was dead, that was his chance.”
“And of course,” Allison went on, “that meant that you had somebody out there that could handle certain little issues for you. You paid him a million dollars to warn Abdul Akbar that we were coming after him?”
Jackson looked at the glass again. “That’s all he was supposed to do,” he said. “Nobody was supposed to get hurt.”
Allison raised a hand and waved a finger in a circle. Two men, one of them quite young, got up from a nearby table and walked to her. Jackson looked at them and slowly got to his feet. The three of them walked out of the nightclub together.
Allison looked at Elaine, who had tears streaming down her cheeks. “What about you, Elaine?” she asked. “Did you give him any information?”
Elaine shook her head. “No, ma’am,” she said haltingly. “I never did. He would call me once in a while, and he asked me to let him know if I ever heard any rumors around here that he was alive. That was it, I swear. I never heard anything about him, and I never told him anything about anything that was going on. I swear I didn’t, please, please believe me.”
“That matches exactly what he told me,” Allison said. “That’s the only reason you’re not going with Mr. Jackson right now.” She looked at the door the three men had walked out through. “He’s going to be hard to replace,” she said, “but I cannot abide a traitor in my organization.” She turned back to Elaine. “You get one reprieve, and only one. If I ever again have reason to doubt that I can trust you, you will be right beside him in the potter’s field. You understand me?”
Elaine nodded, still crying. “Yes, ma’am,” she said. “I would never betray you. I never told him anything, and I really don’t think I would’ve warned him if I had heard anything. I knew he was breaking the law, that he violated the contract. I think, if he had ever asked me to do anything for him, I probably would’ve come to you.”
Allison nodded. “That’s very good,” she said. “If anybody asks if you know what happened to Mr. Jackson, what are you going to say?”
“That the last time I saw him was a few days ago. I have no idea where he is, or what might’ve happened to him.”
Allison leaned forward. “Wrong. You’re going to say that Mr. Jackson made the mistake of betraying the organization, which means betraying me. You’re going to tell them that the last time you saw him, he was being escorted out by Angel and Pegasus, and that too many questions about him would probably be a bad idea. Do you understand me?”
Elaine nodded again, vigorously. “Yes, ma’am, I do.”
“Then get out of my sight. Do your job, and don’t ever make me wonder about you again.”
Elaine got up and left and Allison sat at the table for a few more moments. A barmaid came over and asked if she wanted anything, and she looked up with a smile. “Bring me a whiskey sour,” she said. “And make it a double.”
* * * * *
Noah waited until Conley had driven away and then picked up his phone. He dialed the headquarters number and asked for Allison.
“Camelot, report,” she said as she came on the line.
“Things are going well,” Noah said. “Conley came to us just a bit ago about Harmon being arrested and I was able to sell him on Marco. He may have to get some kind of approval, but I believe he will.”
“Good. Now I have some news for you. First off, Belcher wanted to live badly enough to offer up information. The victims are being held on a yacht somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico. He says it’s usually about fifteen miles out, but that’s not definite. That’s where the actual organ removal takes place, and then they are transported off the yacht by a life flight helicopter. Whoever is running the helicopters is involved, so look into that quickly.”
“I will,” Noah said. “Did he give us any names?”
“The only new name is John Whitfield, another doctor,” Allison said. “Apparently, he and Linden are the ones to do the organ removals. They probably get to the yacht by helicopter.”
“All right,” Noah said. “I’ll have Neil try to track their cell phones. That may tell me exactly where the yacht is, and then we can at least try to find some way to shut it down.”
“There’s more. Belcher also gave up the names of two people here in our organization who have been in communication with him. One of them was actually selling information, and accepted ten million dollars to prevent us from killing Abdul Akbar. He paid Belcher a million to warn Akbar and interfere, and Belcher actually killed two of our people in the process. The other one was just a contact, and I don’t think she ever actually gave him any information or helped him, but I have her under extreme surveillance just in case.”
“May I ask who?” Noah asked.
“The first one was David Jackson,” Allison said. “He’s already been eliminated, and I will be meeting with his wife and daughter shortly. The other was Elaine Jefferson, Donald’s daughter. I just got through informing Donald about it, and he is furious, but I’m giving the girl a chance. As far as I know, she never actually compromised any missions or gave Belcher any information. I think he was just keeping her on standby, in case we ever learned he was alive and went looking for him. He was hoping she would let hi
m know.”
Noah was quiet for a couple of seconds. “Money can make people do stupid things,” he said. “I actually liked Mr. Jackson, but he knew what would happen if he was caught. As for Elaine, I’m actually quite surprised. I always got the feeling she was extremely loyal to both you and her father.”
“She might be,” Allison said. “As I said, it appears she never did give him any information. She liked him, back before Moose came around, so maybe that’s all it was. She just liked having him call once in a while, knowing he was alive.”
“All right,” Noah said. “I’ll see how I can put this information to use.”
Allison disconnected and Noah put his phone down on his desk. He relayed the information about Jackson and Elaine to Marco, who seemed absolutely shocked.
* * * * *
Conley had driven back to his office at the center, then sat at his desk for almost half an hour before he got the courage to pick up his cell phone. He dialed a number and put it to his ear and waited nervously for someone to answer. He didn’t have to wait long.
“Yes, Mr. Conley?” The voice on the other end of the line was deep, but there was a sense of age in it, as well.
“There has been a problem,” Conley said, “but I’ve already found a solution.” He quickly explained about the arrest of John McGinty, a.k.a. Jim Harmon, and then hurried to add that he had already been replaced. The man on the other end of the line listened in silence until he was finished.
“And this new man, Coolidge,” he said. “You are confident that he can do what needs to be done, that he won’t find it too difficult?”
“I’m sure of it,” Conley said. “Sir, I have looked into the eyes of a killer before, and this guy is definitely a killer.”
“Former CIA, you say. Conley, are you certain he is no longer working with the government?”