Double Cross: A gripping political thriller (The Cadre Book 3)

by Stephen Edger

‘I gave it to the XO. I have no idea where it is now. The only evidence I have is my own word.’

  ‘Well they’ve already discredited that. If we went public now, they’d produce confirmation of your underperformance and transfer. You’d end up sounding like a bitter employee. We need something else. What exactly does this have to do with Troy? He died in May. Speaking of which, why didn’t you come to his funeral?’

  ‘I wanted to, but I couldn’t get the time off. I asked Victoria to attend on my behalf.’

  Aaron glanced back to her. She had been sat listening intently, nodding occasionally. ‘You can tell you two are related,’ she said. ‘The way you talk, the way you think, it’s uncanny. Troy would have been proud to see you working together.’

  ‘So how is Troy involved in your conspiracy?’ Aaron asked.

  ‘I was just coming to that,’ Cruz replied. ‘But not here. My apartment is five minutes away. We should go there. We won’t be disturbed.’

  29

  Cruz’s apartment was slightly larger than a studio, with an open plan living room, kitchen and dining area. There was a single bedroom off to one side and a separate bathroom on the opposite side.

  ‘Excuse the mess,’ he said, as he scooped up a pile of laundry from the sofa. ‘Please take a seat.’

  Aaron sat down and waited for Cruz to join him. ‘I’m surprised you’re not living at the base. They must have staff quarters, right?’

  ‘There are quarters, sure, but I was encouraged to seek alternative habitation. That’s how they phrased it. As I said earlier, I get the impression that people have been warned away from speaking to me. Posting me off barracks means I’ll have fewer opportunities to interact with other personnel.’

  Aaron eyed him cautiously: is he for real, or just being overly sensitive?

  Cruz disappeared off to the bedroom, returning a moment later with a small device in his hand. Aaron watched him as he extended the device’s long thin aerial and began waving it around. ‘What’s that?’ Aaron asked.

  Cruz placed a finger to his lips and began to circle the room’s perimeter, waving the small device up and down. He then moved into the body of the room, sweeping the device over the furniture before repeating the practice in the kitchen area, bathroom and bedroom. When he was satisfied he threw the device onto the bed and sat down next to Aaron.

  ‘Are you going to tell me what that was all about?’ Aaron said.

  ‘You can never be too careful, man,’ Cruz said. ‘It’s a bug sweeper, you know, for detecting listening devices and such.’

  ‘You’re joking, right? You think someone’s trying to bug your apartment?’

  ‘Not anymore.’

  ‘Where did you get it?’

  ‘Victoria gave it to me. She came to visit me when I was first transferred and explained what you were doing. She was worried that they would do whatever it took to keep me quiet. She told me to use the device to look for listening equipment. We found two small radio transmitters on our first sweep; one in the smoke detector above your head and one in the light in the bedroom.’

  ‘Jesus!’

  Cruz nodded. ‘So now I sweep for new bugs every time I come home, in case someone is listening in to my conversations.’

  ‘Do you know who planted the transmitters?’

  Cruz shook his head. ‘I have my suspicions, but nothing concrete.’

  ‘Have you found any since that first day?’

  ‘Nope, not in here, though I doubt they’ve given up trying.’

  ‘You said at the diner you’d explain how Troy was involved in all this?’ Aaron said.

  ‘Yeah, right, of course…it’s difficult to know where to begin…I suppose that what I’ve told you so far is only really the tip of the iceberg.’

  ‘How so?’

  Victoria arrived carrying three takeaway coffees that she’d ordered from the diner, while the two cousins had returned to the apartment. She placed the cardboard cups on a low table in front of them, before dragging a dining chair towards the sofa.

  ‘Would you rather sit here?’ Aaron asked, beginning to rise.

  ‘No I’m fine,’ she said, smiling back at him.

  ‘So,’ Cruz began, ‘we know that Browning is somehow involved in President McHale’s decision to step down. He was his White House Chief of Staff, and as such was close to the President, and very familiar with the Chief Practitioner. We also know that he had a copy of an inauguration speech for Democratic candidate Joseph D’Angelo who is the Florida Senator. Given that Senator D’Angelo was a virtual unknown, prior to McHale’s resignation, it is odd that any such speech should exist, let alone be in the hands of the former White House Chief of Staff.’

  ‘What’s Browning doing now?’ Aaron asked.

  ‘Would you believe he’s D’Angelo’s campaign manager? He resigned as Chief of Staff the day after McHale’s announcement, and joined D’Angelo’s bandwagon a week or so later.’

  ‘D’Angelo’s the frontrunner now isn’t he?’

  ‘That’s right. It’s incredible how quick his rise has been. I mean, it’s been meteoric. From being unknown seven weeks ago, he is now the bookies’ favourite to be elected President.’

  ‘What do we know about D’Angelo’s background?’

  ‘Only what I read online. He’s a former US Marine, who left the armed forces to coach college basketball, before turning his hand to politics. Despite his Italian roots, he’s seen as the all-American politician. He is a married father of twin daughters and has held office in Florida for about four years, so is still a relative newcomer to politics. He’s thirty-eight, which means, if he is elected, he will be the youngest man to ever hold the office. Teddy Roosevelt was forty-two, and JFK was forty-three.’

  ‘What does he look like?’

  Cruz opened the laptop on the coffee table and brought up an internet search engine, before typing in D’Angelo’s name. He pushed the laptop towards Aaron so he could see the image. He had jet black hair, slicked back with product, and a winning smile. He was very photogenic; a real poster boy.

  ‘He’s very handsome, no?’ Victoria said. ‘He would win my vote.’

  ‘Do you know who’s backing him? Most candidates receive financial support to run their campaign don’t they?’ Aaron asked.

  ‘I have no idea. Whoever it is, though, they must be pretty wealthy. D’Angelo’s adverts have been running during primetime on all the major channels, both morning and night. The guy is everywhere. You can’t drive down the street without seeing him smiling at you from a billboard. What’s more interesting is that following McHale’s announcement, D’Angelo publicly distanced himself from the running. He sent out a tweet saying he wouldn’t be worthy to run for President, or something like that, yet nobody had even considered him a likely candidate before that time. Overnight, his name was on everybody’s lips and the public support since has been overwhelming. About a week after the announcement he called a press conference outside of his house and addressed the public. He said he had been moved by the outpouring of emotion and support for him, and felt it was God’s way of telling him that he needed to put himself forward.’

  ‘He quoted God? Jesus!’

  ‘I know, right? But it came across as sincere and humble. The day after, his commercials started appearing on the TV.’

  ‘So do you think he’s involved in the conspiracy to depose McHale?’

  ‘Your guess is as good as mine, buddy. Uh, I don’t know much about him.’

  ‘Is there anything unique about him?’

  ‘What do you mean, Aaron?’

  ‘Well there must be a reason that Browning and his partners want D’Angelo in office, but what is it? Is he pro-guns? Does he have outspoken opinions about the Middle East? What does he stand for?’

  ‘I can look up his campaign promises if that’s what you want?’

  ‘No, we need to think outside the box. Who stands to gain from D’Angelo being sworn in?’

  ‘I see, well, I have a the
ory about that too.’

  ‘Go on,’ Aaron said.

  ‘Okay, well, I did some digging into Browning after I found the email. I think Browning may have met with D’Angelo in Florida back in early October.’

  ‘October? Why then?’

  ‘Before I left Virginia, I went to the capital to try and learn more about Browning. I hung around Pennsylvania Avenue, watching staff coming and going. I met Browning’s secretary one night. Her name was Sally and she had a real taste for appletinis. We got talking and, one thing led to another, and…well, you get the gist. Anyway, she let slip that the man she worked for was up to no good. She wouldn’t reveal his name, and didn’t know I knew who he was. She said that he told her he was going to visit his sick mother in Maryland and wouldn’t be returning. She thought it was a bit odd, as he’d never mentioned his mother before. She didn’t think any more of it, until he received an email confirming that he had booked a flight from Washington to Orlando on the same day. She also noticed that he had used two different taxi companies to transport him from Orlando International to a hotel and back. She had assumed it was an error at first and raised the subject with him when he returned to the office. He threatened her with dismissal if she ever mentioned it to anyone. She said his reaction was quite out of character, particularly as she had done nothing wrong; one of her duties was to monitor his inbox, especially when he was out of the office.’

  ‘That means nothing. Maybe he was visiting a mistress in Florida.’

  ‘Well that’s what she assumed he’d been doing. I don’t think she suspected him of anything else, it’s me who’s inferring that he could have been meeting with D’Angelo.’

  ‘Do we know what D’Angelo was doing on that day?’

  Cruz shook his head. ‘His calendar isn’t public record so unless we can find someone who works in his administration, we’re shit out of luck.’

  ‘So your theory about Browning meeting D’Angelo is supposition?’

  ‘Well, yeah, but what other reason would he come to Florida while pretending he’s visiting his sick mother?’

  Aaron burst into laughter. ‘What is this; amateur sleuthing hour? Browning could have been doing anything in Orlando, if he was even there. Florida is a massive state! For all you know, he bought that flight and taxis for someone else. Even if they were for him, you have nothing tangible to link him to D’Angelo.’ He turned to Victoria. ‘I thought you said this guy could help me find who killed Troy? He’s nothing but a conspiracy theorist.’

  ‘I know Browning used the flight and taxis,’ Cruz interrupted. ‘I tracked down the hotel he visited whilst he was there. I visited it. I bribed a security guard to let me view the security camera footage for the day in question. He wouldn’t let me take a copy, but I saw Browning arrive in the taxi a little after three, and leave in a taxi shortly before five.’

  ‘Okay, so you know he went to the hotel. So what? Maybe his secretary was right, and he was having an affair. There must be dozens of reasons he could have been there.’

  ‘Yeah? Well, his wasn’t the only face I recognised on the security footage.’

  ‘You saw D’Angelo too?’ Aaron asked excitedly.

  ‘D’Angelo? No, I told you, I don’t know if Browning saw him. No, one of the faces I recognised was Santiago Hernandez.’

  ‘Is that name supposed to mean something to me?’

  ‘Hernandez is the cartel King of Columbia. It’s alleged that he and his crew are responsible for seventy percent of the cocaine exported from South America. He’s huge news over here. The D.E.A. have been working tirelessly to close down his operation for more than a decade.’

  ‘And you saw him at the same hotel as Browning? At the same time?’

  Cruz smiled for the first time. ‘He arrived an hour before Browning and left an hour after him.’

  ‘Is there any footage of them meeting? Or going into the same room?’

  Cruz frowned. ‘The security guard would only let me see the footage from the front of the hotel. He was taking a huge risk in letting me see even that.’

  ‘Did you report his presence to the police?’

  ‘What use would it have been? I didn’t see the footage until ten days later. He’d have been back in Columbia by then. He’s not even allowed on US soil, so the fact that he was here is significant.’

  ‘So why would Browning be working with a Columbian drug lord?’

  ‘Think about it. You said yourself: who stands to gain from McHale stepping down? He’s always been a strong supporter of the war on drugs. Maybe D’Angelo is more liberal.’

  ‘You think Hernandez is providing D’Angelo with the financial backing?’

  ‘It’s a theory,’ Cruz said.

  ‘And Browning is the mediator? But how would they ever come together? They’re from different worlds, surely?’

  Victoria nodded. ‘There was a second face Felix recognised on the security feed, Aaron.’

  Cruz pulled the laptop back and typed eagerly into the search engine again, before passing it back to him. The image of a different man filled the screen. He was much older than D’Angelo, with a wide jowly face and thinning grey hair on top. The image showed he was significantly overweight, and his tailored suit was practically bursting at the waist.

  ‘Who’s this?’ Aaron asked.

  ‘This is The Chairman of General Financial,’ Victoria replied. ‘He arrived at the hotel in a limousine shortly after Hernandez. He didn’t leave the hotel until after Browning and Hernandez. You mentioned him on the phone to me yesterday, Aaron. Do you see why I wanted you to meet Felix now?’

  30

  ‘Hold on,’ Aaron began, standing and backing into the kitchen area. ‘You’re suggesting that The Chairman of General Financial bank is complicit in some kind of conspiracy to destabilise the United States presidency?’

  ‘You said yourself that he was involved somehow,’ Victoria said.

  ‘No I didn’t,’ he corrected. ‘The guy I met in Tijuana told me that. He reckoned The Chairman had paid him to execute the British Prime Minister…oh my God, do you realise what we’re saying here? This is massive! Jesus Christ! No wonder they’re killing anyone who comes into contact with them. Do you think Troy knew? Is that why they killed him?’

  ‘Before your uncle died,’ Victoria began, ‘are you aware of the kind of work he was doing?’

  Aaron shrugged. ‘He was working abroad and earning pretty good money…I could use my imagination. I know he didn’t like to talk about it, and in my book that means he wasn’t proud of whatever it was. Before you go tainting his name, remember that he meant a lot to the both of us.’

  ‘The last thing I want to do is speak ill of the dead…Troy was…he…Troy carried out jobs on behalf of some very powerful men…when certain jobs needed to be done, Troy was the man they called.’

  ‘You mean like wet work?’ Aaron asked. ‘He was an assassin?’

  Victoria shook her head. ‘No, no, no, nothing like that. He wasn’t a killer; they used different people for those kind of jobs. No, his skillset was primarily used to ensure that deliveries were made on schedule.’

  ‘He was a smuggler?’ Aaron interrupted.

  ‘No, he was more of a supervisor, like a foreman. He was responsible for making sure that the smaller cogs in the machine were operating efficiently.’

  ‘Cut the crap, Victoria!’ Cruz shouted. ‘Just tell us what he did.’

  ‘I’m trying to,’ she replied. ‘It’s difficult to explain. He was a kind of enforcer; if anyone got out of line, Troy would make sure they refocused their attention. Sometimes that involved violence, sometimes it involved threats. He did whatever it took. He was good at his job.’

  ‘He was a hired heavy? I can’t believe that he could have been involved in anything like that,’ Aaron said.

  ‘Your uncle was a good man, you should remember that…he became mixed up in a world where the rules were not so clear-cut.’

  ‘But how did he ever come into con
tact with people like Hernandez or Browning? He was a retired Royal Navy Commander for Christ’s sake!’

  ‘When Troy first retired, he travelled around for a few months, trying to decide what he wanted to do with his life. He travelled all over Europe, but couldn’t settle; at least, not at first. His money started to run out, and he began looking for work. He looked for jobs paying cash, so he ended up working as door security at a couple of clubs in Copenhagen. It wasn’t long before he was rubbing shoulders with some of Denmark’s criminal elite. They liked him: he worked hard, didn’t ask awkward questions and could be relied on. They welcomed him into their world, and he was promoted from door security to personal security. Naturally, this brought him into contact with similar men in other countries. He found he had a talent for maintaining smooth operations, which isn’t as easy as you might think. He was being paid cash directly, which is what he wanted, and he didn’t have to work office hours. He was working for the Morelos family when I met him.’

  ‘So he was a heavy for hire? Paid muscle?’ Aaron asked.

  Victoria shrugged and then nodded. ‘He was a man prepared to do whatever he had to. Surely, you can understand that?’

  ‘I can’t believe that he would allow himself to get mixed up in that kind of thing. He was better than that,’ Aaron replied.

  ‘You need to show him,’ Cruz suddenly said to Victoria.

  ‘No,’ she replied quickly.

  ‘Show me what?’ Aaron said.

  ‘You have to show him, Victoria. He has a right to see it,’ Cruz pressed.

  ‘A right to see what? What are you two talking about?’

  ‘She has a video,’ Cruz said, his eyes fixed on Victoria. ‘It’s of my father, the night he…died.’

  Aaron’s eyes widened. ‘What the…you got a message from Troy and you never told me?’

  ‘You weren’t supposed to know about it,’ Victoria sighed. ‘He Skyped me from the boat…I didn’t know it would be the last time I saw him.’

  ‘I want to see it!’ Aaron demanded. ‘He was my uncle, and I deserve to know what his final message was.’