Betrayed Devil

by Tom Haase

  “Wait a minute. You single-handedly stopped them here. You were the principal reason we were able to take down that organization. You also did something you're not telling me about, but which I suspect happened in your leadership of that band you somehow put together. I didn’t ask you to do that, did I?” she said.

  Chuck decided to take a different tack. She didn’t need to know what he and the combined strength of the Cubans and the Seminoles had accomplished the night the raids occurred. He decided he would never tell her the details about the events of that night.

  “I only gave the police information they acted on and they successfully shut down those brothels. I might help you a little in your present circumstance. I have a few conditions.”

  “Like what?”

  “You don’t get to treat me as if I work for an agency. I won’t take orders. I’ll find out what I can by using my resources. You will not have access to them. They are mine and not the government’s assets. Agreed?”

  “What else, as I sense there’s something else in your voice?”

  “I will act on any information on my own volition. I will not be subject to oversight and regulations by your agency or anybody else.”

  “Okay, but there’s a but. You must keep me informed all the time of your efforts and results. I want actionable intelligence on the drug gangs so I can take the appropriate legal action. I need it in time to force the law enforcement agencies to move quickly. I prefer not to find a room full of dead human traffickers. Do I make myself clear?”

  Chuck realized she had figured out what actions he took on the night of the raids against the human traffickers. It remained a guess on her part, but he would not acknowledge her supposition in any way that might allow her to conclude that she had solved it. She had reached, he realized, the right conclusion. He had acted as a vigilante–at least some might look at it that way.

  “Perfectly. I’ll see what I can do to make you look good.”

  “Really?”

  “No, there’s nothing I can do to make you look good. You are already gorgeous, so I can’t improve on that.” He gave a short chuckle.

  “Don’t kiss ass on me, soldier. I experienced your devious methods, and I might add I positively enjoyed them.”

  “Talk soon,” he said, having a quick recall the enjoyment she mentioned as he ended the connection.

  19

  A late evening cooling breeze wafted across Nassau city. The stifling heat of the day elapsed into a more comfortable evening before sunset. Kareem relaxed on his upstairs porch, viewing the setting sun through his dark glasses. He wore only a pair of khaki shorts and a white wife beater t-shirt.

  His cell chirped. This was the call he had been waiting on for the last several hours. He needed a report from the man he sent to the States, his lieutenant, Jalen, to guarantee his next shipment would arrive without incident. He didn’t know for sure what caused the first shipment of drugs to get intercepted, but he suspected a communication leak. That would most likely occur if someone talked over an unsecured phone and someone else overheard the call or a conversation and blabbed about it.

  The solution he adopted was to issue each of his key players with a new phone possessing an encryption capability. No one could listen to their conversations, and he had instructed his men only to use them for any communication with his organization.

  “It arrived safely,” Jalen said.

  He relaxed for the first time in hours. He had expected or at least hoped for, a smooth arrival of his goods on his second attempt, but one never knew. The Tsarina would not forgive him for a second blunder considering the magnitude of the first. He felt lucky to be alive after that debacle. She would not forgive him again.

  He recalled stories of her vengeance when someone crossed her. One story Jalen had confirmed from a reliable source dealt with a man who had stolen from her. The sap was the head of one of her organizations operating in Miami and had been skimming funds from the lady. When she found out and confronted him, he begged for mercy. She pulled out a pistol and fired a bullet straight into his head. That sent the message no one crosses the Tsarina without paying a weighty price.

  Kareem thought about his situation. He would never cross her. After the years of toil to achieve his present state, there was no way he would mess with the woman. She initiated contact with him a few weeks ago with a proposition to organize a drug network in Savannah. She indicated she had suffered a small setback there and wanted to reestablish a new operation in that city. It would be enormously profitable once in place.

  She told him she had researched his career in the criminal activities on the islands and was impressed. She sought to discover if it would interest him to head up her effort in Georgia. Kareem had been in the criminal world of the Bahamas for years and understood all the angles there. He didn’t know the States and said so to her.

  She informed him she wanted an outsider to handle the business there and not a local and had picked him based on recommendations she had received from an advisor. Her man had learned of Kareem’s activities to support the Schultz enterprises operating out of New York.

  How she discovered his connection to that company, he failed to grasp, and it remained something he couldn’t figure out. In the past, he performed a few tasks old man Schultz asked him to accomplish. Once, he transported dinosaur bones using his boats to collect them from a Chinese freighter off the shores of North Eleuthera. That island was the easternmost inhabited island of the seven hundred that compromised the Bahamas. There was nothing but ocean beyond its shores until reaching Europe.

  He had transported the goods from the freighter to a three hundred foot yacht. The vessel arrived at the designated turn over point twenty miles away a few hours later. He never saw the principal, a deckhand took the package, and the boat raced away. Schultz paid him handsomely for such a simple operation. It was the first in a series of transactions he accomplished for the Schultz enterprises. The daughter he heard recently now ran that company.

  “Any problem?” he queried of Jalen.

  “None. Got word a man named Ramon wants to set up a similar operation here. If we’re going to succeed, we can’t allow that.”

  This was good news, and he would report the success of the operation to the Tsarina in a few minutes. It would ease the pressure he felt from the last shipment’s failure. There was no substitute for success in this business.

  “Get set up and expect a new shipment in a few days coming there from Florida. If that person starts to operate or distribute, I’ll come over, and we’ll need to end him.”

  20

  Eddie listened carefully to the press officer as he briefed a few reporters outside police headquarters. The cute pony-tailed reporter, who had been outside Chuck’s place after the armed attack, questioned the press officer on what happened to the drugs.

  “Will we be allowed to see them?” she asked.

  “They are in police custody,” he said. “We are at this moment awaiting instructions on their disposition. Without speculating, but in similar cases of confiscated drugs, we were instructed to destroy them by burning.”

  “Will we be able to observe?” she asked.

  “I will have to get back to you on that.”

  “Who was the man who shot them?”

  “Are there any other questions? Thank you.” He moved off and avoided answering her query by ending the briefing.

  Eddie could see the reporter’s displeasure at this answer, but she pushed on with the next question.

  “Who were the dead men at the warehouse?” She yelled after the departing briefing officer.

  “I don’t have information on their identities at present,” he said when he turned toward her. “We’re working with other police agencies to identify them. We’re assuming they’re part of a drug gang operating here. They invaded the man’s home, and he defended himself and his property. No charges are being pursued in the case.”

  “Come on. The people want to know wh
at you do with such a large drug haul. Many speculate it’s worth over a million dollars,” another reporter interjected.

  “When I have something I’ll get it to you,” concluded the press officer. He held up his hands indicating he had finished and then turned and walked away.

  The conference ended better than Eddie could have expected. This police statement would clear Chuck of having any of the drugs, and he was being projected as a “stand and defend” homeowner. Eddie noticed how deft the press officer was when he failed to use any names in talking with the reporters.

  Eddie went outside and walked along Oglethorpe Street toward Abercorn. He sought to decide what direction his future actions should take. The Tsarina controlled a massive organization in a multi-state business. As far as he could tell, she also had a multi-national operation. His friend and former lover, Ramon, held sway over a few drug dealers in Savannah with no ostensible large-scale organization.

  He needed to make up his mind on which side of the fence he planned to play. He couldn’t straddle the fence forever. Ramon promised him five percent of the total organization’s profit which to date totaled a grand sum of zero. His checking account in the Caymans showed an increase of five thousand when he checked it this morning. He figured that was the first payment from the lady. Ramon’s money still rested in his account.

  The decision on which side he would fall was easy when the numbers spoke so loud. The thousands in the account belonged to Ramon, but no five percent take appeared from the man for Eddie’s use. With the Miami connection, he could without difficulty reach his goal of early retirement in a relatively shorter timeframe. With Ramon, he would be an old man before he achieved it. The decision appeared already made for him.

  A new plan started to form in his mind to help him achieve an even a more favorable outcome for the lady in her efforts to set up a trade in the city. He would propose to her he would set up false identities for the dead men at Chuck’s place putting them in Ramon’s gang. That would shift the police pressure to get Ramon and his people. Next, he would convince Ramon there were more drugs at the warehouse Chuck had not turned over.

  If that plan worked, Ramon would go berserk wanting to get his hands on the drugs as he was pitifully short of any for distribution at present. He would again attack Chuck’s warehouse. Before that happened, Eddie planned to warn Chuck of the impending assault. Chuck could repel it with advance notice.

  Knowing Chuck, Eddie reckoned his friend would do everything in his power to eliminate the attackers and the whole organization Ramon controlled for making an attack on his home. Chuck possessed the know-how and the ability to accomplish that without using the police. The result would offer the Bahamas gang an opportunity to move into the area clear of any competition. Ramon would be the sacrificial lamb for his decision to swing to the Tsarina’s side.

  Eddie thought this plan was brilliant, and he assumed it would be acceptable to the lady in Miami. He took out his burner and dialed her. When she answered, he explained the concept to her and added with the removal of Ramon’s organization, she would have free reign in the narcotics field with the total elimination of their opponents in the trade.

  “You have a good plan. Implement it, and you will receive a reward, specifically if it deals with all the others. Keep up your good work, Scipio and your rewards will increase.”

  “McGregor will soon discover Ramon’s gang is the one he needs to target,” Eddie said.

  “How so?”

  “He’ll get information on the men who attacked him. Because I know him and he’s always been that kind of guy. If he is attacked and people around him are hurt, he’ll take decisive action. Like a true eagle scout.”

  “I’ll wait for your report of success,” Tsarina said.

  Eddie felt he now had a plan for his future life and he had found the method he would use to implement it. He formulated an idea of how to get Chuck to declare war on Ramon’s organization and destroy it in a manner similar to what he did against the sex traffickers.

  “Nothing to it,” he said out loud and laughed.

  21

  The next morning, Chuck inspected the boathouse dock inside his warehouse. The previous day, the workmen had finished repairing the space, which had suffered minor damage when the speedboat containing the drugs crashed into his building. The place looked completely restored. He would congratulate the workers.

  Chuck rounded up Merlin and Murphy and took them on a drive to the closest pet store where he purchased a yellow K-9 life jacket for Murphy. Merlin, he kept in the cage he used for moving the bird around.

  On his return to the warehouse, he went to his dock and untied the Chris-Craft. He had second thoughts about bringing the bird on an outing on the boat and took Merlin back inside to put him in his cage. The bird flew directly to his roost bar.

  “Goodbye,” Chuck said as he reached the door to the boat area.

  “Goodbye,” responded Merlin. It took Chuck by surprise the bird had at last spoken. Maybe the bird would fit in.

  He returned to the boat and backed it from its space and onto the Savannah River. There he engaged the forward gear and headed toward the ocean. On reaching the Wilmington River, he made a turn to starboard for a short distance to approach the sales office where Darlene worked.

  He looked forward to seeing her, and in the phone call this morning, he asked her to come back with him after they completed arrangements to get the Absolute 40 moored in its new berth. She had agreed, and he thought it would be a great evening of dining out followed by super sex. At least that was his plan, and he guessed she was thinking along the same lines based on the tone of her voice.

  Murphy trotted to the bow of the vessel where he stood facing into the wind sporting his yellow life jacket. The dog seemed at home on the vessel. After all, he was supposed to be a boat dog. After a few minutes of keeping the craft at a low speed, he opened the throttle. With the increase in speed and wind over the deck, Murphy retreated to the main steering area and took a seat next to Chuck. In half an hour they arrived at the sales office. Chuck guided the boat alongside the pier and Darlene waited there to take the line he tossed to her.

  She secured it to a cleat, and when he stepped on the dock, she greeted him with a long and passionate kiss. This confirmed Chuck’s hopes for a great night. After the time they had spent together, he felt like they were moving beyond the initial stages of courtship. He didn’t know how far but that would come with more time. He was in no rush in this relationship and from his read on the situation neither was she.

  “Great to see you stranger,” she said in greeting.

  “Is the Absolute ready for moving to its new home?”

  “Yes. Let’s go take it there. Shouldn’t take more than an hour.”

  They had moved and moored the boat in its new dock only a few hundred yards away on the Wilmington River. Chuck entered the dock master’s office and signed the necessary papers along with the payment for the slip his boat occupied. They walked back to her sales office.

  “Let’s take a ride to my place in the Chris-Craft,” Chuck said.

  “Sounds like a great idea. Give me a minute to get my things,” she headed off to the office and returned with her overnight bag. She waited on the dock for him to start the motor and then untied the mooring line and stepped onto the boat. Murphy jumped into her lap as she sat. She rubbed him behind his ears, and the dog seemed to love it.

  “When are the owners going to return from the trip to Italy?” Chuck had deliberately avoided asking about the owner after the time Darlene had shown him the photo of the owner and his wife. The shock to his system on seeing his grandmother in the photo almost made him reveal it to Darlene. He had lost contact with her in his years in the Army. His efforts to find her had proven unsuccessful until that moment. He realized the reason for his failure. She had a new name. Margaret Katherine McGregor, his grandmother, had changed her name to Margaret Murphy. He would surprise her when she returned and Darlene w
ith the fact that the owner’s wife was his grandmother. It would be great to see his grandmother again.

  In his youth, she was a star in his universe. He loved her and her sense of humor and the laughter that went along with it. So different from the dour personality displayed by his father. She always treated him as if he were something special.

  “They should be back in a few weeks. You’ll love her. She’s special and a perfect southern lady. All the proper manners without being stuck up,” Darlene said when she showed him the photo of the owners leaving on a trip to Italy.

  He moved the Chris-Craft out into the river and headed downstream.

  “I’ll take it slow going home. It’s a lovely day to cruise the river. We’ll stop at my house and then let’s go on into downtown Savannah and tie up at the city pier. We can walk around getting a little exercise and pick a spot for dinner, perhaps in the old market area.”

  “Love the way you think,” Darlene said.

  Chuck guided the craft out into the Savannah River and opened the throttles to half. Murphy ran to the front of the bow and took up his usual position. He acted like he was the guard on the boat.

  They looked at one another and laughed. The dog was something. Murphy resembled a statue on the deck protecting the vessel, sporting his yellow life jacket covering most of his solid black fur.

  Chuck pushed the throttle forward, and the Chris-Craft rose on plane and raced along the river toward his home.

  22

  Eddie drove to meet Ramon during the time Chuck moved his forty-foot boat to its new mooring place. The house the man used as a base of operation stood behind a strip mall in the area known as Southside of town. He had not visited Ramon for a few days and didn’t control his surprise at how downtrodden he looked. He had to maintain the same manners he always did around Ramon so as not to raise any suspicions. Deep bags indicating no sleep surrounded the man’s eyes, and he looked like he had not eaten in days. His focus shifted back and forth in an aimless search for something.