Family Matters

by Robert Ullrich

  “Thank you, Sir,” said Katsumi formally, tears of her own trailing down her cheeks. “It is my honor to serve and call you Master.” They stood there for a few moments before Lazarus released her, kissing her once more on the forehead.

  Lazarus approached LJ. “Leonard, my man, you’ve done well, very well indeed.” He took the hand Leonard offered as he approached, pulling him close for a quick hug.

  Lazarus smiled as he surveyed the group around him, realizing that all these people were important to him now. His world had grown exponentially in the last 8 months. Lazarus knew life would never be the same. He was intrigued by what the future might bring, but also very aware that they were all now his responsibility to protect.

  They began walking towards the main house, watching Cheyenne and Baxter racing around the compound. Each of them, in his or her own way, understanding their lives would never be the same here in their own little slice of Paradise, tucked away in the Florida Keys.

  Lazarus’ phone rang as they reached the door. He glanced at the number and excused himself, answering as he walked towards the water.

  “What’s up?” Lazarus asked the happiness obvious in his voice.

  “It’s not good,” said Dan.

  “Talk to me, Dan. Tell me what’s going on,” encouraged Lazarus.

  When the conversation was over, Lazarus pulled a Gurkha Black Dragon from a cigar tube in his shirt pocket. He lit it, staring out into the Atlantic. His hand was steady as a rock. You couldn’t say the same for what was going on inside him. Lazarus’ eyes told that story. They slowly turned black as midnight as the cigar smoke drifted lazily on a gentle east wind. Two things were eating at him;

  Why did Dan wait so long to call him? He’d wasted close to two hours in Lazarus’ mind. One deep breath later, he let it go. Lazarus had no reference point for how he would act with a son missing. Also, how were Camacho’s men able to grab Derek, taking him by surprise? How would they have known he was alone? How would they know where to find him and when?

  The answer was simple to Lazarus. Derek had been sold out by someone he knew. It was that conclusion that turned Lazarus’ eyes dark as midnight. Men were going to die for this; it was just a question of how many to the man with the coal black eyes.

  *****

  Lazarus wasn’t just a friend of Dan’s. He was an international assassin, known as the Chameleon. In fact, he’d been contracted by Los Zapatos to kill Dan and his wife, Mary Jo several years before. Lazarus refused to execute the contract after digging into the Grimsrud’s lives. He discovered that not only were they good hearted people, they were the parents of one Derek Grimsrud, aka Mr. Black, a CIA operative that Lazarus had saved from the Cartel 4 years before meeting his parents. It was a coincidence to some, fate to Lazarus. He gave Dan the option of turning him in or becoming his friend. The phone call that Dan just placed tells the story.

  There was no hesitation on Lazarus’ part. He would go get Derek. The one thing that he had to deal with was making sure Angelique was okay with it. They hadn’t been in their new home together for even an hour, and he was about to take off on a dangerous mission to rescue Derek from the Cartel. He didn’t know if he would succeed. There wasn’t enough time for planning and preparation, not the type that kept a contract killer free for over twenty years. His eyes gradually began to soften as a plan took shape. A wisp of smoke from the Black Dragon in his left hand drifted lazily in front of him, bringing him fully back to the here and now. He quickly made a mental list:

  1) Derek was missing, taken against his will.

  2) Dan wanted him to find Derek and bring him home.

  3) The CIA had a GPS tracker on Derek.

  4) The government was limited by politics and bureaucracy.

  5) He wasn’t.

  6) Lazarus considered Derek and his parents as friends.

  There was nothing to debate. Lazarus would find Derek and bring him home; by any means necessary.

  Lazarus took a draw on the Black Dragon in his hand as he contemplated the last point. Were they just friends? He looked around the compound he called home in the Florida Keys. Nine months ago, it had been just him, Katsumi, Langston, his German shepherd guard dog, and of course, Baxter the golden retriever. Now there were three more people and one more canine living on the property. Angelique and her best friend Rebecca, along with Cheyenne, Angelique’s constant canine companion. Then there was Leonard James, his right-hand man everyone called LJ, who was in love with Katsumi. He might as well be living there, as much time as he spent on the property.

  Dr. Helen had always talked about family like it was something he understood. He didn’t. He didn’t want to contemplate the thought for now, he had a mission to carry out. A mission he might not return from. For the first time in his life, it meant he would be leaving someone behind if he failed to return. He took one last draw on the cigar and laid it on the urn as he entered the house to find Angelique.

  Angelique had captured not only Lazarus’ heart, but his being as well, opening emotions in a man who had spent decades detached from his feelings. It was how he survived. It was how he plied his craft with such expertise. It was why he had never been tied to a single murder he committed. It wasn’t her looks that captured him, although she was beautiful; a former Parisian model. She stood 5’10” with olive skin and black hair, thanks to her Egyptian and Lebanese heritage, with eyes so blue they seemed fluorescent. She caught Lazarus attention despite her looks, not because of them. It was something deeper, almost primal that attracted him to her, and vice versa. Regardless, Lazarus would kill or die for Angelique now, and for anyone she loved. It had changed the very core of his being.

  Lazarus found Angelique in Rebecca’s new room, a room she was putting her special mark on. Rebecca was inseparable from Angelique. She had gone as far as threatening Lazarus if he didn’t treat Angelique right, and that was after she found out he was a killer. She had looked him in the eye and said, “If you break her heart, you’ll have me to deal with, world famous Chameleon or not!” Rebecca brightened up the world around her in a way Lazarus couldn’t comprehend, and he didn’t care. She made Angelique happy and made Katsumi and him laugh. That was enough for Lazarus.

  “Hey there, beautiful,” said Lazarus as he leaned into the door frame.

  “Hey there, handsome,” replied Rebecca with a wink. “I gotta tell ya though, Laz, you probably shouldn’t call me beautiful right in front of Angelique. She might get the wrong idea, ya know.”

  Angelique punched Rebecca in the shoulder, who fell off the bed laughing.

  “Hey, smart ass,” said Angelique, laughing despite herself. “Lazarus was talking to me!” She turned back towards the door and said, “Well hello there handsome, what’s up?”

  Lazarus took a chair near the door, his smile fading as he lowered his eyes towards the floor. “I need to talk to you.” He glanced at Rebecca and added, “to both of you, actually.”

  “Something’s wrong, Lazarus,” said Angelique. “I can see it in your eyes.” Rebecca joined her on the end of the bed, no longer laughing as she took Angelique’s hand in hers.

  “Derek Grimsrud, the man who led the rescue mission for Ernesto Vasquez’ family has been kidnapped; probably by the Zapatos in retaliation for what he did for me.”

  Neither woman spoke; their hands tightening around each other.

  “He was taken around 8:30 this morning in El Paso and is now in Mexico. The CIA has a GPS tracker in him, so they know where he is, which is heading south deeper into Mexico.” Lazarus looked up. “His team will be in Dallas by 2:30 our time, but they are being held up by government bureaucracy. I got that much information from his father, who is also a very good friend of mine.

  “I don’t know what I can accomplish, but I have to try. Derek risked his life and career to save Ernesto’s family. I can’t let it go, but neither can I just jump in my plane and head out.” He rubbed his hands over his face. “I have you to think about now.”

 
Angelique held up her hand, cutting Lazarus off. “Go find him, Lazarus. Find Derek and bring him home to his family. That’s what you want, no, that’s what you need to do. You know it as well as I do. It’s who you are, my love.”

  Angelique continued. “Derek is important to you and so are his parents. You aren’t alone in this world any longer. They are like family to you, whether you know it or not. You are family to them, too. They accept you for who you are, just like I do, just like Rebecca does.”

  Lazarus sat there, lost in Angelique’s eyes. It was almost like seeing himself through her eyes. Through them, he saw a shadowy image of the man Angelique loved, the man she saw inside the persona he had built over the years. Another tumbler fell in place in Lazarus heart, and he didn’t even realize it.

  Rebecca chimed in, “We wouldn’t want it any other way, Laz. You are who you are. You’re the dude they call the Chameleon. The biggest bad-ass on the planet! Shit, Laz, you go get your friend and we’ll take care of this place until you get back.”

  Angelique stared at Rebecca in amazement. She didn’t know whether to slap her, hug her or just kick her off the bed again. She ended up laughing. “Jesus, Rebecca, can’t you ever approach a situation gracefully?”

  “Fuck a bunch of graceful,” snorted Rebecca, who immediately slapped her hand over her mouth. “I totally did not just say that, Laz. I would never steal your material; scouts honor.”

  It was more than Lazarus could take. He stood, sweeping Rebecca up with him and giving her a hug that nearly cracked a rib. He set her down and grabbed Angelique, kissing her with all the passion in his soul. After about a minute, Lazarus felt a nip on the back of his right thigh. He turned around and found Cheyenne eyeballing him, which got everyone laughing and Cheyenne cocking her head at the crazy humans.

  “Okay, Cheyenne,” said Lazarus, “I get it. She’s your human, I only get to borrow her from time to time.” That seemed to satisfy Cheyenne who hopped up on the bed and turned over on her back for a belly rub. Rebecca quickly obliged her.

  “I have to be ready in 15 minutes, but first I have a call to make,” he said. “Thank you, ladies, both of you, for understanding what I have to do.”

  “I understand, Lazarus,” said Angelique, looking as stern as possible, “just be sure you understand you will come back to me, or your ass is grass and I’ve got the mower, mister.”

  “Deal,” said Lazarus as he kissed her again. He even gave Rebecca a kiss on top of her head, much to her surprise. Lazarus laughed. “Don’t get all cocky about it, Rebecca, you ain’t the first girl I ever kissed ya know.” Rebecca had to laugh as Lazarus fed her own words back to her.

  “You got me there, Laz,” laughed Rebecca. “You definitely got me.”

  Lazarus gave Cheyenne a quick pat on the stomach and pulled out his encrypted phone as he headed back outside to make some calls.

  ~4~

  November 11

  12:10 - est

  The first call Lazarus placed he used the phone and voice of Cooper Johnson, one of his best and favorite personas. A young women’s voice answered the phone with, “As I live and breathe, Cooper damn Johnson!”

  Lazarus barked out a laugh, “How the hell are ya darlin’?” Darlin’ happened to be Stephanie Salerno, college student and international arms dealer. She never planned on a life in the family business, but as a Sicilian, she couldn’t turn away when her uncle died unexpectedly from a heart attack. She was now President of Salerno Firearms and Munitions, LLC, the most legitimate of all the family businesses. It was even licensed with the US Government as a weapons broker.

  “To what do I owe the pleasure of your call, Cooper?” asked Stephanie around a forkful of salad she was in the middle of.

  “Oh hell, Stephanie, it sounds like I’m interrupting your lunch. I can call back if you need me to,” offered Lazarus.

  “I wouldn’t dream of it, Cooper. Tell me what you need.”

  “Well, it’s sorta an emergency, darlin. The boss needs some product in Dallas, and he needs it today.”

  Stephanie paused for a moment, “Emergency, huh. Okay, I’ll bite, what do you need and where?”

  “Just like that, darlin’?” asked Lazarus.

  “You never play games with me Cooper, so I know it must be important.”

  They spoke for about 5 minutes, using a coded shopping list for the items needed. In the end, Stephanie was sure it wouldn’t be a problem. Salerno had a warehouse in Arlington, midway between Dallas and Fort Worth.

  “I’ll have the remote-control helicopter delivered to our ranch just west of Hebronville,” said Stephanie. “Will that work out for you?”

  “That’s perfect, Stephanie,” answered Lazarus. “I know your strip can handle the boss’s plane, too, if you don’t mind him parking it in one of your hangars.”

  “Tell him to use the large hangar to the south. It’s perfect for his size aircraft and there’s plenty of JP-4, too,” she added.

  “I’ll wire the funds to the company account this afternoon,” said Lazarus.

  “No, Cooper, you won’t,” said Stephanie firmly.

  “What the hell? Why not?” asked Lazarus, who was honestly surprised.

  “From what I gather, this is a family matter, or am I wrong?

  Lazarus smiled, “Yep, that it is. You ain’t wrong, not by a long shot.”

  “Fine,” said Stephanie, “then consider the product on consignment. You can pay me for what you use when everything is taken care of.”

  Lazarus took a deep breath before answering. “I don’t know what to say, Stephanie.”

  “Just say thank you, ya big lug, and tell your boss that I will always be willing to do this for family.”

  “For his family?” asked Lazarus.

  “No, Cooper,” said Stephanie with a laugh, “for MY family.” Another tumbler fell into place and once again, Lazarus didn’t even realize it.

  “Then thank you, Miss Stephanie Salerno,” said Lazarus with emotion in his voice. “I never expected this.”

  “Good,” said Stephanie, “then it’s just the way I wanted it to happen. Now go before I change my mind, or my dad finds out.” She started laughing hard at the end, so hard she hung up the phone.

  “Damn,” said Lazarus to himself, “What the hell is going on in this world?” He shook his head and checked the time as he punched in another set of numbers, a set no one would have expected him to have.

  *****

  General Fischer’s private cell phone buzzed on the corner of his desk. He picked it up and looked at the number. It said “Restricted”. He let it ring through and set it down. Ten seconds later it lit up with the same “Restricted” message on his phone. He decided to answer it, more on a whim than anything else.

  “Hello,” said the General.

  “Hello Major General Nick Fischer, no middle name, USMC for 32 years; current director of covert operations for the Central Intelligence Agency, and for the record, a scratch golfer.”

  The General grunted into the phone, “I already know all that information. Tell me something I don’t know.”

  “I understand. How about I tell you something you know, but don’t think I would?”

  The General sat up straighter in his chair. “Just who exactly is this?” he ordered as much as asked.

  “I’ll get to that in a minute, sir. First, I need to establish my credibility, other than the fact that I have your personal phone number.”

  “You’ve got one minute,” said General Fischer.

  “Derek Grimsrud, aka Mr. Black to the Agency was kidnapped this morning at approximately 8:20 CST out front of a restaurant called Charros in El Paso, Texas.” Lazarus paused for effect. “Even as we speak, all six members of Mr. Black’s team are headed to Dallas, Texas, four by way of military transport, one already there, the other coming commercial.”

  General Fischer didn’t respond, but he didn’t hang up either.

  “I’ll take that as a sign you want me to continue,”
said Lazarus. “Mr. Black was taken by the associates of one Andres Camacho, the new head of the Los Zapatos de la Muerte drug Cartel. He took over after the death of his uncle in Argentina. Right now, they are transporting Mr. Black south through Mexico towards an unknown destination. Unknown to you, that is, not to me.”

  That got a response. “Identify yourself before we go any further,” said the General.

  “Mr. Black refers to me as ‘Camo-man’, you may have heard the term from time to time.”

  The General froze for a moment as realization washed over him. “I believe he refers to you as the Chameleon, and not Camo-man.”

  “That would be correct, sir,” said Lazarus. “He only refers to me as Camo-man in private. It’s sort of an inside joke.”

  “I’m listening, so tell me why you called,” said the General.

  “Only if you will tell me why you answered,” Lazarus responded.

  “Are you serious?” asked the General.

  “Deadly, sir,” was the reply.

  Fischer hesitated for only a moment. “I answered on a whim. I was curious who the hell had my number and if it was serious or a prank call.”

  “I’ll buy that, General,” said Lazarus. “The reason I called is I would like to borrow Mr. Black’s team, with your permission of course, to execute an extraction of a United States citizen presently being held against his will in Mexico.”

  General Fischer smiled to himself. Derek was right, this guy was sharp and knew how to cover his ass even before it got in trouble. “I can’t order Derek’s team into action, you know that already.” Fischer was thinking out loud more than anything. “The Mexican government would be of no help in this case, since we can’t acknowledge Mr. Black even exists, which does present a conundrum.” He tapped a pencil on the edge of his desk. “What are you proposing?” he asked.