The Romen Society

by Henry Hack

  Kevin nodded, his palm sweaty, even with the cold-steel of the gun in it. Ten seconds later they heard the approach of footsteps and got ready. The door opened and in strode Ed Stoddard carrying a tray. A shot rang out and Stoddard went down clutching his thigh. A second shot, this one from Kevin, went wild and over the head of Ron Ericsson. Kent couldn’t get off another shot as a melee broke out in the small room.

  Ron reached for his holstered pistol, but Kevin whirled around and in a perfect martial arts kick, broke Ron’s nose. As he grabbed his face in pain, Roseanne Faliani delivered a vicious soccer style kick to his right shin sending him down. Kevin calmly pointed the pistol at Ron’s chest and shot him twice.

  Kent and Patty had finally subdued Ed Stoddard. Kent pointed the gun at him and said, “If you want to live Ed, you’ll tell me right now what the Apostle’s plans are.”

  Stoddard, seeing his three companions were dead, and realizing they would have no qualms in killing him also, said, “Cassidy will be here in about fifteen minutes, then the rest of them will come at half-hour intervals.”

  “How many of your men are with them?” Patty asked.

  “Three with each,” he said.

  “Are anymore telephone calls necessary to keep the process going?” Kent asked.

  “No, they’ll come per the schedule.”

  Kent picked up one of the automatic weapons and said, “How does this work?”

  Stoddard chuckled and said, “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

  “I think I can figure it out,” Kevin said. “My friend is in a gun club.”

  “Good, then we don’t need this bastard anymore,” Kent said, shooting Ed Stoddard right between the eyes. He turned to the others and said, “We broke free and after a pitched battle we defeated our captors. Is that okay with you all?”

  They all agreed and Kent said, “After we rescue our fathers we’ll sit down with them and figure out our detailed story with their assistance.”

  “Excellent plan,” Patty said. “Now let’s get our guns and knives ready to give a proper greeting to those bastards who have my Dad.”

  31

  The SUV pulled up in front of the chalet and the two Vikings got out. They were greeted by a gun to each of their heads and told not to move and then to lie on the ground, spread-eagled. One turned to confront the person holding the gun on him. Kevin McKee promptly shot him dead with one bullet to the head. The other Viking complied and sank to the ground.

  Patty rushed over to her father and hugged him tightly. Harry said, “Are you all safe? What happened?” as Patty undid his handcuffs.

  “We broke free, Mr. Cassidy,” Kent Kobak said. “We fought them and we won. They’re all dead.”

  “Amazing! How in the hell did you kids manage to pull this off? But I’m damn happy you did, and I’m thrilled you’re alive and unhurt.”

  “Mr. Cassidy, we’d better get this guy here inside and tied up now,” Kent said.

  “You’re right, the next SUV should be arriving in twenty minutes.”

  When the Viking was securely bound to a chair in the large room, Harry inspected the four bodies taking particular note of the small horseshoe-shaped holes in the Apostle’s head. “Was that your high heels at work, Patty?”

  “Yes, Dad, I got him good.”

  “Let’s not go into the details of this now,” Harry said. “When we safely rescue the others, we’ll all sit down and discuss the situation. Okay?”

  “That’s what we were thinking,” Kevin said.

  Harry wondered what exactly had gone down here. On one hand he was extremely proud of all of them, and on the other hand he was worried what this horrific scene would do to their young psyches.

  Walt Kobak was the next arrival and with the added presence of Harry, there was no trouble in securing his release and capturing the two Vikings. Walt said to them, “Were you two supposed to go back to the cabin for one of the others?”

  “Yeah,” one said, “and the first two should have already been headed back there.”

  “Drive me and Harry back there now,” Walt said. “Kent, tie up this other one.”

  “Sure, Dad,” he said. “Here’s a gun and I’ll get another one for Mr. Cassidy. Oh, and a machine gun if you want it.”

  John and Nick’s release at the cabin went easy as Walt and Harry had the element of surprise strongly on their side when they followed their driver inside. Within an hour they were all back at the chalet with all the New Vikings securely bound and out of earshot in the room where the children had been held. They all assembled in the great room and Harry asked, “Who wants to begin?”

  “Kent should tell the story, Dad,” Patty said. “He’s the one saved our lives.”

  The four battle-hardened Task Force members listened in silent awe as Kent Kobak related the take down of the Apostle, the Disciple and the two leaders of the New Vikings. When Kent concluded he said, “I’m a big football player and I had my doubts about my three fellow captives, but boy was I wrong. And we were lucky a lot of the other Vikings had left the house leaving only four for us to deal with.”

  “I guess they figured they had enough people with our six captors,” Nick said eyeing his daughter. “So, my dear Roseanne, did you help out here?”

  “Yeah, Dad,” she said, “I kicked one asshole right in his shin and he went down like a sack of shit.”

  “Hey!” Nick said, “Watch your mouth. Where’d you learn language like that? Jeez! Ten years old!”

  “Dad,” Rosanne said, “I live with you and Mom, remember?”

  That brought a lot of laughs from the others, the first for any of them in a long while. Walt said, “Okay, we are going to write down what went down here between you and your captors. We will keep it short and limit the gory details. When we all read it, and edit it, this will be your official version of what happened. You will never deviate from it for the rest of your lives. Are we all on the same page?”

  They all nodded in assent and the acknowledged best report writer in the group, John McKee, was volunteered to prepare it. After an hour of getting everything straight on paper, Harry said, “Is everyone satisfied?”

  They all indicated they were, so Walt said, “Okay, let’s notify the world.”

  While the kids called their mothers, Harry called Danny Boyland’s cell phone, Nick called the local sheriff’s department, Walt called Jim Driscoll and John called the Montana State Police. “If anyone from the media shows up,” Walt said, “you children will not be permitted to speak with them. In fact, clean yourselves up and we’ll try to get you out of here and back home with us as soon as we can.”

  When all the bodies were removed and the five captured New Vikings carted off to the county jail; when all the evidence was collected and when all the media’s questions answered, not to their satisfaction of course, the entire Task Force relaxed for a moment in the chalet’s main room with the four children. Harry Cassidy said, “Speaking for all of us, we’re proud you were able to free yourselves, take those guys down, and save our lives. I’d like to say it was the way we brought you up, but I’m not sure we can take any credit here.”

  “Sure you can, Dad,” Patty said. “You brought me up to know the difference between the good guys and the bad guys – and these were real bad guys. They had to be stopped.”

  “And stopped before they killed you, Dad,” Kevin McKee said getting up from his chair and throwing his arms around his father, the tears flowing freely.

  That brought wet outbursts from the rest of the kids, and their fathers as well – a necessary deluge of relief and acknowledgment their ordeal was truly over. Lizzy hugged her younger sister tightly and said, “You did great. I feel like the kid sister now.”

  As they prepared to leave the chalet for Denver, a phrase passed through Harry’s mind – The Torch Has Been Passed To A New Generation…

  After the happy family re-unions and media interviews and a return to some semblance of normalcy, the Task Force gathered one more ti
me. The Romens were finished and no new threats were on the horizon. It was time to go their separate ways once more. Although each time they had disbanded in the past they always thought it maybe was not for the last time, now – this time – things seemed different. A sense of finality pervaded the room, especially among the four senior members.

  “While you four have been away relaxing with your families this past week,” Danny Boyland said, “we have been busy.”

  “Let us hear all about it,” Walt Kobak said.

  “Two days after the Apostle went down, Mike Morra and I received a nice telephone call from the Reverend Alton Phineas inviting us back to Cody and permitting us to search – without the necessity of a warrant – his communications building.”

  “Which no doubt has been scrubbed clean of every trace of the Apostle and his Disciple,” Nick said.

  “Which is why we declined the invitation,” Danny said.

  “For the time being,” Morra said. “I bet our lab guys could find a hair or two, or a fingerprint in there, but I’d still want to have that warrant.”

  “It would be difficult to hang anything on the Reverend,” Kobak said, “even with that type of evidence. But I’d sure like to get that biker gang that blew up our agents in Idaho.”

  “Being scooped up as we speak,” Alicia Johnson said. “A few of us went back to Montana and had a nice chat with those five captured New Vikings. All of them separately stated Ed told them of his meeting with Don Diablo of the Red Satans and how two of the Satans were explosive experts.”

  “And who is scooping them up?” Harry asked, “since we are all here?”

  “Why the Denver FBI field office – plus a large group of ATF agents, Homeland Security agents and Wyoming State Police,” Joe Ramos said.

  “Who arranged all this in our absence?” John McKee asked.

  “We all did,” George Washington said, “under the direction and leadership of our senior man – Joe Ramos.”

  “You could have called one of us,” Walt grumbled.

  “Don’t you trust us to handle things in your absence?” Alicia asked. “Do you feel you haven’t trained us well?”

  “No, no of course not, Alicia,” McKee said. “You all did a great job.”

  Harry had mentioned his feelings about the torch being passed to Walt, Nick and John on the plane ride from Denver to D.C. The three of them now knew exactly what he meant.

  When word came from the Denver office the next morning the raid in Wyoming had been a huge success – all the Red Satan bikers were in custody and no one injured. The Task Force knew it was time to finally go their separate ways. Danny Boyland, Spider Webb and Mike Morra returned to the NYMPD and Joe Ramos, Alicia Johnson, George Washington and Lizzy Cassidy returned to their duties at the New York FBI field office. “Looks like you’re going to have hardly anyone left working for you,” Walt said to John McKee.

  “I think we should keep at least one team in place with their new leader,” he said.

  “New leader?” Harry asked.

  “Yes. I had a conversation with Commissioner Carson. He wants me back in the Department – with a promotion to full inspector.”

  “Good for you,” Walt said. “Any recommendations for your replacement?”

  “Joe Ramos. He’s shown he can do it. He did a great job wrapping things up in our absence and he can add a team of his choice.”

  “I agree,” Harry said. “How about you, Walt? Any planned changes in your career?”

  “No, I think I’ll stick around awhile. Rumor has it Jim Driscoll is considering retirement. If he goes, I’d like a shot at his job.”

  “And if you don’t get it?”

  “Who knows? I’ll figure it out then. And you, Harry, will you hang around in your cushy Homeland Security job?”

  “I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure I’ve had my fill of terrorists. As our old friend Pop Hunter used to say, “I’m getting too old for this shit.”

  “What will you do?” Nick asked.

  “Maybe take Vinny Drake and Bill Shelton up on their offer to partner up with them at Sheldrake Associates.”

  “If that happens, will you take me with you?”

  “Sure, Nick. Are you ready to finally pack it in?”

  “Yeah, I’m not getting any younger either,” he said.

  Two weeks later, after conferring with Susan, Harry Cassidy submitted his resignation to Homeland Security Secretary Randall Newton who thanked him profusely for his services and expressed his sadness at his leaving. “I’ll certainly miss you around here,” he said.

  “Thanks, Randy, but it’s time for a change. I miss New York and I want to do something else with the rest of my life that doesn’t include terrorists.”

  “What about Susan? Will she stay running the firm here?”

  “No, after she breaks in a new head person she’ll return to New York and rejoin her law firm there.”

  “I don’t know much about the private security business,” Randy said. “I hope it’s not too dull for you after your exciting career.”

  “I expressed those same thoughts to Vinny and Bill,” Harry said with a smile. “And they both laughed and said, “Dull? Just wait until you see what we’re involved with.”

  “Did they elaborate on that?”

  “No. Vinny Drake told me I’d have to sign the contract first, and then they would give me all the juicy details.”

  “How do you feel about that?”

  “Randy, I can’t wait to sign on the dotted line and find out.”

  The End

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Once more I wish to thank all my readers, friends and family who support and encourage me to continue to turn out more Danny Boyland and Harry Cassidy novels. I would not continue to write them if I thought you didn’t want to read them! Special thanks to my wife, Lorraine, typist and stringent copy editor for all her hard work, but mainly for just being there – we really are each other’s “Last Bus.”

  Thanks for reading The Romen Society, and I hope you enjoyed this thriller. Now that you have finished would you be so kind to write a short review and post it on Amazon and/or Goodreads? You will find links to these sites on the contact page of my website, www.henryhack.com. These valuable reviews help other potential readers decide to purchase this book, and perhaps develop an interest in my previous ones.

  Coming up next is a collection of fourteen stories called Portraits in Blue which follow the careers of four NYMPD police officers as they progress from their rookie days to their retirement years. Accompany the three B’s – Brauer, Braddock, Benevento – and Detective Duke Williams as they encounter violence, compassion, success, failure, life and death as can only be found on the streets of New York. Look for Portraits in Blue in the fall of 2015.