The Cartel Affair

by William E. Boone

  “I know nothing about what my father does in the Senate.”

  “This has nothing to do with him and the Senate. This is about him being in bed with the drug cartels and you helping him.”

  “I don't know what you’re talking about.”

  “Wrong answer!!!!”

  “Did you ever go deer hunting with your father?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “Did he teach you how to skin a deer?”

  “Yes. Why are you asking me about this?”

  “Can you imagine how painful that would be if you did that to a living human being? I can. I’ve seen it done in Columbia. Done to villagers by the cartel. Sometimes it would take days before they died. Do you get my drift?”

  “Ooooohhhhhh my God!!!! You’re talking about doing that to me!!! You would never get away with this. You sick bastard!!!”

  “You and your father are the sick bastards. You had my family killed so you could line your pockets with money. No thought as to how it would affect anyone else but yourselves!!! No, I’m not the sick one here, but I’ll enjoy it though. Depending on your answers as to how much skin you lose. Shall we begin to play the game?”

  “Someone will hear me screaming and come to help!!!”

  “You can and will scream as long and as loud as you want to, no one will hear you. We are 60 feet underground and the room is soundproof. Hell, no one in the next room will hear you, much less anyone outside. Your ass is mine and I’ll get my answers. It's just a matter of how long it takes. I have everything I need to keep you alive until I get what I want.”

  “You’re quite mad, aren't you? You’ve simply lost your mind, haven't you?”

  “Oh no, my dear!! I have never been more laser focused. I’m going to bring you and your family’s world down around your ears and there’s not a damn thing you can do to warn them. It's time to start the questions. If I were you, I would think long and hard before I answered.”

  “How long have you known about your father's involvement with the cartels?”

  “I don't know what you’re talking about.”

  “Let's start with the soles of your feet, shall we?”

  “OOOOHHHHHHH my God, noooooo!!!!!!”

  Travis lifts her foot up and straps it to the board he has positioned in front of the chair. He starts at the ball of her foot just behind the toes and starts slicing and peeling the skin back until he reaches the heel. He clips the skin off and drops it in a bowl on the table. The entire foot is raw flesh and exposed nerves. Travis doesn’t enjoy what he does, but it’s a necessary evil he must do to get the answers he needs.

  “The right foot is done. That has to hurt like a bitch, huh? Now, how long have you known about your father’s involvement with the cartels?”

  “I swear to God I don’t know what you’re talking about!!!”

  “You need to talk to someone you know instead of God, whom you have no relationship at all.”

  “OOOOOOHHHH my God, nooooooo!!!!!!”

  “You know, nerves are a very sensitive thing in general, but when they’re raw, they can be extremely painful. I have some needles here that would be extremely painful if I were to stick them in the raw nerves. I think it would be so painful that you would pass out from it. What do you think?”

  “PLEASE STOP!!!!! I can't take anymore. I’ll tell you whatever you want to hear.”

  “Left foot is done. I don't want you to tell me what I want to hear. I want you to tell me the truth. One way or another you will tell me the truth or die protecting your daddy and his lies. Shall I start with the needles or are you going to tell me the truth?”

  “What do you want to know?”

  “That's a smart move. We shall see if that’s the truth or not. Why did your father send you to the cabin in Big Bear?”

  “He needed me to make some deposits for the winery. Said they needed the money for the harvest this year.”

  “And you really believed that? Did you not notice that the winery name was not on any of the deposit slips?”

  “He said that it was going to individuals who were supplying labor for the harvest. I asked him about the names. That's what he told me. It seemed funny to me, but he insisted that it was for labor costs. I asked him how they could make a profit spending so much on labor and he assured me that that was normal; he just couldn't get away to make it himself. Something about a bill having to be voted on or something to that nature. I swear that’s the truth!!”

  “Do you expect me to stand here and swallow that load of horseshit???? You want me to believe that your father duped you into doing his dirty deeds by telling you the winery needed the money for the harvest? Do I look stupid or are you willing to die with that lie?”

  “I didn't believe it either, so I did some digging on my own while I was there and found out that the winery had never heard of these people. I have a file with what I found in it.”

  “Where’s this file? Did you confront your father about what you found out?”

  “Yes, I did. He said the money was being given to some people in Columbia for information about the cartel and their operations so that we could stop the flow of drugs coming into the United States. He said Congress had funded the money to contacts he had made while he was in Columbia when he went down. That was why he went down - to confirm their information.”

  “He went down to take his pay off from the cartel for allowing drugs by the boat load to enter these United States. I know. I was there. I shot and blew up his contact. Does the last name Escobar ring a bell? That’s the name he’s in bed with. He gave them my picture and my family’s information, and they came after them like the animals they are. They paid those names you sent money to shoot my wife and son and then burned their bodies in a car fire. Your father will pay for what he's done, but in my court, not the legal system’s court. You and your husband will pay along with him. You’re just as dirty as he is for helping him and believing his lies. Now where’s this file you say you have?”

  “It’s in a safe at home. I, I can get it for you. You can go with me. I promise I won’t contact anyone.”

  “You’re not going anywhere. You’ll give me the location and combination and my people will get the file.”

  “The neighbors will see your people and call the police.”

  “The neighbors will never see my people. We took you and your husband in public and no one saw a thing. It's what we do. No one will ever know we were there. Now give me the location and combination or I’ll start moving up the leg.”

  “The safe is behind a painting in the library. The combination is 34-27-16-48. Could I please have something for the pain?”

  “Guy’s get in here. Get the medics to patch her up. Genius, Falcon and Brutus, go to her house and retrieve the file and get it back here. There may be more in it than she’s telling us. Check the rest of the house while you’re there. When the medics are done, put her back in isolation, then we all meet back at Langley Op’s Center to see what we find.”

  NINETEEN

  Langley Op's Center

  “OK MEN, WHAT did we find?”

  “We hit the jackpot, Skipper. She had files on all kinds of shady dealings her father’s responsible for having done inside and outside of the government. This guy’s a real piece of work. Your family’s apparently not the first people he has taken care of and guess who his go to guy is? Apparently, he’s the one that turned Williamson in the first place. He created Williamson to be his own personal hit team whenever he needed them. Looks like for the past several years, he’s personally saying who wins and loses in the election all the way from local to national level. From what we’ve gathered, half of Capitol Hill is on his payroll. There are a lot of big names that owe him favors and some have already been called upon to pay up.”

  “This just proves that she knows what’s going on and is up to her neck in everything. Either that or she’s gathered enough intel to black mail or keep her father in check and off her back. Sounds like brother
may be out in the cold if anything happens to daddy. Is the son or daughter mentioned in any of these files? We need to rule out the son, because if he’s mixed up in all this, we need to deal with him also. Genius, see who the beneficiary is on her father’s insurance and will, and see if the son’s included in any of them.”

  “Roger that, Skipper. On it.”

  “Squeaker, find out what the son has been up to. I want to know it all, including if he stumped his toe for the last month.”

  “Roger, Skipper.”

  “Guardian, shadow the son in case we need to yank him. Keep Trojan in the loop so we can be prepared at a moment’s notice.”

  “Roger, Skipper.”

  “The rest of us will finish going through the files and make our list of who we need to watch, speak to or yank if need be. This is going to be a long night. Grab some chow and get started, gentlemen. And I use that term loosely. Ha ha!!!”

  TWENTY

  The Barn

  “MRS. SEARS, WOULD you like to tell me about the secret room in your house willingly, or shall I continue with what I started?”

  “What? How did you find out about it?” “My men are very thorough and very professional. They don’t miss much. They know what to look for. Now, do you want to tell me all about it or shall we continue. I personally don’t think you can take too much more.”

  “Ok. I’ll tell you. My father is a very powerful man. He holds a lot of power over his colleagues. I wanted to know how he held so much power, so I started looking into what he did and how he did it. He’s consumed with power and all it entails. Hell, he would sell his own mother out if it benefited him and he got more power. I wanted to protect myself and my brother and mother, so I started collecting as much information as possible so that if he ever tried to screw us over, I would have power over him. I came to realize that a man like that would just have you killed and then destroy the evidence. That’s why I built the secret room, so he couldn’t find the evidence. I guess now, that was stupid on my part. If you could find it, I guess his people could too.”

  “Why gather the information on the others?”

  “I wanted to know that if things ever went sour for my father, maybe I could use that information to help him.”

  “So, the good daughter till the very end, huh?”

  “I realize now that was stupid on my part. I mean, he would have the same information as I did to use against them. Hell, probably a whole lot more than what I have for that matter. I just wanted to protect my family.”

  “Well, I thank you for doing the heavy lifting for me. I’ll use that information to destroy your father and his circle of cohorts. He’ll be publicly humiliated and run out of office along with his cronies. Then I’ll make it look like he committed suicide because of it. Or, I may decide to kill him first and then humiliate him after his death. Either way, he dies. I just haven't decided how or when yet. But thanks to you, we’ll be able to clean up the government somewhat, thanks to your information.”

  “What are you going to do to me and my husband? I have answered your questions. Can't you let us go with the promise not to tell anyone about any of this? Put us in witness protection or something?”

  “I’m afraid that won’t be possible. You see, your father had my family killed, so I’ll have to do the same in return. I want him to go through what I had to. I’ll spare your mother if I find that she’s not involved. I understand your father’s estate is worth between 40 to 50 million dollars, I think your mother would be ok living on that. Your brain-dead drug-addicted brother probably has no clue as to what your father’s doing, but he must die also because my son had to die for your father. It’ll be done in such a way that your father will think his guy is coming after him. I want to see him sweat like the pig he is.”

  “You really are a monster, aren't you?”

  “No. Your father is the monster, I’m the boogie man that kills the monsters.”

  TWENTY-ONE

  Langley Op's Center

  “GUARDIAN, GRAB THE brother and take him to The Barn.”

  “Roger, Skipper.”

  “We need to set this up so it looks like Williamson did it. I want to see this son of a bitch sweat and go to ground thinking he’s being hunted by his own man. We’ll inject each of them with a speed ball, put them in Teresa’s car and drive them up to Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah Valley. We’ll take a second car and run into them and make it look like they were run off the road. Then make it look like they drove over the cliff after being hit. We have to be careful there are no witnesses and make sure none of us get hurt doing it. I’ll then go down the hill and shoot each one of them in the head like he did my family. Make it look like he did the same thing to Baker's family. I want to verify they’re dead before anyone finds them. Merlin, can you rig something up for the accelerator that’ll keep it wide open but not be found after the crash?”

  “Sure Skipper, that should be an easy fix.”

  “Good. I’ll do the shooting and then Merlin will rig the gas. I’ll stand beside the car and throw it in gear and jump out of the way as it goes over the cliff. Everybody straight on this?”

  “Roger, Skipper.”

  TWENTY-TWO

  Franklin Cliffs Overlook – Skyline Drive

  Shenandoah National Park

  “NOW THAT WE have had a nice little ride and the drugs have had time to really take effect, it's time to get this show on the road. Merlin, how long before you’re ready?”

  “About ten minutes, Skipper.”

  “Ok. Let’s get everyone into position. They’re pretty much zombies at this point. Put the brother in the back, hubby will be driving and put her in the passenger seat. They would have to be driving a friggin Mercedes 300SD. Damn thing is like a tank. At least it’s not the turbo diesel, thank God.”

  Travis and his team get the cars set up and Boomer gets in the second car. Boomer backs off about a quarter of a mile. Travis gives the word and Boomer accelerates and heads for the other car. Just as Boomer gets to the car, he swerves, and side swipes the other car. Boomer then drives the other car out of the way.

  “Good to go when you are, Skipper.”

  “Ok. Clear south?”

  “Green light.”

  “Clear north?”

  “Green light.”

  “Get out and slam the car into gear. Man, that was close!!! Took off like a bat outta hell!! No way anyone's walking away from that. Everybody clear out and come back around and get me. I’m going down to make sure we're done.”

  “Roger, Skipper. How long do you need?”

  “The Visitor's Center is about one and a half clicks south. Meet me there in about 45 minutes.”

  Travis eased his way down the hillside to the crash site. The car was burning, and Travis looked inside and shot each one in the head as planned. He decided they would have to use dental records to identify the bodies. He was satisfied that everything was to his liking and took off headed south at about a seven-minute mile pace. He would get there in plenty of time to get rested before being picked up by the team.

  Travis arrived at the Visitor’s Center about 12 minutes later. The team would follow in ten minutes. Travis sat down and started planning what needed to happen next. Travis was deep in thought when the team showed up to pick him up.

  “Everything ok, Skipper?”

  “Yeah, everything looks good.”

  They took the second car with them, found a deserted field on the outskirts of DC, and set it on fire.

  TWENTY-THREE

  Langley Op's Center

  “LET'S GET SOME rest men. It’ll probably take a couple of days for the coroner to be able to identify the bodies. We’ve got a lot to go over and a lot of planning to do. Rest and spend time contacting the families. You men, as always, performed above and beyond as the professionals you are. Thank you for your professionalism and dedication to team, country and me. We’ll reassemble at 13:00 tomorrow. Dismissed.”

  “Rise and shine gentl
emen. It's early am and time to get this show on the road. Meet in 15 in the Op's Center.”

  “Roger that, Skipper. The Op's Center in 15.”

  “Men, I have decided to let Baker find out about his family and give him a few days to do the right thing or we’ll do it for him. If he doesn't take his own life, then I’ll take him down and humiliate him in the public's eyes. I’m not going to take him out like I had planned on doing. I want him to think about this for the rest of his miserable life. I want him looking over his shoulder if the wind starts blowing or he hears a whisper. Let's get to work putting together a story that can be leaked to the press if he doesn't do the right thing. I want it tight and concise with supporting documents in his own handwriting and backed up by other paperwork that the bastard can't wiggle his ass out of. We want to use the intel his daughter had on him, but not the items we have on the other members of the House and Senate. That will be used at a later date. Now let's get moving and have our ducks in a row when the shit hits the fan.”

  Travis and the team set out to get their story together and have it ready to go. Seven hours later they’re finished and ready.

  “All right boys, now we sit back and wait for the news to break about his family. I want him watched like a hawk when it does.”

  “All right men, the coroner has his findings and is supposed to be making the announcement in a news conference in five minutes. Let's get the TV on and watch what happens when the news is released.” “NBC has just received word from the coroner’s office of Washington County that a press conference is being broadcast and we are covering it live. Let's go live to that news conference now.”