“You sure I didn’t hurt you?”
“No, you didn’t. Thank you for catching me. I just need a minute to catch my breath and cool down. It’s been a long time since I had a young man grab me around my waist.”
“And a very nice waist it is.”
“You keep that up and you’ll make me blush.”
“I bet you’re beautiful when you do blush.”
“Why, thank you. Do you think I’m beautiful?”
“Very. You’re a spectacular looking woman who obviously takes very good care of herself. Now you’re blushing, and you’re beautiful when you do.”
“You keep that up and I might just have to take advantage of you later.” Joanne laughs nervously.
Travis laughs and leans down and kisses her on the forehead. “You keep that up and I might just let you.”
Joanne reaches out and hugs Travis around the waist. She could feel his muscular young body pressed against her. She must have had more wine than she thought. She held her breath to see if he would return the hug.
Travis reaches down and hugs her back. “You better be careful, or I might take advantage of you.”
“You keep that up and I might just let you.”
They both laugh. About that time, they hear the guys coming in and they step apart.
“Hey Travis, Mrs. Baker. Everything ok?”
“Yeah, she got a little overheated cooking and I had her sit down for a minute.”
“Are we too early?”
“No, everything’s ready. I just need to get it on the table. You boys get washed up.”
Travis and Joanne went about getting everything on the table and ready for dinner. The guys came back in and they all sit down to enjoy the wonderful meal Joanne had prepared.
“So, guys, if you don’t mind me asking, how do you all know each other?”
“Skipper, I mean Travis and I have known each other since middle school. We grew up together and joined the Marines together. We got separated after boot camp and we both got recruited for Force Recon School. When we graduated, Travis went off to Sniper School. When he graduated, with honors I might add, The Marines gave him the opportunity to form his own team and I was the first one chosen. After that, he handpicked each of the guys on the team for special skills they brought to the team. We’ve been together ever since. We ran 300 missions together. We were a 15 man team and we lost three members on active duty. Now we operate as a 12 man team.”
“That’s very impressive. And what sort of skills do each of you have?”
“I’m the sniper and what they call overwatch. I watch over the guys and take out any threats that come our way to make sure the guys are safe. I run the team.”
“I’m the climbing and rappelling specialist.”
“I’m the explosives expert.”
“I’m the water expert.”
“Lee is the Ariel expert.”
“Stan is the communications expert.”
“Lewis is the public liaison.”
“Robert is the blockade specialist.”
“William is the diversion specialist.”
“Wilson is the team’s muscle.”
“Terry is the resident wizard.”
“Leon is the security specialist.”
“I see what you mean when you say everyone on the team brings something special with them. It must be very exciting and dangerous.”
“It can be both. Usually more dangerous than exciting. Everything we do is classified.”
“What do you mean when you say classified?”
“It’s all top secret and cannot be talked about.”
“Oh, I see. Like top secret in the movies?”
They all laugh, and Travis says “Yeah, something like that.”
Travis and Joanne are the only ones drinking wine with dinner. The guys are all drinking sweet tea. Everyone finishes dinner and the guys go back on duty. Travis tells Joanne to sit at the counter and he will clean the dishes since she was gracious enough to make dinner. Neither speaks of what happened earlier. There’s no tension in the room. They’re both relaxed from the wine. Travis finishes the dishes, says good night to Joanne, and goes to his room.
Travis gets ready for bed and closes his eyes. He prays to Sarah and Jamie for forgiveness for things he has done and might have to do to bring a conclusion to this ordeal. Travis lays down and is going over the events of the day when he hears a soft knock on his door.
“Come in.”
“I don’t mean to bother you, Travis.”
“It’s ok, Joanne. What can I do for you?”
“I was wondering if you might not mind holding me for just a bit. With everything that happened earlier, it just felt so nice to have someone hold me. It’s been so long since that happened. I know that your wife is still fresh in your mind, and I’ll understand if you say no.”
“Come in. I must admit it felt nice for me too.”
Joanne comes into the room and slips into bed beside Travis. Travis puts his arm around her, and she snuggles into his warm and hard body. They lay like this for a while and Travis notices that Joanne has dozed off. He smiles and dozes off himself. Travis wakes sometime during the night as he feels Joanne leaving the bed. He doesn’t let her know he’s awake. Travis rises early the next morning and heads to Langley.
FORTY-TWO
Langley Op’s Center
TRAVIS ARRIVES AT the Op’s Center bright and early. He starts going through the intel that Turner gave him on Joanne’s background. What he can’t figure out is her not knowing, or should he say, acting like she knows nothing about the money. He put a trace on the offshore account to see if any new transactions have happened. Travis still can’t figure out why Baker rolled over so easy. Travis goes over and over the information and suddenly it hits him like a ton of bricks! Travis receives a hit on the account. Joanne has withdrawn $1,000,000 - enough to cover the cost of the scholarships. This just confirms his suspicions. Travis needs to see Turner immediately. He goes upstairs to Turner’s office.
“Come in, Travis. What can I do for you?”
“I’ve figured it out. Baker’s nothing more than a puppet in this whole thing. That’s why he rolled over so easy. I put a trace on the offshore account, and I got a hit just now. A $1,000,000 withdrawal. Baker’s in Federal Prison; he has no access to the account. It has to be Joanne. That’s the amount she needs to do the scholarships in Sarah and Jamie’s names. Rather than pull it from the account under her husband’s name, she pulled it out of the offshore account.”
“So how does that make Baker a puppet in all this?”
“Don’t you see? Joanne’s the one behind all this. She’s the one running the show and used him as a puppet to orchestrate this whole thing. That’s why he rolled over - to protect her identity.”
“I’m still not putting all the pieces together. Break it down for me.”
“Joanne told me she knew nothing about the finances of her husband. I tested her again last night and got the same response. If she knew nothing about the finances, she wouldn’t know about the offshore account. By making the withdrawal today, she showed that she knows about it. Therefore, she knows about all the rest, because she’s the mastermind behind it all. She’s the one responsible for the deals Baker did on Capitol Hill and with the cartels. Hell, she probably made the deals and used him as a failsafe in case anything happened. That way, he takes the fall and she walks away scot-free to continue working with the cartels.”
“Your logic makes sense, but we need hard facts to prove any of this. Do you have any of that, other than the withdrawal and her telling you she knew nothing about the finances?”
“Not yet, but I have an idea how I might get some. It will involve me getting to know her a lot better and more personally, a fact I’m not fond of, but it may be the only way to get to her. I laid some groundwork last night just in case something like this might occur. I’ll give you more details later.”
“What if you’re wrong a
bout all this?”
“Then the worst that will happen is I embarrass myself and have to apologize. If I’m right, her ass is going down one way or the other. I’m telling you now, if she tries to run, I’ll drop her where I find her. This can end your way or my way; she will decide which happens. I hope for her sake it happens your way. My way will be slow and painful.”
“I hope for her sake she chooses the right way. I received word about the body found in the Hotel Central in Morocco. Remind me never to get on your bad side, Travis.”
“I’ll fill you in as data becomes available.” “Be careful Travis. If you’re right, and I think you are, this lady is no amateur. She has a plan and a backup plan and a backup plan for that backup plan. Just watch your back. I don’t want to get word there’s a knife in it.”
“You know me, all in.”
FORTY-THREE
Travis’s Home
TRAVIS ARRIVES HOME and finds Joanne in the kitchen again. Travis opens a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and pours two glasses. He walks up behind Joanne, sets the glasses down, wraps his arms around her waist and kisses her neck. She jumps, turns around, and kisses Travis on the lips, full and passionate. Travis returns the passion.
“Why did you leave last night?”
“I woke up and felt foolish being there. You’re young enough to be my son.”
“I’m also old enough to be your lover if you want me to be.”
“I do admit it felt wonderful to have your arms wrapped around me like that. Why would you want an old lady like me?”
“You’re beautiful and vibrant. Why would any man refuse to have you?”
“I’m just used to not being taken care of in that way for so long, that I just started doubting myself as a woman.”
“If the flesh is willing, let the mind follow and have what you need and want. You deserve to treat yourself with respect and have those feelings returned by someone willing and able to do just that.”
“Are you willing? Do you find me attractive and am I good enough for you?”
“I find you very beautiful and you’re definitely good enough for any man in his right mind. Let’s have some wine and see where things go from there.”
Travis grabs the wine glasses and heads for the living room and sets them down by the fireplace. He builds a fire and settles in beside Joanne on the floor. Joanne has brought the bottle with her. They settle in next to each other and enjoy the fire, the wine and each other’s company. Travis silently asks for Sarah and Jamie’s forgiveness for things he knows are about to happen. Joanne silently thinks to herself, I have finally found a man like I deserve instead of an old man with no feelings.
Travis slowly eases Joanne backwards and moves next to her. He leans down and tenderly but passionately kisses her. Joanne reaches up and wraps her arms around Travis’s neck and returns the kiss with the same passion. Travis stands and helps Joanne up. He takes her hand and leads her to his bedroom. He excuses himself for a moment and as he is retrieving the wine glasses and bottle, pauses in the kitchen to grab an extra bottle. Travis thinks to himself, I may need to get loaded for this. He returns to the room and closes the door. He slowly undresses Joanne, picks her up, and places her on the bed. They spend the afternoon exploring each other and making love. As day turns to evening, they lay back in each other’s arms.
Travis is startled by the sudden sound of small arms gun fire. He recognizes the sound of an AK-47. Travis tells Joanne to get in the closet and close the door. He throws on some clothes, grabs his go bag by the door, and races outside to see what’s going on. He sees muzzle flashes by the back wall and looks around to locate his men. He then looks to see where the incoming gunfire is coming from. The muzzle flashes are coming from the back wall.
Travis pulls his 1911 45 from his go bag and his M16aA1 from his bag and starts to circle around towards the back wall. He gets to Thomas and motions for him to go right and hold. He signals Lewis to head for the back wall. Travis slowly starts making his way toward the back wall on the left side. Travis reaches the back wall and peeks over. He sees four men in a boat trying to tie up to the dock. He stands and fires at the one on the dock trying to grab the rope. He goes down and Travis tracks to the boat and fires twice. Two more go down. That leaves one in the boat. The last man swings around and fires at Travis. The waves cause his shot to go wide and Travis pumps one more round downrange and the last man goes down. Travis signals the others all clear and they converge at the back gate. They slowly make their way out onto the dock. They check the bodies and find no identification on any of them. Travis can tell they’re Columbian. The cartel sent a hit squad. It was just pure luck that Travis had the boys here standing guard. “Looks like I’m still popular with the cartel. You guys clean this up and I’ll check on Joanne and call Turner.”
“Roger that, Skipper.”
Travis goes back to the house and tells Joanne what has happened. He tells her to go to her room and shut the door and don’t come out unless he or one of the guys comes to get her.
Travis calls Turner. “Hello. Director, this is Travis. A cartel hit squad just showed up at my house.”
“Are you and the guys ok?”
“Yeah, we’re good. Managed to take them all out before they could get the boat docked and get on land.”
“They came by the river?”
“Yes Sir, and there’s only one person that could have told them where I was. Baker’s in prison in isolation. He has no outside contact with anyone. That only leaves one person. I haven’t even told you where my new house is. No one at the CIA has that information. I think we have confirmation of who the mastermind is in all this. She wants me eliminated before I can figure out she is really in control and not Baker.”
“Sounds like you may be right about that. We still need proof to be able to bring her down.”
“I know. I’m working on that. I’ll see what intel I can gather from these guys, but I need you to send a clean-up team to my house. I have the boys starting the job already.”
“Ok. Tell me the address and I’ll have them there in 30 minutes.”
Travis gives his address to Turner and goes out and tells the boys the clean-up team’s on the way.
“If any neighbors show up, tell them we were setting off firecrackers and apologize for disturbing them.”
“Roger, Skipper.”
“Get the bodies inside the wall quickly in case someone shows up.”
Travis’s house doesn’t have a second story, but one of the reasons Travis liked this house is that it has a tower in the center. The man who built the house was an avid bird watcher and built a tower with windows all the way around so he could sit up there and bird watch the river and woods. You can bet from now on Travis will have one of the boys or himself up there all the time until this is finished. Travis heads back to the house to get Joanne and see what story she plays about all this.
“Joanne, it’s Travis. Open the door please.”
Joanne opens the door and Travis goes inside.
“Are you all right?’
“Yeah, I’m good.”
“Are the guys all right?”
“Yeah, they’re all good.”
“Thank God. I was so scared when I heard the shooting start. You sure you’re ok? You’re not wounded, are you? Come here and let me check.”
“That’s ok. I’m ok. How did you know it was gunfire and not firecrackers or something like that?”
“William used to shoot skeet in the backyard. I’m used to hearing gunshots.”
“Oh, ok. I was just curious. Most women are not used to gunshots. I guess you had better stay in here tonight. There’ll be some people here to clean up the mess out back and we don’t want to raise any suspicions.”
“That would probably be wise, although I would love to sleep in your arms tonight.”
“I’d like that also, but we have to be careful.”
“I understand. I guess I’ll kiss you goodnight now, then.”
FORTY-FOUR
FCI Bennettsville
TRAVIS GETS UP and prepares breakfast. Joanne joins him in the kitchen.
“Are you ready for your big day today?”
“I’m nervous.”
“What are you nervous about?”
“Seeing him. Knowing it’ll be the last time I see him. He may be a son-of-a bitch, but I was married to him for 30 years.”
“That’s understandable. Have you figured out what you’re going to say to him?”
“I have no idea. What do you say to someone who’s about to be executed?”
“I know what I’m going to say. I’m going to tell him there’s a special place in Hell for someone like him. I’ll see him when I get there, and I’ll be sure he suffers for eternity when I do!”
“I don’t think that would be appropriate for me to say, even if that’s what I’m thinking.”
“I guess it wouldn’t be at that. I guess just tell him how you feel at the moment.”
“I guess we need to be ready to leave about one o’clock. They have a strict rule about visitors being searched before they are allowed to visit a prisoner. I had them grant me a special disposition. They will be satisfied if I tell them I searched you personally. I won’t search you, but I guess we need to dress in the same room so I can assure them that you have been searched and not be lying to them.”
“I understand, and dressing with you in the room will not be a problem. Actually, I like the idea. It may help to relax me before we leave.”
“I’m glad you understand.”
Travis goes about his normal routine and gathers Joanne and prepares to leave. They drive out to Bennettsville and prepare to go in to see Baker.
“Travis Bones and Mrs. William Baker to see the Senator.”
“Yes, Sir. We’ve been expecting you. It has been pre-approved for you to see him.”
Travis and Joanne are taken back to see Baker. He looks drawn and has lost weight. He looks fragile and he doesn’t look up as they come in.
The Cartel Affair Page 12
