Excess Baggage

by Pete Lister

  “Mike, get up on your knees and turn away from me.” After more jockeying, Tony was able to get his face into Mike’s hands, and Mike pulled his blindfold off. Several minutes later, blindfolds removed, they were both standing. With a little more maneuvering, Mike’s switchblade was open and they were free.

  Back in the Escalade, both men had their eyes wide open, staring straight into the air conditioning vents. The pain was greatly diminished, but the cold air still felt good.

  “Mike, what do we tell Shiv?”

  “We tell him the truth. I been knowing Shiv a long time now. He’ll be pissed, but he’ll be a lot more pissed if he finds out we lied to him. He takes good care of us, we owe him at least that much. Besides that, he needs to know they’re back. We’ll get another chance at these bastards, and we’ll want Shiv’s help then.”

  § § §

  A steady rain was beating down on the observation car of the VIA Rail Canada train. The four Sherrys were relaxing, enjoying the smooth ride through the Canadian countryside. None of them had ever seen Canada from this perspective. The food was good, the service was excellent, and they were enjoying the ride.

  After securing the RV in the storage lot, the Sherrys had driven to Detroit. John’s van secured in long-term parking, they had taken a cab across the border to Windsor, Ontario. After a late lunch at Caesars Windsor, a casino near the terminal, they had passed through Toronto and were now approaching Montreal, en route to Halifax.

  The next day, after leaving the train at Halifax Station, they had taken a taxi to Stanfield International, where they chartered a Learjet 60 from Private Jets Charter, “Tailor Made Travel”, to Manchester, England. Their lucre was enabling them to enjoy a heretofore unknown sense of luxury.

  When they came aboard, the captain, Joshua Todd, personally welcomed them aboard, briefed them on the weather and the details of the trip, and assured them that any special requests would be filled to the best of the company’s, and the crew’s, ability.

  “Excuse me, Aubrey.” John had flagged the flight attendant, several hours after takeoff. “Could you please ask Capt. Todd to let us know when we’re an hour from the Irish coast?”

  “Certainly, sir.” The flight attendant smiled and stepped back to the galley. She picked up the intercom phone and spoke briefly, before returning. “The captain said he’d be sure to let you know,” she told them.

  Several hours later, John and Drew were deep in conversation, working their way through a couple of freshly-made sandwiches while their wives had settled in, reading. Dianne read with one hand, working her way through a fresh Cobb salad with the other. The attendant came forward from her post in the galley, bringing them refills for their drinks. “Capt. Todd asked me to tell you we’re an hour west of the coast now, Mr. Sherry.”

  “Good, thank you.”

  Forty-five minutes later, John waved her over, again. “Please tell the captain we’ve changed our minds, and we’d like him to cancel his flight plan. Ask him to refile for Kerry, Ireland. Would you do that for us, please?”

  “Certainly, sir.” Still smiling, she returned to the galley, and picked up the intercom, again. The conversation took only a little longer this time. “The captain asked me to tell you that we’ll be able to accommodate you, sir.”

  “Thank you.” John told her. “That would be great.” What John didn’t tell her was that if anyone was waiting in Manchester, they wouldn’t be able to learn their new destination in time to intercept them.

  Thirty minutes later, as the Sherrys were deplaning in Kerry, John handed each member of the crew an envelope containing ten of their American hundreds. It just seemed so much easier to part with found money than the stuff you had to earn yourself, he noticed. It was also easier when you counted your money by the foot.

  After clearing customs, the Sherrys took a cab into downtown Farranfore and rented a car. John explained that if someone was to track them to the Kerry Airport, the first place they’d check would be the car rental agencies at the airport. By taking a cab to Farranfore, it would at least give them a little more time, and perhaps make the job of tracking them a little harder.

  § § §

  Two weeks later, the Sherrys were sitting in Cable O’Leary’s, a pub with great food in the village of Ballinskelligs, on County Kerry's Iveragh Peninsula. After being on the road for a week and a half, they had checked into the Ballinskelligs Inn. Cable O’Leary’s, a nearby bar and grill, had drawn them every night to look east over the water behind the pub, while the sun went down behind them. They had also taken the precaution of returning the rental car and renting another one from a different agency every two or three days.

  Using Ballinskelligs as a base, they had been exploring the Kerry Ring, and were thinking of spending a couple of weeks exploring Scotland next. Drew and Ashley had been taking Gaelic lessons every evening from a retired schoolteacher, and John had been enjoying fishing along the beach behind the inn. For her part, Dianne had curled up with a stack of the books she had been wanting to read, watching through the white fence from a lawn chair at the edge of the inn property, as John fished in the surf. It occurred to her that this entire adventure had given her the unaccustomed luxury of free time to read, something she had often missed in her life.

  § § §

  “Shiv, I just heard from my guy at State. The Sherrys used their passports.” Di Stasio was on his cell phone from their unmarked car, while Scott drove. “Day before yesterday, they chartered a jet from Halifax to Manchester, England, but they never got there. At the last minute, they changed their flight plan and landed in Kerry, Ireland. We called all the car rental agencies at the Kerry airport, and no one rented a car to any Americans around the time they landed. But, at least we’ve verified that they went to Ireland. They used their own passports, too. That’s how we were able to find them.”

  “Two couples?”

  “That’s what the gal at the charter jet company said.”

  “Well, that squares with what Jack heard in St. Croix.”

  “We have an APB out for them, sent it to Interpol, too, but all we have is a request to talk to a ‘person of interest/witness’ to a suspicious fatal accident. If they’re stopped, the locals will just give them my number and ask them to call me. But, in the APB, I asked that any local officers who stop them contact me directly, to let me know where they were located. I wouldn’t hold out much hope, though, without knowing what kind of car they’re driving. I’ll let you know if we hear anything else.”

  “Good work. Thanks, Ralph.” Shiv hung up the phone and called out, “Chris!”

  When his secretary stuck her head in the door, Shiv said, “I gotta see Jack, right away.”

  Five minutes later, Jack Paustian strode into Shiv’s office. “What’s up, Shiv? You wanted to see me?”

  “Yeah. Jack, your passport still valid?”

  “Sure, I just renewed it last year. Remember when Wendy and I took the kids to Jamaica?”

  “Oh yeah, good. I want you to pick five of our sharpest guys. They all gotta have passports. You’re going to Ireland. We got a lead on that goddam bus driver. He’s in Ireland somewheres, and I want you to find him.”

  “Good God, Shiv, Ireland’s a whole country.”

  “It don’t matter. I want you guys to rent an office with half a dozen phones. I want you to start calling every hotel, motel, B&B, and car rental agency in the country, if you have to. Start at the Kerry Airport and work your way out. If there’s tourist places, try them before you try backwater hotels and shit like that, you know what I’m sayin’?”

  “Sure, Shiv.”

  “We still got copies of the drivers’ license pitchers of the driver, his girlfriend, and his dad, right?”

  “Yeah, Shiv, we all got copies.”

  “Okay, when you get there, get a bunch of copies made you can hand out. Now, we know the old man’s picked up a broad of his own, so you’re looking for two American couples, one’s in their late twenties and the
other’s around sixty. They’re probably traveling together in one rental car. Talk to di Stasio to get the details.

  “I want you guys flying out tomorrow morning. Chris’ll get your tickets. You’re on your own over there, but I want a report every night. See me before you leave and I’ll make sure you get everything we got on these bastards.”

  “Sure, Shiv. Wendy’ll be glad to get me out of the house for a while. I’ll talk to you before we leave.”

  “And Jack, I want them alive. I sure don’t want a repeat of the deal with Lawrence. I don’t want none of them dropped ‘till you know where the stuff is. At least I hope they still got it. They been spending my money like drunken sailors. The first priority is whatever’s left of the cash, then, the horse. You guys get them someplace safe, find out where the stuff is, and keep them on ice ‘till you hear from me.

  “I’ll let you know when we find the stuff. I don’t care what you have to promise them. Tell them they can walk, tell them you’ll take them to dinner and a movie. I don’t give a shit. Just find my stuff. After we’re sure we got it, smoke them and come on home. If you can make it look like an accident, so much the better, but I really don’t give a shit.”

  “Got it. Don’t worry, Shiv, we’ll find them if they’re still there.”

  “Jack, you find the stuff, there’s a bonus in it for the whole crew, and something extra for you.”

  “Thanks, Shiv, I’m sure the boys would appreciate it, but I’m not worried. You’ve always taken good care of us. I’ll talk to you later.” Paustian turned and walked out of the office, leaving Shiv sitting at his desk, a smile on his face for the first time since the bunker was hit.

  § § §

  Two weeks had passed. Jack Paustian and his crew had spent every day, dawn to dusk, sitting in a room in the River Island Hotel, four miles from the Kerry Airport. They had rented four adjacent rooms. Jack had talked to the manager and gotten one of the rooms stripped of its beds. Now, there were three tables and six phone lines set up, where Jack and his crew were working.

  § § §

  Shiv was just walking into his office after lunch when Scott and di Stasio caught him at the door. Scott had a smile on his face.

  “Shiv, you are absolutely not going to believe this. The bus driver charged a round of drinks on one of his debit cards.”

  “Where?”

  “A saloon in some place called Ballinskelligs, Ireland. What the hell kind of name is that?”

  “Irish?”

  “Yeah, okay, whatever. Anyway, the place is called Cable O’Leary’s.”

  “I’ll call Jack. Thanks, Sonny.”

  § § §

  Jack was on the phone with Shiv, back in Chicago.

  “Shiv, I think we found them. Two couples, Americans, been in a B&B down on the coast, an hour and a half from here. They go down to this local saloon every day, to watch the sun go down.”

  “Cable O’Leary’s, in Ballinskelligs.”

  “That’s right! How the hell did you know that?”

  “That’s why I called. The kid charged a round of drinks there. Sonny and Ralph was just here and told me about it.”

  “Well, they checked into this inn, and they’re at this bar and grill every night, according to the gal at the inn. I asked her not to tell them I called. The boys and me figured that, when they go down to watch the sunset tomorrow, we’d be sitting outside the bar, watching, too. We can take them back to their rooms and sit on them.”

  “Great work, Jack. Be careful. I don’t think you’re in any danger, I mean, a bus driver, his old man and a coupla broads? Besides, there’s six of you. But they’re no dummies. You gotta make sure they got no way out, and you gotta make sure the local cops don’t get involved. You guys packin’?”

  “Nope. We didn’t check any baggage, and we obviously couldn’t carry them aboard. I’ll find some here.”

  “Might not be a bad idea. Check the pawn shops.”

  “I’ll take care of it, Shiv. We’ll be there first thing when they open in the morning. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  “Oh, Jack. Wendy called. Said to tell you to bring something home for the kids.”

  “Thanks, Shiv.”

  “And Jack…”

  “I know, Shiv, I’m sorry. I’ll call her tonight and tell her. I think she only calls ‘cause she likes you better’n me.”

  “She should.” Shiv hung up, laughing.

  § § §

  “Mr. Buckley!” John and Dianne were headed for the door when the landlady hailed them.

  “Yes, Mrs. Larkin?”

  “A word, if I may.”

  “Of course, Mrs. Larkin. What can I do for you?”

  “Mr. Buckley, Mrs. Buckley, I run a respectable house. I’d not be interested in any trouble here.”

  “You run a beautiful, peaceful house, Mrs. Larkin. We’re enjoying it immensely.”

  “Well, now, y’see, here’s the rub. I took a strange phone call this afternoon. Seems someone is looking for you two, and Mr. and Mrs. Bolan, as well. Their descriptions of you were a little vague, but the ages were spot on. When I told them y’were, indeed, staying here, the gentleman thanked me, and then asked me not to say anything. Now, Mr. Buckley, that’s strange, if you ask me. No good can come of a call like that, and if you’ll be bringing trouble to my house, I’ll thank you to move on.”

  “Mrs. Larkin, I really appreciate your telling me about this call. I think I know who it is, and if I’m right, it’s family.”

  “I dinna think ‘twas family, Mr. Buckley. The gentleman said, and these are his very words, ‘I dinna know what name they’re going by…’ Now that doesn’t sound like family to me.”

  “No, it doesn’t. And did you tell them? Our names, I mean.”

  “Now, Mr. Buckley, if the scoundrel dinna know your name, it certainly isn’t my place to enlighten him. He’ll have to ask you, if he wants to know what names you’re using, now.” This last was spoken as she glowered over her half-lens reading glasses. “Now, look, you’re not spies or special agents of some sort, are you? You know, like in the films? What I mean to say is, we’re not going to see some kind of villain showing up here with guns and the like, are we?”

  “Mrs. Larkin,” John laughed, “I assure you, Mr. Goldfinger has no designs on your inn, at least not on our account.”

  “Well, you’ve been wonderful guests, and I’ve enjoyed your company, so I’m extending you the courtesy of a warning. If there’s to be trouble, I’d be grateful if it found you elsewhere.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Larkin. You’re an absolute treasure. I assure you we’ll bring no trouble down upon your grand house or your good name, and we’d love to return. If you would be so kind as to prepare our bill, we’ll be gone this evening, after we watch the sunset.”

  “It’ll be under your door, sir. And please, if you’re ever not in trouble, feel free to visit us, again.” Laughing, John and Dianne strolled down to Cable O’Leary’s pub. They found Drew and Ashley, sitting at their usual table for the evening show.

  “Well, me boyo, as soon as we watch the sunset, we’d best be packing.”

  “What’s up, Pop?”

  “Somebody called Mrs. Larkin, asking for us. They had an old description, but it was close enough for her to ID us. They didn’t know our names, but they asked her not to tell us they’d called.”

  “Did she tell them what names we were using?” asked Ashley.

  “No, but I’d prefer if we weren’t here when they arrive. And, while I’d hope she wouldn’t share the information with them, to be safe, we’d better use another set of IDs when we leave.”

  “Oh, John, look,” exclaimed Dianne “Isn’t it beautiful? I love the colors.” They watched the sun dip below the horizon. Then, as one, they stood up and walked back to their rooms to pack their bags.

  § § §

  Jack had just gotten off the phone with his wife and kids. He turned to where Pat Mead sat leafing through a magazine.

  �
��Pat, I got a bad feeling. I think we ought to get down there and grab those folks tonight. I’d hate to get there in the morning and find out they were gone, and then we gotta start all over, again.”

  “Yeah, me, too.”

  “Pack up. I’ll call the other guys.”

  “Jack, we got no heat, y’know.”

  “I know, but it’s just a bus driver, an old guy, and a coupla broads. How much heat do you think we need?”

  They had driven as fast as they dared, the ninety-minute trip to Ballinskelligs taking well over two hours. They avoided numerous close calls on the drive to the coast, each caused by Jack forgetting to drive on the left side of the road as they approached hills and curves.

  When they finally reached the village, they went straight to the inn.

  § § §

  “I’m trying to explain, sir, if you’ll let me finish a sentence.” It was obvious Mrs. Larkin was getting frustrated. “Every evening, they go down to Cable O’Leary’s to watch the sunset. This evening, they returned from the pub, and on their way to their rooms, they asked if I would prepare their bills. I got the impression they had reservations elsewhere.”

  “And when did they actually leave?”

  “Just a couple of hours ago.”

  “Did they say where they were going?”

  “Well, they didn’t say, exactly. But as they were paying me on their way to the door, the young lady said something about never having seen the Vatican, before.”

  “They’re going to Rome?”

  “I’m sure I don’t know, sir. I’m just telling you what I heard. You realize, they weren’t actually talking to me.”

  “And what names are they using?”

  “I’m sure I don’t know, sir.”

  “Why don’t you just tell me what names they registered with?”

  “I’m not really sure that’s appropriate, sir, my not knowing you and all.”

  “Look, lady,” Pat Mead told her. “We’d really like to get back on the road and leave you in peace. That’s really the best way for stuff to happen. But, we can’t do that. See, we really need to know what names they were using, and if you can’t find it in your heart to tell us, I’m going to be forced to beat your sorry ass within an inch of your life. Now, is there anything about this conversation that’s left you confused?”