“You didn’t tell me everything about the foster care experience.”
Jim shrugged. “I was embarrassed, and I didn’t think you needed to hear all of it. Kelly and Rhonda knew a lot of things. I don’t want to talk about the details. Temple understood. She told me about meeting Bret, and how great he treated her. One night when she invited him to dinner, she lost control… and… you know. It was her first time. Then after that night, Bret only called if he heard she would be attending a big event.”
“The movie star life is not as easy as people think. It’s good she has a young friend she can trust, but you have to realize this is serious business with you and Temple being more than friends. You can be taken away from us, if the authorities think Stacy and I knowingly allowed you to be intimate with Temple. On top of that she can be imprisoned, or her career ruined, or both. I hate to pull the G-ma card on you, but it would break your grandma if they took you away from us. After what I’ve done in the first days you’ve been with us, it will be touch and go for a while. I’m sorry your first experiences have awakened the inner man in you so early. Most boys have so many things on their minds with school, sports, and simply talking to girls, that they avoid the more serious side of growing up. In your case… that ship has sailed. Temple works out with us three times a week, and gets together with us on Casablanca Nights. Wouldn’t that be enough time to be friends?”
Jim remained silent. I knew he was thinking it through, but I also knew he was already hooked to the point he couldn’t think of not being with Temple for even a minute. I remembered all too well what happened after my initial experiences. “It won’t be enough, huh?”
Jim shook his head. “You’re right. This is going to be tough. Maybe I could go with her to different things in public.”
“You could, if you can keep your hands off each other. One wrong move, and the mistake will be everywhere… including the celebrity haunting TV shows. We have to get you into a school too, which will be no easy task. As I recall, they’ll need a birth certificate amongst other items we don’t have. Luckily, I’m a P.I. and with Bone’s help, we’ll have all the necessary documentation in no time. How have you been doing in school?”
“Except for the fights, school was the best time I had.”
“I noticed you’ve learned some skills defending yourself. What were the fights about?”
Jim grinned at me. “I sometimes allow my mouth to get my ass in trouble. I studied martial arts, and boxing on YouTube. I made a heavy bag out of a nylon tent bag and rags. It wasn’t too easy to practice on, but it helped me try out stuff I saw in the video clips. At school, I found out one of the most important things in a fight is being able to take a punch. Not many of the other boys could. I bet you can teach me a lot.”
Yeah, but should I is the question. “If you can learn to keep your mouth harnessed at school, and only use what I teach you to defend yourself, I’ll work with you anytime you want. I have a workout room at the house with a heavy bag, punching bag, and a weight machine. I’ll work with you on your studies too. I know a lot more than how to be an old violent geezer.”
“I do pretty well with my subjects. It will be good going back to school. Will you have to go to the police station tomorrow?”
Boy, do I. “Yes, and you can come along. I’ll check out the local school too. Are you in 6th grade?”
“Seventh. I advanced a year, because I scored high on my placement tests at the school in Arizona.”
There’s some good news. “I’m impressed. We’ll-”
The Gorgon whistle announced the grill was ready. “C’mon. We’ll go barbeque before we get a second helping of that air raid siren.”
“Wow… Aunt Lo can really whistle.”
“Amongst other things. Thanks for hearing me out on the Temple deal, kid. We’ll find a way to work these things out. Temple is a great girl. I’m thinking like you mentioned before, she may very well meet someone in her age group or older at college when she starts next September. It’ll hurt like hell if she does if you’re not ready for it.”
Jim waved at Temple, who looked like a signalman on an aircraft carrier. “I know.”
* * *
Cheech arrived at the same time as Stacy. After the hellos, and introductions, Jim and I served our last two arrivals. We put the remainder of what we had cooked in a covered hot plate for those wanting seconds. Jim sat with Temple of course, and Stacy stayed with me. We had two large tables with umbrellas, and plenty of seats. Everyone was hungry and quiet, a rather nice change. Afterward, everyone pitched in to help clean up. Then I put on some music while showers were taken care of. It was getting late March chilly, but comfortable with clothing and light jackets. A beautiful orange cast coloring the horizon offered a wonderful sight for after dinner refreshments on our deck. Cheech, Lois, and I adjourned to our kitchen.
“You have a fine looking grandson, Rick.”
“Thanks. It’s a new experience. I figure you’ve heard the news.”
“Better than that. Word reached me from my contacts, the city’s underbelly think you’re working as my enforcer. After killing eight of the Ramos gang, and staying out of jail, they think I’ve already paid off the San Diego PD. I’m not sure how this new vision will work. Stacy told me why Ramos came after her. Do you have any plans for police involvement?”
“I’m going to the precinct tomorrow, and lay it all out for our Captain friend.”
“We delivered on a huge child pornography ring case,” Lo said. “I’m glad you came in spite of a possible government agent arrival. We’re wondering how Stacy’s doing, along with putting the final word on the Ramos deal.”
Cheech smiled. “She’s doing a wonderful job. The other employees like her, and she can spot a shoplifter nearly the moment she sees one walk in the door. Our security guys get the high sign from Stacy, and all they need do is wait for the payoff. I think she’s going to be fine. I know Jim’s arrival sure helped with that. That’s a heck of a story by the way. I might mention it to my screenwriter. Want a movie done on your life, Rick?”
“No thanks. I think Temple is grooming young Jim for a part in her next film, among other things.”
“Uh oh. The boy has a presence, but she could be in trouble if the paparazzi get a whiff of something romantic between those two. I do have an update about ‘The New Beginning’ sequel. Anything like that could kill the deal. There is over four years between them, right?”
“Yep… eighteen and thirteen. We have been laying out the facts for our two hotheads,” Lo replied. “They say all the right things back, but you know what happens when one is in heat, and the other more than willing. Rick thinks school and sports. I’m thinking even prayer might not be enough.”
“Interesting development. I sure hope you two can figure out a plan,” Cheech said. “The sequel has the potential to shoot way past the original. I welcome any help in this matter, because it’s a bit out of my line. I wish you well.”
“Gee… thanks, Cheech,” Lo said. “Going to work on a new movie would sure keep Temple busy. Jim would be in school. How far away from filming are you?”
“There’s no money problem this time at all. I have investors trying to throw money at me for the sequel. I figure we could start shooting in a month’s time. I’m hoping to move it up a couple weeks. We want the first part of the movie shot while Karen is in her last stage of pregnancy with a bunch of comedy skits with Trish’s character.”
“That could definitely be a help,” I said. The doorbell rang. “I’ll get it. If you’d like to adjourn to your movie mogul meeting, Lo and I can find out what our government buddies want to brief us on.”
Cheech followed me out, and detoured to the back deck. I answered the door. It was indeed the men in black. I shook hands with Van and Floyd before motioning them to come along with me. “Hi guys. I heard you had something important pop out from the porn bust. Lo’s waiting for us in the kitchen. Our guests will be busy for a while.”
&nbs
p; “You’ve certainly had an active few days,” Floyd observed, as we entered the kitchen. “I received the videos of everything, and examined the police reports. Your Captain Staley, who helped with the child porn bust, says he’s afraid the mayor is going to exile you to Utah.”
“That flatfoot has Captain’s bars because of us,” Lo replied. She shook hands with our two covert department heads. “He better watch his mouth, and that goes for the mayor as well. If I start playing hardball, they’ll be the ones fleeing to Utah. Sit down boys. What’s the new wrinkle Carl told me you wanted to talk to us about?”
“I found out during search and seizure who actually ran the Byers’ worldwide ring, and where millions were being funneled to.” Floyd took a file out of his briefcase. He handed it to Lo. “This guy is the one who kept the Byers’ in line. I’m certain they were so afraid of him, they risked doing the hit on their own. Now, he’s going to be scrambling. We think he has foster home setups like the Byers’ one in many other cities. This is big.”
I listened to Floyd, but I was watching Lo’s face. Her lips had tightened into a slash of fury from the moment she opened the folder. She finished in minutes, and passed it to me.
“It’s Abiola, Rick.”
Oh my God in heaven. No wonder she looked ready to chew nails. They called him ‘The Nigerian’. Sometimes in the clandestine world, opportunities reemerge. Payback of this caliber had sent two guys to us from usually at odds agencies just as they had outlined when Van brought us back in the Company fold. I glanced through it, but it didn’t matter. This was personal. I nodded at my partner.
“Okay, Floyd… who do I have to kill to get the contract on this son-of-a-bitch? Don’t sugar coat this. Give me the details. I don’t give a crap about his list of wrongdoings, and why the pantywaists in D.C. suddenly are interested in this slime ball. Straight up, right now… or I get nasty.”
Van, who knew the backstory, and I’m sure filled in Randolf, kept his mouth shut. When Floyd looked over at him, Van shrugged. “I told you it was personal.”
“You’re damn right it’s personal! There are three stars on the wall in D.C. because this Abiola bastard sold us out on a black op in Ghana. That stupid shit, Moran, vouched for him, and we went in wide eyed and innocent. We lost three agents, and Simmons is in a wheel chair.” Lo leaned across the table, staring at Van. “I was told he died in a drone strike, Van.”
Van Carmichael was one of us. He managed to get us out of Sana’a with an escort. That means something to me, but I could tell Lois wanted the truth from Van about whether the Abiola cover-up was a mistake or not.
“The confirmation was false, Lo. We got his brother instead,” Van answered without looking away. “As to afterwards, the suits backed off after Moran died in a fiery car crash shortly after you and Rick made it back to the states.”
Oh yeah. When you sell us out, odd things happen. What Van didn’t know was Moran had a date before we shipped him into a tree in his Mercedes. He had a mistress. When he left her for the night to hurry home, Lo and I intercepted him. Cal Moran had a real bad couple of hours before he hit that tree. A lot of fingers were pointed. They made us come in for a lie detector test, they already knew was hopeless. We eat lie detector tests for snacks – innocent as wind driven snow.
“Boo hoo! Moran ate it running into a tree,” Lo replied. “When you say backed off, you mean they covered up Abiola’s false confirmation. See, Rick, this is why the fuck we left in the first place. I’m thinking a couple of the boys are still at the farm from those times. It would explain why they Benghazied our asses in Sana’a. Does that sum it up, Van?”
Van kept his gaze locked onto Lo’s. “I know better than to play games with you two. I didn’t know, or I would have stopped it. I knew you two retired Moran the moment I read it in the papers. We’re scrambling because Abiola’s network in this country is into importing a violent element to create chaos, and set the stage for concerted terrorist acts. We told you we’d come to you with something detrimental to national security. This is it, and you get free rein.”
Van nodded at Floyd, who took out another paper. He handed it to Lo.
She read it, smiled, and handed it to me. “Well… it looks like you wankers go down with us if this op doesn’t pan out. If the Company had given Rick and me the truth, Abiola wouldn’t be on the table now, he’d be in hell, after I gave him hell on earth here.”
Floyd ventured a couple of questions I could tell he was hesitant to ask. “May I ask why this is personal? You lost agents in a black op because of oversight incompetence. I know the feeling well, but will this affect your taking this on?”
Lois looked away, keeping a tight rein on a long ago memory.
I took over. I could tell Floyd wondered if he needed to step away from this in spite of the Abiola threat. “Lo trained a young agent named Ava Cartier, freshly recruited out of college. One of our recruiters saw the mother lode in her. She already spoke four languages, along with martial arts training from childhood. Ava was a beauty, blonde hair down her back, model’s body, and a smile that would light up a room. She was also a killer without remorse, and instincts you can’t teach. Ava was a young Lo. We don’t normally bond with anyone in this damn business except our partners - but training, and subsequent missions sometimes bond us together whether we like it or not. She was our deadly kid sister.”
“We had two objectives in Accra, Ghana: take out an arms dealer importing weapons into Nigeria, and establish surveillance of a new operative working out of Accra, Largos Abiola. Lo and I took the hit, and Simmons led a reconnaissance crew using Ava as bait to make contact with Abiola. We don’t know what happened. When we finished our end, we couldn’t reach anyone. Lo started at the last place we knew they had been, and I hit the hangouts where the detail was to begin. Three of Abiola’s men were drinking at one of the dives we had discovered they met at near the waterfront. I called Lo, and we waited until one of them hit the bathroom. I took him out the back way. Lo met me with our ride. We took him someplace quiet, and Lo found out where our people were.”
“They never expected us. We hit them hard.” When Lo and I hit a place in those days, we killed like the rat packs who lived there did: no mercy. “Two of our guys were dead, tortured and mutilated. Simmons was alive, but barely. Ava had been raped, mutilated, and disemboweled. She was alive, but barely. She died in Lo’s arms. I patched Simmons the best I could, and we called in for extraction. We loaded Simmons with our people at the port, and went dark. By the time we left Accra, anyone who had ever known Abiola was dead. The bad news was we couldn’t find him, and the port city woke to the fact they were finding dead bodies everywhere. We had to leave.”
Lois spoke then. “Simmons told us Abiola was tipped off. When Ava flirted with him, he played along, and then drugged her. Simmons followed them with his two men, but it was a trap. They never had a chance. I hacked Moran’s bank accounts, both offshore, and in the US. He had wire transfers from Ghana amounting to a couple hundred thousand.”
Lo grinned. “He of course didn’t know anything, but we had a quiet chat before his accident. Moran had been tipping off Muslim gangsters in Ghana and Nigeria. It was the nineties, so they weren’t on our radar like they are now, not that we do anything but kiss their asses even today. He didn’t know where Abiola was, or he would have told me… I can guarantee you that. Then we received word a couple months later he’d been hit in a drone strike. As to whether we can do this or not, let me make something clear to you, Floyd. Rick and I get this contract or the government may lose a couple more department heads. Is that clear enough for you?”
Van knew to continue keeping silent. Floyd, to his credit, didn’t bother pulling the outrage card. “It’s yours. I’ll update you on his whereabouts at your on-line drop. We’re tracking him now. He’s in Mexico, but we know Abiola is headed here. We also know he’s heard about the Arizona bust. He’ll want to fix any loose ends, but not until he allows the headlines and arrests to play out
in the media. It will be nearly a week before he reenters the country. His main base is in the Byers’ area where he owns property. I pulled the Homeland Security card to keep the Byers’ incommunicado with outside sources, including lawyers. We’re taking no chances they would leak word about what they had on their computers concerning Abiola, although they’re smart enough to know he’d have them killed in jail for leaving a trail to him. This may be good news for you. D.C. wants a statement made, and only one side of the story left.”
“Our favorite kind of op,” Lo replied, holding out her hand, which Floyd grasped. “Remember to find out every single person who is in the know on this op, because if that bastard gets tipped off again, a lot of innocents are going to die.”
“You’ll have three in the know,” Floyd stated. “Van and I, along with Carl, who will be arriving tomorrow. Are you good with that?”
“Carl’s okay. He can be counted on,” Lo agreed. “We will try our best not to get too messy, but shit happens. You have our backs, and we’ll have yours.”
They both stood up. “We have to go,” Van said. “Thanks for hearing us out.”
“I don’t know how you two do it,” Floyd said, shaking his head. “Busting that kiddy porn ring, and drawing the ringleaders into a caught red handed trap was the best. I won’t even pretend to understand how you aced eight thugs, including a known mob boss like Dane Ramos, but I hope your luck holds.”
“My middle name’s luck,” I told him, before the Harpy opted for a parting shot.
Rick Cantelli, PI: Into the Darkness (Rick Cantelli, P.I. Detectives Book 3) Page 20
