Burn Notice: A Key West Thriller (Kelly Maclean Book 2)

by Nate Hawk

  “Sir, they claim that they have Portrait of a Young Man. Let’s see what they want. Maybe it will be worth listening to.”

  “They have my painting? All right, bring ‘em up but make sure that darkie doesn’t start waving his damn pistol around again!”

  Neither Kelly nor Owen had ever been to the governmental building that held the congressman’s office. Security was ridiculous but Riley successfully got them through the detectors and outfitted with visitor badges. They walked down the marble hallways and elegantly decorated office building as the little man led the way. Kelly and Owen got eyeballed up and down the entire time that they walked as they were somewhat dirty and they were the only people not dressed in business attire. They eventually arrived at Congressman Swanson’s office as Riley held the door and directed them in.

  “Riley, lock that damn door!” Swanson hollered. “And make sure Linda holds my calls!”

  Swanson eyeballed Kelly and Owen with contempt. “I’m assuming that your presence indicates that you’ve had success with this character Deep Throat, that was blackmailing me.”

  “He’s been neutralized. In fact, I imagine the crabs have already consumed most, if not all of his body,” Kelly said.

  “Well… how did you… Never mind! So you’ve got the painting back and you want to trade it. What do you want? Money I presume.”

  “We don’t want a dime, per se,” Owen said, noticing that the man’s face was showing signs of relief. “We want a government contract.”

  “Oh my God! That sounds worse than asking for money! A government contract doing exactly what?”

  “We want to stay in southern Florida and we were thinking that you could arrange some grant money that we could put towards building affordable minority housing.”

  The truth was that Kelly and Owen had no interest in becoming carpenters or in acquiring tax payer dollars for their personal gain. But they also thought it best that Swanson feel like he had birthed the idea of what lay ahead for the two men. Swanson immediately knew that if he was able to produce grant money for the two men that it would lead to a paper trail between the three and Swanson wanted to avoid this. He didn’t need a scandal on his watch. Kelly and Owen understood this as well.

  “I think you should continue to work within the realm of national security,” Swanson admitted. “You know, stick to what you’re good at.”

  Kelly and Owen liked that idea a lot but neither of them had any desire to work directly for the Agency anymore. They wanted to do so as private contractors.

  “You have a good point, congressman,” Kelly admitted.

  The men seemed deep in thought. Then Owen said, “I know from my own time working within federal agencies that southern Florida is a beacon for international smuggling. Maybe we could work off of that angle somehow…”

  Swanson thought about it a minute as if he were opening a Top Secret file in his mind and working his way through the relevant parts. Then it hit him. “There is a lot of hardware located in Southern Florida that is tasked with ensuring the safety of our border. Maybe I could make a call and get you hired on one of the service crews.”

  Congressman Swanson was getting closer to what Kelly and Owen wanted but he hadn’t quite gotten it. He still needed a nudge.

  “Well, all due respect, congressman,” Kelly began, “we don’t want to work for a company. We want to be the company.”

  Swanson gave them both a dirty look. “We’re a long way from DC, sonny! Besides, you think I’ve got the pull to walk into Congress and tell them a couple of city dicks that up and moved to the sticks of Key West are now solely responsible for national security hardware off the most smuggled coast of the world? You’re gonna have to start thinking smaller. A lot smaller!” Swanson insisted.

  Owen gave Swanson a look that reminded the congressman of the limousine experience. It was one of intimidating persuasion.

  “Congressman, I recall seeing that you helped your colleague out: Chester… you know the representative from the district on the other side of Florida there…”

  “You mean Lester Campbell!” he said proudly. “Now that you mention it, he is on the Committee of Homeland Security…”

  Kelly and Owen saw the man’s mind putting together the pieces. Then he did what he usually did in these types of circumstances. He made a promise to help of which he had no real intentions of following through on.

  “Look. I want my painting back and I understand that you two have helped me out of a jam, so I’ll work with you. I realize you’re both resourceful so I’ll see what arrangements I can make.”

  Kelly and Owen liked the way that the conversation was going. Now that they had the congressman’s word they intended to hold him to it.

  ***

  Chapter 26

  “Bones, I want to take this moment to officially make you a vice-president of our chapter,” Shifter said to a round of applause coming from other members of the biker gang. “Your help in the apprehension and… err… disposal of the Key West Pervert was much appreciated.”

  The men sitting around the table knew this was a big moment for the organization. They straightened up their vests and pulled their asses up properly in the seats at the Hog’s Breathe Saloon.

  “Awe thanks, boss,” was all Bones could come up with as a tear welled up in his left eye. He’d never gotten a gold star before much less something like this.

  “Just the thought of having some pervert rummaging around women’s undergarments and attacking them in public restroom facilities makes me want to go to war! But we don’t have to because of your instrumental help in cleaning up this town. You are a nameless asset that the good folks in Key West benefit from without even knowing about. It’s frustrating to me that you are unable to acquire the personal recognition that you deserve. I want to change that, at least in a simple, inner-organizational type of way.”

  Shifter reached down into his leather riding pants and pulled out a yellow patch with a black border that said ‘Chapter Vice President’. He handed it over to the humbled Bones as the man broke out in a half-drunken smile.

  “Now I realize that our modest group only has four members right now but that’s all about to change. Rumors are already making their way around underground circles that our gang was involved with ridding the city of the pervert. I’m willing to bet that our following doubles in size each month for the next few months as potential members continue to see how serious we are.”

  “Hear, hear,” one of the other men piped up to more cheers from the small group.

  Shifter made solid eye contact with all of the men in his group. Then he cleared his throat and pointed at Bones, continuing.

  “You’ll execute the office of Vice President with pride. Your ground level entry into our organization and your selfless sacrifice will continue to pay off for you. Now hows about a round on me?” he said more like a statement.

  Shifter got the waitress’ attention and gave her a whirl with his finger that she interpreted correctly as bring another pitcher. The men lived up their moment of satisfaction, all of them knowing that their group was about to become bigger and even more unstoppable. Perhaps the group would become a powerful influence within the humble confines of island politics.

  ***

  “I do like this idea,” Swanson admitted. “You’d be doing the dirty but important work of Saints down there in Key West. Yes, yes. I’d be glad to help guide you in the right direction, there.”

  Swanson couldn’t wait to get his painting and then turn these two loose. Once he had the painting he could forget he’d ever known these two knuckleheads. But he was a damn good politician and he knew that he had to put on the appropriate show. Kelly was too smart for the congressman to outfox him though.

  “Look, let’s cut some of the bullshit Swanson,” Kelly said. “You know what’s gonna stop you from ignoring us or contacting the police or whatever your plan might be once we exit this building?”

  Swanson gave the men anothe
r dirty look. He was getting irritated. “Awe, hell… I figured this was going to head towards extortion or blackmail!”

  “Look, we’re friends,” Kelly assured, growing tired of using the euphemism. “We want nothing but good things for all parties involved here. But we do have some concerns about follow through on your end. To ensure that we’re all on the same page there is something you should know. We got some interesting info from Deep Throat before he met his demise. That information is now safe but if we meet with any foul play it will not be. So it’s in all of our best interests to keep the press out of your past so that we can all work together and move forward in an undistracted manner.”

  Swanson realized that he didn’t have as much control over the situation as he had originally hoped. These two were showing even more talent than he had anticipated.

  “I was never convinced that Deep Throat had all of the info. He had enough to ruin my career but if we are going to be friends as you say, then let’s at least get the details right on this.”

  The congressman paused for a moment and seemed to consider how best to go about explaining himself.

  “I’m sure he told you that an archeological find on property that I owned was traced back to property in Argentina that my family has owned for generations. He probably added that Hitler is my grandfather or some such foolish nonsense. Am I on the right track here?”

  Kelly and Owen shrugged their shoulders. “More or less.”

  “Well, he was wrong about most all of what he thought he knew. The truth doesn’t start in Germany or in Argentina and I’m sure as hell not Hitler’s grandson! The truth starts in Denmark. It starts with a company that went by the abbreviation of SKF. Have you heard of them?”

  Kelly and Owen shook their heads. The congressman rolled his eyes and continued, wanting to get the entire conversation over with. He was extremely irritated knowing that he couldn’t turn his back on them with them knowing what they already did know.

  “So SKF manufactured various commercial grade maintenance and lubrication supplies. Denmark remained relatively neutral during WW2 but it had a dark secret. In fact, the world is full of dark secrets. The textbook explanations that probably make up your general understanding of the war are oversimplified and misrepresented. Many parts of the world traded with the Nazis during the war. The Swiss banks made more money than you could imagine by laundering stolen Nazi gold and treasures. Neutral, the history books tell us of Switzerland… Anyway, Denmark had several companies that supplied the Nazis with important gear to keep their war machine moving. My grandfather owned a notable share of SKF and was involved directly with the sale of ball bearings to the Nazis,” he said with a level of finality.

  “So you’re telling us that this is about ball bearings?”

  “Essentially, yes. The Nazis used ball bearings on every machine that they moved across Europe in their pursuit of world domination. Every axle contained them. Weapons contained them. Anywhere that moving metal touched other metal, ball bearings were needed to reduce friction. Historians generally agree that if SKF had simply stopped providing the Nazis with ball bearings then their war machine would have ground to a halt within six months. I have to live knowing that my family could have stopped the war and saved millions of lives if they would have stopped supplying the Nazis with essential commercial parts. Instead, they decided to build untold levels of wealth. My guilty conscience aside,” he said with an emotionless grin and a wink, “you can imagine what this might do to my career if it got out…”

  “Hmm. I had no idea about ball bearings… But what does that have to do with your property in Argentina?” Owen asked. “I’m sure Quinn was on to something down there.”

  “Yeah, he was,” Congressman Swanson reluctantly admitted. “There’s more to that too. It’s not my property exactly but it is property that has been in my family for years. Now keep in mind that just because certain people lived in Germany during the war doesn’t make them Nazis. Nazis were a political party and a military that ruled Germany but millions of good Germans were powerless to stop what was happening and were not involved in the actions of the Nazis. Argentina traded heavily with the Germans during the war. They eventually used an intermediary country to exchange goods through but they were certainly engaged in commerce with the Nazis and with the rest of the world. There were tens of thousands of Germans that fled the war and moved to Argentina. Admittedly, there were also German war criminals that moved there looking for asylum. Like I said earlier, it was more complicated than we are taught.”

  “It seems that way,” Kelly said. “But I doubt your family was in Argentina just by chance.”

  “No it wasn’t just luck. After the war my grandfather did in fact move to Argentina. Remember he was a businessman so he went where opportunities presented themselves. He was friendly with Germans that had formerly supported the Nazi war effort. The property in question was actually built in the jungle as a quiet refuge away from the population centers. It was purposefully built close to Paraguay so that an easy escape into the country could be made if it ever became necessary. Ultimately, no law enforcement ever came after my grandfather but the man was a beacon of wealth. Fleeing Nazis lived on his property as they put together new aliases and new lives. Some were there temporarily and some stayed a lot longer. My grandfather didn’t live on the property full time. I think he enjoyed having company when he was there but like I said it wasn’t his main residence. There was a man that lived there that journalists have speculated was Hitler.”

  “Well, was it?” Owen asked.

  “How the hell should I know? It was decades before I was even born! My grandmother was from Salta where she met my grandfather and then they moved to Buenos Aires. I was born in the United States nearly thirty years later!” he said convincingly.

  “Now this painting that you say you’ve got is one that has been in my family for generations. I believe it’s true that the Nazi’s stole it, which is why I have never had it authenticated. It’s always been displayed quietly in our residence so it didn’t attract much attention. I believe it’s the authentic but who the hell knows? It has more sentimental value than anything, which is why I want it back so badly. So now you know the extent of the depth of my family’s secrets. I will help you once you give me back the painting but our relationship moving forward is one of friendship. We will never speak of this topic again. And once I help you acquire the work that we have discussed then you two and I will be even. It may be that our paths cross in the future but we will never speak of this again. Are we clear?”

  The two friends looked at each other and shrugged. “Yeah, we’re clear. Just understand that I was unable to bring the original frame with me,” Owen said. “You can have the painting but you’ll have to find a new frame.”

  “Well… that is most disappointing,” Swanson admitted. “I suppose that I can live with those terms though. Now, Riley will show you out at which point you will turn over my painting. I will be in touch regarding the matters of homeland security. Good day, gentlemen!”

  ***

  Chapter 27

  Megan wasn’t usually the undecided type. Usually she just set herself a challenging but attainable goal and achieved it. Once she reached one of her personal goals then she would set another challenging but realistic goal and get to work achieving it. This situation with Kelly was something different though. She knew if she made it all the way back to Boston that she would have spent two days in the car building defense mechanisms to stop her from having her heart broken. She knew that once she was back in her old environment that the protective walls of her mind (and the Agency) would inhibit her from ever actually being able to consider a different future. An enjoyable future, perhaps one with Kelly. When she had been driving north on US1, around Key Largo she had come to the conclusion that she couldn’t just drive up the coast and leave the experience of Key West behind her.

  When she was sure and had decided to commit to seeing if there was in fact a lif
e for her with Kelly in Key West, she flipped the VW around. The maneuver almost caused a wreck and was the origin for horn honking and even a middle finger from a fellow driver. Maneuvers like this seemed to be the norm for Florida drivers and any malice was quickly forgotten. She had known that Kelly and Owen had planned to catch the congressman in Miami the next day so she decided to take a day to herself. On the way south she stopped in Marathon and got a vacation villa on the beach at the Coco Plum Resort. It was big and luxurious and expensive but it had a tennis court too. She hadn’t played tennis in ten years and she was ready to get back at it. She borrowed a racket and found an opponent that agreed to play a round. It felt great. It was like the final burst of spring when the plants know there’s no going back and nothing but warm days ahead. She was coming out of a ten-year hibernation and blooming into someone more beautiful, someone stronger and someone much happier.