Slivovica Mason

by Clifton L Bullock Jr.

  Once it was removed, Mason could hardly speak because he was in the midst of the worst panic attack he could remember.

  "Why are you doing this to us? I thought that we were all on the same team. To find a killer," Mason said slowly looking up at Gutiérrez who held no emotion. She kept a steady blank stare in her eyes.

  "I have no sympathy for you, Sessions. I’m not allowed, too. My mission with you was not personal until your spick sidekick joined in. She was disrespectful from the second we met. If she weren’t such a bitch, this whole thing would have gone down a lot differently. As for you, this is all business, and you know why I’m here. The only shock should be because death came in the form of a woman. You all but officially accused Sandy as the killer because you figured out the clues. I have to hand it to you, great job. It was my idea for him to use the references of Samuel Butler’s tales of the traveling sailor with a secret because just as Butler and Cruz, I too am a sailor with a secret. I will share with you now that I have everyone’s attention. My secret is this: I was assigned the pleasurable yet gruesome task of eliminating a group of disgraced Marines who used the power of combat to their advantage and mowed down innocent civilians and surrendered soldiers. Let me be the first to tell you: I think that you and the rest of those other dead fucks are des-SPIC-able,” she said looking in Orinda. “I was given this task because I proved to excel in my investigative class. An assignment was provided by one of my instructors to look past the given details and find the real questions and then provide the answers. I did just that because that’s what I do; I excel. I made my instructor so proud and from there I continued to wow until my graduation. Then I was put into action. I think he will be very impressed."

  "I don’t think you were given the right information if you think we just massacred the opposition. We were assigned the task. Did your instructors tell you that?" Mason asked but there was no response.

  Gutiérrez continued with how she discovered inconsistencies of records that stemmed from war notes taken and provided by the Camp Monteith brass. She had a larger ego than any man, than any of them knew. Everything Orinda assumed about her during their first encounter was true. That was probably the reason for excessive force against her.

  "I won’t expose any names of who provided me with detailed war documents of your detail’s excursions, but I will tell you that the source is well connected to the events. One of the brass that served under General Clark’s elite sat in the boardroom, but because of reasons the powers that be would not disclose, continued their careers as the commanding officer (CO) of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service counterintelligence branch."

  "I don’t know what information you were given, but I assure you. It’s not accurate. I was there. I was able to understand what was said by all parties. It’s not my fault that our brasses were outsmarted by our lifelong enemies. It’s not my fault that our commanders were conned into committing war crimes. My only fault is that I didn’t translate this to my guys. Even if I did, they were hell-bent on spilling blood. Foreign or domestic."

  "You will say anything to save your life, wouldn’t you? I don’t know why everyone always raved about you and your brilliance. You’re a fucking idiot, and you deserve every moment of pain before your death. You’re going to get," Gutiérrez said as she released the safety from her weapon.

  The sounds overpowered Orinda’s muffled cries. She tried to intervene, but the strength of Cruz holding her back prevented her attempts.

  "Sandy, I need you to shut that bitch up. Now! She is going to make me expire her worthless ass, too," Gutiérrez said looking in Orinda’s direction. If looks could kill, they would have both been expired by now.

  Cruz drew back to strike Orinda, but before he could, suddenly there was a ring of the phone. Detective Griffin instructed the lobby concierge to call and that meant he also called the police as well.

  "Answer the phone, Sandy, and see who it is," Gutiérrez instructed. Mason looked to Detective Griffin and nodded.

  "We remembered the Bay of Pigs," Mason said to Griffin.

  "What the fuck are you talking about?" Gutiérrez said but was quickly silenced by Cruz.

  "Shhh.... Let me answer the line," Cruz said and then answered the phone. "Hello, this is Dr. Cruz. May I help you?" he asked into the receiver, but there was no response on the other end. The cheap phones that all hotels had regardless of their star quality didn’t have a caller ID system to inform them who was calling.

  "There was no answer, but I’m sure it was nothing. I just gave a pretty big speech the other day and while I’ve been here, I’ve received a few calls. It’s probably nothing," Cruz said to reassure Gutiérrez, but she knew something was up.

  "Who was that calling, Mason? This is your chance to redeem yourself. Who else will you let die because of your silence? Would it be the detective who tried to hit on the same woman who made his advances welcomed at the murder scene of your dead marine friend, or will you let the bitch who doesn’t know when to stay in her place die first? Personally, I think you should choose the bitch to die if you ask me."

  "How am I supposed to know who is calling? I’m tied up in the same room with all of you."

  "Then what was that ‘Bay of Pigs’ comment? Did it have anything to do with the call?"

  "What does it matter, Lieutenant? When I tried to tell you other truths, you did not want to hear me, but now you want to listen? Why don’t you ask Orinda? She knows about it, and she wasn’t a NCIS standout student," Mason said.

  They did have a plan, and it was working. If they could just get a few more minutes, the Philadelphia City Police would be making their arrival, but when seconds count, police are minutes away.

  The Lieutenant walked over to Orinda and placed her gun to the temple of her head.

  "If you open your mouth for any reason other than to tell me what I need to know, you will die today, you cunt, and if you don’t believe me watch this," Gutiérrez said and then turned her weapon toward Vernon Chandler who was still battered and unconscious sitting in the corner of the room. She fired one shot with her muted .45 and struck him in his upper torso. His body jerked back and then slumped forward. He looked dead.

  "The ‘Bay of Pigs’ was a failed CIA excursion into Cuba. The Americans were arrogant in their approach and were defeated by the resistance. That’s what Mason is referring to. If we would have just opened this case up to the local police and the feds, we would not be in this situation where we are staring down the barrel of a belligerent with a baccalaureate and counterintelligence training. It’s our fault and now we have more death. Look at Vernon! He’s dead and for what? He’s another victim of the United States covering up war crimes it was swindled into committing? Our mission failed!" Orinda said and burst into tears. Mason knew what she was doing, and it was working.

  "It looks like I did underestimate you, too, Costa, but don’t be mistaken, I still don’t like you and that STILL doesn’t answer my question; who the fuck was on the line? I don’t need a history lesson about failure. I am looking at the product of a present one."

  "The person on the phone was Mrs. Chandler. She called because she needed to hear her son one more time before he died. We told her that we were on our way here to save her husband from her son who used him as bait to get Mason. We only expected Cruz, but we didn’t think that you would be the one who would try to kill us. We thought he would."

  "Why does no one believe that I could do this? Is it because I don’t have a dick? I did it! I did it all! I killed Stockton! I killed Obispo! I killed Gutridge! Me! I have the training. I have the stealth cover of being a government COINTELPRO investigator. Me! I only needed Sandy to connect the last piece to the puzzle, Mason. I knew Sandy hated his father for the years of neglect. I know about all of you. I am a trained professional. It’s my job to gather Intel on all of my subjects and that includes anyone that I work with. I no longer need Sandy now and to prove it to you, I will show you."

  The second after her stat
ement ended, Cruz's life did as well. Lieutenant Gutiérrez shot him between his eyes and his body collapsed to the deck. Mason saw his body fall and closed his eyes because he knew his end was near. If they had known Cruz was just being used as a pawn, they would have tried to help him, but he was already gone and the Lieutenant knew from day one. She knew about all of her subjects.

  Orinda was not so calm in watching a man die. She began to scream, but Gutiérrez reinserted the muffle muting them.

  "Shut the fuck up, bitch! Before I do you, too!" Gutiérrez said and then walked over and removed the phone from the purse that was on the table. She began to dial a number while looking over the three of them to ensure no one made any moves.

  "This is Lieutenant Gutiérrez Counterintelligence NCIS. I need paramedics and armed assistance immediately. My 20 is 1201 Market Street at the Downtown Marriot. I have two remaining suspects apprehended, but when I arrived, three others were already deceased." Lieutenant Gutiérrez said on the line to what sounded like a dispatch person.

  After the call, she rolled Cruz on his back, turned and walked toward the door counting her paces before she turned again. Then she shot a blood-leaking Cruz twice more. It appeared strategic in the way she did what she did. All the while his lifeless body jolted with each piercing projectile entering. She then maneuvered around him and walked in front of a slumped over Vernon Chandler, removed the zip ties from around his ankles and around his wrist. Her motions were quick in order to prevent blood from getting on her person.

  "By the time my backup gets here, I will have made the entire scene fit the details of my investigation. I had to use excessive deadly force against Dr. Stantigo Cruz because he made aggressive gestures toward me with a firearm," she said as she replaced Griffin’s firearm that Cruz was instructed to take by his side. Fingerprints on the weapon would match her claim since Cruz did not use any preventative measures to ensure that his prints did not transfer over.

  “I will say that I confiscated the second weapon from Mason, but I would have to use additional force after you tried to charge me," she said as held the weapon Griffin gave Mason before entering Chandler’s home.

  "Do you honestly think that you will get away with this? It’s over for you!" Detective Griffin said able to spit out his gag. Lieutenant Gutiérrez, meanwhile, put everything in place to appear that she was there in an operational capacity. She had it all planned out. She used the details of the case that pointed to Cruz as the aggressor to cover the truth that she was indeed the government’s assassin. She used that Cruz wanted revenge against his abusive adoptive father as to why Chandler was shot. She used the same facts that Mason, Orinda and Detective Griffin used to solve the crime associated with Cruz as her reason to use deadly force against him.

  "As for you, Mason, since you are the reason for the occasion, I will let you in on a little secret. Your life has a price value. Just ask your boss. Cruz was paid out about 300,000 dollars to spare his life. If not, he and I were not only going to kill Vernon, which I already had the pleasure of doing, but if he didn’t pay up, we were going to get rid of Madeline and Jacob as well. Cruz didn’t give a fuck because Chandler treated them better anyway. After we got rid of you, Cruz was going to take half of the money, abruptly retire his duties with the Veteran Affairs and then disappear. Serbia was his destination, but I had to serve justice on behalf of the United States of America for his crimes against our brave Marines," she said with a smile and then removed the muzzle silencer from her weapon and placed it in her holster.

  This was the first time the room was silent since they had been there. Orinda was so brutally beaten that she had fallen into a hazy state of consciousness. Her breathing was slow but peaceful. This was after Gutiérrez surprisingly pistol whipped her head with the side of her weapon while explaining the ultimate plan of death and deception.

  "This is now the time for me to complete the mission. It’s all set for me to hand over a corrupted sex-craved detective operating out of jurisdiction to federal authorities and to arrest the mistress of a killer on federal charges for murder and attempted murder," she said and then put on a pair of purple latex medical gloves from her purse. She put them on and then walked over to the weapon and placed it next to Cruz’s lifeless body, picked it up and pointed it toward Mason.

  "Like I said, only two will survive this Mason, and you were never one of those two. It’s time. It’s unfortunate that I couldn’t make it here in time to save the last Marine’s life," she said and then raised the weapon and unlocked the safety. She closed her eyes and then bang! There was a banging knock at the door. Lieutenant Gutiérrez looked at the clock. It had only been seven minutes since she made the call to dispatch for assistance. She thought she had more time, but she was mistaken.

  "Bay of Pigs," Mason said as the door opened without anyone from the inside to assist. In came the Calvary of Philadelphia City Police clad in civilian garb joined by state troopers. Guns were drawn and orders for Lieutenant Gutiérrez to disarm were given.

  "Drop your weapon now, or we will shoot to expire!" one of the officers ordered.

  “I’m Lieutenant Gutiérrez, Counterintelligence Unit NCIS, and you are directly interfering with a federal government investigation. I have my credentials in my purse. I will place my weapon on the deck, but please allow me to get it for proof," Gutiérrez said as she slowly placed the weapon on the floor.

  "Ma'am, you are ordered to not move toward the handbag. Stay where you are and allow my team to enter the premises without prejudice," the officer ordered as he and the others began to filter into the room. The Lieutenant didn’t have time to complete her mission. Mason was still bound as was Orinda and Griffin. Gutiérrez failed to finish the clean up work to make her case.

  "Officer, I’m Detective Griffin from the Pennsauken Township Police Department Detective Bureau. Upon entry of the premises, I instructed the concierge to call you. Thank you for getting in here in such a timely manner. Lieutenant Gutiérrez is telling the truth about her being a part of a federal investigation, but it’s not what it appears to be. Please apprehend her and release us most urgently. We have audio confirmation of the entire ordeal inside of Ms. Costa’s purse," Detective Griffin said to the officers removing the zip tie restraints from his wrists and ankles.

  The next sudden move proved to be a fatal one. Gutiérrez reached for her purse, and the officers unloaded. The noise was so loud that it unnerved Mason bringing back the memories of war so much it scared him. As her body collapsed on the table where her purse was, sounds of blood gurgling from her mouth were the last of life from her body. The massacre was over. She could kill no more because she was no more. There was no honor in her death just as there was none in how she killed.

  "My credentials and weapon were taken from me and placed in the belligerent’s purse. Please verify my badge before you release us. Also I need you to call the paramedics up immediately for my injured colleague and for Mr. Vernon Chandler over there. I’m not certain, but he looks to be still moving his chest cavity," Detective Griffin continued to the lead officer.

  There was a lot of commotion in the halls: loud voices of other law enforcement officers instructing resident guests to remain in their rooms while others were securing the floor and the room.

  It was over. The mystery, the clues and the chase were all over. The revelation of Gutiérrez as the spearhead of the murders with Cruz as her assistant was too much. One’s acts were to get revenge on a man who was ashamed of the signs of homosexuality his adopted son showed early on. The other wanted to prove she was capable of completing any task given no matter what morality the mission lacked. She was guilty that she had to prove not only to herself but to her instructors that she could be as ruthless and deadly as any man who would have taken the assignment.

  The assignment was to remove the last piece of the American embarrassment that killed framed, defective Serbian soldiers in a war forgotten more by the American public than that of the Forgotten War.

&n
bsp; It was the thinking of a man who was similar to the target. He should have voiced what he knew about Chandler which would have prevented a massacre in the jungle. He redeemed himself by taking Orinda’s advice to have a backup plan. Something the Lieutenant didn’t have.

  "Are you okay, Mason?" Detective Griffin asked him as they stood to the side of the room while the medical staff lifted black bags with the bodies of Cruz and Lieutenant Gutiérrez inside on gurneys. Orinda and Mr. Chandler, who were both unconscious after sustaining serious injuries, followed behind. Mason wasn’t okay. He still felt pretty anxious and overwhelmed. Death was no longer looking for him directly, but the lessons from the event reminded him of the prolific words that he learned during the whole ordeal.

  "To himself everyone is immortal; he may know that he is going to die, but he can never know that he is dead."

  He was almost dead, and he knew that he was going to die.

  "No, I’m not okay, Detective. I was a phone call away from not being here. She was going to kill me to silence a voice that no one ever listened to. I’m worried about Orinda. To see her lying there like that scared me because before we approached the door, she told me that she contacted a guy she used to screw and I was angry at her. I was so upset that I didn’t care what happened next. I thought we had the upper hand. I didn’t expect to have someone else join the way she did. The whole thing got out of hand. This is the most regret I’ve felt since you know," Mason said.

  "I took you and Orinda’s advice. I knew we couldn’t do this on our own, and I needed help. When we were at Chandler’s house speaking with Mrs. Chandler, I knew that we were going to have to deal with something unexpected. Chandler went from suspect to victim all in one conversation. When Mrs. Chandler mentioned the phone call in the early morning hours from Lieutenant Gutiérrez is when it occurred to me. Do you remember the black Chevrolet following you when you were enroute to the Daily? It had to have been a government vehicle. Federal government vehicles are always American made, and they usually only have rear end mounted plates. That was one of my hunches to let me know someone with government affiliation was involved. Sure, it could have been Cruz, but if so, why would they have turned away from the hotel and out of sight? Cruz spoke at the conference, so he could not have been out of sight and mind,” Griffin pondered out loud.