by John R Cuneo
Of course, every man that asked her to dance was disappointed, and they would say, “Maybe later,” and Fena would just smile, and that would be the end of it. One of her coworkers, a middle-aged woman, laughed and said, “I wish I had your problems fifteen years ago!” Everyone at the table laughed.
After two hours of small talk about work, family, sex, pay, and everything else a group of women can talk about, they decided it was time to call it an evening and they would see each other tomorrow bright and early at the office.
Fena chimed in, “Remember I’m part time, so I won’t be in the office tomorrow.”
After the usual farewell pleasantries, Fena walked down the street and hailed a cab, which drove her to her apartment building. Before she exited the cab, she handed the driver two twenty-dollar bills and told him to keep the change.
“Thank you very much,” replied the cabbie, and Fena made her way into the lobby and the security reception area.
The young woman on duty recognized Fena immediately, and seeing her approach the front desk, stood up and said, “Good evening, Miss LaStrange.”
“Good evening,” replied Fena.
She made her way to the elevator and was whisked upward to the ninth floor, which was one of the most expensive floors in the building, with luxury apartments that looked over the Washington, D.C., area. After entering her apartment, she made sure the door was securely bolted shut, then went into her bedroom, where she kicked off her shoes and sat on her bed.
Taking a deep breath, she reached into her purse and removed the brown envelope, knowing it was full of cash. She unceremoniously tore the envelope open, and the cash burst out and fell to the floor. Her eyes widened as she looked at it, some in her hands and some on the floor. She gathered the money and counted an even $50,000!
Fena brought a handful of cash to her red lips and kissed the money lovingly. Then, going to her secret hiding spot in the closet, she removed a section of carpeting and placed the cash in its new resting place with the other of her ill-gotten gains. She thought, I am going to have to double my efforts and bring in even more money for myself.
Securing the hiding spot, she got back to her feet and removed her work clothing, revealing her sumptuous body. Lounging on top of her bed, she giggled uncontrollably for a few minutes while slapping the bed with her hands, and when she finally regained control of herself, she shouted, “Can you say cash?”
Chapter 10
A Rat Named Jose
With all the confusion going on over the past couple of months, José Vega was at last ready to put his plan into action. He knew without any doubt that his boss Nicholas Salazar was indeed dead. The entire underworld was in chaos, and José could taste the good life and see it within his grasp.
With so many crooked lawyers on the payroll, it did not take long for José to enlist the help of one of them to forge documents making José the sole owner of everything that had once belonged to Nicholas. José took his home his cars, his boats, and all his businesses.
Months earlier, José, using his position as the company lieutenant, had planted cameras and microphones in Nicholas’s private office. Being in charge of security was one of the areas Nicholas had been somewhat lax in, giving complete authority to José opened the door for double-dealing and backstabbing. Because of the planted cameras and microphones, José had obtained information on locations of cash drops and informants’ names, and, most importantly, José had the combination and access code to the locker of lockers, located in Las Vegas. That locker held at least $15 million, and soon it would be José’s.
José was spending most of his time downstairs, enjoying the benefits of owning a world-class gentlemen’s club. Any woman he wanted was his for the taking. He allowed his men to openly sell drugs in the club. Owning an army of lawyers and enough judges, he need not worry about being arrested or going to jail.
All this power pushed José over the edge, and one afternoon he found himself in his office with two of his new trusted men.
“Now that Nicholas is out of the way, I’m going to make a deal with our friends in South America so that I become the new number-one distributor in the United States.”
The two men looked at each other, nodding and agreeing with José.
“That’s what I wanted to see,” said José, “because as soon as I do the deal with our friends, the two of you will be taking over Florida and the Midwest.”
The two men stood up and approached José, thanking him by shaking his hand. Both vowed loyalty and allegiance to his operation. José couldn’t have been happier with what he’d just heard. He told the two men to go downstairs and enjoy themselves; everything was on the house. The two men excused themselves and left José alone in his office.
Now it’s time to make the call, José thought. He knew exactly where to find the old private phone book that Nicholas had kept hidden and locked away from prying eyes and took it out. He knew who he had to call. No more middlemen for José; he was going directly to the boss to make the biggest deal of his life and secure his position.
José was very familiar with using the secured phone in the private office. The phone scrambled the signal over the lines and only communicated with another phone that was operating in the same mode. It didn’t take long for José to contact his suppliers in Chile, and within a few minutes, he was speaking with the man that would ensure José became the largest importer of drugs into the United States.
The voice on the other end of the phone asked José just one question: “How much tribute will you give me for this position?”
Without hesitation, José promised the man $10 million in cash. There was a moment of silence, and then José heard the man say, “It’s a deal, and I expect the money as you said in cash and by May 5.”
José confirmed the amount of tribute he would pay. The man also told José he would send several of his trusted employees up to the United States to collect the tribute; José agreed with the terms.
“Oh, and one last thing,” said the voice over the phone. “If you don’t have the money that you promised, then you are a dead man.”
Now it was José who took a moment to respond to this final part of the demand. He assured the Chilean cocaine producer he had the money in hand and that there would be no problems.
“That’s good to hear,” said the man. “And when I have the money, you will be the new boss of the United States.” All José could do at that point was reply,” Thank you.”
In typical Paul Rossi fashion, he started to investigate the leak at the FBI. Paul was very accustomed to dealing with people of power and influence, and over the years, he had assisted enough of these people to gain their trust. Having done so, he was going to approach a former client who was now well positioned within the FBI.
Paul made his way through the security checkpoint that led into the federal building, where he had a meeting scheduled at nine sharp with his former client. Paul was not a stranger to the federal building, or any other high-security office located in Washington, D.C. He had a reputation for getting a job done quickly and quietly, and he always kept the names of his clients away from the public and out of the media.
The man Paul was visiting this morning met him in the lobby. Just the presence of this individual turned the heads of those who saw him, and this man was so powerful that people were afraid to make eye contact with him. The man greeted Paul and shook his hand. “It’s good to see you again,” said Paul, “and thank you for seeing me on such short notice.” “It’s not a problem at all. Let’s go upstairs. I have a secure conference room waiting for us,” the man said.
The two men disappeared down a maze of hallways until they finally reached the secure conference room. There were no electronic devices allowed into the room, and the room was scanned daily in an effort to identify any listening device that might have been planted. They entered the room and made sure the door
behind them was securely locked before sitting down.
“So,” said the man, “what’s so important that you need to see me?”
“I’m working on a new case, and if the information I’ve received is correct, the FBI has a big problem on its hands,” Paul said.
Hearing this, the man sat up straight in his chair and leaned forward. “What’s going on, and what have you heard?” said the man.
“I have information from an extremely high source within the security world that the FBI has a mole working on the inside. Recently copies of classified agent field notes were found on the bodies of drug dealers in Florida and South Carolina.”
The man stood up and slowly paced back and forth. After several long moments, he sat down again and, looking at Paul, said, “What can I do to help?”
“I think the person that’s doing this is new to the bureau, probably a low-level employee with access to secured information, and if memory serves me right, the bureau has a document control facility that’s still manually inputting field information. Is that right?” asked Paul.
“Yes, that’s true. We still have not upgraded document-storage retrieval yet,” said the man. “And as far as I know, there are no plans to do that until the end of next year. A new computerized system has been tested and approved.”
“The field notes were copies of the originals, and the two men carrying the notes had direct ties to South America.” “So where do you want to start?” the man asked.
“I need access to employment records that show the date of hire, the person’s home address, and their current salary,” said Paul.
“That shouldn’t be a problem. How soon do you want to start looking?”
“If at all possible, I would love to start looking today,” replied Paul.
“I want you to wait here until my assistant comes down to get you. He will escort you to an area that contains all the information you require, and just to be sure, he will stay with you the entire time you are here. Is that understood?”
“Yes, I understand,” replied Paul. “And thank you very much for all of your assistance.”
In Los Angeles, José Vega was enjoying the live entertainment at his strip club. The two men José had spoken to privately in his office were mesmerized by the gorgeous young women giving them lap dances.
Seeing this, José grinned from ear to ear. These two pieces of shit will be so eager to do my bidding, and if need be, I will not hesitate to send them ahead of me to take a bullet.
Everyone in the club tapped their feet to the beat of the music while their heads bobbed up and down to the fast-paced tempo of the song. José was escorted by two beautiful dancers to the exclusive VIP section, where he was treated like royalty, with women falling all over him, wanting to please him in any way possible. They knew he was the new boss, and like everyone else in this business, they would lie, cheat, steal, and backstab their way up the ladder to a better position in the company.
After José’s two associates had enjoyed several lap dances and free cocktails, they made their way to the bar for a moment of quiet and reflection, trying to process the events of the last couple hours. The two men looked across the room into the VIP section and saw José enjoying the early fruits of his latest conquest. As if by magic, the gentlemen’s club had filled with patrons that were friends of José and there to get their free lap dances and drinks. After all, that was what these types of friends lived for.
The club was overflowing, and soon men were lining up outside of the main entrance. The news of new ownership was spreading like wildfire up and down the street, and by now fifty men were waiting to enter the club. It was quitting time for the local businesses, and the accountants, insurance agents, and salesmen were all coming in for their evening drink before going home to their little ladies. Up in the VIP section, José was in heaven. In his mind, everyone here was his friend. José equated lots of friends with lots of power, and that was what he wanted, and that was what he loved.
Paul Rossi was escorted to another section of the federal building where employee records were stored. As if by magic, someone had already retrieved the documentation on all new employees that had been hired within the last six months. They had separated the employee information by job description and where they worked within the federal building.
Paul sat down at a table and methodically went through each of the records, looking for any possible connection to who might be stealing the classified information. After an hour or so of going through the employee records, Paul came across the folder for a woman named Fena LaStrange. She had been hired as a part-time employee upon the recommendation of a family member that had a high-level position within the State Department. He also saw in her records that she was a part-time student at Georgetown.
Paul thought, this woman really has it on the ball, and then he looked at her employment photograph. Holy shit! he thought. This is one beautiful young lady! Digging further into her personnel folder, he found what he was looking for. She had been assigned to document control.
Paul sat back for a moment, trying to put the pieces together to make one coherent picture, and then like a bolt out of the blue, he understood how this could be the person. Someone with her looks and intelligence working in document control on a part-time basis would eventually work unsupervised and unobserved. She would have numerous opportunities to copy documents and somehow hide them and get them through the security checkpoint. Then the rest of the picture became clear, and he imagined that with her good looks, she would easily be able to influence a young male security guard. Paul knew from his experience that a beautiful woman with big firm tits and a tight ass could accomplish more than a platoon of Navy SEALs when it came to stealing classified information.
He continued to go through the employment files just in case another person presented themselves as a possible mole, and he also made up his mind that when questioned by his high-level FBI contact, he’d tell them that he had not been able to gather any information from the new employee files that would lead him to believe one of them was a mole. Again, based on his past experience, if he was right about the young woman; then he knew it would just be a matter of time before he’d eliminate her and anyone else, she was in business with, so for now he kept her name and information to himself.
Looking across the men’s club, all you could see was an undulating mass of beautiful women, all barely clothed and shaking their ample bosoms in time to the hard rock beat pulsating throughout the building. By this time in the evening, the bartenders had poured several hundred free drinks and the girls were getting tired of giving free lap dances. José’s two associates were comfortable sitting at the bar, watching all the action and admiring the beautiful girls as they walked by, each one showing more skin than the last.
Suddenly the entire club went completely quiet, and all eyes turned to the DJ, who was preparing the crowd for an announcement.
“Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to announce that starting this Saturday night at nine o’clock, our lovely ladies will be sharing the stage with two of the hottest new adult film stars ever to work in Los Angeles!”
The crowd of men went completely crazy. The DJ continued, “We have to thank the new owner Mr. José Vega for this special treat!”
Again, the crowd went crazy, cheering and applauding with excitement. José stood up, waving as if he had just been elected to Congress. In his mind, he was more powerful than anyone in any position of government.
Soon after his tribute was paid to the producers in Chile, he would go on the hunt for the rest of Nicholas’s hidden cash. Not long after he’d been promoted to his top position in the organization, José had calculated that over the years, Nicholas could have stashed between $750 million and $1 billion, and he, José Vega, was the man who would soon be the new boss of all the United States. He was going to do everything he could to find that money.
José left the VIP section and, going through the crowd, shook hands with the patrons. The young women kissed his cheeks and hugged him, and he loved every moment of it. He eventually made his way to the bar, where his two associates were sitting and trying to enjoy some burgers the club was famous for.
“My friends,” yelled José, getting their attention. He leaned in and hugged each one in turn, saying, “I’m so glad you’re here. I’m so glad you’re with me and my organization.”
They returned his accolades and thanked him for the opportunity, assuring him they were with him through thick and thin and telling him clearly that he was their boss.
Upon hearing this, José excused himself, saying he was going up to his office to rest for a while. If they needed him, they were to call him. The men nodded in understanding, and José left the bar. Seated at the bar was a young man, who was next to these two associates.
“Excuse me, I hope you don’t mind me butting in, but who was that person you were just talking to?”
The two men looked at each other, smiling, and then one of them turned to the young man and said, “That guy is a rat named José.”
The three men laughed hysterically at the comment. Then the second of José’s associates said, “Just don’t say that to his face!”
