Smith's Monthly #31

by Smith, Dean Wesley

  JEAN WAS REALLY happy to see Mary Jo waiting for her in the airport. Of course, Mary Jo as a blonde with glasses and a large nose didn’t look like Mary Jo, but Jean would have known her anywhere.

  Jean had on a brown wig, brown contacts, and some fake eyebrows that made them look thick and bushy over her thin glasses.

  Mary Jo hugged her and Jean was startled how wonderful it felt. Even better than she had been thinking it would feel. The two of them just fit together in so many ways.

  “I’ve missed you,” Mary Jo said as they turned and headed for the parking area.

  “I missed you as well,” Jean said. “More than I want to admit.”

  Mary Jo smiled. “I know that feeling.”

  An hour later they were seated at the counter in the massive kitchen of the house Mary Jo had rented. The place was decorated in white and black and metal handles and had about as much warmth as a steel mill. Jean had hated it the moment Mary Jo had let her in the door from the garage.

  Mary Jo had agreed. “This place feels more like a fancy prison cell than a home.”

  “Imagine the couples who think this is their style,” Jean said, looking around. “I don’t want to think about what their relationship would really be like?”

  “Sterile and by the numbers,” Mary Jo had said, shuddering.

  Mary Jo had gotten them both glasses of iced tea.

  “So are we about set?” Mary Jo asked. “I’ve got ready everything we need here. And our fake Jack Kelsall has arrived and is waiting for word while spending vast amounts of money drinking and eating as he was told to do, all on the expense account.”

  “My parts of the plan are in place,” Jean said, smiling.

  At that very moment Mary Jo’s phone beeped. Mary Jo glanced at it, then smiled.

  “Susan has turned into the main subdivision street and will be here in one minute.”

  “Tracking?” Jean asked.

  “Tracking,” Mary Jo said. “I’ll get her a glass of iced tea, you want to go into the garage and open a door for her?”

  “Gladly,” Jean said, heading out into what felt more like an empty sports facility than a garage. In New York entire families could live comfortably in smaller spaces.

  As the automatic door opened onto the heat of the day and the white, filtered sunlight, a blue compact appeared around a corner. Within thirty seconds, the blue car was in the garage and the garage door was closing.

  Susan climbed out, her black hair now turned silver and her nose upturned and dark-rimmed glasses. She also had grown a pair of boobs somewhere along the way. She looked fifteen years older than she had in New York.

  “Mary Jo’s pouring you a glass of iced tea,” Jean said as Susan got her small bag from the back of the car. “Any success?”

  Susan smiled, showing some false caps on her teeth that yellowed them some. “Oh, wonderful success. Wait until you see it all.”

  Jean felt that slight surge of excitement she always felt when about ready to start a job. Preparation was almost finished.

  At some point very soon they would make the go or no-go decision.

  And that would signal the start of the first time she had worked with two other assassins. Until meeting Mary Jo, she would have never thought working with just one other would be possible.

  Jean just hoped this worked as planned.

  But of course, she always felt that way before starting a job.

  Always.

  PART NINE

  Execution

  CHAPTER FORTY

  THE DARK NIGHT surrounded Mary Jo like a welcoming blanket. The night air was still warm and the dryness of the forest underbrush made almost any movement a possible noisy step.

  She had on night vision goggles and could see fairly clearly from the light gathered in from what few stars got through the smog and haze that seemed to perpetually cover this area of the state. It wasn’t a damp haze, either, but felt like a dry smoke instead.

  Mary Jo settled into a crouch, studying her watch for the exact right moment to move. The drones that guarded the area around the church compound were automatic and set on an exact schedule. Mary Jo could hear the background buzzing of all of them in the area, but one drone noise seemed to get louder for a moment as she stayed very still.

  Within seconds, the drone moved past her. There was no chance it could see her since she was dressed in complete black and the drones did not carry any form of heat sensor. As long as she didn’t move when it passed overhead, it wouldn’t see her.

  That alone was a fatal flaw in an otherwise pretty solid drone defense of the area outside the church walls. That flaw had allowed them to not bring down the drones until the actual attack. Much better timing.

  She gave the drone a moment to get past her location and then kept moving, making no sound at all as she moved along the dry ground cover.

  In another thirty seconds she was at the hidden exit of the escape tunnel from the church. At one point, after finding the location of the escape tunnels, they had considered just going into the church that way, but all of them agreed there were just too many unknowns inside.

  And all three of them had survived for centuries not allowing unknowns to be a part of any plan.

  Mary Jo hated unknowns. At the moment, she felt that there were no unknowns at all in this plan.

  It had been three days since Susan and Jean had joined her again here in California. And what Susan had found to prove that Jack Kelsall really was imitating Carson White was stunning.

  She not only had DNA evidence that the John Doe body was Carson, but she had found and talked with three of the fake Carson’s former boyfriends.

  Jilted boyfriends, it seems. And they had been more than willing to give her dirt on some personal stuff about the fake Carson. Things like he wasn’t a real blond but instead just dyed his hair and wore colored contacts.

  The three of them had put all the information together in very clean packets, with names, dates, data, and evidence. Then yesterday they had sent out the packets to every jurisdiction that might have standing in the case of fraud and murder.

  Turns out for the fraud, that was a lot of jurisdictions. The fake church had really spread out.

  And at the same time they had sent out the same information to every major news source in California and Nevada.

  It was clear in the packets of information how it would be possible to back up the fact that Jack Kelsall had killed Carson White. They sent the videos of the fall, pointing out some things in the videos not seen before, such as the falling body’s hair color. Modern film forensics could do wonders with older recordings.

  They also detailed in the information how Kelsall as fake Carson had been bilking people out of millions for over twenty years with phony promises.

  And just for good measure, they had tossed in how he had been cheating the government on the taxes as well since the church was a scam.

  Jack Kelsall, aka fake Carson White, was set up for a huge fall.

  So this afternoon, right before they left the suburban house for the last time, they drained all of the fake Carson White’s personal millions as well as every dime the fake church had.

  Mary Jo had loved watching Susan and Jean do that.

  And they made it all look as if the fake Carson had moved the money offshore and was about to flee because he was being exposed.

  The three of them were now many, many millions richer each. The money didn’t matter to them, but for Mary Jo it sure felt right to do.

  Again, the sound of an approaching drone over her head made her crouch and study her watch.

  Exactly on time.

  Mary Jo waited until a drone passed overhead, then carefully opened the escape hatch just enough to not trigger any alarms.

  Moving slowly, she pulled a long black package from her backpack and slid it inside the hatch.

  She then closed the escape hatch carefully.

  At that moment she knew that Jean and Susan were doing exactly the
same thing at the other two hatches.

  Mary Jo moved slowly back away from the hatch until she was at a safe distance, then set the trigger to the explosive package. The plan was to set all three off at once. But now the package would explode if anyone got near it while trying to use the escape hatch.

  Mary Jo just hoped the fake Carson didn’t try to leave tonight through any of the tunnels. There would hardly be enough left of him to do a DNA test on if he did.

  Again Mary Jo crouched and kept completely still until a drone passed overhead, then silently she moved back into the forest.

  It was almost time.

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  JEAN EASED HERSELF into position between two small trees and under some brush. She didn’t need her night vision anymore because the lights of the compound gave her more than enough light to see.

  She was on a ridge above the compound and could see most of the buildings and the open area and the stone guard building beside the front gate.

  She had her custom-made sniper rifle set up in front of her and covered slightly in some lose brush. It was a pure black color and deadly.

  The drones were going to drop in another fifteen minutes, but until then, she needed to stay completely hidden and still.

  Since there had been no explosion or alarm, she knew that both Susan and Mary Jo were also now in positions, rifles ready.

  Jean had kissed Mary Jo goodbye as they had parted from their staging house. They wouldn’t see each other for almost a week as they made their way back to New York, changing identities and looks a few times along the way.

  They all had to make sure that there was no chance that what happened here could ever be traced back to any of them in any fashion. Being completely careful like that had kept her alive and working and out of prison for a couple thousand years now. She didn’t plan on changing that status any time soon.

  And she loved how both Mary Jo and Susan were equally as careful. The three of them worked well as a team, of that there was no doubt. This entire plan would have never worked without all three of them, actually.

  Jean settled in and used the scope on her rifle to study the compound below her. It looked a little like a California subdivision, with houses on both sides of a large common park area. And a large mansion set back up the hill.

  Everything was clean, almost too clean, and well-landscaped. All the green grass and lush trees showed that this church didn’t believe in any water shortage.

  Every morning at sunrise, Carson had a regular schedule. He came out of his mansion and led an exercise routine in the park area near the front entrance. She and Mary Jo and Susan were betting Carson would do that again today.

  The evening news had been full of reports about the church after the packages of proof that it was a scam reached the news outlets. It hadn’t taken some of them long to collaborate the proof and get it on the air. So Jean had no doubt that the fake Carson knew he needed to pretend everything was all right.

  It was when the fake Carson was to do his exercise that the actor they had hired was due to arrive. He would pull up and say he was Jack Kelsall and needed to talk to his partner, Carson White.

  Either the normal routine or the fake Jack Kelsall showing up would be enough to bring the real Kelsall, aka Carson White, out of his mansion.

  The backup plan if either of those things didn’t happen was to stay in place and kill the real Kelsall when the police came and arrested him.

  To Jean that third backup felt very risky, but they all had their routes to get away carefully planned. It would work, just not her favorite option by a long ways.

  Jean felt the watch on her wrist tingle slightly against her skin.

  Two minutes until the fake Carson appeared and walked down to the exercise area.

  Jean took a deep breath and made herself focus forward.

  It was time.

  Above her a drone went past without seeing her.

  And from her position, far down the valley, she could see the car with the actor playing the part of Jack Kelsall coming up the valley.

  Everything was in motion.

  Perfect so far.

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  MARY JO LAY perfectly still as a drone moved over her head and past her position. She lay covered in brush, facing the church compound below her. She was on the left of the compound main gate, Jean was on the right.

  Susan had taken a spot higher on the hill toward the back of the compound.

  Mary Jo had on a black suit, a black face mask with only her eyes exposed, black thin gloves and her rifle was pure black.

  She felt calm and almost relaxed.

  She was ready.

  From down the valley she could see the actor’s car approaching the compound.

  Dozens of the faithful, all in bright exercise clothes, were stretching and chatting on the large lawn area to the right of the main gate, waiting for their leader. Mary Jo wondered how many of them had seen the morning news so far.

  The church they believed in, the man they believed in, was getting torn apart in the press. Mary Jo had no doubt the police wouldn’t be far behind. They police didn’t dare wait too long since they had clear evidence that the fake Carson was really Jack Kelsall who had killed the real Carson White and actually filmed his body going off the bridge.

  Mary Jo hoped that the real Jack Kelsall would actually be dead by the time the police arrived.

  The sun was just about to hit the tops of the Sierras behind the compound when the front door to the mansion opened and the fake Carson White stepped out.

  Mary Jo sighted in on him. She could see him look around and smile as if nothing at all was wrong in the world. Then he started down his front walk toward the sidewalk that would take him down the hill to the park and his followers.

  He seemed totally unconcerned that his entire world had exploded in the press and all his money had vanished into his pretend accounts and then vanished from there.

  Could the guy not even listen to the news? Was it possible he kept himself and his followers that shut off from the world inside these walls?

  And was it possible none of his followers checked the bank accounts every morning?

  From the smile on the guy’s face, it sure seemed that way.

  Mary Jo was stunned that someone this complacent had gotten away with so much for so long.

  The fake Carson was about halfway down the hill to the park, strolling along easily when the fake Jack Kelsall stopped his car just down from the gate and got out and walked toward the gate.

  The timing was perfect. Just perfect.

  The gate was two huge iron gates with a stone guardhouse built into one of the walls to the right.

  Mary Jo kept her gun trained on their target, but watched the event at the gate play out.

  In ten seconds after the actor reached the gate, one of the guards came out of the gatehouse building and ran at a sprint up the hill toward the fake Carson.

  The fake Carson had been about to turn to join his followers in the park when the guard reached him and indicated he come to the guardhouse.

  The remaining three guards at the front gate had let the fake Kelsall stand just inside the gate and closed it again behind him.

  So now, as they had planned, the fake Kelsall was facing the fake Carson as he came down the hill.

  Mary Jo was thrilled that this was working exactly as planned. It was playing out as they imagined it would.

  As the fake Carson got within ten steps of the fake Jack Kelsall, Jack raised his hand and Carson stopped.

  Perfect.

  The young actor was playing his lines perfectly.

  Mary Jo, Susan, and Jean all now had clean shots of everyone participating.

  About ten of the followers and the four armed-guards all stood staring at what was happening in front of them, but all kept their distance.

  Mary Jo and Jean and Susan knew the exact words the young actor was speaking. Exactly.

  Mary Jo watched c
arefully, the rifle centered on the chest of the fake Carson.

  The actor was asking Carson why he had duped so many people, why he had pretended to be someone he wasn’t.

  Carson shook his head.

  At that moment, the actor pounded his chest as he was supposed to do in this part of his speech.

  Mary Jo fired.

  She was just a fraction of a second behind either Susan or Jean.

  Carson’s chest had exploded when Mary Jo’s shot got there and blew it apart even more. A high-velocity rifle shot using hollow-point ammunition could do that to a body. Small entrance wound, huge exist hole.

  And from the looks of it, another bullet tore into the fake Carson at the same moment Mary Jo’s shot had hit him.

  It was lucky the three shots hadn’t cut the guy in half. But there was no doubt he was dead.

  Mary Jo turned her rifle on the startled actor and shot him before the fake Carson’s body hit the ground.

  “Sorry kid,” Mary Jo said. “But your last part was played to award-winning levels.”

  Jean and Susan picked off two of the guards at the same time.

  Mary Jo went to the guard near one wall and dropped him as Jean and Susan dropped the other two guards at the front gate.

  Then a massive explosion echoed over the valley as Jean blew up the three bombs in the escape tunnels.

  At that moment Susan shut down all the drones and one fell in the brush close to where Mary Jo was. And Mary Jo knew that Susan also sent a signal back to the computers controlling the drones that she hoped would destroy the computers, but it actually didn’t matter if that worked or not.

  A moment later Mary Jo took out another guard coming out of one building and Jean and Susan dropped two other guards who had appeared near the parking area.

  Mary Jo let herself take a moment to study the scene below. The real Jack Kelsall, who had been hiding as Carson White, lay dead in a pool of his own blood on the driveway leading into his fake-church compound.

  The actor playing Jack Kelsall sprawled near him.