Apex Predator

by J. A. Faura

  He explained the hearing and what his lawyers had told him. “You’ll like them, Beth, they’re good guys, different, but good guys.”

  She went over to the wet bar and poured them two after-dinner drinks, Amaretto for her and Baileys for him.

  He walked over to her and kissed her forehead as he took the glass, “Are you trying to get me drunk so you can take advantage of me?”

  She smiled coquettishly, “Something like that.”

  He put his arms around her and brought her close. He could smell her lotion, lilacs, always lilacs. He brushed a lock of hair from her face, took her face in his hands and kissed her. A tender and loving kiss, but there was passion there, too, and as she felt it, she put her arms around his waist and allowed herself to get lost in the moment. Right then, right at that moment, they were just husband and wife again. Two people deeply in love, sharing each other’s grief and loss and hope and trust. He pulled back and looked at her with the same wistful, content eyes he had looked at her with when they first met and remembered why he had done everything he had done. His family, his home, those were the things that drove him, and those were the things that would see him through everything that lay ahead of him. He remained that way, just looking at her for a full minute.

  Finally she smiled, “What?”

  He chuckled as he pulled her close again and rested his head on her shoulder as he spoke in her ear, “Nothing, I was just thinking about how much I love you, how much you mean to me and how far we’ve come. I love our family, Beth. I love you all so much, and sometimes I wonder whether the things I’ve done have been the right things, you know? Not just this, everything, all the years in the Navy going away for months at a time, years sometimes.”

  Now she took his face in her hands and held him so he was looking straight into her eyes and their noses almost touching, “Hey, hey, listen to me. Everything you’ve done has been done with love for your family in your heart, and that makes it right. Steven, you more than anyone should know that life never comes with a user’s manual. We do the best we can with what we have and we try to do it with love in our heart. That’s the best thing we can hope for, for our love for each other and our kids and our parents to guide the things we do. Sometimes it’s hard and we falter or sometimes we hurt so bad that we can’t see it, but we always come back to that, the love we feel for the people closest to us.”

  He gave her a smile that warmed and broke her heart at the same time, “I know, babe, I know, I guess right now I’m wondering if my pain, the sense of loss I feel, has blinded me to what you’re saying. I miss her so much, Beth, I miss her so much.”

  He put his head back on her shoulder and sobbed. She just held him and stroked his head. She knew that unlike her, he hadn’t had time to truly grieve. He had held it all in, too preoccupied with everything that had happened and trying to keep his family safe. He was the best man that she had ever known and she loved him more in this one moment than she had ever thought possible. When she was young, one of her aunts had told her that most women ended up marrying their fathers. She remembered that at the time she believed if that was the case she would never marry, because she didn’t think she would ever find as good a man as her father, but she had. They remained like that for a few more minutes, her stroking his hair and him sobbing and releasing everything he had held inside.

  After a few minutes, he looked up at her and smiled, “Sorry, babe, it just came up on me.”

  She smiled back, “Silly, silly man. You may not realize it, but these are the moments when I love you the most. Moments where you’re not Steven Loomis, Commander SEAL Team Six, or executive god at GIC, moments when you’re just the man I fell in love with and the father of my children.”

  He chuckled and gave her a big bear hug, “Executive god of GIC? Really?”

  She chuckled in return, “It’s what came into my mind, do you like it?”

  He finally let her go and wiped his face with a napkin from the wet bar, “I do. I’ll have to let everyone at the office know so they will know to worship me properly.”

  They both laughed at this, a sincere and healthy laugh. They stopped laughing, looked at each other and launched into laughter again. It was a laugh that carried with it the relief of being together, of being able to glimpse that maybe one day they would be able to go back to just being a family, nothing more. When they were finally composed and on their way into the living room with their drinks, the phone rang. They looked at each other with puzzled expressions, wondering who would be calling at that hour.

  Steven answered. It was Danny, the night doorman, “Mr. Loomis? Yeah, this is Danny downstairs. There’s a gentleman here to see you. He says you know him. An Art Goodman?”

  Steven smiled, he should have known, “Yeah, Danny, let him up.”

  He walked over to Beth in the living room, “It’s the General. He’s coming up.”

  She looked at him still with a puzzled expression, “The General? At this hour?”

  Steven nodded, “Yeah, he must have something important he wants to talk about. Other than the case, I can’t think of anything.”

  Beth stood up, “Well, I’ll finish cleaning up the kitchen while the two of you talk.”

  There was a light knock at the door and Steven, already on his way to the door, answered it, “General, it’s good to see you, please come in.”

  The General came in and before he could say anything he noticed Beth going from the living room to the kitchen, “Beth? I didn’t know you were here. If I’d known, I would have come some other time.”

  Beth looked over, “Hi, Art, don’t worry, Steven was surprised too. Come in, please. Would you like something to drink?”

  Steven took his coat and led him to the living room. “That would be nice. Scotch, maybe? Neat?”

  She nodded and went to the wet bar, “You need anything, honey?”

  Steven, sitting down next to the old man, shook his head, “I still have my Baileys, babe, thanks.”

  She came over to where they were sitting and handed the amber beverage to Goodman, “Here you go. Now, I am going to go run a bath for myself while you two chat and then I’m hitting the sack. It’s been a long day.”

  Before she left, the General stood up and gave her a peck on the cheek, “I bet it has. Thank you, Beth.”

  She left and the two men took a sip from their drinks.

  Steven spoke first, “So, to what do I owe the honor, sir.”

  The General looked at Steven for a couple of beats before answering, “I just wanted to check in with you, son. I haven’t had a chance to speak with you for a while. Sorry to come at this hour, by the way, I had to wait until those vultures left. They’re everywhere, even in front of our building.”

  Steven hung his head.

  He knew that the media was camped out at the GIC building because of him and it annoyed him. “Yeah, sorry about that. You’re right, they’re everywhere. I knew this would cause a media shit storm. I just never in a million years imagined it would be to this extent.”

  The old man nodded thoughtfully and took a sip from his drink. Both men were reflective by nature and had always been comfortable with silence, and it was no different now. Neither man was the type to simply speak to break the silence and both thought carefully before they spoke. It had been that way since the time he started at GIC. Finally, Steven decided the best thing to do would be to update his boss on what was going on with his trial. He hadn’t been able to speak to the man since he had confessed and explained to the world what his defense would be.

  “We had a hearing today, as you probably already know. The judge allowed us to move forward with our defense.”

  Goodman took another sip and nodded, “Yeah, that. I have to tell you, son, I was genuinely surprised by the article in the newspaper.”

  Steven, both hands on his glass, nodded, “Yeah, I’m sorry about that, sir. I wish we could have talked before all that happened, but there just
didn’t seem to be a way for me to come see you before it happened.”

  The General waved his hand, “Oh, don’t be sorry. I imagined you were probably being hounded by those jackals in the media. When you made the decision to take Riche out, I figured there was more behind it than just revenge. I think I know you well enough to know you’re too measured to be taken by reckless sentiments. And you confirmed it when we spoke at my office. But I would be lying to you if I said I knew this was what you were planning. Talking to the media is a big step.”

  Steven nodded and took a sip from his drink. He waited a few seconds and finally turned to the old man, “And? What do you think about it, about the article and all the coverage?”

  Goodman thought for a few seconds and answered, “Well, it makes sense. I mean, I think those of us who have had the opportunity to see the atrocities of violence up close have at one time or another asked the same question: What kind of animal does this? We all ask it, but we never expect to get an answer, because deep down inside, we know that no answer is going to satisfy us.

  “Now, with this, you’ve made the decision to provide an answer. Whether it’s the answer only time will tell, but it lets people know that if you chose to go down this path you must have had enough information to make the decision. All the so-called ‘experts’ and scientists are just putting their two cents in, but none of them really know what the hell they’re dealing with. The reporter that wrote the article, Garcia, did a decent job of presenting your theory and your reasons for doing what you did, but some of the others writing and talking about it haven’t been as straight, and it will only get worse.”

  Steven gave him a small, thin smile and took another sip of his drink. He went on to explain the details of the hearing they had earlier that day and what would be coming up in the next couple of weeks. The man was footing his legal bills and had put up the money for his bail and Steven felt he had the right to know. Even if that hadn’t been the case, he considered the old man much more than just his boss and he valued his advice greatly, so he would have told him everything, regardless. Goodman asked a couple of questions as Steven was laying everything out for him and Steven answered as best he could. After an hour together, the General stood up and drained the last bit of Scotch from his glass.

  He grabbed Steven by the shoulders and looked straight into his eyes, “Well, son, you’re in it now. Just remember, we’re here for you, no matter what happens.”

  Hearing the emphasis on his last words, for the first time Steven wondered whether the old man knew about Barlow. The only people that knew about that were Cecil and Thurman Meeks, and he had a hard time believing that they had said anything.

  He simply looked back at the General and said something he had been meaning to say for a while, “I know, I really do, sir. I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me, for my family. I know there’s no way I can repay that, but I wanted you to know how much I appreciate all of it.”

  The old man chuckled and walked toward the door, “Nonsense, you’re family, and you know if it were the other way around you’d do the same thing.”

  Steven smiled, nodded and surprised the old man with a heartfelt hug.

  The General chuckled as he too put his arms around Steven and patted his back, “You just take care of this business and know that your family is cared for, alright?” Steven nodded, let him go and bid him goodbye.

  When he came out of the building and onto the street, a car with tinted windows pulled up to the curb and the old man got in. Once he was inside, the driver pulled away from the curb and into traffic.

  Thurman Meeks turned to the old man and asked, “So, did he tell you?”

  Goodman shook his head, “No, he didn’t. I don’t blame him. He’s got a lot on his plate and he figures that if he tells me I’m going to want to take some action. He’s probably right, about Barlow I mean, the only reason he took an interest in Steven is because of Riche and everything that’s happened. He’s not going to want to put whatever it is he is doing at risk by coming after someone he knows is an experienced Special Forces operator and has the resources to go after him.

  “No, the asshole did what he did because he knew Steven would have to let it go for now, and he figured that would give him enough time to pick up and put the show on the road.”

  Meeks nodded, “I thought the same thing. If he was able to sniff us out then it means he’s been expecting someone to sooner or later start digging into his business. He probably thought it would be later, and when we started digging and tripped a few of his countermeasures he got spooked.”

  The old man was looking out the window, clearly thinking about the situation, “Yeah, but even though he was spooked, he had the wherewithal and the resources to get Steven alone, which means he’s been doing whatever he’s been doing for a while and he’s prepared himself for contingencies, and that makes this mutt much more dangerous than your average psychopath.”

  They drove in silence for a few blocks.

  Finally, Meeks spoke up, “So what do you want to do?”

  The answer let him know that the old man had been thinking about precisely that question, “We let the guy go, let him pull up stakes and get on his way. We keep Steven covered during the trial. Are the two teams at his in-laws’ house still good?”

  Meeks nodded, “Yup, all guys you know, all professionals.”

  The General knew that by ‘professionals’ Thurman meant guys that had serious experience in the field, probably ex-SEALs or Special Air Service, SAS operatives, Britain’s version of the SEALs.

  Meeks went on, “We also have the team that Steven asked for in place. The security detail his lawyers arranged for is dealing with crowd control and transportation logistics, which is good because it lets us concentrate on the important stuff, electronics detection, sniper counter-surveillance, the standard stuff.”

  The General still had some questions, “How good is their security detail?”

  Meeks answered, “They’re pretty good, for what they do. Former cops, all of them, two of them are former jarheads.”

  Goodman nodded, “Alright, we keep out of sight for the duration. When the trial is finished, I’ll talk to Steven and we’ll decide what we’re going to do. If I know him, I think he’s not going to just let Barlow disappear into the woodwork. I suppose it will all depend on how his trial pans out.

  “Now he knows Riche was nothing, just one predator in a much bigger jungle. When he killed him, Steven swatted a mosquito and then realized the mosquito was sitting on an elephant’s ass, and the son of a bitch woke up and charged after him.”

  Meeks chuckled. He’d always enjoyed the old man’s way of putting things.

  The General went on, “Now it’s our job to keep that elephant off his back until after the trial, then it’s his decision whether we go hunting or not.”

  Thurman nodded, “Yeah, and I think you’re right, Steven’s not going to let this guy just disappear.”

  They drove in silence all the way to Goodman’s building. He owned a penthouse on the Upper East Side.

  Before he reached for the door handle, Thurman grabbed his arm, “General, I told you about this because I consider Steven a brother, but it still bothers me that I betrayed his confidence, it bothers the hell out of me.”

  Goodman smiled, “Relax, son, you did the right thing. Sometimes we’re so far in, so deep, that we don’t realize when we need to call for cover. That’s where Steven is at, he’s looking at a murder charge and he’s got the world’s attention firmly planted on him. He’s a good executive and he was a good officer because he knows what he doesn’t know, that’s why he brought you in.

  “Just so we’re clear, Thurman, we’re all a part of a brotherhood, like it or not, and right now one of our brothers needs our help, even if he doesn’t completely understand how much help he needs. You did good, Chief, trust me.”

  Retired Chief Petty Officer Thurman Meeks smiled, the Gener
al was the only one who called him that. “Good enough. Have a good night, sir.”

  The General stepped out of the car, patted the roof twice and turned to go into his building.

  Chapter 24

  The next morning, Steven got up before Beth, before the sun came up actually, made coffee, had a cup himself and left the rest for Beth along with a note and some fresh-squeezed orange juice. The previous day he had arranged for a car to pick him up precisely at six, before the whole world woke up. As he walked out of his building, he saw that his security detail had already pushed the media early birds out of the way. He went straight to the car, and one of the men of his security team got in behind him. This was something that his lawyers had insisted on. They didn’t know about the SIG Sauer he had tucked in his lower back and he wanted to keep it that way. He didn’t know how they would feel about their client, a defendant accused of first-degree murder, carrying a concealed weapon, but he was pretty sure one or all of them might blow their top. He knew he might be violating a condition of his bail, but under the circumstances he didn’t care. The car drove straight to Queens College. The security guard got out first, scouted the nearby sidewalk and gave him a nod. He got out of the car and went straight into a building on his immediate right. He had been here twice before and knew the layout well. As he made his way through the building, he could sense the looks he was getting from the few people that were there that realized who he was. Most were students up before dawn cramming and others had been up all night studying, fueled by caffeine, so there really weren’t that many who took any real interest. The school had been on high alert, as there had been a constant stream of media coming through campus since the shooting. He had seen a couple of the interviews Dr. Leonard had given, so he knew the man could handle himself. He finally got to the right floor and walked up to the same student he had spoken to before.