by David Nees
“How’d you get in?”
“Through the tunnels.”
“What the fuck?” Joey said, not understanding. Then he pointed with his left hand. “Doreen’s in the room. She’s not hurt. I was going to trade her for you leaving town. You can have her if we can make a deal.” Joey was trying to get his right arm to work. If he could get his lower arm muscles to work without engaging his shoulder, he could bring his pistol up and shoot Dan who was walking towards him. Dan didn’t have his carbine shouldered.
“I’ll get her. It’s you I want now.”
“Didn’t mean to hurt Rita, you know that,” Joey offered.
“Don’t plead, Joey. It’s not like you. You enjoy being the tough guy, knocking others around, especially when you have help. You’ve killed your share and beat up your share, so don’t start trying to sound innocent. I know how you worked Tommy over. I could let him shoot you with the shotgun, but this is my mission.”
“Fuck you, Dan. Fuck you and fuck Rita and fuck your kid. Your life’s ruined no matter what you do to me.” Joey lurched and swung his arm forward. In a moment he would have a bullet in Dan’s chest.
The .223 rounds came quickly, one after another. Joey heard and felt the first two, but not the last two. He crumpled against the wall at the end of the corridor. His pistol lay in a pool of blood at his side.
Tommy shouted up from the main floor, “What’s going on up there?”
Dan shouted back. “Everything’s okay up here. You okay?”
“Yeah, the guys from the back started in and then backed out after I shot at them. I think I heard a car drive off.”
“Keep watch. I’m gonna get Doreen and come down.”
“She all right?”
“Yes, I am,” Doreen shouted from the room.
Dan opened the door and Doreen ran into him. “You son of a bitch!” she shouted as she tried to hug and slug him at the same time with Ray’s gun waving wildly.
“Give me that before you shoot me.” Dan backed up from her onslaught. “Tommy’s waiting for you at the end of the hallway, down the stairs.” Doreen turned to run to where Dan pointed.
“Doreen’s coming down,” Dan shouted down to Tommy who went over to the stairs, still keeping his eyes on the back doors.
Dan entered the room and found Ray lying on the floor, crawling to the table in an attempt to get to his feet again. He looked as Dan walked up to him. Dan stood over him for a moment with Ray’s gun in his hand. Then, without a word, he brought it up and shot him through the forehead, and then through the heart. He stuck the gun into his belt, turned and walked out of the room.
After checking Joey, he headed to the stairs and came down to find Doreen and Tommy in a tight embrace. “Stay here.” He checked the two guys Tommy had shot. The second man was dead, but the first man was still hanging on. He wouldn’t make it, and Dan made sure with a shot through the head with Ray’s gun. Next he went back to the rear and opened one of the doors. The rear lot was empty. Nothing moved.
Going back to Tommy and Doreen, he said, “Let’s get out of here.” They both nodded and all three climbed down into the tunnel.
Chapter 63
When they got to the car Dan called Carmine. “I finished what I had to do, but you have a mess at your warehouse. You better send some boys over to clean it up.” He gave him the address.
“What do you mean, ‘mess’?” Carmine answered
“You’ll see when you get there. I wouldn’t leave it. One of your problems just got solved as well. I’ll be in touch about my bill.” And he hung up.
His next call was to Jane. “We’re done. I’ve got some friends with me, where can we meet?”
“Meet me where we first spoke,” Jane replied. Dan acknowledged and disconnected. They drove in silence to the underpass where Dan and Jane had their first conversation in the van. They were there only a couple of minutes when Jane drove up in the Suburban. She had two men with her. They got out and watched the perimeter. Jane handed Dan and the others plastic Tyvek overalls and told them to put them on over their clothes.
“Get in the SUV. One of my men will drive your car, Tommy.”
“Where we going?” Tommy asked.
“Somewhere safe to lie low,” Jane replied, looking at Dan.
“Where we were before?” he asked. She nodded.
They quickly drove off. When they reached the safe house and unloaded in the garage, Jane directed them to the main bathroom. She spread a plastic cloth on the floor and instructed Doreen and Tommy to strip everything off on the plastic and get immediately into the shower.
“We’ll dispose of your clothes. I’ve got new ones for you.”
“Why?” Doreen asked.
“You have gunpowder residue all over you and your clothes, like a fingerprint. They have to disappear.”
“There is a .45 that has to disappear as well,” said Dan.
“All the weapons have to disappear,” Jane replied.
“Even my Remington?”
“Especially your Remington.”
“Damn, that’s a good rifle.” He wanted to be angry, but couldn’t raise the emotion. He was drained.
“What about my car?” Tommy asked. “We sat in it. The gun bag was in it.”
“We’re going to treat your car to a wash and detailing like it’s never had before. It’ll seem like a new car when it’s done. It’s on the house.” She smiled at the two of them. “I’ll leave you two alone, get stripped, and don’t step off the plastic until you step into the shower.” They left them alone and went downstairs. In the back was another bathroom where Jane had Dan go through the same procedure.
“The clothes and guns will disappear like I said. Get cleaned up and we’ll talk.”
“What about Tommy and Doreen?” Dan asked.
“I’ve got some food and drinks laid out for them in the bedroom. They’ll be fine, but they’re going to have a deep, restful sleep.”
“You’re going to drug them?” Dan asked in surprise.
“Just a sedative in their drinks. It will calm them down and nature will take over. I imagine this has been an exhausting day for everyone, but especially for them. They need to sleep, and we need to talk.”
Later Dan and Jane sat down in the kitchen. She poured each of them a snifter of bourbon, neat.
“No ice?” He took the glass.
“Just hold it, inhale it, savor it. Remember this is the good stuff,” she said.
Dan bent over the glass and inhaled deeply. He coughed, and then more gently breathed the aroma of the whiskey. “This smells so smooth and rich.”
“Now you can sip, but slowly. The mission is completed. It’s time to think slowly, decide slowly, and be sure of what you choose. Just relax and enjoy the present. The battle is over and there’s nothing for you to do at the moment. Savor it, like you savor the bourbon.”
Dan took a sip and rolled it around his mouth. “It’s not thick, but the taste is thick. That’s odd. No harsh or sharp edges.”
Jane smiled as she watched him.
He concentrated on the bourbon for some time, staring at the glass, focusing on it, driving all other thoughts out of his mind. They scattered but kept creeping back in like wolves surrounding him, closing in on him. He focused harder now, not sure what would happen if they overran him. He had reached the end, but where was he? He didn’t know. He had not thought about this moment, not planned for it. It was always something out there, the completion of the mission, his retribution for a terrible wrong done. He had often imagined righting that wrong, but now that he had completed his task, what had he righted? Dan felt a hollowness creep in, an emptiness. He was drained. What would fill that now? The thoughts circled closer, dark images, flashes of Rita flitting around the edges, no recovery for her; no redemption for him.
His body slumped lower in the chair. He grasped the glass tightly with both hands. Jane watched. She knew his mind was going places she couldn’t go, places she shouldn’t intrude. Sh
e waited.
Dan began to quietly sob, drawing harsh breaths, trying to keep it down, keep the emptiness at bay. But it came, like a tide, inexorably flowing into and over him. The shadows closed in.
“I took my revenge. Joey’s dead. But nothing’s changed. Rita is still gone, the baby gone. What good did it do them? It seems like it didn’t do me any good either. Where am I now? I almost killed two of the few people who care for me. Now I wouldn’t blame them if they came downstairs to announce they were leaving and never want to see me again. I didn’t know what it would be like to get my revenge, but now that I’ve exacted the retribution, it doesn’t feel like anything. I’m still where I was, without Rita.”
Jane took a sip from her glass. “You took apart a bad crew. You brought justice to Rita’s killer. No, none of that brings her back and none of that dissolves grief. It isn’t meant to. But it balances the scales.”
“How?”
“I don’t know, but somehow. The people who do evil have to pay. They must not get away clean. I don’t know why, but I just know it doesn’t seem right. If the universe is just, they must reap what they sow.”
“Then why don’t I feel better? Feel some satisfaction?”
“There may be no satisfaction in retribution, in making the bad guys pay the price. Maybe we shouldn’t look for it there…in that act. But I do think the act is necessary.”
“Which is why you do what you do?”
“I’m not sure. I know that I want to strike the enemy. We seem to be getting softer, the agency is becoming politically correct, and people are operating more and more under the CYA principle than working to be effective against the bad guys. So I’ve carved out a subset of the mission where I don’t have to be PC, where I can bring action to the issues and take the fight to those who want to take down our country.”
“And they let you do that?”
“So far. I’ll take it as far as I can go. The higher ups may not think much of my group. They may not want to think of us at all. They may just think we’re a safety valve, letting off some pressure that allows them to continue to play politics, to play around at the edges while not ruffling feathers in DC.
Dan’s interest dissolved as a fresh onslaught of grief came over him. “I don’t think I’m your man. I feel empty, drained. My reason for doing is over. There’s nothing left to do. I’ve delivered my payback. Delivered it to the ones who deserved it and now I’m done…and done in.” He bowed his head, staring at the floor.
“No you’re not,” Jane said in a sharp voice. Dan looked up at her. “Don’t you fall for that melancholy crap. I know your demons are closing in, telling you it’s all over. I know you still grieve and, now, finding your revenge didn’t provide closure for that grief, you’re getting all weepy and thinking it’s all over. That’s crap. You didn’t do this for healing. You did it for retribution, to balance the scales. You know that in your heart. I think, from what you’ve told me about Rita, she would agree.”
Dan continued to stare at her.
“I don’t know if Rita would have wanted you to pursue this path you took, but I damn sure know she wouldn’t want you to give up on life, on doing something useful, something to make a difference. You’re better than that.”
Jane sat back, her face flushed. She hadn’t expected that outburst. She had hoped to remain under control, calm and cool.
“For a moment you sounded like her,” he said, finally. “My sister said this path wouldn’t heal the hole in my heart. I heard her, but said I had to do it anyway. Maybe I didn’t believe her. Now I know she was right.” He sat up straighter in the chair. “I did what I set out to do and now I guess I’ve got to suck it up and move on.” Dan seemed to have made a decision. “Tell me more about this private mission of yours.”
Chapter 64
In the morning, after a huge breakfast, Tommy and Doreen were briefed on what they were to do next. Jane told them they had gone camping in the Poconos. She had arranged two people to stand in for them. They were seen on surveillance cameras, but wore hats that always partially hid their faces. Size, hair color and length were a match. Tommy and Doreen would meet up with them and collect their receipts, continue the camp experience and return in two days. When questioned by the police or FBI, they would state that when they heard that Joey had returned to town, they decided they had to leave for their own safety and a camping trip seemed the best way to hide out.
Their car was delivered, fully cleaned, and they departed. The goodbyes were cool. Tommy and Doreen had mixed emotions. Dan had involved them, put them in danger, but had saved them in the end.
While putting his story on tape in the hotel, Vincent became violently ill. Food poising was suspected and later confirmed; possibly by a sou chef who had subsequently disappeared from the kitchen. Vincent was near death for weeks and his throat was so damaged that he couldn’t speak afterward; probably because the cops forced him to vomit up the poisoned food, which may have saved his life, but damaged his vocal cords.
Mike Warner put together the testimony as best he could and went to work attacking the mob. Everyone had lain low, a few of the capos did some time, but Silvio was never prosecuted. Carmine endured a lengthy trial which resulted in a hung jury.
Vincent, Sheila and the girls relocated to Dayton, Ohio. Sheila opened a beauty salon called the Brooklyn Hair Palace. She brought in some genuine New York beauticians to lend it an air of authenticity. She had found her calling as an entrepreneur and enjoyed spending her days running the shop, chatting up her customers. She specialized in stories about life in Brooklyn that everyone thought were fanciful and made up. The women loved the exciting east coast flavor she brought. Sheila instinctively understood that the ladies came for more than haircuts and beauty treatments; they came for the pizzazz and spice Sheila provided.
Tiffany and Amber spent a difficult year adjusting to being regular teenagers. But by the second year they had made some good friends. They were survivors, like their mother and father.
Dan slept most of the way during the drive. He and Jane left the day after Tommy and Doreen had departed the safe house. A heavy layer of fatigue flowed over him and he didn’t resist. There was nothing left to do, so he let himself slide under its surface. He was vaguely aware that they were not driving to Camp Peary. The camp was located near Williamsburg in the tidewater region of Virginia. It was a 9,000 acre military reservation officially known as the Armed Forces Experimental Activity center. Within the camp was a facility affectionately referred to as “The Farm”, a covert CIA training center. It was here that Dan would hone the skills needed to enter into his new role.
Near evening they stopped at a quaint mountain log cabin nestled in the Monongahela National Forest. When the forest was set aside, a number of the houses that were taken over were renovated and now rented out to guests who wanted to get away to the quiet of the backwoods but enjoy the benefits of a roof over their heads.
“What are we doing here? You abducting me?”
Jane smiled at him. “The thought may have crossed my mind, but business before pleasure.” She grabbed her bag and headed to the cabin. “Get your pack and bring in the food,” she called back over her shoulder.
The cabin was made of logs; one story. It had a living room with a stone fireplace at one end. On the other side was a kitchen. In back were two bedrooms and a bathroom. It was small but comfortable. Outside was a front porch overhung by an extension of the roof. A wooden rail traced across the front edge of the porch. On one side was a rack of firewood stacked alongside of the cabin; the other side held four Adirondack style wooden chairs. It was nestled into the hillside and looked like a natural part of the landscape
“So, really, what’s up?” Dan asked as he came inside lugging the bags.
“Some R-and-R is what’s up. You’ve just come off of a period of intensity that few have experienced. You need to rest before you start your training.”
“I won’t argue about that. You have a prefer
ence for bedrooms?”
“Take whichever one you want. I’ve never been here before.”
After dropping his gear in one of the rooms, Dan came out to find Jane with two glasses of bourbon in her hands. She handed one to Dan.
“To a mission accomplished.” She raised her glass.
Dan nodded and took a sip of his drink. “You’re going to corrupt me with this high quality whiskey. I won’t be able to drink the cheap stuff if this goes on too long.”
“Enjoy it while you can.” She gave him a bright smile. Her eyes flashed and her whole face lit up. Dan couldn’t help but smile back. She was a thoroughly good looking woman. Not glamorous and immediately eye catching, but someone who pulled you in. Maybe you had to combine her looks with her sharp personality. She knew who she was and you suspected she knew what she wanted.
He watched her move about the cabin—athletic, nimble. Her attractiveness, even her sexuality, was embedded in her movements. Observing her, Dan could see depths beneath the surface that she kept under control. They didn’t show unless you looked close, but they were there. A bit like Rita he thought. He could feel his face cloud over for a brief moment as Rita’s image came to him mind.
They did very little most of the week. Dan hiked in the forest every day. Sometimes Jane would accompany him. He liked the way she could effortlessly keep up. When he walked alone, he thought of Rita. Thinking of her was still painful, but moments of pleasure—the good memories—began to creep in. Maybe this is how we heal. We remember the good parts and hold on to them. Let them fill the spaces.
In the evening they would sit by a fire and talk; the weather was cool at night in the mountains. There were long moments of silence. Jane would sit, not interrupting the quiet, not knowing, but instinctively guessing that Dan needed the silence but also needed the company in the silence. She was doing her part by just sitting there. She was happy to do that.
