Mercury Decending (Mercury Black Authority Book 3)

by Finian Blake

  “You are working for Julio, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, we must work on the timing, but you will put them in your debt. You must hold out for a very large bribe, and some personal favors besides plus they must do all of the work without any participation from you. I only ask that you time this move with us. I have some arrangements to make first.”

  “I will make sure that my secretary allows you access. Is there anything else?”

  “No, I must go tell Julio now.” Rich slid a thick envelope across the desk.

  “Good luck, my friend,” the Minister said with a tone of concern. “I hope that you will be alive after sunset.”

  Rich was ushered to a side exit and caught a taxi to the hotel. He called the number for Laurita. She gave him the address and directions for her father’s home. Rich took a taxi to Laurita’s house finding her father, Juan was sick from chemotherapy. The six foot two man was thin as a rail from all of the drugs. The first thing that struck Noah was how much, Juan resembled Mooney. The cancer had spread throughout his body and Mooney had his driver take Juan to his chemo treatments.

  “Juan how is the pain?”

  “It is very bad. I try to make Laurita think that I can get better, but the doctor says that there is no chance. She is a good daughter and I wonder what will happen to her. My oldest son will inherit the house. Laurita is a bright child, but all she has done is take care of me, and work as a maid. She does not get along with her brother, so he will not take care of her when I am gone.” Noah spent a few hours talking to Juan, while he was waiting for Laurita to return from work. When she returned, Rich rode back to the Hacienda with the chauffer. Mooney ushered his guest into the safe room.

  “What were you able to find out?”

  “I do have a plan.”

  “Ok, Einstein, spill it.”

  “As long as you are alive they will never leave you alone,” Rich started.

  “We have that much figured out!” Julio was short of patience.

  “You need to die.”

  “Now, that is a gem of an idea! If I die, what are we going to do for a body?”

  “I found a volunteer.”

  “Who is going to volunteer?”

  “Laurita’s father is dying of cancer, and he can’t stand the pain. If you guarantee that you will take care of her, he will take your place. I found someone to make a complete identity for you. You can take his name and move anywhere. There is still a lot to be worked out, but with Juan it will work. I bought someone at the corners office that will plant the right information. What we need now is a clinic that will do dental records and x-rays. That will be tough, but I think it can be done.”

  Julio sat quietly for a few minutes, “I need to think about this. Pour a drink and grab some food. When Laurita hears this, she may poison both of us.”

  Laurita came in the morning with the chauffer. She stormed into Rich’s room and let loose with a string of Spanish curse words. Julio stood in the doorway with a smile on his face.

  “Would you like me to translate?”

  “No, there was enough English mixed in for me to get the gist of it.” Laurita pushed Julio out of the way, storming out the door.

  “I thought about what you said last night. I do have a clinic in Houston that we can work with. The doctor is expensive, but he will cover our action for a price. If we can get past Laurita it will work.” Julio handed Rich a piece of paper.

  “I need you to take Juan up to this clinic and get things started. You better take Laurita with you.” Julio hated to lose her for any amount of time, but Laurita needed to be convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was no hope for her father.

  Anna called for a pause in Alex’s story turning to Laurita for clarification, “How much pain was your father in?”

  Laurita was starting to tear up, “There were times that all he could do was cry. Father was in great pain. Every time he went to the doctor, he would tell me that he could beat the cancer. The clinic had some grand miracle on the horizon.”

  “You believed him of course.”

  “No, I thought that he was just saying that for me.”

  “So, you knew that it was just a matter of time.” Anna mixed some more Sangria and poured everybody a drink. “Why are you blaming Alex for your father’s death?”

  “He came up with the idea and my father jumped at the chance.” Laurita pointed an accusing finger at Alex. “He had this grand plan for Mooney, and my father bought into it. Julio would take care of me if my father stood in for him. ‘Hermes’ the master planner, he got my father to do this.” The brooding in Laurita’s voice was evident. “He got a wife out of this, and I got a corpse.” She waved her hand at Alex. Anna couldn’t help but feel that Rita planned the Nicaragua misadventure as revenge and was pissed off when the plan succeeded despite her. Alex lost his family, but made a fortune. “Finish your story. Tell your wife how innocent you are.” Laurita glared at Alex. “Anna, you lost your husband and he married you right away. How innocent do you think he is? Did he pay you or agree to take care of you?” Laurita’s voice was slurred with the alcohol. “I bet he set something up. He is the master planner. You are lucky that you are alive. You must be some lay.” Alex ignored the challenge and continued his story.

  Anna fired back, “It looks as if he took excellent care of you Juan just gave you everything.” Laurita took a long brooding pull of her drink waiting for Alex to continue.

  4.

  ARRANGEMENTS

  “Rich arranged for a private plane to take Laurita and Juan into Houston. An ambulance met the plane driving them straight to the clinic. Juan was ushered to a private room at the exclusive wing of the clinic being allowed to rest for the balance of the day. The tests began early in the morning and after two days the doctor sat Laurita and Juan down in his office and addressed Juan.

  “The cancer is in every part of your body. There is no treatment that can cure you. If you take the treatment that I suggest, you might live six months longer,” The doctor said bluntly to Juan as Laurita started to cry. “We can make you more comfortable, but that is about it. The pain will get much worse as things progress.” Laurita was no stranger to this news. The doctors in Mexico said the same thing to her privately. The aide took Juan back to his room in his wheel chair. When Rich went to follow them Laurita spun around with tears in her eyes. She pushed suddenly against Noah, and stormed off after her father.

  “You cannot do this.” She didn’t want to lose a second with her father.

  Juan tried to comfort her. “Julio has promised to take care of you. You will want for nothing, my Rita.”

  “I will want for you,” Laurita protested.

  “I have no choice. If I did, I would choose to be with you. The only thing I can give you is a future.” Rita curled up in his arms. The pain was unbearable, but he would not ruin a second of it by telling her. About ten PM Juan woke Laurita up.

  I need to speak to Rich alone. Get him for me, please. She ran across the street to the motel. Laurita banged on the door of the room, until Noah answered.

  “My father wants to see you now.” There was no civility in her voice. Rich dressed quickly running across the street. He looked in the room. Juan spoke softly motioning him in.

  “If I do this, I want you to promise that you will protect her.” Rich sat down next to the bed.

  “Julio has promised to care for her,” Rich started.

  “I speak English very well. Julio said he will care for her. I want you to protect her. Give me your word.”

  “I will protect your youngest daughter. I will not stand by and let her be harmed.” A smile came over Juan’s face. Rich looked up, and saw Laurita standing in the doorway. Juan looked at his daughter. “You heard him. He will protect you,” relaxing he went to sleep.

  Laurita’s arrogance was obvious, “That was a tall promise.”

  “I keep my word.” Rich went back to the motel, and Juan went to sleep awaking at two AM to find his Rit
a was sitting in the chair crying.

  “Why did you make him promise?” Rita asked tearfully.

  “This is the man that the bad men call when they need something done. Did you ever think why?” Juan needed to make his point clear.

  “Why…”

  “You need to arrive at that answer, by yourself. That is my final lesson.” Juan smiled, and went back to sleep.

  Rich tossed and turned not being able to sleep. While they were taking the x-rays he needed to invent a date so that it would show up on the x-ray. He needed to set-up a dental appointment to make dental records for comparison, and postdates for them so that they matched Mooney’s schedule. He would have them take the x-rays of Juan’s mouth to Mooney’s dentist and replace them with the new ones. Every time he took another step Laurita seemed to hate him that much more. Getting a card for finger prints would be necessary. Wanda would need pictures. A new country would have to be selected, but Julio’s complexion made a Latin country the obvious choice since he spoke fluent Italian and Spanish. Julio knew too many people in Italy, so Spain was the first choice. Rich did not want anyone to recognize him, so some research needed to be done. All of the decisions needed to be made rapidly, since Juan would not last long. There had to be a reasonable resemblance to Julio, when Juan died so things had to proceed quickly.

  Rich called Wanda, “I need two identities one for a man sixty-three and the other for a woman twenty-two. They will need a fresh history and records for Spain. You did say that you knew somebody that could do Spanish documents, didn’t you?

  “I told you that I had a good man in Spain. I have not talked to him in years, but I will work something out call me back in two days.” Rich fell asleep thinking of the other details.

  In the morning, Rich went to see the doctor that was taking care of Juan and went straight to business. “Mooney would like a favor. Are you inclined to listen to what he would like?”

  “I can always listen.”

  “Doctor Cash, you have a patient in room 506 by the name of Juan Garcia. Put Mooney’s name on the x-rays and put a date, three weeks from today on them. I also need a complete set of dental records back dated to a visit three years ago. All fees will be paid in cash directly to you or as you prescribe.” The doctor was more than a little surprised.

  “If something like that were discovered it would ruin the clinic’s reputation. We would have to be well compensated.” The doctor had done several favors for Mooney in the past, and he knew that he would do this favor. ‘Cash’ was not the doctor’s real name. It referred to his weakness. He could be bought, but not cheaply. Doctor Cash had paid for most of his beautiful clinic with money from discreet services. “We will have to keep him at least four days to do all of the medical work ups.”

  “I believe that will not be a problem. I also need some pills to make Julio sick enough to need treatment. We would like to be assured that Juan and Laurita will have VIP service all the way. Juan’s daughter Laurita will stay with him. Please be sure that she has full VIP service too.” The intercom on the desk buzzed, and Laurita was announced.

  Doctor Cash responded warmly, “Bring her right in.” Laurita did not like seeing Rich having a talk with the doctor.

  “What are you doing here?” There was a sour note to her voice.

  “I was assuring the doctor that all bills would be covered for whatever services would be required. You and your father are to have complete VIP services and you will have the room next to his for the remainder of your stay. If he is strong enough take him out to dinner, hire a limo and enjoy your time with him. I need to go to Chicago for a while, so I will see you in three days.” Laurita’s attitude softened only marginally. “Just tell the doctor what your wishes are, and they will be carried out. Noah left Laurita to her discussions with the doctor.

  The flight to Chicago was uneventful. Rich called Wanda for a meeting at a French restaurant on the north side of Chicago later that evening. After hanging he called asshole number one to join him for lunch. The restaurant was not fancy, but the food would be good. After they were seated he got right to business.

  “I am going to disappear, after my business is done. I need to rent out my house. Do you know anybody that needs to rent a house?”

  “As a matter of fact, I do. The old lady is pregnant and wants out of the apartment. She wants a good neighborhood, and good schools. Where is it at?”

  “The house is in Palatine. Here is the address. Take her over there and see what she thinks. There is not much of a yard but the area is alright and you will have one hell of a garage.” Asshole number one jumped up, heading for the door. Rich did not care if he lost money on the deal because he could roll it into the contract.

  “How will I get in touch with you?”

  “I will call you.” Noah watched the excited man hustle out of the restaurant. Rich never used the house anyway. It was just an extra hassle for him, since business always kept him on the road. Rich rented a van, went to the house and started to pack. He did not have much to load up. The place was more of a crash pad than a home. When he was finished, he called asshole number one. The voice on the other end of the line was excited.

  “The ‘Old Lady’ loves the idea. What is the deal?”

  “I own the place out right. You can do a rent with option, or buy it. I don’t have time to go through a realtor. I will wait for your answer.”

  “We will buy the place. How do you want to work the deal?” Rich had known him for years so there was no problem with a back ground check. The asshole had enough money. The problem was that he could not account for where it came from. A formal loan application was out of the question.

  “We both work for Tony. I will get an appraisal, discount the realtor’s fees and carry the mortgage. I can move out as soon as I can find a crash pad. All you have to do is make your payments to my bank.”

  “You are not bullshitting me are you?”

  “From one asshole to another, I am as serious as a heart attack. Do we have a deal?”

  “Done, I will tell the ‘Old Lady’.”

  “I will get things going.” Rich hung up the phone and went out to buy a newspaper. He found a basement apartment owned by an Armenian family in a quiet neighborhood on the north side. The mother was an older woman that lived on the main floor with her daughter and two sons. The daughter Pat showed him the apartment. She was five foot six with jet black hair and olive skin. Rich found her attractive, so he flirted during the entire showing. The place was a small one-bedroom arrangement with an outside entrance. Laundry privileges and a space in the garage went with the apartment. Rich rented the place instantly paying a year’s rent upfront which earned him the status of a star renter. After some discussion the sons agreed to help Rich move his furniture in. All that he had was a bedroom set, a couch, a small kitchen set plus a few personal possessions. He looked at his watch and decided to head for his meeting with Wanda.

  The restaurant was a quiet place, with well-padded high back booths. Rich was early and sat at the bar until Wanda made her appearance. They were seated quickly and ordered cocktails. Wanda went straight to business without the normal pleasantries.

  “I was able to reach my contact. He wants ten thousand dollars per set of papers. He can also do a complete Spanish background for another ten each.”

  “That is kind of steep. How good is the back ground?”

  “It is iron clad. Educational, residential, and a working history will be provided. The birth certificate, driver’s license and pass port are real. They can even be renewed when it is time.”

  “Father Cash will arrange for them.”

  “You mean our Father Cash?”

  “No Rich, there are several people called Father Cash. It is a service of the Roman bank, not a person. There are three in the U.S. and at least one in every country even the communist countries.”

  “I need two sets. One set for Juan Garcia and one set for Laurita Garcia. They are father and daughter.”
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  “I don’t advise father and daughter. If there is a problem later, or one set becomes compromised the other set will become suspect. Use the names, but use separate back grounds, so that they are independent. The name Garcia is relatively common, so there does not have to be a linkage. They can later claim father and daughter or husband and wife.”

  “I will trust your judgment on the matter.” Wanda nodded her appreciation.

  “What about pictures?”

  “Juan and Laurita are in Houston right now, and the other will be a problem. He is being constantly tailed.”

  “I will get the one set in Houston and we can make arrangements for the other later,” Wanda said thoughtfully. “I can do the work on the back ground without the picture. I have someone in Houston that can do the pictures and send them to me.”

  “If we can do the first one in two days, it would be perfect.”

  “I will make the calls tonight. Contact me tomorrow morning, and I will give you the information, now let’s eat.” They turned the conversation to a casual mode, enjoying their meal.

  After dinner Noah called Asshole number one, “I need a hand loading up the moving truck and I will be out of the house tomorrow. The attorney is doing the paper work, and it should be ready tomorrow night. The appraisal will be ready tomorrow afternoon, unless you want something formal.”

  “We are good on the informal appraisal.” See you in the morning.

  “There is one formality. The attorney wants a name to put on the paperwork.”

  Asshole number one laughed, “You really don’t know my name?”

  “Not one that I can put on a legal document. I never needed one. I don’t think the name Asshole would fly on any closing documents.”

  “George E. Butcher and Traci K. Butcher,” Rich shook his head as he hung up. He had known the man for five years and never heard his real name. It never mattered before.

  George showed up on time, and they moved the little bit of furniture that Rich had, by two o’clock. They stopped by the lawyer’s office, signing the paperwork, and Traci could sign it later. Rich gave the lawyer a power of attorney to finish the deal. He gave George a $4,000 discount to cover the real estate fees, plus whatever cleanup and painting needed to be done. “Here are the keys. I will catch you later.” George ran home to his wife and Rich went to his apartment. He stopped and called Wanda, on the way home.