by Finian Blake
Troy started the introductions. “This is my girl Angela, and her Aunt Suki.” The Chief choked when he saw Suki was her aunt and not her girl friend or sister. She was just a few years older than Angela. He beamed from ear to ear. His afternoon was really looking up.
“I wanted to thank you personally for your generous donation. Troy did not tell me that Angela had such a beautiful aunt.”
“Thank you Chief, you are a handsome figure yourself.” The chief was a commanding figure he was a muscular fifty years old with black hair and grey sideburns with Suki finding him very handsome. Suki threw everybody in the station a curve. She was obviously Japanese but her accent was decidedly British. She looked like a young girl at her height from a distance but the way she was dressed left no doubt. Suki was decidedly a woman especially with her curves.
Suki continued, “Angela told me all about Troy. I am an investor in the company that manufactures these units and I thought that since we knew somebody on the department we would make a donation.” Suki stroked the chief’s arm. “We were going to have dinner before we pick up the infrared units. The units are for evaluation and require your personal review. If you would care to join us I will give you their requirements. Please join us I hate being a third wheel. You really would make my evening if you could join us.” The men could hear Suki talking honey sweet to the Chief as they got in the car. “You are very young for such an important position. Fifty, I had you pegged for forty.” They walked back in the station knowing who was going to get the next promotion. It had nothing to do with his dad being an Alderman. They sat down to their fire house dinner speculating if the Chief’s heart could take a full blown encounter with Auntie Suki.
The limo arrived at the Hyatt on River Road early so they planned on a leisurely dinner. The four dinners did not have to drive so the alcohol flowed freely with Suki starting out by ordering a fifty-year-old scotch and the wine that Suki ordered was three hundred dollars a bottle they enjoyed it as they dined on fresh Maine Lobster. A reporter from the Sun Times spotted the Chief. He slipped in the restaurant taking their picture. Suki spotted him instantly since they were at the back of the restaurant. She walked directly over to the reporter.
“Why were you taking our picture?
“I am reporter for the Sun Times. We were doing a story about city officials and what they do with their expense accounts. You know, lavish entertaining on the city’s dime.”
“Why don’t you join us for dessert? We have already eaten.” He started to move away when she put her arm around his waist locking him in with her hip. At four foot eleven Suki’s strength was deceptive and her martial arts training made her all the more effective, “I insist.” The reporter was unable to refuse with Suki guiding him smoothly to the table. The chief looked up and recognized him right away.
She pushed a chair up behind the reporter kicking the leg of the chair causing him to sit down hard losing all illusion of a weak little girl.
“This gentleman was taking our picture. I believe he is looking for a story. Chief I thought you might like to tell him how you arranged my donation.” The Chief looked surprised as Suki continued. “You can’t hide a $100,000 donation of experimental equipment. I thought you might give him an interview while we have dessert.” Suki ordered a glass of fifty-year-old Brandy with their dessert for everybody including the reporter. The reporter took a sip instantly noting the quality.
The chief was at a loss for words, “I really hate to blow my own horn. Why don’t you tell him? I am sure he would rather hear your thoughts.” The reporter saw his story about how public officials entertain hookers on the public tab go down the drain. He looked over the remnants of dinner on the table. He made notes about what was ordered especially the $300 a bottle wine. Even the dessert was fifteen dollars a portion. The bar bill alone had to be over $900, but the $100,000 donation made a reasonable excuse. The reporter looked at the check when the waiter brought it noting that it was just a shade below $2,000.
“I was talking to the Chief. He told me how the bean counters always refused requests for new technology. The Chief was commenting how these units would save lives. I was impressed by his concern for the fire victims and firemen. It is a shame when the bottom line costs lives.” Suki went on in glowing terms about how much the Chief impressed her. The reporter stopped taking notes. Suki put her thumb at the bend in his wrist and rolled her hand backward slowly causing pain to shoot up his arm, so that the reporter could not extract his hand without making a scene.
“Is your memory so good that you don’t need to take notes?” Suki smiled at him sweetly.
“If I can have my hand back I will do exactly that.” The reporter resumed taking notes again.
When everybody finished their dessert Suki paid the check plus a twenty-five percent gratuity in cash. The reporter watched the rest of his story disappear as Suki paid the tab. This was a good human interest story at best, but that was about it unless he filed it under fine dining. He felt like asking the waiter what it was like to get a $500 tip. When everybody stood to leave Suki sunk her nails into his thigh.
“I hope this story won’t be out until Sunday it’s a matter of timing. I would like the chief to have his news conference first.”
“No, I thought the Chief was entertaining whores on the public dime. This story will probably make human interest filler in the Sunday Magazine.” Suki pushed down hard on his leg raking his inner thigh with her nails.
“I will forget your whore comment if you promise not to put my niece’s picture with the article. Otherwise I will cancel my $100,000 donation and put your name on that. I can see it now: ‘REPORTER CAUSES CANCELATION OF MAJOR DONATION OF NEEDED SAFETY EQUIPMENT’. We could print that in the Tribune. I believe that they would love a story like that.” The reporter watched the four people walk out of the restaurant. He wondered who the aggressive young benefactor was, but he never got her name and she paid in cash so there was no credit card receipt to pull a name off of. He followed them out to the lobby getting the license of the limo to find out who she was.
The rest of the night went smoothly. The shipment came in early with American expediting it to the baggage area. Suki was glad that they shipped it on American Airlines since they always had their act together. They knew how to do business. A skycap loaded the units in the trunk for them with the units fitting easily in the trunk and they drove back to the fire house. Suki had them leave four units in the trunk.
“I would like to see what I am donating. I will drop them by on Monday.” The Chief held up the package with the specs in it.
“What about the instructions?” Suki stuck her head out the window.
“You need them more than I will, since I am an electrical engineer. That’s how I made my money. I didn’t just screw some rich guy.” Angela laughed at her last comment. The comment was not lost on the Chief.
Angela could not believe her ears, “Did that reporter really think that you were a hooker?”
Suki’s expression got dark. She pulled a straight razor out of her purse, “I wanted to cut his balls off. I have sixteen patents, own ten percent of the Inn and run a world wide security company with my husband. Because I am a good looking woman with money, they think I’m a hooker.
Angela hugged Suki, “and because we are short they think we are little girls.”
“That is an excellent idea.” Suki said.
The limo dropped Suki and Angela off at Wanda’s garage with Suki giving the driver a $300 tip. “Remember you dropped us off at the Palmer House and my name is Helen Keller.”
“Hell lady for that kind of a tip I’ll say that you were the Virgin Mary.”
“That will work too…” Suki watched the limo pull away before going inside.
The ‘Old Men’ were wondering how to get into Dennis’s house without a fight. Nadia, Sarah and Anna would go in through the front door of Victor’s place and start something from the inside. Rich would take out the man in the garage coming i
n through the back. Frank was coming up short on ideas for getting in the other house quietly. If the team went in hard, it would turn to a fire fight and the other building would be alerted. The front of the building would not work because of the sniper coverage from the third floor of each building. They needed to start from inside the building to keep things under control. The one thing that everybody agreed on was that everything had to happen inside the buildings. The last thing they wanted was a fire fight in the streets. Suki ran into the kitchen.
“Mark, Angela and I will go in first on the second building.”
“How will you do that?” Suki put her arm around Angela.
“The sick bastards like young girls, so we will give them what they want. I have it all figured out. Wanda will take us shopping tomorrow. Won’t you, Wanda?” Frank was not at all happy about that idea. Mark scored no points with his next comment.
“I can see it. There will be minimal help and with two people coming in behind them there will not be a big shoot out. We can keep all of the gunfire in the house.” Frank was not happy. He did not want his wife at a disadvantage with those sick bastards.
“We can work something else out.”
“Like what? Suki’s plan is the only one that comes close so far. We have to keep all of the action indoors.” Suki hit on a compromise.
“Everything that we need is relatively cheap. All we need to do is find it, so Angela and I will prepare. If you come up with a better idea you can run with it.” Frank wanted his restrictions noted early.
“I will be handling the outside on that operation, with Tom.”
Rich had to kick in his two cents worth. “Grace and I will handle the outside on the other house. I would like Mark on Victor’s house with me. Brent and Ryan can take their choice of which team they roll with.” Brent went with the Victor team and Ryan went with the Dennis team. That left Wanda holding down the fort. Frank wanted to check to be sure everything was coordinated.
Frank made the final call. “Team Dennis will be Angela, Suki, Ryan, Tom and I. Team Victor will be Anna, Sarah, Nadia, Mark, Brent, Grace and Alex. What about our transportation?” Rich smiled at the question.
“I have a couple of assholes taking care of the ground transportation, Frank and Francesca will help take out the trash. Roger and Ralph are flying out from Manchester on Everywhere Air with two thousand feet of detonator cord and fifty pounds of plastic explosive. Susan has made the arrangements and they will also help taking out the trash. We have two cargo versions of the Twin Otter coming out.”
Mark looked at Rich, “Why use two Twin Otters?”
“There are at least twenty-five items of trash in Victor’s group possibly more. That would put one over the weight limit.” Rich answered. “If we use something larger out of Palwaukee Airport it will require special attention. With the Twin Otters we can load out of view in the hangar and we will dispatch each plane as soon as it is loaded. I want only one trip from each plane. We can load them up in the hangar at Palwaukee and be finished before the sun comes up. With one run each they will not have to return to Palwaukee and the pilots will be in the clear.”
Margarita called Victor around seven PM Thursday evening. She wanted to be sure that there was space in the garage.
“I will be in by seven thirty. I might need help with getting Alice into the house. I made her put herself out with a needle. She will be out for at least two more hours.” Victor was thrilled to have her in town a day early.
“Is Vladimir with you?”
“No, I gave him a nine millimeter divorce after I talked with you. I was doing all of the work anyway. We can talk after I get there.”
“Be careful pulling in the garage. The police have a car doing surveillance duty. I have not seen them today, but I don’t want any problems bringing her in.” Victor called Stephan in the garage. “Pull the van out and put it on the street. Drive around and see where the cops are parked. I have someone coming in and I don’t want any surprises.” The guard drove around the block for four circuits not seeing any signs of surveillance, and there was no sign of the police. He parked in front of the building and walked back to the garage looking in all of the windows finding no sign of any surveillance anywhere. Victor decided to take Valentina for an evening walk when he received the news. He called Dennis and Tanya with both of the couples taking a leisurely walk finding no signs of surveillance. The four people met over at Victor’s place. Valentina called Petra up to join the conference. Ludmilla was the principal matron for the whores and Petra was her relief. Victor gave Ludmilla a few days off while things were slow with the whores. Petra could easily handle the cows on her own, so she would assume Alice’s care from Margarita. Victor was adamant that Alice be secure and unmolested.
“Petra, Alice is the key to our plan. She must not be molested or beaten. I want her to believe that we will keep our word. We need to use Anna for bait to capture ‘Hermes’. ‘Mercury’ wants us to kill him and she has the key to bringing more of our comrades in for help.”
“I mentioned that Seraphina is a forger,” Valentina sounded annoyed. “Anna is bringing her. If we can turn Seraphina we can bring our people in without using ‘Mercury’ and we can send a team to Barcelona and eliminate her. ‘Mercury’ has become a wild card.”
Victor was in no mood to take chances, “Why do you think that you can turn her?”
“If Anna delivers her to us, she will be pissed at Anna for selling her out. We have a chance to get Seraphina to turn on her.” Nobody in their group was aware that Anna and Seraphina were sisters, or that Alice was her niece. “If we can turn Seraphina we can eliminate Anna, Alice and Nadia. Anna and Alice will be unstable after this episode and I don’t think Nadia will ever forgive you, for whoring her to your men in Afghanistan. We need to eliminate the three of them or they will come after us.”
“The men needed recreation. When Ivan beat her I refused to let them leave any marks.”
“You screwed her, too.”
“It was cold and I needed someone to keep my bed warm. I am a general it was my privilege and her duty. Besides Petra saw that she received extra rations and clothing. Where is her gratitude?”
Petra smiled at Victor, “I even made sure that she had a regular doctor for her abortion when she got pregnant. Nadia was a complainer from the first day, always thinking that she was special because she was Gregory’s bastard daughter. She was an unpatriotic slut and a troublemaker.” Petra charged heavily for Nadia and Angela’s services. She did a sixty/forty split with Victor with the funds. None of her girls saw any of the money. After all, they received extra coats, rations and blankets. Ivan was looking forward to getting his hands on Nadia again. He would leave some marks on her and her little friend Angela this time. He and Petra had been making plans ever since they heard that they might get their hands on them again.
Margarita pulled up to the garage blowing the horn once. Ivan opened the door and she rolled in. He closed the door immediately after the car was clear of the door. Ivan rolled the sleeping woman up in a blanket carrying her into the office.
Margarita collapsed in a chair, “After I shot Vladimir, she settled down. I dressed her so that I could take her in a car without raising suspicion. Alice is quite docile I had Alice give herself another injection about ninety minutes ago. She should come around soon. I need some rest, so you can take her from here. We have been giving her double fertility drugs and hormones since we picked her up four days ago.” Margarita unlocked the small paddle lock on the shoes and removed them. Petra did not like that move.
“She will run. Leave them on.”
“I forced her to run in them after I shot Vladimir. She fell down with cramps after a hundred yards. I promised to take them off her feet after we got here if she was good. I will keep my promise.”
Victor intervened. “We will keep her in the dormitory. Either you or Ludmilla will be down there. We can control her in the basement, so if she runs it will not be far. The only wa
y out of the dorm is through the matron’s apartment. Take her blouse and skirt off and we will talk to her when she wakes up. I want her to believe that this is temporary, and Alice needs to believe she can leave with her mother. She still needs to talk to Anna, and we still need to work out some kind of exchange.”
The group switched the conversation to the upcoming party.
Margarita looked at Valentina, “What party?”
“It has been decided that we will replace all of our merchandise with fresh inventory and Victor has arranged a party to auction off the merchandise. After the party is over we need to tighten security. ‘Hermes’ is sure to try something once we have Anna. I was thinking that we could give a party to snuff the whores. The men need some entertainment and we have two girls that are close to delivering. We can do a live C section and send you back with six or seven babies. One girl is expecting quadruplets and the other is expecting twins or triplets. They are both a pain in the ass, and we can snuff them after they deliver. They are twenty and getting too old to interest our clients. We moved all but two girls from Tanya’s operation to the basement and with Alice all of the beds in the dorm will be full.”
