112
As Wellington drove to work, he wondered whether he should tell Jim and Santos about the decision to kill Tomás and Paige. If he didn’t tell them in advance, it might cause a problem at the meeting. They might pull their guns on him when they saw him executing Tomás and Paige, in the mistaken belief that they would be next. He couldn’t let that happen. But if he did tell them in advance, that could cause other problems. They both liked Tomás. One or both of them might warn him in advance, in which case Tomás might try to kill him first. Or maybe Jim or Santos would try to kill him. They were good soldiers, but sometimes friendship got in the way of good military decisions, and they were closer to Tomás than they were to him. Either option would involve some risk.
He rolled down his window to get some fresh air. He looked to the left and saw the calm, blue water and sky scrapers. No day was a good day to die in Miami. But someone was going to die on Saturday. He hoped it wouldn’t be him.
He made his decision. They were good soldiers. He could trust them to keep the secret, and not to kill him before he could kill Tomás. He would tell them.
A few minutes later he pulled into the parking garage down the street from his office. After he parked, he pulled out his cell phone and called Jim Bennett. He picked up on the fourth ring.
“Hello, Jim? It’s John.”
“Hi John. Isn’t it a little early to be calling? You’re a grouchy bastard before your second cup of coffee.”
He decided not to respond. “We need to talk. Call Santos and tell him I’ve scheduled a meeting for 5:30. We can meet at the diner across from your office. But not in the diner. In the parking lot.”
“It sounds serious. It’s not like you to schedule a meeting at a place that’s convenient for me. Should I call Tomás, too, or have you already called him?”
“No. Don’t call Tomás, and tell Santos not to call him either. The meeting is about Tomás.”
Bennett could sense it was something extremely serious, both by the tone in Wellington’s voice and by the fact that Tomás was getting cut out of the meeting.
“OK. I’ll tell him. See you at 5:30.”
***
After they disconnected, Bennett sat at his desk at the FBI office, looking at the diplomas and certificates hanging from the wall. He thought to himself, “Things used to be so simple when I first started out. Everything was always black and white. There were good guys and there were bad guys. There was never any politics involved. Nobody had any psychological problems. You just did your job, and everybody was on the same team. Now everything’s different, and it’s probably never going to get back to the way it was.” He felt sad.
He sighed, picked up his cell phone and pushed a few buttons.
“Hi, Santos? It’s Jim.”
“Hi Jim. It’s not like you to call me, especially so early in the morning. What’s up?”
“I just got off the phone with John. He wants to have a meeting tonight at 5:30. It’s about Tomás.”
“What happened?” He sounded concerned.
“I don’t know. He just told me to call you and invite you to the meeting, and not to tell Tomás about it.”
“I don’t like the sound of this. Something must have gone really wrong.”
“Yeah, I’m thinking the same thing. We’ll just have to wait until 5:30. We’re supposed to meet at the diner across from my office, but not in the diner. In the parking lot.”
“Wow. That’s an unusual place. He always likes to meet in the alley by his office.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s totally out of context for him.”
“OK. I’ll see you then. I gotta get back to work.”
113
Wellington arrived first, and parked in the corner. It was 5:24 and there were a lot of empty spaces. Santos pulled in a few minutes later. Bennett walked across the street and met them at precisely 5:30.
Wellington spoke first. “Gentlemen, we have a problem.” He proceeded to give them the short version of the story. Then he got to the point.
“The Boss said he’s become a liability. We have to get rid of him.”
They looked at each other, then at Wellington.
Santos spoke first. “But he’s not a traitor. He just doesn’t agree with us on some points.”
Jim chimed in. “Killing traitors is one thing. Killing one of our own just because he might disobey an order is something else.” He was emphatic about it.
“The Boss said we have to do it. It’s a done deal. You guys don’t have to do it. I’ll do it. I just wanted to let you know, so that when it happens, you won’t be surprised. I’m going to do it at the meeting on Saturday. The Boss is going to send a clean-up crew to get rid of the evidence. He told me to do Paige, too. The Boss doesn’t trust him.”
Jim and Santos both looked at the ground, resigned to the fact that they were about to lose a friend. Wellington noticed, and sensed they may not be fully supportive of the plan.
“Are you guys with me on this? Santos?”
“Yeah, I’m with you.”
“Jim?”
“Yeah.”
Neither of them was happy about it, but they had to say yes and they knew it.
“OK. That’s all I had. See you on Saturday.”
Wellington got into his car and left. Jim and Santos stood there in the parking lot for a few minutes, not wanting to leave, but not knowing what to say either. Finally, Santos broke the silence.
“I don’t like it.”
“I don’t either, but what can we do about it? We don’t have any options.”
“Yeah, I know. But I like Tomás. He’s our friend. He’s not a traitor. I don’t think he should be killed.”
“I don’t think so either. Do you have any ideas?”
Santos thought for a minute. “We could warn him.”
“Yeah. I thought about that, but what would happen if we warned him?”
“He would probably whack John before John could whack him.”
“And where would that leave us? What about the Boss?”
Santos shifted back and forth before answering. “He’d have to whack the Boss, too.”
“But what if the Boss doesn’t come to the meeting?”
Santos became animated. “I don’t know. Somebody has to kill the Boss, too.”
“Do you want to do it?”
“No, I don’t want to kill the Boss.”
“Well, I don’t want to kill him, either.”
“Do we have a choice?”
Bennett thought about it for a moment. “The way I see it, we have three options. We could just do nothing, and let it happen, or we could tell Tomás and let him do it. Or we could do it ourselves. What’s your preference?”
“If we don’t tell Tomás, it’s almost the same as killing him ourselves.”
Bennett smirked as he heard what Santos had just said. It was all becoming clear to him what he had to do. “If you had to whack someone, who would you rather whack, Tomás or John?”
“I’d kill John in a heartbeat. I never really liked him. He’s a condescending preppie bastard. He thinks he’s better than us.”
“Yeah, I feel the same way. So it’s settled?”
Santos breathed a sigh of relief. “Yeah, it’s settled. I want to do it.”
“I want to do it, too.”
“Then let’s do it together. We’ll do him at the same time.”
“OK. Should we tell Tomás about it first?”
“No. Let’s surprise him. If we tell him about it, he’ll waste him before we get a chance to do it.”
“OK. I can’t wait to see the expression on his face.”
“Me, either.”
“What about the Boss?”
“We can kill him, too.”
“What if he doesn’t come to the meeting?”
“Then we can hunt him down. We both know where he works and where he lives.”
Bennett thought for a moment. “What should we do about Paige?”
“I think we should kill him, too. He’s not that much different from Steinman. Did you hear the crap he was saying at the barbecue?”
“Yeah. He’s not really one of us. He’s one of them. We can do him on Saturday and the other professors on Tuesday. We don’t need John.”
“OK. Sounds like a plan.”
114
“Hi, Bob. It’s Saul.”
It was Thursday afternoon, two days before the meeting at Wellington’s house and five days before Steinman would no longer exist, if Wellington had anything to say about it.
“Hi, Saul. How are you?”
“Fine. I just called to ask you to pick up Sveta before coming over on Tuesday. Rona and Sveta have been talking and Sveta volunteered to help Rona with the food. It will give Rona someone to talk to in the kitchen while the boys are discussing politics.”
Paige didn’t like what he had just heard.
“Ah, OK. I’ll bring her along.”
He started to panic. He figured Wellington would probably execute everyone who happened to be at Steinman’s, including Rona. The very thought of it made him sick to his stomach. If Sveta were there, they would likely kill her, too. They would have to, since she would be able to recognize Wellington. The die had been cast. He had no choice. He would have to kill them first, no matter what. Or he would have to die trying.
“OK. See you at seven.”
“Yeah, see you then.”
As soon as he hung up, he started to tremble. He didn’t know if he could do it, but he had to. There was no way out.
115
Saturday
John Wellington looked at his watch. It was three o’clock. The meeting was set to begin in one hour. He was visibly nervous. His hands shook as he moved the table into the correct position in the family room. They always shook before a kill. He wanted to position it so he could sit facing the entryway door, which would enable him to see each person as they came into the room.
He felt bad about what he was about to do, but he realized it was the only possible solution. Paige had to go, and he had to go today. Waiting until Tuesday might be too late. He couldn’t be trusted. He might alert Steinman and the others if he were allowed to live. Tomás had to go, too. He couldn’t be trusted. Allowing a team member to opt out of an assignment would set a bad precedent. He couldn’t allow it.
He thought briefly about how Santos and Jim might react when he whacked Paige and Tomás in front of them, at close range. Depending on where they sat, some of their blood might splatter onto one or both of them. He also wondered if they could be trusted to just sit there and let it happen. He didn’t think that whacking Paige would be a problem, since they didn’t like Paige anyway, but killing Tomás was a different matter. They liked Tomás. Their families had had picnics and barbecues together. They had been on a number of assignments together since he joined the team a few years ago. They might have second thoughts about letting him kill their friend. He tried to put any unpleasant possibilities out of his mind as he thought about what he had to do.
As he set the chairs in their appropriate places he thought about his first encounters with Paige when he was an MBA student in Paige’s financial accounting class. Paige had recruited him, and they had become friends, although he never completely trusted Paige, who seemed too idealistic and principled. He wasn’t practical enough to suit Wellington. He believed that Paige didn’t seem to realize that it was sometimes necessary to ignore the Constitution in order to do what needed to be done.
He decided he would do it as soon as Paige and Tomás were both in the room. He wouldn’t wait. There was no point in waiting. He would be nervous until it was over.
116
Jim picked Santos up at his house a few minutes before three o’clock. Maria, his wife, and Rosa, his nine-year-old daughter, said good-bye to him.
“Bye daddy. I love you.”
“I love you, too, sweetie. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
“Bye honey.” Maria was at the door, wearing dark blue shorts that were covered by an apron.
After pulling out of the driveway, Jim broke the silence. “On the way over, I was thinking about how we would do it. If all three of them are there, we’ll hit them as soon as we come through the door. If one of them is missing, we’ll wait until they’re all there.”
“What if the Boss doesn’t come? John said he might not be able to make it.”
“If the Boss isn’t there when we arrive, we can ask John if the Boss is coming. If he says yes, we’ll wait. Otherwise, we’ll just start shooting.”
A big grin appeared on Santos’s face. “If Tomás is there, he’ll shit when we start opening fire.”
Bennett pondered the likely scenario. “Yeah. I sort of hope he is there, just to see the expression on his face.”
“Me, too. How should we do it? Can I shoot Paige? I really don’t like him. He’s just like the other professors we’re going to get on Tuesday.”
Jim paused before answering. He looked out the window and thought about it. “Naw, I think we should do Paige last. He’s the least dangerous. He’s probably not even carrying. John’s probably the most dangerous. We should do him first, then the Boss if the Boss is there. We can let Paige watch, then we can do him together.”
Santos approved. “OK. That sounds like a good approach. We’ve got all the bases covered.”
They arrived at 3:52. The only one there was Wellington. Tomás arrived a few minutes later.
117
Earlier on Saturday
Tomás was sitting on the couch, in his living room, watching television with Teresa and Julio. Actually, his eyes were open and he was looking in the direction of the screen, but he was thinking about what he had to do that day. It was Saturday.
He looked at his watch. Three o’clock. Time to go. It would take about an hour to get to Wellington’s house on the edge of the Everglades. His gun and two extra mags were already in the car.
“Teresa, I have to go now.”
“OK. Have a good time and don’t stay out too late.” He had told Teresa he was getting together with the boys for a card game and a few beers. As he walked to the car his legs felt a little wobbly. Although he had killed before, he had always killed enemies, people he didn’t know, and usually from a distance. Today would be different. He would be terminating friends, up close and personal. He was nervous, but he knew he had to do it. The alternative was unthinkable. He couldn’t let them snuff innocent people.
On the drive to Wellington’s, he thought about how to do it. He’d wait until Wellington, Santos and Jim were all there. If he was lucky, the Boss would also be there, but if not, he would start without him. Or maybe he would wait until the Boss arrived. He decided that, if the Boss wasn’t there when he arrived, he would ask Wellington if the Boss was going to come. If yes, then he would wait. If not, then he would start shooting.
He couldn’t decide whether to wait for Paige to arrive. It didn’t really matter, since he wasn’t going to snuff Paige, although he’d have to explain his actions to Paige after he killed the others.
As he approached Wellington’s house, he started to have second thoughts about not snuffing Paige. Although he sensed that Paige was not happy about assassinating professors, if he didn’t kill him, he might go to the police and implicate him if he let him live. Or he might go to the Boss if he knew how to contact him. He decided to wait and see Paige’s reaction when he executed the others.
He pulled into the driveway, turned left onto the grass, and pointed the car toward the street, just in case he had to make a quick escape. He walked into the entryway, then into the family room, and saw Wellington, Santos and Jim sitting at the table, looking at him. He could sense something was wrong, but he couldn’t tell what. He thought that maybe it was just his nerves. Paige wasn’t there.
“Is the Boss going to be joining us?”
Wellington leaned forward, and replied, “I don’t know. He said he was going to be extremely busy today but m
ight be able to sneak away for a few minutes.” As he said it, his right arm dropped below the table. He appeared to be reaching for something.
118
“If it is to be, it is up to me.”
Unknown
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
Barack Hussein Obama
“To survive it is often necessary to fight and to fight you have to dirty yourself.”
George Orwell
Saturday. The time had come. Someone was going to die today. The question was who?
It was about an hour’s drive from Paige’s condo in Sunny Isles Beach to Wellington’s place at the edge of the Everglades. Wellington’s nearest neighbors were about a half mile down the road. They probably wouldn’t hear the shots, and even if they did, they probably wouldn’t pay much attention to them. Lots of people went to the everglades for target practice to avoid the fees that ranges charged.
Sarah and the kids were in Orlando, visiting her parents. They wouldn’t be back for a few days. The meeting was scheduled for 4pm. Paige planned to arrive around 4:15. That way all four of them would be there, hopefully, and he could start blasting right away, since he didn’t know if he could just sit there like nothing was about to happen while waiting for everyone to show up.
He hoped the Boss would also be there, but realized that was unlikely, since the Boss had gone out of his way to be secretive and John refused to reveal the Boss’s identity. Paige wondered whether executing all four of them would end the plan or whether the Boss would merely replace them with another team. It probably wouldn’t be difficult to recruit a new team, given the fact that so many people thought the same way as the present team members.
Justifiable Homicide: A Political Thriller (Robert Paige Thrillers Book 1) Page 37
