Paige thought about the television and press reports following the Frumpton hit. “I guess he was at least partially successful. I recall reading about some real estate board declaring eminent domain activities to constitute unethical conduct, something that agents and brokers could lose their real estate license for. Some banks announced they would quit financing eminent domain projects.”
“Yeah, Hank was really thrilled when he heard those announcements. He offered them as evidence we were making a difference.”
“I think he was right. If I were a real estate developer, I’d sure as hell think twice before starting an eminent domain confiscation, especially if it was in Miami. It’s too bad we have to liquidate him.”
“Yeah, he’s made some contributions toward restoring freedom in America, but he’s gone over the edge. Besides, if we don’t kill him, he’s going to kill us.”
They had been on the road for what seemed like a long time, driving from Wellington’s home near the Everglades to Sunny Isles Beach to drop off Paige’s car, then to Coconut Grove. They were within minutes of their destination.
“Hank’s house is just a few blocks from here. How do you think we should proceed?”
“Let’s do a drive by. I want to see what the neighborhood looks like and how his house is situated. Is he married? Does he have kids living at home?”
“He’s divorced. The kids lived with their mother after the divorce, but I think they’re all grown and out of the house now.”
“So he lives alone?”
“I think so. He never talks about his personal life.”
“I don’t want to kill any civilians if we can help it.”
“I don’t either. I think he’s usually armed, so we have to be careful. And fast. He’ll probably go for his gun as soon as he sees us.”
“Then let’s make sure he doesn’t see us.”
120
Paige turned his head toward Tomás. “I think we should approach so the house is on the right side. That way, if he’s visible, I can shoot him from the passenger side while you drive. Can you do that?”
“Yeah. He lives on a two-way street. It’s set back about 50 feet from the road. Do you think you can hit him from that far away?”
“I don’t know. I guess we’ll just have to find out.”
“Is that a Glock you’re carrying?”
“Yeah, it’s a Glock 17. It holds 18 rounds if you put one in the chamber. Do you think that will be enough?” He said it half jokingly.
“If it isn’t, I think I should find a new partner. What’s more likely is that he won’t be visible. People in Coconut Grove don’t usually hang out in their front yard. They’re either inside or on their patio in the back yard.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I guess he’s not going to make it easy for us, is he?”
“No, probably not. He’s probably on his guard by now, too, since John hasn’t called him. He always wants us to call him as soon as we complete a mission. Since I made it impossible for John to call, he probably guessed that something went wrong.”
Paige let out a sigh. “So, we’ve only been partners for a few hours and already you’re making my life complicated. I was going to kill you, by the way.”
Tomás looked surprised. He turned his head to look at Paige. “Really? Why?”
“I went there to kill all of you. I couldn’t let you assassinate Steinman and everyone else in the room, including my girlfriend. I had to stop you before Tuesday, and today was the only day you would all be together in the same place.”
“What made you change your mind?”
“Well, the fact that you had a gun and I didn’t had a lot to do with it.” They both laughed.
Tomás decided it was his turn to confess. “I was going to kill all of them, too … but not you.”
“Not me? Well, thank you for that. Why not me? Didn’t you think I was worth a bullet?”
“As I said, I don’t think that assassinating professors and journalists is justified. I thought I would execute the others, then check your reaction to see whether you were really one of them. I sensed that you weren’t, but I wasn’t sure. I planned to kill you if I thought you would squeal on me.”
“Well, I think you made the right decision.” They both laughed.
“We’re almost there. It’s right around the corner.” Tomás turned onto the street so that Hank’s house was on the right side. He slowed down so they could get a closer look.
“It’s the yellow house with the two trees.”
“There aren’t any cars in the driveway. What do you think we should do?”
Tomás thought for a minute before answering. “We could come back later, or we could keep driving around the block until he comes home. Or we could find a way to get in and wait for him inside. The problem is that there’s about a one hundred percent chance he has some kind of alarm system, and I don’t know how to disarm those things. Jim was the one who always did that.”
“What do you think he would be doing right now? You know him better than I do.”
“I really don’t know. It’s Saturday. He might be out with his girlfriend, if he has one. Or he might be out on his boat. Or, in this case, he might be at John’s house to see for himself what went wrong. Or maybe if he went to John’s house and saw what we did, he might be talking to someone who’s higher in the chain of command.”
“You think it goes up higher than Hank? John gave me the impression that it didn’t go up any higher than his Boss.”
“I think it goes up higher. That’s just the impression I got from listening to Hank at some of our meetings.”
“But Hank’s the regional director of the FBI. If it goes up higher, there must be someone in Washington who’s pulling his strings.”
“Yeah, I thought about that, but I couldn’t figure out who it might be.”
“Do you think it’s someone higher up at the FBI? Or maybe the Justice Department?”
“It could be, but, as I told you, he has some kind of CIA connections, too. It could be someone at the CIA, but it’s an off-the-books kind of thing. Nothing official.”
“Well, we really don’t have to figure out who it is at the moment. What we need to do is find Hank and take him out before he takes us out.” Paige thought about the options before he continued. “I don’t see many good options. We don’t know if he has a girlfriend, so we can’t go to his girlfriend’s house. We can’t break into his house because the alarm would go off. We can’t just keep driving around the block until he shows up. He’s probably not at the office on a Saturday, especially this late. And we can’t go back to John’s house even if that’s a likely place to find him. That only leaves the marina where he keeps his boat.”
“Yeah, that pretty well sums it up. He keeps his boat at one of the marinas in South Beach.”
“Let’s go. We don’t have any time to waste.”
121
“Better to die fighting for freedom th[a]n be a prisoner all the days of your life.”
Bob Marley
Tomás drove as fast as he could without drawing attention for speeding. It took a little less than an hour to get to the marina at South Beach. Parking was always a problem in South Beach, especially on a Saturday night, but he managed to find a space, probably the last one in South Beach, about a block from the marina.
They got out of the car and started walking. “Do you know which boat is his, and where it’s parked?”
“Docked is the word. You don’t park a boat. I can tell you’re a professor. And yes, I know.”
Tomás glanced to the left and right to see if anyone was looking in their direction. “I was curious to know more about the Boss. I always felt threatened by him. I thought it might be a good idea to learn what I could.”
When they got a few hundred feet from the marina entrance, Tomás stopped, and extended his left arm to stop Paige. “There might be cameras. We need to get some caps.” He looked around. There were several stores across the street
that might sell souvenirs, including caps. “Let’s cross the street.”
As they crossed, he added, “Let’s get some glasses, too. They can be sunglasses, if you prefer, but it’s getting dark, and we may not be able to see very well with sunglasses. Any kind of glasses that have rims will be fine. If they’re prescription, we can knock out the lenses. And don’t use a credit card. And be sure to pull the brim down so the cameras can’t get a good look at your face. And keep your head down, too.”
“It sounds like you’ve done this before.”
“Maybe once or twice.”
They entered the first store that looked like it sold souvenirs. It was packed with them, as well as a variety of food and beverages. Tomás spotted the section that sold caps. It was right next to the section that sold sunglasses. He motioned to Paige and they walked over to check out the merchandise. They each selected a cap and sunglasses and proceeded to the cash register. As Paige reached to get his wallet, Tomás stopped him. “This is my treat.” He paid and they left.
After walking out the door and before crossing the street, they put on the caps, took the glasses, popped out the lenses and put them on. They threw the lenses into a garbage can on the corner.
They walked through the marina entrance as though they belonged there. Paige moved his hand to the right side of his shirt, which was concealing his Glock. He knew it was there, but wanted to check for reassurance. Tomás did the same to check his Sig Sauer. They took a deep breath. They were both nervous, especially Paige. He had never killed anyone before today, and hadn’t had time to recover from the experience, which usually took a few days, if not years, especially for a first kill. He was about to kill again.
After walking for about a minute, they came upon the boat, which was actually a yacht. It was at least 50 feet long, maybe more. The lights were on, but no one was on the deck.
Paige whispered. “You said he had a boat. This is a yacht. Where did he get the money to pay for it on his salary?”
“Actually, it’s not his. The FBI confiscated it as part of a drug bust. He checks it out from time to time to see that it hasn’t been damaged. Sometimes he takes it out for a spin. It’s nice to be the Boss.”
As they got closer, they could hear music emanating from below. It was Sade, singing Smooth Operator. It seemed appropriate, given the circumstances.
“Like I said, he’s probably carrying. And he’s a mean son of a bitch. He won’t hesitate to use it. We have to be quiet and we have to be fast.”
Paige nodded, and they proceeded, slowly, onto the back of the boat. They were both wearing sneakers, which helped, and the boat was sufficiently large that the extra weight from a couple of guys walking on deck didn’t disturb the gentle swaying motion caused by the waves. It was dusk, which partially concealed their activity, and most of the other boats were either out or vacant.
As they got to the door by the stairs that went below deck, Tomás motioned for Paige to stop. They drew their guns, and Tomás pushed down on the latch. It wasn’t locked. But when he pushed to open the door, it made a creaking sound. As he continued to slowly open the door, the creaking got louder.
All of a sudden, the music stopped. They could hear some shuffling from the interior of the boat, and some whispering.
“What do you mean I have to be quiet?” It was a woman’s voice. He was not alone. There was some more shuffling. It sounded like a drawer opening, then closing. All of a sudden, the cabin lights went out.
They stopped dead in their tracks. They knew the time had come to move, and move fast. They had to expect the worst, that he was armed and pointing his gun at the doorway that they would have to go through to get to him.
As they got closer, they could see the outline of two people at the other side of the room. There was just enough light coming through the window from the moon and the marina’s lights to make out their silhouettes. They didn’t know what to do. The safe thing would be to start blasting away at both of them, but one of them was a woman, probably a civilian. They hesitated.
Tomás recognized Hank. He was on the left. He was holding something in his right hand, probably a gun. He was pointing it right at them.
“Well, gentlemen, it appears we’ve reached an impasse. If you shoot me, I’ll be able to get at least one of you, probably both, so why don’t you put down your guns and step into the room. We can have a little talk.” The woman looked at him and started whimpering. He grabbed her right arm and held it tightly with his left hand, pulling her closer to him.
“You know that’s not going to happen.”
“Ah, Tomás? Is that you? And who is your friend? Could it be the infamous Professor Paige?”
Paige felt compelled to say something. “Good guess, Hank. You don’t mind if I call you Hank, do you? We’ve never met.”
“Actually, I’d prefer you call me Boss, but I suppose that wouldn’t be appropriate in this case, since I’m not your boss.” He released the woman’s arm. “Turn on the lights, honey. I want to get a better look at these two guys.”
She reached over to the wall with her left hand and turned on the lights. Hank Thorndike appeared to be in his early 50s, somewhat overweight, with a bloated face and a pasty white, lumpy complexion. Not exactly a chick magnet. His female companion looked like she was in her early 30s, with blonde hair and a little too much cheap makeup. Maybe she was attracted to him because of the power. After all, he was a big shot FBI guy. Or maybe it was the yacht. It’s tough to turn down a guy with a yacht, especially if you’re in your thirties with a cheap look about you. Women like her had a short shelf life. She had to take her opportunities where she found them.
“Ah, that’s better. Now I can see my two guests more clearly.” He reached out with his left hand and grabbed her by her right arm, pulling her closer again. She glanced at him, a frightened look on her face. Then he moved behind her, placing his left arm tightly around her waist while continuing to point his gun at them.
Paige decided to challenge his manhood a bit. “Hiding behind a woman, Hank? That’s not like you. Or at least it’s not the image of you I had from the conversations I had about you with John.” As he said it, Paige moved slightly away from Tomás, creating some distance between them.
“You can stop right there, professor. You two make a nice couple. I wouldn’t want you to get too far apart, if you know what I mean.”
Tomás tried to focus his aim at Thorndike’s head. The Boss noticed what Tomás was trying to do, and put a tighter squeeze on his companion. She turned her head and looked at him again, clearly scared at what he was doing and why he was doing it.
Hank looked directly at Tomás. “You wouldn’t kill a civilian, would you? John always told me that he would rather abort a mission than kill a civilian. Do you guys feel the same way?”
Tomás just looked at him, trying to focus his aim on Thorndike’s head, which was now partially hidden behind his female companion. All of a sudden, there was an icy silence in the room.
Thorndike broke the ice. “John was supposed to call me after he whacked you two, but he never did, so I got worried. I called him around five, but he didn’t answer. So I called Jim and Santos and they didn’t answer, either. That’s not like them. I figured something was wrong but couldn’t go there to see for myself. Too risky. So I decided to proceed with my Saturday night plans with Wanda, here.” He squeezed her around the waist as he said it.
She tried to reject his squeeze, but he was holding her too tightly. She was clearly not in a romantic mood any more.
Paige continued to point his Glock in Thorndike’s direction, but couldn’t get a clear shot. He was doing a good job hiding behind Wanda. “So, what are you going to do with Wanda after this is over, assuming we don’t kill you? She’s a witness. You can’t just let her live.” Wanda got a panicked look on her face as she heard what Paige had said. She just realized her prospects for seeing another Miami sunrise were bleak, unless they could kill Thorndike.
Paige c
ontinued. “So, Wanda, did you know that Hank here was behind the assassinations of Raul Rodriguez, Debbie Waterstein, Senator Garrett, Daniel Frumpton and those others? You really picked yourself a good one.”
She turned to see Thorndike’s face, as best she could. He was holding her too tightly to turn more than a few inches. “Is it true? Did you really kill all those people?”
“Don’t mind him. He’s just trying to upset you. They all needed killing anyway.” When she heard him admit that what Paige said was true, she turned her glance toward Paige. Her eyes were silently screaming, HELP ME.
She could feel his body tightly pressed against her. His right leg pressed against the back of her right leg. Her foot was touching his foot. He wasn’t wearing shoes. She was wearing heels. All of a sudden, she raised her right foot and slammed her heel into the top of his foot. He screamed in pain, and bent forward, loosening his grip on her. She broke his grip and bolted to the left, giving Tomás and Paige a clear shot.
They opened up, hitting him six times in the torso. The impact drove him backwards, but he was large and kept standing long enough to pump two shots into Tomás, critically wounding him. Then he turned his gun toward Paige, but before he could squeeze off a round, Paige shot him in the head, causing it to jerk backward. He dropped to the deck.
Paige bent down over Tomás, who was on his back, gurgling blood. “Hang in there, buddy, we’re going to get you to a hospital.”
“No. It’s too late. They’re coming to get me.” Tomás started talking to someone, but it wasn’t Paige. “I don’t want to go. I have to get back to Teresa and Julio. No … Oh, okay … Wow! … Wow!” His eyes rolled up. He was gone. Paige felt a chilly breeze for a second or two. Then the temperature in the room returned to normal. It was a hot Miami night.
Justifiable Homicide: A Political Thriller (Robert Paige Thrillers Book 1) Page 39
