The Gypsy Queen: A Matt Preston Novel (Matt Preston Series Book 3)

by Paul Shadinger

  I said, “I appreciate you coming to me. I don’t totally understand why you came and disclosed all of this, but thanks.”

  “I didn’t think so at the time, but you were always straight with me. Anyway, you had a right to know you weren’t going crazy, but CV had other ideas. You really did kill Hollis, and as it turns out, he was the real one. Oh! And for what it is worth, Davidson, the Price Snooker knew is the only Price left of the three. And he has the same cancer that your Price had. I doubt if he’ll see spring. We keep in touch. Other than that, the person you call Bullwinkle is the only one left and he seems to be clean of the cancer, but I have to tell you, I wonder when something inside of him is going to explode and if he’ll come down with the same shit that killed so many of the others. Maybe he knows he may already be dead and it makes it easier to do the things that he does.”

  McNaulty stood and extended his hand. “I hope this helped. I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell anybody else.”

  “Can I tell Walter McLaughlin?”

  “Yeah, I have no problem with that. But that’s all. I’m sure there are a lot of others from the old days who don’t want any of this out, and I don’t know how long I would last if it did. Actually, I have no idea how long I’m going to last!” He gave me a funny grin and walked away.

  For a long time after he left I sat at the table, lost deep in thought, sipping my now cold coffee. When Ralph asked me for help, I’d no idea this path even existed, let alone the fact that I was going to travel it.

  Shit-o-dear.

  Three Hollises.

  Three Prices.

  The heart skips a beat and the blood runs cold.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  On the way home I picked up Beanie and as I drove to my place, I wondered how much Orchard might have known about the three teams. I wanted to ask him, and I also wanted to see if any progress had been made finding either Melissa or Jack Roberts. I waited till I got home and then poured myself a small, but nourishing Scotch. I took my drink and curled up in my favorite chair and Beanie jumped up and settled into my lap. Extracting my cell from my pocket, I entered Johnny’s phone number. He answered, “Matt, how are you?”

  “I just had a really strange conversation with McNaulty this afternoon.”

  “You’ve seen McNaulty?” his voice was surprised.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “A lot of people are looking for him since MacDonald is dead. He’s under some suspicion. There are those who think he had something to do with the bird blowing up.”

  “Ah, John, I don’t think he had anything to do with MacDonald’s death. He said he thought he knew people who might have been involved, but from our conversation, I doubt if he had anything to do with it.”

  “I’ll pass along your observations. Are you making any headway with finding the Gypsy Queen?”

  “Just waiting on Ilox to call me. I may call Mouse and see if he can stir that pot. Any more on Jack Roberts’ whereabouts?”

  “Oh shit, I forgot to tell you. When the bird with MacDonald blew up, we got a two-fer.”

  “A two-fer? What the hell is a two-fer?” I asked.

  “It turned out that MacDonald and Roberts were on their way to a top-secret new location up on the Idaho panhandle where Roc Doc was going to have access to a new computer. From there he was going to send out the program, but when the helicopter MacDonald was flying exploded, Roberts, and as far as we can tell, the disk with the program, were all onboard and everything got fried at the same time. I wonder if McNaulty might have some knowledge about that?”

  “Well, you had best get ahold of him soon. He told me he was given a new mission and would be leaving shortly.”

  “Isn’t he a bit long in the tooth to be doing clandestine missions? He isn’t no spring chicken.”

  “Right John, not like the two of us!” We both laughed. “Jacob told me he’s hooked on the thrill, on the adrenaline of the whole thing. He is one very strange individual.”

  “I would agree.”

  “Do you still think Melissa is in danger?”

  “Yes. Even if the program she was working on is now scrap, she learned a lot of other things when she was working for us. Some of our agencies want her silenced and we know of at least two other foreign agencies that would love to get their hands on her. We need to find her, and the sooner the better. That’s still your number one priority.”

  “Yes boss. I’ll get right on that.”

  “And don’t forget it either.” We both laughed as we hung up. Later I realized I had totally forgotten to ask him about Price and Hollis and what he might know. Tomorrow is another day.

  Now it was up to Ilox to help me find Melissa. Since there was really nothing to do, I decided I wanted and needed to go and see Walter. Walter is my core dump. My touch with reality. And if you knew all about Walter, you would realize how funny that was.

  Walter, here I come.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  What seems like a lifetime ago, I served in a special, secret unit in Viet Nam. A clandestine unit, or black ops if you will and as far as the general public is concerned, the military does not acknowledge us. We don’t exist … then or now!

  While serving in this unit, I became friends with a fellow named Walter McLaughlin and we ended up doing several missions together. Our last mission together involved just the two of us and I was seriously wounded, and honestly, I thought I was dead. It was a gamble on his part to even try and save me. I’d told him to go on and leave me behind. I did not want to be responsible for his death too, but he wouldn’t leave me. Somehow, he got me back to the med-evac area, got me on a chopper and finally I was on my way to a field hospital and eventually on my way home. I can honestly say I owe Walter my life.

  Even before Walter joined the service, he’d been what people considered a loner. When he returned Stateside after three tours in Nam, he had become even more anti-social than before. His childhood consisted of his father beating his mother every time he was drunk, which according to Walter was almost a daily thing. Eventually his father killed his mother in a drunken rage and when the police came to arrest the dad, his dad tried to attack the police and was eventually shot and killed.

  Walter was eight when he was placed in the first abusive foster home and until he ran away at the age of sixteen and lied to enlist in the army, he was shuttled from home to home. Viet Nam was made for Walter. Nam became a place to release his anger without any fear of reprisal from a childhood of aggressions left over from the abuse he’d endured at all of the foster homes. Walter used the military to exercise his demons and the military in turn used him to do their dirty work.

  When he got out of the military, to help ease his pain, Walter turned to a crutch familiar to a lot of people, drugs and alcohol. Eventually he was living on the streets in an area that used to be called Chinatown, but now in our politically correct world, it’s called The International District.

  One day Walter ended up in an altercation with the police and was arrested. The next day I saw his photo in the newspaper, handcuffed, and a large dog lunging at him with the handler trying to hold dog. I put lawyers on the case to free him and deal with the legal problems. After Walter was cleared, I asked him what he wanted to do. He told me he was too squirrely to hold any kind of a job, with which I had to agree. I owned a piece of land over on the Olympic Peninsula and I took him there. I asked him if he was interested living there for a while until he felt ready to return to dealing with people. He asked me to let him walk the property for an hour and I waited. When he returned, he said he wanted to live on the property. He said he could make his own way and he was happy to be on my mountaintop.

  It was over a year before I got back to visit. I felt badly for not getting back sooner and during that year he’d built an amazing little house. The only way I can describe the entire structure is it’s a true work of art.
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  Walter returned to Seattle and brought back a woman he had known in Nam. The two of them lived in his cabin along with their baby boy and living in the hills and having Thein with him had pulled Walter from the edge of going crazy or even worse. Their life now was truly idyllic. Whenever I’ve had enough of civilization, I go over and visit Walter and his wife, Thein. There are times I wonder if I shouldn’t build a cabin out in the wilderness and drop out. But I am not wired that way. But I felt enough shit had happened to me lately and I needed to get away for a while.

  I always take Bean with me but this time I had her stay with Sharon. Usually I warn him I’m coming over by sending a letter. This time I knew I’d been to the cabin enough times I could find the way. As I huffed and puffed my way through the forest trying not to favor my aching leg, I chided myself several times for being so overweight. I spotted the two booby-traps he had set up because of my warning about the missing dairies. I doubt if the average person would have spotted them, but I knew what to look for and I also knew Walter’s style. But they were very ingenious and anyone tripping either of them would have been discouraged from coming any further.

  When I finally got to the cabin I was in total pain and completely out of breath. As I round the corner of the house I found Walter on this front porch working on something in his normal attire, buck naked. We greeted each other warmly and he asked me if I wanted him to put something on. I told him it was up to him. He called out to Thien that I was there and she came running out of the house. She was wearing the same outfit Walter was wearing. Both of them were surprised I hadn’t set off any traps or alarms on my way in. One of the traps I had avoided would have signaled them somebody was coming.

  Eventually they noticed I was a little uncomfortable at them being naked and they excused themselves and went in and put something on.

  “Take a seat, Matt. What brings you over?”

  “So much has happened, and is still happening. I needed to see my doctor.” Walter laughed and shook his head.

  “Is it that bad? You have to come and see me to get fixed? Things must be really bad if you have to come talk to me.” I shook my head, I had no way to explain what

  Walter had come to mean to me. “Well, you’re in luck, the doctor is in. What do you need?”

  “I don’t really need advice this time, I just need to be able to ramble for a while if I may. I think the word for it is ‘decompress.’ There are a lot of little pieces and I don’t have everything in any sort of a coherent order.” Thien had bought out a glass of cold water and I sat for a while looking out over his incredible view.

  Eventually I turned to him and said, “You’ll never guess who I saw at a Starbucks over in Seattle a few weeks ago.” Walter shrugged his shoulders. “Do you remember Rocky and Bullwinkle, the pair we had to babysit back in Nam while they were hanging those listening devices in the trees?” He started to laugh. “I saw Bullwinkle.” I said.

  His head snapped around and he stared at me. “No shit?”

  “No shit, and he looks just like he did back in country.” I held out my arms trying to make myself as large as possible as I explained, “Just as big and just as scary, and he can move just as invisibly as he did over there.”

  He asked, “Did you talk to him?”

  “Yes, a little. But the really weird thing was when I first saw him at Starbucks, he was talking to David Davidson.”

  Walter looked at me and blinked. “Are you serious? Davidson, Ol’ Dopey Dave?” I had forgotten we used to call him Dopey. Dave would smoke anything he could get his hands on to get stoned and then he was just plain dopey after that. When somebody started calling him Dopey Dave, it didn’t last very long. David did not like being called Dave and liked Dopey Dave even less. “You saw Dopy Dave and you’re alive to tell the tale. Damn! Do you remember the last time we saw him he wanted to kill both of us?” Walter continued, “Did either of them see you?” I held up two fingers. “What did they say?”

  “When I saw Bullwinkle, nothing. But he followed me out to my truck and we had a chat.”

  “What did he want?”

  “He asked me why I was in Seattle and I explained I lived here and then he asked me about Hollis and the diary. He claimed it was his diary.”

  Walter shook his head. “Sorry, I had a hard time believing Hollis kept one, but I find it impossible to believe Bullwinkle kept a diary. That’s flat out bullshit!”

  “My feelings as well.”

  “You say you saw Dopey? Did he see you?”

  “Yes. He stumbled when he saw me he was so scared, but we didn’t speak.” I could see the look of disbelief on Walter’s face that Davey could possibly be afraid of me. I went on, “But he did call me later. I have no idea how he ever got my number, but we had a talk.”

  Walter rolled his hand to signal he wanted me to get the story out. “We talked about a diary.”

  “Huh? Bullwinkle and then Davey. We’re still talking about Hollis’ diary?” Walter interrupted.

  “You mean there was another one?” We both laughed. I continued, “In a way. Both claim they kept one and they wanted me to find the one that Hollis had because they said it was actually theirs. And I guess while I’m on that subject I need to tell you that all of our careful plans to hide copies of that damn thing around Seattle to keep us safe didn’t work out. Turns out both copies in the banks are missing as is the one in from Silversmith’s office. Bradson made a copy he didn’t tell anybody about and that one is missing as well.”

  “Stealing from a United States senator is not a good idea. Are we in trouble? Do we need to be worried?”

  “Slow down. There’s more.”

  I went on to explain about Ralph and his request for me to find his ladylove and all of that entailed. I told him how Orchard then had also asked me try and find this same young woman.

  “Did you ever find her?”

  “I have a lead about someone who is supposed to know where she is. When I get back I have to contact a man named Ilox who knows—”

  “Stop! You know Ilox?”

  “Yeah, Orchard served with a navy chief who was involved with Ilox over in the Middle East for several years. Why?”

  “Matt, did you know Ilox is a very scary dude? He makes Dopy Dave and the rest of those kooks we knew in country look tame. I’ve had my issues with him in the past. Make sure you stay as far away from him as you can.”

  “How do you know Ilox?” This was a story I wanted to hear.

  “Later, go on with your story.”

  “I’ve been to his castle in Florida.”

  “Bullshit!” he snapped back at me.

  “Why bullshit?”

  “Because if you had ever gone anywhere near him you wouldn’t be sitting here. You’d be dead. He’s crazy. Did you really go to his place?”

  “Yep.” And I proceeded to tell him how weird the place was and the guards and what Ilox looked like. Walter frowned as I described how Ilox looked and shook his head. He told me that the Ilox he knew didn’t look like that. Something must have happened along the way. I finished with telling him how he had called Mouse and that my little buddy had vouched for me and from what I understood, that was the reason I was able to leave Ilox’s place in one piece. I finished by explaining how Ilox was setting up a meeting between Melissa and myself.

  “Why would Mouse go to bat for you with Ilox? What do you have on him?” I told him about my snowy visit to the mountains and how I had gotten Jade away from the bad guys. I explained how grateful Mouse had been that I would put myself out like that for him and now I seemed to be one of his favorites. I mentioned Mouse had proposed to Jade and she had accepted. I also mentioned that Mouse had supplied the rifle I was supposed to use.”

  “You have been busy.” Walter laughed.

  “Walter, I’m just getting started. Remember, I told you I needed to see the doctor
!”

  “Do I need to get the pipe?” He grinned at me.

  “You may want to, but I think I need to pass this trip. I’ll explain in a moment. Go get your pipe.” Walter left and returned shortly with his paraphernalia. After he took a couple of tokes, I started in, “Do you remember a light colonel named MacDonald?”

  Walter had the strangest look on his face as he asked, “What is it with you today? You’re bringing out every scary person I’ve even known except for the boogieman. Why do you ask about ol’ CV?”

  “I was supposed to take him out. That’s what the rifle that I got from Mouse was for.”

  “You mean kill him? I agreed. “You lie! Really?”

  “MacDonald ordered a hit on John Orchard, on me, on you, on Melissa, on Ralph and others. With what MacDonald knows, and what he was trying to do, Orchard decided he was just too dangerous to have around. Somebody had to do the deed and for a lot of reasons, Orchard asked me to do it. I said I would — ”

  At this point, Walter reached over and put his hand over on my arm. “Please. Please, Matt, tell me you didn’t go through with it.”

  I patted his hand and continued, “I didn’t have to. I’ll admit I was in position to take him out when he got out of his chopper. His bird came in and just as it was landing, it exploded. Boom!” I made an exploding motion with my hands. “I mean pieces of the damn thing were flying everywhere. It was lucky I didn’t get hit with a piece of the thing. As the wreckage hit the ground, the chopper exploded again. Somebody definitely wanted MacDonald out of the picture. After it was all over, when I asked Orchard if he had anything to do with the explosion, he promised me he hadn’t, but he did insinuate he was aware something was going to happen. I told him I was pissed and he explained why he had let me think I was the one to do it, because he wanted a plan B if the plane didn’t blow up.”