by David Archer
“Is this what you want?” Noah asked loudly. “We could find someplace quieter, if you prefer.”
“I love this stuff,” Carrigan said. “Besides, it gives me the chance to watch the girls get up and jiggle.”
Schlatter grinned at Noah. “He’s always like this,” he said. “We’ll be fine here.”
They went inside and found a table, and a barmaid wearing hot pants came over to ask what they wanted to drink. Noah ordered a whiskey sour while the other two asked for Manhattans. The girl smiled flirtatiously and then treated them to her wiggle as she walked away.
“I think she likes you,” Schlatter said to Carrigan. “Good thing you got your own room.”
“I never date the bar girls,” Carrigan said. “Let’s face it, all a girl wants with me at my age is to see how much money I’ll spend on her. For that, I want something better than the barmaids anybody can pick up. Trust me, I won’t go back to the hotel alone tonight.”
Schlatter shook his head, grinning. “You never do,” he said. “Me, I’m still married. In this day and age, I’m not willing to take the chance somebody could get pictures and blackmail me.”
“So what if they do?” Carrigan asked. “One of these girls ever tries to blackmail me, she will end up as inventory. Relax, Hank, find yourself a squeeze and have a little fun. If you’re worried she might talk, just tell Rob to have his man pick her up and we’ll sell her to one of the Saudis. Problem solved.”
Their drinks arrived a few moments later and the three of them sat back to watch the dance floor. Carrigan made a show of flashing money and it wasn’t long before a young woman wearing even less than the barmaid asked him if he’d like to dance. He pretended to protest that he was too old, but she dragged him out of his chair and onto the dance floor, where she learned that he was still awfully spry.
“Here we go,” Schlatter said. “Watch him work, he’ll have her squirming before he’s done with her.”
The old man could certainly dance. Noah watched as he pulled the girl close to him, and it was obvious that she was enjoying his attention. By the time the dance was over, they were both looking flushed. When Carrigan returned to his seat, she came along and sat on his knee.
“This is Kendra,” Carrigan said, introducing her. “I think I’m going to be her new sugar daddy.”
Kendra grinned from ear to ear, then kissed Carrigan passionately. “Anything you want, baby,” she said.
EIGHTEEN
When they got up to dance again, Schlatter leaned over to Noah. “She’ll be twenty grand richer by morning,” he said. “Be sure to get her last name, just in case he needs her to disappear later.”
“No problem,” Noah said. “She looks healthy enough to be an organ donor.”
Schlatter grinned at him. “Yes, that’s a side benefit of our business. We can always eliminate anybody who becomes a problem.”
“I suppose you know my history,” Noah said. He said it is a statement, but left it hanging like a question.
“I heard you killed somebody,” Schlatter admitted. “And I heard you went along on the last pickup run. Do you get a thrill out of it?”
“I find it—intriguing,” Noah said. “There’s something about the power of life and death that appeals to me. That first time, I wasn’t sure if I could do it or not, but then it turned out to be easy. Afterward, I felt a lot more alive, especially after the charges were dismissed and I knew I’d gotten away with it. Picking up those people last night, that gave me a little bit of that feeling all over again.”
Schlatter nodded. “I know what you mean,” he said. “I still get a thrill when I look at some cute young boy or girl and realize that their lives are mine for the taking. Every now and then, when I feel the urge, I have an extra girl picked up just so I can kill her myself. Of course, I make sure to use her other ways, first.”
“I’m gonna be sick,” Sarah said suddenly, through the subcom. Renée echoed her.
Jenny said, “We’re here, coming in.”
“You make it sound like fun,” Noah said with a grin. “Do we harvest those? The organs, I mean?”
“Oh, yes,” Schlatter said. “Should you find yourself in the mood to give it a try, just let me know. I have a special little room set up at our facility. A nice little bedroom with every kind of toy you can imagine, and somebody on standby to make sure none of the spare parts go to waste. As I’m sure you know, there’s always a market for healthy organs. So many, many people need them that you can always find at least a reasonable match. We put the word out about availability as soon as I’ve chosen my playmate, so by the time I’m finished, we are ready to harvest and ship.”
Noah grinned. “I’d love to see it sometime,” he said. “That sounds like it could be quite a thrill.”
Schlatter’s eyes seemed to glaze over for just a second and a demented smile appeared on his face. “Rob, you have no idea. There’s nothing in the world like watching that light go out in their eyes just as you reach that final moment.”
“Oh my God,” Noah heard Sarah say through the subcom. “Noah, I want to kill him myself.”
“I can imagine,” Noah said, letting Schlatter think he was replying to his statement. “But that will have to wait. We have to take care of business first.”
Schlatter laughed. “Indeed we do,” he said. “Indeed we do.”
Carrigan returned with Kendra a few moments later, and the four of them sat and talked about simpler things. Kendra was the daughter of a local minister and freely admitted that she liked to “walk on the wild side” from time to time.
“She’s just your type, Albert,” Schlatter said, and both Carrigan and Kendra burst out laughing.
“Oh, I think we’re going to have a good time,” Kendra said. “Come on, Al, let’s dance again.”
“Goodness, child,” Carrigan said, “have you not noticed that I am an old man? Please allow me to rest for a moment.”
She pouted for a second, then looked at Noah. “Will you dance with me?”
Noah grinned and shook his head. “Not me,” he said. “I see a few people I know in here, and they also know my wife.” He pointed at Sarah and her companions, who were dancing together. Jenny and Renée had changed clothes and hairstyles, while Sarah was wearing a wig that made her a redhead. “See those girls? They all live in my building, and hang out with my wife. Last thing I would need is for them to go home and say they saw me dancing with a pretty girl.”
She turned to Schlatter. “How about you? Ready for a thrill?”
Schlatter grinned. “Always,” he said, getting to his feet. Kendra got up from Carrigan’s lap and let him lead her to the dance floor.
“Uh-oh,” Noah said. “I think he just stole your date.”
Carrigan chuckled. “Plenty of fish in the sea, my boy. If she decides she likes him better, I see plenty of other opportunities.” He nodded toward Jenny. “That one looks rather wild. How well do you know her?”
Noah looked toward the three of them. “Her name is Jenny,” he said. “Jenny West. Don’t get your hopes up, I think she’s into girls.”
“Hey!” Jenny said quietly through the subcom. “Let him hit on me, I could take him out tonight.”
“No,” Noah subvocalized. Aloud, he said, “Besides, the other two would know she left with you. I don’t think you want that much attention, do you?”
“That wouldn’t worry me,” Carrigan said. “What about that one?” He pointed at another girl by the bar, a pretty redhead who looked like she had just gone through the worst day of her life.
“I don’t know her,” Noah said. “I notice that Kendra is still watching you, though. Maybe Hank isn’t as much fun as you are.”
“He never is. He almost never takes a girl back to his hotel when we are out on these trips, so she’ll probably be back with me in a few minutes.” He picked up his drink and took a large swallow. “Might as well start building up some tolerance, right?”
Noah leaned toward him. “Can I ask
a question? About the business, I mean?”
“You are a partner now, dear boy,” Carrigan said. “You can ask anything you like.”
“Well, I was just wondering, how big is this business? I mean, is it just here in the U.S., or has it gone global? I have some ideas along that line.”
“Do you, now? That’s interesting, because it’s already been suggested that you might be beneficial to some of our friends in the industry. No, we haven’t expanded outside the States, but we do partner with some similar organizations around the world at times. For example, we share information about tissue compatibility of our inventory, so that if they need a particular tissue match for a heart or something, we send them the entire person. That’s part of the business that requires shipping them alive.”
Noah nodded. “I thought it might be,” he said. “How have they been doing that so far?”
“Oh, that’s been a nightmare. We tried drugging them and shipping them in coffins, but a couple of them woke up screaming in the cargo hold of an airplane. Another one suffocated, and two others froze to death when the cargo area lost pressure and heat. Since then, we’ve had to send an escort along to remind them that their families would be targeted if they tried to escape, but even that has its problems. Customs agents have learned to spot when someone is under extreme duress and we’ve lost a few people that way. Some customs jerk gets the impression that our cargo is being forced, and the next thing we know, they are both dragged off to interrogation. The cargo always caves in, but the escort doesn’t know enough to lead back to us. It works about eighty percent of the time, but we really hope you can come up with a better solution.”
“I can,” Noah said. “A special cargo container, one that can be set up with a computer to administer a steady dose of anesthesia. It can monitor the heart rate, respiration, etc., and know when to apply a further dosage. A self-contained air and heat system will prevent any loss of the inventory being shipped.”
“And we wouldn’t have to send an escort along?”
Noah shook his head. “No, it wouldn’t be necessary. The system itself will take care of the contents.”
“And what about customs? Will they open it up to find out what’s in it?”
“That’s highly unlikely,” Noah said. “If we list it as only containing mechanical parts on the manifest, that will put it at the lowest possible risk of inspection. As long as it isn’t shipped on a passenger airliner, there’s about a one in a thousand chance that someone will figure out what’s inside.”
Carrigan smiled. “You know an awful lot about the subject,” he said. “That’s from your work in shipping organs, I presume?”
“Not just that,” Noah said. “I used to moonlight for a chemical company back in California. Shipping stuff for them required me to know everything possible about international transportation.” He grinned and shrugged. “They might have wanted to ship a few things without anybody knowing what was inside. Nothing like what we’re talking about, of course, but items they didn’t want anybody looking closely at.”
“And the special shipping container that we are discussing? You would know where to obtain them?”
“I don’t think you can buy them anywhere,” Noah said. “We’d have to build them ourselves. Fortunately, I have a friend who could handle programming the computers and equipment to do what we want. He’s one of those hacker types, he’ll do anything for money. We would only need him to design one, and then we can build as many as we want.”
The smile on Carrigan’s face got wider. “It will be worth it,” he said. “Between the reduction in risk and the increase in successful deliveries, we stand to see much greater profits.”
“That’s the idea. Now, one more question. Who am I actually supposed to answer to? Is it you?”
“For now, at least,” Carrigan said. “When you come to visit me, I plan to arrange a meeting of all the senior partners. With the innovations you are bringing to us, I think I can convince them to elevate you quickly.”
“Uh, maybe we should wait a little while? Let me really show what I can do, first?”
The old man chuckled again. “You let me worry about that,” he said. “I’m pretty sure the others will agree that you are a terrific addition to our team. You just be ready to fly up and visit me early next week.”
The music ended and Schlatter returned with Kendra, who quickly sat down on Carrigan’s lap once again. “Al,” she said, a slight whining sound in her voice, “I want you to dance with me again.”
Carrigan picked up his drink and took another swallow, then patted her bottom to make her get up. “I think I’m ready,” he said. The two of them headed back to the dance floor as another melody began.
“It looked like the two of you were having quite a conversation,” Schlatter said. “Did I miss anything?”
“We were talking about my ideas on how to transport complete units,” Noah said. “I’ll have that worked out within a week or so.”
“Very good,” Schlatter said. “I can’t wait to see what you come up with. It will help my branch in particular, because we ship more of what you call complete units than either of the others.”
“I’ll have a prototype design within a couple of days,” Noah said, “and hopefully we can start building them by next week. If we farm out the parts to different shops to make, nobody will be aware of what it is they are building. Then all we have to do is put the pieces together and program the computers.” He looked at Schlatter. “How soon would you guys be back at your places? I want to ship a few of them to you as soon as possible.”
“We are leaving tomorrow,” Schlatter replied. “We can set up an address for you to ship to within the next day or so, after we get home. For obvious reasons, we don’t ship anything directly to the facilities.”
“I certainly hope not,” Noah said with a grin. “All you would need is a curious delivery driver and things could get bad in a hurry.”
The rest of the evening revolved around Carrigan and Kendra, who spent most of it on the dance floor. At about ten o’clock, Schlatter decided it was time to call it a night. Carrigan wanted to stay at the club a while longer, but Noah took the opportunity to point out that he was tired and needed to go home and get some sleep.
The three girls caught the cue and headed out the door moments before Noah did. He stayed another five minutes, finishing his last drink and laughing at some of Carrigan’s comments, then bid them good night and headed out to the Charger.
“Okay, I’m out,” he said through the subcom. “Everybody head for home.”
“I’d rather stay and cut their throats,” Jenny said. “I know, I know, mission first. I just really want to kill the bastards.”
“Me too,” Sarah said. “Those are two men who really need to be eliminated.”
“I want to help,” Renée said. “I’ve never killed anyone, but I wouldn’t lose any sleep over either of those guys.”
“Settle down,” Noah said. “I’m going to call Allison. You can all listen in if you like.”
He took out his phone and dialed Allison’s cell number. She answered on the first ring.
“Camelot, report.”
“I spent the evening with two of the senior partners in the organization,” Noah began, and then brought her up to speed on everything they had talked about. She listened intently, and Noah could hear the scratch of pen on paper as she took notes. “Both of these men are deeply involved in the operation of their local facilities. I highly suggest having them followed when they return home, so that we can be ready to strike all three facilities at the same time.”
“I completely agree,” Allison said. “When are they going home?”
“Tomorrow morning. I don’t know the time or the flight, and they may have even come on charter flights.”
“No problem,” Allison said. “Neil sent me a lot of information about them, and we have their home and work addresses. I’ll have surveillance waiting for them when they arrive. As soon as
we have positively identified the holding facilities, we’ll put them under twenty-four hour surveillance as well.” She paused for a couple of seconds, then went on. “Noah, I know it probably seems callous not to go in and rescue the people now, but we have to know who else is involved in this thing. Keep doing whatever they ask of you for the moment, and know that you will be saving hundreds or thousands of lives in the future when we take them out.”
“For the most part,” Noah said, “I agree with you. However, Hank Schlatter is involved in the rape and murder of young girls for his own enjoyment. I’d like to arrange an accident for him once your surveillance has located the Las Vegas facility.”
“Negative,” Allison said. “I have to refuse, Noah. As much as I like the idea myself, and I do, if anything happens to any of these guys right now after you just came aboard, it could throw a monkey wrench into the whole operation. We can’t afford to have them suspicious of you, not now.”
Through the subcoms, Noah heard the grumbles of his entire team. “Yes, ma’am,” he said. “Then I have one other request. I’d like to send Jenny, Sarah and Renée to Las Vegas. They’d like to handle him personally when the time comes.”
Allison chuckled. “Seriously? Noah, do you think they can handle it? Jenny can, I’m certain, but what about Sarah and Renée?”
“Sarah has killed before,” Noah said, “and she has sufficient motivation in this case. Renée needs to get her feet wet as well, and I think this case would be a good one for her. Whether she actually kills anyone or not, I think her personal disgust for this man will help her to cope with the emotional turmoil she’s going to feel afterward.”
Allison was quiet for a couple of seconds, then said, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll ask Doc Parker what he thinks of the idea. If he approves, I’ll go along with it. We’ll call them Team Beauty for the duration of the mission. Now, I’m more interested in this upcoming meeting with the rest of the senior partners. That could give you the names of all of the others involved.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Noah said. “Carrigan wants to schedule that for early next week, so hopefully he can pull that off. As soon as we know who they are, I’d like to start the eliminations. I’ll leave Marco and Neil here to handle Conley, Mayweather and the others while I take out the rest of the group personally.”
