Justifiable Homicide: A Political Thriller (Robert Paige Thrillers Book 1) (46 page)

“Hi. It’s John. I just got a call from Tomás. He’s getting cold feet. He wants out of the Tuesday night event.”

The Boss paused for a few seconds before replying. “Well, he can’t have out. He’s part of the team. Did you explain that to him?”

“We’re going to meet tomorrow morning. I’ll try to convince him to stay.”

“You shouldn’t have to
convince
him. You should
order
him to stay.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ll call you after the meeting.”

“You do that.”

Tomás arrived a few minutes before Wellington. He parked in the corner of the 7-11 parking lot, away from the camera. Wellington pulled in and parked next to Tomás.

Tomás walked toward Wellington as he got out of the car.

“Hi John. Sorry to put you through all this trouble,” he said as they shook hands.

“Tomás, you’re causing problems for us. You know you can’t just pick and choose your assignments.”

“But you don’t need me on this one. You don’t need four people to kill a bunch of unarmed professors. The three of you can do it without me.”

“It doesn’t work that way. You’re part of the team. It would set a bad precedent. Besides, it’s a bonding opportunity.”

They both smiled as Wellington said it. “Now you sound like some kind of pop psychologist.”

“The Boss told me to order you to do it.”

“I understand. It’s just that I don’t think they deserve killing.”

“Tomás, what they’re doing is undermining what the government is trying to do to stop terrorism. It’s treason.”

“Maybe the treason law needs to be repealed. I don’t think it’s treason to speak out against the government.”

“Maybe that’s true in normal times, but these aren’t normal times. We’re involved in a war here. The normal rules don’t apply.”

“I think the Constitution should always apply, especially when things aren’t normal. That’s when people need protection the most. People shouldn’t be punished for what they say or write. If exercising your right of free speech and press gives aid and comfort to the enemy, then so be it.”

Wellington was startled by his comment. “I disagree. Look. We could debate this issue all day, but the fact of the matter is, we’re going to do it, and you’re going to do it with us. That’s an order. Are you going to disobey?”

Wellington said it in a tone of voice that was obviously threatening, implying that failure to obey would be treated as insubordination and punished accordingly. He looked him straight in the eyes as he said it, and was waiting for a reply.

Tomás thought about his options. He really didn’t have any, at least not at the moment.

“OK. I’ll do it.”

“Good. I’m glad you came to your senses. I’ll expect to see you at the meeting on Saturday.”

“I’ll be there.”

Wellington turned around, got into his car and drove off. As he left, Tomás felt more anxiety than ever. He knew he wasn’t going to participate in the executions in spite of his agreement to the contrary, but he didn’t know what to do. Failure to obey the order would result in his own death, either by Wellington or one of the other team members. He thought of Teresa and Julio. He couldn’t let them kill him, for their sake. He made up his mind. He had to kill them first. It would be an act of self-defense. He would do it on Saturday. He thought about warning Paige, but decided against it. There would be no threat by Tuesday if he terminated them at the meeting on Saturday. If Paige came to the meeting, he could tell him then, after he executed the others in front of him.

He knew that he would have to terminate the Boss, too. Otherwise, the Boss would kill him, or, what is more likely, would send someone to kill him, since the Boss didn’t like getting his hands dirty. He wondered what he could do if the Boss didn’t show up at the meeting. He decided he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

“Hi. It’s John.”

“What do you have to report?” The Boss was sitting at his desk, having coffee and looking out the window.

“He agreed to stay with the plan, but I don’t believe him. I don’t think he’s going to do it. He’s become a liability.”

“That’s too bad. He was a good soldier. You know what you have to do.”

“Yeah, I know. I don’t feel good about it, but I agree it has to be done. I’ll do it at the meeting on Saturday.”

“OK. Call me after you do it. I’ll send a clean-up crew to get rid of the evidence. I think you should get rid of Paige then, too. I don’t think it’s a good idea to wait until Tuesday. He might warn the professors or, worse yet, tell the police or the FBI. That would really complicate our lives.”

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.”

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.”

“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.

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.