Pushed to the Edge (SEAL Team 14) (10 page)

Victoria loved her mother, but given their similar
strong-willed personalities, they managed to annoy one another quite
frequently.  Since Victoria had turned thirty, her mother’s favorite topic of
conversation was marrying off Victoria and having grandkids. 

It would be fair to say that Gloria hadn’t been
very excited about her only daughter’s relationship with Joshua, and she had
been more than a little ecstatic when things had ended between the two.  Not
that Gloria disliked Joshua as a person; she just wanted her daughter to have a
husband with a stable 9-5 job. 

So for the past year, Gloria had constantly
attempted to set up Victoria on blind dates with single doctors and lawyers
whom she had met at while at church functions or PTA gatherings.  It didn’t
even matter to Gloria that she now lived across the country from her daughter. 
Whenever Gloria found a man that met her high standards for her Victoria, she
was sure to pass the word along. 

The last man that she had agreed to go out on a
blind date with—per her mother’s request—was Harold.  Harold had moved from New
York to Texas to open up his own dental practice about eight months ago.  Her
mother had given him Victoria’s phone number and suggested to him that Victoria
would be the perfect person to show him around the city. 

Harold was a thirty-three-year-old dentist with a
head full of black hair, which was sadly starting to gray around the edges.  He
had a young daughter from a previous marriage who lived with him on a part-time
basis.  She had even been to his townhome in Highland Village on one occasion
for a wine tasting event that he had thrown for friends. 

Victoria’s first impression of Harold was that he
was a genuinely nice guy.  Unfortunately, it didn’t take her long to discover
that he had a personality about as exciting as drying paste.  She had gone out
with him for a few times before she called it quits.  Even though they had only
dated for a short timeframe, those few dates had put her mother under the
misguided impression that she would soon have the pleasure of planning a Spring
wedding for her only child. 

Not wanting to hear Gloria’s new idea of whom she
should be dating or marry, she skipped past her mother’s message and moved onto
the last one in the queue.  It was from Richard Henning’s key aide, Jonathan
Baker, who was calling to confirm her upcoming interview with Richard Henning
at a local Dallas hotel. 

Walking back to the kitchen, Victoria turned on
the television before grabbing a slice of pizza.  Sitting down on her sofa, she
watched the late night news anchor drone on about the local police
investigation into the local convenience store thefts.  The police still had
very few leads about the two masked individuals who had so far managed to rob
three convenience stores. 

The robbers’ haul hadn’t been significant, but
they were becoming more and more aggressive with each new robbery.  In the last
robbery, they had beaten an elderly male cashier who apparently hadn’t opened
the cash register quickly enough for them. 

She mentally reminded herself that she needed to
send in a few emails tomorrow, to follow up on the robbery case.  She also
needed to touch base with Ms. Ortiz.  The main thing on her mind, however, was
her interview with Walt Mickelson tomorrow.  She was looking forward to what
Henning had to say about his business relationship with Henning and his role in
the Henning Cooper Company.

****

Richard Henning was being watched.  And not just
by the errant paparazzi who had become a permanent fixture outside of the
former Congressman’s mansion.  He probably hadn’t helped matters after deciding
to go on the national TV gauntlet to discuss the harrowing details of his
kidnapping and his later dramatic rescue.  Of course, he’d taken a few
liberties in his descriptions of the events. 

No one needed to know that by the time the SEAL
team had arrived, he’d been unconscious.  It would indubitably undermine his
reputation as the “toughest” U.S. Congressman if reporters ever got wind of the
fact that within thirty minutes of his kidnappers’ “interrogation,” he had
promptly wet his pants. 

Another pair of eyes that Richard was aware of was
the extra security detail that his key aide had added upon his return home. 
These days he traveled with at least three bodyguards.  Both his wife and
daughter had received extra security as well. 

But the extra security did not stop Richard
Henning from worrying.  Now, wherever he went, even with his additional
security guards as an added measure of protection, he kept an eye out for any
suspicious vehicles or individuals who might be tailing him.  Even though he
hadn’t been able to discern any suspicious persons, or a specific threat, he
was still very concerned.

Richard had every reason to be concerned.  He was
no longer under the misguided impression that his kidnapping had just been some
random act by an unhinged extremist group.  He was positive that it was
directly due to the information that he had discovered a few months earlier. 
Of course, he didn’t have proof of this.  But he knew that he was without a
doubt, officially up shit creek and without a paddle. 

Ever since he was a small child, he had had
impressive ambition accompanied by a solid work ethic.  Striving for success
was a compulsion for him.  He had been determined that he and his future family
would have a better life than he had had as a child.  He had clawed his way out
of the pit of a life that he had back in Abilene, and made it all the way to
one of the highest public offices in the land.  Not to mention, he had amassed
a fortune along the way through his shipping empire.  It was, however, through
this very same shipping empire that his life and his family lives were now in
great jeopardy. 

Because of his success, his family had
opportunities that he could have only dreamed about as a child.  His daughter,
Isabelle, had gone to an elite boarding school in Switzerland for high school,
and now she was attending the prestigious Brevard College in New York. 

She was majoring in “Basket-weaving” or “Life
Studies” or whatever it was that the dilettante offspring of the extremely
wealthy majored in.  He had spent countless dollars for her annual backpacking
trips across Europe.  His wife, Clarise, had insisted that these yearly
sojourns were a necessity for Isabelle because as a young woman she needed to
“find herself.” 

Richard found it quite amusing—and ironic—that his
daughter did not so much as don a backpack during her escapades.  Unlike other
youth who stayed in cost effective hostels, in order to realize their dream of
self-realization via travel experiences, he was bankrolling his daughter’s
lodging.  Therefore, Isabelle had the good fortune to room in five-star hotels
during her each of her “soul searching” trips. 

In addition, his wife was the prototype trophy
housewife of the American privileged.  She had long, auburn hair, a lithe body,
and a still youthful face thanks to the thousands of dollars that she spent on
plastic surgery.  Her days were typically filled with charity work and
shopping, and she spent her evenings attending fundraising galas with other
members of the Dallas elite. 

Clarise didn’t ask questions about where her
husband’s money came from.  She probably did not even care where his money was
coming from.  Clarise just did her best to spend the money as quickly as he
could bring it in. 

Much to his dismay and disbelief, he was now a man
on the brink of losing everything important to him.  He’d made one miserable
choice after another, one wrong turn after another, all in the name of
advancing his financial footprint and maintaining his legacy.  Richard had
failed to scrutinize his business dealings and associates at the outset.  And
now he was paying for it.

Fatigued, his shoulders slumped over the paperwork
as he sat at his office desk and reviewed his company’s agreements with Nava Drug
Corp, Inc. for the hundredth time.  The management of the Henning Cooper
Company had signed the cursed contract two years ago. 

At the time of its signing, the contract had been
one of the most profitable for his company.  Even though Richard was
technically retired from the management of the company, he still owned a very significant
portion of the shares.  The new CEO Roger Cohen didn’t make so much as a move
to buy more toilet paper for the offices without Richard knowing about it.  

Since 2010, Nava Drug Corp had shipped close to
100 tons of medical products from Russia.  It had all seemed good at first. 
They had been reaping the benefits of a ten million dollar contract—so he and
the other primary investors (former business partners) hadn’t asked too many
questions.  Clearly, they should have. 

A few months prior to his kidnapping, one of the
dock workers at his Galveston, TX port had noticed that the items listed on the
shipment intake list for Nava Drug Corp did not match up with what was actually
in the containers. 

The dockworker had gone immediately to Richard,
bypassing other management.  Richard had paid the dockworker well in advance to
adhere to this “bypass method.”  Richard had wanted to know everything that
went on with his ships—even if he wasn’t in an official management position
with the company anymore. 

Now he was wishing that he’d never looked into the
matter further.  It was a mess, this whole situation.  And he wasn’t sure how
to get out of it.  He wasn’t even sure if getting out of “it” was even an
option at this point.

Shortly after his return to the United States, he’d
called an urgent meeting with his business partner, Walker Cooper.  He’d known
Cooper for decades, having met back in college.  They were both fraternity
brothers in Alpha Tau Omega.  Cooper had indicated that he’d spoken to his
legal team and was already preparing to “extricate” himself from the company. 
Yes, he’d actually used the word extricate. 

As if it things were that fucking simple.  As they
say, some bells just couldn’t be un-rung.  Cooper knew just as well as he did
what was in those cargo ships coming from Russia.  The whole situation may have
turned out differently if they had gone to the police immediately with their
discovery.  At the time though,
inaction
had seemed to be the best
course of action.

After all, Richard was a former United States
Congressman for God’s sake.  Even the slightest whiff of a scandal could ruin
any attempt to make a return bid for office again.  Therefore, at the time it
had seemed prudent to not alert the authorities and try to cancel the contract
with Nava Drug Corp. 

Riiiiiiinnnnnnnggg.

He glanced at his Caller ID.  It was Cooper. 
Again.

“Henning here,” he answered.

“I got a call today,” Cooper replied.  Richard
could tell by the unevenness in Cooper’s voice that his business partner was
stressed. 

“Who was it?”

“Who the hell do you think it was?  Someone shot Robert
Ramirez dead in his rundown apartment in Galveston last weekend.  The
authorities are thinking that it was an attempted robbery turned murder.  This
shit is spinning completely out of control, Richard!  I want out,” Cooper
raged.

Robert Ramirez was the dockworker who had alerted
Richard to the discrepancies in the shipping packages from Nava Drug Corp.  And
now he was dead.  Yeah, that was too much of a coincidence.

Richard laughed at Cooper’s last remark.  “Join
the fucking club.  You don’t think that I want out too?  What do you suggest we
do?  Do you suggest that we go to the cops and tell them that ‘Hey, by the way,
a year ago we found something we weren’t supposed to find in one of the cargo
containers sent to the U.S. by one of our foreign customers.  We decided not go
to the authorities then.  Of course, we took an additional fee in the process
to keep their secret.  But now we are compelled to fess up because we’re being
threatened and need your help, pretty please.’”

Cooper was silent for a moment, taking in
Richard’s sarcasm. 

“As a former U.S. Congressman, any future
political career that I may have had will be over,” Richard continued his
barrage.  “And make no mistake about this Cooper—
both
of us will lose
the fortunes that we spent lifetimes to build up.  Our families will be
destroyed.  Our reputations will be ruined.  Not to mention that we’re facing
real prison time here.  I’m not talking about receiving a bullshit slap on the
wrist like some Martha Stewart sentence of a few years plus probation.  I’m
talking about real hard time, at least two decades behind bars.  And in a
federal prison, mind you.  And those will be the
best
outcomes that we
could hope for.  We could still very easily wind up with bullets through our
brains.”

“Maybe we can secure a plea deal for ourselves. 
Maybe if we cooperate with federal prosecutors then we might just get off with
probation.  We have never been in trouble with the law before,” Cooper said, a
slight shrill to his voice.

“You cannot possibly be serious.  By ‘cooperate’
do you mean to
testify
against Nava Drug Corp and their associates?  You
must really have a death wish Cooper.  And besides, the current United States
Attorney General, Derrick Ford, would love to make an example out of us to show
that he’s tough on crime, no matter who is involved.”

Cooper blew out a frustrated breath.  “Well, we
have to do something.  I’ve lost twenty pounds over the past few months.  I
can’t sleep.  My wife thinks I’m having an affair.”

“Look, if you are actually serious about
testifying in open court, your insomnia and wife problems will be the very
least of your worries.  These men are very dangerous, and they aren’t messing around. 
Look, probably our best bet is just to wait things out.  The shipping contract
and bill of lading between our company and Nava Drug Corp finishes at the end
of the year.  Given the difficulties that we’ve had, they won’t try to renew
it.  Even if this eventually comes out in the press in a few years, we will be
in a much better position to argue that we didn’t know the unsavory characters
that we were dealing with.  Or their motives.”