Tax Assassin (10 page)

“
You’ve had an interesting
year,” Perses said.

“
Yes,” Seth said. “I do
need information. Clara loves her buddy Zephyr. It seemed like a
good time to . . .”

“
Kill a few birds,” Perses
smiled.

With that, his charming demeanor returned
like the sun on a stormy day. Seth returned his smile. Perses took
the zipper storage bag and tucked it into his jacket. Clara gave a
loud bark, and they watched the dogs play for a few minutes.

“
Are you heading out
again?” Seth asked.

“
Me?” Perses asked. “No.
They prefer to use drones to solve problems now. Less likely to
give up information in some foreign prison. I
am . . . retired. It’s different; nice. You should
try it.”

Seth nodded.

“
How’s the music?” Perses
asked.

“
Good,” Seth said. “I’m
working on a new piece.”

“
You must have a case,”
Perses said.

“
Killer-for-hire,” Seth
said. “You remember McGinty?”

Perses nodded.

“
He has sarcoidosis,” Seth
said.

“
Agent Orange. Like
Mitch.”

“
Not according to the V.A.,
but yeah,” Seth said. “This is his case.”

Seth took a drink of his coffee and waited
for Perses. He knew if he moved too fast, the man would clam up. He
had to take his time.

“
McGinty found five cities
with four or so killings a year in the nineties,” Seth said. “I
found four or so killings in every medium-to-small city in the
country.”

“
Except
Colorado.”

“
One outside of Trinidad in
1913,” Seth said. “Tax agent.”

Perses’s left eyebrow lifted, but his face
remained still. The assassin’s eyes noticed that the dogs had
stopped playing. He took a ball from his pocket, whistled for
Zephyr, and threw the ball. The dogs took off after the ball and
Perses turned to look at Seth.

“
He’s not one of us,”
Perses said.

“
He?”

“
Bunch of
he’s
,” Perses said. “His
grandfather, father, and himself. We have a file.”

“
Why?” Seth
asked.

“
Why do you
think?”

“
You’ve been watching him
kill U.S. Citizens for almost a hundred years,” Seth
said.

“
That’s dark,” Perses said.
“And unlikely. If you’re interested, I can see if I can get it
redacted.”

“
Highlights?”

Perses fell silent again. He threw the ball
for the dogs a few times before he turned back to Seth.

“
Sure,” Perses said. “I
can’t think of a reason why not. The entire family is a pestilence.
There was a time when people like me served a global purpose. My
team was created after World War II. We’ve saved lives, prevented
wars and . . . Anyway, it’s not a purpose my son
Stephen will ever agree with but it is a reason other than money to
pay taxes – his property taxes, no less.”

“
He kills for the money to
pay his property taxes?” Seth asked.

“
That’s the irony,” Perses
said. “He says the tax man – the one from 1913 – said, ‘I don’t
care what you do to get the money. You live on this land; you have
to pay these taxes.’ His great-grandfather was in the business for
the Confederacy; good at it too.”

“
To pay their taxes?” Seth
shook his head.

“
To pay their property
taxes,” Perses said.

“
Four a summer,” Seth
said.

“
They’re school teachers
who own a very large ranch,” Perses said. “Plus, they have the
summers off.”

“
How does he pick a city?”
Seth asked.

“
One he hasn’t been to,”
Perses shrugged.

“
Military brass?” Seth
asked.

“
You found some?” Perses
asked.

“
Five or six,” Seth said.
“Over the course of the last few decades.”

“
They own a shooting range
on the way to Piñon Canyon,” Perses said. “A lot of military stop
there on their way out and back. Friendly competition; things like
that.”

“
Tire lead?”

“
Same way everyone gets
it,” Perses shrugged. “Local tire shops. There’s a few in Trinidad
you could call. I bet they know him.”

“
He teaches in Trinidad,
Colorado?”

“
Near there,” Perses
said.

Seth thought for a moment before saying,
“Hoehne High School?”

Perses rewarded him with, “Science
teacher.”

“
He’s up for elimination?”
Seth asked.

Perses confirmed his statement with a raise
of one eyebrow. Seth weighed the idea in his mind. If he let the
case linger, more people would die, and so would his killer. He
took a long drink of his coffee before acknowledging to himself
that he’d never be satisfied with that outcome.

“
You?” Seth
asked.

“
I’m retired.”

“
Drone?”

“
You’re asking the wrong
question,” Perses took a drink of his hot chocolate. “I do love
Maresol.”

“
I’ll make sure she knows,”
Seth said.

The men fell silent. Seth could feel the
seconds ticking away. Soon, Perses would whistle for Zephyr, and he
would have lost the goodwill brought on by the return of the
bullet.

“
Looks like the Army is
going through with the expansion of Piñon Canyon,” Perses
said.

“
I thought that was off,”
Seth said. “A done deal.”

“
Not according to the
ranchers there,” Perses said. “A few of them have already sold
their land to the Army and are getting out. Off of the land; out of
the business.”

“
And our high school
science teacher?” Seth asked.

“
Had girls,” Perses said.
“You have daughters. You know how they are. They’re interested in
horses, beauty pageants, and marrying doctors. They aren’t up for
the business of murder – not mine, not yours, and not his. This is
his last season.”

“
And the last
contract?”

Perses gave Seth a beaming smile. That must
have been the right question.

“
Politician,” Perses said.
“I never met the man, but I hear he’s a miscreant.”

As if Seth should know who he was referring
to, Perses glanced at him. Seth gave a slight shrug.

“
Contract includes his wife
and children,” Perses said. “Our killer-for-hire took a large
contract for his last. Money for taxes. Money to relocate. And it
has a heavy purse. Looks like a lot of people wanted this guy
gone.”

“
You?”

“
Not us.”

Seth felt like he was missing something.
Racking his brain, he looked away for a moment.

“
Who bought the services?”
Seth asked the lazy cop’s question.

Perses shook his head. That wasn’t the
question Seth was supposed to ask.

“
Where is he relocating?”
Seth asked.

Perses shook his head. As if he was trying
to send Seth the information, the assassin’s eyes burrowed into
Seth’s very soul. He asked the only question he could think of. Who
was this assassin?

“
Who?” Seth
asked.

“
Alvin,” Perses
said.

Seth gaped at the man. Perses nodded.

“
All five plus a few
others,” Perses took a drink of hot chocolate. Over the brim of the
mug, he said in a low tone, “Did you know Aaron Alvin is here right
now?”

“
I . . .” Seth pointed to
the gate.

Perses whistled for Zephyr. Seth grabbed
Clara as she ran by and took off toward the parking lot. Clara
jumped into his sedan. He was dialing the phone as he sat down in
the passenger seat.

“
Answer. Answer. Answer,”
he repeated as Ava’s phone rang.

TWELVE

“
Seth! You heard!” Ava
yelled over the familiar scream of a police siren.

“
I heard?”

“
It’s Bella,” Ava said.
“She’s been shot. Captain Ferguson called. That’s all I
know.”

“
Where are you?” Seth
asked.

“
Denver Health,” Ava said.
“Cruiser escort. We just pulled in. Are you coming?”

“
I’ll be there,” Seth
closed his eyes to say a silent prayer of gratitude. He was about
to hang up when he heard the sharp report of a handgun.

“
Ah crap,” Ava said, and
the line went dead.

Seth drove like a mad man through the
streets of Denver. He desperately missed his Denver Police badge
and bubble siren. Finally at the Denver Health parking lot, he had
to wait until a parking space cleared before he could park.

“
I have to go in,” he said
to Clara.

She seemed to know exactly what was going
on. He rolled the window down on her side. He ruffled her head and
ran across the parking lot. He arrived at the entrance to emergency
to find Ava’s mother and her older sister near the door. They were
holding each other and weeping. Ava was standing near the desk
filling out paperwork and talking to a uniformed police officer.
Moving toward Ava, he noticed two U.S. marshals striding across the
waiting room toward him.

“
O’Malley,” the first
marshal said. His booming voice caused Ava to spin in place. She
ran to him. Her entire body trembled in his arms. She held him
tight and pressed her face into the crook of his neck. He shifted
her to his left side and looked up when the marshal
approached.

“
Jasper,” Seth
said.

“
What do you know?” Deputy
U.S. Marshal Jasper asked.

“
Nothing,” Seth said. “Was
someone shot in the parking lot?”

“
Fireworks,” Deputy U.S.
Marshal Jasper nodded. “I thought it was shots too.”

“
Celebrating a baby,”
Deputy U.S. Marshal Jasper’s partner, Deputy U.S. Marshal Kowalski
said. “You here to celebrate a baby?”

Seth’s eyes flicked to Ava.

“
Your daughter?” Jasper
asked.

“
Fiancé,” Seth
said.

Jasper gave him an assessing look. Seth
scowled at him.

“
She’s one of Alvin’s
girls,” Kowalski said.

“
Amelie?” Seth shifted Ava
from him.

Her tear-stained face looked up at him. He
gave her a soft smile. They both knew he would get more information
without her there.

“
I need to finish paying
for . . . for . . .” She pointed to the desk where
she’d been, and he nodded. She wrapped her arms around herself and
went back to filling out the paperwork.

“
Why are you here?” Seth
asked.

“
Alvin,” Jasper said. “He
was one of ours.”

“
Was?”

Jasper and Kowalski nodded.

“
What happened?” Seth
asked.

“
He was having brunch with
his youngest daughter,” Kowalski said.

“
He wanted to see that
woman . . .” Jasper said.

“
Yvonne Smith?” Seth
asked.

“
Yeah, that woman he’s
obsessed with,” Jasper said.

“
You mean the woman he
forced into prostitution and held captive for more than twenty
years with threats to her wrongfully incarcerated husband,” Seth
raised his eyebrows at Jasper. “That’s not to mention what he did
to her daughter.”

“
Yeah, her,” Jasper cleared
his throat and looked away.

“
She’s out of town,”
Kowalski said. “Trip to the coast, care of the U.S. Marshal
Service.”

“
He settled for seeing his
youngest daughter,” Jasper said. “The girl begged the
office.”

“
I thought . .
.”

“
Right,” Kowalski said.
“He’s supposed to have zero contact with his family. Zero. We’d
never heard of anything like it.”

“
You have it in writing?”
Seth asked.

“
You better
f . . . uh . . .” Kowalski looked around the room.
“Yes, O’Malley, we have it.”

“
Someone screwed up,”
Jasper said.

“
Or was well paid,” Seth
said.

“
What?” Kowalski shook his
head at Seth.

“
You first,” Seth said.
“What happened?”

“
Stashed him at the Hyatt
downtown,” Jasper said. “He was due to testify this afternoon. The
daughter came this morning, and we ordered room service. They were
together . . .” Jasper looked at Kowalski.

“
Ten minutes,” Kowalski
shrugged.

“
Ten minutes,” Jasper
leaned close to Seth. “She gets there, they hug, we check the room,
go over the rules, and step outside.”

“
Their food hadn’t even
arrived when . . .”

“
Through the window from
the office building across from the Hyatt,” Jasper’s voice was so
low Seth wasn’t sure he heard it.

Seth gave a slight shake of his head.

“
High-powered rifle;
armor-piercing bullet,” Kowalski held two fingers to his heart.
“Double. Straight through the heart.”