Chapter 23

We arrived in Starkville, Mississippi at 4 pm. The town’s only claims to fame were a Johnny Cash song, a state university, and a state prison. I’m not at all sure which was better known. That day for us, it was the prison. Frog called Mason at the SJL in Raleigh, NC. Mason supposedly had been working on a meeting between the three of us and Raphael Martinez, an inmate at the prison farm in Starkville, Mississippi.

After several minutes of grunts, Frog closed his phone and took a deep breath. The three of us sat in the company car waiting for the word from Mason. If we could do a quick interview, we might be able to leave for home soon. At least make it to a larger town than Starkville before checking into a hotel.

“So?” Bitsy asked. “Do we find a place to eat, then a place to stay right here? Mason set the appointment for tomorrow during visiting hours. We need to be sitting at the entrance gate at 1 PM tomorrow.”

“I don’t know about you two, but I’m ready for a nice hotel with a pool. If we leave now, we can find one, spend the night, and get back here by 1 PM tomorrow for our interview,” I suggested.

“That sounds like a plan,” Bitsy agreed.

“One and a half hours to Tuscaloosa, Alabama,” Frog suggested after checking his cell phone. “They have nice hotels and good food. We could leave after breakfast tomorrow and have plenty of time to get back here.”

“So what do you say, Bitsy?” I asked.

“I say, why the hell not.” It really wasn’t a question.

“Then let’s turn the car around and go to Alabama,” I suggested. We checked into the Capstone Hotel. We chose it just because it wasn’t a cookie cutter hotel. It appealed to each of us for a different reason. I, for instance, enjoyed watching the women by the pool, while drinking a glass of iced tea that I hadn’t made. Bitsy enjoyed being one of the women by the pool. She was watched by me as well as the other men. I’m sure that had been part of her enjoyment. Probably some of her being watched was her exotic look. I don’t think Frog knew there was a swimming pool. We didn’t see him until breakfast the next morning. He checked into a single room since he complained that I snored. Bitsy looked at the floor. She obviously had nothing to add to that conversation.

After a late breakfast in a pancake house, Bitsy insisted on driving.

“So what kind of lawyer were you before the SJL snagged you?” I asked Frog

“I was a criminal defense lawyer,” he said.

“Oh, were you anything like that lawyer on the Better Call Saul TV show?” I asked.

“Funny you should asked. I did represent a big drug wholesaler. That is till he got put away. I got out, while I had the chance.”

“Do you know anything about laundering money?” I asked.

“Why do you ask?” Frog asked.

“Just curious,” I admitted.

“I have seen how they moved money, but I did not have any information to allow me to access the money,” Frog explained.

At 1 PM we were sitting sitting in the visitors room waiting for Raphael Martinez to appear. When he did show, I was surprised. The man was in jail for several violent crimes during his years as an enforcer for a medium sized loan shark.

“So, Raphael, hows your English?” Bitsy asked.

“Better than yours, I expect,” he replied flawlessly.

“Do you know why we are here?” She continued without a hesitation.

“They tell me that punk ass Todd gave me up. You have no proof of anything,” he said while looking at me. “Todd sure as hell is not going to testify.”

“How many years did you get for all the people you were convicted of killing?” I asked.

“You already know that, Mr. Selfridge,” he said.

“Now it’s my turn to be impressed. How do you manage to stay up to date while you are in here?” I asked.

“The rumor mill goes 24/7 in this place. Every now and then they get something important,” He replied.

“I’m not important.” I said.

“You are way too modest. You and the lawyer settled that hostage situation in less than a day,” he said.

“True, but it was really the hostage takers who settled it,” I explained.

“Whatever, I suppose that punk ass Todd told you what I want to help you get the kid, Jerome, out of jail.”

“He did Raphael, but we have to hear it from you,” Bitsy replied for me.

“Okay, I want my wife Maria and our two children out of that project. They wound up in there after the lawyers took everything. Lawyers on both sides, I might add,” he replied staring down Maurice.

“Yeah, but it’s hard to feel sorry for you. The money was blood money,” I suggested.

“Strange they took it in the stores when I bought my kids presents. They never asked where it came from,” he admitted.

“They should have,” he retorted.

He shrugged his shoulders, and smiled. “I’m surprised Sarge. For a Special Forces operative, you can remain very calm when challenged,” He said.

“I never was Special Forces. I was just a regular old Air Policeman,” I corrected him.

“If you say so,” Raphael suggested.

“So we move your wife and kids to a small house in the suburbs, then you roll over on the man who tried to hire you to kill his wife?” Bitsy asked.

“There is a little more. The house has to be close enough so that she can come visit me,” he demanded.

“Raphael, you do know that she is not an American citizen?” Bitsy asked.

“So naturalize her,” he demanded.

‘That is not something we can promise. There will be several entities who have to sign off on it,” I suggested.

“That my dear friend is your problem,” Raphael responded.

“Well my advice is, settle in. It may be a long wait,” I suggested.

“I’m not planning any moves,” he admitted.

“Good, then we will know where to find you. By the way, who makes the best carrot cake in here?” I asked.

“Jess Anderson, and yes, I’m on the list of those who gets a piece of it,” Raphael admitted.

“What was the carrot cake thing about,” Frog asked as we walked to the car.

“Nothing really,” I admitted.

“So let’s go get my car,” Bitsy said.

“Since you parked it in the sheriff’s parking lot, it should be okay,” I said.

“I certainly hope so,” Bitsy agreed.

We drove till 8 PM to reach her car. She demanded that she be allowed to drive home the same night. It should have gotten her into the Durham suburb around midnight. Frog got me home a little before 10 PM. Anyway you cut it, it was a long drive. I didn’t even do a security walk around. There was no doubt I had gotten sloppy during those last few days.

I saw her after Frog dropped me behind the lock shop. I walked around to the front door and there she sat. Lucy2 was waiting on the wooden deck, under the aluminum awning. If she had been a bad guy, I would have died.

After she kissed me hello, she said. “I got a call from Tasha. She said she wants to give you Sadie Mae’s. So tell me, what is your plan?”

“I’m going to pay her back for her investment,” I said.

“Do you have that kind of money?” Lucy asked.

“I can get it,” I said being cagey.

“I have a plan,” Lucy said.

“Come on in while I unpack and get a glass of tea,” I suggested.

“Okay, but no touchy feely until after we make a decision,” she demanded.

“Fair enough,” I said.

After I made myself a sandwich from some canned boneless chicken, which I used for chicken salad, we had our talk. It seems that Lucy had paid the 100k for the building. We agreed that she now owned the building. The deed was in Tasha’s alias, but she could sign it over to Lucy, which would make everyone happy.

“So what will you do with it?” I asked.

‘I want to make it into a safe house upstairs and an apartment for the guards downstairs. When it finally happens, I can retire there,” she suggested.

“I get that, but there is still a lot of work to do,” I suggested. “So you have another 50K to invest in it. Do you have that kind of money?”

“No, but you do,” she guessed with a smile. “After all you were going to come up with a 100K to pay Tasha.”

“But with that I would have owned the building, this way you own the building and I’m just throwing money into a pit,” I explained.

“Ah you wouldn’t own the building, but would be half owner in the business, which would own the building.” Lucy explained. “It’s one of those magic tricks. All the attention will be on our business, and not on us. One of Martin’s people explained it.”

“Shit, it’s another CIA shell company,” I said disgusted.

“Someone is going to set up a shell company. It might as well be us,” she demanded. “All we have to do is build a safe, safe house. One that can house a family upstairs and a four man team downstairs.”

“Force protection will pay us a retainer, then rent when they use it?” I asked.

“Better than that,’.” she replied. “They will pay us rent every month with a two year lease. They will also pay you a contract fee, if you are available to head up the protections detail.”

“You do realize why they are willing to do this?” I asked.

“Because the parent company can’t work inside the country, but the contractors can as long as they are not associated with the parent company. Again, Sarge, someone is going to do it, it might as well be us,” Lucy demanded.

“If we buy the building and put up the renovation money, I want some guarantees,” I admitted. “I really don’t trust Martin any more. I trust the parent company even less.”

“You know he won’t do that,” she replied.

“I haven’t touched the settlement money I got from being blown up. I can pay you off, and finish the building as well. It will leave me broke, but I can do it. If I do that I won’t have to take the money from the CIA. If they want to rent it, fine. I can dig out from under in a few years.”

“You should take their offer. It would take all the uncertainty out of the equation,” she insisted.

“Well, if worse comes to worse, I’ll just run an advertisement for retired secret agents to rent it. Put up a security fence with lots of CCTV cameras,” I laughed.

“I’ll go back and talk to Martin,” she said. “Now that business is over, it is time for that touchy feely.”

“It most definitely is time for that,” I admitted.

Lucy stayed till the next day, then called for an airport limo, which she assured me was on the Force Protection credit card. That being the case, I carried her to lunch at Tonya’s diner. While we were there, I found out from Tonya that she was now a partner in the diner. I congratulated her and I was happy to find that I meant it.

“Another one of your women?” Lucy asked.

“Water under the bridge,” I said.

“Well, maybe during the next drought, she will be available,”Lucy suggested kissing me deeply. We went back home to sit on the deck and await the limo.

When it arrived, she got in and was off to the Triad International Airport where the big jet engines roar. Once she was gone, I thought about the settlement money. I was surprised that I didn’t remember it right away. It was money that was accounted for, so it didn’t need to be laundered. It was also more than enough to handle everything. I decided right there that until SJL called again, I would start working on the building.

It took two days to run it down, but I found that the deed was sitting in the office of a local real estate office. There was no mortgage posted to the deed. All I had to do was sign the deed and pay the taxes and closing cost and the place was mine. I placed a phone call to Lucy2 from outside the lawyers office. Lucy told me she had received a 100k bank transfer from Tasha. There was no note just the transfer.

The money had most likely come from the Prince. It was money that might well have found its way into a Madrassas schools in Saudi Arabia. Once I got that in my mind, I was more than willing to take the money.

After my ride the next morning, I got in touch with Ed my builder. He came over to give me an estimate. The estimate was for putting in a membrane and then new floors everywhere upstairs.

Ed explained that his men had to sand the old hardwood flooring that was to be a sub-floor. First it had to be leveled, then the areas which could not be leveled had to be removed and replaced. There were a few. It was much more than I felt that I needed to know.

Only then could the membrane be place between the sub floor and the finished floor. I had a vinyl tile floor laid upstairs. The downstairs was a beautiful hardwood floor. The previous owner had put it down so that he could rent it.

The downstairs area was configured as a kitchen, bar, dining area, and two complete bathrooms. One still had the shower cabinet that I had convinced Tasha to install. Tasha’s upstairs loft was complete with her appliances. It had a very nice bathroom which was at least functional.

I still had to install a heat pump for the upstairs, and have the windows replaced. The heat pump came from an old man’s heating and air conditioning company. You guessed it, his name was provided by Tonya. He wanted seven grand and change, so I told him to get on it as soon as Ed was finished the floors...

Just before Ed finished the floors, I got a call from James Mason. “We need to get back to Raphael. He is ready to give up Jerome’s girlfriend’s husband.”