Chapter 36

Chuck

My mind was filled with apprehension when I rolled out of bed. I needed to form for a while to relax my mind. With both John and the Marshal showing up here in Tampa, something had to be up. Especially after both had been down in Key West recently. The unusual part was that John brought his wife, or wives, and kids. Well, I guessed I'd find out soon enough.

The more I moved and relaxed, the more my mind focused on the goal I had set up to complete the closing of the bank accounts. All of the accounts, except one, that I knew of were now closed and the money transferred to the new investment fund. When Ben begins working on the residences, we should be able to dispose of them quickly. I was keeping one checking account open in case I needed a quick identity.

I still needed to dispose of, or rather claim, a lot of cash and gold. Right now, I have five huge safety deposit boxes crammed full of cash and gold. It's going to take a while to haul all of that out of the country so I can send it back to the investment fund.

A good thing was the start up of the residential building program for those less fortunate folks, especially single parents, to allow them to have a home of their own. The trade school has begun two homes that should be done within three months. If we do this right, we should be able to provide at least eight homes a year. They won't be huge, but they will be well built and should last the new owners for the rest of their lives. Ben thinks this is a great idea and will offset a lot of taxes. I think I might try to combine the home with a new car too. That might be the whipped cream and a cherry on top of it treat.

After forming and swimming with several housemates who came out to be with me, we ate breakfast together. I told Wanda that I figured on being in the office with John and the Marshal today.

At the office, I called John's cell phone and he said, "We're going to run the kids out to Steve's, then come into your office. We'll go somewhere to talk, but there's no panic right now. The Marshal and I want to go over some things.

I called Ben to see if he was ready to begin working on the other residences. I had given him a spreadsheet with each location, who the renters are, what they're paying for rent, and what they want to do in the future. There was only one older couple that may not want to own their place. If so, we would figure out a way to put the place into a trust so they could be assured of living there as long they wanted.

"Hey, Ben, how's the house in Key West? Are you ready to wrap that up?"

Ben said, "It's yours. All the property has been transferred and you are the legal owner. You gave me your power of attorney so I just completed the deal. I'll set up a checking account within your holding company for the caretaker you have down there. She'll have a bank account to work with and should be happy to work with you. How about letting me rent the place for a week? Beth really wants to go down there."

"Anytime, Ben, you tell me and I'll call Rosie. I think I'll set her up with a schedule book so when folks want to use the house, she will be able to schedule them."

Ben asked, "Aren't you going to use it?"

"I can, but I don't think my group will fit very well. There are only three bedrooms and two of them are fairly small. The nine or ten of us would make the place a little cramped."

Ben told me, "You know that Sue and Steve are part owners of a very nice resort hotel in Key West, don't you? The other owner wants to sell. Why don't we use your investment fund to buy in with Sue and Steve? That way, when you want to go to the Keys, you'll have a place to stay. Sue said there is an owner's suite there that is huge."

"If you think there is enough money in the investment fund to do that, along with helping others, go ahead."

Ben asked, "Do you know how much you transferred into the investment fund? You know it was a lot, I mean a whole lot."

"I don't know, Ben, and I guess I don't want to know. I'm going to be giving it away to those who need it as quickly as I can find worthy folks. The ones that are willing to work but have fallen on hard times are the ones I want to help. I want those people to have it a little easier. Perhaps help them find a good job, send them to trade school, help them with medical problems. You know what I want to do, so let me know as you run into those kinds of people."

"Oh Ben, I want to contact the local group of the "Injured Warriors" to find out what they need. The group helps guys that were hurt in the military as well as families of injured and killed. I want to directly help those that are in need right now but I want to get the group involved in Steve and Sue's training facility so we can get the partially disabled back to work. This is good group of people to devote a lot of resources. They will need long term assistance so we should try to set up a way to monitor our help so our help is put where it needs to be."

"I'll do that, Chuck," Ben said. "You're a good man to do that, but remember that some of your investments will bring happiness to many for a long time. Keep investing so you have the profits to do good with."

"Thanks, Ben. I have to fight my greed and be sure to give back where I can."

Ben offered an idea, "You know, I met a minister recently that has taken over a church out in Mango. The congregation is made up of poor people and the church is in desperate need of work. Why don't you donate the help to rebuild the building and then you can always drop off some of your cash to the church so they can help any of their parishioners that are desperate."

"Good idea, Ben, give me the location of the place and I'll get by there and drop off a gift to the pastor. You arrange for the work to be done by S&S and maybe the trade school. Any material cost will be on the fund. That will be my good deed for today. Now we have to work on tomorrow."

Ben laughed, "There will be lots of opportunities for you to use the money you have for good. Just watch for them and take advantage of the opportunity. Always make sure the recipients are truly worthy and then help them."

I dug out the sheets of information that had been in the various big envelopes that had been left in the safe deposit boxes. I would show these to John and the Marshal. They would be surprised at what was listed.

John and the Marshal showed up. When they were shown into my office, they both stood there gawking. The Marshal said, "I'm moving here tomorrow. This is nicer than anything in DC. I know your office was a judge's chambers, but this is incredible."

John said, "When I saw it last, it wasn't decorated like it is now. Before it was kind of cold, but it is now really special."

The girls had gotten us all coffee and had even stolen a couple of special law enforcement donuts from the station. We sat at the table snacking, and began talking. The Marshal said, "You've been doing a great job visiting around the various stations. Your men think a lot of you for doing that. Keep that up and if you were to go to more than one a day, or stay out over night a few times, the service will happily pick up your charter fees. You've directed men to complete the jobs you had been doing and they are being handled promptly and cleanly so far. I like your management."

John added, "Since you haven't been leading every raid, your name has disappeared from the lips of the folks who abhor violence. Some have actually become more hawkish since they have been injured during raids."

"I'm happy not to be shot at, John. I'll do what's necessary, when necessary, but if I can stay out of someone else's sights, I'm happy. When I'm needed, I'll be there."

The Marshal asked, "Is this room secure?"

I said, "It should be, the Bureau sweeps it at least once a week, and we've added a static white noise generator that is supposed to keep eavesdropping equipment from monitoring."

The Marshal then continued, "We've found out that since the Alcam take down, some South American cartels have lost their contact here in the states. They are trying to find new ways and new people to handle their products. The group we are concerned about is having some internal conflict and may eliminate each other for us. If not, you and John may have to go try and catch them."

John said, "We have discovered some interesting men that need to be taken care of."

I looked at John, sensing almost fear. He continued, "It seems that over the last couple of years, eight former CIA operatives vanished, or went into hiding. The problem is they are all working as assassins or hit men. I think we eliminated one of them, and they don't have a clue as to what happened to him. That's good since they probably think he did what he was hired to do, but had something happen to him coming back in. They might suspect Alcam, as that group was very untrustworthy. Anyway, I've been developing dossiers on each of these guys."

A lot of things became clear for me at that moment. I said, "I want you to look at some things I discovered when I was investigating the obstruction we removed during our mission."

I took the papers and showed them a list. "This is a list of people I have found to have been killed over the past two years. Whether these were all killed by this man, or by the entire group, is unknown. Note the account number on this last column. On this group of papers is an account number listing. If we check on the dead guy here and reference the account number, the person that probably hired the hit was someone named Carlos Castro from Venezuela. This account for Piedmont, whatever, in Columbia, is indicated as the account number for someone named Juan Portego in California. When I looked up Portego, I found the man was a very important drug distributor until his death about a year ago. If we go through each one you'll see that most of the hits were involved in drugs. It appears the man worked for the highest bidder."

The Marshal was looking through some of the other papers and asked, "Do you think these are the other people we're looking for?"

I nodded, "What John just told me made what I had more understandable. There are seven sheets on seven separate people. This guy kept good records. You see, he has the other men's CIA operative name, several aliases, and the name each man apparently lives under now. We would have to cross reference a file photo with the ones on these sheets to make sure."

John said, "If this is good info, finding these guys will be a lot easier."

I said, "Remember, these men have functioned for years and years without being caught. They've left bodies behind to keep from being discovered and captured. Catching them off guard will be difficult. I'm for neutralizing them wherever and whenever we find them. I say do it quick, and cover up the assassination so there is nothing left to be found."

The Marshal looked at me and said, "You know that's a tall order. If these men live in the U.S., you can't just go shooting people in the street. Someone will see you or the target. You'll never have the chance to get rid of the body."

John said, "That's why we'll have to choose the location. If we catch these men, how are you going to prosecute them? They are full of stories the press will love to print and would probably embarrass our government. They've turned rogue, and if they are as prolific as this guy, they are responsible for a lot of dead people."

The Marshal asked, "What are you going to do with the bodies?"

John said, "Do what the Secret Service does with someone that ends up dead, cremate them. I'm sure we can get the Secret Service to give us local service centers to cremate the bodies."

I said, "You know these men are wary. They've managed to stay alive through a lot of conflict. They are not going to be easy to catch. The fewer people who even know they exist, the better. They know other CIA agents won't come after them in the States, so they only actually have the Secret Service to fear."

The Marshal said, "Perhaps I should turn this all over to them and let them handle it. But I'm afraid that if I do that, someone will let the cat out of the bag and these guys will vanish."

Making a suggestion, I said, "How about I look these over and see if I can take one of them out? I'll see how wary they are. It might be that they think they are above the law or that no one could ever find them. This guy had enough information to take them out if he had to later."

John said, "Do you want to do this alone? You don't want help?"

"Help would be fine, but too many people might be seen where a single hunter might not be," I said to both men. "I do need one of those 308s with the scopes and the noise suppressors. I'd love to go back out to that range and practice with a silencer on the rifle."

The Marshal said, "I don't know whether I can get you in out there. That is a very secure facility. I'll call and see, but it may be that you'll have to become a part of them somehow. If you do become a part of them, you may have other jobs, and not necessarily here in the states."

I said, "Ask anyhow. I would like one of those rifles and I would like to use that range for practice."

The Marshal pulled his cell phone and called someone. Our side of the conversation was:

"This is Marshal one for remote three."

"Hey, Fred, you know we had a team go through your facility out west recently. The young one-legged man in that team may be doing something important soon and would like to use your facility for practice. He also wants to talk you out of at least one of the weapons he used. What are the chances you can accommodate him?"

There was a lot of, "Yeahs" and "Uh-huhs," and finally, "He said he would be willing to do that. You've already been through his jacket and know where he comes from. If you decide to do him, you might as well do his partner too. They might have to work together on a couple of things."

"Okay, what name will you use when you contact him?"

"Okay, got it. Thanks, Fred, you'll probably come out ahead on this deal, or at least I hope so."

The Marshal hung up and smiled at me, "Someone by the name of Mike Mahoney will call you. He'll give you directions. This man could even show up here personally to give you the directions."

The Marshal turned to John, "If you have to do something with Chuck, you'll be inducted the same as he is. They said they would prefer to only take Chuck right now and go from there."

"Chuck?" The Marshal asked, "Are you sure you want to do this without John?"

"This first one, anyway. I need to see how these men act before I do anything. If the opportunity comes, I need to take it, but sometimes surveillance is as important as the deed."

The Marshal lowered his voice, "John told me you have discovered a large amount of money left by your bad guy. This money doesn't exist so if you find it, you get to keep it. Just don't get crazy with it and wave it around at people. You probably don't need it, as I understand you came into a lot of money because of your ex-girlfriends new boyfriend. I understand that you are doing quite well."

John said, "How about taking us out to the airpark and giving us a helicopter ride? I want to see you operate one of these things. Do you know how much you are needed in DC to work with the Bureau, the Secret Service, and us? We are all clamoring for experienced pilots proficient in both fixed and rotary wing aircraft."

With a smile, I said, "But then, I don't like DC. I'm sure my family wouldn't like it either. Come on, we'll go out to the airpark and I'll give you a ride. I guess I better call to see what's out there."

"Hi, Betty, Chuck Johnson. I would like to use either the 206 or the 210 for a little while. Is either one available with an instructor?"

"Good deal, the 210 will be perfect. I'll be out in a few minutes."

I buzzed Wanda and she came in. "Wanda, we're going out to airpark to see if I can fly a helicopter. If you want to come along, you are welcome to come."

Wanda grinned and said, "That would be fun. I'll go with you. Let me get my purse and advise the girls."

I put away the papers from the hit man. I figured my safe would still be the best place for them. The Marshal said, "This office is gorgeous. You really do have it made here."

John opened the wall cabinet that had the booze. His card was still sitting there among the glasses. He said, "You are slipping. You haven't even opened a bottle in here. My note is still here."

I said, "You know, I've been so busy in the office that I don't even have time to think about a drink. One of these days there will be the desire and I'll be glad to have it here."

Out at the airpark, Betty gave me the logbook for the 210. When she saw Wanda, she asked, "Why don't you take the 206, it would be more comfortable. I know you've got the hours in now and are signed off but on the way by the hangar office, grab Joy, she'll be happy to go with you today."

I turned to Betty before we left her office, "Do you have any courier stuff to do?"

"No, nothing right now," Betty said.

I used a tow motor to pull the Bell 206 out of the hangar on its rolling platform, and then began doing a thorough preflight inspection with Joy watching everything I did. Everything looked good; including being full of fuel, so I loaded people, put headphones on them, and began spooling up the turbines.

When the aircraft was warmed up and all the gauges were right, I said, "Hold on, here we go."

I gently rose off the platform and slid sideways out to the practice field. I told my passengers, "This is what we learned to do first. Go up and down landing in the paint." I set down on the X, then rose straight up, hovering at about ten feet. I turned the helicopter around in one direction, then spun it in the other, while maintaining my single location. When I was finished showing off, I headed to the end of the field and turned around the go fairly fast to the other end.

I took them back to the hangar area and set down on the rolling stand, then requested permission to access the runway and take off. We went to the apron and went down the runway gaining altitude the whole way. I took the aircraft down to the causeway going to Clearwater and flew along the water's edge until we were nearing the restricted area around MacDill AFB.

From there we went across the bay to St. Petersburg across the land to the beach area. We stayed at about two hundred feet and flew up the coast, gawking at the beach people. I requested permission to fly across the approach and departure paths of St. Pete/Clearwater airport and made a direct flight all the way back to the airpark.

John clicked on the intercom and asked, "Can you set down on the federal building? You can just let us all off there. You can meet up with us later for supper. I want to go to that Italian restaurant that's out by the airpark."

I said, "Okay, I'll let you all out at the office and Wanda can give you directions."

This was a first for me. Passengers and landing on top of a building. I found out there was a lot of wind up high like that. What made it even harder was that I didn't get any of the visual cues from my peripheral vision that I was used to during a landing, so just as my instructors had taught me during practice "pinnacle" landings on small mounds of dirt, I concentrated on keeping a good "sight picture" on the pad atop the building. Joy helped with a little coaching during the approach. I set down right in the center of the marked pad and shutdown so they wouldn't have to worry about the blades.

While we were shutdown, I got out with everyone and escorted them down the stairs to our office floor. The Marshal said, "You are more surprising everyday, Chuck. The next thing you'll be doing is getting on the space shuttle."

I introduced Joy to the office staff and showed her my very nice office.

The Marshal's mind was open and I could hear him think, "I never know what this one is going to do next. It should be interesting."

While Wanda was giving John and the Marshal directions, I was getting a copy of the data on one of the ex-CIA men. I had everything locked back up and said goodbye to them, saying I would meet them for supper.