Authors: Bernard Lee DeLeo
“After that ordeal in the warehouse, you should have taken the rest of the day off.”
“While you’re here,” Karen said, changing the subject, “maybe you could give me another blood sample. I have been doing a work up, and comparison, between your blood samples from when Derek first brought you here, and the samples from your last physical three months ago.”
“Sure, did you find anything interesting?”
“There does seem to be a decided change in your auto immune system.” Karen took out a kit with her hands gloved. She waited until Connor took off his suit coat, and rolled up his sleeve. She quickly drew a sample of blood, placing the labeled vial on a holder.
“What do you expect to find,” Connor asked, as the needle mark disappeared immediately, before Karen even had a chance to put a cotton ball on it.
“Maybe you could be the cure for cancer, or aids, or whatever. You do not mind if I check, do you?”
“No, of course not, but most of it relies on my mental ability.” Connor smiled. “I told you, the force is with me.”
Karen laughed, “I believe you. I just thought I might be able to spot something. I guess I will see you tomorrow then?”
“I am afraid so. You call me when you get to your apartment. Do not take anything for granted.”
“Well, I don’t have a gun, but I have pepper spray, and a 400,000 volt stun gun. If I had thought of it when I came to your room the first time, I would have zapped you.”
“I would not attempt that if I were you little missy,” Connor grinned wickedly. “If your weapon fails, you will be punished.”
“You mean like last night?” Karen asked smiling.
“You thought you were being punished last night?”
Karen came up next to him, “I have not figured out in my mind what last night was. I just know I don’t want to get the brush off.”
“You will have to leave me lady,” Connor said seriously. “I will never meet another woman with your knowledge. You can imagine what dating would be for me. Things may get remote now and then, but only because of what we do.”
“I can live with that.”
“Good,” Connor said, “then I will see you tomorrow. We will have more time then for me to fill you in on things. Why don’t we meet for breakfast at about seven o’clock in the morning.”
“Are you going to take me over to see your business?”
“Not until I get the unsavory element out from around it.”
“What element would that be?” Karen asked.
“I will have to explain it to you tomorrow. Take my word for it. You do not want to be seen in my company, or Nate’s, until I straighten things out.”
“You’re working on that angle today?” Karen persisted.
“Yep, just as soon as I leave you…unless…”
“Unless what,” Karen asked curiously as she watched Connor scanning the room.
“Unless I can find that cute secretary, what was her name . ah. Kathy, that’s it, her name was.”
Connor heard the gasp, and then caught the hands streaking towards his face. “Geez, you can’t take a little joke?”
“You.you.you,” Karen stammered as Connor laughed. She gave up when she saw her irritation was only making him laugh harder. “I will remember that remark, and you know about payback.”
“Yes, I know about payback Doctor, and you will not be getting any. Now I really do have to get moving.” Connor kissed her forehead and turned towards the door. Karen pulled him back.
“You wouldn’t really see that secretarial pool bimbo would you Thomas?”
“What do I look like Karen, Don Juan de Connor? I am having trouble getting to see you for more than a few minutes at a time. I’ll tell you what, if it makes you feel better, I will lock my door here in case Kathy drops by after work.” Connor watched the shadow begin to come over Karen’s face again, and chuckled appreciatively.
“Goodbye dear,” Connor quipped.
“Goodbye, and if you talk to that woman, I hope your tongue rots off Thomas.”
Connor waved and continued on. He went directly to his room. After waiting for his computer to boot up, Connor sat down at the keyboard. He journeyed for the next two hours through police and FBI databases, gathering information on anything to do with protection rackets in the area, along with Russian Mafia information. Connor memorized everything he came across, and accumulated three definite meeting locations the FBI kept tabs on.
He quickly set up to search out of body. The second meeting place turned up the driver of the car earlier in the afternoon. Connor listened to the reaction of the five men hearing about the meeting with Connor and Nate. Even with the protestations of caution about how dangerous he and Nate were, the five men became angrier, and angrier. As the discussion heated up in Russian, Connor saw the man he warned earlier throw his hands up in the air.
“I am telling you these were professionals. These men were trained.”
“Are you afraid to confront them then Serge? You are the best. I have never seen you like this,” one of the men retorted with disgust.
“You know me. I would not make up a story like this. Do you think it makes me feel good to be handled as easily as those two did it? We will need to take them out carefully, and with force.”
“What would you suggest?”
“I suggest we blow them up.”
“Fine, as long as nothing happens to the business. I want someone to be able to start paying us again. We should not have gotten so greedy with the others. Now we have to deal with this.”
“We will stake out the Limo place, and then C-4 the car they drive in with. It will only be a matter of time. We just need to be patient.”
Connor watched them ponder his idea, thinking patience may not work out the way they want. Connor memorized their faces and every corner and crevice in the building. He noted where they positioned their guards, and where the offices were. He could not find any sign of a safe or vault. Connor settled back to listening to the men, hoping one of them would give away the location where they stashed their hard currency. These men did not appear to be the kind to trust a bank with their ill-gotten goods, but he would have to make sure.
They broke the meeting up a half an hour later, after finishing the plans to get rid of Connor and Nate. The men at the table went immediately towards the exit of the building, so Connor followed the one at the table who had done most of the speaking. He got into a chauffeured Bently, and drove to the Georgetown area with Connor shadowing his journey.
Later, the Bently entered a gated mansion driveway. The driver pulled up out front of the entrance, and quickly opened the door for the Russian mobster. Connor followed him into the home. A butler met him and took his hat and coat. The man accepted the offer of a drink, which the butler quickly supplied.
Connor went through the house from top to bottom, but could not find anyone at home. He returned to the man, who went into a beautifully furnished library and den. After uncovering the hide-away computer built into the bookcase, the man sat down in front of the twenty-one inch monitor and turned on the computer. It booted up to a password screen, where Connor saw the man enter Leningrad as the password on the keyboard. The computer finished booting up. Next, the man entered a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with a list of businesses, addresses, contacts, and payment date fields. Clicking onto another page with description, date, and note fields, the Russian looked over the specifics on the business Connor intended buying. The Russian shook his head as he looked at the rise in return on the protection money they earned from it. He sighed, and exited the program. He next entered an accounting program, from which Connor could see the list of bank accounts, and funds held by the mob. After a quick foray into a report on quarterly earnings, the man shut down the machine, and retired from the room.
Connor sighed, he would have to come back here tonight, and confiscate all of their money. Hopefully, he would find all the names he needed in a contact program on the computer, and he would not have to get the information the hard way. He journeyed quickly back to his body. It would be a long night again.
Connor managed to catch Quenton before he left the Center, and ride with him over to the restaurant to pick up his government vehicle. Connor let him know what the Russians had in store for he and Nate. Both men knew if they would use C-4 on a Washington D.C. street, they would stop at nothing.
“I realize what you must do Thomas, but if you come across anything on the hard drive we might be interested in at the Center, could you make a copy for us?”
“No problem, I will take my time at his place after I take out his guards. I need to make sure of a few things before I retire the man upstairs.”
“Would you like me to come along? I could maybe help you out on the retrieval of information, and deciphering it.”
“I do not think so Derek, but I appreciate the offer. You will need deniability for all of this. The only thing anyone needs to know about all of this will be the finished product. These guys are cold blooded killers, and they are pissed.”
Quenton nodded as he pulled up in front of the restaurant. “Well, here you are. If you have a question while you’re hacking through the hard drive, I will stay by the phone. Call me if you need to.”
“I will Derek, otherwise I will be in to see you tomorrow.”
“Be careful Thomas. No need to do everything in a day.”
“This has to get done quickly.” Connor stepped away and waved as Quenton drove off.
Parking the car well away from the mansion, Connor moved through the darkness, keeping well away from the streetlights. He knew in an area like this the police would be around at the slightest provocation. As he reached the wall surrounding the mansion, Connor phased through the wall. He remained still as he saw only one guard at the gate. The other two would be patrolling with the dogs he had seen when scouting the place earlier.
The guard at the gate died without a sound, and Connor replicated his exact looks. Strolling away from the guard post, Connor met the first patrol team as they traversed in front of the main house. The dog began to sense something, and began to growl. Connor put it to sleep, and killed the guard before he could react to his dog keeling over. Connor picked up the unconscious dog, and carried it under his arm. Waiting for the second guard from behind a tree near the patrol path, Connor watched the other dog catch the scent of the unconscious dog, and begin to tug the other guard towards the tree. Connor repeated his other two slayings, and rendered the second dog unconscious. Leaving both dogs near the tree next to each other, he propped the guard up with his back against the tree, and his legs crossed in front of him. Connor returned to the first guard and placed him outside the guardhouse in the same position as the one by the tree. He picked up the guard, and sat him in his seat.
On the way back to the mansion, Connor changed into the Russian. The front door was unlocked. He went inside and sought out the butler. The butler got a surprised look on his face, as he had come towards the sound of the door opening and closing. Connor grabbed him and shut off his breathing passages until he passed out. After he had bound and gagged him, Connor went in search of the Russian. He found him in his study, back at work on the computer.
The man looked up with an annoyed look as the door to his study opened. Before he could even move his hands from the keyboard, Connor heaved him up from his chair like a rag doll and shook him. Connor then used the man’s disorientation to search him. Although he found no weapons, Connor did find a set of three keys with numbers on them, which the man reacted to as they were taken away from him. Connor slammed him back into the chair.
“Who are you,” the man croaked in English.
“I am the Angel of Death,” Connor replied in fluent Russian. “What is your name comrade?”
“I will tell you nothing,” the man spit out, and reached for the keyboard. He screamed in agony as Connor broke the little finger of his left hand in the blink of an eye.
“I will break a piece of you each time you reach for the keyboard comrade. Tell me your first name.”
“Boris,” the man answered grudgingly as he cradled his left hand to his chest.
“Goodnight Boris,” Connor said as he rendered him unconscious.
Connor locked the study door, and then sat down in front of the computer. For the next hour he searched quickly through the hard drive, memorizing names, addresses, and job descriptions. He found eleven names the Russian used specifically for the Mob’s protection racket. In the Microsoft Outlook program address booklet, Connor found the name Boris Starenko, and clicked on it. Under the ‘Other’ field tab, Connor smiled with delight. Here were all the passwords for the various accounts and programs. Under each of the numbers on the three keys Connor took off of Starenko, were three locations of banks in the D.C. area.
Finding a package of unopened zip drive tapes, Connor began copying everything on the hard drive. He searched the room while the computer copied files to the zip drive. After forty-five minutes of searching, Connor found a pull away wall panel, and under it a safe. Leaning against the safe, he closed his eyes and phased his hand and arm through the safe face. With the utmost concentration, Connor began phasing the contents of the safe out onto the floor next to him. When he was done, he counted the amount of money, and found he had over two million dollars on the floor. The ledgers and backup tapes in the safe, he glanced at, but did nothing with.
He made sure the Russian would not be waking up any time soon, and went upstairs to look for a suitcase he could use. The second bedroom he looked into contained exercise equipment and a large gym bag full of towels and workout gear. Connor emptied the contents, and took the bag back to the den downstairs. With the contents of the safe packed away, he returned to the computer. With three zip disks, full of information, the zip program signaled completion. He added these to the bag.
Having studied Starenko’s signature and handwriting, Connor wrote out a suicide note in Russian. In it, he described his guilt over the many violent, and dishonorable things he had done. Connor signed it with a perfect facsimile of Starenko’s signature.
With the 9mm Glock he found in a desk drawer, Connor placed Starenko in his computer chair. He placed the Glock in Starenko’s left hand. Putting the barrel of the weapon in the Russian’s mouth, Connor wrapped
Starenko’s hand around it, and squeezed the trigger. He allowed the body to pitch backwards and off of the chair. Picking up the bag, Connor phased through the wall of the den without walking back through the room. He headed over the mansion grounds in Starenko’s form, not leaving anything to chance. Once back at the car, Connor placed the bag in the trunk, and then got in behind the wheel. With a sigh, Connor headed for the first name on the list.
“Hi there Mr. Teresko”
The man knew instantly there was something very wrong. He sat up in the darkness, and lunged for the open drawer of his nightstand. The gun he kept there had been taken already. Teresko remembered the voice, so he did not bother to try anything else of a physical nature. He looked over at his wife, who still lay sleeping.
“No matter what you do right now, your wife and two kids will be fine. I would suggest you come along with me so we do not disturb anyone,” Connor said quietly.
Teresko looked up in the darkness and nodded. He got up and walked out of the bedroom and down the hallway. He paused to look in the bedroom at his two children, girls, aged six and four. Continuing on down the stairs, he went into the living room, and went directly to the small bar there. He filled a small bar glass with vodka. Drinking it down, Teresko refilled the glass, and went over to the couch and sat down.
Connor followed him, sitting in the chair cornered to the couch. “You did not do what I told you Mr. Teresko. You told your bosses the way to take us out was with a bomb. I am afraid the bill on that has come due. You may take solace in knowing the five idiots who demanded something be done are now dead, and both of the men you brought with you to the Limo business. I will deal with the rest tomorrow night, at least the ones dumb enough to stick around.”
“You could let me go. I will leave, and never come back.”
“Even after all the misery you caused, that would have been an option before your meeting with your now deceased leaders. That offer left the table when you volunteered to try and blow us up.”
Teresko nodded and took a big gulp of his drink. “Why have you not killed me already?” He died as he lifted his head to look at Connor.
Connor allowed the drink glass to fall to the floor. He picked Teresko up, carried him to the base of stairs, and positioned him to look as if he had made it up to the top of the stairs, and then fell backwards, breaking his neck in the fall. Connor phased out of the house and drove towards the Center. He called Teresko’s house, and let it ring until he heard Teresko’s wife’s sleepy voice. He hung up. Connor did not want the kids to discover their dead Father. He wondered how many other men’s children had awakened to find they were fatherless, thanks to Teresko. Connor knew the time to be nearly 4 AM. No one who had seen he and Nate in the business office was now alive. Connor had decided to wait on the remaining eight enforcers to see if they fled the city. They had until midnight.
Connor walked into his room at the Center with the gym bag filled to bursting with tapes, ledgers, and money, confiscated from the five men he had seen at the table earlier. Starikova had been the only one with safety deposit keys. Connor smiled, thinking about getting into the safety deposit boxes with Starikova’s form. If anyone knew about the boxes, the fact Starikova emptied them after his death would really throw things into confusion. Connor sat down in his usual spot, and went into a deep, restful slumber state.
At 7:30 AM Connor got up, shaved, and showered. He heard a knock on his door as he left the bathroom. Connor opened the door with only a bath towel around him. He could smell Karen’s distinct scent even as he approached the door. Connor opened the door smiling, as Karen rushed past him.
“Come in dear.”
“Where is that little slut?”
Connor began laughing and Karen joined in. Connor went over and put his arms around her. She took his face in her hands, and kissed him gently on the mouth. “I couldn’t pass that up. I knew you would get a kick out of it.”
Connor closed his eyes, and turned her around. Kathy came out of the bedroom naked, and smiling. Connor felt her whole body tense up. “Wha.What in the hell is going on here? Thomas.” Karen whipped around, and Thomas lost control, laughing so hard the tears streamed down his cheeks. When Karen turned again, Kathy was gone.
“I couldn’t pass that up. I” Connor shut up, as he saw Karen’s face had lost all color.
“You can project your thoughts into a visible person.” Karen stated in stunned amazement. “You can actually make your own hologram?”
“Well not exactly,” Thomas replied. “My projection cannot talk, and I can only hold it for a few moments. I hope I didn’t upset you too.”
“Thomas, that is incredible.” Karen paused for a moment. “Wait a minute, how would you know what she looked like naked. You even got her bust line perfect. I.”
“Calm down,” Connor sighed. “Do you really think I could make a projection like that, and not be able to do some fill in?”
Karen laughed. “I guess not. I just cannot get over it, and yet with everything else I have seen you do, this should not even faze me.”
“Anyway, thanks for the laugh coming in. I did enjoy it, and it gave me an opportunity to try out something new for you.”
“Thanks for thinking of me butthead.”
“You started it,” Connor reminded her grinning.
“I am not too fast of a learner, am I?”
“Well, you have stuck your finger in the socket more than once, which probably does put you in the slow learner category.”
“Maybe I better quit while I’m ahead,” Karen sighed. “So, did you take care of your business? I looked at your check in sheet, and you did not come back until dawn.”
Connor put his arms around her. “All this beauty and a detective too. Can you do me a favor Karen? Nate will be checking in around nine to pick me up. Would you have the desk send him here? I need to do a bit more computer work before he and I leave.”
“Sure Thomas, anything else?”
“Yes, but I do not have time.”
Karen laughed, and stepped back. “Yes, I see there does appear to be something else. I will leave you to your work instead. When Nate gets here, I will have someone bring him back here. Can we get together tonight?”
“We could get a bite to eat together, but I will have to take care of a few loose ends again tonight.”
“Would you like me to wait around after five?”
“Yes, if you would. I don’t think I will be longer than that as far as business goes. Why don’t we see if Nate will go out with us, he just got a new car and you should see him in it.”
“I can’t wait. See you then. Derek will be looking for you too, I bet.”
“He dropped me off last night to pick up my car. I will have a lot for him in a little while. Nate and I will stop in and see him before we head out. You better get going. I have to get dressed.”
Karen looked down. “You will never fit into your clothes like that.”
“If you don’t leave, I never will. If you hang around any longer, I will have to have naked Kathy escort you to the door.”
“You wouldn’t,” Karen gasped, and Thomas closed his eyes. “Wait Thomas, I was kidding. I’m going, I’m going.”
Thomas opened his eyes again in time to see Karen hurriedly exiting the room. He looked at the clock. He decided he had just enough time to help the Russians transfer all of their money into his account; then he and Nate would go and relieve them of the contents of their safety deposit boxes.
An hour later Nate knocked on his door. Connor looked up long enough to make the door open for him. Nate stepped in, saw Connor at his computer, and looked around the door, trying to see who had let him in. Shaking his head smiling, he came over and sat down on Connor’s couch.
“How many more things do I not know about you Thomas?”
“Just a few Nate, but no big deal. They won’t be anything you can’t handle. I am almost done, and then we can stop by a few different banks. I have to make a few withdrawals. Then it will be on to our business.”
“You handled the Russian problem already? When the hell did you sleep, and how many did you do?” Nate asked.
“Their five man board of directors met with an untimely demise, along with the three gentlemen we met at the business. They were planning on blowing us up, and in your new car too.”