Learning to Stand (20 page)

“
None of your business,”
Joseph said. “Alex? Are you willing to continue?”

Overwhelmed by the men’s words, Alex gave a
small nod.

“
We were discussing Cee Cee
Joiner,” Joseph said. “Joiner told people he went around exploring
for oil, Alex?”

“
Joiner works for Pecos Oil,
a company his father, Cecil Joiner Sr. started,” Alex said. “Joiner
Sr. was dirt poor when he married his wife. They lived with her
parents while he worked the oil fields. One day, they discovered
oil on the in-laws property.”

“
Like Jed Clampett?” Trece
asked. The men laughed. “I apologize for my interruption, sir. I
will return to practicing my listening skills.”

Alex smiled at Trece. He responded with a
shrug.

“
Joiner Sr.’s in-laws died
in a freak accident maybe six months after they discovered oil on
their property. Raz helped me research the records. The police
report indicates drunk driving on the part of the father-in-law.
But they were a Baptist family: no drinking, no drugs.”

“
Flagg, put the accident on
your team list,” Joseph said. “Joiner Sr. was fond of his in-laws.
So it’s kind of a dead end.”

“
Was Cee Cee alive when the
accident happened?” Matthew asked.

“
Yes, he was about three,”
Ben said. “Raz and I went to Mexico to speak with Papa Joiner. He
was incoherent. Raz? The photo?”

Clicking a button on his laptop, Raz brought
up a photo showing a gray haired man slumped in a wheelchair. He
turned the laptop so everyone could see the image. With a flick of
Raz’s finger, an image of the gentleman with a young Hispanic woman
came on the screen.

“
This is the lovely Ágeuda.
She said Joiner Sr. has been in this condition for the last four or
five years. She prays every day he will finally go to see our Lord.
His file says Alzheimer’s. Anything happen four or five years ago?
Alex? Troy?”

Both Alex and Troy shook their heads.

“
I’ll put that on our team
list,” Larry said.

“
Cee Cee technically runs
Pecos Oil,” Alex said. “However, Joiner Sr. set up an executive
committee and C class officers before retiring. Cee Cee is little
more than a figure head. I’m not sure he attends to or knows any of
the company’s details. One time, when we were trudging through
another jungle with Cee Cee Joiner, Mike quizzed him about Pecos
Oil. Mike loved to harass him. Joiner’s answers changed from day to
day. When you’re stuck in the jungle, it’s pretty funny to listen
to the moron scramble.”

Alex smiled then remembered that this moron
probably had her entire team killed. Her face fell and she
sighed.

F

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“
Charlie always believed
Cecil was running the company,” Joseph said.

“
Why did Charlie believe
that?” Ben asked.

Joseph nodded toward Alex.

“
Someone held Cee Cee’s
strings. It wasn’t the Board of Directors, that’s for sure. Every
time Cee Cee would get out on the skinny branches, someone would
pull him back. Except when he got himself in trouble. Like this
time.”

“
The record shows you
extracted him five times,” Vince said. “Why was he held so many
times?”

“
We rescued him five times.
He was in trouble more times than that,” Joseph said. “Anyone know
the total number?”

“
Eight,” Ben said. “Maybe
ten but not more than twelve.”

“
Sometimes, he would
disappear,” Alex said. “He had a way of turning up again. A couple
times, we received the call to go get him. By the time we could go
and get him, he’d show up as if nothing happened. I always thought
he was up to something.”

“
Something?” Raz
asked.

“
I can’t explain it. He knew
every nasty on every continent,” Alex said. “He only spoke English.
So he’d miss the finer points of any negotiation.”

“
He offends people and
breaks international law,” Joseph said. “He slant drilled under a
mosque in Morocco. Mosques are holy ground above and underneath.
The mosque dropped an inch. It was almost war.”

“
We spent five weeks looking
for him that time,” Alex said.

“
What does he look like?”
Vince asked.

“
He’s a fat fuck,” White Boy
said.

“
He’s tall, maybe six-three,
six-five,” Troy said.

“
And about four hundred
pounds,” Trece said. “Three-fifty at the lightest.”

“
All gut and hat,” Alex
said.

“
Hat?” Vince
asked.

“
Blonde cowboy hat,” Troy
said. “He acts like everyone’s buddy. ‘Just a Texas good ole boy.’
That’s how he introduces himself.”

“
He’s smarter than he
looks,” Alex said. “What was he working on last?”

“
No one knows,” Raz said.
“He was supposed to be on his honeymoon. He and the new wife were
to return to the new home. No one noticed he was gone until he
didn’t show up for work two weeks ago. Wife number five says he
left for a business trip a couple days before that.”

“
There’s been no movement on
his financial accounts,” Matthew said. “No corporate credit cards
and no personal money used. Nothing. It’s like he disappeared.
There’s this other oddity. Vince, you were going to look into
that.”

“
I found a missing person’s
report filed around Christmas for Joiner’s oldest son, Tristan,”
Vince said. “I spoke with the child’s mother. She said the boy
lives with his father. When I pressed her to find out where exactly
that might be? She clammed up.”

“
What did you make of that?”
Alex asked.

“
She seemed frightened,”
Vince said. “She said she shouldn’t have filed the report. But she
didn’t file the report. It was filed by a guy in Long Beach. I
tried to get him, but the phone number was wrong or shut off. No
listing in the computers.”

“
I’ll find you a number,”
Raz said. “What’s his name?”

“
Robert Lopez.”

“
I’m on it,” Raz
said.

“
Good work,” Joseph said.
“That’s the kind of detail that can break an investigation wide
open. Ramirez? Blanco? What can you tell us about Cee Cee
Joiner?”

“
He likes to beat women,”
White Boy said. “Open handed, mostly. We stopped him once when he
was pounding on this pregnant lady with his fists.”

“
He was drunk. He’s
dangerous when he’s drunk,” Trece said.

“
What aren’t you saying?”
Alex asked.

“
You know how I feel about
saying this stuff in front of women and children. You have enough
on your mind without dealing with Joiner’s evil,” Trece said. “What
if I tell Rasmussen?”

“
Rasmussen will tell her,”
White Boy said. “You know he has no control with her.”

“
You should see them skinny
dip,” Trece laughed. “Alex always starts it. You know she can strip
in like two seconds flat. She jumps in the water and
taunts...”

“
Captain Ramirez? We’re
talking about Cee Cee Joiner,” Joseph said. “Plus it’s like one
second flat.”

Trece laughed.

“
Cee Cee Joiner?” Alex
asked.

“
He rapes women.” White Boy
said.

“
Children, really,” Trece
said. “We pulled him off a ...”

“
Twelve-year-old girl.”
White Boy curled his lip with disgust. “He was piss
drunk.”

“
Why do we think he was
taken this time?” Matthew asked. “Women? Children? Alcohol? Oil?
Money? The more I learn, the more confused I become.”

“
No one knows,” Joseph said.
“One thing we haven’t talked about is the fact that Joiner cheats.
He cheats on his taxes. He cheats at cards. He cheats at diets.
Everything.”

“
He’s greedy,” Alex said.
“Almost desperate with greed. Maybe that’s a key to his
personality. Women, for example, are only one of his appetites. If
he wants something, he will do whatever it takes including
steamrolling over anyone in his way. Once he has what he wants, he
could care less about the woman, the oil well, the home, whatever.
He’s only interested in the acquisition and conquering of what he
wants.”

“
Are we one of his
appetites?” Vince asked.

“
More like a resource to get
what he wants,” Joseph said. “You left him when you went for
Captain Mac Clenaghan the last time.”

“
Yeah, you were home with
Nancy.” Alex gave a sheepish grin. “It wasn’t one of our finest
moments. We’d been looking for him for a couple weeks when I heard
a group of US soldiers were taken hostage. Repercussions from Abu
Graib or so we heard. We went to the Middle East and found Mattie,
Vince and four other guys. Jesse and I spent a month with the
soldiers to help them recover.”

“
All this time Joiner was
held?” Raz asked.

“
Three months? Maybe
longer,” Alex said. “When we got there, he was emaciated. Maybe two
hundred and ninety pounds.”

White Boy laughed.

“
He was sick with dysentery
and typhus,” Alex said. “Our medic Dean saved Joiner’s life. No
doubt about it. The moment Joiner was well enough to talk on the
telephone, he forgot all about us. No ‘Thank You.’ No ‘You saved my
life.’ Nothing. Just business as usual. He called for a chopper to
take him back to the States. If the Jakker hadn’t been waiting for
us? If we hadn’t been through this before with Joiner? We’d have
been stuck in the middle of the jungle. Again.”

“
What? You saved his life
and he took your transport?” Larry asked.

“
The first time we saved his
butt, he took our transport. Presidential order, no less,” Joseph
said. “God, Charlie was pissed.”

“
He left us in the middle of
the jungle,” Alex said. “It was four days before someone could get
us.”

“
The Jakker,” Joseph said.
“That’s when the Jakker’s nose was rearranged.”

“
Ahem,” Alex said. “JOINER.
He’s ruthless. Once he has what he wants, you’re of no use to
him.”

“
I always wondered who broke
Jakkman’s nose,” Trece said. “You broke Jakkman’s nose,
Alex?”

Alex glared at Joseph. Joseph gave a slight
nod.

“
Not to interrupt the gossip
session, but I feel like I should add this,” Ben said. “We are each
very compulsive, type A personalities. You might think you
understand Joiner, but Joiner’s different. There’s something
missing inside of him.”

“
Is he a psychopath?” Larry
asked.

“
No, but that’s good
thinking,” Ben said. “Psychopaths are charming, social creatures.
Everyone loves a psychopath. When they are caught, their neighbors
and friends are shocked and tell reporters what a great guy he or
she was. Think Ted Bundy. Everyone involved in the case liked
Bundy. Even knowing what a monster Bundy was, everyone liked
him.

“
No one likes Joiner. Not
even the women he marries. They are usually charmed by his money.
His first wife married him right out of college. Their parents were
friends. They were destined to get married. As soon as she was
pregnant with her second child, she chucked him and kept a good
chunk of his money.”

“
When I think if Joiner, I
think of a Red Spitting Cobra,” Alex said. “Beautiful in color but
dangerous to be around. Have you ever seen a snake strike? If
you’re too big to eat, a snake will strike then move on. That’s
Joiner. I always think he forgets we saved him. Then the President
calls again...”

“
Spitting cobra’s venom is
very painful,” Trece said. “But not deadly.”

“
That’s Joiner,” Troy
nodded.

“
Joiner killed the Fey
Special Forces Team,” Vince said.

“
You’ve found some
evidence?” Alex asked. With Vince’s words, her heart raced and her
mind flooded with sorrow.

“
Yes Alex,” Joseph said. “I
wanted to tell you in private, but we haven’t had time.”

“
Why would he kill us?” she
whispered.

The men shook their heads. No one knew why
Cee Cee Joiner had the Fey Special Forces Team executed. While her
eyes watched the men’s heads move back and forth, Alex retreated
deep inside her head. Ben’s arm dropped around her again.

“
Did you get a profile,
Raz?” Matthew asked.

“
Not really.” Raz flipped
through a stack of pages then shook his head. “There are details
about Joiner around, but not enough to really get a sense of him.
I’m wondering what charms a cobra.”

“
Anything shiny,” Troy
said.

“
Ben?” Joseph asked. “Could
you ask the President about Joiner? That’s a resource we’ve never
been able to tap.”

“
I can try,” Ben
said.

“
Do it,” Joseph said. “Does
anyone have anything else? Good. Let’s break for dinner. I expect
you back here at 0600 hours tomorrow to get started.”

The group broke up with a round of ‘yes’
sirs. The men passed Alex to touch her leg or arm as they left the
room. But Alex was nonresponsive. Ben stayed with her until they
were alone.