Pseudo (10 page)

Max had his phone turned off and only turned it on as he was walking out of the brothel. “Be there in a few,” he replied to Juan’s message.

Fifteen minutes later, Max entered their room to find Juan nearly asleep watching the TV. “Well, I can tell that I had more fun tonight than you did. What the fuck did you do – just come back here and watch TV?”

“You and I have different ways of defining what is fun is. For your information, I stayed at that bar for a while helping some guy from New York drown his sorrows in alcohol. Then I went for a walk and came back here,” replied Juan, carefully omitting the fact that he went to pray; he felt Max would only ridicule him or think him weak.

“Well, I had a nice time with a lady tonight.”

“You know, Max, I know that is what you did. I know you pride yourself on the number of different women that you have slept with and love to boast about it but you know that it does not impress me.”

“I’m not trying to impress you. It’s just a fact that I did enjoy myself and I am not ashamed to boast about it – especially to you!”

“Okay, enough! I am going to sleep and you should do the same – it is almost 1am. We need to be up early to run through everything again, meet up with Dmitry and finish any final preps.  Don’t have the patience to deal with you fucking still sleeping at nine or some other shit you’ve pulled before!” exclaimed Juan as his patience had grown thin.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Dmitry and Elizabeth had finished their dinner and left the restaurant around 10pm. After that, they went for a walk around the grounds of the hotel and spoke of their hopes and dreams for their life together.

Dmitry was looking forward to living a simple life of a husband, father and businessman; his whole life had been hard whether it was due to poverty or knowing that he was nothing more than a sophisticated criminal who was leading a purposeless life. Now he felt he had a purpose and would live the rest of his life with meaning and leave it having made a difference for the better that would outweigh the bad he had done.

Elizabeth knew only that she was the happiest with Dmitry than she had ever been with anyone in her life. She was not going to let him go; she of course wanted to be a mother and perhaps take up an art. However she really only wanted to be free and happy. 

Both Elizabeth and Dmitry were in anticipation as to how their escape plans were going to come out but they had no further time to worry or change them; the time had come for them to go their separate ways and do what they had to do. It was just about 1am when Dmitry took Elizabeth up to her room. “Elizabeth, I love you more than life itself and I fully trust you to do everything you need to do. I will do my part and if we have both been successful then we will meet up in Cuba tomorrow morning,” said Juan as he put his hand gently on the side of Elizabeth’s head.

“Everything is going to go as we planned. If anything goes off then we will just need to improvise. Just know, no matter what happens, I will not have changed my mind about joining you. If I get caught, I may be in a position of having to make it seem like I was still going after you. If that happens, just know that I am doing it only so that I can be with you.”

“I know Elizabeth, I know. As I told you, I trust you and I am sure you and I will come through the victors in this battle we are about to engage,” replied Juan as he took Elizabeth in his arms.

“I love you Dmitry. Stay safe and I will see you in Cuba,” said Elizabeth just before giving Dmitry a passionate kiss goodbye. At that, Elizabeth opened the door to her room and went inside; Dmitry left her to go back to his own room, grab his things and head to the airport.

The first thing Elizabeth did when she got in her room was text SJ and Tommy to make sure they were ready with the rest of the men to move in on Juan and Max.

“Yep, we are all set to go in for the kill. What about you?” replied Tommy.

“All ready to go. Tommy, I need you to make sure you take no moves without letting me know first. What I have to do to get my target is very precise and I need to know what is happening with your targets as it is happening. Remember that this is a group of highly coordinated criminals and at least one of them is very computer and technologically savvy.”

“Yeah, I got it. We’ll let you know when anyone sneezes,” replied Tommy with a bit of jest. Elizabeth was known for insisting on being informed of everything that happened on an operation even if it was not particularly relevant.

“Okay then, good luck and I’m counting on you guys. Pass that on to the rest.” Elizabeth paused for a moment after sending that message; contemplating that she was going to be betraying the trust of men that were counting on her – some of whom she had worked with for years.

Elizabeth pushed those thoughts out of her mind and got to work packing her things. Dmitry had told her to pack light and not worry about the things she would be leaving behind. With this in mind, she put on jeans, a button-up shirt with a blazer and boots.  She then packed some amenities and a change of shirt and underclothes – everything she could carry in her purse.  Elizabeth was ready to go within about fifteen minutes and only had to wait for Dmitry to confirm he had departed the hotel for the airport.

Meanwhile, Dmitry was preparing everything for his departure. Once he had his bags packed, he confirmed that both his and Elizabeth’s planes were set to go. He had his registered in his name as a departing passenger and he put Elizabeth’s under an alias, knowing that the CIA would track her down regardless. He had the hope that it would give them a little bit of time before they found out where she had actually gone and he would be able to get her into Cuba where he had connections to protect her. They were both to land in Havana at José Martí International Airport in northwest Cuba – a strategic location being far from the US Naval Base in Guantanamo in the southeast. As Cuba is still a Communist country and was firmly allied with Russia, Dmitry was able to obtain many connections with some first-generation Russians that had moved there in the late 50’s and 60’s and now had children and grandchildren.

After receiving confirmation that both flights were set for departure, Dmitry called the front desk to have a bellhop get his bags and prepare a car to take him to the airport. He decided it would be a good idea to check with Elizabeth one last time that she had all of her men over at Juan and Max’s hotel and he was all clear to go.

Elizabeth answered his text: “all is clear.” Receiving this response, Dmitry left for the airport.

A little while later Dmitry arrived at the airport. As he got out of the car, he noted a group of Mexican Judicial Police standing about twenty feet from the entrance. He started to wonder if they were somehow there for him, if something had gone wrong and the CIA was using them to stop him. Just as he thought that, a few officers exited the airport escorting two men in cuffs. Once the group of officers outside saw them coming they joined the escort. Dmitry involuntarily sighed with relief; he had not realized it but he was very edgy. Dmitry had gone years of his life successfully evading law enforcement and was usually the last person to fear being apprehended. It was something he just did not consider possible. This time was different. This time Dmitry had something at stake that he was not willing to lose. Dmitry realized he had to set his fears aside and have a positive frame of mind that everything was fine and their plan would come off successfully. “Get with it Dmitry. I’ve got to be myself so I don’t fuck this up,” he thought.

With a restored sense of a strong mentality, Dmitry headed towards the terminal his flight was to depart from.  Within a few minutes he was at his gate. He was told he there was going to be a twenty-minute delay as they had to do an extra engine test before they could load his bags and board the flight crew. “Very well, but I will not wait longer than twenty minutes,” replied Dmitry upon being given that information. It was now after 1:30am - Dmitry knew his time to get out of Mexico City was running out.

While Dmitry was waiting to board, he got a text from Elizabeth: “If you’re gone, you won’t answer this. If you are still here, is all okay?”

“Small delay in boarding the plane – engine test. Should board in a few minutes,” replied Dmitry.

Five minutes later, Dmitry was allowed to board his plane and they took off another ten minutes later. Dmitry was on his way to Havana and had begun the ensuing and inevitable chase.

Now that Dmitry was in the air, Elizabeth was on her own in Mexico City to make her escape.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

It was now just past 2am so Tommy, SJ and the rest of the CIA team were at the Marriot ready to go in on Juan and Max. They had one guy in hotel security control with all the cameras, three guys dressed in full tactical protection with rifles and Tommy and SJ with their armaments and bulletproof vests.  Tommy had been assigned by Elizabeth as the lead on this part of their operation.

“SJ, ten bucks says these guys are still up scheming their little robbery,” said Tommy as he was about to let Elizabeth know they were all in place and ready to go forward.

“You’re on. I bet you they are asleep. These are professionals – they probably have gone over their plan again and again since they’ve been here and now are fuckin’ asleep!”

“Alright then, I’m gonna let Duarte know we are ready.”

“Duarte. We are all in place and ready to go. Will move in on these two targets in five,” Tommy texted Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth received the message, she got butterflies in her stomach; this was it – she had to give them the go-ahead and get right out of there to the airport and on that plane to Cuba. She took a deep breath and sent Tommy a reply: “Sounds good. Let me know when you have them and when you are en route to the designated holding station.”

“Okay guys, I have confirmed with Duarte that we are going in on our targets in five – now four– minutes. Be prepared because they have guns as sure as the Pope is Catholic. If we are lucky, they will be asleep and we can take them by surprise but we cannot count on it. I will give the final word in three,” said Tommy on the radio to all the men on the scene.

Those four minutes seemed like a lifetime to Tommy, SJ and the other men. “Okay, in ten seconds we are a go,” Tommy said through the radio.  Juan and Max were staying on the third floor of the hotel and though an escape from the window was unlikely, Tommy prepared for that by having one man posted outside their window and another at the each corner of the building. 

Tommy, SJ and three other men moved into position in the hallway outside of their room – Tommy on one side of the door and SJ on the other. Now that they had five seconds left, Tommy signaled to the rest a five, four, three, two, one sequence. At that they burst into Juan and Max’s room.

“Don’t move, put your hands above your head and get on your knees!” yelled Tommy, leading the bust. Though they were CIA agents on assignment in a foreign country and not formally required to read people their Miranda Rights, Tommy went right into it out of his natural instinct. Tommy had proudly served in the NYPD prior to 9/11 – joined up with the CIA as he thought he might have an opportunity on one level or another of fighting back for what was done to the US.

“You are both under arrest by the Central Intelligence Agency for international bank robbery, fraud and a host of other crimes too long to list. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be held against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand these rights I have just read to you?”

When Tommy had finished yelling that out, he stopped to see everyone, including Juan and Max, but mainly SJ, completely stunned. He then turned to Juan “Holy shit! Juan Duarte? What the fuck?” exclaimed but quickly realized Juan and Max might use the surprise to their advantage and escape. “What are you waiting for? Cuff these guys!” he yelled out to the other men with them.

Neither Juan nor Max put up a fight in being arrested; when one is out-numbered by people heavily loaded, there is not much one would be able to do. They were also counting on the fact that Dmitry might still be able to get them out of this.

Meanwhile, Tommy and SJ kept looking at one another, Juan and around the room; they could not figure out what they were going to do. They had only seen Juan a few times over the year but certainly knew it was him – he was the unidentified third passenger on the plane Dmitry flew in on. Tommy directed the third other men to stay in the room while he and SJ went out into the hall so they could figure out what they were going to do.

“What the hell are we going to do with this?” exclaimed SJ.

“I don’t know, really, the only thing I can think of is that we need to report it to Mr. Madison first and then he will know what to do with Duarte about it. I cannot think that telling her directly is going to be the right thing to do.”

“Do you even know how to reach Mr. Madison directly? I mean, Duarte is always the one to communicate with him.”

“Of course I do, SJ. This is the weirdest scenario I could fuckin’ envision! Never thought I would be calling him to tell him that the husband of one of his best agents is actually a criminal and a target that we have in custody. Maybe Juan has been working undercover and it is above our pay grade. The CIA has hired civilians to do undercover work in the past so that might be what is going on. Either way, I am going to call Mr. Madison but first I will just let Duarte know that we have these two and are bringing them to the designated holding facility.”

“Duarte, we have the two targets and are about to transport them to the facility inside the US Embassy. It’s in the basement, you just need to show your ID and you will get right in. But, how is it going to work with Dmitry now?”

“Man, Tommy, that is great. I am about to go in and take him down but you will have time to transport those guys. What I want you to do is you and SJ do not let them out of your sight until you have them in the facility. Once they are there, head straight over here with three other guys. Leave the rest at the Embassy – have them hold appropriate security positions as needed.”

“Okay, Duarte, will do,” replied Tommy.

Now Tommy had to call Mr. Madison which was something he was not looking forward to; not only because he was in an awkward position reporting on his superior but because Mr. Madison was known to be somewhat difficult to speak with. Tommy had heard that most conversations with him ended up being a lecture followed by a parade of orders and that one usually ended up feeling like one was an idiot for not having thought of every single detail related to the issue at hand. However, it was generally known that this was just the way Mr. Madison used to control people as he gave that sort of treatment to top scholars, analysts, etc. on almost any subject and he certainly did not have full education nor information on every issue that was ever brought before him.

“Okay SJ, here it goes – calling Mr. Madison,” said Tommy as he dialed him.

“This is Madison. What can I do for you?” he answered.

“Sir, this is Tommy Jameson. On the assignment with agent Duarte.”

“Yes, what do you want? Why is Duarte not calling me herself?”

“Well, sir, that is exactly why I am calling; something has come up regarding agent Duarte.”

“What, what do you mean?”

“Sir, one of the men. The unidentified Latin American on the plane, turned out to be Juan Duarte. Elizabeth Duarte’s husband.”

“What? You cannot be serious. What kind of sick joke are you playing here?”

“No, sir, this is not a joke. SJ and I have seen Juan a few times over the years. It is him. I was thinking maybe you knew something about him being undercover for us. Is that what it is?”

“NO! He is NOT working for us,” replied Mr. Madison as he had just sat down at the computer in his office and logged onto the CIA secure server.  “If he were working for us, I would have been able to tell you that right away. No, this is the connection – this is why El Diablo knew that Duarte was the element that could take their operation down.”

“Oh shit, that makes sense but is fucked up. But – then that means that Duarte might not know that Juan is involved in all of that, otherwise why would they have been talking about her being their possible downfall?”

“You may be right Jameson but you are jumping to conclusions. Duarte could be using us to get information for Juan and so for El Diablo. I know that Duarte has an excellent service record and that she is in favor with everyone she works with but I, nor anyone else can eliminate the idea that she might be an infiltrator. Where is Duarte now?”

“She is at the Hyatt – she is supposed to be taking down Dmitry. She has been close to him this whole time”

“I know that! So, who is with her?”

“Well, no one. She said that she was going to take him down herself and then call SJ and me when she was ready for us to come and pick him up. Wanted us to transport these two to the holding facility at the Embassy and then meet up with her.”

Mr. Madison had Elizabeth under him as an agent many times over the years and though she had gained considerable trust, he was never one to fully trust anyone. One of his life principles was to never trust anyone fully and always keep a guard up of one kind or another. While his reasoning in adopting that principle had many faults, he was dead on the money in regarding Elizabeth in light of that principle. “Damn it. The comments Duarte made on the plane down to Langley. She has some anti-American sentiments and I should have stopped and not put her on this operation. Fuck me,” thought Mr. Madison – forgetting momentarily that he still had Tommy on the line.

“Sir, are you still there?”

“Yes, yes. I am thinking about what we are going to do. For now, have your men proceed with taking the targets you have in custody to the holding facility. You, SJ and another guy stay there – do not move until you hear back from me. I may send you over to Duarte. How far in terms of time are you from her?”

“About twenty minutes – it can be up to forty-five if there is a lot of traffic.”

“Okay. Just stay there. You understand? Do NOT move in on Duarte until you have my word. If Duarte is up to anything, you of all people should know that she is very able and lethal. I cannot risk you pissing her off and she runs or any other event that might create a scene down there.”

“Understood sir. SJ and I will be standing by for your directions,” replied Tommy taking a deep breath and wondering what they were going to do with Duarte if she was involved in all of this. It was moments like these when Tommy would reminisce of the days when he was in NYPD; things were much simpler for him then. Sure, he risked his life every day, had a couple car chases, had dealt with some hostage situations, robberies, etc. However, everything was action and to Tommy that was much easier as there weren’t many complications and not as much red tap as he had encountered during his time with the Agency.

Meanwhile, Mr. Madison had left his study, rushed up to his bedroom, changed and threw a few items in an overnight bag he always had handy.

“Darling, where are you going?” asked his wife.

“Business dear, business. I have to go. There is no sense in you trying to convince me to stay home tonight. As much as I love you  - I am happy I got to be home for more than a few hours today. I have to go out of the county but should be back within a few days at most.”

“Well, I cannot argue with you Mr. Madison, can I?”

“No, you can’t. You can try but it would be a futile action. I love you.” Mr. Madison gave her a kiss and proceeded out the door.

Within forty-five minutes, Mr. Madison had arrived at CIA headquarters and was going through the initial vehicle security checkpoint. Soon, he was in his office, logged onto his computer and reviewing the operation file on Elizabeth’s assignment. He was trying to find any clues, anything that would help him unravel what she was doing, what her plan is, etc. He knew he would need to report up on this if things went wrong and was not looking forward to being held accountable for whatever Elizabeth may have been involved in.  He did not have so much concern for Elizabeth and the consequences that she would face if she had gone against the CIA; he was mainly just concerned about the flak he would get for having assigned her to the operation, having judged her character as someone that could be trusted and many other things that would reflect negatively on him.

After going through all information he had on her, Mr. Madison came to the conclusion that the only thing he had that did not make sense with the rest of her profile was her husband, Juan. There was the fact that he was a naturalized citizen - actually Colombian. “Holy shit – what did this guy do in Colombia, before he came here?” he thought when he pulled up the information on Juan that was on file and found that there was nothing regarding his years in Colombia.