Jeff, finds himself in
Chapter 11 of Magic Town ...
Saturday, 5:34 PM: Back at the Hotel
Jeff
is taken back to his hotel room where he finds equipment eves dropping on Magic Town– Magic Town Magic
Town
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Author contact: Chris Lamela,
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Magic Town, Chapter 11
Saturday, 5:34 PM: Back at the Hotel
The limo drove up to the same back door they used last time. Before Jeff could open the car door two men in trench coats appeared, one opened the door, leaning in telling Jeff to have his key ready. He reached into his pocket pulling it out as he emerged from the car.
One of the men walked up to Jeff speaking in a quiet firm voice, “This
situation is very serious, you are to follow only my instructions or Agent
White. Do you understand?”
“Agent White?”
The man couldn’t help himself as he broke character with a small grin, “Okay, Nancy, or––” turning to the man next to him, “What’s her alias again?” then answering his own question he continued, “oh, yeah, or Shonna as you probably know her.”
“I didn’t know her last name,” Jeff grinned at the man, “not that it matters I guess.”
They moved in unison toward the back door of the Sheraton Hotel, a man stepped through it from the inside, holding the door open, they walked through. Soon he was standing at his room door. The agent leaned forward giving it four rapid knocks. The door opened. There stood Shonna with another man behind her.
Shonna leaned forward giving Jeff a light hug, “Hey, that was a good job back there! You looked natural, I think we pulled it off! I’ve already gotten a call saying there’s a meeting at the club in,” she studied her watch, “almost four hours.” She thanked the men as they turned away, the other one in the room pushing past them into the hallway. She smiled to Jeff, “Well, don’t just stand there, come in!”
Jeff walked into the room noticing some kind of electronic box sitting on the round table, a laptop computer connected to it with a cable. He walked around the table, admired the laptop thinking this was probably only the third one he’d ever seen, they were so new.
“What’s that?” he pointed to the rig on the table.
“Surveillance gear. We’ve been listening to conversations going on atMagic Town
Jeff walked up leaning over looking at the computer screen. He saw what looked like a floor plan, recognized it asMagic Town
“We’ve got about a thousand ears on the place right now, ears all over the city, we won’t miss a word. Antonio’s phone has been going off like a fire alarm!”
She smiled, “We gave that beehive one hell of a whack!”
Jeff heard the name Antonio again, trying to remember who it was, but was too distracted to ask. Standing up straight, stretching, he pulled off the coat, “God I gotta get that smell away from me. I hate cologne!” Shonna turned her face from the screen lowering the headphone she had cupped to her ear. She sat watching him.
He yawned, “Man, that really took a lot out of me. You know, I could really use a nap.”
She smiled, standing up, “Listen, I have a change of clothes and I could really use a shower, so why don’t you stretch out and I’ll wake you in a few hours.”
Jeff sat on the bed pulling his shoes off slowly. “So what’s next?”
“Sleep.” She hung a dress on the back of the bathroom door, grabbed a small bag going into the bathroom, pulling the door closed, it didn’t latch because of her dress hanging on the top of the door.
Jeff flopped onto the bed thinking that he would just fall asleep like he did this morning. Instead he just lay there trying to keep his eyes closed. He glanced over at the clock which said almost six o’clock. He could hear the shower start, he got up stepping to the bathroom door, banged on it, the door opened an inch. He talked through the opening, “How much time do I have to sleep?” He passed his eye quickly through the opening seeing her naked form behind the marbled glass of the shower door. He sighed.
She replied with the shower’s echo to her words, “Until eight, so go lay down!” Jeff glanced at the clock, turned stepping back to the bed laying down again. He closed his eyes listening to the quiet chorus of voices coming from the laptop computer, wondering why he had never seen such neat technology. Before he could give it another thought he was asleep.
“Agent White?”
The man couldn’t help himself as he broke character with a small grin, “Okay, Nancy, or––” turning to the man next to him, “What’s her alias again?” then answering his own question he continued, “oh, yeah, or Shonna as you probably know her.”
“I didn’t know her last name,” Jeff grinned at the man, “not that it matters I guess.”
They moved in unison toward the back door of the Sheraton Hotel, a man stepped through it from the inside, holding the door open, they walked through. Soon he was standing at his room door. The agent leaned forward giving it four rapid knocks. The door opened. There stood Shonna with another man behind her.
Shonna leaned forward giving Jeff a light hug, “Hey, that was a good job back there! You looked natural, I think we pulled it off! I’ve already gotten a call saying there’s a meeting at the club in,” she studied her watch, “almost four hours.” She thanked the men as they turned away, the other one in the room pushing past them into the hallway. She smiled to Jeff, “Well, don’t just stand there, come in!”
Jeff walked into the room noticing some kind of electronic box sitting on the round table, a laptop computer connected to it with a cable. He walked around the table, admired the laptop thinking this was probably only the third one he’d ever seen, they were so new.
“What’s that?” he pointed to the rig on the table.
“Surveillance gear. We’ve been listening to conversations going on at
Jeff walked up leaning over looking at the computer screen. He saw what looked like a floor plan, recognized it as
“We’ve got about a thousand ears on the place right now, ears all over the city, we won’t miss a word. Antonio’s phone has been going off like a fire alarm!”
She smiled, “We gave that beehive one hell of a whack!”
Jeff heard the name Antonio again, trying to remember who it was, but was too distracted to ask. Standing up straight, stretching, he pulled off the coat, “God I gotta get that smell away from me. I hate cologne!” Shonna turned her face from the screen lowering the headphone she had cupped to her ear. She sat watching him.
He yawned, “Man, that really took a lot out of me. You know, I could really use a nap.”
She smiled, standing up, “Listen, I have a change of clothes and I could really use a shower, so why don’t you stretch out and I’ll wake you in a few hours.”
Jeff sat on the bed pulling his shoes off slowly. “So what’s next?”
“Sleep.” She hung a dress on the back of the bathroom door, grabbed a small bag going into the bathroom, pulling the door closed, it didn’t latch because of her dress hanging on the top of the door.
Jeff flopped onto the bed thinking that he would just fall asleep like he did this morning. Instead he just lay there trying to keep his eyes closed. He glanced over at the clock which said almost six o’clock. He could hear the shower start, he got up stepping to the bathroom door, banged on it, the door opened an inch. He talked through the opening, “How much time do I have to sleep?” He passed his eye quickly through the opening seeing her naked form behind the marbled glass of the shower door. He sighed.
She replied with the shower’s echo to her words, “Until eight, so go lay down!” Jeff glanced at the clock, turned stepping back to the bed laying down again. He closed his eyes listening to the quiet chorus of voices coming from the laptop computer, wondering why he had never seen such neat technology. Before he could give it another thought he was asleep.
Jeff opened his eyes. The room was dark except for a small reading lamp
in the corner. He was laying on his left side. Shonna was laying next to him
asleep. She was turned on her right side with her face only a foot from his. He
listened to her soft regular breathing. As she slept he studied her face. Her
features were soft, her nose came to a point, sort of, not a sharp point, very
shapely, very feminine, he thought, with just the slightest upturn that made
her look slightly aloof though not snotty. Her facial features were fine, like
one of those two-foot tall dolls you see in the store usually dressed in
Victorian-era clothes. He could smell just the lightest fragrance of perfume. Or
was that the soap she used? I wonder what
she would do if I kissed her? he wondered. He felt an urge to touch her in
any way. Just the softest brush with his hand, maybe. He thought about
everything that happened today with his little
slut, he doubted that she wanted his advances. He watched her, listening to
her regular soft breathing. Wondering what she was really like, if they had met
some other way, some other time. Or now even if he wasn’t married. He tried to
do his little tenth-second flash like he felt when he met Jennifer. Somehow it
wouldn’t come. Her being here now made her too real for that. She had somehow
managed to peek around that façade of fantasy.
There was something very different about this woman. He knew he had
never met another quite like her. Her mix of determination, feminine beauty,
intelligence, street smarts made for a very unusual combination in anybody let
alone in such a wholly encapsulated woman. Part of him was intimidated by her,
part of him felt like he knew her his whole life. He tried to measure her
against all the women he’d known in his life. His mind flew through his catalog
of faces, voices, bodies, smiles, eyes. He couldn’t think of anyone who
compared. Not even close. He tried to go through the little collection of conversations
with this woman. They were so varied. Moments of near lovingness, moments like
the one when he was standing there naked when his little whore, or rather little slut, was laying naked next to
him. Yeah, he was pretty sure a kiss wouldn’t be welcomed.
He laughed to himself rolling over onto his back, turning to the clock which said seven twenty-two. He sat up crossed legged on the bed, surprised that he felt so rested, frowning when he thought that it could be another all-nighter.
It was more than a half-hour later when Shonna’s alarm went off. She rolled over with it in her hands pressing a button to make it stop. She rolled back over to Jeff who had laid down again next to her. She smiled, “Hey there. Did you get some sleep? Sounded like it from the snoring.”
“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you. That happens when I’m really tired.”
“Don’t worry, nothing could keep me awake, I’ve only had what now, five hours sleep in the last forty hours?” She made a light stretch, swung her legs off the bed.
“Okay,” she said walking up to the computer, “What have you rascals been up to?” She sat down in the chair at the table holding the computer’s mouse, clicked a couple times, leaned forward staring intently at the screen as text flew by. “Oh, yeah, come to mama,” she spoke softly.
“What are you reading?”
“Transcriptions of everything that has been said in that building since this morning.”
Jeff swung his legs to the floor, stepping to look over her shoulder. “Wow, look at that.” He watched the words fly by. “Are there people doing all that typing somewhere?”
“Yep.”
“Can you do searches for words?”
“Yep. Watch.” She typed in the word money in a small box on the screen, suddenly there were lines of text on the screen with the word money highlighted.
“Cool, how about congressman?”
She typed it in, just a couple lines showed. She laughed, “Watch this!” She typed the word scrooge into the box, the screen filled with lines showing the word highlighted.
“Why scrooge?”
“That’s your tag. Your nickname they call you.”
“Scrooge?”
“Must mean you’re cheap. Miserly maybe. Greedy, I guess. Maybe they think you are stealing their Christmas!” She turned her head, glanced at him with a smile, “But it could have been worse, right?” She laughed, “Wow, you are taking this seriously, that’s not really you, you know.”
Jeff laughed, “Yeah, it’s pretty funny that would hurt my feelings, huh? It’s not like I am the congressman.”
She turned to him again, “But that ownership is very good, though, that will really help us tonight because it will be all up close this time.”
“Where?”
“Magic Town
“What?” Jeff had a horrified expression as he thought about the murders this morning, “Why are we going back there? I’m worried this is getting way too dangerous!”
Shonna turned her chair toward Jeff squinting at him, giving him a long searching look. “You know, you can just walk out that door and be done with all this. But just so you know, you probably wouldn’t make it to the airport.” Jeff had an incredulous expression as he studied her eyes. “Like it or not mister Jeff, you are in this.” He rolled his eyes toward the darkened ceiling. “Until those sons’a’bitches are in custody I am afraid that you are in my loving care.”
He paused at the word loving, thinking maybe he should have kissed her after all.
Wait! “I’m trapped!” Jeff turned away angry, paced the room in front of Shonna. He felt a wave of confusion washing over him. He remembered as a kid being on cliffs along the Pacific Ocean, suddenly he was surrounded by the shadow of a huge wave over his head barreling down on him, the feeling of utter helplessness, the enormous wall of foaming water smashed him against the rocks then receding quickly with a thousand wet hands pulling at his clothes, foamy wet fingers tugging, clawing at him, dragging him over the precipice, off the cliff’s face down into the wet churning swarm twenty feet down––no way to come back up––with only one way the story could end if those hands succeeded in their mission to pull him over. Only his desperate tearing at the cliff’s erosion-smoothed face saved him as the foamy beast retreated leaving him hanging face-down looking over the edge into the cold roiling froth below.
Here he was again, utterly overwhelmed as though he was being pulled over another inescapable ledge, the same sense of panic, fear of drowning overtook Jeff as he gasped for breath, “This is not right! This is not right! You sucked me into this thing without ever telling me what was going on! You have spoon fed me like your little trained monkey with just enough so that I would do the next trick! This is bullshit!”
He paced back and forth, turning to glare at her, paced again without looking her direction. He turned to her sharply, “So now what, are you going to put a stick up my ass and run all over Atlanta waving me around like some flag! Or like some kind of human red cape in front of the bull?”
Jeff glowered at her, she sat silent watching him. “What!” he snapped.
She replied softly, “I knew this would happen. You would have to be a dope not to know the danger we have put you in. But these are a bunch of really, really bad men. It's your duty to help us.”
“Duty? What, are you waving the flag now? Duty? DUTY!”
She stood up quickly, “Keep your voice down! Let me speak.”
Jeff turned sitting firmly on the bed. There was a minute of silence except for the ongoing soft hum of voices coming from the computer.
“It’s just not that simple.” She looked to the ceiling thinking. “Sure, along comes this good looking man who happens to look like the frigging twin brother of a man we have been tracking for two years. That man who has defiled his public faith and who has enabled the largest criminal enterprise inAtlanta
She stood up starting to pace in the same path Jeff had just circled. “There were three people murdered today by these animals. Murdered, Jeff. Gone. One of them a thirty four year-old mother of two.” She stopped turning to him. “You have two kids, right?”
Jeff stood up looking at her intently, “Yes, I do. And I intend to go home to them on Monday night. Is there a problem with that?”
“Look, I know this is a mess, and we didn’t mean to get you this involved.” She sighed. “It just…kind of…happened.”
Jeff sat down, elbows on knees, face buried in his hands. “I dunno. I just don’t know!”
He looked at his watch. It was past eight. He turned to Shonna, “Look, I have to call my family to say good night to the kids. Can you give me a few minutes?”
“Sure.” She got up, opened the door, turned back with a doubtful expression as though she was going to warn him about something, with second thoughts she turned back to the door, looked both ways along the hallway, stepping out closing the door behind her.
Jeff sat for another minute, he reached for the phone. After two rings his son picked up the phone saying hi daddy and was it dark where he was. Jeff smiled feeling better. “Yes, honey, it’s dark here. Is it dark there yet?”
His son Scott chuckled into the phone saying brightly, “I saw you on TV today!”
Jeff felt a lurch in his stomach, “TV? You saw daddy on TV?” The room seemed to collapse around him listening to his son prattle on about seeing him on TV when he was changing the channels.
“Uh, honey,” his son continued on, “Scott? Scott!” His son paused, “Can I talk to your mom?”
A second later his wife’s voice was laughing, “Yes, you can watch Doug and Pork Chop, but it’s not on until after dinner. Okay, yes, you can, but make sure your sister goes out with you.” There was a pause, “So Mister World Traveler, how was your grand night out?”
Jeff hesitated then the words flowed out, “It was fun. The Underground, wish you guys had been here, it’s kind of a cool place.”
“I tried to call your hotel room, I don’t know, must have been around nine, midnight there, but you didn’t pick up.”
“Yeah, I guess I lost track of time.” He felt calm, pretty sure she couldn’t tell he was lying. “Lots going on there. Had dinner, listened to a blues band in some barbeque joint at the Underground, missed the train and had to take a cab back to the hotel. It was nice, guess I just lost track of time. Why, is everything okay?”
“Just miss you, wanted to say hi and tell you we miss you and love you. How much I miss you. How much I love you.”
“Now you’re not getting all sappy on me,” he chuckled, sighed wishing he was home right now. “I love you, too. God you have no idea how much I miss you.”
“Is everything okay? You sound, I don’t know, kind of tense.” Pause. “Jeff, are you all right?”
He sighed, “Yeah, just tired and a little lonely.”
“Good, well take care of yourself. Maybe go to bed early, I promise I won’t call and disturb you.” She paused, he could almost feel a hug from her. “By the way, your son says he saw you on TV today. Must have been around two this afternoon when he was flicking channels looking for cartoons. He wasn’t supposed to be watching TV,” Jeff could hear her directing that to Scott, “but anyway that’s what he said.”
“TV? That’s funny.” Jeff could feel his heart beating in his chest. “Me on TV? Really? Wow, that would be something.”
“Yeah, he came screaming into the kitchen to me to come look but by the time I came out there was nothing but a story about some missing congressman.”
“I remember reading something about him in the hotel newspaper.” He suddenly flashed that he may have said too much.
“You read the USA Today? That’s funny, I didn’t think you read those things they toss onto your hotel door. You said you don’t like it because it has no comics, right?” She laughed.
“I was looking for the weather to make sure Monday’ll be okay flying.”
“Yeah, I saw something about a big storm––wait a minute,” she cupped her hand over the phone, “You two stop it! Nicole, leave your brother alone. Scott. Scott! Leave your sister alone!” She uncapped her hand, “Sorry honey, I’ve gotta go. I swear that when you’re out of town they seem to think that it’s free-for-all time.” Cupped hand, “You two!” Uncupped, “Sorry, honey. But hey listen, get some sleep. Give us a call tomorrow night, okay?”
They said their I Love You and hung up. The call definitely raised his spirits even with the sense of the inevitable washing over him. He sat on the bed looking behind him trying to picture Jennifer laying naked there just a few hours ago, the side of the bed where Shonna lay as he wondered if he should kiss her. “God, I’m a mess,” he spoke out loud. He shook his head vacantly thinking of his wife Donna, “She would not understand.” He sighed, “Not a minute of this.”
He had always marveled at how his wife had a way of seeing solutions in situations that totally evaded him. How many times when he would see a situation––or be in a situation––that he couldn’t figure out which way was up when she would offer up the simplest perspective, the simplest solution would just appear on her lips. Just four words sometimes, so simple, so succinct. A perfect solution for situations that utterly baffled him. He wondered what she would say to all this nonsense he was involved in. For an instant he had a desperate need to call her back, tell her everything to see if she could help him find a way out. He knew he couldn’t. This was his mess, though he still couldn’t quite figure out how we got here. But he knew how he got here, could see the cascading of events, how one event led to the next, how he was about to be dragged to god who knows where, be put in front of god who knows who, in god who knows what situation.
Yes. He knew exactly how he got here.
But then, he didn’t have a clue.
And now he was going back toMagic
Town
He stood up starting toward the window when there were four quick knocks at the door, Shonna walked into the room.
“Everything okay at home? Your wife sounded pretty concerned.”
“You listened?”
“Yep.”
Jeff stood there with an angry face.
“Hey, that’s what we do.” She walked over to the table as the door closed behind her, sat in the chair. “Okay there, congressman, get the frown off your face and sit down, let me tell you the plan.”
As Jeff sat down there was four quick knocks at the door, the door opened, an agent walked in with a tray of food from room service.
Shonna cleared a corner of the table as the man set it down, without a word he turned back out the door, closing it behind him.
“What say we eat while we talk? We’re expected at the club at nine,” as Shonna uncovered the tray. Jeff suddenly realized that he was famished. He pulled the other chair up as they dug in. There were four more opened Budweisers on the tray, after three bites he emptied one as quickly as possible. He motioned to Shonna to take one, she shook her head barely able to say, “On duty,” between bites.
After they both began to feel a little less empty, she turned to Jeff, “How about we start with questions first. Then I will fill you in.”
Without thinking Jeff asked, “Is it going to be safe tonight?”
“We’ve never ever fouled an op before.” She took another bite. “Not to say that it can’t happen, but we’ve got tonight under good control,” as she pointed to the layout ofMagic
Town
Jeff swallowed, picked up the second beer, took a sip, “And the congressman, how’s he doing?”
Shonna frowned, “He died in a tragic car accident day after tomorrow. Very tragic, very sad.”
Jeff felt a short choke, coughed, took another swig of beer. “Any idea yet who were the other two?”
“The congressman’s body guards.”
“I thought you just said that you’ve never had an op go bad? And what kind of congressman needs body guards?”
“That wasn’t our op.” She put her food down looking at Jeff, “And when you’re that particular congressman, I guess even body guards don’t help.” She gave a chew. “Look, we don’t know what happened. The only witnesses were the ones who left that house this morning assuming it happened when they were even in the house, the mayor and all, we have no idea who saw what.” She picked up her food again, took a bite continuing to talk with food in her mouth. “We’ll probably never know. The only thing we’ve got going is that they think he survived and is alive and healthy and getting ready to blow the whistle on the whole thing.” She wiped her hands on a cloth napkin with a soft burp, reaching for a glass of water, smiling, “So how you doing? Feeling a little better about this?”
Jeff gave a reluctant nod.
She glanced at her watch, stood up, “Okay, let’s get you back into costume.”
Jeff stood up reaching for the smelly jacket. “No, you can wear the one you had on last night. We’ll probably be in a really smoky room so nobody will notice. I think you’ll be more comfortable and we want you to be totally comfortable.”
“Are you sure?”
Shonna nodded, “But wait, you need a polo shirt, I ironed one earlier. It’s in the closet.”
Jeff stepped over to the closet pulling out a long-sleeved collared polo shirt, thought twice, pulling off his t-shirt walked over to the luggage, put on a clean one, pulled the polo shirt over his head. He’d only been in his t-shirt for a little while, he felt like his sweating in the last hour was already making him smelly.
“What about pants?” as he pointed down to his legs.
“There is an ironed pair of blue Dockers in the closet.”
He walked over, pulled them off the hanger, realizing he was just too tired to go into the bathroom, he stripped off his pants to put on the new ones.
“Ooooh, black underwear. Sexy!” He looked over as she gave a whistle. “I’ve seen you every which way but in your underwear!” They laughed together. He suddenly felt more relaxed. Somehow this beautiful woman seeing him in his underwear seemed to put some form around their relationship that he hadn’t felt before. How was it that her seeing him naked, twice he smiled to himself, didn’t have the same effect as her seeing him in his underwear? Maybe it was because her response was actually playful, though he did like it when she complimented his body earlier. Yes, this tiny moment had a tiny effect on him and Shonna. Tiny. But it was there.
Jeff tucked in his shirt, put on his favorite sport coat, “So how do I look?”
“Let’s see your mole.” She stepped forward to inspect his face. “No, it’s smeared. You’ve really got to be careful not to touch your face, that could be a real problem.”
Jeff went into the bathroom to wash his face with soap and a wash cloth. It felt good. A moment later he had his beauty mark again, this time not pressed onto his face. He twirled for Shonna who said, “Very good, very good!”
Jeff sat on the bed glancing at the clock. Almost eight-thirty. “So what’s next, boss?”
“Like I told you, we’re heading toMagic Town
“Antonio? You keep saying that name.”
“Yep. The white fedora. You called it aPanama
“Oh,Panama
“There are lots of names in this cast, you almost need a program to know who’s who in this little drama. Antonio is owner of the club, at least we think, but the main man running it for sure. Seems he likes his little cash cow there and feels his turf is being threatened. My guess is that the bad guys are trying to put the squeeze on him.”
“So what does he want to talk about?”
“I think he may be ready to give up some names. Your little press conference this evening is definitely making everyone nervous,” she grinned as she glanced over to the box and computer sitting on the table with voices still emanating from the computer’s speaker, “and my guess is that he wants to stay ahead of the wave. Yeah, I think he wants to offer up as much as he can without pushing too many buttons with the bad guys. All my accounting work only ever deals with initials. I mean I can guess who they are taking all that money, but that’s hardly good evidence for the prosecutor. I think he’s ready to give us some names to go with all those initials.” She paused frowning in thought.
“But why give names to the congressman? Doesn’t he already know that I’m––he’s––already involved in all this?”
“Of course he does, but my sense is that he wants a more formal relationship with the congressman, like they say, mano a mano.”
“Why?”
“That’s easy, guaranteed immunity. At least that’s what we’re guessing he’s hoping for. No matter how honest he thinks he is, he knows he’s not totally clean.”
Jeff paused, his hand cupped around his chin being careful not to touch his new mole. “So let’s take a step back. The bad guys think the congressman is meeting with the FBI on Monday and is ready to give up names. Right?”
“Yep, that’s my guess.”
“Antonio wants to do a preemptive thing to stay on the good guys' side.”
“Yep again.”
“And getting the congressman killed would be very bad for that. It would make things much worse for him. Much worse.”
She smiled, “Keep going, Sherlock.”
“That means he either wants to make a deal or he wants to help us take down the bad guys or at least get them out of his hair.” He paused, “Or both.”
“Yep exactly, without the congressman, those names are nothing but names, no key witnesses, no protection.” She smiled. “Good job!”
Still, Jeff felt a sinking feeling as he pondered the possibilities.
Jeff stood up with a determined look. “And if Antonio has his way, you get the bad guys delivered on a plate, he gets to go on his way, and I get to make it back toSeattle
Jeff frowned, looking at the computer screen. “As long as the other bad guys don’t show up then it should be fine, right? And what fool in his right mind would go toMagic
Town
Jeff held out his arms as in, Well?
“I guess we’ll go,” Shonna glanced around the room, “but I need a little conference with the guys, so let me step outside for a minute.”
Ten minutes later there were the four knocks and a key rattle. Shonna came back in. “Well, Mister Congressman, you just got yourself two new body guards that just happen to carry badges.”
Jeff shrugged, “I guess we go now?”
Shonna walked over to the table with the congressmen’s coat contents spread out, picked up the snub nosed pistol, turning to hand it to Jeff. “And you really know how to use this?”
“Remember I told you I used to own one.” He took the gun, “And you still can’t hit the broad side of a barn with it.”
“You won’t be shooting at barns.”
Jeff tried to reach into his coat side pocket to put away the gun, “Damn, sewed shut.” He tried to tuck the gun into the inside breast pocket, it made the coat sag.
Shonna watched all this smiling. Finally, Jeff took off his coat reached over for the congressman’s stinky coat, put it on tucking the little gun into the right outside pocket.
Frowning, Jeff patted the bulk in the pocket. “You know, though, this may be a bad omen, he never even pulled it out.”
Shonna shook her head.
“It’s only a bad omen if your don’t pull yours out first.”
He laughed to himself rolling over onto his back, turning to the clock which said seven twenty-two. He sat up crossed legged on the bed, surprised that he felt so rested, frowning when he thought that it could be another all-nighter.
It was more than a half-hour later when Shonna’s alarm went off. She rolled over with it in her hands pressing a button to make it stop. She rolled back over to Jeff who had laid down again next to her. She smiled, “Hey there. Did you get some sleep? Sounded like it from the snoring.”
“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you. That happens when I’m really tired.”
“Don’t worry, nothing could keep me awake, I’ve only had what now, five hours sleep in the last forty hours?” She made a light stretch, swung her legs off the bed.
“Okay,” she said walking up to the computer, “What have you rascals been up to?” She sat down in the chair at the table holding the computer’s mouse, clicked a couple times, leaned forward staring intently at the screen as text flew by. “Oh, yeah, come to mama,” she spoke softly.
“What are you reading?”
“Transcriptions of everything that has been said in that building since this morning.”
Jeff swung his legs to the floor, stepping to look over her shoulder. “Wow, look at that.” He watched the words fly by. “Are there people doing all that typing somewhere?”
“Yep.”
“Can you do searches for words?”
“Yep. Watch.” She typed in the word money in a small box on the screen, suddenly there were lines of text on the screen with the word money highlighted.
“Cool, how about congressman?”
She typed it in, just a couple lines showed. She laughed, “Watch this!” She typed the word scrooge into the box, the screen filled with lines showing the word highlighted.
“Why scrooge?”
“That’s your tag. Your nickname they call you.”
“Scrooge?”
“Must mean you’re cheap. Miserly maybe. Greedy, I guess. Maybe they think you are stealing their Christmas!” She turned her head, glanced at him with a smile, “But it could have been worse, right?” She laughed, “Wow, you are taking this seriously, that’s not really you, you know.”
Jeff laughed, “Yeah, it’s pretty funny that would hurt my feelings, huh? It’s not like I am the congressman.”
She turned to him again, “But that ownership is very good, though, that will really help us tonight because it will be all up close this time.”
“Where?”
“
“What?” Jeff had a horrified expression as he thought about the murders this morning, “Why are we going back there? I’m worried this is getting way too dangerous!”
Shonna turned her chair toward Jeff squinting at him, giving him a long searching look. “You know, you can just walk out that door and be done with all this. But just so you know, you probably wouldn’t make it to the airport.” Jeff had an incredulous expression as he studied her eyes. “Like it or not mister Jeff, you are in this.” He rolled his eyes toward the darkened ceiling. “Until those sons’a’bitches are in custody I am afraid that you are in my loving care.”
He paused at the word loving, thinking maybe he should have kissed her after all.
Wait! “I’m trapped!” Jeff turned away angry, paced the room in front of Shonna. He felt a wave of confusion washing over him. He remembered as a kid being on cliffs along the Pacific Ocean, suddenly he was surrounded by the shadow of a huge wave over his head barreling down on him, the feeling of utter helplessness, the enormous wall of foaming water smashed him against the rocks then receding quickly with a thousand wet hands pulling at his clothes, foamy wet fingers tugging, clawing at him, dragging him over the precipice, off the cliff’s face down into the wet churning swarm twenty feet down––no way to come back up––with only one way the story could end if those hands succeeded in their mission to pull him over. Only his desperate tearing at the cliff’s erosion-smoothed face saved him as the foamy beast retreated leaving him hanging face-down looking over the edge into the cold roiling froth below.
Here he was again, utterly overwhelmed as though he was being pulled over another inescapable ledge, the same sense of panic, fear of drowning overtook Jeff as he gasped for breath, “This is not right! This is not right! You sucked me into this thing without ever telling me what was going on! You have spoon fed me like your little trained monkey with just enough so that I would do the next trick! This is bullshit!”
He paced back and forth, turning to glare at her, paced again without looking her direction. He turned to her sharply, “So now what, are you going to put a stick up my ass and run all over Atlanta waving me around like some flag! Or like some kind of human red cape in front of the bull?”
Jeff glowered at her, she sat silent watching him. “What!” he snapped.
She replied softly, “I knew this would happen. You would have to be a dope not to know the danger we have put you in. But these are a bunch of really, really bad men. It's your duty to help us.”
“Duty? What, are you waving the flag now? Duty? DUTY!”
She stood up quickly, “Keep your voice down! Let me speak.”
Jeff turned sitting firmly on the bed. There was a minute of silence except for the ongoing soft hum of voices coming from the computer.
“It’s just not that simple.” She looked to the ceiling thinking. “Sure, along comes this good looking man who happens to look like the frigging twin brother of a man we have been tracking for two years. That man who has defiled his public faith and who has enabled the largest criminal enterprise in
She stood up starting to pace in the same path Jeff had just circled. “There were three people murdered today by these animals. Murdered, Jeff. Gone. One of them a thirty four year-old mother of two.” She stopped turning to him. “You have two kids, right?”
Jeff stood up looking at her intently, “Yes, I do. And I intend to go home to them on Monday night. Is there a problem with that?”
“Look, I know this is a mess, and we didn’t mean to get you this involved.” She sighed. “It just…kind of…happened.”
Jeff sat down, elbows on knees, face buried in his hands. “I dunno. I just don’t know!”
He looked at his watch. It was past eight. He turned to Shonna, “Look, I have to call my family to say good night to the kids. Can you give me a few minutes?”
“Sure.” She got up, opened the door, turned back with a doubtful expression as though she was going to warn him about something, with second thoughts she turned back to the door, looked both ways along the hallway, stepping out closing the door behind her.
Jeff sat for another minute, he reached for the phone. After two rings his son picked up the phone saying hi daddy and was it dark where he was. Jeff smiled feeling better. “Yes, honey, it’s dark here. Is it dark there yet?”
His son Scott chuckled into the phone saying brightly, “I saw you on TV today!”
Jeff felt a lurch in his stomach, “TV? You saw daddy on TV?” The room seemed to collapse around him listening to his son prattle on about seeing him on TV when he was changing the channels.
“Uh, honey,” his son continued on, “Scott? Scott!” His son paused, “Can I talk to your mom?”
A second later his wife’s voice was laughing, “Yes, you can watch Doug and Pork Chop, but it’s not on until after dinner. Okay, yes, you can, but make sure your sister goes out with you.” There was a pause, “So Mister World Traveler, how was your grand night out?”
Jeff hesitated then the words flowed out, “It was fun. The Underground, wish you guys had been here, it’s kind of a cool place.”
“I tried to call your hotel room, I don’t know, must have been around nine, midnight there, but you didn’t pick up.”
“Yeah, I guess I lost track of time.” He felt calm, pretty sure she couldn’t tell he was lying. “Lots going on there. Had dinner, listened to a blues band in some barbeque joint at the Underground, missed the train and had to take a cab back to the hotel. It was nice, guess I just lost track of time. Why, is everything okay?”
“Just miss you, wanted to say hi and tell you we miss you and love you. How much I miss you. How much I love you.”
“Now you’re not getting all sappy on me,” he chuckled, sighed wishing he was home right now. “I love you, too. God you have no idea how much I miss you.”
“Is everything okay? You sound, I don’t know, kind of tense.” Pause. “Jeff, are you all right?”
He sighed, “Yeah, just tired and a little lonely.”
“Good, well take care of yourself. Maybe go to bed early, I promise I won’t call and disturb you.” She paused, he could almost feel a hug from her. “By the way, your son says he saw you on TV today. Must have been around two this afternoon when he was flicking channels looking for cartoons. He wasn’t supposed to be watching TV,” Jeff could hear her directing that to Scott, “but anyway that’s what he said.”
“TV? That’s funny.” Jeff could feel his heart beating in his chest. “Me on TV? Really? Wow, that would be something.”
“Yeah, he came screaming into the kitchen to me to come look but by the time I came out there was nothing but a story about some missing congressman.”
“I remember reading something about him in the hotel newspaper.” He suddenly flashed that he may have said too much.
“You read the USA Today? That’s funny, I didn’t think you read those things they toss onto your hotel door. You said you don’t like it because it has no comics, right?” She laughed.
“I was looking for the weather to make sure Monday’ll be okay flying.”
“Yeah, I saw something about a big storm––wait a minute,” she cupped her hand over the phone, “You two stop it! Nicole, leave your brother alone. Scott. Scott! Leave your sister alone!” She uncapped her hand, “Sorry honey, I’ve gotta go. I swear that when you’re out of town they seem to think that it’s free-for-all time.” Cupped hand, “You two!” Uncupped, “Sorry, honey. But hey listen, get some sleep. Give us a call tomorrow night, okay?”
They said their I Love You and hung up. The call definitely raised his spirits even with the sense of the inevitable washing over him. He sat on the bed looking behind him trying to picture Jennifer laying naked there just a few hours ago, the side of the bed where Shonna lay as he wondered if he should kiss her. “God, I’m a mess,” he spoke out loud. He shook his head vacantly thinking of his wife Donna, “She would not understand.” He sighed, “Not a minute of this.”
He had always marveled at how his wife had a way of seeing solutions in situations that totally evaded him. How many times when he would see a situation––or be in a situation––that he couldn’t figure out which way was up when she would offer up the simplest perspective, the simplest solution would just appear on her lips. Just four words sometimes, so simple, so succinct. A perfect solution for situations that utterly baffled him. He wondered what she would say to all this nonsense he was involved in. For an instant he had a desperate need to call her back, tell her everything to see if she could help him find a way out. He knew he couldn’t. This was his mess, though he still couldn’t quite figure out how we got here. But he knew how he got here, could see the cascading of events, how one event led to the next, how he was about to be dragged to god who knows where, be put in front of god who knows who, in god who knows what situation.
Yes. He knew exactly how he got here.
But then, he didn’t have a clue.
And now he was going back to
He stood up starting toward the window when there were four quick knocks at the door, Shonna walked into the room.
“Everything okay at home? Your wife sounded pretty concerned.”
“You listened?”
“Yep.”
Jeff stood there with an angry face.
“Hey, that’s what we do.” She walked over to the table as the door closed behind her, sat in the chair. “Okay there, congressman, get the frown off your face and sit down, let me tell you the plan.”
As Jeff sat down there was four quick knocks at the door, the door opened, an agent walked in with a tray of food from room service.
Shonna cleared a corner of the table as the man set it down, without a word he turned back out the door, closing it behind him.
“What say we eat while we talk? We’re expected at the club at nine,” as Shonna uncovered the tray. Jeff suddenly realized that he was famished. He pulled the other chair up as they dug in. There were four more opened Budweisers on the tray, after three bites he emptied one as quickly as possible. He motioned to Shonna to take one, she shook her head barely able to say, “On duty,” between bites.
After they both began to feel a little less empty, she turned to Jeff, “How about we start with questions first. Then I will fill you in.”
Without thinking Jeff asked, “Is it going to be safe tonight?”
“We’ve never ever fouled an op before.” She took another bite. “Not to say that it can’t happen, but we’ve got tonight under good control,” as she pointed to the layout of
Jeff swallowed, picked up the second beer, took a sip, “And the congressman, how’s he doing?”
Shonna frowned, “He died in a tragic car accident day after tomorrow. Very tragic, very sad.”
Jeff felt a short choke, coughed, took another swig of beer. “Any idea yet who were the other two?”
“The congressman’s body guards.”
“I thought you just said that you’ve never had an op go bad? And what kind of congressman needs body guards?”
“That wasn’t our op.” She put her food down looking at Jeff, “And when you’re that particular congressman, I guess even body guards don’t help.” She gave a chew. “Look, we don’t know what happened. The only witnesses were the ones who left that house this morning assuming it happened when they were even in the house, the mayor and all, we have no idea who saw what.” She picked up her food again, took a bite continuing to talk with food in her mouth. “We’ll probably never know. The only thing we’ve got going is that they think he survived and is alive and healthy and getting ready to blow the whistle on the whole thing.” She wiped her hands on a cloth napkin with a soft burp, reaching for a glass of water, smiling, “So how you doing? Feeling a little better about this?”
Jeff gave a reluctant nod.
She glanced at her watch, stood up, “Okay, let’s get you back into costume.”
Jeff stood up reaching for the smelly jacket. “No, you can wear the one you had on last night. We’ll probably be in a really smoky room so nobody will notice. I think you’ll be more comfortable and we want you to be totally comfortable.”
“Are you sure?”
Shonna nodded, “But wait, you need a polo shirt, I ironed one earlier. It’s in the closet.”
Jeff stepped over to the closet pulling out a long-sleeved collared polo shirt, thought twice, pulling off his t-shirt walked over to the luggage, put on a clean one, pulled the polo shirt over his head. He’d only been in his t-shirt for a little while, he felt like his sweating in the last hour was already making him smelly.
“What about pants?” as he pointed down to his legs.
“There is an ironed pair of blue Dockers in the closet.”
He walked over, pulled them off the hanger, realizing he was just too tired to go into the bathroom, he stripped off his pants to put on the new ones.
“Ooooh, black underwear. Sexy!” He looked over as she gave a whistle. “I’ve seen you every which way but in your underwear!” They laughed together. He suddenly felt more relaxed. Somehow this beautiful woman seeing him in his underwear seemed to put some form around their relationship that he hadn’t felt before. How was it that her seeing him naked, twice he smiled to himself, didn’t have the same effect as her seeing him in his underwear? Maybe it was because her response was actually playful, though he did like it when she complimented his body earlier. Yes, this tiny moment had a tiny effect on him and Shonna. Tiny. But it was there.
Jeff tucked in his shirt, put on his favorite sport coat, “So how do I look?”
“Let’s see your mole.” She stepped forward to inspect his face. “No, it’s smeared. You’ve really got to be careful not to touch your face, that could be a real problem.”
Jeff went into the bathroom to wash his face with soap and a wash cloth. It felt good. A moment later he had his beauty mark again, this time not pressed onto his face. He twirled for Shonna who said, “Very good, very good!”
Jeff sat on the bed glancing at the clock. Almost eight-thirty. “So what’s next, boss?”
“Like I told you, we’re heading to
“Antonio? You keep saying that name.”
“Yep. The white fedora. You called it a
“Oh,
“There are lots of names in this cast, you almost need a program to know who’s who in this little drama. Antonio is owner of the club, at least we think, but the main man running it for sure. Seems he likes his little cash cow there and feels his turf is being threatened. My guess is that the bad guys are trying to put the squeeze on him.”
“So what does he want to talk about?”
“I think he may be ready to give up some names. Your little press conference this evening is definitely making everyone nervous,” she grinned as she glanced over to the box and computer sitting on the table with voices still emanating from the computer’s speaker, “and my guess is that he wants to stay ahead of the wave. Yeah, I think he wants to offer up as much as he can without pushing too many buttons with the bad guys. All my accounting work only ever deals with initials. I mean I can guess who they are taking all that money, but that’s hardly good evidence for the prosecutor. I think he’s ready to give us some names to go with all those initials.” She paused frowning in thought.
“But why give names to the congressman? Doesn’t he already know that I’m––he’s––already involved in all this?”
“Of course he does, but my sense is that he wants a more formal relationship with the congressman, like they say, mano a mano.”
“Why?”
“That’s easy, guaranteed immunity. At least that’s what we’re guessing he’s hoping for. No matter how honest he thinks he is, he knows he’s not totally clean.”
Jeff paused, his hand cupped around his chin being careful not to touch his new mole. “So let’s take a step back. The bad guys think the congressman is meeting with the FBI on Monday and is ready to give up names. Right?”
“Yep, that’s my guess.”
“Antonio wants to do a preemptive thing to stay on the good guys' side.”
“Yep again.”
“And getting the congressman killed would be very bad for that. It would make things much worse for him. Much worse.”
She smiled, “Keep going, Sherlock.”
“That means he either wants to make a deal or he wants to help us take down the bad guys or at least get them out of his hair.” He paused, “Or both.”
“Yep exactly, without the congressman, those names are nothing but names, no key witnesses, no protection.” She smiled. “Good job!”
Still, Jeff felt a sinking feeling as he pondered the possibilities.
Jeff stood up with a determined look. “And if Antonio has his way, you get the bad guys delivered on a plate, he gets to go on his way, and I get to make it back to
Jeff frowned, looking at the computer screen. “As long as the other bad guys don’t show up then it should be fine, right? And what fool in his right mind would go to
Jeff held out his arms as in, Well?
“I guess we’ll go,” Shonna glanced around the room, “but I need a little conference with the guys, so let me step outside for a minute.”
Ten minutes later there were the four knocks and a key rattle. Shonna came back in. “Well, Mister Congressman, you just got yourself two new body guards that just happen to carry badges.”
Jeff shrugged, “I guess we go now?”
Shonna walked over to the table with the congressmen’s coat contents spread out, picked up the snub nosed pistol, turning to hand it to Jeff. “And you really know how to use this?”
“Remember I told you I used to own one.” He took the gun, “And you still can’t hit the broad side of a barn with it.”
“You won’t be shooting at barns.”
Jeff tried to reach into his coat side pocket to put away the gun, “Damn, sewed shut.” He tried to tuck the gun into the inside breast pocket, it made the coat sag.
Shonna watched all this smiling. Finally, Jeff took off his coat reached over for the congressman’s stinky coat, put it on tucking the little gun into the right outside pocket.
Frowning, Jeff patted the bulk in the pocket. “You know, though, this may be a bad omen, he never even pulled it out.”
Shonna shook her head.
“It’s only a bad omen if your don’t pull yours out first.”
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