K Street, Chapter 33

Jeff finds himself in Washington DC on business trying to close a big deal for his company where he meets up with Nancy again, the FBI agent he had fallen in love with in Atlanta nearly two years ago. Jeff is separated from his wife because of Nancy’s letter. Jeff continues to attract women without trying, some of them with deadly intentions. Jeff and Nancy soon find themselves in the center of intrigue with Israelis and Iranians feeling threatened by the impending deal, determined to kill the deal at any cost―even at the cost of Jeff’s life! The surprising twists will make the reader gasp, the love scenes will make the reader sigh.

 Chapter 33 of K Street … The Iranians have been shot! Then Nancy hears a familiar voice!

Wednesday, 3:42 PM: A Familiar Voice

Arnie gets a call that the Iranians need them to come back immediately. They arrive to find a murdered man! Then Nancy hears a familiar voice!




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Thanks for taking time, and enjoy!
- Chris Lamela

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Author contact: Chris Lamela, chris@chrislamela.com, 707-566-8790 PST

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               K Street, Chapter 33

Wednesday, 3:42 PM: A Familiar Voice

     Soon Jeff was in the back seat of Ted’s Caprice Classic with Nancy.

     “So where are we heading?”

     “To Cookes Park.”

     “I thought that I was supposed to be kept under wraps still.”

     “Oh you are, it’s just for a couple hours, then we’ll head out to Potomac.”

     They drove for a few minutes when Jeff noticed that they were taking another way besides K Street to get to Cookes Park, smiling to himself good going Arnie. He looked out seeing they were on M Street, just crossing Connecticut Avenue.

     “So what happened to Kathy?”

     Nancy looked over to Jeff nonchalantly, “Kathy?”

     “Yeah, you know, my new little slut that you barged in on the other night.”

     “Oh, you mean that Kathy! We’re still keeping her under house arrest.”

     “Is that really necessary?”

     “At this point it’s for her own safety. The killer is still loose and we don’t want any more bodies floating around town. We’ve had our fill of that.”

     “But what about the Iranians? Aren’t they going to be making a mess somewhere?”

     “You heard them. They will probably take care of it in the Embassy,” she looked casually out her window to the right.

     “They’re going to kill him in their embassy?”

     She looked back at him, “It’s not really our concern where they do it. All we care is that they do it, right?”

     Jeff shook his head at the totally laissez-faire attitude everyone around him had about murder.

     Nancy saw his expression, reading his thoughts, “What’s your deal anyway? Don’t you get it that he murdered two congressmen? He tried to murder you. He will kill anyone who gets in his way. Your new little slut is unbelievably lucky to still be alive.” She saw this wasn’t getting through to Jeff. “Jeff, this is how this game is played. Pure and simple. I know you’re a civie, that this is a lot to swallow when you’re not in the business like us, but you’ve really got to just let go of it, let people do their jobs. Let the Iranians dig themselves out the hole they put themselves in.”

     He looked at her, sighed, “Yeah, I know. It’s not like I care about him because believe me I want him dead even more than you do. I guess it’s just the callous attitude…no that’s not fair…I mean…”

     She laid her hand on his knee, “You don’t have to say any more, I understand. But you have just got to let things unfold like they need to. Don’t get all worked up over it.”

     Nancy leaned over kissing Jeff, leaning toward to him whispering so Ted wouldn’t hear, “If you have to get worked up about something, believe me you should save that for tonight. Trust me, I’ll give you something to get worked up about!” she kissed him again, sat up straight in a louder voice, “so we just need a couple hours in Cookes Park then we can decide if we should go to Potomac house or let you go back to the hotel.”

     He leaned over to her whispering, “I vote hotel!” She turned smiling with raised eyebrows in an I vote hotel, too! look.

     Soon the car turned right onto twenty ninth street, a few minute later pulled up in front of the operations house. The three of them got out. Jeff saw Arnie’s old red beater car, he was looking forward to asking him about some things Jeff heard when they were at the Iranian Embassy.

     The three of them walked through the front door into the ops room which was again filled with busy people. Jeff leaned to Nancy, “Are these guys all on our case?”

     She looked around, “Yes, I’m pretty sure, there’s a lot of background stuff going on trying to prepare for getting the Iranian deal together.” She pointed to a small group, “See the tall guy there?” Jeff strained to single him out, but noticed a head sticking out above the little clique around him, he nodded. “He’s one of our best explosives experts. My guess is they called him in to figure out what happened at the ODS office.” She peered around the room, “See that woman with the red hair over there? That’s Marsha―I forgot her last name―she’s the head of forensics in the agency. Don’t know what she’s doing, could be your poison, could be one of the congressman. Don’t know, I’d have to ask but I’m too tired to do that right now.”

     “Don’t worry, I’m not all that curious really.”

     “Why don’t you go get comfortable, I have some work to do, it’s going to be a while. We’ll decide what to do for dinner in a while, then what to do about us tonight―say, Stan!” She touched Jeff’s arm, “I’ve got to go talk to this guy, go get comfortable, take a nap if you want, I’ll come get you when I’m done.”

     Jeff saw Arnie on the other side of the room engaged in conversation, so he turned toward the large group of couches and big chairs, nobody was sitting in any of them. He turned back to Nancy who was listening to a small group that had converged on her, wishing she had been able to complete her sentence, We’ll decide what to do for dinner in a while, then what to do about us tonight… He looked back at her trying to imagine what they would do later, he watched her with her colleagues trying to imagine her naked.

     “Damn,” he said to himself, “oh well, might as well get comfortable.” He chose the same big stuffed chair Nancy was in before. He snuggled down into it, in a second he nodded off.

 

     Jeff awoke to the sound of Arnie’s voice, Nancy’s in reply. They were standing facing each other across the room.

     “He said that they want us back over there. Back at embassy.”

     “That’s fine, but why can’t it wait until tomorrow?” Nancy complained, “I’m tired.”

     “He said that he got a call from Tehran, that they need some clarification on the deal today so that he can get all the ends lined up on his side. That he needs us there right now.”

     Jeff stood up stretching, walking up to them, “What’s going on? Where’s Tom?”

     Arnie turned to him, “One of the agents took Tom to his house to get his wife to take them to the Plaza for safe keeping.”

     “You said embassy. You talking about the Iranians?”

     “Omar called, said that we need to come back over so that he can ask a few more questions, said that there may be some kind of demands. He said we need to be there immediately. Odd really.”

     “What kind of demands can there be? I don’t get it,” Jeff wondered.

     “I don’t know, but I thought the three of us would take a drive back over there to get it done, that way we have the rest of the week to wind down a little.”

     Nancy studied her watch, looked to the ceiling in thought. “It’s three o’clock here, that would make it…one thirty in the morning there. What kind of government guy is calling their U.S. consulate at one thirty in the morning?”

     “Hell I don’t know, maybe he woke up for prayer time and he thought he would check in. Look Nancy, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

     She glanced at Jeff, “Does Jeff need to come?”

     “I don’t know, it doesn’t matter, does it?” He looked to Jeff, “You don’t have to, but you’re welcome to ride along.”

     “It’s not like I have any hot dates,” he gave a sideways glancing smile to Nancy.

     “Okay then, let’s go.” Arnie signaled to Ted, “Hey Ted, can we bother you again? We need a ride back to the Iranians.”

     Ted nodded walking to the door, turned waiting, the others meandering toward the door following Ted outside. Jeff turned to Arnie, “How come we don’t check weapons here like in Roswell?”

     “The site manager at Roswell was a nut,” he shrugged, they moved through the door.

     A few minutes later they were driving back down twenty ninth street.

     “So Nancy, have you been following any of the investigation at the ODS office?” Arnie asked her.

     “No, for obvious reasons.”

     “You really should pay attention, ask Marsha when we get back. They finished the forensics. Found a female, or rather what was left of her. They found some other stuff, but the most interesting was they didn’t find―”

     Arnie’s phone rang, almost instantly Nancy’s phone rang, they both held up a hand to the other, Nancy reached into her purse, “White here.” Arnie answered his phone. Jeff turned to her, she listened, her face turned intense, color leaving her cheeks. She listened intently, “Where’s Tom? Yes, I want them both under protection. Code red. Yes, at the hospital too of course! Okay, thanks, keep me posted.”

     Arnie was just finishing his call, he turned to Nancy, they both stared at each other with disbelieving jaws dropped.

     Jeff turned back and forth between the faces, “What? What happened?”

     “Tom’s wife was shot,” the two spoke simultaneously.

     Jeff’s eyes popped out, his head swung between the two, “Shot?”

     “Yes, she’s okay, wounded. There was some kind of struggle. They found her when they went to pick her up to take her to the Plaza. Evidently it was our shooter going there expecting to find Tom, they missed him by only a few minutes. I mean I’m guessing. They have her at DC Medical Center. She’s in stable condition.”

     “Okay that’s it, I’m going to kick Omar’s ass!” Arnie scowled, his jaws grinding in angry circular crunching of teeth so loud Jeff could hear it above the car’s noise.

     Jeff looked out to see that they were nearly to the Iranian Embassy, a minute later they pulled right into the garage entrance. Ted rolled down his window pressing the buttons as he did before, the gate opened, he drove the car into the covered garage like before, up to the same door.

     Arnie leaned over to Ted looking back at Nancy, “Guys, we need to be on our toes. No weapons, but keep them handy, okay?”

     Ted looked back nodding, Nancy reached into her purse with her right hand, she picked the purse up with her left hand.

     They all got out of the car starting to approach the door when suddenly the door burst open, the young woman in the burka they had seen before flew out the door nearly tripping in panic, looking up seeing them her terrified face gasped, “Gun! In there. Very dangerous!” running away through the parking garage, her clicking heels echoing in the empty cavern of the concrete garage. Her deep accent had made it hard to understand her at first but the words sunk into all four of them instantly, three guns were instantaneously produced, Ted stepped forward to hold the door, Arnie went in first with Nancy behind him, Ted motioning for Jeff to follow Nancy, trailing into the door behind Jeff.

     Arnie motioned with his gun for Nancy to go to the other side of the elevator lobby, motioned Ted to the opposite side, turning to Jeff signaling him to stay still. Arnie looked up seeing a STAIRS sign, signaling them to follow he crept softly toward the sign with the other two following him, Jeff following behind.

     Arnie opened the door, listened, signaling them to follow him. Jeff went through the door suddenly remembering the gun in his coat pocket, reaching down to pull it out with his right hand holding it in front of him pointing up. He looked at this entourage sneaking up the stairs, stealthy, breaths held, guns drawn, him holding a gun, what the hell am I doing here?

     They arrived at the second floor. Arnie slowly opened the door, Jeff could see a hallway, Arnie leaned out listening, slowly closing the door motioning for them to continue up the stairs. Jeff had had been on the third floor before so he assumed that’s where they were headed now.

     That would be the next floor!

     They reached the third floor, could hear voices, shouts coming through the door. Arnie turned to them motioning with his gun, a metal finger at his lips telling them to be quiet, to be careful.

     Slowly he opened the door, they could hear shouting, “We told you that we wanted you to stop, but you wouldn’t listen! You are crazy!” Jeff recognized the voice, Abdul, the crisp British accent, yes, it was Abdul!

     “Yes we wanted the money back at first because you didn’t complete the job, but then we told you that you could keep the money! Keep it! Things have changed now.”

     Arnie slowly opened the door, Jeff looking over his shoulder seeing legs laying in the hallway. Arnie pushed his neck just a little farther out, pulled back, turning to them whispering, “A body!”

     Jeff’s mind instantly flashed, Oh my god, a body! What the hell am I doing here!

     PAP! the blast of a gunshot down the hall, a man’s scream.

     “That’s it, let’s go!” Arnie whispered pulling open the door, Ted leaned forward holding it, the others went through into the hallway. Laying in front of them was the body of one of the men who kidnapped Jeff, the man who had pulled the gun on Jeff when he didn’t want to put on the hood in the kidnap car that brought him here on Monday. He had been shot twice, his chest covered in blood, his head flopped to one side, eyes half-open.

     Jeff started to wretch, Ted stepped beside him, put a firm hand on Jeff’s mid-back, another hand on Jeff’s solar plexus compressing hard, squeezing Jeff between his two strong hands, Jeff felt the wretch stop instantly. He turned to Ted who gave a nod knowing that he had done some kind of trick on Jeff to make him stop his wretch. He paused a second in wonderment, glancing a thank you to Ted, looking away from the body following Arnie and Nancy around the form laying in the middle of the hallway.

     They could hear Omar’s voice, “You killed my brother! What is wrong with you! Are you going to kill me too? Are you going to kill all the Americans? Are you going to kill everyone on earth?”

     PAP! PAP! gunshots blasted, Arnie charging down the hallway, Nancy and Ted in pursuit, Jeff behind them, they stopped at the office before Omar’s with its door opened, gun smoke wafting into the hallway.

     Arnie jumped to the middle of the open door, “FREEZE!” PAP! a bullet hole poked into the wall behind Arnie PAP! PAP! PAP! Arnie’s gun fired he pulled back away from the door PAP! PAP! PAP! PAP! bullets shot from the office, the tall office window EXPLODED around Arnie the gray aluminum mini-blinds flopping through the breaking glass falling twisted onto the floor torn from their ceiling mount by the force of the falling glass Arnie’s arms jolting up over his head for protection glass flying at him as he moved quickly backward toward them Jeff saw fierce explode across Nancy’s face she ran passing Arnie with her shoes crunching on the broken glass running past Omar’s office PAP! PAP! PAP! bullet hole dots appearing on the opposite hallway wall little white puffs of gypsum dust pulsed into the hallway PAP! PAP! PAP! Nancy’s gun fired into the office as she ran past.

     Silence.

     “NANCY IS THAT YOU!” a voice came from the office.

     That voice, I know that voice! flooded into Jeff’s brain!

     Nancy was on the left side of the door with a sudden calm expression.

     Oh god, she knows!

     Jeff watched Nancy like he was watching a slow-motion movie, she leaned over reaching to the door’s opening setting her gun down in front of the door, putting her hands up she stepped forward into the office door opening.

     The next sound Jeff heard was a voice, “Nancy, it’s you!”

     Jeff was expecting Nancy to be upset or surprised, but instead he heard her voice loud and clear, colored with disdain.

     “Well what do you know,” she scowled.

     “It’s Shawn.”

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K STREET!

http://chrislamela.blogspot.com/2012/09/k-street-chapter-34.html

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K Street, Chapter 32

Jeff finds himself in Washington DC on business trying to close a big deal for his company where he meets up with Nancy again, the FBI agent he had fallen in love with in Atlanta nearly two years ago. Jeff is separated from his wife because of Nancy’s letter. Jeff continues to attract women without trying, some of them with deadly intentions. Jeff and Nancy soon find themselves in the center of intrigue with Israelis and Iranians feeling threatened by the impending deal, determined to kill the deal at any cost―even at the cost of Jeff’s life! The surprising twists will make the reader gasp, the love scenes will make the reader sigh.

 

Chapter 32 of K Street … Arnie insists the Iranians kill the murderer!

Wednesday, 1:30 PM:
A Strange World

They go meet the Iranians again to iron out details of the arms deal. Arnie insists again that they kill the murderer! Then Jeff remembered to tell Omar about the General's wife inviting him to a barbeque!

 

 

 

 

If you enjoy this, please take time to LIKE this on Facebook!

Thanks for taking time, and enjoy!
- Chris Lamela

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Author contact: Chris Lamela, chris@chrislamela.com, 707-566-8790 PST

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               K Street, Chapter 32

Wednesday, 1:30 PM:
A Strange World

     When the laughter finally subsided Arnie motioned to the chairs around the table, everyone sat down, turning toward him. “So Tom, we need to make sure that you are clued in on what’s going on, we are looking for you to drive this meeting today.”

     Tom looked at the three anxiously, “Okay, but first why don’t you start at the top, tell me what I need to know.”

     Arnie glanced at Jeff and Nancy, diving into telling him about the swap with the Iranians, telling him about the approval levels.

     When Arnie got to the point of telling him that the deal would be funneled through ODS the same as the current deal Tom got a big appreciative grin. “So you’re telling me that we are getting the same commission?”

     “Like the General said, same as the other deal. That’s what, two million?” Arnie asked.

     “Yes, plus eight hundred thousand for Shawn’s company. That has been arranged to be paid separately,” looking at Jeff, “like this deal, right?” Jeff nodded. “All paid in advance like this deal was done, will all the other terms be the same?”

     “Identical. There are still some details to work out with the Saudis, they have the formal diplomatic relations with Iran. I am sure they want the same stalemate between Iran and Iraq that we do, so that shouldn’t be an issue. The question here is whether given that your office was blown to smithereens that you have the ability to do your job.”

     “Oh, don’t worry,” Tom responded enthusiastically, “remember you had me grab all the files,” he pointed down to the banker’s box and his briefcase, “you guys already figured out that this was my show anyway, right? Trust me, it will be done exactly like before.” He scratched his head in thought, “Of course it’s going to take a couple weeks to get back in business but the good news is that we followed great security procedures, we have copies of everything off-site, as a matter of fact, we just did a redundancy download Monday night!” He was excited realizing that he was actually in pretty good shape. “So yes! We can definitely be set to go!”

     Arnie turned to Jeff, “How about you, your factory able to supply the systems?”

     Jeff smiled, “Yes, as a matter of fact. You knew that this order came with an option for six more systems, right?” Arnie nodded. “So assuming we can substitute the Iranian order for those six, or at least partially, then yes. The only question is about timing. I mean we will deliver the six systems on order right now. If we get the purchase order and payment―with the export license, of course―then we can just roll onto the next lot, deliver the two orders back-to-back.” Jeff couldn’t believe what he was hearing, he was going to go back to Seattle with six million dollars in payments and an order for six more systems!

     Arnie sat back, looked at Nancy, “You’ve been awfully quiet. Anything we’re missing?”

     “No, it sounds like you have all the bases you need covered for the meeting, but there are a lot of things to work out. When are you going to tell the Saudis?”

     “Probably sooner the better, don’t you think? We’ll let DOD handle that, though.” Arnie reached in front of him making a note.

     “I’d have them do it this week just to make sure. They are key players here, if they don’t want to touch it we will have to go to our Egyptian buddies which will be fine, but I think the General would much rather keep this all in the same circle.”

     “You’re right, the Israelis would go insane about this gear even touching Egypt, right next door and all,” Arnie was happy that Nancy’s head was back in the game. He looked to Tom considering for second, “Let me contact DOD about meeting with the Arabs. I’d like you there, can you make some time tomorrow?” Tom nodded enthusiastically. “Also, I have arranged a ride for you to pick up your wife to take you both to the hotel. You can go along if you’d like to get her.”

     Tom laughed, “Time I have. It’s not like I have an office to go to!” they laughed, Jeff glanced at Nancy seeing her smile. “And yeah, I’d like to go get my wife, I can make sure that the house is all locked up if we’re going to be away for a couple days. That would be nice. Thanks, Arnie.”

     “The most important thing for you guys this afternoon is the meeting with the Iranians at one thirty.” He looked to Nancy, “Nancy you okay to drive? I think we should drive separately.”

     She nodded, Arnie looked down to his watch, “Okay guys, it’s just after eleven. We need a break, let’s meet back here at―” he looked to the ceiling thinking about drive times from Potomac to the east side of downtown, “let’s meet back here at twelve thirty. Go get some lunch or something.” He glanced at Tom and Jeff, “But it’s still code red for you guys, remember that,” turning to Jeff, “you in particular, I really don’t want your face in public at all.” Turning back to Nancy, “Come to think of it, I don’t want you to drive. I’ll ask Ted to drive you guys. It’s probably a good idea if he came along anyway.”

     Arnie signaled to Tom, they opened the doors going into the ops room. Jeff could hear the hum of voices coming through the door.

     Jeff turned his chair to the right facing Nancy who was sitting with her hands clasped on the table in front of her, an idle expression that surprised Jeff, “How are you doing?”

     “I’m fine.”

     “Sure?”

     She nodded with a firm expression turning her head to him, “Yes, I’m fine.” She sighed, taking a big breath, “I’ve got to be fine, right? There’s still probably a long day ahead of us. I’ve just got to get my game back. It’s close. I’m sure I’ll be one hundred percent by the time we get over to see those guys.”

     Jeff chuckled, “Yeah, I can hardly wait to tell Omar to expect a call from the General’s wife about the barbeque. What do you think, that will be great to see his expression.”

     She grinned, “Yes, what a small twisted little world we live in, huh?” She stood up, “Come on, we need to order some food to get some calories in us before the next big show.”

     He stood up, she reached for his hand, he turned to her, “Jeff, I don’t know how…I mean…I just want you to know that I’m not sure how I’d have gotten through this without you.”

     “I’m just trying to be there for you. I think that’s all I can do.”

     She smiled turning to the door, “Come on, let’s get some food.” He followed her into the ops room which had only about ten people in it, but it was such a small room compared to the ops rooms he had seen in Atlanta and in Cookes Park, it looked crowded.

     A few minutes later two men walked in holding six bulging bags of Chinese food containers walking straight back to the dining room which had served as their little conference room. Nancy ran ahead of them scooping the last remnant papers from the table, Jeff smelled the wonderful waft of Chinese food pass his nostrils, jumping into the procession.

     Soon every chair was full, chopsticks and plastic forks flew between paper plates and mouths.

     Finally Jeff sat back, wiping his mouth studying his watch. Eleven fifty three, a little more than a half-hour before they drove back to the city. “Man, I feel like I could take a nap.”

     “Why don’t you go upstairs, lay down? I’ll come get you when we’re ready to leave,” Nancy smiled to Jeff setting down her chopsticks, reaching for a napkin.

     Jeff nodded, got up, a minute later was laying on the bed upstairs.

     “Jeff,” he could feel someone shaking him.

     He raised his head, “Yeah?”

     “We’re leaving, come on.”

     He squinched his eyes trying to look at his watch, couldn’t believe that he had actually fallen asleep. It had only been a half-hour but he felt like he had napped for two hours. Swinging his legs off the bed he could hear Nancy in the bathroom pissing with the door open. The door open! He smiled, laughed at his shoes still on, thinking he must have been more tired than he thought.

     He heard the water running in the bathroom sink, Nancy appeared motioning to him, he stood, following her out of the room, down the hall, down the stairs. Ted was looking up at them expectantly as they descended, Jeff saw Arnie and Tom near the door.

     They walked up to the group, Nancy and Arnie pulled out their guns motioning to Ted, they each gave their weapons a couple quick clicks with slides and clicks again releasing triggers, putting them away.

     Nancy turned to Jeff, “You have your gun?”

     Jeff reached into his outer coat pocket pulling out the little Colt thirty-eight, flicked a switch, the barrel flopped out. Jeff turned it to show there were six bullets, he flicked it closed with a quick twist of his wrist putting it back into his coat pocket.

     Nancy turned to Tom, “Are you armed?”

     Tom returned a worried-looking frown, “I never pack a gun, but I sure wish I did right now.”

     Nancy shook her head anticipating his next question, “Sorry, we can’t provide one, you just need to stay close to one of us,” motioning to Ted and Arnie. Tom nodded, his expression showing regret that he hadn’t planned for this.

     “So Arnie, you and Tom are driving, right?” Arnie nodded, “Ted’s going to throw us into the back of his car. Good then, let’s go!”

     A minute later Jeff and Nancy were in the big back seat of Ted’s Caprice following Arnie’s car through the gate, turning left toward DC.

     A half-hour later they were pulled up to the gate at the Iranian Embassy building, Jeff seeing Arnie reach out to punch a code, the gate swinging open, Arnie’s car driving through as they followed.

     They pulled up to park near the door. A young woman came out standing by the door. Her dark complexion under her black burka and gray dress made her nearly invisible against the dark stone of the building in the shadowed garage.

     They got out of the cars walking toward her, she opened the door without a word. They filed silently into the building. An elevator ride later they were led to the left, then right into Omar’s office.

     Everyone stood aside as though to invite Jeff to go in first. He walked through the door. The very large office was as Jeff had seen it last time, this time with four chairs arranged in front of Omar’s oversized desk with Abdul sitting a little more to the right making room for the other chairs.

     Omar sprang to his feet, “Jeff! How very good to see you again. And Arnie, you too! Nancy. Who else do you have here with you?” Jeff introduced Tom, he reached out his hand shaking with Omar and Abdul.

     “Good enough, certainly, please everyone sit down!” He signaled to the woman who had let them in, “Thank you.” She nodded turning, closing the door behind her.

     “So Arnie, you heard the good news from my bosses in Tehran, they sounded quite surprised at this offer, of course were quite pleased about it. They asked me many many questions, but I didn’t have all the information so I could only tell them what I knew, which as you know was not much.”

     “Don’t worry Omar, get your pen out, we’ll get this figured out.”

     “Yes, you said not in writing from you,” he opened his desk drawer ceremoniously taking out a yellow pad and a Mont Blanc pen. Abdul reached for the yellow pad on the desk in front of him, extracting his own Mont Blanc from his inside coat pocket; two white-tipped pens waiting to carry news back to Tehran.

     Arnie cleared his throat, “Now, understanding of course that we have many things that we must do on our side to make this all work, let’s lay out again what we propose.”

     The two white-tipped pens stood at ready, began scribbling, Arnie outlined the proposal to ship the surveillance airplanes through Saudi Arabia to Iran. He laid out various terms, all from either memory or just making it up as he went along. Notes were scribbled, pages were flipped at the hands of Omar and Abdul. Jeff was impressed with the enormity of details that were unknown to him that flowed from Arnie wishing he could be taking notes from what he was learning about the whole logistical process, the fulfillment of the systems to Iran itself, the spare parts, training, support and other matters that he was vaguely familiar with that seemed to flow from Arnie like a fountain.

     Jeff looked at his watch surprised to see that they had spent nearly an hour when Arnie finally said, “Okay, so that’s it. Any questions?”

     There were a few questions, some clarifications that took more scribbling. Arnie reached into his coat pulling out a set of papers folded in quarters opening them up, “Let me make sure I got it all.” He scanned the first page murmuring to himself, the second page nodding with a half-smile, then the last two pages. “Good. Yes. We got it all.”

     Jeff remembered Arnie saying before they got there that Tom would be driving this meeting. He glanced at Tom realizing he hadn’t spoken a single word!

     “Well then,” Arnie spoke with a deliberate tone, he folded the papers up again, put them back into his inside coat pocket, “we still have the little matter about the shooter. I assume you have an update for us.”

     Omar glanced at Abdul, “Yes, it is being arranged. It will be handled this afternoon. It is arranged.”

     “How will we know that it is done?”

     “I give you my assurances that the matter will be handled as we discussed.”

     Jeff listened to this amazed that these two men could be talking about picking up dry cleaning instead of murdering a man.

     Arnie shook his head, “That’s nice, but I can’t take assurances back with me. I need to know that it’s done. This whole deal is dependent on that. If it doesn’t get done, and I mean today, then we are wasting our time talking about any other deal.”

     Abdul cast a worried glance at Omar, “Look, Arnie, I told you that it is arranged for us to take care of this exactly as we agreed. It is arranged for this afternoon. Would you like me to call you when it’s done?”

     “I will need to see the evidence.”

     Abdul raised his hand tentatively getting Omar’s attention. They exchanged a few sentences in Farsi.

     Omar turned to Arnie, “Yes, we can arrange that. Of course how will you know that the person we show you is our man and not some poor soul we drug off the street?”

     “Omar, you do remember my comment on this subject in our last meeting, I assume? Of course you do, if there’s any question, I am dead serious.”

     Abdul’s nearly frantic expression told Jeff everything that he couldn’t understand in the stream of Farsi between the two men that followed. Omar finally nodded to Abdul turning back to Arnie. “We both want you to know that we want this matter settled! I promise you that the man we will show you is the shooter.” He looked back and forth to the faces in front of him, “I give you my word.”

     “Well Omar, we’ll see when it’s done.” Arnie stood, stretched, turning to Jeff, Nancy, and Tom. “Come on guys, I think that’s all we can do here for now.”

     Jeff stood, remembered the General’s request, “Oh, by the way Omar, General Thompson wanted me to say hi for him, to let you know that his wife will be calling you about some barbeque.”

     “Ah, yes, wonderful, thank you, I forgot to put that on my calendar!” He reached into his desk pulling out a small day-timer book, flipped some pages making a notation. “His wife would kill me if I miss this one, their daughter will be in town with her fiancé. I wouldn’t miss it for the world!”

     “Thank you for telling me, tell the General I will be there. Thanks for passing along the message, that was very thoughtful.”

     “Sure…” Jeff smiled at this being the man who was just talking about showing the body of the man they are about to murder at Arnie’s request.

     Omar looked at Arnie, “Arnie, you’ll be there as well? I remember your kids really liking the General’s pool, the water slide and everything.”

     Arnie laughed, “Yeah, that’s all I hear, ‘We want to go in the General’s pool, daddy!’ It’s enough to give me a headache! Don’t worry, we’ll be there for sure!”

     Jeff wondered at this mix of good natured evil, hands were outstretched and shaken, shoulders patted, they headed back to the parking lot in a downright jovial mood.

     A strange world we live in, for sure. Yes, a very strange world.

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K Street, Chapter 31

Jeff finds himself in Washington DC on business trying to close a big deal for his company where he meets up with Nancy again, the FBI agent he had fallen in love with in Atlanta nearly two years ago. Jeff is separated from his wife because of Nancy’s letter. Jeff continues to attract women without trying, some of them with deadly intentions. Jeff and Nancy soon find themselves in the center of intrigue with Israelis and Iranians feeling threatened by the impending deal, determined to kill the deal at any cost―even at the cost of Jeff’s life! The surprising twists will make the reader gasp, the love scenes will make the reader sigh.

 
Chapter 31 of K Street … The congressman finds out Jeff was wired!

Wednesday, 10:28 AM: A New Career Path

The congressman finds out Jeff was wired! The General gives the congressman a generous retirement. The General tells Jeff to say hi to Omar, one of the Iranians!

 

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Thanks for taking time, and enjoy!
- Chris Lamela

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Author contact: Chris Lamela, chris@chrislamela.com, 707-566-8790 PST

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               K Street, Chapter 31

Wednesday, 10:28 AM:
A New Career Path

     They hugged again, she whispered into his ear, “Thank you. Thank you for being you.”

     “So can you do this?” they pulled back.

     “Yes.”

     “No more outbursts?”

     “I don’t promise that with Earl!” they both laughed.

     “But seriously, you can probably sit this out.”

     “No way, I wouldn’t miss if for the world.”

     “Okay, then let’s go back down.” Jeff leaned over pulling out a wad of tissues from the box on the nightstand handing them to her. He reached again pulling out an enormously huge wad stuffing them into his pants pockets smiling at her, looked at the box pulling out another huge wad stuffing them into his other pocket, “This is just in case you need to talk to Earl again.”

     “What’s tissues got to do with Earl?”

     He smiled to her, they turned left out the door, “Well, it’s either for my ears to protect my hearing when you yell at him again,” she giggled as they approached the stairs, he leaned to her in a whisper, “or for you to shove down his throat,” she burst out laughing so loud that Jeff could hear the echo from the tall ceiling above them.

    They came down the stairs, every head turned to them in wonder at the laughter, they shrugged with secret smiles to each other.

     Jeff looked around the faces, “Where’s Arnie?”

     “Oh, he asked you to meet him in the dining room,” a hand pointed toward the door on the opposite wall.

     “Nancy too?”

     “It’s what Arnie said, yes.”

     They turned toward the dining room stepping up to the door, without knocking opening it, stepping in. Arnie turned to them, “Oh, good, come on in guys, we’re just having a little discussion. Come on in, sit down.”

     Jeff followed Nancy inside, sitting next to each other.

     Jeff looked around the table seeing Arnie, Roger the congressman, Tom McAllister, and the General.

     Arnie turned to the General, “Okay, we’re all here. I’m sorry General, can you continue?”

     “Yes,” the General’s brusque voice made it clear to Jeff that this wasn’t going to be good news for somebody, “as I was about to say, we reviewed the tape from the other night,” glancing at the congressman, “the one with you and your colleagues―”

     The congressman shot a stabbing face at Jeff, “You were wired! You were wired!” jumping to his feet pointing accusingly at Jeff who shrank back in his chair at this sharp tone. “God, how could we be so stupid!” his eyes flailed wildly around the room settling again on Jeff.

     Arnie put up his hands, “Roger, sit down! There have been a lot of questions about ODS and your involvement, we needed to get some inside, he was just doing what we asked.”

     Roger scowled at Jeff, “You little prick! Who do you think you are to show up out of nowhere and do that!”

     Now Jeff was mad having his fill of arrogant congressmen, “Don’t you dare to talk to me that way! Who do you think you are?”

     Arnie’s voice was raised, “Guys, stop it!” turning to Roger, “Roger, I said sit down. He has nothing to do with this.” Arnie motioned to the General, “Can you give us a hand here?” The General shrugged looking amused. Roger continued standing glaring at Jeff. “ROGER! SIT DOWN!” the room reeled from Arnie’s shout, Roger jerked his head toward Arnie who spoke more softly, “Roger. Sit down. Now.”

     Roger glanced around the room like he was seeking support from some quarter, seeing it wasn’t forthcoming his sat down slowly, head lowered.

     The General nodded to Arnie, did his ceremonial throat clearing looking sternly at Roger, “Now if you will let me finish, we have listened closely to the tape, many times in fact. I understand that the ODS office was destroyed yesterday, that it will take a lot of effort to reconstruct all the doings at ODS,” his expression tightened, “but we are patient people, we have the best analysts on the planet. There is nothing we can’t reconstruct. Iran-Contra was mine.” His expression got even more stern, “Do you remember that little affair? We can trace money anywhere no matter how hard you try to cover your trail. We will find it.”

     “This man here,” the General pointed to Tom, “knows that if he doesn’t cooperate that he has prison in his future,” Tom shriveled in his chair. “I know he’s going to cooperate so that we can get to the bottom of this.” He leaned forward as though to punctuate his next words, “Are my words clear to you?”

     Roger’s sudden deflation told Jeff that Roger knew he was cornered.

     “Now congressman, it’s not my job to tell others how to do their jobs, nobody in this room has the authority to tell you what to do,” the General glanced around the room, motioned with his hand toward Tom, “and I’m not all that interested in throwing people into prison, but I do worry that when we get to the bottom of this that we’ll find out where that rocket launcher came from when we did our little foray into Iraq during Desert Storm. And a whole lot of other gear we keep finding every time we turn around.”

     The General sat back with a sigh, “And God I hate it, how it gets all ugly when the media gets hold of these things. Lots of people get hurt, families get torn apart. I hate it.”

     Jeff felt the air being sucked out of the room, suddenly feeling like he was gasping for air, like someone had attached a giant vacuum hose to the door, that they were all going to suffocate.

     He gasped.

     The General glanced at Jeff’s sound turning back to Tom and the congressman. “So here’s what I am going to suggest that you both do. First you, Tom,” turning to face him.

     “You render a valuable service to us, you know lots of people and have a good reputation for getting things done.” Tom’s pose perked up at these encouraging words. “But Tom, we’ve got to get you back on our side. I have an assistant, you will have a meeting with him next week. He’s a two-star, knows your business backwards.” Tom nodded anxiously, the General sat back. “Tom, out of respect for the good things you have done for us, that is the right good things you’ve done for us I’m going to allow you to stay in this deal,” signaling toward Jeff, “and the terms will be unchanged. I will also allow you to lead the follow-on deal with the Iranians if that happens.” He leaned forward pointing his finger sharply at Tom, “But if I hear that you do a single side-ways deal that hasn’t been personally approved by me I will take no prisoners.” He sat back with a smirk, “No that’s the wrong phrase, now isn’t it?” Then back serious, “What I meant to say is that I will make you a prisoner.”

     The General sat back trying to read Tom’s expression who returned a weak smile, “Yes, General, thank you sir, I promise that I will earn your trust again. And thank you for letting me stay in this deal, I’ve worked very hard on this. Thank you sir,” Tom extended his hand across the table, the General gave a brush-off wave with his left hand.

     Turning to the congressman the General gave a low growl, “As for you, I think it’s time that you consider a new career path.”

     “You mean quit congress? Quit congress!” Roger nearly shrieked.

     “It’s your choice, of course, I can’t make you.” Leaning forward intently the General scowled, “But make no mistake, I will ruin you.”

     Roger’s panicked look around the room showed he felt the walls collapsing on him.

     “But hey,” the General’s tone suddenly lightened, “I’m not cruel!” He turned to Arnie, signaling him to pass the envelope sitting in front of him. Arnie slid a large envelope across the table, the General redirected it to the congressman. “Go ahead, open it.”

     Roger timidly tore open the top of the large envelope cautiously looking inside, his expression turning to wonder. He reached in pulling out a stapled set of pages with four of the now-familiar gilded Bearer Bond sheets, holding them, carefully as if he was holding a baby.

     “What is this?” his mouth was barely able to close it was so agape.

     “It is a contract saying that you are voluntarily resigning your position as a member of the House of Representatives for family reasons. That will be going to mister Gingrich this afternoon. The next form is a promise never to be involved in arms sales of any kind, that form will stay with me. The next set of pages is the non-disclosure agreement―you are never to mention any of this to anyone is that understood? And I mean nobody.” Roger nodded, his jaw still dropped. “The colorful pages there are four million thanks you’s for your fine service to your country.”

     “I don’t…I don’t understand…what is this?”

     “Roger, you’re a smart man, I can tell. You just got yourself mixed up in some things that got you in over your head. The president will have my head on a platter if I bring him another round of some damned Oliver North sitting in front of you guys. I’d be put out to pasture so fast I’d be eating sheep shit for dinner tonight!”

     “Someone get the man a pen,” he motioned toward Roger. “Sorry, Roger, but you don’t get copies of any of it.” Roger’s pen made strokes on the pages, he flipped to the next, signed again. He pushed the papers across the table to the General who took the printed pages reaching for his briefcase, opened it laying them inside, closing the briefcase, spinning the combination dials near the handle.

     “I still don’t get it. Paying me…”

     “Like I said, it’s our thanks,” with a mild smile, “and to be fair. We’re cutting off your livelihood. It’s likely that you probably did something in all your deals that were actually helpful to us.” The General looked at his watch, “Look, it’s late, I’ve got to be back at the Pentagon in a half-hour,” standing up this time offering his hand to Tom and the former congressman, turning to Arnie, Nancy and Jeff who all stood up to take his hand, “and thanks to all of you, you’ve done a really fine job. Now forget about this and go get your shooter.”

     “What about the Iranians?” words popped out of Jeff’s mouth.

     “Oh, and those bastards, yeah, I suppose,” he growled, “but say hi to Omar for me. Tell him that my wife’ll be in touch about the barbeque next month.”

     A laugh burst from Jeff’s mouth, “Barbeque?”

     “Sure, my daughter and he used to date when they were at Stanford. Too bad, I really thought he’d make a great son-in-law back then,” he shook his head, “but not now I suppose,” shaking his head again, a nervous chuckle emerging in the room. A second later he was gone.

     Roger sat down slowly, picking up the bonds. “Wow, who’da thought when I woke up this morning that I wouldn’t be a congressman any more and rich by lunchtime?”

     The congressman and Tom stood starting for the door, Arnie waved to him, “Tom, no, you can’t leave, we need you this afternoon,” turned with a sweeping motion of his hand at Roger, “but Roger I need you out of here, we have work to do.”

     Roger stood up walking around the table to the door, turned around looking like he knew he should say something. “Well, uh, I guess I should go.” He turned toward the door. “Yeah, go.”

     The door closed, Arnie laughed talking through the door, “Yeah, go enjoy your new career path!” they all enjoyed a good cleansing laugh.

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NOW READ THE NEXT CHAPTER IN

K STREET!

http://chrislamela.blogspot.com/2012/09/k-street-chapter-32.html

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