Pseudo (11 page)

Mr. Madison had a contact in the Colombian National Police in the anti-narcotics division. Though it was in the middle of the night, he knew he could trust this man to help him. His name was Raoul Dominguez.  Just as he was about to call Raoul, his phone rang; it was Tommy again. “What?” responded Mr. Madison.

“Sir, the transport arrived at the Embassy. Juan and the other guy are being put in the facility as we speak. I need to know what you want me to do with Duarte. You realize she is on her own right now. She is either putting us in danger or putting herself in danger and we still do not know which. But I know one thing and that is it is wrong to stand by and do nothing.”

“Look, Tommy, I have been working in the Agency for years and a good many of those years were out in the field. I cannot make a decision because there is information I am lacking and you are also lacking. When we have sufficient information then our course of action will be plain to see. I will contact you. Again, do not move from your location.”

“Yes sir,” replied Tommy as he hung up the phone.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Elizabeth had packed the few items she was bringing with her, left the hotel and caught a taxi a few blocks down the street from the hotel.

As she got into the taxi, Elizabeth noted how there were so many people around still even though it was in the middle of the night; she had expected the nightlife to have died down by that time but reminded
herself that it was a Saturday evening.

Elizabeth had the most uncomfortable nervous feeling in her stomach she had ever experienced. The one thing she did not have were doubts as to if she was making the right decision. She knew what she was doing was the best thing and that she would be happy with Dmitry. They would do everything to be able to have the best life they could and move on from both of their pasts.

As the taxi continued in the direction of the airport, she realized she should tell the driver she wanted to be taken to another location, get out, walk a few blocks and get another taxi to then take her to the airport to make sure that she was really covering her tracks and could not be easily traced. “Please take me to the Presidential Palace – you know, the square in front of the palace?”

“Si, lady, pero you know it is not a safe place to be at this time of the night. Many drugs and other things happening there now,” replied the taxi driver, looking back at her in his rearview mirror.

“Well, thank you for your concern. I want to be dropped off at that location.”

“Very good, miss, as you ask.”

Within about thirty minutes, they arrived at her requested destination. Elizabeth paid the taxi driver and after he was on his way, she turned around and saw shady people around. About fifty feet from her she noticed a few people passing off drugs to one another. She decided to walk in the other direction that happened to be better lit. She walked about three blocks, during which time she had at least two homeless people ask her for money; she simply ignored them. If it were another time and another set of circumstances, she might have helped them a bit with some money for water but not this time. This time Elizabeth was set on what she had to do and was not going to be distracted.

After walking those three blocks, she crossed an intersection and walked another block over to a street with heavier traffic where she caught another taxi. Getting in the taxi she said: “Please take me to the international airport.” Elizabeth now felt some relief as she was actually on her way to the airport; was almost on that plane that would take her to Cuba and so to Dmitry and half of her worries would be over. For Elizabeth, that was one of the hardest things about what she was doing now: she was doing it alone and had no way of contacting Dmitry for the next few hours while he was in the air.

Meanwhile, Mr. Madison had called his contact, Raoul, and gotten the information about Juan that he had wanted. He had no idea he would find that kind of information. “Well, thank you again Raoul for your assistance. We may send him back to you guys if there is anything that you want to do with him – any unfinished business.”

“Look, James, there is nothing I could want less than to have Juan Duarte back in this country – for any reason. We are done with him. You have to understand what he did set a precedent for the other drugs lords here and we are not interested in unsettling dusts that have been settled for a long time. Do you understand?” replied Raoul in a very certain but smooth manner.

Raoul had given Mr. Madison all the information concerning Juan; this meant everything they had on him, which was literally everything. They knew every move he had taken to get himself out of the cartels, who replaced him, all the deals that were done as part of that, etc. There was literally nothing of his actions up to the time he entered the US that they had not documented.

When Raoul had finished telling Mr. Madison all of the information he thought that Raoul would be happy to have him back to deal with him so, Raoul’s response came as quite a surprise. “You mean you knew about everything he did in your country and you let him get away with it?” he exclaimed.

“You need to understand something about the world of Colombian drug trafficking and the policing of it. He was a big problem for us. He was very, very successful. No other drug lord met his level of success. He moved on without a fucking massacre and we let him do that. New little lords take his place and they just aren’t as successful. It was a power replacement or change with a very low loss of civilian life and so was a deal of sorts we were and are willing to continue to live with. No, James, Juan Duarte is a United States Citizen now. It is up to you to decide how to punish him but I can guarantee you that we will keep him not only out of Colombia but also out of both South and Central America. Are we clear?”

“Yes. I am fucking shocked at your complacency and fuck you for the problem you packaged up and sent to us with no warning so we were harboring an international criminal!”

“Well, don’t mention it. Your country has done similar ‘favors’ for us and so we should consider that this helps to even out the score a bit. Remember, I know a thing or two about you in particular over these years so I would not get too upset.” Raoul knew of some of the shady operations that Mr. Madison had conducted in the past as they crossed paths over the years for one reason or another – Mr. Madison did quite a bit of work in trying to bust drug trafficking by foreign governments to the US back before the DEA had been officially formed.

“Okay, thank you for your detailed information but fuck you for everything else.”

“Nice to speak with you again, James, after all these years. Take care.”

“What the hell am I supposed to do with Duarte now? Has she been aware of all of these things? I need to have her brought in,” thought Mr. Madison as he grabbed his phone to call Tommy. 

Tommy answered after one ring: “Yes sir? Do we have orders?”

“Yes, you have to get over to Duarte right now. Do not let her know that you are coming over; she told you to let her know where you are at all times and what you’re doing, right?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good, then don’t let her know anything. Her husband, Juan, was a notorious drug lord in Colombia before he moved to the US. Something more than questionable took place between him and the Colombian police and he came to us with a clean slate. I don’t know if she knows any of this or not but we cannot risk letting her escape now that we have Juan. The whole thing stinks and does not make sense. If she was in on their little mafia then why would she let you take Juan in? As you can hear, I have many questions myself but for now – JUST GET DUARTE!”

“Yes sir, we are on it.”

Now it was up to Tommy and SJ to get over to the Hyatt and try to catch Elizabeth before she left. “Okay, we need to go take in Duarte,” Tommy said to SJ.

“And do what with her?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t say anything other than bring her in. Maybe he will have us bring her back to Langley or maybe he will come here – I don’t know but we better get over there fast.” Just as they left the Marriot, Elizabeth arrived at the airport.

When Elizabeth’s taxi pulled up to the curb, she quickly paid the driver and went into the airport. Of course, she had to go through airport security, immigration and so on – using her “Sophia Hayward” ID. Once she was through all that, she located the terminal Dmitry had instructed her to go to for her charter flight. “Miss Hayward, your flight is cleared and scheduled for departure in fifteen minutes. Please have a seat if you like,” said the hostess.

“Okay, and there are no delays expected correct?”

“No miss.”

Elizabeth did as the lady bid her and sat down. At that moment her weariness caught up with her; she had a few days of little to no sleep and starting imagining being in a beautiful home with a large and fluffy bed that she and Dmitry would be cuddling with one another in. “I am close. I just need to make it on that plane, to Cuba and meet up with Dmitry and this is all over,” she thought. The only danger that remained would be her guys somehow catching onto and up with her in those fifteen minutes and her not being able to get on that plane.

Tommy and SJ pulled up to the Hyatt, ran from the car to the elevator and to Elizabeth’s floor. “Okay, we need to approach slowly and calmly so we don’t freak her out,” Tommy said to SJ as they were walking towards her room.

They approached the door and Tommy indicated that he would knock and do the talking. Arriving at the door, he knocked and waited a few seconds; there was no answer. Knocked again, waited, no answer. Tommy looked at SJ, “Fuck me! She is not there!”

“Hey, she could be in Dmitry’s room. We should check it out.”

“Yeah, that could be but we need to actually go into her room to verify she is not in there hiding or hurt or whatever,” said Tommy as he proceeded to open the door with his all-access card. 

Upon entering the room, they found most of Elizabeth’s belongings remaining. “Well, her stuff seems to be here – not sure if it is everything,” said SJ as he opened one of the closets.

“That may means she has not left and is coming back here or it could mean she just left some things behind, not wanting to take everything with her. Just look around.” Tommy and SJ continued looking around the room but could not find anything that would be a sure indication as to what she was doing.

“Man, Duarte sure knows how to confuse but if she were in trouble and needed help, she would have followed some type of protocol and left a clue or sign letting us know what might be happening or where she is. So, unfortunately, I think she is involved in something. Okay, up to Dmitry’s room. Let’s go,” said Tommy as he headed towards the door.

A few minutes later they were in what was Dmitry’s room. “Fuck, there’s nothing here!” exclaimed Tommy as they had finished searching the room for any items that might have been left behind.  Tommy knew that he had to let Mr. Madison know what they found or rather, did not find. He was not looking forward to that conversation. Tommy always had a lot of respect for Elizabeth, as she was a competent agent and inspired confidence in the people that worked with and for her. He felt disappointed that she could be involved in something bad.

While Tommy was figuring out what he was going to say to Mr. Madison, Elizabeth was boarding her plane. As she sat down on the small charter plane, she looked out the window, thinking of the people she was letting down yet reminding herself of the reasons she was doing what she was doing. Within a few minutes the plane was taxiing from the gate to the runway and was in the air, headed towards Cuba.

Tommy had figured out what to tell Mr. Madison and was calling him: “Sir, we got to the hotel, checked both Duarte’s and Dmitry’s room. She left quite a few things but nothing that would seem to be of significance to her. The guy’s room was totally empty – he apparently checked out around 1am.”

“What the hell is Duarte up to?” exclaimed Mr. Madison.

“Sir, I don’t know but I am sure we can find her. If we can find and talk with her we can get some sense in her get her turned around.”

“Listen to me, we better find her. She has years of knowledge of national security issues and if she does anything with it, we have a problem bigger than simply loosing what was a good agent. Do you understand me?”

“Yes sir, I do understand. I am not just concerned about Duarte.”

“Good because you have to be ready to take her out – if you find her and have the choice between letting her live because she gets away or killing her then you need to kill her; death is the most effective silencer.”

“I don’t know that I can deal with that principle, sir.”

“Tell me right now if you’re in or out – you will not lose your job or be punished for not going forward but if you decide to screw me over once you’ve said you’re in then that is one thing you will seriously regret. Am I clear?”

“Sir, you are clear.” Tommy was not the type of person to bow down to intimidation or threats but in this case he felt he was responsible for Elizabeth and wanted to do whatever he could to try and get her out of whatever she was in.

“The first thing you need to do is leave one guard on the men you have in holding and put the rest of your team onto finding Dmitry and Duarte. Close off all possible departures from the country – airport, buses – anything that will get them out of the country. Highly doubtful, but they may have already left since we have been so slow on this. You need to check that out first. Check any flight departures in the last two hours at all airports. Move fast,” Mr. Madison said.