Pseudo Read online

  “I’m sorry you’ve had to be in that position my friend. Look, I have not always been in the dental product manufacturing business; I had another business prior to that which I built up and there were certain things expected of me. Things that I was expected to continue to do in my life.”

  “Like what?” asked Adam.

  “Things I cannot talk about with you or that I do not care to share with most people. Let’s just say that they were not very orthodox business affairs and that was exactly why I wanted to get out of that circle.”

  “I see.”

  “But the point is that I wanted to get out of it despite the fact that it was expected that I remain in it. It took dedication and a bit of time but I did in fact get out of it and have built myself a good life. There is no reason you cannot do the same in your life. You said you had wanted to be a musician – you should figure out how you can do that and do it. Fuck the status quo of your family.”

  “Wow. Wow. You’re the first person that has ever told me something like that. Every friend that I’ve had has always told me to follow what my father said so I don’t piss him off and fuck up my inheritance.”

  “In the end of the day, you’re answerable to yourself and no one else. Who cares how much money you have if you’re not happy?” exclaimed Juan.

  “I’ve never thought of it that way but you know, it’s true. Look at me! I have a considerable amount of money now and stand to inherit a good amount more but I’m fuckin’ miserable!”

  As Juan continued to give advice to Adam, he started to face the fact that he was not happy with his life; even though he had gotten out of drug trafficking to have a happy and fulfilling life, he only went into another criminal way of life and was again truly unhappy himself.

  “Look, man, even though you cannot tell me what business you were in before I do respect that you were able to get out of it and do something that makes you happy,” said Adam looking at Juan with admiration.

  “Adam, just remember that we are all hypocrites in one way or another,” replied Juan taking another sip of his drink.

  Adam was thrown off by Juan’s statement “I don’t get what you – I mean, I don’t know why you are saying that.”

  “I’m just telling you that – fuck it! I don’t know what I am telling you. I’m still not living a happy life. It’s true that I left the business I had previously but I do have other similar businesses that I am doing on the side and it eats at me every moment of every day. I am a hypocrite,” replied Juan as he got up from his chair and left the bar.

  Juan exited the bar and headed down the street. He looked at his watch and saw it was late. He was not only unsure of returning to his hotel or not but what he was going to do with his life. Every so often, he would start to realize what he had done with his life and regret it. Walking down the street, looking at all the people he passed by, knowing that almost everyone he saw had likely lived a more honest and ethical life than he had. He soon found an old bench by a bus stop and sat down to think. As he sat down, he saw an old church across the street and thought: “God has been there to guide me in the past. There is no reason he will not guide me now.”

  As he entered the old church, he saw a few people scattered on the pews praying. He proceeded towards the front right-hand side of the church and sat down. He grabbed a rosary and began to pray.

  Years back, when Juan had decided to leave the drug world, it was after he had gone to a church to pray and felt God had given him a message that he would be guided and protected if he made the right decision. Following that and his successful departure from the drug world, he was an avid Catholic, attended Mass every Sunday and went to a church to pray nearly every other day. That all stopped when he joined Dmitry’s group. Though he would not admit it, he was not able to walk into a church and look at the priest and face God. That evening was his first time in a church for many years.

  He broke down in tears mid his prayer, “God, I’ve let you down. I don’t know how to change my ways. I feel that I no longer know how to be a really honest man. The only time I was happy in my life was when I listened to you; you gave me your guidance and I’ve failed you.”

  Juan’s sobbing was so strong that he attracted the attention of a priest passing through. “My son, God hears your cries and feels your suffering. Come, do Confession. You will feel relief and receive forgiveness from God,” said the priest in Spanish as he put his hand gently on Juan’s shoulder.

  “Father, I did not come here for Confession; I only wanted to talk to God and be on my way.”

  “Very well, it is your choice. Know that relief from your burdens is obtainable by doing Confession,” replied the priest as he stood up to leave Juan.

  Juan remained sitting a while longer. He felt nothing but regret concerning his life and the things he had done. “I am beyond God’s power to redeem,” thought Juan. After ten minutes had passed, Juan left the church, walked about five blocks and caught a taxi. “To the Marriott Suites please,” Juan asked the driver.

  It was around 12:30am by the time Juan got to his hotel room. Max had not arrived back yet; he was still at a brothel about five miles from the hotel. Juan was worried that Max would stay out really late, not get enough sleep and mess something up on their job the next day. So he grabbed his phone and sent Max a text: “Max, you need to get back here and get some rest tonight. Big day tomorrow. Can’t afford to have you out of it because you stayed up in some brothel all night long.” After sending the text, Juan kicked off his shoes, sat down on his bed and turned on the TV to the local news.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

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

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

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

  Both Elizabeth and Dmitry were in anticipation as to how their escape plans were going to come out but they had no further time t
o worry or change them; the time had come for them to go their separate ways and do what they had to do. It was just about 1am when Dmitry took Elizabeth up to her room. “Elizabeth, I love you more than life itself and I fully trust you to do everything you need to do. I will do my part and if we have both been successful then we will meet up in Cuba tomorrow morning,” said Juan as he put his hand gently on the side of Elizabeth’s head.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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