Pseudo Page 11

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  “What, what do you mean?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  “I know that! So, who is with her?”

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

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

  “Sir, are you still there?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  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.