Fallout 09: Executive Privilege

"I won't, Mom," I said. "Thanks for coming over."

"You're welcome," she said. "And call if you need anything." My phone rang shortly after they left the house. I looked at the number and saw it was Jim. I answered the phone and sat down to let him know what happened. At first he was shocked at the news.

"Dad, that just doesn't sound like anything she would do," Jim said.

"I know, it doesn't make any sense to me, either," I said.

"Are there any clues as to why she did this?" he asked.

"No, son, I looked through her phone and her email, but there's nothing," I said.

"Maybe she's got a burner phone somewhere," he said.

"A burner phone?" I asked.

"Yeah, one of those disposable throw-away types where you pay as you go," Jim said. "Maybe she's got one of those somewhere you haven't found yet." My mind instantly went to the videos that were sent to me. Those came from a number I didn't recognize. Maybe that was her "burner" phone. If so, there was no telling where it was by now.

"You may be onto something there," I said. "I hadn't thought about that." We talked for a bit longer and ended the call with Jim asking me to let him know when his mother's body would be released for the funeral. After the call, I mentioned the idea of a burner phone to Ron.

"That makes perfect sense," he said. "If you have the number, I'll see what I can come up with." I gave it to him and he punched up another program and entered the number. A few minutes later, he had an answer.

"That number belongs to a phone purchased here in town," he said. "As you surmised, it's a disposable phone. The number is registered to Ryder and the last time it was pinged was Tuesday morning. In New York. There hasn't been any activity on it since you got the last video."

"Any idea where it might be now?" I asked.

"None," he said. "For all we know it's been taken apart and dumped in the river." He turned back to his computer, so I went upstairs and prepared the guest room for him, since I had no idea how long he would be staying.

He was still there on Saturday, with most of his time spent on his computer. I had no idea what he was doing, but we managed to get to know each other better since he came over Wednesday. He told me that he was a sniper in the Marines and now worked for a combined federal-private task force. Although he was a trained accountant, most of his work involved research.

He told me a bit about what he and his wife, Amy, had done to other executives who wanted to have their way with her. I wasn't sure if he was telling me the truth or not, but they were interesting stories. The night before, he asked if it would be okay if Amy joined him for the weekend. I gave him the go-ahead, and she arrived about 9:00 am Saturday morning. After he introduced us, they carried her things into the guest room and I slipped out into the garage to give them some privacy.

After tinkering in the garage for about an hour or so, I went back inside. Ron and Amy were in front of his computer, looking at something. Ron looked up as I came in.

"Any news?" I asked.

"Yes," Ron said. "First off, the FBI has taken over the investigation. Second, I got a positive hit on our targets about a half hour ago."

"All three of them?" I asked.

"Yes, they're just outside Colorado Springs," Ron said. "I've already reached out to the Colonel. He'll take it from there. There's one other thing."

"What's that?" I asked.

"I've been able to get a look at the official autopsy report on your wife," he said.

"Oh?" I asked. "What does it say?"

"According to the report, your wife did suffer a massive heart attack from the chemicals Henderson gave her, but that's not what killed her," Ron said. "They found particles of soil in her lungs."

"Meaning what?" I asked.

"She was alive when they buried her," Ron said. I felt like I had been gut-punched. "Barely alive, but alive nevertheless. I'm sorry. There's more."

"More?" I asked, shocked.

"Yes," Ron said. "The medical examiner says there was about a pint of semen in her stomach."

"A pint?" I asked. He nodded his head.

"Yes," he said. "Mixed with alcohol."

"Is that a lot?" I asked.

"Well, consider that the average male ejaculates somewhere between a quarter of a teaspoon and a teaspoon at a time," he said. "There's just under 100 teaspoons in a pint, so you do the math. There was also extensive bruising around her private parts and the toxicology report showed massive amounts of a number of chemicals in her blood including ecstasy, speed and cocaine. I'm sorry, Tom, but it looks like the last several hours of her life were brutal. I can't believe she did any of this voluntarily."

"What do you think happened?" I asked.

"Judging from what I read, Henderson and his cronies probably had themselves one helluva party going on," he said. "Your wife was so jacked up on whatever it was Henderson gave her that she simply couldn't control herself. Somewhere along the way, she had a heart attack. Instead of taking her to the hospital, where she might've survived, they probably thought she was dead, so they took her out and buried her."

I sat down, shocked by what Ron had just told me. Amy came over and put her arms around me as hot tears fell down my face.

"Henderson and his thugs are wanted for murder, conspiracy to commit murder, the manufacture and use of a number of controlled substances and racketeering, among other things, " Ron said. "The other people in your videos have already been arrested and are facing charges as well, but Henderson is the main one they want."

"What do you think will happen to him?" I asked. Ron shrugged his shoulders.

"Who knows," he said. "The way things are with the courts these days, it's anybody's guess."

...

It was early the next morning when I awoke to the sound of my phone ringing. I looked at the clock and saw that it was 4:30 am. Who could be calling me at this hour, I wondered. I answered the phone and heard a man's voice.

"Check your text messages," the voice said before ending the call. I could tell the voice was masked and the caller didn't leave a number. I brought up my text messages and found one with a video attached. In the video, I saw three men, naked and hog-tied. They had been dumped unceremoniously in front of a brick building.

I recognized them as Henderson, Lenny and Harvey. A sign had been hung around Henderson's neck. "Note to FBI: I murdered Katie West," it read. I wondered if the FBI would get a clue. I ended the video and went back to sleep.

I got up four hours later and went downstairs. Amy was in the kitchen frying some bacon and eggs for the three of us.

"I hope you don't mind I helped myself to your kitchen," she said. "Ron gets grumpy if he doesn't get his bacon fix in the morning."

"Not at all," I said. "I tend to get a bit grumpy myself when I don't get my bacon. Help yourself." When she finished, we all sat down and ate breakfast. We had just finished when there was a knock at the door. I opened it to find Ryan standing there.

"May I come in?" he asked.

"Sure," I said, inviting him inside. I introduced him to Ron and Amy, telling him they were friends of my father-in-law. "Would you like a cup of coffee or something?" I asked. He shook his head.

"No, Tom, I won't be here that long," he said. "I just wanted to let you know that Henderson and his two main thugs were taken into custody in Colorado Springs early this morning."

"That's a good thing, isn't it?" I asked.

"Yes," he said. "I hear they're singing like canaries. There's just some questions surrounding the way they were taken, but I'm sure you don't know anything about that, do you?"

"No, I don't," I said. "I've been here all night. Ron and Amy can attest to that."

"Uh huh," he said. "Well, I just wanted to let you know. I'll leave you folks alone now. Take care."

"Thanks, Ryan," I said. After he left, I looked at Ron.

"You don't happen to know anything about that, do you?" I asked.

"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies," he said with a knowing smile. "I do suggest you give your father-in-law a call and thank him, though." I nodded my head and pulled out my phone.

"Anderson," Bill said when he answered his phone.

"Dad, I just wanted you to know I got a visit from the police," I said. "They tell me Henderson and his goon were apprehended in Colorado Springs."

"Well, that is good news," he said.

"Ron suggested I call and thank you," I told him.

"He did?" Bill asked.

"Yes," I said. "So, I just wanted to say, thanks."

"You're welcome, son," he said. "I take it you got a call last night."

"I did," I said. "Nice touch with the sign. Think that gave 'em a clue?" He chuckled as I said that.

"I hope to hell so," he said. "Talk to you soon, son. Take care now."

"I will, Dad," I said. "Thanks."

...

The following Monday, I went to work and tendered my resignation. Everyone said they hated to see me leave but understood my reasons. From there, I went to see a realtor about selling the house. I knew I had a lot of work ahead of me. We had lived in the place since the day we got married and the place held two decades of memories for me, along with two decades of accumulated junk.

It was another week before the medical examiner in New York released Katie's body. As promised, her parents took care of the funeral arrangements. I had mixed emotions about participating in the service. On one hand, I loved her exclusively for over 20 years and felt like a huge part of me had died with her.

On the other hand, I was torn by what she had done at the end. I found myself wondering if it was really the drugs Henderson gave her, or if it was something else. I finally decided to go, mostly for Bill and Alice's sake. They had been good to me and I felt as though I owed them that much, at least.

Jim was able to take a few days leave from West Point to attend the funeral. It was good to see him again, and we mourned Katie's death together, remembering the good times we shared as a family. I decided not to tell him what she had done at the end. He was always close to his mother and I saw no need to sully his memories of her.

With that out of the way, I saw an attorney about filing a lawsuit against Ryder. I wasn't sure how far it would go, but the attorney I spoke to seemed to think there was a good case to be made against Henderson and the Board of Directors, especially since they were all facing multiple criminal charges.

The criminal trial against Henderson and the members of the Board that participated in the two-day orgy with Katie seemed to go on forever. The U.S. Attorney prosecuting the case wanted the death penalty for Henderson, and the defense team filed one silly motion after another.

I did my part and testified to what happened to me personally, and listened as others testified. Brenda also took the stand, telling the jury Katie wasn't the only woman Jake had drugged and used as a sex toy. When asked directly, she said she wasn't 100 percent sure if Katie and Henderson had an affair prior to that fateful weekend.

Video acquired from the search of Henderson's office seemed to suggest that Katie rebuffed most, if not all, of Henderson's early advances. It became clear, however, that as time went on, she was beginning to warm up to the idea of turning me into a cuckold.

A search of his office and his residence also found evidence of his drug experimentation. Expert witnesses, however, were a bit unclear as to what the drugs he made would actually do. But all of them said most of the compounds he formulated were definitely intended to be used as "date-rape" drugs.

From the testimony, I finally learned what actually happened to Katie. It seemed that Henderson kept her going with drugs and alcohol for most of the weekend. At one point in the never-ending orgy, she experienced severe chest pain and fell on the floor, unconscious.

The men told the jury they checked her but couldn't find a pulse. Instead of taking her to a nearby hospital, which was only a few minutes away, they assumed she was dead. After haphazardly cleaning her up, they put her in the trunk of a car and took her to Central Park where they buried her.

When asked by the U.S. Attorney, none of those who participated said they had any training in CPR and none were qualified to make a medical opinion. Their fate was sealed when the medical examiner said he found soil in her lungs that matched the soil where she was buried.

"In other words," he told the jury, "she was buried alive." I could see some members of the jury gasp when he said that.

At the end of the trial, Jake, his two goons and all the participants of the weekend orgy were found guilty of all charges. The judge decided against the death penalty and sentenced Jake to life in prison, along with Lenny and Harvey. The others were also sent to prison, but received somewhat lighter sentences.

The civil lawsuits against Ryder and Henderson went full-bore after the criminal trial. By the time it was over, the company had lost almost all of its customers and was in receivership. After paying a huge sum of money to me, Henderson was forced to file for bankruptcy.

By the time it was all said and done, the fallout from Henderson's plot to make me a cuckold was far more than he had ever anticipated. Katie was dead, he and his accomplices were all broke and in prison, his beloved company was essentially gone, and hundreds of people were out of work.

As for me, life went on. The house finally sold and I bought a nice two-bedroom condo. I felt a bit sad when I closed the door to the house for the last time and handed the keys to the new owner. But I had the rest of my life to look forward to. My counselor suggested I take some time off and perhaps enjoy a nice cruise where I might meet a nice young woman.

So that's what I decided to do. I booked a round-the-world cruise and with tickets in hand, jumped in the Uber that would take me to the airport. From there, it was off to Miami and then around the world. Who knows what I might find out there?

...

Notes: Ron Wiseman and his wife, Amy, were the main characters in my stories, "An Ounce of Prevention," "A Pound of Cure" and "Cure, Inc." Ron has also appeared in several stories with Oscar Warren and in "No Greater Love."