The Real Estate Connection Ch. 08

"Glenn… how are you man? Long time buddy… long time." I was hoping I'd got it right. There was a pause, then Glenn's amused voice came down the line.

"Howzit Ronin? How's civilian life treating you? And how the hell did you know it was me calling?"

"This is a brand new cell and there are only six other people who have the number. All of them are sitting in front of me and no one is making a call. It's just a simple matter of deduction really buddy. It was either you or Manny and I figured that you'd probably be intrigued enough by my call to want to call me yourself." I paused as memories came back at me. We'd been through a lot of good times together and it was good to hear his voice again. "Ronin… Jesus I haven't heard that one in a while."

"Yeah it has been a while. I haven't seen you since you mustered out of Fort Bragg. Hell that seems like a lifetime ago. How was it south of the border buddy?"

"Hot and wet man… and busy. There is a lot of work down there if you want it and if you pick the right side. Go with the Cartel and you have a very limited life expectancy. How's business for you? I heard you have a security business now. I asked around and hear that you have a good rep. Want some work?" He didn't hesitate one moment.

"What do you need buddy? We can be there in a couple of days. I have a few things I have to sort out here. Got a major problem that you need to hear about before you make a decision about whether to hire us or not. Then you have to consider our outrageous charges. I charge like a wounded bull buddy."

"Don't worry about the cost man… I'm pretty sure that you guys would be worth both the dollars I'll be paying you." He laughed. "What's this problem man?"

It took him about ten minutes to lay it out for me. Manny had given me a little bit of the story the previous day but hearing the whole story in detail made me realise that we may be very beneficial to each other. I figured that I might be able to help out with his problem. Either way we would be better off if we consolidated our resources… and having men like Manny and Glenn on our team was going to strengthen us beyond belief.

As Glenn and I talked I became aware of silence from the others. I looked up and found them gazing at me as I talked. The looks on their faces conveyed the sincere hope that all of them held that we would be getting help in our fight. It was something that didn't really surprise me from the civilian members of our team, but to see it on the faces of Hemi and Sam was a bit of a shock. I smiled reassuringly at them, hoping to pass on the sense of relief I was experiencing as I continued to talk to Glenn.

"Okay, I may be able to help you out with Taglioni, Glenn. No promises man but I have a couple of friends in low places who owe me a favour or two. I've also got a tame Intel officer who may be able to come up with something. I'll ask some questions and let you know when I see you. As to your fee… no problems man. I've got a few pennies salted away so I should be able to afford your exorbitant bill. Look man, just get you and yours here and we'll take it from there. You can stay out at the house with us. There are plenty of rooms here and it'll give us a chance to catch up."

We spent a few more minutes ironing out the details and after giving him my email address so he could send me info on the man stalking him and his lady I rang off and turned to my expectant audience.

"He'll be arriving on Friday or Saturday and he's going to bring Manny and his new lady." I then spent the next ten minutes answering questions about Glenn and Manny and the problem they were currently facing. Sam and Hemi immediately saw the benefit of joining forces and agreed to see what they could dig up on Taglioni. Even though inter-agency cooperation between the CIA, the FBI and local law enforcement agencies was always fraught with difficulty, the old boy network ran deep and I had confidence that they would be able to get whatever information was out there on this guy.

After lunch Stevie, KJ and I headed for Ave and Ari's Adult Toy World, an apparently upmarket sex shop in a respectable retail area in town. The mood was festive on the drive with KJ and Stevie chattering away happily in the back seat while I sat up front doing chauffeur duties. I didn't really know what to expect when we arrived as I'd never been to a sex shop before. I guess I had a stereotypical image in my mind of a small dingy, poorly lit shop crammed full of unshaven men in trench coats and hats with the brims pulled low. My mental image supplied me with a picture of a weedy, tattooed, greasy haired, muscle shirt wearing, pimply faced hillbilly manning the counter while flicking through a hardcore porn mag and smoking a self rolled cigarette. The reality was totally different.

The frontage of the shop was taken over by a beautifully painted mural depicting a stag against a snowy alpine background. It was stunning and made me take a quick second look at the shops signage to make sure we were at the right place. Stepping inside the shop was my second eye opener. The shop was brightly lit and spotless with the aroma of jasmine in the air. There was about a dozen other shoppers browsing the aisles and they were a mix of male and female… obviously I was wrong about the trench coat brigade. These people were just every day citizens going about their business.

The aisles were well laid out and the displays were well organised. In fact it could have been any upmarket boutique in town apart from the nature of the goods on display. Nearest the door they had clothing, hosiery and footwear. It was arranged so that the deeper you went into the store, the more risqué the items became. That showed a lot of marketing savvy and was very easy to see that the owners of this adult supermarket knew what they were doing. Dresses and robes gave way to lingerie and negligees and again the items got racier as you moved further along. There were racks of corsets, body suits and teddies, displays of stockings and crotch less pantyhose. Bra and panty sets sat along side garter belts and men's posing pouches. Then came the footwear. Everything you could imagine that came with a stiletto heel… and there seemed to be no limit to the height of the heels. On the back wall of the shop I could see books and DVDs on display and directly in front of those seemed to be rack after rack of dildos. There were fake cocks of every shape size and color… some were truly scary in their dimensions. But it was the leather goods section that KJ seemed to be dragging my lover towards. Bondage gear. Passing through the aisles of lace, satin, silk and nylon I followed closely behind. KJ was clearly in charge and for the first time since I had known her, Stevie seemed a little uncertain. That was a real mind twister. The most sexually liberated and self assured woman I knew was showing uncertainty in a sex shop. Luckily, KJ spotted it too.

"Craig can you leave us ladies alone for a few minutes? I just want to talk to Stevie… ok?" I nodded and gave Stevie a quick kiss before heading off towards the back of the store to browse the movie section. The strains of Beethoven's Eroica wafted through the air softly as I browsed the lurid adult movie and magazine section. It was yet another stereotype buster. As I browsed I reflected on how comparatively sheltered my life had been in the past. Some of the covers of the DVDs and magazines in front of me actually managed to bring a blush to my cheeks and I found myself fidgeting nervously and hoping that I could quickly get back to the safety of Stevie and KJ's company. I suddenly could appreciate how Stevie felt! Here I was, used to death and destruction from all manner of causes, and I was getting embarrassed by the depiction of sex acts on plastic movie covers.

"Can I help you?" The friendly enquiry came from behind me. I turned to find an attractive blonde woman smiling at my obvious discomfort. "Hello… I saw you standing here looking very sheepish and thought I may be able to help. I'm Arielle." Her German accent was charming and her smile was open and honest.

"Aaah the owner of this store?" Not my snappiest comeback but then I wasn't feeling at my most comfortable right at that moment. "My name is Craig."

"Hello Craig. Yes my husband, Averall, and I bought the shop soon after we arrived from Germany. So what do you think? Do you like our little store?"

"It's definitely different to what I was expecting. I sort of had an image of a dirty, dimly lit store, full of low life men in trench coats and hats." She laughed at my preconception.

"In Germany sex isn't viewed as being dirty. There are shops like these all over my country so when we arrived it seemed like a good idea to open one here. So we did and now it's a very successful business. In fact it's going so well we are thinking of opening another one." She paused and looked around the store at the people comfortably shopping for items to enhance their relationships or their solo pleasures. "So how can I help you today?"

"Actually Arielle, I'm just killing time while waiting for my lady friends to do a bit of shopping." I turned and pointed out Stevie and KJ. It seemed that Stevie had overcome her problem and the two ladies were frantically scuttling from display to display piling item after item into a wire basket. "It looks like they might be a while. When Stevie gets going it takes a while for her to slow down." Arielle laughed again.

"KJ is a regular here and she is a demon shopper. I hope your lady friend has a bit of credit left on her card because I can see this is going to be an expensive afternoon for her. So can I interest you in a DVD or two?" It was my turn to laugh. The friendly and personal sales approach was definitely the right one in my case. I grinned and turned back to the display before me.

"Okay, you got me Arielle. Stevie is getting some bondage gear so I guess a couple of movies along those lines wouldn't be out of place. But I'm going to need a bit of guidance. I'm a bit of a beginner in that sort of area and Stevie is too… so nothing too hard. Ok?"

"I think we'll be able to find something for you." She busied herself selecting DVD titles from the racks in front of us as I looked back over to find Stevie and KJ being assisted by a tall good looking man dressed in jeans and a shirt similar to Arielle's; I figured it was Averall, Arielle's husband.

Ten minutes later I was standing at the checkout paying for a small stack of DVDs that Arielle and I had managed to sort out. As I signed for the purchase KJ sidled up beside me.

"Craig could you leave us ladies here for a while? Go and grab a coffee or something. There's a café next door. We'll meet you there soon… is that okay?"

"Yeah no problems KJ." I was getting more and more curious about what the coming night held in store for me. I said goodbye to Arielle and wandered next door clutching my discrete package of erotic movies. I didn't know how long I was going to be there so I grabbed a muffin to go with my cappuccino and parked myself at a table by the window. Today's Richmond Times Dispatch was sitting on the seat. It had been a long time since I had read a newspaper or watched a TV news broadcast. Back in Colombia I had been a real sponge for news broadcasts. As soon as a mission was over I'd log onto the internet and browse the news articles on CNN or Fox. After I had decided to leave the mercenaries and settle in Virginia I had hooked into the Times Dispatch website at any opportunity. That is where I had discovered Stevie's advertisement. I picked up the newspaper and started to scan the headlines on the front page. Almost immediately I wished I had left the paper on the chair.

"Man Found Dead in Highway Rest Area", the headline screamed at me. Instinctively I knew that it was Ramirez. As I quickly read the story my suspicion was all but confirmed. The description of the so far unidentified corpse matched Ramirez right down to the clothing he had been wearing when I saw him yesterday. The cause of death was stated as seven 9mm bullets to the torso. In a way this was a relief. It basically told me that none of my party had anything to do with the death. Any of my compatriots would have dispatched Ramirez with a double tap to the head. The seven rounds to the body smacked of a rage killing. Simmons. If I had been a betting man I would have to guess that Ramirez had reported our activities to Simmons in the hope that all would be forgiven and his cash cow would be the forgiving type. Obviously his judgment had been seriously and fatally flawed.

The body had been found in the rest area adjacent to the 7-11 that Lee and I had stopped in. That was a little chilling. I thought about the forest that surrounded that area and wondered if that was where Simmons had been making his home. It fit perfectly with Ramirez's account of his meetings with the renegade CIA officer. Logically, now that Ramirez had been killed in the area, Simmons should have moved on… found a new lair. But then Simmons wasn't really dealing from a logical deck any more. The area around that 7-11 was beginning to look very interesting and already I was itching to throw a pack on my back and go have a look at what, or who, I might find there. I was contemplating this very situation when the ladies arrived loaded down with what appeared to be half of the stock from Ave and Ari's Adult Toy World in sturdy brown carrier bags. I quickly shuffled the sections so that the front page with the alarming article was buried well toward the middle of the newspaper and the sports pages were uppermost.

Piling their purchases on a spare chair they went to the counter for coffee and a snack. While they were making their selections I took the opportunity to tear the article about Ramirez from the paper and stuff it into my pocket for further study later.

"Craig I'd plan on sleeping late tomorrow. I have this feeling that you won't be getting to sleep before the wee small hours tomorrow morning. Stevie has just about cleaned out the whole store next door. And I noticed you clutching a package of your own when you left. Want to show us what you got?" Mischief was high on KJ's agenda. Stevie, on the other hand, was looking decidedly unsure of herself. I could see that she was looking forward to the evening but there were still doubts floating around in her beautiful eyes. I reached across the table and held her hand.

"Stevie we'll just take this slowly okay? Everything at your pace honey." Her relieved smile was a thing of beauty. "And no KJ, you can't see what I bought." Her disappointed pout had us laughing and did a lot to dissolve the last of Stevie's tension. It was at that moment that my cell phone began warbling in my pocket. I pulled it out and flipped it open.

"Miller." My greeting was brief.

"Craig it's Lee here. You gonna be home later today?" I couldn't read anything into Lee's tone but it didn't sound stressed.

"Yeah we should be home in an hour or so. What's up man?"

"I've got an early Christmas gift for you. Listen I'll be bringing Karen out too. She has a couple of things she needs to talk to you about. I'll catch you soon buddy. Gotta run." With that he rang off. Quickly I ran the brief conversation through my mind and came to the conclusion that there was nothing I really needed to worry about. Karen would probably want to know if I knew anything about Ramirez's death but I decided that honesty was probably the best policy when it came to that subject. After all, I really did have nothing to do with his death.

"So we're getting visitors this afternoon Craig?" I explained to Stevie that Lee and Karen would be coming out to see us and asked if she had finished with her shopping expedition.

"I've still got a few things that I'd like to get honey but KJ has offered to bring me home when we're finished. I'll be home in time for the lovely dinner you're going to cook." This was news to me but I guess that a home cooked feast was the least I could do in exchange for a night of rampant sex.

By the time I had called in at the market to grab some ingredients for dinner I found myself running late. Pulling up to the house I discovered that I had been beaten there by Lee and Karen. They were leaning against their car; cuddled in close and deep in what looked like a very amicable conversation. As I drove up they separated and walked toward my car with open smiles on their faces. From their friendly demeanor I deduced that they weren't here to deliver bad news. Bruno and Inga were lying on the doorstep keeping a watchful eye on proceedings.

"Hi you two. Here you can help me with these bags then we can talk over a cup of coffee." Minutes later we were settling in at the breakfast bar with fresh coffee. Bruno and Inga had followed us in once they had been introduced to Lee and Karen and were now curled up in the corner.

"So to what do I owe the honor of this visit?" Suddenly things became very businesslike.

"Craig before we do anything I have to ask you a few questions. Did you hear the news today?" Okay so this was about Ramirez. I'd always believed that honesty was the best policy so I came clean.

"You're asking about the body found in the rest area? Seven rounds to the body? Is that the one?"

"Yes… I'm afraid that is the reason I'm here… or at least part of the reason. What do you know about it?"

"From the description I read in the paper it sounds like a guy called Julio Ramirez. I had a chat with him yesterday regarding why he tried to kill Stevie and KJ in the parking area at the mall but when I saw him last he was very much alive. He had a few bumps and bruises and a busted nose but other than that he was a fully functional unit. Are you here to arrest me Karen?"

"Craig if we had decided to arrest you we wouldn't have come alone. Truth is, we don't think you had anything to do with his death. We know that at the time he was killed you were out at Mr. Fong's buying a couple of very nice German Shepherds and Sam and Hemi were in a bar in town with a couple of ladies, one of which is a member of Lee's S.W.A.T. team. We do know about your little chat with Ramirez… if that is who he is. We've had you guys under surveillance for a few days now but unfortunately missed the attempted on Stevie and KJ at the mall. We've been tracking you with devices on your vehicles and a rotating tail but had nobody in the mall when that went down. Can you tell me more about what happened yesterday?"

So I told her everything. Well it was an abridged version of everything. I deliberately downplayed Grant's role in the interrogation to keep him as far in the background as I could. There was no point in me denying his presence at the house as he would have already been reported to Karen, but there was no point in muddying the waters for him. I was sure that Karen and Lee would understand. Besides… he was with Stevie and me when Ramirez was killed. When I finished Karen had a look of frustration on her face.

"Craig if you had let us deal with him he would still be alive!" It was a very valid argument but one that I wasn't interested in. Ramirez was scum and I doubt that he would be missed.

"

For the first time since the interview began Lee spoke.

"Craig we got a visit this morning from the local SAC of the FBI Counter Terrorism Unit. By we I mean Karen and I. Chief Wallace is out of the loop from now on and has been suspended from duty while he is investigated on corruption charges. So… the FBI now has a card in this game too. You'll be getting a visit from this guy tomorrow so be here and be nice. He'll be coming out at about 10 tomorrow morning. Now remember… he's not out to bury you so listen to what he has to say ok? I can't tell you anything more at this stage but trust me on this okay?" I nodded as I digested this latest piece of information. "On top of all that I have your weapons in the car… the ones that Wallace ordered confiscated. I'll give those to you before I go. Buddy I don't know what is going on here but I want you to know that if you need us we'll be here. None of this makes any sense but we are with you."