Assassin Affairs (32 page)

One of his
associates suggested it might be fun to see how long one of them
could tread water. He agreed and threw the naked Kristie into the
colorful sea.

“Help!”
she shouted, struggling to stay afloat in the calm sea. “I hope
those fins are dolphin fins coming this way,” she said
anxiously.

The men set
aside their fishing poles and gathered at the edge of the boat to
jeer at her. Karlee threw her a life preserver.

“Here
comes a boat!” one of them yelled. “It must be the
Americans bringing our money.”

“Bring
the girl back into the boat and take them all down below,” he
ordered.

A few
moments later, Janine and Alexei were climbing aboard with a silver
case in-hand. They wore side-arms and several armed men accompanied
them, but remained on the idling cigarette boat. Randolph had
positioned himself, along with his sniper rifle and scope, unnoticed
on one of the neighboring fishing yachts.

“Is
that our money?” the leader inquired as his men lined up along
side him, also armed.

“Where
is the rest of the family? We need all four of them on board our boat
before we hand over the case.” Alexei opened the container to
show lined-up stacks of hundred dollar bills.

When the
exchange had been made and the family was aboard his boat, Alexei
said, “I believe I saw some young ladies depart the pier and
come here this morning. Where are they?”

“They
are busy. We are done. Go now!”

A scream
and loud ruckus could be heard from down below. Seconds later both
sisters emerged nude and disheveled. One of the kidnappers grabbed
Kristie and put a gun to her head.

“Leave
now or she dies, this other one, too!”

Just then a
hole appeared in his forehead, no rifle fire had been heard. Randolph
had taken the shot from a quarter-mile away. The man dropped dead,
then another, and their associates promptly stepped back and took
cover. Janine and Alexei pulled out their weapons and a fire-fight
ensued. When several of the men on deck got away, Randolph picked
them off one at a time. Janine went below deck to retrieve the other
four girls, along with all their clothes and the silver case full of
cash.

The group
showed no mercy to the remaining terrorists. Being independent
contractors in international waters and there in no official
capacity, they proceeded to gather up and kill all the surviving men.
Everyone was back on deck except for Janine.

“Bomb!”
she shouted from down below. Seconds later she appeared on deck, out
of breath. “That last one set-off a timer as I shot him. It
says ninety seconds and it's counting down!”

They all
scrambled for the idling go-fast boat and quickly crammed themselves
into it. Alexei gunned the powerful diesel engines and the craft's
response was instantaneous. The engines roared loudly as they sped
away. Seconds later the luxury fishing yacht exploding into a million
pieces. The concussion could be felt for hundreds of yards.

“I
can never thank you people enough,” said the relieved diplomat
as he exuded gratitude. “Anytime I can do anything for any of
you, please do not hesitate to tell me!”

“He
is a man of much influence,” added his adoring spouse. “When
he says he can help you with anything, he means it!”

“Thank
you. We're just glad we could save your whole family. We got lucky
this time. Besides, we were well paid,” said Alexei.

At the end
of the day, the diplomat and his family returned home. The others
stayed to unwind and enjoy a sunset walk along one of the Florida
beaches. A few lingering clouds made it even more scenic and
memorable.

Shortly
after returning to Chicago, the sisters got the call from Peter that
they had been waiting for. Financing for the rogue agent movie had
been secured and they both were needed in Hollywood as soon as
possible.

A few days
later as the pair sat together in their dressing area of the studio
going over the script, several men in suits approached.

“Karlee
Kingston, I'm FBI Special Agent Charles Tibbals. This is Special
Agent Ibarreta.”

“How
can I help you gentleman?”

“We're
investigating the killing of Lieutenant Governor Wallace from
Illinois,” he revealed in a menacing manner. “We've
retrieved digital voice prints from the scene. Our computers
routinely search the digital universe for matches in such cases.”

Kristie's
face began to reveal a look of grave concern. Karlee's remained
emotionless.

“And?”
Karlee asked.

“And
we have an eighty percent match on your audio track from the scene
you two played together in that long-lost twin TV episode. You've
become a
person-of interest
.”

“Eighty
percent isn't a lot,” said her sister dismissively.

The agent
continued, “We'd like you to come downtown with us, take a lie
detector test and provide us details of your whereabouts that night.”

“No
thank you, sir.”

“It's
not a request, Miss Kingston.”

“First
of all, I have no idea what night that was, and when you will tell
me, I'll have no memory of my whereabouts on any given night from
such a long time ago. Secondly, a lie detector test could pick up
false indications from some childhood memory, erroneously implicating
me. It could only serve to get an innocent girl like me into more
trouble. Thirdly, an eighty percent correlation isn't enough for you
to get a warrant, otherwise you'd have one. I'm sorry you wasted your
time, gentlemen, but I must ask you to now leave us alone as we have
lines to rehearse.”

“Don't
leave town, miss. You'll be hearing from us again very soon!”
The two agents were clearly agitated as they departed.

“Karlee,
I like the way you handled those men. You certainly have no shortage
of lawyers if you need them. There's Carlton, or any of your old
classmates, or what about that guy who was one of the extras? Bob,
wasn't it?”

“I'd
kind of like to keep the chapter with Carlton a closed one, and I
haven't kept touch with any classmates from law school. I don't know
anything about Bob. Hopefully things won't even go that far.”

“Let's
call that diplomat. Maybe he can help get them off our back!”

“I
don't even know who he was, Kristie. I'm calling Alexei. With his
connections, he can surely help.”

He got back
to her the next morning.

“Karlee,
that diplomat you helped save is actually a Director with the
government agency that covertly handles black ops for our country.
Such activity is never officially acknowledged as they want plausible
deniability. That's why the government was willing to pay so much to
get him and his family rescued.”

“I
didn't even know it was the government who had contracted us,
Alexei.”

“You've
helped out Uncle Sam more than once, hon.”

“Wow,
I had no idea.”

“The
man was so impressed with how you handled yourself that day, and so
appreciative of all that you did and risked, that his agency has
elevated you to
license-to-kill
status.”

“I
thought that just existed in the movies.”

“The
best part for you is that it's retroactive. That means you can't be
held accountable in Wallace's death.”

“Oh
my God, that sounds too good to be true. That is so awesome!”

“As
with most things in life, there is also a downside, Karlee.”

“What
could possibly be bad about all that?”

“The
agency likes to know the people to whom they grant such a privilege.
They're going to look into your background most thoroughly.”

“Oh,
let's not go there. I don't want to talk about it,” she said,
tensing up. Her face began to turn an ashen color.

After that,
the FBI matter ceased to be of any further concern. The film-shoot
continued for the next six months and wrapped. The consensus was that
it showed great promise. Kristie became envious of her sister's
elevated status, and joined her on the next trip overseas to meet
with Alexei and discuss getting the same classification.

“I
can get you what you want, Kristie, but you will have to do something
for me, too,” Alexei said. “Your sister limits herself to
killing only the bad guys as she calls them. Many of my jobs are for
good people who have merely been in the wrong place at the wrong
time, but offer handsome payments. If I can use you for these things,
I will get you what you want.”

“I
don't know, Alexei. I generally follow my big sister's lead on such
things. If something's not right for her, it's not for me either.”

“Well,
think it over. I've just come into a very special list from a
retiring U.S Marshal. In exchange for a seven figure payment into his
retirement fund, he has provided me with the names of numerous people
hiding in the Witness Protection Program. So far no Witness Security
Program participant, who has followed security guidelines, has been
harmed while under the active protection of the U.S. Marshals. With
this list in my possession, that's about to change. Here, look it
over.”

He eyed her
with interest as she scanned the names. Her sister sat across the
room working on an unrelated matter.

“Oh
my God, Karlee!” she gasped in horror.

“What's
the matter, sis?”

“Weren't
you listening to what Alexei just said?”

“No,
I was concentrating on this other stuff. What's going on?”

“This
is a hit list of WITSEC people. Take a close look at it!”

Once again,
her face turned pale. She looked up at Alexei with an expression of
'help us'.

“I
knew something was awry when the NSA informed me their initial
investigation showed no history on either of you much before your
teenage years. Do you want to tell
Uncle
Alexei about it?”

“NO!”
Karlee responded. “You're probably the last person we want to
have know anything.”

“Maybe
he's actually the first, Karlee,” Kristie perceived. “If
anyone could resolve our family's horrible dilemma, I'm thinking it's
Alexei!”

“Maybe
you're right, sis. Shall we tell him?”

“I
think we have nothing to lose at this point, Karlee.”

“Okay,
I was fifteen when our folks and our aunt had an unfortunate
encounter with some members of the Carboni crime family. They had
information that could implicate them and the government persuaded
our parents to help in what turned out to be a lengthy and
well-publicized trial. Major criminals were incarcerated, and the
family has been out for retribution ever since. After we all changed
our last name to Kingston, Mom and Dad determined it would be safest
for us if we both lived with our aunt as they were the major targets.
They became estranged to us and WITSEC placed us with our aunt in a
separate city. Our mom called it 'tough love' and said that we'd all
be together again in a year or so when the Carbonis were all in jail.
It's now been a lot longer than that and those people are still out
there wreaking havoc on the world. Our aunt has been our surrogate
mother ever since. We haven't had any contact with our parents in
twenty years!” she said, as she began to cry for the first time
in decades. Kristie teared-up, too. Even the insensitive Alexei got a
bit choked up over the display.

“Well,
a lot has changed since then, right? You're now part of a team of
elite assassins yourselves. Who would dare take on such a situation?”
he asked.

“The
Carbonis!” the sisters answered in unison.

“Perhaps
the best defense is an offense,” he pondered out loud.

“What
do you mean?”

“Let's
finish the government's job for them and wipe out the rest of the
crime family. Maybe we can even get paid to do it,” he added
with a wry smile. “If no one is left to pursue that retribution
you mentioned, you and your parents can be reunited!”

“Count
us in! Randolph can help us, too!” Kristie exclaimed, with the
color coming back into both sisters' faces.

“Janine
will help, too,” he said. “Plus, there are a few others I
can count on for such an endeavor. I'll put the wheels in motion and
start gathering information as to the family's habits and weaknesses.
You two get in touch with Randolph and Janine and bring them up to
date.”

A week
later Alexei and the rest of the group met in Chicago for a final
planning session.

“Here's
what I have so far,” he informed the gathering. “There
are four family members we need to focus on: Carboni's daughter
Carlotta, her husband, her brother and her son. The brother has a
gambling problem, the husband has a mistress, and the son is into
drugs and loose women. Carlotta is the most vicious of them and is
said to enjoy toying with her victims with various means of torture
before she kills them. She is the one who runs the family and still
uses the Carboni family name. Perhaps she married a cousin; I don't
know the particulars there. She controls a drug cartel in Detroit and
theirs is the only Italian family in the group. She's been losing her
grip on power, as none of the other families either like her or trust
her. The family's estate is very tight on security. How do you people
think we should approach this?”

“I
think her weakening power grip may be her most vulnerable point,”
said Karlee. “Maybe we could make the other cartel members
think that she's out to intimidate them into giving her more control
and a bigger percentage of the business. With the proper motivation,
they might take her out for us.”

“Oh,
I like that plan,” said Kristie. The others were in agreement.

“That
sounds good. The icing on the cake is that I've gotten us a contract
on her, so we will be getting paid to bring her down,” said
Alexei. They all marveled at the good news.

It was
determined to start the intimidation ruse with the family that had
the weakest security. Although the parents were away, the teenage son
was known to be at home with his girlfriend. The sisters wore their
usual hoods as they entered the home. The others stood guard outside.
They found the young couple enjoying the parents' king-size bed.