B.B.U.S.A. (Buying Back the United States of America) (27 page)

“You mean the one that went back there in a van in November and got snowed in?”

“Yeah, that’s the one.” Leo continued. “Well, as you remember he walked out about Christmas time with his dog. He nearly froze and starved to death. But what he couldn’t believe was that he had lighted trees on fire to try to get someone’s attention, but there simply wasn’t anyone in there to see it in the winter time.”

“No, it is just miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles,” Doug agreed.

“Well, it was late autumn when we were there. The leaves were turning and dropping off and there was NOBODY anywhere. When we got to the end of the road we could look down on Rock Lakes about a quarter of a mile, straight down in this little bowl. They were twinkling with reflected light as the wind skimmed the surface water. The lakes were so clear we could see logs submerged under water from as far away as we were. Mom pointed out peaks in the Sawtooth Range, the White Clouds, Pioneers, and Lost River Ranges. She told me we could hike two miles to Fly Peak Lookout but that no one was there as the guards were already gone for the winter. We got out of the truck, and although it was sunny the wind whipping around those mountains was icy cold. It was a shock for me compared to where I grew up.”

“Yeah, remember some of our camping trips when it got so cold that water froze solid in our bucket at night?” Doug was really a part of the story now.

“Anyway, Mom was so excited to be back in the country she grew up in and loved so much, she was nearly on the verge of crying. She turned to me and gave a grand sweep indicating everything we could see and seemed overwhelmed and emotional about the beauty of it all. ‘Doesn’t all this grandeur make you want to pray?’”

“Pray? Yes, I could see your Mom saying that. So, what did you say?”

“I prayed very earnestly. ‘Oh Dear God please let this old truck start!’” Leo chuckled.

Doug threw his head back and let out a real belly laugh. He slapped his knee and then the dashboard. “Yep, just like you, buddy. Bet your Mom was surprised.”

“She tells that story a lot but I usually don’t like to share it as much. She seems to think it’s pretty funny.”

Doug was surprised that the State had finally replaced the old single-lane steel bridge over the Salmon River with a new double-lane concrete bridge. Within a couple of miles the little town of Challis came into view. They pulled up the hill and turned left off Highway 93, up the Main Street of Challis. Only a few cars were on the street, mostly at Cheers at the lower end of the street and near the Custer Saloon and Bux’s Bar at the upper end. Leo’s grandmother’s house was dark, but the 1910 Victorian two-story home still stood tall and impressive in the meager glow provided by the street lights.

Leo pulled up next to the house. He was disappointed that he would not get to see his grandmother but he was glad he had called her from Rock Springs, Wyoming that morning. Being so tied up in his own affairs he had forgotten that she had planned her two-week cruise months in advance. His grandmother was a delightful lady. Leo was sincerely happy for her that at her age she was able to still enjoy life and did not suffer from a great deal of physical limitations.

Leo unlocked the front door and pushed it open. The men unpacked their belongings hastily, placing the bags, weapons, and laptop computer in the dining room. Leo always kept a spare key to his Grandma’s house, as he frequented the house many times during the summer and especially during hunting season. The house was cool, so he walked over to the wall that held the oil furnace control and turned it up. The old furnace creaked and groaned as it went about its job of warming the house.

The entire house was old, but grand. It was one huge antique from the ancient piano in the living room to the fantastic old organ in the upstairs bedroom. Every hutch, bookshelf, and free-standing closet was a relic of the past. The house resembled a museum. Some of the upstairs walk-in closets and two attics held a multitude of books printed in the eighteen hundreds, and had such things as Leo’s great grandmother’s baby shoes and his great, great, grandfather’s wedding suit. Photo albums abounded. Large framed pictures of Leo’s great, great grandparents hung in the family room. He remembered his grandmother once showing him her grandfather’s pistol that he had used in the Spanish American War. So much history was contained in that house, it was no wonder he had never had much success trying to persuade his grandmother to sell it and move to Nampa, Meridian, or Boise in order to be closer to the rest of the family.

When Bob got up the following morning and assembled his men, they continued the tedious process of moving offices. Luckily, Carl and Marcus had everything lined up, but even so, it was midafternoon before they had finished. Their old office had been vacated, their numbers changed, and their front name changed from “Enterprise Investments” to “Investments Unlimited.” Headquarters had been notified regarding the changed address and telephone numbers. Marcus listened to a recorded call for the second time.

“We have another break. Come listen to this!”

“What is it, Marcus?”

“Leo called his office this morning, requesting some documents be sent to him.” Bob, John, Ervin and Florin huddled around the electronic device and they listened attentively to the recording. Leo seemed to want a copy of all the B.B.U.S.A. files express mailed to his grandmother’s place, address to be found on the Christmas list.

Bob’s face lit up like a bonfire. “Cancel all events for the rest of the day and night. I have already received permission from headquarters to increase the pressure on Leo to whatever point necessary to get this mess wrapped up. Tonight we shall pay his office a little visit. Marcus, you have till eight p.m. to locate his office manager and report back to me. We’ll take care of her and his business in one fell swoop this evening. One way or another, we’ll have this all wrapped up in the next forty-eight hours, guaranteed.”

Florin entered his apartment. He was sick. He had been a witness to an atrocity. More than just a witness, he had been present at another murder site. This one struck home. He was shaking. Beads of sweat were so thick on his forehead and around his hairline that little streaks poured down his cheeks. He could feel droplets of sweat actually running down his sides. He was repulsed by what he had witnessed, and sickened by the knowledge that he had been a part of it.

Although he had never intentionally victimized anyone, he knew he was guilty because he didn’t save her either. He was not the only one that felt that way. After they left the building, the orange glow growing in the belly of the office, he had noticed John upchucking in the large city dumpster at the side of the building. The others had not seen John slip away, but he had not gone entirely unnoticed.

Florin was shaking so badly that he could hardly undress himself. He finally succeeded and showered. He knew that his depression was in full strength. His appetite had been low all day, but now it was entirely gone. He felt as weak as a kitten. He felt like he was one of Hitler’s special SS troops ridding Germany of the Jews. No matter how important this job once was, and how desperately he needed the money, it had gone too far. Florin realized he had already crossed the line the previous day in Denver when he hid Doug’s letters under the office carpet. Things were now much worse. He had to get away from the craziness and the unnecessary killings. But could he part ways with the organization?

The B.B.U.S.A. was no longer the fine organization that he believed it to be. It was just a front for powerful men to do as they pleased. He did not want to have anything further to do with them, but he had to be extremely cautious himself. How could he back out now? Just like Leo, he knew too much. They could not let him walk away. What about his wife and children? The B.B.U.S.A. knew about them. He felt trapped. How could he have let himself get involved with such people? He should have known from the start that the job and the money were just too good to be true.

Florin sat quietly in the dark for a long time, hugging his knees while wrapped in a bathroom towel. He wondered if Jesus would ever forgive him for his involvement. He wondered what Jesus would want him to do now. He slowly rose on still shaky legs, walked to his bedroom and flung himself on the bed. He ached all over. More than that, he hurt like he never had hurt before. It was a deep hurt within his chest. It was a feeling of emptiness and utter despair for what had happened at Leo’s office. His heart felt like someone was slowly twisting a corkscrew deeper and deeper into his chest.

The frightened and tortured voice of the office manager echoed in his hollow core. He knew that Bob did not approve of the excessive force Ervin had used on the office manager, but yet he had said nothing. The end result seemed more important to him. Ervin had the look of a child at Disneyland. His face exemplified utter pleasure. He enjoyed beating the office manager. He enjoyed humiliating her in front of the men. He had purposely ripped her blouse and skirt off, just to taunt her. As Florin recalled the details of the evening, tears began to streak down both sides of his face and loud sobs raked his body. He could not remember ever sobbing in his life.

The more tears Florin wiped away, the more sprang forth. He sobbed in pity for the anguish the poor woman had endured before being lit on fire with the rest of the office. Bob had accomplished his goal. With or without Florin, he had found out the exact where-a-bouts of Leo’s grandmother’s house in Challis. He had destroyed all the evidence that could possibly link Leo and Sarah to the B.B.U.S.A.

It was Florin who could not stand the torture any longer when Ervin had extracted all the needed information from her. When Ervin sprayed her with kerosene, she was still conscious. He had bent down to the broken body crawling on the floor and grabbed the woman by the back of her hair, lifted her head up and stared intently at her bewildered eyes darting around the room. He let her head drop back down onto the floor. “Welcome to hell, bitch.”

As he attempted to ignite her with his cigarette lighter, Florin could take no more, regardless of the consequences. He lunged forward as the flames began to leap all over her body, and snapped her neck in the same second. She felt no more pain. Ervin was furious! He wanted to watch her until she took her last breath. He wanted to look into her eyes as they glazed over and death took her. When Ervin bent down to yell in Florin’s face, he finally lost control of himself. Florin head-butted Ervin in his spewing mouth with all his might, feeling Ervin’s front teeth shatter. He could not stop himself. His knee flew up high in a partial jump kick that knocked the air from Ervin’s stomach. As Ervin hunched over, spitting blood and gasping for air, Florin did a spinning roundhouse kick that landed solidly on Ervin’s jaw. He lit, bloodied, unconscious, and dangerously close to the still-flaming body of the office manager.

It was Bob who reached Florin from behind. He put him in a sleeper hold, cutting off oxygen to his brain. Florin reached up at Bob’s big strong arms, and when he could not pry them loose, landed several sharp elbow blows to his ribs and midsection. Bob used his superior size and weight and hung on for dear life, forcing Florin to the ground. Florin remembered seeing John and Marcus pulling Ervin’s unconscious body away from the flames before he blacked out. He was only out for a minute at most, but when he came to, Bob still had his arms around Florin’s neck from behind.

He asked him if he was under control now and whispered in his ear, “I’ll give you one chance and only one chance. Listen carefully. Either you cooperate fully and we have a long chat later, or you, too, will die in this fire. Which is it?”

The others had not heard his words. They were tending to Ervin who was coming around. Florin thought about his family and he wanted to live. He slowly nodded. Bob released his grip. Florin shook his head and eased up onto wobbly legs, looked at Bob, and nodded again. Bob eyed him cautiously and watched him walk out the side entrance into the alley. John was the next one out. While Bob and Marcus walked on either side of Ervin, stabilizing his long legs, Florin saw John lose his supper in the garbage can. The building had taken on a red glow. Smoke began to seep from the side door. Soon someone would be reporting the fire. Marcus and John had disabled all the fire security devices as well as the smoke detectors. They left a fire bomb that would explode within minutes. The five of them made a hasty departure.

Florin sat up front next to Bob, who drove. They went directly to the new office. There they unloaded and began the lengthy conversations. Ervin looked awful. He was in severe pain. He would need a dentist and some stitches.

During the two hour conversation with all members present, Florin watched Bob reach under his coat jacket several times. Florin felt like he was in an interrogation room, and knew he was vulnerable. He thought there was a good possibility that Bob would retrieve his 9mm pistol and shoot both Ervin and him at any given moment. Ervin repeatedly pleaded for medical assistance, to which Bob turned a deaf ear. Ervin held his face over a bucket the entire time, bleeding savagely for the first thirty minutes. Later long strings of red spittle hung from his lower lip and swollen jaw. At one point Bob screamed at Ervin, telling him to shut up. It was at that very moment Florin was sure Bob would pull his pistol and shoot them both, but when he finally pulled his hand from under his jacket it did not hold his gun. Florin breathed a sigh of relief.

Bob asked how they thought this matter could be resolved. Florin saw an opportunity to get out and asked if he too, could be transferred with Carl and Marcus. Bob agreed that he would personally see to it within the week, providing that there were no more problems amongst the group. Ervin agreed as long as he could get medical attention. Bob sent Ervin out with John and Marcus to seek medical help and hollered at them when they were leaving to tell the emergency room that Ervin had been in a bar fight.