B.B.U.S.A. (Buying Back the United States of America) (3 page)

The men began a slow jog, following the single tack on the beach. When Bob and his contingent of tired followers finally reached the old pier, they turned east towards town, knowing that the jetty would be a dead end. Since he did not take Leo for a fool, he told his men to split up and comb a ten block range and see what they could come up with. They were to meet him back at the pier in half an hour. As his men disappeared from sight, he thought back to the careful arrangements Leo had made to get him and his men to this sea-side village. Perhaps he was smarter than he had originally given him credit for. He had convinced Bob that he was troubled with Tim’s death, and that he wanted to talk to him about his concerns.

Leo had obviously chosen his own turf. It almost appeared to him as if Leo purposely led him away from Boise, like a Killdeer pretending to have a broken wing to lead predators away from its nest. Bob knew from the tap on Tim’s line that he had sent Leo a flash drive with the results of his investigation reports on it; however, he also knew that Tim was unable to get the password out, thus making the flash drive virtually useless.

The night Ervin ended Tim’s life; they discovered a second flash drive in a manila envelope addressed to CNN. John spent several days trying to break the password and finally confirmed to Bob that they had very little to worry about from Leo. John did his best to find a back door to hack into but still came up with nothing. The CNN flash drive remained locked away in the fire safe in Boise at their main office, the secrets still safely secured. Regardless, he still wished he could offer Leo a sum of money and buy the flash drive just to ensure that its contents were never revealed to anyone, especially the media. He regretted that Leo had not given him the opportunity to strike a deal tonight. There had been time for amends, but now it was out of his control. It would not be the first time, or most likely the last time, that he would have to live with his regrets.

Where did Leo go and what was he up to now? Surely he did not have a particular destination in mind when he took off on his marathon run. Perhaps he was observant and had noticed John following him over the past few days. That might have explained why he tied into John so ferociously.

Bob shuddered as the cool mist started creeping in around his collar. His stomach growled. Supper was originally planned at the restaurant with Leo, so of course, no one had eaten dinner. Two shadows approached from the east. Moments later Ervin and John became visible. They reported no sign of Leo. It did not surprise him when Florin arrived by himself again. He too had not seen Leo.

“Well, he simply didn’t vanish.” Bob said. “John, when following him over the past couple of days, did he ever have a rental car?”

“No, he didn’t. He always took a cab, city bus, or hotel shuttle just like he did tonight at the lighthouse restaurant.”

“Good! I was beginning to think that he had set us up by pre-planning our evening’s exercises, and had conveniently left his rental car parked here for a quick escape. I wish to hell we’d taken a car instead of a taxi ourselves. By the way, did any of you notice any cabs in the streets this late?”

The response was negative. Leo must still be on foot somewhere. John noticed an old pay phone at the other end of the parking lot, and suggested they look through the phone book and call the cab companies to see if any cabs were sent to the jetty recently. Bob commended John for his idea and they set off for the pay phone. Only one Taxi Company was listed in the yellow pages. A tired sounding dispatcher answered the phone but told them that no one had called for a cab to that location in the past hour.

“While I have her on the line should I order us a cab?” John inquired.

Bob started to nod then hesitated. A sudden thought thundered through his head. “Leo has done everything unexpected so far tonight!” He looked over at John, who was still waiting for his reply. “No John, we aren’t going to need a cab just yet.”

John thanked the dispatcher and hung up the phone. “What’s on your mind?”

“I bet you all a free breakfast that Leo is still out on that pier as we speak! He knew we’d assume that he headed into town and would not risk an obvious dead end like the pier.”

John turned and looked at the lights leading over the dark water. “Shall we check it out then?”

He nodded and the men headed for the entrance to the pier. He instructed his men to simply detain and escort Leo off the pier should they encounter him. He felt confident that his premonition was correct this time. The night no longer seemed as dark as it had while running along the beach. Looking out over the water, Bob noticed the horizon giving way to the first light of the breaking dawn. The group of men made their way up onto the wet planks, but felt uneasy and out of their element as fishermen eyed them suspiciously.

Ervin slipped and nearly fell on the moist planks, but was able to steady himself by reaching out and securing his weight on the sturdy wooden hand rail. When Bob caught his eye he noticed panic and fear on his face, which seemed odd or out of place. He frowned at him questioningly.

Ervin relaxed his somewhat contorted face a bit and volunteered an explanation. “I never was much of a swimmer. It would be mighty easy to fall off this jetty and drown you know?”

Bob understood his fear, but also repeated Ervin’s last words again. “It sure would be easy to accidentally fall off the pier and drown, wouldn’t it boys?”

John understood his line of thinking. “You mean it would be a real shame if Leo had an accident out here?”

“Yes, you got my drift exactly,” he paused, “but be careful. I would not want any of you following him into the water!”

Leo had traveled less than twenty yards back down the jetty when he overheard two young boys conversing as they moved further down the pier. “Seems a little late for tourists out here.”

The second boy gently elbowed his friend in the ribs. “Don’t you mean a little early?” They both laughed as they stopped by a light, throwing their fishing gear down on the wet planks.

“This used to be a pretty good fishing spot,” the first boy commented.

Leo had heard enough. The hair on the back of his neck began prickling like a porcupine trying to get rid of loose quills. He knew very well that tourists at this hour only meant one thing; trouble. He had little time to plan an escape. His pursuers had not been tricked. He glanced at the receding tide and knew that attempting to swim to shore was still not an option. Perhaps he could climb over the railing and hide under the boardwalk down in the rusting girders and rotting pylons under the pier. That was an extremely dangerous option. The jetty was old, rusted, wet, slippery, and barnacle-encrusted. There would be little chance of successfully finding a spot to hide or to keep his footing on the slick surfaces below the boardwalk. If he didn’t fall, but was seen, he would have to jump to avoid being shot, and then he would undoubtedly drown anyway.

Nearby, a fisherman was wrestling with a good-sized catfish, trying to dislodge the large hook out of its ugly wriggling mouth.

An idea shot through his head and he immediately acted upon it without taking the time to thoroughly think it through.

“Allow me,” he said, and with a sudden swoop of his left leg, brought his foot down hard on the back of the catfish. A sharp pain rushed up Leo’s leg.

The astonished fisherman gasped with horror at the sight of the strong, needle like back fin protruding out of the top of Leo’s foot.

Leo clenched his teeth for a moment till the initial rush of pain passed. “Sorry man, I thought I’d just knock it out for you in order to dislodge the hook safely.”

The catfish began to squirm while still attached to his foot. He let out a small yelp in surprise as a new rush of pain passed through his nervous system.

The flabbergasted fisherman, who had not sought Leo’s assistance in the first place, came to his senses and hollered for help to three other nearby fishermen. The men reeled in their lines, laid down their poles, and rushed over to see what all the commotion was about.

Leo remembered how many fishing accidents he had witnessed as a kid over the years of fishing on this very jetty. Several fishermen had cut themselves; one fisherman lost a finger to a not-so-dead speckled shark while trying to retrieve a three-pronged hook. Once, when it was bitterly cold, an intoxicated older fisherman had cut off the tips of three fingers while trying to cut up some bait.

He had witnessed several people slipping, sliding and falling on the moist planks. A couple of people were even carried unconscious from the jetty after such a fall. The most common accidents were preventable. Due to simple carelessness, many innocent fishermen had been hooked by other fishermen. The size of some of the three-pronged hooks used to catch larger fish could be several inches across.

Once, Leo witnessed a gory mess when a young boy fishing alone had prepared to cast one such hook, but neglected to look behind him before beginning the forward momentum of his cast. The pronged hook had fastened itself to an unsuspecting fisherman’s lower earlobe. That particular cast removed nearly half of the man’s right ear. Blood gushed down his shoulder and onto the boardwalk. The man’s agonized howl scared the boy so much that he threw down his pole and raced down the length of the jetty straight for home.

Accidents were not uncommon on the pier, especially at night. All seasoned fishermen had a healthy respect of the jetty and its inherent dangers. Those who braved the late cold nights to take from the bounty the ocean offered, had become accustomed to accidents, and had undoubtedly helped others many times in the past.

Two men held Leo from moving while another attempted to pull the large, squirming catfish from his foot. The oldest of the four men stood hunched over, inspecting the damage, then giving directions and advice to the active participants. After freeing the catfish, Leo’s shoe and sock were yanked off in order to inspect the wound. Some dark blood dripped from both the top and bottom of the foot, but not a sufficient amount to be overly alarmed or to consider a tourniquet.

The older man stood up with one arm resting firmly on his hip. “Son, what were you thinking?” Leo caught his eye and groaned a bit but did not respond. The older man realized now was probably not the most convenient time to scold the careless young man. “Well, at least I bet you will have a healthy respect of catfish from now on!” and “We’d better get him to the emergency room.”

He refused to allow his facial expressions to clearly reveal the amount of burning pain that surged through his foot and up his leg. The guy who had yanked the catfish off his foot had lost his grip on it a couple of times. On the final pull he swiveled the catfish back and forth while pulling. To Leo, it truly felt as if his foot had been drilled. He envisioned bits of flesh swirled round and round, like swirling spaghetti around a fork. He bit back his agony, trying not to attract any more unnecessary attention to himself.

Two more fishermen came to help in the rescue. Minutes later, Leo was hoisted up and carried right past the four unsuspecting tourists.

Bob’s group was no more than one third of the way out on the old pier when a group of five or six fishermen rushed by, hollering and shoving them out of the way. “Look out! Move! We have an injured man! Watch out!”

It all happened so fast, Bob and his men had very little time to react. At first, he thought they had been ambushed by Leo, and that any second, they themselves, would be dumped into the churning waters below the pier. He had reached under his jacket and had managed to get his hand on the butt of his 9mm semi-auto pistol neatly concealed in a shoulder holster, but did not retrieve it. Reality was he would not have had time to retrieve it had it been an actual ambush. As he slowly withdrew his slightly trembling hand from the butt of the pistol, he could feel his heart pounding in his throat. He first took a deep breath to calm himself, and then he glanced at his men to make sure they were okay. Ervin was fiercely clinging to the side rail and was hyper-ventilating. Bob walked over to Ervin and patted him on the shoulder. “I know how you feel about water, Ervin. You’re okay now. Steady your breathing, Buddy.”

When Ervin seemed calmer Bob looked up at the others. Florin had an inquisitive look on his face as he watched the fishermen leave the jetty. He glanced up and caught Bob’s eye for a moment, then broke eye contact. Bob felt like shaking him, demanding that Florin reveal his thoughts, but he resisted. He had never figured Florin out, and did not expect to make much progress now either. Florin seldom volunteered information unless it was essential or crucial to the mission. He never bothered him with trivial matters, nor took part in much idle chit chat.

“Come on guys,” Bob said in a low voice and then added, “but be ready for anything, even a trap!”

After reaching the end of the pier without locating Leo, he was disappointed and extremely frustrated. He instructed his men to spread out and question fishermen regarding Leo and to meet back at the entrance within the hour. Perhaps he had never come to the pier at all. If he was further than 10 blocks before, he’d now been granted another hour’s lead.

At six in the morning the men reassembled in the parking lot by the pier. They had obtained very little information or cooperation from the remaining fishermen on the pier. Florin stepped forward, holding a shoe. “Look familiar?”

Bob took the shoe and looked up at the others questioningly.