Kill Them Wherever You Find Them (57 page)

First things first though. He had to create
some kind of paper trail that would make it look like he did his
due diligence in checking the background and criminal histories of
the two maids that he hired sight unseen. That wouldn't be
difficult.

Once the paperwork was complete, the only
other obstacle in his way was the General Manager of the resort.
Marco knew that he was in collusion with the very same people
associated with the two maids. Were his criminal behavior detected
it wouldn't be long before connecting the dots led investigators to
Marco.

As soon as he left the police station he
would find two women to fill out an application so that a different
woman's handwriting appeared on each. They would both be paid
enough money to ensure that they kept their mouths shut.

Then he'd bribe somebody in the police
department to provide bogus criminal reports that showed a clean
record for the two maids.

Finally, he had to put out a 'hit' on the
General Manager. Make the man disappear.

Marcos was in such deep thought that he
failed to notice the interviewer enter the room. Sad memories of a
childhood best left in the past took a backseat to the present,
menacing situation. Marco had to focus, think carefully to keep the
story straight.

"Let's revisit the issue of your hiring
policy. Tell me about the two maids who, apparently, disappeared
into thin air after the day in question."

"What about them? These people, they come and
they go. That's especially true for the cleaning crew. You can't
possibly expect me to account for their lives, or the reasons why
they simply don't show up for work anymore."

"I understand that there is a high
turn-around, and jobs at the lowest rungs of the ladder might
attract people of unpredictable behavior. I just want you to tell
me a little bit about what you know of these women. What was your
first impression when you met them." The interviewer asked this
question with almost a smile, a comic relief, as if it were not all
that important but he had to get it out of the way.

"When neither of them showed up for work the
next morning did you try to contact them?"

"Unless the employee is in a
middle-management position or higher we simply consider no-shows
terminated. To be honest, I really don't even remember them. Why?
What's so important about them?" Michael was getting agitated.

That his drug debt had been paid off so that
he would hire the two women without checking references or
confirming previous employment appeared to have been a bad move on
his part.

"Frankly Marco, I find it all but impossible
to believe you can't even remember them. From their pictures, and
from everything that I've heard from the other employees of the
resort, they were nice-looking, one of them described as incredibly
sexy by other employees. Would you like to reconsider your
response?" The levity, if it was ever there in the first place, had
entirely disappeared.

"What's to reconsider? This is the second
largest resort in all of Brazil, in all of South America for that
matter. You can't possibly expect me to remember such a minor
event. You must realize that I oversee the employment of over
hundreds of people. In my busy schedule two maids would hardly
stand out in my memory, sexy or not."

"No, probably not. I apologize for the
intrusion on your day. I think we're done here, for now."

"Then I'm free to go?"

"Be my guest." The interviewer extended his
hand toward the door as his partner opened it from the outside.
"We're done for now, but I'm sure we'll be talking again."

The investigator knew something. Other than
the general manager nobody had been interviewed a second time. The
fact that this was his third interview with the detective didn't
bode well.

Marco knew that the resort manager would pin
everything on him in a heartbeat if he could. The man was such a
bastard.

He had to beat him to it, point any
culpability in the manager's direction. Were he lucky he'd even get
the disgraced manager's job!

But maybe, just maybe, he could make the
manager disappear forever. A sudden disappearance would make him
look guilty, Marco would get his position along with a raise in
income, and this whole problem would just go away.

Table of Contents

7. Crack in the Dam

“
A failure is not always a mistake, it may simply be the
best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to
stop trying.”
- Author

Nordfjord, Norway

The yacht transporting Moshe
Levin and crew
finally reached its destination in Norway. Docked at the end of
Nordfjord, Dr. Levin was transported by way of ambulance to the
tiny town of Olden, which boasted a bustling population of about
one thousand people.

In Olden a transport team stood ready to take
Dr. Levin to England by way of Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands,
then once more by boat across the English Channel to Britain
itself.

Agent Frederick Hampton was relieved to be
done with the whole episode.

Joining the service, he never anticipated
killing anybody in the line of duty, at least not this way and for
no discernibly honorable reason.

Had somebody pulled a weapon with intent to
kill him, or an innocent bystander, he had no problem opening fire
in response.

The decision to leave Mrs. Levin behind was a
difficult one, yet under the worsening weather conditions of the
night in question, it seemed only reasonable course of action.
There was just no way to get her and Dr. Levin both to the boat
within the allotted time while dealing with the downpour of rain
that night being an unavoidable obstacle that had to be
overcome.

"Freddie" had many long days and nights
during the journey across the vast Atlantic Ocean to reflect on
that evening.

Over and over he found himself questioning
his decision. Taking out the three agents that guarded the Levins
had to be done, he had no problem with that, but now he found
himself wondering if they really needed to kill the woman.

His initial encounter with Miriam Northrup,
the very memory of her he loathed, then subsequent conversations
with the medical doctor who was present during the interrogation,
gave Agent Hampton reason to reconsider the purpose and validity of
the operation as well as his role in it.

He didn't know who he was or why Dr. Levin
had to be spirited to the United Kingdom; or what MI6 wanted from
him. An old man, broken and dispirited, that was all Agent Hampton
saw. Whatever his value was to his country, he certainly was no
enemy to anybody.

He was grateful that Levin was held in
isolation the entire trip. Freddie couldn't face him, wouldn't know
what to say to him if he did. The rest of his life he would have to
carry within the memory of killing this man's wife, wondering if
there might have been a better way to accomplish the same mission
while sparing her life.

At night when he was alone, left to his
thoughts, Freddy kept playing over in his mind the memory of
hearing the gunshots in the suite. Entering the room he saw the
agent standing over her body as another agent injected her husband
with a drug that would render him unconscious.

Standing on deck as he had so many sleepless
nights since departing Brazil, he watched silently as the ambulance
transported Dr. Levin's unconscious body to the small town in
Norway. Ultimate destination: a safe house near London.

This wasn't what he signed up for. There just
was no possible way that this man or his wife had been in any way a
threat to England.

Freddie valued his position in Six, never
faltering in his belief in the organization and its countless
achievements to this point that benefited the entire world. He knew
that all organizations would invariably make mistakes in judgment,
due to the simple fact that the organization was comprised of
fallible humans. He was certain that this operation was
illustrative of just such a case.

Days after docking the yacht at the Norwegian
port, Freddy returned to Six HQ in London for a debriefing.

He was, as he had expected to be, chewed out
with regard to the execution of Mrs. Levin. Nothing his superiors
said could have made him feel worse than he already did.

"According to our field report by agent
Northup you gave the order to execute Mrs. Levin. Explain
yourself."

"No such order was given, Sir. While working
in the field, sole discretion is mine to alter operational plan
details as needed to guarantee the desired mission results. The
prevailing conditions on the night in question didn't lend
themselves to safely transporting the bodies of both Levins without
a significantly higher risk of discovery already existent. Dr.
Levin, not his wife, with the objective of the mission."

"I never gave a direct order to execute Mrs.
Levin. That said, I do understand how my statement that she was an
unnecessary risk could have been misconstrued, leading to her
execution."

"Whether you didn't express yourself
properly, or the other agents didn't understand you correctly, it
doesn't matter. You are in charge of the operation, this makes you
ultimately responsible for her execution. That will be all agent
Hampton."

Returning to his desk he knew he had to learn
more about the Levins; who they were, what Dr. Levin's importance
was to England, and if Mrs. Levin's death was an unacceptable
loss.

In Brazil he didn't have any access to files
which now were at his fingertips. After logging on and checking his
messages that had accumulated over the last few months, agent
Hampton responded to those that required a response and he
navigated to the secure server which would contain the information
he wanted on the mission just completed.

Opening the data folder brought up a message
informing him that the files he was trying to access were
restricted. No other information was given, nor was there any
reason why somebody with his security clearance level couldn't open
this mission file.

Confirming that it was a security access
issue, rather than a computer problem or a corrupt file, Hampton
opened the data folders of a few other missions that were recently
completed. He had no problems opening them, which left him to
wonder what it was about the Levin file that made it off-limits to
an agent assigned to the case.

What had started out as little more than
curiosity, coupled with a desire to assure himself that his role in
the kidnapping of Dr. Levin was justifiable, elevated itself to the
status of a mystery that he would be unable to let go of any more
than a hungry predator would be able to release the grip of
succulent prey from its jaws.

"I wonder…" he thought himself as he recalled
the memory of the micro tracking chip injected into the thigh of
Dr. Levin, while he was yet unconscious.

Hampton kept a paper copy of the mission
dossier in his desk at work. Tomorrow he'd review it, see what the
broadcasting frequency of the chip was - it would have been vital
information for the on-site agents to have had were he to have
escaped. It was highly unlikely that the chip would ever be
removed; even if there were no further use for it, removing it
would have been needless.

~~~

Dr. Levin awoke to find himself in a room
decked-out with all of the comforts of home one could want. Far
more so, in fact, than the appointments of his and Rivka's own
home. The opulence was, to him, distasteful.

"Dr. Levin, how are you feeling?"

"What? Who are you? Where . . . ?" His voice
dropped-off as memories of the ordeal returned.

"In answer to your second question, my name
is Marsha, and I'll remain with you during the daytime hours. As to
the 'what,' you are in England, a countryside estate. That also
covers the 'where."

"Then all that's left is 'why?'"

"I'm sure you remember your chat with one of
your Project scientists, Miriam Northrup. The 'why;' therefore,
must be obvious to you by now."

"Yes, I recall perfectly. Are you going to
attempt to pick up where she left off?"

"No. I'm just here to protect you."

"You mean make sure I don't try to
escape."

"Escape from this estate is impossible, what
with the electronic and human safeguards. What I really meant, but
didn't feel to put it so crudely, is that I'm here to make sure you
don't take your own life. I'm aware of what was done to your wife,
and what must be an impossible situation for you now. If you
haven't already thought of it, you eventually will see suicide as
your only means of exiting on your own terms. I'm afraid I cannot
allow that to happen."

"There is nothing you can do to prevent it,
if I am determined." Moshe instantly sprang from the sofa on which
he was laid and threw himself to the hardwood floor, back side
down. Laying on the floor for a few seconds, he appeared to be
confused.

"Dr. Levin, please stop before you seriously
hurt yourself. We scanned your body during your transport here. The
neurotoxin capsule in your back was detected and surgically
removed.

Feeling both sheepish and angry Levin
situated himself on the sofa once more.

"Are you hungry, thirsty?"

"Not particularly."

"I'll have a meal brought to you anyway,
should you change your mind. I understand you maintain a kosher
diet. We installed a new kitchen and bought all new tableware to
maintain your standards.

"That was
so thoughtful
of you." Moshe
responded with an acidic quality in his voice.

"Dr. Levin, I'm going to be with you for the
foreseeable future. Perhaps we can attempt to get along, just a
little?"

"It would be unwise to hold your breath,
young lady."