Exceptional Merit (15 page)

He figured Castillo to be a Hispanic male from the surname and would see if the man in the car matched what he thought Castillo would look like.  After changing lanes, he waited for the Grand Fury to pass but it did not.  He slowed down but the car still wouldn't pass.  He switched over to the right lane and exited the expressway at the Kissena Boulevard exit, waiting to see if the Grand Fury would follow.  It did not.  He waited in front of Queens College but the Grand Fury never exited the expressway.  He breathed a sigh of relief as he realized he was just being paranoid again.  Keegan drove on the service road for miles before he got back on the Long Island Expressway at the Queens-Nassau border and headed home.

Arriving home shortly before eleven, the kids were fast asleep.  He checked in on his children.  Kevin and Timothy were sleeping comfortably in their bunk beds.  Kerry was tossing and turning in her bed.  He decided she must've been having a bad dream.  He wondered what kind of bad dream a four year old could possibly have.  He sat with her for a few moments and rubbed her back.  “It's all right sweetheart.”

Keegan put his daughter's teddy bear on the bed next to her, Kerry hugged the stuffed animal and it seemed to comfort the child and she fell back into a sound sleep.  He then undressed and got into bed next to Kate.  Kate was deeply involved in a novel.  She always read before going to sleep if time would allow.  She looked up from her book long enough to acknowledge her husband and ask how his night went.

Keegan felt rejuvenated in the thoughts of putting his days of gun running behind him.   After tomorrow night, things would get back to normal forever.  He would no longer have to lie to his wife
.  He’d done his part and putting it all behind him made him feel great.  He lay next to Kate and stared at her, as she read.  He reached his hand under Kate's night shirt and began to gently caress her breasts.  He kissed the nape of her neck until his touch broke her from her novel.  She turned over and looked her husband in the eyes.

There was something there she hadn’t seen in quite some time.  There was a youthful sparkle in his eyes.  Once their eyes met, he pressed his lips against hers and they kissed passionately.  Kate ignored the beer on his breath.  She knew he occasionally went out after work with the guys for a quick beer and she was okay with that.  The kisses grew deeper and more passionate.  After making love, Keegan rolled off his wife.  She looked deeply into her husband's eyes as she played with the hair on his chest.

She looked up at him with a playful smile.  “That was wonderful, Jim, you must've had a good night at work?”

“No
, it was a pretty boring night, actually.  I just love you so much and I appreciate you more than you will ever know.  That's all.”

Keegan could feel his eyes begin to well up.

Kate knew something had to summon up all the passion she had experienced tonight and whatever it was didn't seem to matter to her.  Jim hadn't paid this much attention to her in some time and she missed it.  She missed the romance they once shared.  She knew it was normal for the spark to go out of a relationship but she also knew his job played a big part in it as well.  It seemed for a time, he was never home and always at work instead.  He would miss holidays, family functions, barbeques, the kid’s birthdays and so much more.  She knew he planned on retiring in the next few years and that is something she felt they could both look forward too. “I love you too, Jim.”

*****************************

Kate returned home from walking the kids to the bus stop shortly after nine a.m.  Jim had been sleeping soundly when she left.  Hearing the upstairs shower running, she knew this was no longer the case.  Kate went into the kitchen and decided to prepare an omelet for him.  She listened carefully for the shower to stop.  When it did, she figured to have about ten more minutes before Jim would come down stairs.

She knew his routine probably even better than he did.  After his shower, he would always shave and get dressed immediately, even if he had no place to go.  Kate put on the pot of coffee and figured if she timed it just right everything would be ready just as Jim walked down the stairs.  It's a gorgeous day, thought Kate.  She felt very energetic and was eager to surprise Jim, even if it was only by making him breakfast.  Kate finished the omelet with a side of
Irish bangers
and put it in front of his seat at the walnut finished dining room table.  She retrieved his mug, which bore the shield of an N.Y.P.D. Lieutenant and filled it with coffee.  She set the morning newspaper down next to his breakfast and almost girlishly waited for him to come downstairs.  Keegan walked down the stairs smelling the sausages.  He looked over to his smiling wife.  “To what do I owe this pleasure?  A king's breakfast and it's not even my birthday.”

“Let's just say I wanted to show you how much I love you.”

She greeted him at the bottom of the stairs with a peck on the lips.  Keegan enjoyed his breakfast as much as Kate had enjoyed making it for him.  After breakfast, he called his mother up on the telephone and arranged for her to watch the kids the following night.  “It's all settled.”  Keegan hung up the phone.  “My mother is going to watch the kids and you and I will go out for a nice romantic dinner.  How would you like to go to that new French restaurant?  I hear the food is fantastic.”

“That sounds great.  You know I've been dying to go there, what's the occasion?”

“Does there have to be a special occasion every time we go out to a nice restaurant?”

This would be a celebration of his liberation from his secret life but he obviously couldn't share his enthusiasm with Kate.  He would be extremely careful tonight to ensure that tomorrow was in fact a reason to celebrate.  Since it was Friday, Kate would be off to the supermarket to do the grocery shopping.  Keegan hoped this would give him enough time to go to the gun store, buy the gun and deface it before she got back home.  He patiently pretended to read through the newspaper until Kate finally went to the store.  He gave her a five minute head start before he himself left the house.

Keegan had just finished drilling out the serial numbers on the Beretta when the garage door began to open.  He quickly hid the drill under the workbench and put the handgun in his waistband.  Kate pulled the Explorer into the garage.  Jim had a startled look on his face and he stuffed a gun into his waist.

“I'm sorry hon, did I startle you?”  She continued before he could answer, “What were you doing anyway?”

“Nothing love, you just took me by surprise, that's all.”

This was as close as Kate had ever come to catching him. 
Two close calls in one week
.

“What were you doing with the gun?”

He was hoping Kate hadn't noticed the gun but it was now apparent that she had.  “Oh, I was just cleaning it when you opened the garage door; I tucked it away until I saw that it was you.”

He had no idea if his wife had bought his story but what else would she possibly think.

Kate never thought twice about his story and accepted it as truth.  “Well do you think you can come and give me a hand with the groceries?”

He helped her carry in with the groceries and breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't bring up the gun anymore.  He explained to her that he was going to be out in the field tonight on the same stakeout that he was on last night.  This way, she wouldn't try to call him in the office.  He also assured her he would be home on time and that no matter what happens tonight during the stakeout, he would be off tomorrow night so they can go and enjoy the romantic night out as they had planned.  The thought of the night out without the children pleased Kate.  She gave her husband a kiss good bye as he left for work.

Keegan was scheduled to work a four to mid-night shift that night, but once at work, he cleared it with Captain Anderson to take three hours vacation time off from the end of his shift.  It was really just a formality, he knew ahead of time he would be able to take off but it still had to be cleared by his Commanding Officer.  Keegan left work around nine o'clock and left the familiar instructions.  If anyone called for him, especially his wife, he was out in the field on an assignment.  He signed out and left the office carrying a small canvass duffel bag.  He got into the department's Crown Victoria and looked around to see if there were any unfamiliar cars there.  He started the car up and drove to McBride's.  He couldn't believe his great fortune when he arrived to have actually gotten a parking spot right in front of the bar.  That was a rare thing, especially on a Friday night.  This was a good sign, he convinced himself.

Keegan opened the door to the bar.  It was even more crowded than it was last night.  Probably more crowded than he has seen it in many years.  His usual night is Thursday, not Friday.  People were standing four deep at the bar.  His usual bar stool was not even a remote possibility tonight.

Keegan hadn't been to McBride's on a Friday night in many years and this was probably an average Friday night crowd, he guessed.  He slowly made his way through the crowd, tightly holding the duffel bag.  It took about two full minutes to go from one side of the bar to the other.  There were no bar stools available for him to sit on.  He stood patiently at the end of the bar, waiting for O'Brien to notice him.  He examined the crowd to see if there was any danger to him.  He would be damned if he was going to get caught the last time he did anything for the I.R.A. after getting away with it for well over a decade.

Studying his environment, Keegan decided everybody there fit the scene.  The only person who was there by himself was a young man with long dirty blond hair sitting in a rear booth.  He had a three day growth on his face which didn't mask the fact the he was barely out of his teens.  Keegan guessed he was about twenty years old or so.  There was something about him that gave Keegan the chills.  There was that feeling of the hairs on the back of his neck standing up again.  After studying him for a few moments, he decided that he was over reacting.  The man was much too young to possibly be an undercover for I.A.B., aside from that he looked Irish and the last name Castillo definitely did not fit him.

“Jim.”

Keegan heard his name called out and looked over at Dan O'Brien, who was motioning for him to come over.  And so he did.  O'Brien pulled a stool out from behind the bar.  He put it down at the bars edge and invited Keegan to have a seat.  “Thanks Dan.”

“I've been savin' that stool all night for ya Jim.  Now what would ya be havin' tonight, a Guinness or something harder?”

Keegan smiled at the bartender.  “My nerves are much calmer than last night Dan.  I'll have my usual Guinness.”

O'Brien poured a Guinness, as Keegan's attention now returned to the man with the long hair.  He was now talking with Nora.  She looked good tonight as usual.  She was wearing a black skirt and a loosely fitting white blouse with the top three buttons open exposing just enough cleavage to capture a man’s attention.  The man was flirting with Nora and she seemed to be having a good time with it.  Keegan figured if the man played his cards right, he wouldn't be alone much longer.  O'Brien returned with Keegan's Guinness.  O’Brien nodded toward the duffle bag Keegan had carried in with him.  “'I assume everything went well today.  No problems on such short notice?”

“No problems Dan.  I have exactly what you asked for right here.”

He set the duffle bag down behind the bar.

“Good, I'm glad to hear that Jim.  Why don't you go have a seat over in the booth with that young fella over there?”

It was more of a direction than a suggestion and Keegan realized that.  “Take the bag with ya.”

Keegan looked at the man again.  "Him?"

Keegan was surprised, although there was something eerie about the man, Keegan did not make him for an I.R.A. operative.  Keegan wasn't sure what he had expected but he figured whoever he was going to meet would be a grown man; maybe someone closer to his or Dan O’Brien’s age.  This was a kid.  He couldn’t be much more than twenty, Keegan estimated.  He certainly had a cold look in his eyes but nevertheless, he was barely out of high school.  Upon reflection, Keegan felt stupid.  What had he really expected, a white haired man wearing a brown overcoat?  He realized that his stereotypical expectations had been ridiculous.  The I.R.A. is fighting a guerilla war and the overwhelming majority of their soldiers are probably not much older than the man sitting before him
;
a boy growing up in world, where he never had a chance to be a kid.

“Aye, that's him.  His name is Sean Murphy.  He's good people Jim,” O'Brien vouched.

Keegan got up from the bar, Guinness in hand, and walked over to the booth where the assassin waited for him.  Sean Murphy, as Keegan now knew him, watched as Keegan approached.  “Nora me love, would you excuse us while me old friend and I have a word?”

Old friends?
Keegan thought.  He was old enough to be his father.  Keegan sat down across from his
old friend

“No problem Sean, are we still on for tonight after I get off of work?”

“I wouldn't miss it for the world, love.”  Flynn winked and he blew her a kiss.

Louis Castillo was working a six p.m. until two a.m. shift so he would be able to follow Keegan when he got off work around mid-night.  At ten thirty, Castillo decided to go and stakeout Keegan's department auto, just in case he left early.  When Castillo arrived at Federal Plaza, he observed that Keegan's parking spot was empty.  He was sure Keegan had been scheduled to work a four to twelve tonight.