Moonlight Warriors: A Tale of Two Hit Men (4 page)

Chapter 5

The Defender

Later that evening at about nine o’clock, Dennis
Sandhaven emerged from a Walgreens on Grand Avenue, carrying his bag of purchases.

An apparently-homeless man in a navy blue hoodie approached Dennis.  “Sir, could you spare a few dollars?”

Dennis reached into his pocket and pulled out a twenty dollar bill, which he handed to the man.  “Here you go.  Good luck to you.”

“Thank you, sir.  I promise that I won’t spend the money on drugs or alcohol.  I’ve just had a bit of bad luck.”

“I understand.  Life can be hard sometimes.”  Dennis took another twenty and gave it to the man.  “I hope that your luck gets better.  God bless you.”

“God bless you, too, sir,” the man said as he and Dennis headed in opposite directions on the sidewalk.

Almost as soon as he rounded the corner, Marcus Augustine spotted a truly-homeless man holding a large can as he asked persons for money.

“This is for you, friend.”  Marcus took the forty dollars that Dennis had just given him and dropped both twenty dollar bills into the man’s can.

“Thank you so much!” the surprised man declared.  “You are a good man.”

Marcus laughed heartily as he continued on his way down the street.

The next morning Elaine, carrying a cup of coffee, stepped out onto the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant.

Marcus suddenly appeared in front of her, startling her so much that she almost spilled the hot coffee.

“Damn!  How do you do that?”

Marcus grinned.  “I can’t give away my secrets, Mrs. Sandhaven.”

“I guess not.”  Elaine managed a smile.  “When any other person says that if he tells you his secret, he will have to kill you, he is joking.  However, I don’t suppose that you would be joking about it.”

“I’m not much for jokes these days.”

Elaine looked around in order to make sure that no one else was within hearing distance.  “Speaking of killing persons, I was wondering why my husband is still alive.  He left the house just a couple of minutes before I did.”

“And your husband is going to remain alive.  I have decided not to kill him.”

Elaine was taken aback. 
“Why not?”

“Because you lied to me.
  I don’t believe that he is an abusive husband.  You heard that I only kill bad persons, so you concocted a story so that I would accept the assignment.”

“How can you be so sure that he is not evil?” Elaine demanded. “I can show you
bruises.”

“Bruises prove nothing.  I have a bruise on my hip from bumping into a table in the dark a couple of nights ago.”

“He beats me!” Elaine insisted.  “Why else would I want him killed?”

Marcus looked at her intently.  “Now you have asked an interesting question.  That is a question to which I would like to know the answer.  I might know the answer, but I will admit that I am not certain.”

She glared at him.  “What do believe the answer is?”

“You want your husband dead because you want to inherit his company.  If you divorce
him, you will get a nice settlement, perhaps almost half of his money.  However, you won’t get Sandhaven Software Solutions.  He will remain in control of the company.  This is all about money, your greed for more money.”

“That is ridiculous,” Elaine said.

Marcus was surprised that Elaine seemed to relax slightly.  She thought that I was going to say something else, Marcus realized.  What is going on here?  I will need to play another card or two in order to get her to reveal her hand.

“I read the
Wall Street Journal
every day,” he said.  “It is my favorite newspaper.  As you might imagine, I earn good money in this profession.  I want to invest it wisely.  Yesterday I read a
Wall Street Journal
story that mentioned Sandhaven Software was working with a computer software computer owned by Douglas Neldt, the man who was assassinated last week.  Then a bomb destroyed most of Neldt’s company.”

Elaine’s eyes narrowed. 
“So what?”

“So that’s quite a coincidence.  For better or for worse, the death of
Neldt and the destruction of his company will have a profound effect on Sandhaven Software. Financial analysts believe that if Sandhaven Software is able to successfully complete the Intelligent Agency program, the value of the company could double or triple.”

“You have no idea of the danger in which you are placing yourself,” Elaine hissed.  “It would be better for you if you had neglected to read your
Wall Street Journal
that day.”

“Do not forgot who I am or what I do, Mrs.
Sandhaven. It is not wise to threaten me.” 

“You are a fool who has stumbled into a world unknown to you.  You are wandering into territory to which you have no map.”

“Then enlighten me. Tell me what is going on.”

“No.”

Marcus could see that the woman was very tense.  I am getting close to the truth, he reasoned, but there is something going on here that I don’t understand.  A new idea occurred to him, and he decided to play another card.

“Did you have something to do with the assassination of Douglas
Neldt?” Marcus asked.

For several seconds, Elaine stared at him in silence. 

“I’ll assume that means ‘yes.’  Who did you hire to kill Neldt?”

“You are the king of fools.  Walk away now if you wish to live.”

“I want answers.”

“If you are unwilling to kill my husband, so be it.  I will hire someone else to kill him.”

“Your husband will not be harmed.  He is a good man. And your son clearly loves his father.  How could you be so heartless?  Don’t you realize the grief that you would cause your son?”

“That is my concern.  Leave now.  I never want to see you or hear from you again.”

“Understand this, Mrs. Sandhaven: your husband is under my protection.”

“You must be kidding!” she declared.

“You will not hire another hit man nor will you kill him yourself.  Do not even think about poisoning him.  If he is killed or dies of mysterious causes, I will send the police a complete report about you.  I might even decide to pay you a visit myself.”

“You might not be alive long enough to do so.”

“Mrs. Sandhaven, I was a sniper with special forces in Afghanistan.  Once I got separated from the rest of my platoon in a town controlled by the Taliban.  At one point in the evening, I found myself matched against four Taliban snipers on adjacent buildings.  All four were quite determined to kill me.  However, by the end of the evening, I had killed all four Taliban snipers, and I walked out of the town in good health.”  

“You are certainly a proud man.  It’s time that someone taught you some humility.”

“That might be true.  It is probably the first true thing that you have said to me.”  Marcus walked toward his car.  “Goodbye, Mrs. Sandhaven.”

As he got into the Lexus, she continued to stand there, glaring coldly at him.  Finally, after about thirty seconds, she went over to her own car and drove away.

Staying about two blocks behind her car, Marcus followed Elaine.  It is very curious that she did not ask for a refund of the money that she paid me.  She did not care about several thousand dollars.  Perhaps money is not the motivation for wanting her husband killed.

If not money, what is the motive? 
Marital infidelity?  His or hers?   No.  It is too much of a coincidence that Douglas Neldt was killed just days ago.

It appears that she is driving toward
Sandhaven Software Solutions.  That is probably where I can find an answer.  I will slip into the building and do a bit of exploration.

Chapter 6

Fatima’s Tale

Fatima Cedars was a petite woman with short hair and a perfect olive complexion upon which many persons commented.  Many also noticed the serene expression that was usual for her countenance.  Lately, though, Fatima’s inner tranquility was being tested by a challenging situation at her workplace.

Fatima knew that there was something wrong at Sandhaven Software Solutions.  Something was very wrong.

She had worked at the company for almost a year.  Fatima had been hired by Elaine
Sandhaven when Elaine had made a recruiting trip to the Middle East and visited Fatima’s university in Lebanon.  Elaine had been very impressed by the young woman who ranked near the top of her university class.

After moving to St. Louis, Fatima had found an apartment near her workplace.  The first three months on the job had gone well, and she enjoyed the intellectually challenging work.  Using the simulation software, she designed clever viruses that provided a rigorous test for the Intelligent Agency program that attempted to destroy her viruses.

However, her relationships with her coworkers gradually deteriorated.  The company employees were divided into cliques based on ethnicity and religion.  At first Fatima was befriended by the other Muslim employees, but her lack of adherence to traditional Islamic practices eventually caused a rift with most of the other Muslims at the company.

Fatima had grown up in Turkey and attended colleges in Croatia and Lebanon.  Although she still considered herself a Muslim, she dressed like an American woman and liked many aspects of western culture.

In the evenings, she liked to go dancing in the Bosnian nightclubs on Gravois Avenue near the famous Bevo Mill restaurant that was located in a windmill.   She felt comfortable with the Bosnian Muslims and their European culture.  The Bosnian immigrants had infused a new life and energy into the midtown area.

Fatima wished that her days were as pleasant as her evenings.  At least the work here is intriguing, she consoled herself as she sat alone in the cafeteria.

Some employees at the company only spoke in Arabic to each other so that the Americans would not understand what they were saying.  Fatima spoke fluent Arabic, and some of the conversations that she overheard disturbed her.  Some of them were extreme fundamentalists who clearly hated the United States.  These extremists apparently were occasionally having secret meetings in a conference room at Sandhaven Software.

For the past week Fatima had been working late every day on a secret assignment.  Shortly after the murders of Douglas
Neldt and Rebecca Wright, Dennis Sandhaven had given Fatima the task of helping to rebuild the Intelligent Agency program.

A couple programmers who had survived the explosions at
Neldt’s company had also been given remote access to the mainframe computer at Sandhaven Software.  Fatima had never seen either of these programmers; they were working from a hidden location in Maryland where they were in protective custody.

Shortly after seven o’clock that evening, Fatima disconnected her laptop computer from the mainframe, then logged off.  She folded the laptop closed and left her office, weary from the long workday and anxious to stop by a fast-food restaurant for dinner.  As she locked her office door, she debated whether to go to Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald’s, or Lion’s Choice.

“Working late again, Fatima?” A woman’s voice came from behind her.

Fatima turned and was surprised to see Elaine
Sandhaven walking down the hallway toward her.

“Yes, Mrs.
Sandhaven.”

“What are you working on?”

Fatima hesitated.  Apparently Dennis had not told his wife about the secret assignment.  Fatima wondered why he had not told his wife.  She decided that it would be wise to be discrete.

“Is something wrong?”  The tall woman loomed over Fatima, who suddenly felt ill at ease.

“No, nothing is wrong.  I’m just catching up on some projects that have fallen behind schedule.”   Fatima started to walk around her, but Elaine moved to block her path.  Fatima looked up at her.  “It has been a long day, Mrs. Sandhaven, and I’m very tired.  I want to get home.”

“We all want to get home, Fatima, but there is important work that needs to be done.”

Boutros Mahdi and Rashid Fuad walked into the hallway.  Fatima suspected that they had been listening from around the corner.

Elaine glanced back over her shoulder at the two men.  “Just a few minutes ago, the three of us were discussing some important topics.  There are many things wrong back in your homeland, Fatima.  Do you ever think about your people?  Do you ever think about anything besides yourself?”

Fatima had never seen this side of this woman with whom she had only spoken briefly on a couple of occasions.  “Good evening, Mrs. Sandhaven,” Fatima said, moving around her.

The two men blocked her from moving further down the hallway.

“Good evening to you, too,” Fatima said to the men, who continued to stand there and did not seem inclined to move.  “That means get out of my way!” she added tersely.

“We need to talk to you,” Boutros said, glancing down at the laptop computer that Fatima held.  “We need access to the Intelligent Agency project.  We are going to help rebuild the
program.”

“I will need to check with Dennis
Sandhaven before I can give you access,” Fatima said.  “You need top-secret clearance to work on Intelligent Agency.”

“They have clearance,” Elaine said.  “Dennis wants them to have access.  Give them your laptop computer, Fatima, and get them logged onto the mainframe.”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Sandhaven, but I will first need to discuss this with your husband.”

“Are you calling me a liar?”

“No. I am saying that there is an established procedure for how things must be done.  We must follow security protocols.”

“If you disobey my orders, you will be fired!”  Elaine shouted at her.  “And if you are fired, you will be deported!”

“That’s not true!” Fatima declared, then darted past the two men.

She had caught them off-guard, and she dashed down another hallway that led to the parking lot.  However, before she reached the exit door, Rashid caught her and shoved her forcefully against the wall. 

“What is your hurry, little Fatima?  Are you anxious to get to your nightclub?  Are some of your American friends waiting for you?”

Boutros stepped forward and grabbed her by the hair.  “You are going to give us that computer and log us in now.”

“No!”

With both arms, she pressed the laptop against her body while the two men tried to pry it away from her.

Rashid raised his arm to strike her, but he never got a chance.  Seemingly out of nowhere, Marcus Augustine sprang forward and grabbed Rashid’s arm, twisting it all the way back, breaking the arm.  Rashid collapsed to the floor in pain.

Boutros threw a punch at Marcus, but Marcus easily blocked the punch, grabbed Boutros by the hair, and slammed him face first into the soda machine with such force that the vending machine almost tipped over.  Half-conscious, his nose broken and his face bloody, Boutros fell next to his friend on the floor.

Elaine, who had been watching from the end of the hallway, exchanged momentary eye contact with Marcus.  Then she turned the corner and hurried away.

“Who are you?” Fatima asked her rescuer.

“I’m a man who doesn’t like to be deceived.  Come with me.  We need to get out of here.”

Fatima followed Marcus out of the side door.  They paused out on the parking lot.

“I think that those people are terrorists!” Fatima exclaimed.  “They might be Al Qaeda .  I have been working with terrorists!”

“I believe that you are correct; they are either Al Qaeda or some similar group.  And it is too dangerous for you to go back to your apartment.  They will go there searching for you.”

“What can I do?”

“You’ll need to go into hiding temporarily.  I have a place where you can stay.”

“What is your name?”

“My name is Marcus Augustine.  I’m a private detective.  It’s a long story that I will tell you later.”  He pointed toward his Lexus.  “I’m parked over there.  Follow me in your car.  Don’t worry.”

As she pulled out her car keys, she called to him, “I feel safe with you. Thank you for helping me.”

“I’m glad to be of service,” Marcus said, getting into his car.

With Fatima following close behind, he drove to his condominium in Clayton.  After walking her to the front door, Marcus handed her the key to the condo.

“I would suggest that you call your boss, Dennis
Sandhaven, and tell him what happened at the company this evening.  He needs to be on guard against his wife and some of his employees.”

“Yes, I’ll tell him everything.”

“Call from your cell phone.  You can tell him everything except that you are staying here.  You can trust him, but his phone might be bugged or his wife might be eavesdropping on him.  Let everyone assume that you are returning to your apartment.”

“I am hoping that I can return to my apartment!”

“You should be able to return soon.  One way or another, this matter will likely be resolved within the next few days.  After what I heard at the software company today, I have a better idea what is going on.  Until a couple of hours ago, I mistakenly thought that this was all about money.  Now I realize that Elaine Sandhaven and her comrades don’t care about money at all.”

“They are fanatics! 
Extremists!”  Fatima exclaimed.

Marcus nodded.  “They are the same enemy that I fought in Afghanistan.  However, now they are here.  I suppose that they have always been here.”

Meanwhile, Elaine drove away from the software company, angry and frustrated by Marc
us’s intervention.  How dare he!  Why did I ever hire that man?

Elaine then remembered her conversation with Jenny, the waitress at the diner.  When Marcus returned my call, Jenny was about to give me the contact information for some man named Chuck.  I should have hired Chuck to kill Dennis.

Elaine pulled onto a side street where she parked while she fumbled through her purse in search of the scrap of paper on which she had written Jenny’s phone number.   If I can’t find that number, I suppose I could just drive over to the diner.  Oh, wait, I have always spoken to Jenny there in the afternoon; I don’t know whether she works in the evening.  That diner might not even be open this late in the evening.

Found it!  Elaine pulled the scrap of paper out of her purse.  Using her cell phone, she called the number.   After a few seconds, Jenny answered.

“Hello?” There was a lot of noise in the background.

“Jenny?  This is Elaine.  I can barely hear you.”

“Hi, Elaine.  I’m at roller derby.  We don’t start for another twenty minutes, but most of the crowd is already here.”

“They are quite noisy.”

“Yes.  Hold on a second.  I’m skating toward the exit door.  I will be able to hear you better outside.”

When Jenny got outside, she asked, “Can you hear me better now?”

“Yes.  That’s much better.”

“I can only talk for a minute.  I will need
to start getting ready for the match.”

“I won’t keep you.  I just need the phone number of that man named Chuck.  The guy that I hired proved to be unsatisfactory, so I’d like to hire Chuck for that special project that we discussed.”

After a momentary pause, Jenny said, “I’ll need to talk to Chuck first to make sure that it is all right to give you his number.”

“That’s fine, Elaine, but this matter is rather urgent.  I need to speak with Chuck as soon as possible.”

“I understand.  I’ll tell him right now.  He’s here to watch my roller derby bout.  He arrived just a few minutes ago.”

“Excellent.  I can come there to speak with him.”

“First I need to find him in the crowd; there are several hundred persons here.  I’ll give him your number and ask him to call you as soon as he can.”

“Thanks, Jenny.  And I’m sure that you understand this situation requires the utmost discretion.  Please don’t mention this to anyone else.”

“You can count on my discretion.”

“Thank you.  I’ll be waiting for Chuck’s call.”

“You’ll be hearing from him soon.  Bye, Elaine.”

After hanging up, Jenny went back inside.  For about fifteen seconds, she scanned the crowd,
then spotted her friend over at the souvenir stand.   Jenny skated over to him, and he glanced over his shoulder at her.

“Hey, look what I just bought.”  He held up three photos of her in her Jenny Jawbreaker uniform.  “I’m going to need these autographed later.  I don’t want to slow you down now, though.  Your teammates are already out there warming up.  You probably should join them.”

“I will in a minute.  But I have some news.  Guess who I just got a call from?”

“If you wait for me to guess correctly, it will be a lot longer than a minute before you get to your warm-up.  In fact, the match will probably be over before I correctly guess who called you.”