SAFE HAVENS: Shadow Masters (A Sean Havens Black Ops Novel Book 1) (35 page)

“Hey, boss, why 21:45? You trying to make the news?”

“Exactly.”

Chapter 48

T
he shop owner walked to the door to greet his customer. He was wearing a traditional sleeved tunic over slacks. His graying but trimmed moustache and designer glasses signaled to Havens that he was a man of traditional values who likely had money and some education. Given the neighborhood, Havens surmised this man either made a decent living before and may have lost work, as many PhD cab drivers can relate, or he was making more than he should at such a location given the economic status of the area and the type of goods on display.

“Hello, sir. Thank you for coming to my store and seeing us today. How may I be of help to you?”

The man cocked his head slightly to the side while smiling and clasping his hands together. Havens always appreciated the graciousness of Middle Eastern hospitality. It warmed him slightly despite the likelihood that this man was up to no good.

Havens gazed around the store processing his surroundings and trying to retain as much as possible, noting anything that could be of importance later.

“Well, I didn’t actually intend to come here, but when I saw the store, I thought perhaps you may have a few good deals on some electronics. I am in need of a small inexpensive radio with an alarm. Mine just shorted out. But I also see you have some remote control toys that my nephew might like for his birthday.”

The merchant reached out to Havens and grasped his upper arm firmly but without hostility.

“Yes, sir. You will be very, very pleased with what we can provide you. We have the best that I personally select. I am expert in this area of electronics with three masters degrees in electronics. Three!” the merchant chortled.

In typical bazaar merchant fashion, he drew Havens over to a number of random clock radio boxes that had worn edges and dusty plastic wrapping with cords hanging out of the cardboard encasements. The merchant threw open his arms in proud presentation as if it was the finest the world had to offer. A treat for this customer alone.

“You see, I have much for you here, my friend. Panasonic, Sony—I have the best! Which would you choose? I take it to the front for you while you look some more.”

“Oh, I suppose the Panasonic is just fine. Does it have a snooze button?”

“Yes, of course it has the snooze.” The merchant drew out some reading glasses that were likely a $5 pair in a $100 case. He switched his current glasses out and put the readers on, drawing the box near in order to see the actual product capabilities. The action demonstrated to Havens that the owner spoke first and verified his claim later as a mere technicality. A common cultural trait. “Yes, yes, sir, it does indeed say it has the snoozing for you. I will let you buy this one for you. It’s very, very good one. Very good quality.”

“How much?”

“This one…” The man moved the box around as if there would be a price tag. “This one is thirty dollars.”

“Thirty dollars?! That is a ten dollar clock at best!”

“No, no, no, sir. This is a very good clock. Panasonic does not make a ten dollar clock. I already give it to you for a good price of thirty dollars. What would you pay?”

“Maybe twelve.” Havens couldn’t resist haggling and it also bought some more time to look around the store.

“Please, sir. Can you pay twenty? It has the snoozing.”

Hmmm. My guess is that if this guy was doing something really shady, he probably would just want me out of the store as fast as he could. Let’s get towards the back of the store and see how he feels.

“I’m not so sure. I still have to buy a gift. Let me look around a bit.”

“Yes, sir. Please look around. The toys are by the register here.” The merchant motioned towards the front of the store.

“What is your name?” the merchant asked. “I am Adeel,” the store owner said, extending a hand to Havens.

“Alex,” Sean replied, meeting the man’s outstretched hand.

Adeel clasped Sean’s hand with both of his and vigorously shook it with exaggerated honor and salesmanship. “Alex. Alexander the Great! You are a great man. I can tell. You look very smart. Please. I will show you some more, Alexander the Great.”

I really didn’t want this much interaction.
“That’s OK. I kind of want to look around. You have some interesting things here.”

“Yes, sir. You may look around if you wish, but over here is food items that you may not like unless you can cook. This is for our women customers.”

The merchant again cast his arms out to what did indeed look like food stuffs to include sacks of rice, canned goods, and a small produce area of mangos and assorted nuts and dates.

I think he really is trying to be helpful. No one else appears to be here. This does not seem to be a dark hawala shop at first glance. What could be going on?

“So, what got you into the retail business with all the electronics degrees you have?”

“Ah, very good question, sir. I am happy to tell you. I have the degrees from Pakistan, and from Penn State, and IIT. I am programmer for telecommunications controllers at Motorola for many years, but they sell off my group. I work for the railroad to make controllers for the switches and train controllers but then these bastards too have me to go away because I am too rich for them to pay. It is the bullshit, man. You know what I say? The bullshit! What is it that you do?”

“I’m just a teacher down the road. Subbing now, trying to find something. Hey, do you have any remote control cars that aren’t too much?”

“Yes, sir, they are right over here, but do you want to see something? I have the remote control helicopters. They are my specialty and I make them myself. A teacher. This is a very good job. Not good pay. Let me take you over here, Mr. Alex the teacher. I will teach you something!”

Chapter 49

L
ars ordered another glass of milky white horchata. He was stuffed but wanted to sit tight with Havens in the area. Best to order some more chips to clean off the remaining pieces of carnitas, adobo carne asada steak, and globs of guacamole and salsa in a pool of chorizo oil that had not quite held together in the last bites of the two pound Burrito Gordo.

He’d give it another thirty minutes just to be sure he wasn’t within contact. Lars remotely accessed his cloud files to review a number of scenarios the consulting firm had sent him. At this point Lars was convinced he had been duped into working for a criminal organization to cover up hits. Lars’ mind was like a sponge. He noticed random events on the news and read cases at the department that pointed to scenarios he had advised on. This is not what troubled him though. He figured if they were criminals they were likely going after other criminals and he was getting paid to have bad guys fight it out with each other. He just wanted to make sure he didn’t become a loose end to someone’s security.

Slowly munching on the last bits of his dinner and flicking through the files on his phone, Lars considered the situation. He could put his new house in Arizona in a trust so he couldn’t be traced and then have all his mail sent to a PO Box, but he would have to look into things a bit more before finalizing his plans. It would be a pity to retire only to be killed shortly after.

Chapter 50

H
e explained that he was particularly proud of this model because it had incredible lift and was capable of supporting nearly a pound of additional weight. The design would be complete later in the day. He was in the middle of welding what looked like a piece of rebar from the frame to tail.

“What’s this piece?”

“This is a special metal with great strength but is much lighter than steel.”

“Why do you have it on there?”

“Mr. Alex, this I admit I do not know. They have asked me for more of these kinds.”

The shop owner proudly bragged about how he had augmented the 3.5 channel transmitter with his own electronic recipe of configuration to ensure no interference to also meet the specifications of the customer.

“So what kind of customer buys one of these homemade units? Do they cost a lot?”

The shop owner grinned.

“I have collectors from all over the states and I have even made some for the U.S. government.” He lowered his voice and looked around cautiously although the store was empty.

“I can protect the homeland security. They have called me for the special ones like these with the bar. I am very, very good. Someday, I hope to be a big defense contractor, you know.”

Adeel laughed.

“I don’t think this makes my friends very happy if they know, but it is American dream. A success! I sold six so far. For how much you think? Twenty thousand dollars! In cash too.”

Oh shit, the plot thickens.

“Good for you. I wish you great success.”

Wonder if that Homeland Security guy looks like Harrison. Fuck! Wonder if he looks like Draeger? He was going on about these things not long ago. Maybe the detectives are right after all. There are too many coincidences these days.

Chapter 51

H
avens was reeling at the possibility of Draeger’s involvement with the store owner and was fighting to process what the doctor was saying on the other end of the phone.

When his mobile phone rang, Havens excused himself from the store to take the hospital’s call, but not before the courteous store owner could relieve him of twenty dollars in exchange for the unneeded alarm clock. He made a mental note to do some more research on the store owner once he got his arms around the new developments from the doctor regarding Maggie’s toxicology report.

Havens wrestled with his findings at the electronics store. While Havens was still not convinced of the store owner’s role, much less his innocence, he knew it would be senseless to try to intervene with the take down at this point. He reminded himself that it was part of the job. You must trust that someone higher up has done proper due diligence in targeting and vetting, then follow orders. If the targeting was bad, then a review would be conducted and trust would have to be earned back. Accidents happen when dealing with dark networks and surreptitious affiliations. It just seemed different on American soil. Somehow the black seemed that much dirtier. The work was that much more nebulous. He questioned whether they had the authority to conduct such operations. In his gut he knew they didn’t.

This is all starting to turn into a bit of a shit show again. What the hell is the doctor talking about—an abnormal presence of a toxin in her bloodstream and lack of muscular responsiveness? Shit, what else does she need to be going through? Once again I’m not 100% there for her. Fuck! Move cars!

“Move!”

Havens worked the horn as he maneuvered through the city traffic.

And what about Draeger? Is this a coincidence about the RF helo? Remote coincidences like this are not likely. Draeger is secretive but how could this tie in to the hit if this guy is providing hardware to the government? Unless the government isn’t officially using him. He said cash. Probably too much cash which would keep this guy quiet. Paying a Pakistani to build stuff for government…that is potentially cutout…and using frequency channels that can’t be disrupted. We used disruptors for IEDs. And that thing back there can carry a small payload. This could be leveraged to implicate the guy and to further another objective. Fuuuck. This guy is whacked so he tells no tale and we cover it up. That protects buyer but also starts additional conflict where this guy is a terrorist. It also leaves things open for retaliation or a dead end two to three layers down in an investigation. Shit. I may be covering up the lower layers to something bigger. And he’s an engineer…that could play into any number of threats and infrastructure vulnerabilities. Shit. I designed a ton of them myself. Oh fuck. Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck. There would be blowback to me if someone dug far enough in classified systems. CPD couldn’t do it, but FBI or ATF could. And then there is Lars. He too is part of some consulting scenarios as cover-ups. Shit, that plays to the back end of all my front ends. Oh damn, this is a disaster program. I have to get with Red and pick his brain a bit.

Havens’ phone rang again.

Blocked number. Harrison. How much does Harrison know of this? Ok, be cool.

“Yes?”

“Hey it’s me. You getting next phases together? I have guys heading to the storage lot you bought to check the vehicles and make necessary preparations. You sure no one will be paying attention to who comes and goes?”

“I already discussed this with you and all environmental details are in the COAs.”

“Yeah, I can read your courses of action but you can also assure me that you have considered everything, intel weenie. Is this neighborhood the black area or Latino one? Hate to get all shot up before we even get out.”

“Harrison, I have to trust you, you have to trust me. Should I trust you?”

Dumb. Don’t play games and tip a hand. Harrison may not be the sharpest guy, but he is a seasoned operator.

“I am sending you to the one you all will fit in best with. Except you, white boy, so dress appropriately.”

“Thank you.”

With heightened op tempo everyone could get a bit jumpy. This was the first one he had planned for Harrison. Harrison’s neck was on the line as well as his men’s.

“Look. You are my boss. If you need me to walk you through it so you can appease yourself or your superiors, I can walk you through it.”

“Where are you now?”

“On my way to the hospital.”

“Hospital?” Harrison’s brow furrowed. He needed Havens to be available, not back in a hospital where he may not have a reliable connection. “Who’s at the hospital, you hurt?”

“My daughter.”

“Havens, I’m all for you visiting your daughter, but we have…”

“Harrison, there is something wrong with her. The doctor called.”

“Shit, what happened? Is she OK?”

“I don’t know. Doctor didn’t say much except a toxin in her blood.”

Fuck. Gotta get to Draeger. No, get Whitt. This is my show.
“I see. Well hope she is OK. We can take it from here. Obviously I will be out of pocket in a bit. Leave me a message and let me know how things are and if you will be delayed. I also want to catch up tomorrow. 1330 at UL Club. Can you make it?”