SAFE HAVENS: Shadow Masters (A Sean Havens Black Ops Novel Book 1) (39 page)

“Sir, Havens knows Draeger was responsible for the local operations, the Havens family, and the target cover-ups.”

“Well, that’s your mess. Not mine. And what about Silver Star? We put a shitload of resources into that puppy.”

The balding man looked around the room, trying to be as discrete as possible. There was so much that should have been left unsaid already. “Havens appears to be aware that some superiors here in NCR have interests in preserving our security by these rather unconventional means.”

“I see. And did Draeger mention anyone in particular?”

“No, but seems like that is the route he is going.”

“Well, fortunately, Draeger only knows of you by name and he has a few other regions that are hopefully in more control.” The old man blew his coffee again before slurping another sip.

“Yes, sir. That is true. But he knows of us all.”

“No, he knows you and assumes he knows us all, correct?” The old man raised his watch again and looked around uncomfortably.

“Correct, sir. He knows of the greater us…in theory. But remember we are DoD. He is now more intel. I don’t know where his loyalties lie.”

“I don’t see loyalty mattering if he knows to do his job and keep his yap shut.” The old man raised an eyebrow signifying he was done and that nothing more needed to be said. He finalized his comments, “Well then, I think you best deal with your problem straight away and I entrust you to keep the shop in order. I trust the other aspects of our program are going forward as planned?”

“Yes, sir. They should be hitting the news by tomorrow evening at the latest.”

“Hooah! Now I suppose you will be sending a team or someone for Mr. Draeger?”

“I will handle it, sir.”

“Yes, you will, Conrad.”

“And Conrad,” the old man floated his hands towards the technicians, “I suggest you find a way with your cyber guys over here to get this phone call to end immediately. Just a thought. I’m sure you had already thought about that but out of respect to me you did not wish to interrupt. Keep me posted. I have dinner plans with our organization this evening. You’ve already made me late for another meeting.”

“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”

“And why are these shitheads on open lines?”

“We had a problem procuring the secure ones through a required GSA contract.”

“We had all the cash we could spend.”

“The contractor insisted so they wouldn’t fall out of procurement favor. They said invoices were already running at 120 a day payables and they didn’t want to put money up front since it was too hard these days to get add on dollars without jumping through hoops.”

“Fine. Just cut that damn line.” The old man poured his coffee in a nearby trashcan and stormed out of the control room.

Conrad, a former Air Force one-star general, tapped one of the technicians on the back. “I need you to cut that conversation off now and make sure it does not reconnect.”

“Roger that, sir. On it.”

Chapter 63

F
rom the warehouse floor, Harrison was able to anticipate what Draeger was saying on the other end. He was saving himself.
Why does that not surprise me?

“Draeger, you have some service related stress issues and I should have been there for you. I will not forgive myself for that. You, on the other hand, also tried to kill my family and did kill my wife. For that, I will never forgive you. But in this whole mess, you are my brother and you served your country alongside me. That would have gone further if you had served honorably though. Maybe part of that came from your prior service. God knows we have seen shit that today’s men should not bear witness to. Or maybe you were always a narcissistic asshole with sociopathic tendencies. I am not here to judge. I am here to solve the problem.”

Harrison rolled his eyes.
This Havens is a piece of work. What an idiot.
Harrison worked his bindings.

“What are you getting at Sean? You are going to help me after all of this?”

“I already have. Good bye, Prescott.”

Wait for it
…

“Wait, Sean! What do you mean you have? What the fuck are you talking about?”

Harrison became more attentive again, thinking he may have underestimated the man.

“You’ll see. It’s in your home. In your safe room to be exact. There you will find a geo location on a red piece of paper placed on the underside of one of your items in the house. It will lead you to one of your personal items stuffed in the mouth of a dead Harrison here in Chicago. After that, you need to get some help for yourself. Call me when you find it.”

“How the fuck were you in my home, Sean? How do you know about my room? No one even knows where I live, you fuck! I’ve got remote sensor motion activated IR cams, alarms, UV powder…No one can get in!”

“Fuck!” Draeger exclaimed again. The line had cut out and a disconnected message displayed on his phone. Draeger knew he was screwed now.

Havens has been in my house. But how? When could he have flown out? Did he have someone else do it? Shit. In my safe room? How did he breach my security?

When Havens’ call ended he assumed Draeger had hung up of his own accord to hurry home. Havens turned to Harrison.

“Why so perplexed, Harrison?”

Harrison remained still.

Havens circled around his captive and grabbed a three-foot length of pipe. Harrison cringed in anticipation of another beat down or worse. Havens had changed since the first time they met. They had killed his wife and taken his heart. It was supposed to break him, but Harrison knew now that Havens was only simmering. The daughter being alive wasn’t enough. Havens was capable of doing anything now. Not to follow orders, but because it drove him to fill the emptiness and the guilt.

“This? The pipe? Remember
A Few Good Men
? Tom Cruise liked to think with a bat. I’m just thinking. No worries, Harrison. See, Draeger’s on his way home. As we speak. As I speak. You don’t need to speak. I really have no idea where he lives.”

Harrison struggled.

“Harrison, don’t make ligature marks on your hands or I will be forced to cut your arms off at the elbows to hide my tracks. I plan to let you go. I only have you bound so you can’t kill me. Me being a donut-eating intel guy and all and you being a badass snake eater.”

Relief passed over Harrison’s face. Maybe he would live through this after all.

“Draeger is going to hop in his car where I had my buddy X put a tracer. I knew he would find it but not before I tracked it to HQ. I also had X put some secret sauce in his coffee. You see, he always leaves coffee in his car. Draeger drinks half on the way to work hot and the other half cold on his way home. It’ll kill him in a couple hours, but not before he tears apart his own place. I wish I could see him smashing stuff and panicking. He’ll go into cardiac arrest after he tries to call me a half a million times. In the end it will look like someone tossed his place. Worst case it will look like he went berserk. No, I have no intentions of answering his call. That just enables a guy like Draeger. I’d like him to die without an audience. And since no one knows where he lives no one will come looking for him. That gives me plenty of time for the toxins to dissipate. Not that it matters to me because the number on the cell phone he is using is your number. It doesn’t make a diference that they are throw aways. The idea is you need to throw them away more often, Harrison. But I’ll make sure your phone stays with you.”

Havens smiled at Harrison. Harrison returned his gaze with wild eyes.

“So now you wonder why I am going to let you go. Frankly, I don’t dispose of bodies. Too much risk. And why am I telling you this? It’s not for you. I am grieving still and opening up more. I’m getting in touch with my feelings, Harrison. Even got a dog.”

Shit. My dog is still in the car down the street. Not that anyone would steal it. Dog or car with dog in it. Need to get Maggie back soon too.

Havens was now behind Harrison and cut the flexicuffs off. “Don’t move, Harrison. I am going to back away and exit stage left with Maggie. You will wait for a bit to let me go. I know you want to distance yourself from all of this too. Go ahead and rub off or shake out your wrists.”
Let your mind think you are going to be safe. Resist the urge to escape.

As Harrison brought his arms forward in a stretch, Havens swung the pipe at Harrison’s head aiming for the upper brain stem. Havens had expected to hear the sickening sound of solid impact before Harrison collapsed forward but realized Harrison had moved slightly in an attempt to execute a last ditch offensive. The strike was only enough to knock him out.

Harrison, you are a bit of a sneaky one as well. I was all for letting you go Chicago style with another beat down with your wrists free…

While Havens took no pleasure in post-consciousness brutality, he finished the story by swinging at Harrison’s elbows, ribs, and knees. His mind blended pent up vengeance with a crime scene course of action that would solve a problem, create effect, and mitigate additional risk to Havens. It was business—mixed with pleasure.

Twenty minutes later he had completed the staging in the warehouse. He would soon light some papers and toss them onto the car seats of the small fleet they used for recce. Only one small truck was missing from this location. The other site may look like a chop shop or drug distribution center. No worries. He doused a bit of accelerant to spread the plan. Once each of the vehicles was lit, Havens would depart the scene. If the kill crew came back, the place would be locked and blazing inside. Not his problem what they did at that point. Even though Harrison had paid Havens through the shell company accounts, Havens had ensured that he used Harrison’s name for new accounts. Call it a gut feeling, but he wanted to make sure he had an insurance policy and someone to take the fall if this Silver Star was shining him on.

He looked at Harrison lying lifeless and walked over upon hearing some weak moans. Leary that his victim might wake from the dead and make a grab for his foot, Havens stood at Harrison’s feet out of reach.

You piece of shit.

Sean thought of Maggie and his wife. Harrison’s death would not make things right. It wouldn’t bring them back. It was just part of the solution to a problem.

Harrison was broken now. A bad soldier. Dead he would regain honor. They would be able to check his prints and give him a full honor guard burial. Would he have requested Arlington National Cemetery?

As he regarded Harrison wondering what to do, Havens thought of something his own father said about combatives. “When you are fighting hand to hand, you can grab a guy’s ear and rip it right off. Then step on it so it makes the guy feel bad.” Havens had just smiled at the time, not sure whether to believe it or not. Had he made Harrison feel bad enough? He didn’t think so. Havens reared his foot back and drove it straight into Harrison’s groin. He was certain that wherever Harrison was in near death consciousness, he’d feel that. The air escaping Harrison sounded enough like a grunt for Havens to savor the moment that much more.

Suddenly laughter began to well inside of him. For the first time in months, Havens started to really laugh. He thought of the tree brush chipper in the back lot that came with the building and could hardly contain himself. That would get rid of fingerprints. Harrison couldn’t have a funeral if there was no Harrison. Havens knew it was dangerous to deviate from a plan. But it was more dangerous to test a man who had practically lost everything. He sensed that he was losing self-control. It felt good.

Oh, what the hell. Things haven’t been exactly according to plan this past year anyway.

Havens opened the large service door and sprayed a quick Latino tag on the outside. It was a cliché set up, but it’s always easier for the public to dismiss acts of violence as gang related. He headed towards the back lot to get the industrial tree chipper that was left over from the lot purchase along with some other landscape equipment. Having gassed up all the equipment for potential resale to self-fund further operations, Havens now had an ideal disposal solution. He would need to hurry as he’d already spent too much time at the warehouse. Havens recognized that his time spent with Draeger and Mann was putting his daughter’s safety at risk, but rational thought was long gone.

Chapter 64

“H
ey, ese, whatchu doin’ in there, man?”

Caught up in the events with Harrison, Havens neglected to consider the danger of the surrounding environment that made this site so perfect for his activity. Clearly, there were others in the area who also found the location to be perfect for crime away from the prying eyes of the law and nosy neighbors. He had wasted too much time letting his ego and revenge drive his negligent actions.

Havens sized up the situation for a moment before being struck from behind. Searing pain exuded from his lower back as he collapsed to the ground on all fours. He had counted three hooded individuals in front of him yet missed the consideration of another from behind. Mexican gangbangers.
Cholos.

Before another blow could come, Havens spoke.

“Wait! I need your help. I’m new to this area and knew I needed to pay some respect. I’m looking for a crew that may want in on some action.”

The Latino who spoke earlier stepped up to Havens. He appeared to be motioning to the man behind to wait for a second.

“Whatchu mean action, man?”

“Well, my crew is no longer useful to me and I am looking to hire some guys looking to make some large cash. Fast.”

“Keep talking, man.”

“Actually, I need to keep moving. I have a dead cop in the warehouse. Need to chop him up and get rid of the body.”

The men each stepped back a pace at the mention of police.

“There’s cops in there, man? Dead?”

“Why you bringing 5-0 in our hood, ese? Man that’s just wrong, man. You gonna do somethin’ bout that man now.”

“I know. I’m trying to get him out of here so no one comes around.”