Chapter 72

  Greg Hunt and Aaron Eastling finally arrived on the island of Langkawi, where a helicopter was waiting to fly them to “The Maltese Falcon.” After their gear was stowed on board, the two ex-special forces members boarded a Zodiac and headed for the shore. The coxswain followed the GPS coordinates given to him and quietly pulled up on the beach just thirty yards from where Shawn had confronted Rakov. Hunt and Eastling weren’t too happy to learn that they had missed out on all the action, especially when they were assigned to clean up detail.

  Rakov was hog-tied, and a black hood was placed over his head. He was carried to the Zodiac, where he was placed inside and secured to a seat by the coxswain and his shipmate. Hunt and Eastling eased the Zodiac back into the silvery liquid, and the coxswain started up the quiet outboards. Within a few minutes, the small craft was just a speck on the endless sea of darkness. While they were waiting for the Zodiac to land, Jesse had received a positive ID on Smith. He skimmed over the report and wondered how Smith and Rakov were connected. One thing that Jesse immediately gleaned from the report was that Shawn and his friends were fortunate to have escaped from a man like Smith. The former MI6 operative had a reputation as a stone-cold killer.

  *****

  The drive back to Shawn’s home was at a much slower pace. Kim called and told Shawn she was about to leave the hospital and would be home soon. Shawn laughed when she said to him that the admitting nurse had asked if they were all in an automobile accident. Kim insisted she was all right, yet the nurse wouldn’t take no for an answer, and Kim’s wounds were cleaned and dressed. Kasem’s ankle had been severely sprained from his fall, and after he was treated, he couldn’t wait to get out of the hospital and get back home. Choi, on the other hand, would have to stay. The bullet had plowed a three-inch-long groove along his skull from the corner of his eyebrow to just above and behind his ear. The doctor who treated him noticed his other relatively fresh bullet wound and asked how he acquired it. Choi informed him that he was a PI who often encountered some very unsavory people in his line of work. The doctor told Choi that he should think seriously about changing professions, to which Choi replied that he was seriously considering it. The doctor told Choi that he needed to stay in the hospital for at least twenty-four hours. He wanted to hold him for further observation because he was concerned with brain trauma and swelling. Kim agreed over Choi’s objection, and in the end, Choi gave in after being outnumbered.

  After arriving back home, Kim needed a shower. She felt a great need to remove any trace of the Russian from her body. She set the water temperature as hot as she could possibly tolerate and let the hot water soothe her aches and pains. The emotional scars would be a bit harder to heal. But after surviving being sold into slavery and being homeless, these scars would heal quickly. Ten minutes later and feeling very refreshed, she stepped out of the shower, dried off, and changed into some clean clothes. She finally joined Kasem a few minutes later. He was hobbling around trying to clean up his house. They weren’t worried about destroying any crime scene evidence simply because the police would never step foot inside their home.

  The Range Rover pulled onto the private road and stopped at the security shack. Shawn got out and had a brief conversation with Charlie, who genuinely seemed to be down on himself. Shawn wasn’t hard on the young man because he knew that his appetite more than likely had saved his life. Shawn told him he could go home because the threat was over, and he had plenty of protection for the rest of the night. The pep talk seemed to take Charlie out of his funk, and Shawn got back into his SUV and drove up to the house. He pulled into the driveway and parked at the main entrance.

  Soon, all the men were inside the home, and despite his dirty clothing, Kim eagerly greeted her man at the entrance with a hug and a lot of kisses. Shawn was a little embarrassed by Kim’s affection in front of all the hardened men, but he didn’t tell her to stop.

  She finally pulled away and asked, “Did you find him?”

  Before Shawn could answer, Ken gave her a synopsis of the entire event. Kim was very pleased and wasn’t surprised by the news. She knew what Shawn was capable of. After thanking Jesse again, Kim was introduced to the two new members of his team. Hugging each man, she told them they might want to wash up because Kasem was preparing something to eat. She then turned and went to the kitchen to help prepare the food. After she left, Jesse gave his men orders to bag the dead and place them in the back of Chuah’s SUV, where they would be transported to “The Maltese Falcon” for identification.

  When his men left to attend to their unpleasant duties, Shawn asked Jesse, “Would you like a drink?”

  “Yeah, I think a drink would be great right about now.”

  “Well, follow me; I think we’ve got enough booze around here to float a battleship.

  Jesse chuckled and said, “Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.”

  After Jesse had consumed some great food and slowly finished his first drink, he asked Shawn if they could talk privately. Shawn nodded, and he led Jesse out to the balcony. While Kasem was wiping off the rain and debris on the outdoor furniture and placing dry cushions on the chairs, Jesse and Shawn walked around the deck and looked out at the sea. After the rainstorm had passed, the night air was refreshing, and the sky was once again filled with billions of stars that twinkled in the night like distant fireflies in some magical fairyland far, far away.

  Shawn gave Kasem his request, and a few minutes later, he returned with a cart filled with some of the best-refined spirits that money can buy and a humidor containing an assortment of some of the finest cigars from around the world. The men sat down, and Shawn reached into the humidor, pulled out two Cohiba Esplendidos, and handed one to Jesse after cutting the tip. Shawn lit his cigar, pointed to the beverage cart, and asked, “What’s your poison?”

  "That looks good, " Jesse said, pointing to a a bottle of Jonny Walker Blue Label, King George V.

  “Ah…excellent choice.”

  Kasem poured three fingers of the amber liquid into two highball glasses and served the drinks neat without asking if they wanted ice.

  “You have a very nice place here, Shawn. You’ve done very well for yourself. I’m impressed and very happy for you.”

  Shawn gave Jesse a small smile and said, “Thanks, Jesse.”

  “I was also in your club earlier tonight…wow, is that an amazing place!”

  “Ah yes, The Club…I assume that’s how you tracked me down?”

  “Well…not exactly. One of my men showed you’re old army photo around town and someone recognized you.”

  “Well, I wouldn’t have any of this without Kim. She was the driving force behind everything we’ve accomplished. She is the one who forced me to buy our first run-down club and turn it around. Everyone thinks I own the club and this home, but she’s the legal owner of both, although she’ll never admit it.”

  Jesse turned to look Shawn in the eye and said, “Wow, humility…that’s a trait I’ve never seen in you before.”

  While Shawn was laughing, Jesse turned very serious.

  “I want to leave Hunt and Eastling here for a few days just to be on the safe side.”

  Shawn thought about it for a few seconds and gave Jesse his answer.

  “Kim and Kasem are my only family; I will do anything to protect them, so I have no problem with that.”

  “Good, then it’s done. I just hope they won’t eat you out of house and home.”

  Just then, Jesse's phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out, looked at the screen, and answered it. The brief conversation ended a few minutes later, and he put the phone on the table. "Well, we won't be talking with Rakov any time soon. The ship's doctor had to wire his jaw shut. Apparently, you broke his jaw in three places. He also sustained three cracked ribs and a broken nose."

  "What can I say; the man pissed me off when he went after Kim."

  "I could tell you were playing with him. It looks like you have gained a lot over the years. I think maybe you've gotten better."

  Shawn let out a short chuckle and said, "Well, I try to stay in shape…you never know when some fucking Russian assassins are going to break into your home."

  Jesse let out a small snort himself and held up his glass, "Amen to that brother."

  After taking a short drink, Jesse set his glass down, and neither man said anything for a short while.

  Finally, Shawn said, "So are you ready to tell me how you happened to show up at my door at the same time these pricks were pounding on my head because I'm very curious to find out? I must assume that General Bennett or David Choi contacted you."

  Jesse knew there was no way that Shawn could have known about the attack on Bennett, but he might have known about David Choi. He didn't want to be the one to tell him if he didn't.

  “About two days ago, I was asked to meet with the director of the CIA at his office in Langley. Ivan Rakov was on the government’s watch list after he supposedly assassinated a U.S. Diplomat in Germany two years ago. Someone in the Thailand National Police informed the CIA’s assets in Thailand that Rakov and his friends had just tried to interrogate Tim Choi in his office here in Phuket. Because these men didn’t succeed in their mission, these assets wanted to question Choi. They didn’t care about Choi. They only wanted to find Rakov. But as you know, he went underground. They then dug into Choi’s records and found that he had sent a series of e-mails to his grandson in the United States. I was informed that his name was David Choi, and that he’s an L.A. police officer and a licensed P.I.”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Jesse was watching Shawn, who just nodded, so he continued.

  “They discovered that someone hired David to find two people in the U.S. The first name was Colonel Paul Bennett, now a retired three-star; the second was yours truly. It just so happens that the director knew both of us personally, which is why I knew someone was looking for me, but at the time, I didn’t know it was you.”

  “To make a long story short, Bennett started a company that does a lot of business with the government, a company that gives its customers something that they seek more than anything else…fast results and deniability. We do a lot of business that the CIA used to do, but now has its hands tied by bureaucratic oversight and red tape. As a soldier, he was frustrated with the bureaucratic restrictions on how to engage the enemy. He felt that the government was one of the reasons the U.S. was losing the war on terror. That's why I was asked to meet with the CIA director a few days ago. The e-mail between Choi and his grandson would have gone unnoticed except for several things. The first is "Because of the recent events in the United States," and the second is that my client has a document that could be very damaging to someone extremely high in the US government. Because this e-mail was sent shortly after the bombing in Connecticut, every correspondence that originated from a foreign country drew the attention of the NSA, especially if it was encrypted, as Choi's was. I learned that the NSA had broken Choi's encryption, but there was never any follow-up despite the fact that some of the phrases used in the e-mail should have drawn several red flags. The director believes a very powerful person or group planted moles inside the NSA for the purpose of data mining. He believes that one of these moles passed on Choi's e-mail to these people, who then gave Rakov and his friends a directive to visit Mr. Choi. I assume the document mentioned in Choi's e-mail is the encrypted letter I told you about. The one I saw in Dave Sanders's hands just before our last mission with the Tigers?"

  Jesse looked at Shawn and waited for him to reply.

  Shawn nodded and said, "Yes, it is."

  "Would you like to tell me how you got your hands on it?"

  "It's a long story…do you want to hear it?"

  "Absolutely."

  "Well, before I begin…I think we need another drink."

  Shawn got up, grabbed the bottle of Scotch off the cart, and set it on the coffee table in front of them. He poured two more drinks and then set the empty bottle down. Jesse didn't want anything more to drink. He had a lot of work to do yet that night. But under the circumstances, he decided to indulge his friend. Shawn took a small sip and began telling Jesse everything he could remember about his last day in Xuan Loc while Jesse sat back and listened intently. He recounted the conversation that he had with Madame Chi about Sydney's reported reputation and how he found the encrypted letter after he crashed the Jeep and was given another one at the motor pool. He told him about Sanders's death and his encounter with Sydney at Sanders's bunkhouse and talking with the gay CIA analyst just before he received his orders from Colonel Bennett. Ten minutes later, Shawn finished his story. Jesse had a few questions to clarify some points and now had a better understanding of what took place that day. Jesse was about to ask another question when his cell phone buzzed on the table. He answered it, got up, and walked to the hand railing. The call was short, and he walked back over and sat down.

  “I’m afraid that my time is just about up here. The ship I’m sailing on got its orders, and so do I.”

  “Man, I hate to see you leave so soon, but I understand that you have a job to do.”

  “I do have one last request before I have to leave. Do you have the envelope and encrypted letter here?”

  “Yes, I do. Would you like to see it?”

  “Definitely …I want to see what’s caused all this trouble.”

  Shawn got up and walked into the house. Before long, he was back with the envelope, and he handed it to Jesse, who immediately recognized the torn piece of paper on the corner of the manila envelope as the one he had seen in Sanders's hands. Jesse pulled out the single sheet of paper and examined the yellowed and faded document.

  Jesse was no expert on encryption, but he knew a few people who were. He placed the page back into the envelope, set it on the coffee table in front of him, and thought of Mary Jensen. Someone had killed her because she might have known something, or she might have held the key. Now, that was lost. As he looked at the envelope on the table, he decided that it was time that he told Shawn about the circumstances surrounding Mary Jensen’s death. Just as he was about to speak, Kim stepped onto the balcony and approached the two men. She looked happy despite everything that had transpired that night.

  “How are you two big strong men doing out here? Can I get you anything?”

  “Shawn looked at Jesse, who shook his head, “No, we’re good. It sounds like you guys are having some fun in there?”

  “Oh my god, Ken is a riot! He is soooo funny; I’ll bet he keeps you in stitches.” Kim said to Jesse.

  “Those wouldn’t be my exact choice of words, but he does keep things lively,” Jesse said as he moaned inwardly at the thought.

  “Well, okay then, I’ll leave you to boys alone so you can hash over old war stories.”

  Kim bent down, put her arm around Shawn’s neck, and kissed him softly. The two men watched her walk back to the kitchen. After she was out of sight, Jesse said, “Shawn…a lot has happened since Tim Choi sent that e-mail to his grandson.”

  Jesse sighed, “I’m afraid that I have some bad news to tell you. When I was in the meeting at Langley, I was informed that David Choi was wounded in a gun battle in his apartment a couple of days ago. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds. The last information I received was that he was in critical condition. I don’t know if it was connected to this, but the timing is very suspect.”

  Jesse had kept his eyes on Shawn, who was shaking his head in disbelief.

  "Apparently, David had contacted General Bennett, and they had scheduled a meeting for the next day. He never made that meeting. The very next night, two men entered Bennett's townhome, and they tried to kill him. I don't have all the details, but Bennett got into a gun battle with them, and he shot and killed both of them. Unfortunately, he sustained two gunshot wounds in the firefight. I did get an update on his condition not long ago, and he's been taken off the critical list. The prognosis is that he'll make a full recovery. I pray that David will recover also."

  As he was talking, Jesse could see Shawn's head sink lower with every sentence. Finally, Shawn spoke with anger in his voice.

  "Oh my god…all because of THIS?" Shawn said while pointing at the envelope.

  "It's not your fault, Shawn. There's no way you could have known that this would happen."

  Jesse tried to shift the blame but knew Shawn wouldn't buy it.

  "No, it's my fault; I should have let sleeping dogs lie."

  "Evil men do evil things. I'm sure you've heard the famous quote, "All that is required for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing." I know you're a good man, Shawn, and you did what you thought was right."

  "Thank you for that vote of confidence, Jesse, but that term, good, can be very subjective. What's sad is I've known Tim most of my adult life, and now I have to tell him that his grandson is in the hospital because of me and my foolishness."

  “I’m sorry, Shawn, I really am, but you’re wrong. What you did exposed a group that more than likely had something to do with the bombing in Connecticut.”

  Shawn picked up his head, “Are you saying that Sydney had something to do with it?”

  “I don’t know what her involvement may have been, if she was involved at all. She may or may not have been a willing participant. Only time will tell. But I think someone wanted her to be in the Oval Office, someone with a tremendous amount of money and power, the kind of power that can influence world affairs and the global economy. I believe that President Roberts was a threat to these people, and they planned his execution. I don’t have a lot of time to explain, but Rakov was the key.”

  “That piece of shit was the key?” exclaimed Shawn.

  For the next few minutes, Jesse explained the assignment President Roberts had given him, how they ran across Rakov in Prague, and what he was there to do.

  “So, do you think Rakov is working for these same people?” Shawn asked.

  “Yes, I do. I think these people are trying to protect their assets in the White House. From what you just told me, I would stake my life that Sydney knows what’s on this document because after Sanders was killed, I think that she found the letter that he had placed in his pocket. I believe that Jensen was killed because he saw something that would ruin her. And knowing her like I do, she was not about to let that happen.”

  Before Shawn could comment, Jesse’s phone buzzed again. He looked at the caller’s name and picked it up. The conversation lasted just a minute, and Jesse rang off.

  “From the look on your face, I assume that you have to leave soon,” Shawn said.

  “I’m afraid so. I wish I had more time to spend with you and Kim, but unfortunately, I don’t. A Zodiac is scheduled to pick us up in thirty minutes. I don’t know where this will lead at this point, but I believe you will be safe from harm from this point forward. With your permission, I’d like to take this document back to Washington so we can try and decode it.”

  "Do you know if Jensen's parents are still alive?" Shawn asked.

  Under the circumstances, Jesse decided not to mention Mary Jensen's death. He didn't want him to feel any worse than he already did.

  "What makes you think that Jensen's parents can decode this?" Jesse asked.

  "I can't remember his name, but I remember talking with that gay CIA spook after I found the envelope. I asked him who Jensen wrote to all the time. I recall asking him if he had a spook girlfriend. He told me that as far as he knew, he only wrote to his parents. I know it's a long shot, but maybe Jensen's dad was also a spook, and they wrote encrypted letters to each other. Hell…his mother could have been a spook for all I know."

  "I believe the CIA director is looking into that. Also, any friends or girlfriends that Jensen might have had at the time that he could have possibly written to. But if that's a dead end, and I'm sure that it is, he's going to give the experts at Langley or Quantico the shot at decoding it."

  "Before you leave, I need to ask you one more question."

  "I'll answer it if I can…but I hope it's a short one."

  "Do you know who these people that are behind this? Because something tells me that you're holding out on me?"

  "I'm not holding out on you, Shawn...although I do have my suspicions."

  Shawn could tell that he didn't want to elaborate.

  "And?"

  "It's complicated."

  "It always is."

  "I'm sorry, Shawn, I just don't have the time right now. But I promise that you'll know as soon as I do."

  “Okay, I can live with that. Do you think Rakov knows anything, or is he just a hired thug?” Shawn asked.

  “That’s a good question. I seriously doubt it. I believe that Rakov is just a pawn. These people are cautious. He was probably hired by a middleman whom he probably never met. I’m sure he knows nothing that can be traced back to the source, although I could be wrong.”

  “So you’re saying we’ll never find out who’s behind this?”

  “No, I’m not saying that. It will just take a bit of digging, and there are a lot of people in Washington with big shovels.”

  Jesse’s phone buzzed, and he read the text message.

  “We have to saddle up. The bus is on its way.”

  Jesse and Shawn got up and slowly made their way to the house, where more laughter poured through the open door. The party broke up, and twenty-five minutes later, Ken and Jesse were down on the isolated stretch of beach where Rakov had been loaded onto the Zodiac. While Ken loaded their gear, Jesse embraced Kim first and then his old friend one last time.

  “You know…I never had an opportunity to thank you for saving my life back in Xuan Loc.”

  “I think you already have…and by the way…thanks for saving my sorry old ass.”

  “All right, enough of this sentimental bullshit. The bus is loaded, and it’s about to leave the station,” Ken yelled out.

  At that, Jesse left Kim and Shawn standing on the shore, and he jumped into the waiting Zodiac. He turned and gave them one last wave goodbye as Ken pushed the sleek craft back into the water and jumped in without getting his feet wet. Shawn and Kim watched as the Zodiac skipped over the calm waters until the dark, endless sea finally swallowed it up.