No Good Deed...Part XXV

[Robbie C.]

Sonny got to his feet and left the room without saying a word. He knew Jenny would keep working on the girl. Getting her to open up a bit more about the plan. If there was a plan. Right now he wanted to see what Rico and Blair thought.

Blair didn’t beat around the bush. “I think she’s finally telling the truth. She’s clueless, but Hector does scare her.”

Tubbs nodded. “Same here. She’s bein’ straight, Sonny. And she’s in way over her pretty little head.”

“Yeah. She is. Can you put some extra eyes on her without it being too obvious?”

“You got it. Gonna let her stick around?”

“Yeah, unless Jenny digs something out that changes things.” He looked through the one-way glass. “She’s just a kid like the rest of ‘em at the end of it. Had it easier than most we see come through here, but she still deserves a chance.”

“Solid. I’ll get Lita to set something up. She’ll brief Tiny when he comes on.” He started to leave, then turned. “How do we use this?”

“We don’t. Wait for Jangles to reach out to her. See what he’s after. Then we can come up with something.” He looked back in the room and saw Jenny starting to get up. “Looks like they’re done in there.”

Rico nodded. “You should head back to the boat, partner. Jenny looks like she’s beat, and we got things here. After that press conference I think these boys will lay low for at least a couple of hours. They gotta get their plans adjusted, too.”

 

The reporters leaving had been an unexpected bonus, drawing enough guards off for Jimmy to get over the fence and into the shrubbery in closer to the house. The rain still leaked from a heavy gray sky, but it wasn’t as heavy as before. Not that it mattered. He was soaked, and would stay that way until this was done. What mattered was the Beretta was dry.

Keeping low, he moved on the building side of the bushes, guessing any cameras would be focused more on the side facing the fence. On this side of the wire the focus was more on keeping people in. He moved slow, an inch every few minutes, until he could see the staff parking lot. A handful of guards were still pulling apart the podium and collapsable tent they’d set up for the dog and pony show, and he could see a few staff members moving their cars back into their usual spots.

Now that he was here, close enough to the place to touch the white walls, he realized he didn’t really know what he’d do when he saw Burnett. Then he smiled. Who am I kidding? I know exactly what I’m gonna do when I see him.

From looking at the guards, Jimmy figured he wouldn’t make it very far before one of them dropped him. But he didn’t care. Angel was gone, his sister might as well be dead, and his dream of a better life was dead. All thanks to Burnett. They’d had a chance, but those damned lawyers had screwed it up. They always screwed things up. And Renfro was an idiot. He could feel anger warming his belly. I tired to tell them what Burnett was. What he was capable of. But they didn’t listen.

He did wonder why Burnett hadn’t had him killed after the second time they caught him coming over the fence in his usual spot. Maybe he didn’t know who I was. He wouldn’t know the same, and I don’t know if he’d recognize me if he saw me. I wasn’t very high on the totem pole back then. He smiled. But they’ll know me now. Jimmy Campbell. The man who killed Sonny Burnett.

Watching the doors through gaps in the leaves, he started imagining how it would go. He could just shoot from cover, but then Burnett would never know who’d killed him. No, it was important that he know. He wanted to see recognition in the man’s eyes, and maybe even a hint of fear, before he died. That was what mattered.

The rain turned into mist, and then an occasional drop as the sky started to lighten. The Beretta was starting to bite into his stomach, so he eased the heavy pistol out and held it ready in his right hand. Let’s see. Round chambered. Safety off. Finger away from the trigger. Don’t want to be like that idiot back at the Carrera estate who blew his own junk off because his finger got stuck in the trigger. He shook his head to clear water away from his eyes as it dripped from his hair. That’s when he saw the doors open and a mid-sized man come out. The clothes were different, but he’d know that profile anywhere. There was a girl on his arm, another blonde piece of fluff, and maybe someone behind them. But he didn’t care.

Jimmy Campbell came out of the bushes at a run, the Beretta held in front of him in a steady two-handed grip. “Sonny Burnett!” He almost didn’t recognize his own voice. “This is for Celeste!” He was just close enough to see Burnett’s eyes when he started shooting.

 

Sonny stopped just inside the door while Jenny pulled on a ratty sweatshirt she’d salvaged from some forgotten corner of the St. Vitus Dance, his old sailboat. “I’m a California girl still,” she said with an apologetic smile. “It looks cold out there.”

Behind them Steve Blair snorted. “Ain’t no such thing as cold here.”

“Now you sound like your uncle.” She turned and smiled at him before taking Sonny’s arm. “It was a good idea to leave early.”

“I can’t take any credit.” He kissed her on the forehead. “It was all Rico’s doing. I think he just wanted to get us out of the way so he could get some work done.” He looked back at Blair. “You gonna insist on walking us out?”

“Damned right. It’s part of the drill.” Blair narrowed his eyes to slits. “Always escort the principle to the vehicle. Be ready to follow in chase vehicles if the situation requires it.”

“I always hated close protection.” Sonny paused. “Naw, I can’t say that. I met Caitlin on a protection assignment.”

The outer doors hissed open as they tripped the sensors and Sonny let the smell of the rain wash over him. “Good, clean air for a change.” He walked out and turned toward the Daytona. “Maybe we should…”

“Sonny Burnett!”

He turned toward the shout and saw a thin, wet form break from the manicured shrubs in a shower of droplets and leaves. Then he saw the gun and pushed Jenny down and away from him, going by reflect for the Smith & Wesson that wasn’t at his hip.

“This is for Celeste!”

The name froze him in his tracks. Something flashed by to his right, moving faster than he thought possible. One arm shot out, pushing him to the wet pavement as the first shots boomed from the charging figure. Something burned across his arm, and he heard shouts from the guards inside the entryway and further out toward the gate. Something sliver came up, and the familiar boom of a .45 filled his ears.

Jenny had scraped her palms open breaking her fall, and bright red blood mixed with murky water on the pavement. Standing in front of her was Steve Blair, smoke tricking from the wide muzzle of his Smith & Wesson 4506-1. Sprawled less than ten feet away was the body of Jimmy Campbell. Blair’s single shot caught him right between the eyes, ending any difficulties but making identification dicey.

“Sonny! Did he…”

“I’m ok, darlin’.” He answered first, then felt along his body. Aside from a deep graze on his arm, and a torn pair of pants, everything seemed fine.

Blair walked over and kicked the Beretta away from the lifeless hand, then kicked the body once to check for movement. It was casual and professional, telling Sonny this wasn’t the first time the younger man had swept up after a fight. “Sorry about the pants, boss.”

“Forget it. That was some shooting.”

“I should have seen him coming sooner.”

“Naw. He wasn’t something we expected.” Sonny turned and nodded to the flood of guards coming from the building. “And now we gotta explain all this to Rico. You gonna need any cover from Miami-Dade?”

Blair smiled. “No. Not Special Agent Dawson, FBI. You might want to act surprised when I tell them that, though.”

“Yeah. Plausibile deniability I think the legal types call it.” Sonny took a final look at Jimmy Campbell’s body before taking Jenny in his arms.

 

“Trudy tried to call, and when you didn’t pick up she called me.”

Martin Castillo looked from the phone to Randy’s concerned face and back again, seeing the flashing red light on the machine for what felt like the first time. “I must have not heard it.”

“Yeah.” Randy took in the cut-down jungle top with a glance. “It gets like that sometimes, doesn’t it? Anyhow, that Jimmy Campbell took a shot at Sonny.” He raised his hand. “The kid’s dead, thanks to Steve. From what Trudy said he put a round through Jimmy’s face neat as you please and then blew off Miami-Dade by posing as an FBI agent.”

Castillo nodded, letting the information sink in. “So Campbell broke?”

“Yeah. He was shouting something about Celeste when he started shooting. Trudy said Tubbs is beating himself up about how the kid got inside the wire in the first place.”

“Remember the NVA sappers? Where there’s a will, there’s always a way. Even for an amateur like Campbell.”

“Yeah.” Randy touched his shoulder. “Are you ok, Marty?”

“Yes.” He paused, then shook his head. “I suppose I am now. It all came back to me this afternoon when the rain came.”

“Nam?” Randy nodded in answer to his own question. “I get that, too. Some days worse than others. And you were there a hell of a lot longer than I was. Look, grab what you need and I’ll drive you in. Trudy’s worried, and I figured you’d like to look the scene over. The worst of the Miami-Dade morons should be gone by now.”

“Of course.” He shook his head to clear it and turned toward the shed. “I need to grab something first.”

He felt better with the big .44 under his arm, concealed by his shirt and the cut-down jacket. Randy drove the rental car expertly through the late-afternoon traffic, losing most of it when they turned toward Caitlin’s House. They’d been silent most of the way, and Castillo saw that suited Randy as much as it did him. Only when they got close to the gate did the former marshal speak. “I guess the press conference went pretty well. Old Towers laid it on ‘em hard and thick from what Trudy said.”

“He’s a good man for that.” Castillo showed his ID to the guard, who checked it against his face and nodded to his partner who finished with Randy’s before letting them through. “Has there been any word from the rest of Team Elvis?”

“They’re holding station, keeping the ears on. They wanted to come back but I told ‘em to stay put. This is gonna rattle some of their cages, too.”

Castillo nodded. The breathing had helped, but he still felt like his head was packed with cotton. Or split between now and thirty years ago. It wasn’t a comfortable feeling, and he struggled to focus. He could see red and blue lights washing over the close-cropped lawn, painting alternating waves on the white wall of the building. “Someone should tell them to turn their rollers off.”

“You know cops. Always gotta advertise.”

Trudy was the first to the passenger side of the car. “Are you ok? I was worried when you didn’t pick up.”

He took her in his arms. “Thank you for calling Randy. I’m…I’m ok now.”

“It’s partly the dream isn’t it?”

He looked past her to the yellow tape. The tarp draped over something flat in the grass. And the knot of men in bad suits trying to wrestle answers they’d never get out of Steve Blair. “It might be. I don’t know. What happened here?”

She told him in short sentences. “We don’t know how he got in, but Rico’s going back through the camera tapes. It wasn’t his usual spot, though.”

“He was smart enough to avoid that. Maybe he’d been coming in that way on purpose to draw off attention.”

She nodded. “That was the first thing Rico though of before he started cussing. Sonny and Jenny are in with him, trying to calm him down.”

Castillo nodded, thinking back to sappers with satchel charges gripped close to their bodies. “It’s almost impossible to plan security against someone who’s willing to die to accomplish their goal. And Jimmy seemed intent on getting what he thought was revenge against Sonny.”

“Is Celeste really dead?”

“I have no idea. And if she is, Crockett had nothing to do with that.” Castillo stared at the tarp, spotted with water from the intermittent rain. “But Jimmy wouldn’t have understood that. I think he was broken well before this, and something Wiggins or Renfro did pushed him over the edge.” He told he about the call Stan and Lester had monitored.

“Maybe it was the story about the girl. He might have thought it put her in danger, especially with what he thought he knew about Burnett.”

Castillo rubbed his eyes. The fog was thinning now, but a part of him was still back in those mountains. “Possibly. But we’ll never know now. When are they going to be done with Blair?”

Trudy smiled and touched his arm. “As soon as he’s tired of listening to them talk. He’s got what looks to be real FBI identification, and some kind of priority order that had them on their radios five seconds after he showed it to them. He came prepared.”

Castillo thought back to the man he’d given Blair’s number to those few years back. “I’d be surprised if he wasn’t.” The colonel had been one of the most thorough men he’d ever known, and any organization he worked for would have had to meet those standards. “We should go see Crockett and Tubbs.” He turned to Randy. “You want to stay out here in case he needs some back up?”

“Sure. Plus I wanna see how his FBI act plays out.” Randy chuckled, folding his arms and grinning as Blair’s finger started stabbing one of the Miami-Dade detectives in the chest. “Especially since he’s just gone into J. Edgar Asshole mode.”

As soon as they were inside, Trudy slipped her arm around his waist. “Are you sure you’re ok? I was scared when you didn’t answer the phone.”

“I’m sorry. I was…” He paused, debating. “I don’t know what I was. I was doing breathing exercises. Trying to come back from the Laotian mountains. Right when the rain really started. Then Randy was at the door.”

“You’re allowed, Marty.” She tugged at his waist, bringing them both to a stop. “You’ve carried us for years, and it’s gotta take a toll. And all that stuff from back then…I don’t pretend to understand it, but it has to hurt, too. Jess, Ti Ti, Gus. All of them. It catches up with all of us eventually.”

“I know.” He was silent for a handful of heartbeats. “I’m going to talk to that counselor Crockett has been seeing. Both he and Robbie swear by him. I hope…”

“No, that’s good. I want to help, but there’s some things I just can’t do.” She smiled up at him, reminding him once again why he loved her with all his being. “Do what you need to do, my love. So long as you always come home to me.”

“Of course.” He smiled and kissed her lightly. “I can’t imagine a life without you. Not now.”

They found Sonny and Rico in the security room, Jenny standing off to one side with a tall woman Castillo vaguely remembered was in charge of the day shift. The partners were staring at a bank of monitors, Rico not quite barking commands at a sweating control operator. “Back it up just a bit. There. That’s where the chump came over.”

“I got here as soon as I heard. Mather’s outside in case Blair needs backup. What’s the situation?”

Sonny chuckled, but Castillo could see he was still pale. Being shot at had a way of draining the color from anyone’s skin, especially if it hadn’t happened for a few years. “I don’t think that Blair needs any backup at all. He’s on it in spades.”

“Yeah.” Rico shook his head, turning away from the monitors. Castillo tried not to smile when he saw the look of relief flooding over the operator’s face. “As soon as those chumps from Miami-Dade rolled up he started putting them through the wringer and hasn’t let up yet.”

“What do you know so far?”

“You mean aside from Jimmy being Celeste’s brother?” Sonny’s voice had a bitter tinge. “That might have been good for me to know.”

Rico cleared his throat. “That’s on me, partner. You had enough going on, we didn’t want you going all cowboy and chasing off after Jimmy.”

Sonny started to snap, then seemed to collect himself. “Yeah. That’s probably exactly what I would have done. And then we might have missed Ramona.” He gave Castillo the short version about the girl.

“That makes sense. And there’s no way anyone could have predicted Jimmy’s actions. He snapped. Maybe because of how they were using the girl.” Castillo paused, his nerves finding refuge in the familiar work. “Are you sure Jimmy never knew you as Crockett?”

“No way he could have. He vanished around the time Cliff started taking over, and by the time he started trying to be a cop I’d left the force that first time. We kept the Task Force pretty much off everyone’s radar except the Marshals.” Sonny paused. “And when he started shooting he yelled Burnett. Not Crockett or anything else.”

Castillo allowed them a thin smile. “And what would Sonny Burnett do to that girl? The Burnett he thought he knew, at least.”

“Make her disappear.” Sonny raised a hand as Jenny started to say something. “I didn’t usually kill people, but if you send them away and no one sees them go, the first thing every trafficker assumes is that you killed them.”

“Maybe he thought the girl’s life was in danger. We’ll never know now.” Castillo looked at the frozen, flickering image on the monitor. “He crouched in that rain for almost three hours before coming over the wire. And then waited for at least another hour. He was dedicated.”

“And now he’s dead.” Rico’s voice was flat. “That’s great an’ all, but the question now is what are those other chumps gonna do?”

“Crockett, you know Wiggins better than we do.”

“And that ain’t sayin’ much. I only met him a few times, and he liked to hang in the background and let Fremont do most of the talking.” Sonny’s forehead wrinkled in thought. “He’ll weigh his options. Risk versus benefit and all that business crap. That’s what the guy is at the end of the day. A damned lawyer turned businessman. With that body out there, he’s probably lost the Post, and I’ll bet Gary’s little fire and brimstone show earlier helped them on their way. Even with narco money they ain’t gonna like being sued.”

“And their new backers won’t appreciate either the attention or the drain on their bank accounts.”

Sonny nodded, and Castillo could almost see the gears turning behind his eyes. “They might take one more shot with the girl. One more lurid headline just to see if anything shakes loose. I’ll bet that snake Renfro has at least one more story all lined up and ready to go.” He looked back at Jenny. “But we’ve got Ramona turned. She’ll let us know when they reach out, and we can manage the response.”

“She’s a scared kid, Martin. She knows if she doesn’t help us she’s back on the street in under an hour.” Jenny paused. “And if she does help us she gets to finish the program.”

Rico cleared his throat. “You know, I ain’t seen Team Elvis during all this.”

Castillo nodded. “They’re working for me. It’s better you don’t know how or why. But they’re working now.”

Rico nodded. “Gotcha. So what do we do now?”

Castillo saw Sonny look at him before he replied. “We let Miami-Dade finish jerking off in the parking lot and then go home. Not much else we can do except make sure Gina has all the support she’ll need on the phones. This will hit the news fast. Hell, it probably already has. But I don’t expect anyone to work overtime. Have her draft a statement and I’ll push it out under my name before we leave.” He grinned. “Throw in some crap about cooperating with an ongoing Federal investigation. That should give Wiggins and his crew indigestion.”

Castillo nodded. The fog had vanished in the heat of work, and it felt good to have his entire self back in the game. Almost like old times. “Do it. I’ll have Team Elvis keep working on their end.”

“Keep us informed, Marty. You and Randy don’t need to do this alone.”

Castillo’s smile was thin. “Maybe not. But it’s better that way for now. I’ll let you know if anything develops. You have my word.”

He found Randy and Steve Blair talking just inside the side doors. Randy was still laughing at something Blair had said when Castillo and Trudy approached. “Hey, boss. The kid’s got chops! He let those local yokels have it with both barrels.”

Blair nodded. “They had some lieutenant with them who started making trouble until I waved my FBI credentials under his nose and threatened to arrest him for interfering with a Federal investigation. Fed him a whole line about how Jimmy was involved with a Mexican cartel and had been making credible threats against employees at Caitlin’s House. Police veterans. By the time I was done I think he’d shit himself and went to hide in the unmarked unit over by the edge of the lot.”

“Good work. Let the colonel know I appreciate the loan. Tell him I owe him one.”

“You know the colonel?”

“Let’s just say we met in a different time and place.” Castillo smiled, not wanting to think too much about the firefight in Laos when his team had blundered across an NVA ambush and saved a Marine Force Recon patrol. The man had been a lance corporal back then, and they’d stayed in touch in the odd way people in the covert world usually did.

“I’ll be sure to do that. And now I’d better get back out there.” He nodded toward the knot of uniforms near the patrol cars and the cime scene techs on their knees by the tarp. “The natives look to be getting restless.”

Randy waited until Blair was gone. “He’s a sharp kid. No question.”

“His father would be proud.” Castillo watched through the rain-streaked glass as Blair strode back toward the scene, his arms moving as he appeared to be barking orders. “Be sure to let Dave know he did a good job.”

“I will.” Randy looked from Castillo to Trudy. “What’s the plan now, boss?”

“Why don’t you link up with the rest of Team Elvis? Let them know what happened here and tell Switek it’s his call about how long to remain on station. Trudy and I are heading home. We’ll just be in the way here, or I will at least.” He gestured back toward the security office. “Crockett and Tubbs have things in hand here.”

“Maybe Rico can have Mindy watch the evening news while Gina’s drafting that statement.” Randy chuckled. “I’ll bet the newsrooms are going crazy over what happened out here today.”

Castillo nodded to Trudy, who turned and headed for one of the phones at the guard station. “Good idea. We need situational awareness of what’s going to be driving Wiggins and his people to act. Aside from Ramona they’re deaf and blind.”

 

Gordon Wiggins stared at the TV screen in his room, his knuckles going white on the glass of scotch as he tried to control his temper. That’s not just slipping the leash, Renfro. That’s going stark-raving crazy. What the hell was he thinking? The earnest blonde wearing too much makeup and a top unbuttoned just far enough to leave only the color of her nipples to the viewer’s imagination opened with the breaking news about a shooting at Caitlin’s House and followed up breathlessly with a recap of the earlier press conference.

Maybe I should have told the little idiot Burnett was a cop. But I doubt he’d have believed me. He’d met Renfro at the paper, and the news about Jimmy’s sister and her connection to Burnett had come as a shock. “Wish I’d have known,” Renfro had muttered as he watched Wiggins flip through the clippings and pictures of Celeste Carrera. “Would have made a hell of a leade - ‘The Saint Banging the Sinner.’” Wiggins just grunted, not wanting to get into what could have been. But he’d figured they’d be able to ride it out. And Renfro had assured him Jimmy wasn’t violent. “Oh, he’ll throw a damned fit like a schoolgirl,” the fat man had said with a smug smile on his face. “But he ain’t got the balls to do anything else. Maybe try to mess up that press conference somehow, but there’s a restraining order on him. He ain’t gonna get past the front gate.”

And like an ass I believed him. Wiggins stared through the screen, thinking back to the last time he’d seen the scrawny photographer. How could such a good plan be bunged up by someone so minor?

At least the girl was still in place. Campbell would have caused a big enough distraction he hoped Crockett didn’t think to look for the source of the story. Maybe they’d moved too soon there, too, but with Haskell getting nervous he felt they’d needed to do something. And that was another problem. Friend Arthur and his lack of nerve. Let alone the blubbering moron Watkins.

The room phone jangled, interrupting his thoughts. He snatched it up on the third ring. “This had better be important.”

Haskell’s shaking voice filled his ear. “What the hell happened, Gordon?”

“A minor setback is all, Arthur. Breathe easy, old friend.” Wiggins took a deep drink of his scotch. This was the last thing he needed.

“Minor setback my ass. First that pompous prick Towers says he’s going to sue the Post and anyone else involved in that slanderous article, and now the media’s saying Campbell tried to shoot Burnett.” There was a pause, and he could hear the man’s labored breathing. “We’re screwed, Gordon. Screwed!” The last word was almost a shriek.

“Calm, Arthur. Calm. Getting hysterical never solves anything.” Wiggins drained his glass and looked around for the bottle. He’d bought his own, tired of having to keep ordering the little room service trifles that barely filled a grown man’s glass. “When I spoke with Renfro this afternoon he assured me they had another story in the works. Maybe two. And the girl is safe, is she not?”

“But he could have told them about us!”

Wiggins paused. He hadn’t considered that. What if young Jimmy had been mortally wounded and talked before he passed on? The news hadn’t been clear about that at all, and it was a cause for worry. “Do you have any contacts in the police? Someone who could give us more information?”

“No. Not after what happened with Francis.” There was a pause. “What about Renfro? He must have one or two.”

“Perhaps. But I don’t think friend Renfro is going to want to do much to help us. He’s got his own ample backside to cover. Campbell, after all, did work for him.”

“So maybe it will all stall out there? At the paper?”

“Perhaps.” He could hear the desperation in Haskell’s voice. But he also knew this wasn’t the time to lie. “Or Renfro might give us up to save his own hide.” He looked at the amber whiskey in his glass, the melting ice dancing in it like small diamonds. “I think maybe we need to meet, Arthur. You, me, and Hank and maybe that associate of his.” We can still walk away from this. Cut ties with Renfro and get away clean. “It’s time to decide, Arthur, if we continue with this project or cut our losses.”

There was another pause. “I don’t know if Hector will go quietly.”

“I’ll pay him off.” Wiggins hated the thought of depleting his resources further, but he hated the thought of going back to prison more. “He responds well to money, yes? And he should have a voice in the decision, since it’s his girl who’s on the inside now.”

He could hear Arthur breathing on the other end of the line. Then the man sighed. “I’ll set it up. When and where?”

“Let Hector pick where. It will make him feel safer about things. As for when, let’s say ten tonight. Let me know what he says. And, Arthur, try to calm down?”