Читать книгу The Fixer - John Stewart - Страница 8

Chapter 3

The Visitor

Mark woke up to a nurse setting a breakfast tray in front of him. He smiled and thanked her as she walked away. The swelling in his eye had gone down, and now it was becoming a nasty black eye and bruised cheek. His teeth still hurt from being kicked. Every breath he took felt like knives in his side.

He ate the eggs and hard biscuit. Mark laughed as he picked up the half piece of bacon. He took a bite and regretted it. The bacon was cold and tasted like it was made mostly of cardboard that maybe the real bacon was shipped in. He spit the piece into his hand and dropped it on the plate.

Mark heard the door click and open. A tall guy in a suit came into the area, showing the guard credentials. The guard pointed at Mark. The man turned and looked straight at him. He turned back and thanked the guard.

Mark pushed the food tray away and drank the last of his watered-down orange juice. The man was now walking his way. Mark thought, this guy must be his court-appointed attorney. He couldn’t believe the warden was seriously going to push the manslaughter charges. Mark was serving a life sentence, so it really didn’t matter. He knew he would never serve the entire sentence anyway. Eventually somebody would get lucky. Eventually he knew, he would feel the sharp end of a shiv or the repeated heel hitting his face as he lost consciousness. It was the life he was living in prison.

The man walked up and stuck out his hand. “I’m Troy Place. How are you feeling today, Mr. Farmer?”

Mark’s right hand was still handcuffed to the bed, but he reached up and shook the man’s hand. “I’m better than I was yesterday. Who are you, my attorney?”

The man smiled and pulled over the chair and sat down. “No, I’m no attorney. I work for the government.”

Mark shook his head. “This is where I say ‘No, thanks.’ I can’t imagine what you want with me, but my plate is full.”

Troy smiled and crossed his arms over his chest. “You don’t even know what I’m offering you. What if it was a Get Out of Jail Free Card.”

“Doubt it. What did you say your name was again?”

“Troy.”

“What agency did you say you work for?”

“I didn’t. It’s not important for our discussion.”

Mark’s eyebrows went up. “So NSA or CIA then. What could you possibly want from me?”

“I work for an agency that deals with multiple groups. It really doesn’t matter. You matter though, Mr. Farmer. The government invested a lot of money in you during your military career. It’s a shame for that to be wasting away in a place like this.”

Mark sat up a little, having his interest piqued now. “I agree. Let’s get these cuffs off and get the hell out of here.”

Troy laughed. “You look like you need to get out of here. The warden told me you killed two guys yesterday. What was that about?”

“I was defending myself. There’s a group of neo-Nazi skinheads in here that have decided I am their personal punching bag. I guess they got mad because I wouldn’t join their little hate group.”

Troy nodded. “How’s that working out for them so far?”

Mark smiled. “Not so good. Their guys keep getting hurt. Yesterday they got dead.”

“Did you know that one of the guys you killed yesterday was linked to a crime that is still unsolved? They think he killed a senator’s daughter in a failed kidnapping job. He did kill a cop in the chase. That’s what got him in here.”

“Let me guess, Tattoo guy, kinda big?”

“Yep. Allegedly, he and a few of his buddies kidnapped a senator’s daughter and had plans to ask for millions in ransom. The guy you killed was supposed to hide the girl until the money was received. He screwed up because she fought, and he broke her neck. They couldn’t give proof of life, so the deal went bad. They threw her body off a bridge. The cops pursued them, and he killed a cop in the chase. They never had any proof on the killing of the daughter. They never found her body.”

“Interesting, the head guard here wanted me to hurt that guy. He wouldn’t admit it, but when the guy threatened me, he saw it. He nodded at me after the threat. He wanted it taken care of.”

“And you did. No jury, no expensive trial. Justice served. How does that make you feel knowing that now?”

“Like I got used.”

“He was a scumbag. He would have killed you if he could. You did the right thing. Maybe you should get paid for that.”

Mark leaned away from the guy a bit and cocked his head. “What are doing here, Mr. Place? What is it you want from me? Got somebody else in here you want dead?”

Troy smiled. “No. But there is a real need out there for someone like you.”

Mark shook his head. “No, thanks. I’m not gonna be a dog on a leash to do some government spook’s dirty work. Don’t you guys have plenty of wet work guys for that?”

Troy laughed. “No, we don’t. I’m not saying we don’t have people we know that will do things like that if we need them to from time to time. No questions asked. That’s not why I’m here.”

“Why are you here then? Stop beating around the bush. What’s your deal?”

Troy sat back in the chair. “We need guys like you for special projects, if you will. Things that get beyond what we can do legally.”

“An assassin. That’s what you want.”

“Not an assassin. A fixer of broken things. Kind of like what you did concerning your fiancée. That guy needed to be stopped. Who knows how many people he killed before you stopped him. The laws and rules that police departments have to live by sometimes get in the way of just ending the problem. That goes for drug dealers, terrorists, dirty cops, and people that pose a threat to the US. Sometimes we just need a fixer.”

“No, thanks.”

“Come on, Mark, what are you doing here? You waiting for someone to kill you because you feel guilt over the guy you killed?”

“No, I don’t feel any guilt whatsoever over Leo Sparks. He was a piece of shit and got what he deserved. I shouldn’t have gone to jail for that.”

“We agree. Why don’t you come work for us and take care of people just like Leo Sparks for others in the world. Be the hero that you are.”

“There was nothing heroic about killing Leo Sparks. It was anger and revenge.”

“Bullshit. You think Katie’s parents don’t appreciate knowing that the guy that killed their daughter got what he deserved? How about the other girl in that shed? Leo Sparks got what he deserved. You found that guy, and you ended what he was doing. Law enforcement may have taken several more years to catch him. Even then he may have gotten off due to a technicality or a plea of mental illness. Justice was served.”

“Last time I checked, being a vigilante was against the law.”

“Yeah, it still is, doesn’t mean we don’t need just that from time to time.”

“What keeps me out of jail the next time I find some dirtbag in a backwoods town and put a bullet in his head?”

“Me.”

“You gonna walk me out of here right now? Because they transfer me to Florida next week. I stay here, more will die, including me. I’ll never get out of prison otherwise.”

Troy smiled. “I figured you had an escape plan already in the works.”

Mark grinned. “The bus ride to Florida is my best chance.”

“Okay, so don’t risk it. Come with me and be a fixer. You’ll be protected.”

“What’s the pay?”

“You tell me. Needs to be enough for you to set up residences in multiple places, multiple countries. The jobs we give you could be anything, anywhere.”

Mark stared up at the ceiling. “A million a year, and I get the first million now. We walk out of here today. If I go back into general population, they’ll kill me. I leave today with you.”

“I don’t know if I can make that happen. I have to make some calls and get some paperwork going to walk you out.”

“Make it happen. That’s the deal. I don’t want to spend one more night in this place. Somebody pays a guard off or sneaks past security and I end up with a cut throat in the middle of the night. Make whatever call you have to. You want me to be the fixer, I need you to fix this for me first.”

Troy got up and pulled a cell phone from his pocket. He punched in a few numbers and turned his back to Mark. “Sir, it’s me.”

Mark watched as he paced around the hospital area, keeping the conversation low, where no one could hear. He nodded and waved his hands. He looked at the ceiling and scratched the back of his head. He talked for a good ten minutes to whoever it was on the other end. Finally, he began to walk back over toward Mark. As he approached, his last words in the phone were “I’ll wait on the warden.” He hung up.

Mark looked up. “Well, did you get it done?”

Troy sat down in the chair and put the phone back in his pocket. “The governor of Georgia should be calling the warden in a few minutes to tell him to release you into my custody immediately.”

Mark sat up a little. “Really!”

“Really. You got anything in your cell that needs to be retrieved, anybody you want to say goodbye to?”

“No. I’m ready to go. And the money we discussed?”

“Good to go. We’ll go by the FBI’s evidence room in DC and take a million right off the top of whatever drug money they’ve ceased. There will never be any record of you anywhere, anytime. You’re a ghost from now on.”

“I assume I will have no problem being issued multiple passports or driver’s licenses.”

“Nope. Straight from the State Department.”

“Weapons?”

“You’re on your own.”

“That will be hard with a felony charge. You gonna erase my record?”

“Too much trouble. You can use one of your false identities. I’ll even get you a concealed carry permit.”

“What happens if I decide I don’t want to do this anymore?”

Troy’s smile faded away, and he got a very serious look on his face. “You will pick up your prison sentence right where you leave it today.”

“No consideration for the things I fix between now and then?”

“There’s always consideration. It depends on when you want to quit as to how things are handled. Six months from now and you’ll be right back here immediately. Twenty years from now and I am sure we’ll thank you for your service and tell you to have a nice life. You disappear between now and then and someone will come visit you when you least expect it. Catch my drift.”

“Yeah, I ain’t stupid.”

“I know you’re not.”

“What about the time in between fixes?”

“We’ll give you a sat phone that’s untraceable you can keep. The down time is all yours. You can live where you want. Date who you want and do what you want. You have to stay out of trouble, this ain’t a license to do whatever you want. You have to be available fairly quickly, and you have to accept what we give you. It’s just that simple.”

“How many other guys out there like me?”

“None in this role. There are other programs, but this is a brand-new deal. As the world around us becomes more and more insane, the more we need someone like you to end things that otherwise would just keep going until they were serious problems.”

“What guarantees do I have that when the shit hits the fan somewhere, I won’t be left holding the bag?”

Troy folded his hands across his lap. “None. There are no guarantees. If it’s here in the States, we won’t let you go to jail for anything sanctioned. Abroad is a little different.”

Mark threw his left arm in the air in protest. “Well, that’s bullshit. You’re gonna let me sit in some jail in Turkey and rot.”

“Mark, that’s why I picked you. Your military training, your investigative skills, your weapons knowledge, and your ability to fight like you do make you the perfect guy. Nothing we give you will be immediate action required. You’ll have time to research, plan, and execute to make sure you don’t get caught. We’ll help you with any agency you need. NSA, CIA, FBI, State Department, you name it, and you can get access to information or help. Those agencies just can’t carry out what has to be done. There has to be separation. Do you understand?”

“Yeah, I understand. I just don’t want to get left behind somewhere doing the government’s business because some administration in the White House frowns upon what I did. You get what I mean?”

“I do. We’ll take care of you. You take care of us, and we’ll take care of you.”

The warden, the head guard, and several others came walking into the hospital ward just then. The door slammed against the wall as they came through it.

The warden came up to Mark’s bed and looked at Troy as he stood. “Are you Troy Place?”

“Yes, sir.” He stuck out his hand.

The warden didn’t take it. “Mr. Farmer, somehow you have managed to get yourself some pretty strong friends. The governor of Georgia just called me and said to release you to Mr. Place here.”

Mark held up his cuffed wrist. “Can you take these off me?”

The warden turned to the head guard. “Get this asshole out of my prison right now.”

The warden walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him. The head guard walked over and uncuffed Mark. He turned and stuck out his hand to Troy. “I’m Officer Spivey, don’t mind him. He doesn’t like it when somebody tells him what to do.”

Troy smiled and shook his hand. “I’m sure. Do you need me to sign anything, Officer Spivey?”

“No, apparently the governor told the warden that he was to release Mark immediately without any delay. The paperwork would come when he got around to it and hung up. You must know some pretty important people.”

“Yeah, the president of the United States is a pretty important guy. People usually jump when he calls.”

The guard turned to Mark. “Who the hell are you really?”

Mark was trying to stand without his ribs puncturing a lung. “Nobody, man.”

The head guard helped Mark stand. He gave him a pair of shoes to wear and stuck out his hand. “I appreciate what you did in here. Senator Sloan was a friend of mine. Got me my job here a long time ago. What they did to his daughter was awful. That asshole you killed deserved it. I owe you one if you ever need it.”

Mark looked at Troy, and he smiled. “Making a difference already.”