Part II
Chapter 15
The next week was spent reconnecting with my family. Keane and I talked for hours about what was going on and how I was going to deal with it. The thought of Maria being alive was driving my every thought.
I also had long conversations with my father. He had this knack for giving me good advice when I did not actually give him all the facts. When I was a kid he always knew when I had gotten into something just by looking at me. Like the time I had insulted a shop keeper over the way my shirts had been pressed. Complaining about a service was my way of not paying full price. My father knew that I had done something as soon as I walked into the house.
He had me confessing and I was being marched back to the shop within minutes of arriving home. Apologies and full payment quickly followed. My father ‘the mind reader’ was what I had always called him.
After dinner, on the second night I was back at the house, he pulled me over to the side and said he wanted to go out for a beer. Code word for ‘lets talk’. Like I said ‘the mind reader’.
Over a couple of drafts he had me telling him just about everything. He could always read me like an open book. After sitting in silence and looking at me for fifteen minutes he finally said, “Family is first above everything else. You do whatever you have to do to find out what happened and get you family back.” Then silence as was his way.
The walk back to the house quiet until we reached the front door. “Son, when you are done come home. No matter what happens come home”, and with that he went inside to be with the family. I spent he next couple of hours walking and thinking.
“Two Years”
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Pete was raised by an elderly aunt and had no other family. His only marriage had failed miserably. One of those casualties to military life. So while I was reconnecting with my family he was preparing.
Clayton Securities turned out to be a front company for a large global weapons company. There main purpose was to protect weapons shipments that were in transit. Taking jobs like guarding Martin was just done to keep up there front. Their only real connection to this affair was through their work for Martin. So with him gone they washed their hands of all this and moved on.
Jimmy Bailey was another matter. He had been dealing in illegal weapons for 2 decades and was always well ahead of anyone in authority. Pete like to call him ‘a drive by arms dealer’ because all his deals were done quickly and on short notice. He was in and out of a place before any police organization even knew he was there.
Our problem with Jimmy was that he was in Ireland, his home, and he never did any business there. He was the beloved ‘hometown boy’ and we had to get to him on his home turf. This was not going to be easy.
Pete had arranged transportation and acquired the equipment need. We decided to travel under our own passports because time was short. With all the preparation done; Pete spent time with aunt and rested. The woman had a spell on him and treated him like he was still ten years old.
Pete loved it.
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Wailer spent his time being himself. Chasing women, drinking beer and hustling a few bucks. He said he needed money for souvenirs. I was afraid to ask what he wanted to bring home.
In a way I envied him. Every thing he thought about was in the ‘here and now’. He did not look beyond today and lived his life the best he could.
I could barely remember being that young.
We met up at Pete’s apartment two days before we were to leave. Final preparations were completed.
Pete, who showed a hard exterior most of the time, was a sentimental guy. Especially when it came to New York City. So Wailer and I submitted ourselves to Pete’s leaving NYC ritual. A trip to the top of the Empire State Building. He loved to look over his city.
“You never know when it will be your last look.”, Pete.
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