The Cartel Affair Read online

  Without looking up, Baker speaks to Joanne.

  “I’m sorry for everything I have put you through. I never meant for any of this to happen.”

  “William, I’m not going to lie. I’m ashamed of you and everything you’ve put this man and his family through. I’m ashamed of everything you’ve done to this country.”

  Baker slowly looks up. Travis cannot believe the show that Joanne is putting on. He sees the look in Baker’s eyes and knows that everything he suspects is true. Travis doesn’t say anything yet. He’s waiting to see what Baker has to say to Joanne. Travis sees the fire flash through Baker’s eyes. Baker quickly looks down and hopes that Joanne nor Travis saw it. Joanne didn’t notice.

  “You know I’ll be there when they hang your ass! I’ll make sure that you pay and pay dearly for what you’ve done. I’ll also make sure that anyone else involved pays also.”

  Joanne and Baker look at Travis simultaneously. Travis knows he has hit a nerve with these two. Baker smiles and Joanne looks like she’s been slapped. It slowly dawns on Joanne that Travis may be smarter than she thought. She’ll have to pry just a little tonight to try and find out what Travis thinks. If Travis has figured it out, Joanne’s not sure what she’ll do. She knows that Travis will stop at nothing to make sure that everyone involved in this will be punished. She’ll have to put on her best face and try to pry information out of Travis with a little push from her womanly wiles. She’s almost scared to push Travis to find out what he knows, but she has to. Baker has an expression on his face like the cat that ate the canary. Travis believes Baker is actually enjoying this.

  “I’ll be here tomorrow when they hang you. I’ll enjoy it and I’ll have my revenge when it happens.”

  “I will not be here when it happens tomorrow. Regardless of what you’ve done, I cannot be a witness to that.”

  Travis and Joanne leave Baker sitting there and head home. Baker can feel his mind slowly start to slip and slowly starts laughing. Low at first, then building into almost hysterical laughter as he is lead back to his cell.

  FORTY-FIVE

  Travis’ Home

  TRAVIS AND JOANNE ride home in silence. Joanne’s mind is racing a 1,000 miles an hour. Does Travis have any idea she’s behind all this or is he just blowing hard to scare her husband? Travis is trying to figure out what he’s going to do with Joanne. He can’t decide if he wants to bring her to justice or if he wants justice served his way. It’ll depend on how Joanne reacts and what she does. They arrive home and neither one feels like cooking, so they decide to order a pizza and have it delivered. They eat in silence. Finally, Joanne speaks.

  “I need to do some shopping tomorrow. I need to get some clothes and some other things. Do you think it’ll be ok if I go shopping while you’re gone tomorrow?”

  “I don’t see why not. I can have one of the guys go with you for safety’s sake.”

  “That won’t be necessary. I can just run out quickly and come back. No need to bore the guys with my shopping for girly stuff.”

  “I guess that would be ok. I would just feel better if you had someone with you in case the media gets wind of anything.”

  “I won’t be gone that long. I’ll make it short and sweet. We can use this as a test to see if the media even knows where I am.”

  Travis is immediately suspicious of her intentions. He has a sneaky feeling that she’s planning something. He’ll have one of the boys shadow her and see what she’s up to. Travis excuses himself and goes to his room to make some calls. He calls Langley and speaks with Squeaker. He tells Squeaker to monitor all calls from the house and let him know if anything suspicious comes up.

  Travis lies down and starts trying to put together what Joanne’s trying to do. He believes she may be trying to run on him but isn’t sure how she might go about doing this without outside contact. He will call Squeaker in the morning and see if any calls were made. Travis dozes off. He wakes up in the morning and calls Langley. Squeaker tells him that a call was made just after midnight to a charter airline service at Washington Dulles International Airport. Looks like Travis may miss the hanging today after all.

  Travis gets up and gets ready to go. He grabs his go bag and heads out the door before Joanne gets up and about.

  Joanne gets up and finds that Travis has left already. She gets ready and leaves.

  FORTY-SIX

  Washington Dulles International Airport

  JOANNE BAKER HEADS toward Dulles Airport. She drives around for half an hour trying to make sure no one is following her. She pulls into parking at Dulles and makes her way to the charter terminal. She shall not risk being seen with any baggage so she decided to go without any baggage and would buy all new things when she reaches her destination.

  “Hello, I’m Joanne Baker. I have a chartered flight leaving at ten thirty for Medellin, Columbia.”

  “Yes, Mrs. Baker. We have your reservation. Do you have any baggage?”

  “No. It’s just me. No baggage. How long before the plane is ready?”

  “The plane is fueled and waiting on you to board. It will be just a few minutes and we’ll be ready.”

  “Thank you. I need to board as soon as possible.”

  Joanne sits down and nervously waits. She’s thinking about how long she’ll need to stay in Columbia before she comes back to the U.S. under the passport in her maiden name.

  “I guess Travis isn’t as smart as I was giving him credit for. Just a few minutes and I’ll be out of here and free. Travis can’t touch me once I leave the U.S.” Joanne is pulled out of her reverie.

  “Mrs. Baker, you’re free to board now. Have a nice flight.”

  “Thank you, I will.”

  Joanne boards the Grumman Gulfstream II. She goes to her seat and sits down. The pilot comes out of the cockpit and Joanne’s blood runs cold.

  “Hello, Joanne. Taking a trip, are we?”

  “Travis! How in the Hell did you know about my flight?”

  “I’m paid to know things like this.”

  “I thought you were going to watch my husband get hanged?”

  “I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to say goodbye, now could I, Joanne.”

  “How could you have possibly known what I was planning today?”

  “What you don’t seem to realize is that I’m not some hick from North Carolina that you can sleep your way around. I’m highly trained. I get paid to figure shit like this out. I know all about you.”

  “I don’t know what you think you know, but you don’t know anything about me.”

  “Let’s get comfortable and I’ll tell you a little story. You’re Joanne Lynn Rothschild. Born into the Rothschild fortune. Even as a little girl you had ambitions of becoming more powerful than your grandfather. You ran all kinds of scams when you were in school. Even in high school, you had to have the most power and influence and when you didn’t get your way, you would pay people to destroy anyone who opposed you. You met William Baker at a function thrown by your grandparents. He was older than you by 15 years. You really didn’t care much for him, but you saw him as a way to get out from under your parent’s and grandparent’s rule. You wouldn’t get your inheritance until you were married. You made everyone believe that you were madly in love with him, so you got married. You agreed to finance his political aspirations in return for doing whatever you told him to do. Even at 20 you had to be in control. Let’s have a drink while I finish my story.”

  Travis gets up and pours himself and Joanne a glass of wine. As Joanne takes the glass, he sees her hands are shaking.

  “Let’s see, where was I, oh yeah, age 20. You put up the money and got your husband elected as mayor of Napa. That didn’t give you enough power, so you had him run for governor of California. You had some powerful opposition to that, so you paid someone to create a scandal and forced the opposition to resign from the race. Almost immediately, you started priming him for bigger and better things. As you were doing this, you set into motion things that woul
d give him power and influence. You started making sure that he found whatever dirt he could find on anyone around him and started doing favors so that they owed him, or should I say you, favors later on when he needed them. How am I doing so far?”

  “You don’t have any idea what I sacrificed to get him where he is today.”

  “You didn’t sacrifice anything. You made sure of that. You don’t do anything unless it benefits you. You then made him run for the Senate and you spent enough money and called in enough favors to make sure he won. That’s when the real fun and power began. You met Escobar at a function you and your husband attended in Columbia. You immediately had the idea to get involved in the drug trade. Why not? You could make stupid money and the power itself was intoxicating to you. William didn’t think it was a good idea, so you threatened to pull your power and support if he didn’t go along with what you wanted. Any of this sounding familiar?”

  “What’s wrong with wanting power and prestige?”

  “Nothing when it’s done for the right reasons. But your reasons are anything but right. You forced William to get anything he could find on people so you could control elections and get who you wanted elected. That alone breaks multiple laws. You wanted to make sure none of your plans came under scrutiny. You wanted to be able to do whatever you wanted and to Hell with everyone else.”

  “How long have you known all this?”

  “Some of it, a while, some of it you just confirmed for me. You see, background is easy to find out. What takes time is figuring out why someone does what they do and how they go about it. That’s what I’m paid to do with people like you.”

  “What do you mean, people like me?”

  “People who want to break the law and screw the good people of the United States of America.”

  “Don’t give me that patriotic bullshit. If you had the chance, you would do the same things I’ve done.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong, my dear. Some people have a concise notion of what’s right and what’s wrong. Some of us refuse to step over that line.”

  “With all the killing you’ve done, you want to preach to me about right and wrong? You’re just as guilty as I am.”

  “I kill for the good of my country. I take out people like you who want to harm the welfare of this country for the sake of power and money. I’ll answer for what I’ve done, and I can live with that. You, on the other hand, don’t think you’ve done anything wrong.”

  “So, what happens now? You don’t honestly think I’m just going to give up and go to prison, do you?”

  “No, I don’t. I have something altogether different in mind for you. You’re going to be an example to the cartel in Columbia.”

  “What do you mean, an example?”

  “Have you ever heard the term Columbian Necktie?”

  “No. What does that mean?”

  “This!”

  Travis lunges forward and slices Joanne’s throat. He then proceeds to pull her tongue out through the wound.

  “That’s what I mean by Columbian Necktie!”

  Travis pins a note to her and moves her to the seat facing away from the cockpit. Travis then steps back to the lavatory in the rear of the plane and washes up. He’s very careful not to get blood on his clothes. That would never do. He has another appointment. Travis steps off the plane and tells the pilots that Mrs. Baker had a restless night and will be taking a nap. She has asked not to be disturbed until she reaches Columbia. Travis turns and walks away.

  FORTY-SEVEN

  FCI Bennettsville

  TRAVIS MAKES IT to Bennettsville with 20 minutes to spare before the execution. The execution is set for twelve o’clock sharp. Travis makes his way into the room where Baker is to be hanged. The officials have not brought Baker in yet. Travis is relieved that he made it here in time. He wants to watch the expression on his face when he leans in close and tells him about Joanne’s early departure, and about how she was going to leave him holding the bag for everything until he figured it out. Any bets the old bastard will have a smile on his face when they place the bag over his head?

  The officials bring Baker into the room, and Travis asks for a few minutes to talk to him privately. They grant Travis his wish. Everyone leaves the room except Baker, who’s in cuffs, and Travis.

  “How are you feeling today, Bill?”

  “How the Hell do you think I’m feeling! I’m about to be hanged because of your sorry ass!”

  “That’s good to know. I have five minutes with your worthless ass, and I intend to make the most of it.” Travis moves in close to Baker so he won’t be overheard by anyone. “Your precious little wife is on board a private jet bound for Columbia as we speak.”

  “That’s good. Why’s she going to Columbia?”

  “Why don’t you tell me why she would go to Columbia.

  “I’m sure I wouldn’t have any idea.”

  “You just can’t tell the truth about your dear little wife, even though you’re about to die because of her, can you?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I figured it out, you stupid son of a bitch! I know your wife is the true mastermind in all of this. You’re not smart enough to plan everything that has happened.”

  Baker’s eyes go wide at the thought that Travis may have figured everything out. He wonders why Travis let her get away if he figured it out.

  “You’re not smart enough to figure anything out. If you figured it out, as you say, Joanne would never have been allowed to leave like you say she did.”

  Travis leans in so close that his mouth is almost touching Baker’s ear. “I didn’t say that she was alive when the jet took off.”

  Baker steps away from Travis and his expression, in Travis’s mind, is priceless. “What have you done to my wife?”

  “Let’s just say that, when the jet lands in Columbia, somebody’s in for a BIG surprise. You see, I intercepted her when she boarded, and I had a little conversation with her before she took off.”

  “What kind of conversation?”

  “We had, what I like to call, story time. She too, thought I wasn’t smart enough to put it all together. She was wrong. I simply told her the facts that I had come to realize, and she was quite impressed. I told her about her past and how she financed your entire political career. I told her about how she pushed you to gain power and influence on Capitol Hill. I told her about the offshore account and how much money was in it and how the figures didn’t add up to what was left of her inheritance. She became quite belligerent at this point.”

  “How did you manage to find out about the offshore account?”

  “I do work for the CIA. There’s not much we can’t learn or get to if we really want to. You see, that’s what really cleared things up for me. The money always tells the story. By the way, myself and the CIA thank you for the generous contribution that you and your wife are about to make to the agency.”

  “We’re not making any such contribution!”

  “Don’t you see? That’s the beauty in all this. The money in that account will be transferred to an account at the CIA. You have no family to claim the money, and no one but you and the CIA know about the account. Well, except the cartel, and I don’t think, in retrospect, they’ll be coming after the money. So you see, you have no say in the matter. You just lost your wife, career, $450,000,000 dollars and you’re about to lose your life. All in all, a really good day at the office, I would say!”

  “You cocky little son of a bitch! I’ll see you rot in Hell for this!”

  “And just how do you propose to do that, Bill? Your ass is about to swing from the end of a rope. Your bravado does you no good now. Have a good rest of your life. All two minutes of it.”

  Travis steps back from Baker just as the others come back into the room. They place a gag in Baker’s mouth and place the hood over his head. Travis asks if he can be the one to put the noose around Baker’s neck. They let Travis have the honor. They know what he’s given up to
earn that right.

  All but the hangman step off the gallows and wait for the charges to be read aloud. The clock strikes twelve and the hangman pulls the lever. You can hear as Baker’s neck snaps with a loud crack. Travis turns and walks out of the room with a smile on his face.

  FORTY-EIGHT

  Travis’s Home

  “THIS IS CORY Stevens with NBC News with a breaking report out of Medellin, Columbia. The wife of disgraced Senator William Baker was found murdered on board a private jet when it landed in Columbia this evening. One can only speculate as to the reason for this tragedy. It’s said that she had a note attached to her body that read:

  “To whom it may concern: It’s time to end this. This will be the result for anyone you see fit to send after this. There’s no one, nor anyplace I cannot reach. For the good of your people, end this now.”

  “That’s a mighty cryptic note if I may say so. What can this note possibly mean, and to whom was it intended? Hopefully someone can make sense of it and let us know more about it. We’ll keep you informed of any updates to this story. This is Cory Stevens reporting. Now back to your regular programming.”

  Travis sits back and reflects upon what he has just watched, and he can only hope that the cartel takes his note seriously. Travis decides to call his mom.

  “Hello, Mom? This is Travis.”

  “Travis honey, how are you doing? Is everything ok?”

  “Yeah, everything’s ok. I was just thinking about you and Dad and decided I’d call and see how y’all are doing.”

  “We’re doing fine, honey. When are you going to come see us?”

  “That’s actually why I’m calling. I thought I might come and see y’all, if that’s all right?”

  “Of course it’s all right. You can come see us anytime you want to. You know that.”

  “I know Mom, but I still like to check first. I’ll come down in the morning. Can you and Dad pick me up at the airport? I’ll call when I get in.”