Heath and Chic met at Joe and Eddy’s for breakfast, a routine they had established whenever they both were in town. Suzy and Mary, Heath’s girlfriend, were not big on getting up at seven on Saturday morning just to have breakfast at Joe and Eddy’s. This was purely a guys’ thing. Heath and Chic ordered their usual deluxe breakfast.—Heath’s over light, and Chic’s scrambled.
“How was your trip to Sand Mountain, Chic? Did you find any useful information?”
“I actually did find some very useful information from Suzy’s cousin, Buck, the one that took me to a cockfight. To get this straight, Buck took me to the cockfight to meet his friend Jack, who knows Doug. Doug was one of the crew, along with Captain Bart Hayes, who operated the Amedee for Ken Renfro. The Amedee, as you recall, disappeared at about the same time as Ken. I found out that Doug and Captain Bart work on a motor yacht located in Lake Izabal, in Guatemala. This is a very isolated place. There is a small town called Fronteras where the lone southbound highway out of Yucatan crosses Lake Izabal. We believe that Doug and Captain Hayes still work for the same company they were with in Florida. They should be a treasure trove of information.”
“Chic, that’s a long way out of my jurisdiction. You would need the FBI or DEA to penetrate in Belize, Mexico, or that general area. What’s your plan?”
“The short version is, Heath, I don’t have one. That’s where I need some help. In terms of our actually having hard evidence of Rico violations, we stand empty-handed. What I have in mind is to reassemble all the information we have gathered about the business dealings of Ken’s companies and let Suzy and her friend Nancy analyze the data. Nancy is a professor and is retired from Wall Street. She knows the mortgage business better than anyone I know. If any patterns can be gleaned from the information, they can do it. Then we need to continue to check out George, Ken’s replacement in operations here in Pensacola, under the theory that he’s somehow involved with the same group as Ken and Victor. We are fairly certain that while all the players on the money-laundering side were killed in this area, the drug part of their business is still active in the Panhandle.”
“I assume, Chic, that you want me to turn my information over to Suzy to add to your pool of information?”
“Yes. Aside from the fact that those two ladies are good at this, I need to keep Suzy’s mind busy while I head to Guatemala. I’m going to need some help, Heath. I need some first-rate listening devices and probably a partner who can fit in as a local. This would be a free working vacation. Fishing will be a part of our disguise.”
“Chic, you know the department doesn’t have the money to pay for that kind of thing.”
“Yeah, I know. I talked to Ken’s family, and they agreed to cover the cost. I got a chance to talk to the family in Tennessee as part of my trip to Sand Mountain. I was very impressed with his family. His mother is a retired nurse, his father a family doctor, his sister is a professor at Vanderbilt, and his brother is a neurosurgeon. Makes you wonder how Ken got off on the wrong path in life.”
“Yeah, Chic, some people just don’t have any reason to be the crooks they are. Ken was obviously successful at what he did. He had the brains, personality, and drive to be successful at any line of work he chose. A loss of a potentially good man to the evil forces.”
“Well, the family has no idea what has happened to Ken. They have not heard from him. Perhaps more telling is that they don’t know enough about his business to give me any leads. Ken was as good at hiding information from his family as he was in deceiving me. They’ve not received a Christmas card, birthday card, or gift, which he normally would send. So, the fact that I have located the guy who knows where he probably is was exciting to them. They have agreed to take care of the cost.”
“It is strange that their kind of family has had no contact with Ken,” said Heath. “Even his vast wealth evaporated into foreclosure. How do we explain that?”
“Actually, that was a brilliant move on Ken’s part or on the part of his employer. I think that Ken is the guy who actually devised the overall scheme of daisy chain corporations as well as other tools to hide his tracks. For example, had he left titles to all his assets in his name or in the name of his corporation when he left the country, his assets would remain here and be subject to probate. If he turned up dead, then there could be substantial litigation, which would eventually involve his bosses. They couldn’t allow that to happen. By putting mortgages on all the real and personal property at a very low ratio of debt to value, he could simply draw that money down after leaving the country. The mortgage holders would then take the property. This could be done in a way that we would never penetrate to the core.
“The family has money, and they will spend some to find out if Ken is dead or alive.”
“So, Chic, I take it that you’re going down to Lake Izabal and that area to fish and see what you can find out. I take it you want the listening devices to see if you can pick up any conversations on the yacht.”
“Yes. I’ll be on the plane in the morning headed toward Belize. I’ll give you a call along the way.”
“I see the waitress coming with our breakfast. What time are we to meet the guys at the city golf course?”
“I told them we’d be there at 9:30,” said Heath. “That should give us time to be ready to tee off at 10:00. I hope we both can get our heads out of our butts and play some golf today. Last time, we were a little discombobulated.”
“Don’t worry, Heath. I’m ready to show those guys what the real Chic can do. I’ve been practicing, you know.”
And so the pressing problems of the world melted away as the two stout-hearted men prepared for war with a little white ball.
Larry Moses was careful to follow set procedure. The Boston triad knew the value of procedure. It was designed to provide an impenetrable firewall between the banking side of the business, the enforcement side, and operations. The wall between the legal aspects of the business and the side that raised the money would decide which money had to be laundered and what transactions had to remain inviolate. Extreme discipline by all the men in responsible positions was required. Strict rules had to be followed to maintain the relationship along the daisy chain of the corporations to make them work in perfect harmony. Only the top management in the enterprise could be privy to the entire picture; only they knew the true nexus of the tiered structure. Keeping all the parts operating like a finely tuned transmission was Larry’s primary job.
The responsibility was enormous. It did not please Larry that he was called upon to make life-and-death decisions. On the other hand, he recognized that if it was his life or someone else’s life, he had no problem resolving the issue in his favor. Bringing order to a naturally chaotic enterprise required an artist with lethal powers.
Larry had received a call from Myra informing him that Chic and Suzy met with their family and that Chic was going to Lake Izabal in the next day or two. Action was required. Fortunately, the banking side of the operation was in Boston. Gilman Loeb was the chief operating officer of BCWB. Larry was in the investment operations department, and David Richburg was the chief compliance officer.
All three of these men were on the executive committee of the board and were thereby involved in world operations. From their lofty position, the Sinaloa cartel had a powerful investment wing. Based on Larry’s information about Chic, they met at their usual place, which was the bank’s fifty-foot fishing boat. This boat was kept strictly for the executive committee. It was equipped with a secure room where their calls and communications could not be monitored.
Larry got Max on the speakerphone, and the meeting began. Larry repeated the information he had received from Myra.
David, known for his personal hate for Chic, spoke first. “Guys, let’s go ahead and take Chic out. Why wait?”
“Max, don’t we already have plans to take out Hayes and Doug in Lake Izabal?”
“Sure do,” reported Max. “Looks like Chic is making it easy to kill several birds with one stone. Do we all agree to put him on our list?” All agreed. “Okay, men, I’ve got work to do. I’ll be in touch.”
The meeting adjourned to Miller time. “So, Larry, how do you handle Myra? I didn’t think you were man enough to handle that firebrand.”
“Hell, David, I do a better job than you do with Doll. At least Myra’s not sweet on Chic.”
David, known for his temper, flashed red in the face and made a hostile move toward Larry.
“Okay, kids, cool it.” Gilman separated the men long enough to cool down the situation.
“Look, guys, that damn Chic has made a religious nutcase out of Doll. And she has closed her legs to me. Hell, I think they’ve been carrying on since college.” David clearly had lost his control.
“That’s a hell of a note, David.” Gilman put his arm around David and said, “Look, if Max fails to kill Chic, he’s yours. Take him out any way you want.”
“Thanks, Gilman.”