Between Right and Wrong Read online

  Pam was still coming over every day and taking care of Roo while Phil worked. Roo was back to normal, or as normal as a Labrador Retriever gets, anyway. Playful and attentive to Phil, he followed him everywhere he went without encouragement. At almost a hundred pounds, when he alerted to any perceived threat, with hair on end and a deep growl, the dog was ominous to behold.

  At work, Phil copied all the information he agreed to provide DHS on a thumb drive and delivered it to Tom when they met on Saturday morning to duck hunt. Tom turned out to be a good shot with a shotgun and the birds were cooperating. They had plenty of ducks to say the hunt was successful and sat back in the boat blind, Phil bragging on the unique motorized feature that lifted the blind material to different heights with the touch of a button.

  Roo was his old self. When a duck was downed, he waited for the command and would swim out, retrieve the ducks they shot; then swim back to the boat, sit by Phil until he commanded ‘drop’ and would let go of the bird when Phil took it from him. There is not many things in life as serene as the calm of the lake in the flooded timber after a hunt and Phil always enjoyed sitting in the boat afterward, soaking in the surroundings. Beautiful sunrises, sounds of birds, fish jumping to feed; all give a soul peace. Phil noticed Tom looked as satisfied as he did, absorbing the scene of God’s creation.

  After a long quiet spell, Tom started the conversation, “It’s a complex thing, this life. I can see how those folks that retire to a cabin in the woods would never come back to civilization. That’s if you can call a city civilized. Someday maybe I will do the same thing. Up until a year ago, I thought I would always need the excitement and the craziness of the life we use to live. Now I think more and more, there is a lot easier ways to spend time.”

  “What changed Tom?”

  “Oh I don’t know. Some of it age, I guess. Some of it loneliness. I was always chasing the saloon girls or strippers you know.” Tom chuckled. “Now I guess I think about a family and where I want to be in ten years. Stick around the civilian government and all the mumbo jumbo training they do and you will start being more kinder, gentler.” They both laughed. Kinder, gentler was a term they used to label the recruits that were not tough enough to finish and graduate.

  Monday morning, Phil was back on his routine. Wake up, run Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; wake up, lift weights and practice Aikido moves on Tuesday and Thursday. He would take care of Roo, shower and go to work after the exercise every day. He had seen Pam from time to time and they waved at each other but neither seemed to have time to visit. Both knew the more time they spent together, the more likelihood there was for the neighbors to gossip and start rumors. Tuesday and Thursday nights, Phil would go to the gym and try to spar. There was a couple of amateur fighters who were really pretty good and gave Phil the chance to work on defense and quickness. In the military, there was no one who could win a fight with him. The bar fights Ernie had set up kept him sharp but his part in them was usually finished in less than a minute, as Phil’s best skill was a single knockout blow. Phil was short and chicken legged when recruited but within two years of service, Phil had grown into a five foot, eleven inch frame and gained much muscle mass. Phil had found out in High School gym that the toughest kids to wrestle with and the best football players were usually the kids who hauled hay. Somehow that type of work kept your body lean and muscular without the bulk pure weight lifting caused. Those hay haulers had the strongest core and were near impossible to control on the ground. Phil used that knowledge when he designed his strengthening program. His body was maintained lean, muscular and quick.

  CHAPTER 11

  It had been about two weeks since Mickey had sent him any information. Phil had a ‘drop phone’ that was untraceable, for any trouble Mickey might need immediate assistance. Thursday afternoon that phone rang. Phil quickly opened the flip phone. “Hey,” Phil hoped it was Mickey. If someone else had gotten the number, he would have been compromised and so would Mickey.

  “Phil,” Mickey had that higher voice when he was excited, “that you?”

  “It’s me Mickey, what’s wrong?”

  “They know I’m a snitch. I don’t know how they know, but they know. I have my wife and kid and we are in the car. I can’t go home, hell, I don’t know where I can go.” He as frantic and seemed almost in tears.

  “Meet me at the second place we talked. Don’t say where it is, but do you remember where to go?”

  “Yea, I remember. Are you sure it’s safe? I don’t know man, I should just keep driving.”

  “No! As long as you are in your car, they may be able to find you. I’ll meet you there. Park in the regular parking lot. The more people around the better. See you; we should get there about the same time if you aren’t far from home. Ok Mickey?”

  “Yea ok. I understand.” His voice was shaky.

  “Mickey, did you tell or call anyone else?”

  “No, not even our family.”

  “Listen to me…do not call anyone until I get you and your family safe. I have a place in mind. Your life may depend on you doing exactly what I say.”

  “Phil, I can’t let them hurt us. I’m on my way.”

  Phil grabbed his keys and left work. He drove to the nearby mall and called an Uber. He had the Uber drop him off at the storage unit after they circled the block a few times to insure no one was following. Once in his storage unit, he changed phones and clothes, gathered some weapons and backed out his truck. On the way to the box store where he would meet Mickey, he remembered it was this truck he was using the day Roo was shot, so he ordered a rental car from his travel app and stopped and picked it up. The car was waiting with the keys in it and he was on his way in ten minutes. While he drove the last few miles he wondered how anyone found out about Mickey feeding him information. Surely he needed to ask Mickey a lot of questions. It was coincidental Mickey was discovered right after he briefed Mike and Tom. It would be difficult to believe one of them was on the wrong side of the law.

  They met at a Carnecia, a Hispanic meat market. Taking his time to survey the parking lot and then the store, Phil cautiously went in to meet Mickey. His wife had obviously been crying and was holding their son guardedly. Both looked scared.

  Phil talked in a low confident tone. “Hello, Mickey. We are going to walk out the side door and to a rental car I parked outside. I want your car to stay here so I can see if someone is tracking you. I am bringing you to a safe place. No one I know has a clue I have this place and it is stocked with food. There is no baby food there though, so pick some up here and let’s go.”

  Phil drove a random route to an old farmhouse. It was a property he picked up a couple of years before, with plans to develop it into a hunting cabin with duck ponds. There were cattle on the property but they belonged to an elderly couple whose farm adjoined Phil’s. He thought it a smart move to let them use the cows to keep the pastures grazed down and keep brush and trees from overtaking the place. At least until he had time to work on it. He had paid cash for the land and put it under an LLC so people couldn’t search his name in the tax rolls. The cabin was in rough shape with a septic for a sewer and bottled water to drink and flush the toilets. Phil had a generator for power and a solar charged battery system for lights. Heat was furnished by propane heaters and the stove was also propane powered. Phil had kept the place ready for any emergency but he could not have foretold he would need it for anyone else. There was only one bed and a couch but it would have to do for them. Mickey and his family would not have a car but there was an old farm truck Phil let the neighbor use to check his cows so the battery would stay charged and there was a four-wheeler in the small barn behind the house.

  The house was an old frame structure with a small porch front and back, sitting in the middle of the pasture. An elm tree shaded the front yard and an ancient red oak shaded the back yard and covered the foot path to the barn. The driveway was dirt and gravel and stretched from the gate leading into the property one mile to the house. Y
ou could see someone from over four hundred yards away before they could reach the house and Phil had a scoped rifle hidden in a cabinet zeroed in at three hundred yards.

  The barn was two story and looked to be built after the old Amish design with a beam exposed out the front in case a block and tackle were needed to lift something up to the loft. Inside the barn were stalls to one side and an area to the other where a forge might have once been. Ashes and a small pile of coal were evidence of the work from long ago. Hanging in the barn were old iron tools which looked hand crafted. Hammers and pinch bars, tongs and pliers hung near by the ashes. A large beaten anvil sat on an old piece of tree trunk. Sunlight filtered between the wood slatted siding into the barn showing columns of dust that looked to dance in the air. On the back side of the barn was an overhang where the truck was parked. An old hinged Dutch door lead out that side.

  Behind the barn, the ground sloped slowly to a creek that lazily widened out to create a large pond. It was five hundred and ten acres of largely pasture but the back of the property had virgin hardwoods with pine mixed in. There was no road or access to that end of the property, only game trails and old logging paths.

  “Mickey you folks should be safe here until I can get this straightened out.” The worry on their faces were evident. “But I need to know what happened. What started this?”

  “I went to work this morning, and got there early for once. Thought I would nose around to see why the boxes stopped coming. I was outside the room where we clock in and heard Paul on the phone with someone. He mentioned my name and said he should have known and he would make sure he beat the truth out of me. He kept saying ‘yes sir, yes sir.’ I never heard him say sir to anyone. I got real scared and got myself home, picked up Peggy and Trey and lit out. It was the only thing I could think to do…calling you on those drop phones you set up.”

  “So nothing strange at work until this morning?”

  “The boxes. The boxes stopped coming suddenly and it seemed Paul was always on the phone and was mad or upset with whoever he was talking to.”

  He looked at his wife and she nodded slowly. “Ok one more thing. I was approached by this big guy. He told me he was a cop and I had better not tell anyone he was talking to me or I would go back to prison. He asked questions about the building and the boxes and what I knew about what was going on and I was scared. I told him everything.”

  ‘Does that mean everything including me?” Phil was confused. If this was Tom, why didn’t he indicate he would talk to Mickey? “What did he look like?”

  By Mickey’s description it was evident the person who talked to him was Tom.

  “So did I come up?” Phil waited on the answer.

  “I told him Paul slugged you when you were surveying the building. I told him I was trying to help you. But that is all, I swear.” Mickey was starting to sweat. “He knew somehow, Phil. I was afraid to lie. He had a badge and credentials. And, I never seen him before or since. Are you mad at me Phil? I’m sorry. I should have told you but I didn’t know if they had me bugged or what and I didn’t want to make things worse.”

  “I’m not mad Mickey.”

  “Phil I swear all I want is to get off probation and live straight. I really screwed up.” He was pacing. “I’m sorry Peggy, I’ll make it up to you somehow.”

  They hugged for a long time.

  Phil was thinking.

  He had to get back to town and he had to be careful and mistake free. Could he trust Tom? Tom had not really done anything wrong. After all, Phil should have expected Tom or Mike to contact Mickey, and they said the less he knew the better the operation would go. It was impossible for him to believe one of those two were anything but honest. If not them though, who? Phil wasn’t sure how many other team members Mike had. He knew of Teresa. Tom said she was a cop from one end to the other, so it couldn’t be her, could it? Who could he trust? If he told Tom or Mike they would want to know where Mickey was hiding. Phil was sure of one thing; he was not going to be the reason a woman or child was hurt… or worse.

  “I have to go back to work and my house. If both of us are missing, someone may put two and two together. Mickey, I will get another way for us to communicate, but until then stay in or close to this house. There is no cell signal out here so I will have to drive out to talk to you.” Phil quickly showed Mickey how the electricity and water worked then got back in the car and headed to town. He stopped to close and lock the gate. He had mentioned the truck and told Mickey only if his life was in danger to even get in it.

  Phil used the same type system of changing vehicles and using a cab to get back to his truck, then the Volvo; and drove back to work. On the way he passed the store and Mickey’s car. Watching for a few minutes, he saw no sign of anyone with surveillance on it.

  He wanted to make it appear the day was routine for anyone who could be watching. It was fairly common for him to work late. As he got back behind his desk, he called Pam to ask her to feed the dog.

  “Hey Pam, could you please feed Roo?”

  “Hi Phil, be glad to. Everything ok?”

  “Working late, how is everything with you?”

  “Don is due back any time and I’m hoping he has good news. When you have a minute I’d like to have a talk, are you up to it?”

  “Yes, I’d like that. Sorry I haven’t had time to be neighborly. I haven’t seen you around for a few days. Did you go out of town?”

  “No, I have been here. You know, doing my neighborhood watch duties.” The statement struck Phil strangely. Pam had never mentioned it before and to his knowledge never supported the topic.

  “So, how is that going?” Phil was not sure what to say.

  “Oh, you know, just like regular; a couple of strange vans, a few people I don’t know acting like they are doing power walks, the guy across the street from you seems to have a lot of satellite issues. Someone is always on his roof, even when he isn’t home.” She was doing a poor job of hiding the message she was sending. She was obviously worried about a lot of strange people showing up on their street and the message surely worried Phil. It all added up to him being a target, but who was targeting him? A dark thought passed through his consciousness. He hoped it was the shooter from the lake.

  ”Pam take Roo home with you after you feed him and I will come pick him up.”

  “Hey good idea Phil. I should probably tell you this won’t be the first time he has come over and stayed with me.”

  “Oh, really. So you take liberties with my dog, huh?”

  “Yep.” She didn’t sound guilty at all.

  “See you soon, Pam.”

  “Be careful.” She sounded serious.

  As soon as he hung up, he pulled out the phone Mike had issued him and dialed Mike’s number. He had consciously left it at work while he got Mickey safe, in case it was being tracked. Mike picked up on the second ring. “Phil, I didn’t expect you to call.” Phil had been instructed to wait for Mike or Tom to contact him.

  “I needed to ask you how long you expect this investigation to last.”

  “Phil, I’ve never known you to have cold feet.”

  “That’s not why I’m asking, Mike.” The seriousness from his voice was noticeable.

  “What’s wrong Phil? I expect my team to communicate and not beat around the bush.”

  “My contact Mickey was compromised.”

  “Yes I know.”

  “You know?!” Phil was both surprised and irritated.

  “If you would bother to answer your phone instead of hiding Mickey and his family, you would have heard it from me.” Phil looked at the phone and saw the missed call. His mind had been so busy with all that happened, he did not notice it when he dialed the phone. “You forget Phil, we went through the same training and had the same trainer.”

  “How did it happen?”

  “We have a team member who is compromised.”

  “How long have you known?”

  “I suspected for a while. One of the
reasons I needed you was to force their hand and hopefully bring them out in the open.”

  “Did it? Do you know who it is?”

  “I now know it’s one of two people. I wish it wasn’t either one.”

  “Is it Tom?”

  “Phil. Don’t take offense but I have to play these cards close to the chest. If you are still the old you, and haven’t gotten softer with age, I would rather you weren’t the first to know.”

  “Then don’t be offended if I don’t tell you where Mickey is hiding.”

  “Better I don’t know, but we need him. I think he knows more than he realizes and his testimony will be critical when we close this out.”

  Phil felt like he was in survival mode. People around his house, Mickey’s safety in his hands, Pam too near but hopefully not in danger. His mind was going through several scenarios. He thought of anyone who had the opportunity and what they might try to do, to get what they wanted. He was sure they were also in survival mode and would be capable of shutting mouths permanently.

  “Mike, I want to be a team player. What do you want me to do now?”

  “Keep on your schedule. Don’t let anyone know that you know anything. But be careful. I don’t have to tell you, the folks we are investigating are not afraid to hurt someone. The information you have already provided is beneficial. I will let you know if I need action from you.”

  “Ok Mike. I haven’t had the time to ask you; is my job 007?” (Meaning he has authority to terminate).

  “I haven’t said it wasn’t. But Phil, that is not the goal. In this job we put people in prison.”

  “Ok Mike. I have one more thing that is bothering me.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I don’t know why they tried to kill me.” Phil wanted to cut the ice. Mike’s reaction may tell him more than Mike’s words.