CALL CAME just as Bolan got back in his vehicle. He put the cell on speaker and listened to the rundown on the Russians.
“Couple of heavy hitters. Ivan Tupelov and Mako Sheranova. Suspected of a number of crimes but never proved. They showed up on U.S. and international databases. They work for a dubious character named Maxim Koretski. If it’s illegal this lovely guy has his hands in it. Trafficker in everything murky. Runs a number of clubs here and in Russia—guy gets around. But he’s so lawyered-up he’s bulletproof. We dredged up a few articles from newspapers and magazines. This guy is seriously into big-time crime. Suggestion is he wants to be Mister Big. In the past a couple of his near rivals have been mysteriously eliminated. No proof, but the finger points Koretski’s way.”
“Any connection at all to a Senator Tyrone Kendal?”
“He in this deal, as well?”
“I think so, but right now I can’t figure the why. I’m just trying to connect the dots.”
“I’ll keep checking. The car detail panned out. A rental paid for through one of Koretski’s legitimate businesses.”
“Thanks, Bear. Come back anytime you dig up anything.”
“You got it, Striker. What’s next for you on this?”
“Collateral damage. I need to cut away some of the trash.”
Chapter 4
It was no secret that Senator Tyrone Kendal enjoyed the good things in life, and he made sure everyone around him understood that. Kendal tolerated no deviation from his desires or his expensive lifestyle. Only the best was good enough—home, possessions, his cars. It helped that he was a wealthy man. He had inherited the Kendal fortune on the death of his father, a man who had worked his way up from a menial job as a dirt farmer to become the head of a multinational company encompassing oil, copper-mining and a manufacturing base providing products as diverse as home appliances to electronics for the IT industry. Tyrone Kendal the younger inherited the companies and the money, but unfortunately he lacked the people skills. He assumed the mantle of top dog, but in doing so he became arrogant, self-important and unfeeling.
So it was a surprise when he entered politics. He abandoned his commercial interest in the slew of companies, handing over the reins to his previous second-in-command, and presented himself as a man free of business connections. But that was for public consumption only. The truth was that Kendal still maintained control of the businesses. It was all done through a layered facade of shell companies, corporate subterfuge and a legion of lawyers. As far as the world in general understood, Kendal had stepped down, distanced himself from the business enterprises and had become a man of the people. He devoted himself to his new calling, and with the skill that had created his business empire, he entered politics and surprised everyone with his early successes. That surprise was compounded when he eventually became a U.S. senator, due in great part to the unstinting efforts of the team he built around him. They portrayed him as a caring, honest man who represented the people. He spent lavishly on the things that mattered, not sparing himself during the rallies and the election hustings. He travelled the state of Washington, where his main dwelling was situated, enduring the long days and nights of meeting his constituents. He listened to their needs, promised them whatever they asked for, smiling and waving, then returned to his home and wiped the smile away, downed expensive whiskey and swore if he ever had to listen to another request for help he would take out his shotgun and blow the bastards’ heads off.
Kendal won his election by a landslide. Two days later he left for D.C. to take up his seat and became a thorn in the opposition party’s side. He understood how to play the game. He cultivated the right friends using his dominant personality. He made enemies, too, but that was something Kendal thrived on. He fought his corner, quickly learning to make the cards fall the way he wanted.
That had been eight years ago. These days he was a major player in the political circle, able to take on anyone who stepped into the ring. His reputation as a tough, uncompromising opponent had won him few friends. His hard-edged stance distanced him from many. Kendal maintained his arm’s-length persona. He had his own agenda to pursue and keeping people at bay allowed him to concentrate on that. He did not like to be faced with anything that might harm his career.
Over and above all else was Kendal’s driving force, the one thing that mattered to him. Greed. Plain and simple. No amount of financial success was ever enough. He needed more. Much more. Because immense wealth also brought its own agenda. Wealth begat power, and limitless power was Kendal’s desire. Power, control, the narcotic that demanded endless feeding. He had reached that stage where the craving had become almost self-sustaining. But Kendal would never consciously admit, even to himself, that his need was unstoppable.
And after all this hard work, it frustrated him that a lowly Seattle cop was making an attempt to thwart him.
“This Seattle cop, he’s still causing us problems?” he asked. He was like a headmaster interrogating a failing pupil. “Why hasn’t he been dealt with?”
“He’s disappeared.”
Kendal cleared his throat. “Disappeared? Penn and Teller style, in a puff of smoke? Levitated into an alien saucer?”
Eddie Bishop, the man facing Kendal across the senator’s expansive desk, looked uncomfortable. In fact, he was uncomfortable. Confronting Kendal with bad news was never a pleasant experience. Kendal did not like to be delivered bad news. It meant someone was not doing his job right. If you took the senator’s money you damn well better earn it.
“He’s just dropped out of sight.”
“What about the wife and kid? They magically vanished, too?”
Bishop winced inwardly. At that moment he was wishing he could drop out of sight.
“Logan must have got to her before our people. She’s gone, as well. But we’re working on it.”
“Right. Working on it. That’s a great comfort to me.” Kendal slammed his clenched fist down on the desk, his handsome face flushing with anger. Objects on the desk jumped in the air. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this crap. You understand what’s riding on this? I’ll fucking tell you. The whole goddam operation is riding on this. If that white-knight cop gets someone to listen to him and we get investigated, we all go down the crapper—Koretski included. And the last thing we want is Maxim Koretski pissed off. You think I’m a bastard—think on.”
“Senator, we’re doing our…”
“Do not say your best, because if you were, Logan would be down in my basement begging for a bullet in the back of his skull. If you were doing your best, his wife and kid would be strung up in front of him dripping blood on the floor. Now, is that what’s happening?”
“No, sir.”
“At least we agree on that. So get off your butt and call your people. Make them understand that money and people are not a problem. Use those things to get me results. I want Seattle searched top to bottom. Use your street informers. Dig that bastard out of whatever hole he’s crawled into and get that information from him before he uses it. Close the city down for him. Shut off communication. I want you to beg, borrow, blackmail everyone you can think of. You understand, Bishop? Ray Logan doesn’t know it yet, but he’s already a dead man.”
“I’ll get right on it.”
