LaRue sat outside a 3 bedroom, two story stucco house. Outside that house was a newer Maserati. Inside the house was Calvin McAfee. He had gotten home at 6:27, carrying a paper bag in his left hand. The chef’s rented car, the one that Ray had now erased from the rental company’s inventory, was parked across the street from McAfee’s.
One of the items LaRue had brought with him was his 3x25 opera glasses. They always allowed him to watch his victims, but were more concealable than binoculars. Due to most of his surveillance being was done at night, he replaced the glass with lens found in night vision goggles. He had watched him sit a chair by the window for sixty seven minutes. The chef watched McAfee pull up one web page then another. He could read account numbers, the different names on the accounts, and the amounts of each. Although he had a photographic memory, LaRue wrote the information down.
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Eighteen The next morning, LaRue was at the bank when it opened. He rarely dressed in a tie, and only owned three. However, he added a pale blue one to compliment his dark green shirt and jeans. He had played this part many times, convincing someone of something he knew wasn’t true. In this case, LaRue had to convince other bank employees that, as far he knew, McAfee was still alive. As he walked in, he was greeted by a man in his mid-30’s running with an outstretched right hand. “Good morning, Chef LaRue. My name is Jeffrey Johnson. It is an honor to meet you.” The chef raised his hand. “Either Chef or Devon is fine, Mr. Johnson. I was supposed to meet a Mr. McAfee this morning.” “Yes sir, Chef. That’s why I’m here. Mr. McAfee won’t be in this morning.” He motioned La
LaRue, Emily, Ray as well as one camera operator and a limited amount of recording equipment stayed at the Rogers farm long enough to record two months of programs. The plan was to return in two months. In the interim, Ray had created a production company and the first show, with the last remnants of McAfee, would air in sixteen days. For the next thirty days, the chef would be indulging his other side. Ray had given him three names. “Ok, Chef D. I have what I believe are three individuals that deserve to die.” “Many, MANY people deserve to die, Ray.” “True, Chef. But I ask that you kill at least the first one.” They were both seated in Melvin and Jacklyn living room. It was roughly two thirty in the morning. The earliness was necessary because after fifty year
By the next morning, LaRue had a plan and was on the other side of the world. Ray had traced A to living in a cave in the Middle East. His current alias was unpronounceable, but the chef had an approximate location and a current photo. He had spent the last part of yesterday getting into character. He had become considerably darker, now sported a full beard and (?). He was currently riding a camel, and had another two hours on it until he arrived. LaRue had named his camel Bruce. ‘Why Bruce?’ he could hear Emily ask. ‘Because it looks like a Bruce.’ It had been only he and Bruce for the last ninety minutes, winding their way through the desert with nothing but sand in front of them. “So Bruce, I got to tell you, you are a good travellin
“Are you Petree?” a dark complexed man of about twenty asked LaRue before he could even get Bruce completely stopped. He could tell that the young guy’s first language was not English. Probably not even his third language. “That is one of my names.” “The boss is expecting you.” The chef wanted to laugh. Apparently A thought of himself as a Mob boss and had turned all these middle eastern brutes into cliched gangsters. “I never like to keep your boss waiting. I got here as quick as I could.” LaRue noticed A’s helicopter parked to the right of the entrance, roughly where Ray said it would be. He had spent the twelve hour flight roughly learning how to fly a chopper. Based on the age and the scrawniest o
The murder of A had affected the rotation of the helicopter blades, albeit slightly. LaRue had to grip the joystick tightly and hold it farther and farther to the right in order for the copter to fly straight. He had left his private plane at an airfield that had been abandoned decades before, and that only a few people knew of when in operation. As he landed, he saw Ray step out from the plane. It wasn’t until LaRue stepped out that he saw the look on Ray’s face. His eyes were huge, his mouth hung open. LaRue had only seen that expression in movies. “Holy Mary Mother of Christ!” Ray yelled above the roar of the blades. “What?” “Look down.” As he looked down, LaRue discovered that from the waistband of his pants
The next person on Ray’s list was a female. LaRue had no qualms about killing a woman. He had only killed five in the past, six if you count Amie. But this meant that he didn’t have the same comfort level he did with men. The new target’s name was Karen Ford. She currently lived in the United Kingdom. The dossier was thin. She was a hired killer, however it was the people she killed that had put her on Ray’s radar. Her specialty was children. Ford’s clients were people who lived in the shadows. She would be hired by whoever needed extra leverage during negotiations. She had worked both to and for labor unions. Likewise, she had been contracted by every major as well as most of the minor countries. As he sat on the runway before his flight, he dictating more of his new book.&n
Ford met him at the door. She was slender, dressed in black with her long brown hair pulled back. “Welcome Chef.” “Thank you for meeting me,” he answered, shaking the proffered hand. After a short walk Ford motioned to a loveseat. After sitting on a wicker chair, Ford poured herself a glass of wine. When LaRue refused her, he began. “Thank you for offering me wine, but my drink is whiskey.” “I hear your drug of choice is heroin. A ten percent solution.” “Your information is accurate. That’s part of my problem. When I was in my twenties,” he muttered under his breath, “even my thirties,” his voice became conversational again “my drug use didn’t affect me detrimentally. I was able to do every project I had on m
On his ride back to Ford’s estate the next morning, the chef thought of his conversation with Ray. It was a surprise knowing that Tony was the next hit. “He was not one of the three in your original dossiers.” LaRue had told Ray. “The more I get into doing this, the longer the list becomes. So I start re-prioritizing.” The chef heard papers rustling. “You sound very busy. Should I call back?” “I’m going through a script spec. It’s a decent story by a guy I went to high school with.” Ray laughed. “My God, Harry the Hippo has a good story, but he can’t write for shit.” LaRue chuckled. “With a name like Harry the Hippo, he must have a few stories in him.”