Nick Johnson walked through the lobby at the Eagle Eye Golf Club where my family
belonged. Both of us were being pretty thoroughly followed by thugs of the Viola Cartel - we
agreed to arrive at the club with an hour between us. I didn't think the two crews watching us
talked to each other, but they probably at least had met in the past and might have recognized
each other in the parking lot. Especially if my talk with Nick was lengthy. So, I planned to keep
our meeting short and hopefully sweet.
I arrived at the club at 11 a.m., hung at the bar watching college football, and waited for
Nick to meet me a little past noon. He didn't belong to the club, yet the thugs following him
likely didn't know that. Hopefully they wouldn't grow suspicious even if they did. I hadn't been
to Eagle Eye since the Hansens had a family dinner there two months ago.
Nick found me in the bar and we hopped into a booth. He looked good, well rested and
groomed.
“So, did you see Oleg following you into the parking lot?” I asked.
Nick nodded and smiled. “Yeah, they're on me all of the time, mainly because I have
them chasing their own tale.”
I shot him a puzzled look before glancing around the bar to make sure no one was taking
any particular interest in our conversation.
“I have them convinced that there is a competitor seeking the same drug inside
information.”
I laughed in disbelief. “How did you pull that off?”
“It wasn't hard,” Nick said. “I just told them that somebody came to our house asking
Susan about me, and they went ballistic.”
Timothy Gilbert
Damage Control
261
That I believed. No one sported paranoia like Julio's cartel and they would most certainly
believe that some other outfit was after Nick's inside information. That I hadn't heard about this
development with Nick didn't surprise me because Martin had disappeared. Julio's cousin, Jorge,
was now dealing with me. Of course, the switch didn't happen right away – Julio loved keeping
people twisting in the wind – and I didn't hear from anybody within the cartel until the first week
in December when Julio called me to tell me about the switch to Jorge. I wanted to ask Julio what
happened to Martin but good reason kept me from poking my nose where it didn't belong.
Martin's cell phone had been disconnected since the third week in November as best I could tell
because that was the first time I tried to call him after my angry discussion with him following
my learning of what happened to Darryl. Sitting at Eagle Eye, I was not in good shape, and
struggled to keep focused on Nick. I threw my neck out the previous week from all of the stress –
ended up pumping four Advil a day for the pain – as Jorge offered me no ray of hope that Julio
was with me for the long term.
“So that's why they're following you full time now?” I asked Nick.
“Right, and it's going to make my fake death so much more believable,” Nick replied.
“The plan is really coming together.”
I leaned across the table. “And, what's the latest with the drug study?”
Nick smiled. “The final announcement isn't expected for a few months now, so my mid
January departure won't be cutting it too close.”
After Nick walked me through how he was going to set up the crime scene, I ended up
pretty impressed with his plan. And I didn't know for sure if Julio would go after Susan and Tom,
so maybe things could work out for the best here. After all, Julio had left Jamie Lyons alone after
he pulled his assets from PLH.
Timothy Gilbert
Damage Control
262
Saturday, January 4th
5:45pm