The Last Option
Chapter Forty-Two: The Reward

Days went by and Bernard and Anthony got no response from Duncan about the newspaper ad; the killer was still at home, hiding out waiting for some more time to pass before deciding whether to stay in the country or not, and he had obviously abandoned his old means of contact with his potential clients. The police still hadn't found the place and that reassured him a little, but now his soul and mind were torn between two choices: his freedom, which meant leaving the country under another identity to avoid the police, or the love he felt for Louis Randall, which would obviously force him to stay close to him. He found himself thinking about the turn his life had taken, because before meeting Randall he hadn't thought of leaving the profession, at least not until that moment, and he reproached himself for having remained exclusively at his service. Perhaps at that very moment he was in some Caribbean country, retired or about to do so, with no other concerns than maintaining the facade and identity of the moment.

For their part, Bernard and Anthony, having received no response to the newspaper advertisement, decided to implement plan B, which they believed could bring the assassin out of the shadows, either on his own or under pressure from them. They contacted Gonzo and Don again, hoping they would again help them with their plan. In their office, the two mobsters were together, and when Gonzo got the call, they put the phone on speaker.

"Anthony!" Don greeted him when he heard Anthony. "Gonzo told me you were around. It's too bad I didn't get to see you."

In New York, Bernard and Anthony also had the former's cell phone on speaker phone on the table in the makeshift office in the bedroom. Before calling, Anthony had told his son-in-law to speak in code, in case Gonzo's phone was tapped. "I would have liked to see you too, old friend," Anthony said, "I was told you were visiting a sick sister."

"You don't have to talk in code, my friend," Gonzo said, "no one has this number tapped, and if they did anyway, they wouldn't get anything because it's encrypted, they'd only hear the sound of rats and bats mating... ha ha ha ha ha...." "Well, my friend, but we don't know if this one on this side is," Bernard said. "There is a policeman who has been keeping a close eye on me because of what happened to me with my former employer."

"Don't worry," Don said, "as long as you are connected to this one it will be the same. Even if it's tapped they won't be able to hear either of us."

"Excellent," Anthony said. "Then let's get down to business."

Gonzo and Don were right, for at that very moment a policeman in charge of surveillance calls at the station was co-communicating with Captain West and advising him that Bernard had made a call to an encrypted number, and he couldn't hear anything they were talking about.

"Can't you do anything to break the encryption code?" West asked.

"It would take days, sir."

West closed communication (the officer had called him on an internal line) thinking that Bernard Sullivan had finally shown signs of life. When he ordered to watch him, he did so with the certainty he had lied to him about the identity of the assassin, and given his experience and military training, perhaps he would think about looking for him himself. When he had been watching him for three months he thought he might not get anything, since he kept a low profile, and showed no signs of taking any action to look for the murderer, except for the time he traveled to Arkansas with his father-in-law, but that was as far as it went. Although he was also looking for Duncan, he couldn't afford to let the man replace him first. He was his only means of getting to the truth about the attempted kidnapping and murder of the Hicks.

He thought about paying him another visit soon. For now he would be left wondering who he called and what he discussed with that person.

"We need to get the word out that there is someone looking for the Benelli brothers' killer," Bernard said. "It could be a major mob boss hurt and angry about their deaths."

"And how would that help you?" Gonzo asked.

"You know better than we do when a person is wanted by the police he can hide and stay in the shadows as long as he wants," said Anthony, "but when it's the mafia that's looking for you, you know your days are numbered, and no matter how much you want to hide you can't, because in the shadows there will always be someone who will give you away."

"And that's why you don't trust anyone,” Don said.

"And you make mistakes," Gonzo added.

"Exactly!" Bernard said. "We want the killer to make just one mistake that will expose him to us, and when he does, we'll be there."

"Maybe your plan won't work, my friends," said Gonzo.

"Why do you say that?" Bernard asked.

"Because the mob bosses all know each other, and when the rumor gets out, they'll try to replace out who did it, and maybe they won't keep spreading it because they don't know who did it. They may get to us at some point, and there will be no way for us to justify the rumor since we have never met or hired the Benelli brothers, even though we know who they were."

"We can put the rumor out there, but sooner or later they'll know it was us and they'll ask us. Everyone knows we never had anything to do with New York, much less with the Benelli brothers."

"And what can we do, then?" Bernard asked. "We want this murderer to come out in the open."

"If there's one thing we've learned in this world we're in, my friend, it's not to go around with mysteries," Gonzo said, "and much less with deceit, because it pays dearly. Your father-in-law can vouch for that. What we suggest is you walk with the truth, and perhaps you will replace someone along the way willing to help you. The Benelli brothers were two very hated beings in this world, because they sent a great number of people to the other, and believe me, many are glad they are dead. There is a lot of resentment."

"We're not saying there aren't people who were hurt by their deaths and want revenge," Don said, "but there are very few, and they might not even know you're looking for their killer."

"So the idea is to look directly for the Hicks' killer?" Bernard wasn't very convinced about doing that.

"We think that's better," Gonzo replied, "and you can do much better if there's some kind of bounty on his head. Your boss was a businessman with lots and lots of money, and when people know that his heir is out there looking to avenge his death, they will support you to earn some money."

"If we put a price on his head they will hunt him down for us and they may even kill him if he defends himself," Anthony said, "what we want is to have him face to face so he can tell us who gave him the order to kill the Hicks."

"Then say that payment will be made only if he is brought to you alive," Don recommended, "or at least tell you where he is and you can replace him with certainty."

"Let's do it this way, then," Bernard said, "say that a relative of Nathan Hicks is looking for his murderer and is willing to pay handsomely for information leading to him."

"You have to say an amount," Gonzo said, "and depending on it, you may have them search for him even in hell, in order to collect that reward."

"Let people know I'm willing to pay two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to anyone who manages to capture the Hicks murderer, or at least for information leading to his hideout."

Anthony looked at Bernard with a surprised look on his face. Bernard waved his hand at him, telling him not to say anything.

"It's not much, but it seems a reasonable amount," said Gonzo.

"That's a good quantity," said Don, "but haven't you thought about the possibility this guy is no longer in the country? The last we heard of him, as we told you, is that he was working exclusively for a millionaire. He may have given him a vacation."

"We believe he's still in the country, and perhaps confident that the police won't look for him, since as far as I know, they have no suspects."

Gonzo and Don looked at each other, incredulous at what Bernard had just told them.

"That sounds very strange," Gonzo said, "it's been several months and there are still no suspects? The police are never that inefficient, unless they mean to be. There is always a suspect, often from day one."

"Well, apparently there isn't one here. I even contributed to that by not pointing out the killer in the photos they showed me. I know who he is, but I didn't tell them anything."

"Well, we hope it does you some good to have kept it from the police," Don said, "and that you replace this guy. We'll call our contacts in New York and start spreading the word tonight. You may have news in a few days."

"How will you be notified when someone replaces him?" Gonzo asked.

"I have bought a disposable cell phone, whoever has reliable information should also call from a disposable, write down the number."

Bernard dictated the number of the disposable, and Gonzo wrote it down on a piece of paper.

"Thank you for your help," Bernard thanked them. "We'll be in touch."

"See you later and good luck," Gonzo said, as did Don.

"Where are you going to get a quarter of a million dollars?" Anthony asked Bernard once he had hung up the phone.

"We'll ask Phil. That will be the test that will tell us if he's really with us or not."

"I hope he is, because you've committed yourself to something in a very dangerous world."

"Let us pray then there will be no trouble," Bernard concluded, "and our murderer will be revealed shortly."

"When he replaces out there's a price on his head for killing the Hicks, maybe he'll replace the bounty maker to kill him too."

"Nathan only has two living relatives. If the killer is at Randall's command, he will then know it wasn't him or Rebecca; he will then target Norma's family, but they don't have much money to avenge her, and they don't suspect it was an orderly execution either, so he will rule them out as well, for that part there won't be a problem. If he is who I think he is, then he will know it was me."

"And if he comes looking for you?"

"Then we'll be ready."

Bernard pulled a Beretta nine millimeter pistol out of the desk drawer, loaded it and cocked it, leaving it ready to fire.

"If he comes all this way, what will you do with little Nathan?"

"Laura and Thomas will keep him at home for a few days. When everything is over they will come back here."

Bernard deactivated the firing pin of the pistol, put the safety back on and put it back in the drawer.