Ramsey could hear the reluctance in Monte’s voice. “I have a job for you, Monte; it’s worth two hundred and sixty thousand dollars if it’s done well.” Ramsey now had Monte’s full attention.
“Wow” Monte gasped. “Sure, Mr. Ramsey, I’ll be glad to help you any way I can. Just give me the details and…”
“Shut up and listen, Monte, this is not nickel and dime stuff, this is big money for a big job,” he paused, “Someone has to be eliminated.”
Monte sucked in his breath and looked around furtively. This request was over the top. “Okay, go on,” he said hesitantly, “you want me to—”
“No” Ramsey said vehemently. “I want you to find someone who cannot be traced back to you. There will need to be two applicants for the job; two individuals who are not afraid to get their hands dirty. You need to find the applicants and handle this personally, Monte. Our client is very particular and has zero tolerance for mistakes. Do you understand?”
“How much am I authorized to offer?” Monte queried.
“They each get thirty thousand; half up front and the other half when the job is finished. That leaves two hundred thousand for you. You will get half up front as well. There is a piece of merchandise involved that must be delivered to me for the client; that’s part of the deal.
“If everything goes smoothly the two candidates could get a bonus of another thousand apiece. You will be responsible for the successful completion of the job. I want to keep this local and very low key.”
“Who is the target?” Monte asked.
“There will be a man coming off a cargo ship, the Tsein-Maru, out of Bangkok. The ship is due to arrive early on Tuesday the sixteenth, so you understand that you don’t have much time to find the right candidates. You must be very careful in your selection even with the time constraint.
“The target will probably be with the crew most of whom will be Asian, he is not. He is Caucasian, late forties about 5’ 10” or so and has a long scar on the left side of his face. It is my understanding he will make contact at the Seattle Seamen’s Center at the Port.
“He will be carrying something, some kind of merchandise like a package or packet on him that must be delivered to me unopened; this is part of the deal and it is as importantas the ‘hit’. In fact I wanteverythinghe has on him delivered to me to make certain I get the right merchandise; by that I mean wallet, papers, everything. Monte, this has to appear to be a mugging and robbery. The guy will no doubt look like a transient sailor and it should go down as I described. There can be no slip-ups; no trail to you and no trail to me. Is that clear? Can you give me your guarantee that you can handle it?”
The gravity with which Ramsey was speaking caused Monte to perspire. This could be a fairly easy two hundred thousand or the beginning of a nightmare. He pushed his oily black hair out of his eyes and sighed. He didn’t like the idea of the ‘leg work’ that would be necessary for this mission. He preferred taking jobs sitting at his desk and using the phone, telling others what to do, but the color of two hundred and sixty thousand dollars had captured Monte. “I think I can guarantee success Mr. Ramsey,” his thoughts were racing. “But uh, Mr. Ramsey, how and when do we get paid?”
“Don’t just think you can, Monte—I want your certain guarantee. As for pay, it depends on how efficient you are. Do it well and don’t screw this up or else…”
Monte didn’t want to know the rest of ‘or else’. “No, no, Mr. Ramsey I just wondered how to make the offer,” Monte said nervously. “I am guaranteeing and I’ll get started finding applicants right away.”
“Fine, just remember time is short; so I repeat, be very careful in your selections. When you get the right people, call me,” Ramsey told him. “You have my number.
“Once again, I want to make it perfectly clear to you Monte, that if anything goes wrong and you involve me in any way, you will live, briefly, to regret it.”
Monte hung the phone up and assured himself that nothing would go wrong.
Sitting back at his desk Monte mentally went over a list of names that might be suitable for this job. One came to mind, Jake Schultz. Jake had done some hard time for assault with a deadly weapon and was now on parole.
Monte remembered Jake. His weapon of choice was a knife that he had used expertly on an ex-con in a bar fight that Jake had started. Although the man didn’t die, the attack was enough to put Jake away for a twenty year sentence of which he served eight years and was now on parole. It surprised Monte that he had been paroled; Jake was a mean guy. “I’ll just give his parole officer, Hal Baker, a call and see what’s cookin’ with Jake,” Monte said to himself as he picked up the phone.
“Hello, Hal, Monte Maxwell.”
“Hello, yourself,” Hal said. “Haven’t heard from you for quite awhile, what can I do for you?”
“Oh, just inquiring about one of your cons, Jake Schultz. Does he have a job yet?”
“Yeah, he’s doing okay,” Hal responded. “He hooked up with a pal of his, a guy named Leo Tanner. They both work at Atlas Window Cleaners. You know that company that cleans those high-rise windows downtown. Jake is keeping his nose clean, ha, ha, get it?”
“You’re kidding, right? You mean Jake is going up and down buildings like the Rainier Tower and like that? Is this Leo on parole too?” asked Monte. He found it hard to imagine Jake as a window washer.
“No,” Hal told him. “Not Leo, he’s a small time crook, car theft, petty crimes, and breaking and entering burglaries from time to time. He’s done some jail time but he’s clean at the moment. He and Jake bunk together at a flea trap down around Pioneer Square, the St. Croix Hotel. What’s the matter, no homicides to investigate? Why are you asking about Jake, anything I should know about?”
“Oh no,” Monte said quickly. “I was just going through some files and checking them off so the Captain knows I’m on top of things. Things are pretty quiet for the moment. I helped put Jake away, so when I saw he was on parole I thought I’d check up on him. He’s not exactly Mr. ‘Nice Guy’.”
“Well,” Hal told him, Jake reports in as required, and I haven’t heard anything going on with him. Maybe the thrill of all that height satisfies his needs for adventure or something, anyway… like I said…”
“Yeah, yeah, I know, he’s keeping his nose clean. I got it, Hal, and thanks. See you around,” Monte told Hal as he hung up.
Monte looked at Jake’s and Leo’s rap sheets. Both men were in their early forties. Leo was a little younger than Jake. Monte’s interest was confirmed when he noted that the weapon Jake used in two other assaults had been a knife.
Neither man had ever been caught with a gun. Leo had been fairly successful at burglarizing but he had been caught attempting to steal a car that had been set up as part of a sting.
“These two might be just what I need.” Monte thought, but he knew he had to be careful.
At 4:30 that afternoon, Detective Maxwell left the Public Safety Building and drove to Bell Town. He parked on Fifth Avenue across the street from Atlas and waited for the 5:00 quitting time and for Jake and Leo to exit. He watched them as they left Atlas and headed for the Bull Dog Tavern down the hill on Third Avenue. Monte followed.
Entering the tavern Monte spotted them at the bar and sidled up next to Jake. “Hi there, Jake. How’s it going?”
Leo peered around Jake, looking at Monte. Monte quickly flashed his badge at Leo.
Jake was immediately on guard. Then, looking closely at Monte, he spat in recognition, “You’re the stinking cop who busted me!” He angrily stepped away and swore at Monte. “Why are you bugging me, I ain’t done nuthin!’”