possibilities and the upcoming Bilderberg meeting. Mr. East will host the next Club meeting. The China component in their election hacking scheme topped next meeting’s agenda.
Chapter 7
In Tampa, Juan sat at his desk, his mind feeling like a tossed salad. The Silicon Valley attack contributed to this morning’s wild escapade. His mind warmed into mental gymnastics but couldn’t compete with thoughts of Dominica. He tried calling her cell phone directly. The call went immediately to voicemail. He started texting a message when the office’s landline phone rang. He abruptly sent Dom one more message and answered the landline.
“Hi Juan, it's Annie,” the voice perked. “How are you doing?” Anne Giovanni was Dominica’s cousin from the neighborhood. She attended Providence College with Dom and earned a marketing degree. Together they moved to Florida to get out of their father’s sphere of influence. She and Dom were best of friends. They would drive back to Providence, Rhode Island or Boston together for the holidays to visit family.
Juan dithered still thinking of Dom. “Hello is this Juan? Are you ok?”
If she only knew, he thought looking at the gun still on top of his desk. He finally acknowledged her, “Hi Annie, what’s up?”
“Dom and I had a brunch date today and she’s a no-show. Any idea where she is? She’s not answering her phone either.”
“I’m having a problem reaching her, too.” Juan’s alert state moved from DefCon 3 to DefCon 4. “Do you have any idea where she might have wondered off to? I know she took her ‘vortex’ walk this morning. She usually calls when she leaves the beach.”
Annie recalled Dom’s comments upon her and Juan returning from their Sedona, Arizona holiday. Sedona, famous for ‘spiritual’ vortex areas, had impressed both Juan and Dom. They felt a relaxing sensation when resting on several of the areas noted vortexes. Since then, Dom renamed her beach walks as vortex walks because they were relaxing and at times, mentally refreshing.
“I’m going to her vortex beach. Maybe she is still there vortexing further down the beach!” Annie chuckled.
“Call me if you find out anything,” Juan said, with forced warmness. He pushed end and smiled to himself. It would be just like Dom to take a swim to the buoys and space out the time.
Juan wanted to share his thoughts. Their new client, the Fair and Free Foundation, needed serious attention. Juan didn’t feel up to handling the problems they were bringing to the table by himself. Shootouts aside, voter fraud is a ‘can of worms’. Everyone is against it but no one will step up and do anything about it. He thought that F&F may be able to fire a warning shot at the politicians and their fraudulent voters.
He opened his mmN app to the ‘serious’ icon. He addressed it to the foundation members saying ‘must conference tonight, 6pm east coast time. Watch your backs.’ He pressed send and sat back in his chair speed-dialing Dom’s phone again.
Annie buttoned the hardtop down on her late model Mazda Miata and drove directly to Dom’s beach. She spotted Dom’s car and parked behind it. She hustled to the Porsche. She looked inside the driver’s window and saw keys besides a cell phone on the passenger’s seat. She tried the door handle. The car was unlocked. She knew Dom would never leave the car unlocked.
Annie stood up straight and looked around the area. She saw teenagers playing basketball in the playground down the street. She secured Dom’s phone and keys. Then she locked the Porsche’s door and turned towards the playground.
She walked her shapely, five foot, seven inch frame over to the teens. They stopped playing to notice the extremely slender, beautiful looking blonde, in a red alluring jumpsuit coming towards them.
One of the tall, buff players asked her if she wanted to join them. Annie shook her head. “No, I don’t want to embarrass anyone! Besides, these designer sneakers would fall apart on my first dunk!” Those comments drew a collective laugh. A buff player began his challenging response, but was warned off by the seriousness in Annie’s eyes.
Annie quizzed them if they have seen her friend who owns the Porsche along the street this morning. She pointed to Dom’s car. “She’s about 5’8”, 130 lbs. She has long, wavy, brunette hair. Have you seen her?”
One kid says, “She's a fox. Are you sisters?”
“We’re BBFs. Did you see her today?” Annie said hopefully.
“She left with some friends in a dark SUV about forty minutes ago,” the kid answered.
“Which direction,” Annie instantly peppered.
He pointed north towards the road leading to the highway.
The tall, slender player stepped towards her. In an intimidating tone asked, “What’s the information worth, lady?”
Annie flashed a huge smile and started turning. Not a bit intimidated, she returned, “My eternal gratitude!”
She sashayed back to her Miata and sped northward. She pulled out her cell phone and hit Juan’s speed dial number.
Juan saw Annie’s caller ID and immediately answered his phone. “Did you find Dom?”
“No,” Annie countered nervously, anticipating his first question. “She left the beach with some friends in a dark SUV according to the kids playing basketball across the street. “Who does she know that has a dark SUV?”
Juan shook his head looking puzzled at the floor. “I have no idea,” he responded sitting back in his chair baffled.
“Listen Juan, I’m heading in the direction the kids said the SUV took. I’ll stay in touch.” She had a secret with Dom that even Juan didn’t know.
Chapter 8
A mystified Juan thinks something may have happened to Dom. He spots Detective Mike Rizzo’s card on the desk. He considers, am I overreacting? He tightens his lips and answers, ‘no’. He calls Detective Rizzo only to get his voicemail. Frustrated, he left an urgent message.
Juan decides to take the short drive to Dom’s vortex beach. He walks by Nancy’s desk. He says, “You can get me on my cell.” She nodded as she reloaded her hand gun. “I’m getting ready for our next client,” she half-laughed as a serious looking Juan opened the door to leave.
Juan’s black Range Rover found its way to Dom’s beach. Still dazed on how he got there, he sees her silver Porsche. He unlocks the car’s door with his set of Dom’s Porsche keys. He retrieves Dom’s keys and phone from the glove box. As he relocks the car’s door his phone rings. It’s detective Rizzo. “Detective, thanks for calling me back so soon.”
Mike Rizzo barks, “What’s this stuff about your fiancée?”
Juan states his and Annie’s suspicions. “Dom’s missing. I’m standing next to Dom’s car now. Her car keys and cell phone were with the car. Earlier her friend Annie found the car unlocked. That’s not like Dom.”
Detective Rizzo says that he’s about to leave a homicide on the east end of town. “It will take me an hour or so to get there. Text the address ASAP. Don’t touch the car any more than you already have. Why don’t you walk the area? Maybe she’s made some new friends or something like that.”
Juan locked his Range Rover and began to walk the street. He started by canvassing the basketball court, its two-sectioned stands and beyond.
Sitting in her car, Annie opens the ‘locate me’ app on her phone. Like Dom, she had an implanted tracking chip under a thick layer of skin. A ‘gator’ tattoo on the inside of her leg’s right thigh partially covered the skin over the tracker.
Both their father’s are high ranking ‘capos’ in the Providence and Boston divisions of New York’s Colombo, organized crime family. They