The Assassin's Trail by J.C. Fields Read Free Book Online Page B

moment. “Why are you curious?”
    “My fiancée works for a company Whiterock is interested in. Guevara has bought a lot of stock and is trying to get a seat on the board, or something like that. Hell, I don’t know this crap. She and everybody in her office are nervous. I was trying to help and find out what I could. Nothing diabolical or sinister, simply trying to get some information for my future wife.”
    Kruger could hear a sigh on the other end of the phone. “Okay, I understand, Clark said I can trust you. What kind of information do you need?”
    “Tell me about Guevara. What’s his story?”
    “Fernando Guevara is the son of Spanish immigrants, Philippe and Isabelle Guevara. They arrived in New York City in the summer of 1940. The dad was a tailor, opened a small shop in the South Bronx. Fernando was born in 1950, graduated from New York City College and took a job as a stock broker on Wall Street. Made his first million by the time he was twenty-four, then lost it during the oil embargo years of the seventies. The eighties were kind to him. He worked for several firms, then found a home as a fund manager at Goldman Sachs in 1989. Apparently, he made a ton of money during the dot com period, left Goldman Sachs and formed Whiterock Equities. That’s when he became politically active. He is a major donor to the current president’s party.”
    “I see. Thus the Secret Service’s interest.”
    “Yeah. Thus our interest. He and the president are very close. He dines at the White House at least once, sometimes twice a month. We’ve vetted him several times, for security reasons. Plus, there was a rumor he was going to be tapped for a cabinet position. So far, that hasn’t happened. The only thing questionable we found about the man was his business practices. He’s ruthless when he sets his sights on acquiring a company.”
    “How so?”
    “He’s an egotistical bastard. He surrounds himself with very intelligent individuals, but if they disagree with him, he fires them. One such individual told us he got into a discussion with Guevara about how a target company was being evaluated. Guevara told him he was wrong; the guy calmly showed him the data, insisting he was right. Guevara started screaming at the guy, firing him in the middle of a meeting. The only reason he keeps good people is he pays twice what they would make anywhere else.”
    Kruger thought about this for a moment, started to say something but decided not to. “Okay, he’s a jerk, that’s not a crime. Why is the Secret Service so sensitive about this guy?”
    “Because of his relationship with the president. Individuals higher up the ladder than I scratch their collective heads on why the president likes the guy. When he buys a company, the first thing he does is start letting people go. We were told this practice has two purposes. One, it immediately cuts overhead, and two, makes the survivors work harder. He then reorganizes the company and sells it outright, or breaks it up into various smaller companies. He then sells these entities separately. Whichever way he does it, people lose their jobs. We were told Whiterock regularly produces profits in the eight to nine figure range.”
    “How much has he contributed to the president?”
    “A lot.”
    “Well, there you go. Money has a tendency to create strange friendships sometimes.”
    Margolin sighed, “Yeah, I suppose it does.”
    “Ted, thanks for the info. I owe you one.”
    “Well, let’s chalk it up to interagency cooperation, what’d ya say?”
    “Sounds good, talk to you later.” Kruger ended the call and got his laptop out.
    He emerged from his office twenty minutes later and went straight to the coffee pot. After checking to see if it was still on from dinner, he poured two cups. He looked at Stephanie, who was sitting at the dining room table checking emails on her laptop. He motioned for her to follow him to the balcony. He sat down at the bistro table and stared out