Cut Out

The Green Berets Series Book Four

by

Bob Mayer

Chapter One

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

27 SEPTEMBER, 3:15 p.m.

The two men in the beat-up Chevy had been sitting in the same position for

more than two hours, their eyes hidden behind wraparound sunglasses, their

minds tuned into the little earplug each wore in his left ear. On this busy street

on the north side of Chicago, with active small businesses on the first floor of

most of the apartment buildings, the men’s presence had gone relatively

undetected. Even if someone had noticed them, it was highly unlikely that

anyone would approach to question their motives; like New Yorkers, most

Chicagoans had long ago learned to ignore anything not thrust directly into their

face as a threat.

“They been going at it for forty minutes, for chrissakes!” the shorter of the

two men muttered, rubbing the spot where the cord ran behind his left earlobe.

A shrill, shuddering cry echoed in their ears, and the taller man turned to

his partner and smiled. “She sure is a good actress.”

“How do you know it’s an act?” the other asked with a leer. “Could be real.”

“Right. With that loser?”

A deeper series of grunts sounded for almost twenty seconds, then there

was silence. A man’s voice was heard, the first words in the third floor apartment

across the street in quite a while.

“I’ve got to go, Jill. I’ve got to get back to the office.”

A woman’s voice purred in reply. “How about another twenty minutes,

babe?”

There was a pause, then the sound of a bed creaking. “I’d love to, but I’ve

really got to go. Tony’s stopping by and I have to give him some paperwork.”

The taller of the watchers removed a revolver from a shoulder holster,

snapped open the cylinder, and checked the rounds. “He’s a stupid fuck,

mentioning names like that.”

His partner laughed, not a particularly pleasant sound, as he inspected his

own weapon. “He’s out of his league.”

The tall man snapped the cylinder shut with a flick of his wrist, the noise of

metal on metal loud in the close confines of the car. “He’s about to get sent back

to the minors.”

They listened to the sounds of the couple dressing. Their eyes now focused

on the front door of the building.

“Can I see you tomorrow?”

“Why wait until tomorrow? You can have me tonight—full time— if you

really wanted, Phil.”

“Oh, come on, babe. Don’t start on that. I’ve explained it all to you a

thousand times. It just isn’t possible right now.”

“Why? All you have to do is—”

“Please! Enough, all right? Just drop it for now.”

There was a long pause, and the two men strained to hear the sound of the

apartment door. They were disappointed when the woman’s voice came back.

“All right. I’m sorry. It’s just that I miss you so much and it gets so lonely

here at night.”

The short man started laughing again. “What a buncha bull. Does he really

believe that crap?”

The taller man didn’t bother to dignify the question with an answer.

“So. Can I see you tomorrow?” The man’s voice was edged with pleading.

The voices faded slightly. They were moving out of the bedroom. “Sure. Just

give a call so I can be ready. All right? We’ll do something a little different

tomorrow.”

“What?”

“You’ll just have to wait, hon.”

At the sound of the apartment door closing, both men pulled out the

earplugs and threw them under the seat alongside the receiver for the bug.

“Party time.”

The short man stepped out of the car as the other started the engine. The

short man was just outside the building’s front door when Philip Cobb opened it,

right hand fumbling in his pocket. Cobb was a tall man with a pudgy face and

wore round spectacles. His hairline had moved back as the years had gone on,

complementing the comfortable roll of fat around his waist, which defied his

sporadic diets and exercise routines.

As the building door slammed shut behind him, Cobb saw the muzzle of a

gun pointed at his face and froze in his tracks. A car pulled up to the curb with a

screech, the door to the backseat swinging open.

“Get in the car, asshole.”

“Who are you?” Cobb looked at the cold black eyes that were staring at him

over the muzzle of the gun and realized the futility of the question.

“Get in the car.”

Cobb stepped forward, feeling his body being pulled to the car by the

command in the man’s voice and the power of the weapon. He couldn’t think;

his brain refused to process information as a wave of cold fear swept over him.

The man grabbed his suit jacket with his free hand and propelled him forward.

“Hey! You! What are you doing?”

The short man swung his gaze to the left; his gun quickly followed as he

spotted the uniformed police officer walking toward them from the corner.

While the officer was trying to pull his weapon out of his holster, the short man

fired off three rounds in rapid succession. The cop dove behind a parked car.

Cobb stood frozen, the sound of the gun echoing in his ears. The short man had

let go of his jacket to shoot at the cop, and now he turned back toward Cobb,

centering the muzzle of the gun on Cobb’s forehead.

“Let’s go!” the driver of the car screamed, gunning the engine. “Forget

him!”

“I’m gonna finish him!” the short man yelled back as his finger tightened on

the trigger. He flinched as the cop fired for the first time, the deep-throated blast

of the pistol reverberating through the cool fall air.

Changing his mind, the short man turned and jumped into the open back

door of the Chevy, and it was gone with a roar down the street. Cobb still hadn’t

moved.

The cop came running up, yelling into his portable radio. It was only then

that Cobb realized he had soaked his pants. He staggered back against the

welcome support of the building wall and resumed breathing.

“Are you all right?” the cop asked as he returned the radio to its slot on his

belt. “I got backup coming and I sent out a description of the car. Did you know

those guys?”

Cobb shook his head weakly. “I don’t know who they were.”

A crowd was starting to gather, and Cobb felt foolish with the large stain

clearly visible on the front of his pants. The sound of sirens pierced the air.

“Are you all right, Phil?”

Cobb turned in surprise to see Jill standing in the doorway to the apartment

building, clutching a robe around her.

“Get out of here,” he hissed, glancing nervously at the police officer, who

was trying to get the crowd back.

Jill bit her lip and nodded, backing reluctantly into the dark of the building

foyer.

Two hours later, Cobb was still within twenty feet of the site of his almost

death, sitting in the backseat of an unmarked police car, trying not to cough from

the stench of the detective’s cigar. Detective Guyton sat two feet away, staring at

him with passionless eyes. He was a large man, his muscular bulk encased in a

well-cut suit. His hair was gray, almost silver, and his face was flat and hard,

with twenty-four years of street experience etched into it.

“So let’s go over this one more time, Mr. Cobb. You’re a real estate

developer and you say you were here to see a client. A Miss Jill Fastone? Is that

correct?”

“Yes.”

Detective Guyton nodded. “Uh-huh. So why didn’t you tell the officer who

was first on the scene why you were here when he asked you two hours ago?”

“I was confused. I’d just been shot at, for Christ’s sake.”

“Couldn’t be something funny going on between you and Miss Fastone,

now could there, Mr. Cobb?” Guyton asked, glancing down at the wedding band

on Cobb’s left hand.

“No.”

Guyton leaned forward. “Bullshit. Don’t fuck with me. A cop almost got his

head blown off saving your sorry ass. And you sit here and lie to me. I know

who you are and I know who you work for.

“Don’t bullshit me anymore. The name Michael Torrentino mean anything

to you?”

Cobb closed his eyes and sagged back against the worn upholstery. His

already fragile world was crumbling.

“And don’t you think I know who Jill Fastone is? She used to work for

Torrentino—if you want to call what she does work. Maybe she still does. I know

you do.” Guyton shook his head. “You should have stayed in your little real

estate office in the suburbs, Cobb. Did Fastone bring you into all this? Did you

think you could start laundering money and being a middleman for the number

one guy in ‘The Outfit’ here in Chicago and no one would notice? Wake up.”

Guyton tapped Cobb on the chest with a stubby finger. “You got any idea why

those two guys tried to grab you?”

Cobb shook his head.

“You’d better talk to me,” Guyton growled. “‘Cause if you don’t talk to me,

you know what I’m gonna do?” He didn’t bother to wait for an answer. “I’m not

gonna take you downtown. I’m gonna let you get out of this car and go home.

And I can guarantee you one thing: next time they try to whack you, they’ll do it.

You were lucky this time.”

“But I don’t know who they are or why they would try to kill me,” Cobb

whined, missing the look of satisfaction that settled on the detective’s face.

“You been juggling the numbers? Maybe skimming where you shouldn’t

have been?”

“No. I swear it.”

Guyton regarded Cobb for a minute. “I think maybe you just ought to get

out and go home, Cobb. You’re starting to piss me off.”

“But I didn’t do anything wrong!” Cobb protested.

“I know. That’s why you can go home. I’ve got all I need. Besides that,

you’re stinking up the back of my car.”

Cobb’s face showed his confusion and fear. “But what if they try again?” he

asked.

Guyton shrugged. “It’s your ass.” He got out of the car, leaving Cobb alone

to consider the reality of the situation.

The detective walked over to a man wearing a three-piece suit and carrying

a clipboard. Jim O’Fallon, the assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s

Organized Crime Task Force in Chicago, was a slim young man who appeared to

be a recent college graduate. He looked at Guyton in the fading daylight.

“Anything?”

“He’s too scared to realize how fucked up his life is at the moment. It’ll sink

in. I’m letting him squirm for a while.”

“Don’t lose him,” O’Fallon advised. “He could be a gold mine.”

“Let’s give him another hour or so and then you can make your pitch,”

Guyton said. “He’ll be ready then.”

“What about his family?” O’Fallon asked.

Guyton flipped open his notebook. “He’s got a wife. They had one kid—

died about a year and a half ago of a brain tumor. I got a car watching his house.

She’s home there.”

“She know anything?”

Guyton shook his head. “Nope. She’s in for a big surprise.”

They both turned as Cobb got out of the car and walked over slowly. His

face was twisted with conflicting emotions. “What can I do?” O’Fallon and

Guyton exchanged a brief smile.

End of Excerpt

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Next in the Green Beret Series Book Five

Eternity Base

About the Author

NY Times bestselling author Bob Mayer has had over 50 books published. He has

sold over four million books, and is in demand as a team-building, life-changing, and

leadership speaker and consultant for his Who Dares Wins: The Green Beret Way concept,

which he translated into Write It Forward: a holistic program teaching writers how to be

authors. He is also the Co-Creator of Cool Gus Publishing, which does both eBooks and Print

On Demand, so he has experience in both traditional and non-traditional publishing.

His books have hit the NY Times, Publishers Weekly, Wall Street Journal and

numerous other bestseller lists. His book The Jefferson Allegiance, was released

independently and reached #2 overall in sales on Nook.

Bob Mayer grew up in the Bronx. After high school, he entered West Point where he

learned about the history of our military and our country. During his four years at the

Academy and later in the Infantry, Mayer questioned the idea of “mission over men.” When

he volunteered and passed selection for the Special Forces as a Green Beret, he felt more at

ease where the men were more important than the mission.

Mayer’s obsession with mythology and his vast knowledge of the military and

Special Forces, mixed with his strong desire to learn from history, is the foundation for his

science fiction series Atlantis, Area 51 and Psychic Warrior. Mayer is a master at blending

elements of truth into all of his thrillers, leaving the reader questioning what is real and

what isn’t.

He took this same passion and created thrillers based in fact and riddled with

possibilities. His unique background in the Special Forces gives the reader a sense of

authenticity and creates a reality that makes the reader wonder where fact ends and fiction

begins.

In his historical fiction novels, Mayer blends actual events with fictional characters.

He doesn’t change history, but instead changes how history came into being.

Mayer’s military background, coupled with his deep desire to understand the past

and how it affects our future, gives his writing a rich flavor not to be missed.

Bob has presented for over a thousand organizations both in the United States and

internationally, including keynote presentations, all day workshops, and multi-day

seminars. He has taught organizations ranging from Maui Writers, to Whidbey Island

Writers, to San Diego State University, to the University of Georgia, to the Romance Writers

of America National Convention, to Boston SWAT, the CIA, Fortune-500, the Royal Danish

Navy Frogman Corps, Microsoft, Rotary, IT Teams in Silicon Valley and many others. He has

also served as a Visiting Writer for NILA MFA program in Creative Writing. He has done

interviews for the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Sports Illustrated, PBS, NPR, the Discovery

Channel, the SyFy channel and local cable shows. For more information see

www.bobmayer.org.

Copyright

Cool Gus Publishing

http://coolgus.com

Original Hardcover Edition Publication in 1991 from Lyford Books

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to

actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely

coincidental.

COPYRIGHT © 1991 by Bob Mayer, Updated 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner

without written permission from the author (Bob Mayer and Who Dares Wins

Publishing) except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or

reviews.

Electronic ISBN: 9781935712435