Search and Destroy by JT Sawyer (top non fiction books of all time .TXT) 📗

latter being of no consequence to Roth, whose sole interest was in the geographic conquest of oil reserves abroad. While Landis never got blood on his hands, he had a woman on his payroll who was skilled in navigating the treacherous geography of the dark web to obtain the manpower needed to carry out his dirty work while eliminating any trace back to Roth.

Whether through financial acquisition or by assisting with the rearranging of third-world dictatorships in oil-productive nations, Roth’s reach had spread around the globe like a slow-growing cancerous lesion, made possible by Landis’ handiwork behind the curtain.

Landis was the indispensable shadow-man that every large corporation had on its payroll. He created the slush funds for political influencers aligned with Roth Enterprises, doctored the books on his boss’ international holdings, and maintained a steady flow of funds to environmental causes to uphold Roth’s image of using the most eco-conscious energy technologies.

In recent months, Roth had wondered if Landis was losing his edge given his weary demeanor at their recent meetings, or if it was just the growing abuse of designer drugs and high-end hookers that was depleting the man’s life-force. Roth had been slowly grooming an energetic Harvard business grad to replace Landis, but he wasn’t quite ready to dispose of the man, who was one of the key players in his forthcoming acquisition abroad.

“Ian, I hope you are about to board the jet and get your ass over here. We’ve still gotta meet in person about the latest Congressional bill being pushed through.”

“There has been a new development that will require some extra vigilance and delay my arrival,” stammered Landis.

“You’re being cryptic, and that usually means you’re trying to cover for something you fucked up.”

“Everything went without a hitch except for a particular individual who survived the blast at the Burke place.”

Roth stepped away, switching the phone to his other hand. “Then deal with it. What’s the problem? We need this next month to go smoothly, and anyone connected with Perseus who’s a threat needs to be eliminated. I thought that was the whole fucking point of the explosion, since our contact in your neck of the woods indicated that Burke and his company stumbled upon Montoya in Caracas, and who knows what else connected with our plans down there.”

“The survivor was on the payroll as a security consultant, but our mutual government friend just informed me that this guy Shepard is an agency operator—worked with the Special Activities Division. The guy’s a fucking spook.”

Roth’s left eye twitched slightly. “He’s also just one guy. You’re talking about one man who is reeling from the death of his friends. His guard will be down, so take care of it.”

“He’s attending his wife’s funeral in a few days, not to mention that the rest of Burke’s senior staff who died are being buried this week, and the media’s all over this thing. It’s not going to look good eliminating this guy right now.”

“Then find a way to damage his credibility. If he was head of Burke’s security, then make him take the fall for what happened. Once the presidential election in Venezuela is over and we’ve installed Rimaldi in office, we can send someone to personally dispose of this guy Shepard, but until then, get it contained.”

He heard a shuddered sigh as Landis responded. “I’ll take care of it.”

“And what about Hunley? Does he have everything he needs to set things in motion for tilting the election in our favor?”

“I’ll be sending the second installment of funds to him this week. Once Rimaldi signs on with us, Hunley will allocate expenditures to the National Front, the right-wing newspaper that is Rimaldi’s political arm.”

“I don’t have to remind you how much is at stake here. Rimaldi has plans to denationalize the oil reserves and open them up to private firms. I want to ensure that we are the sole company in that venture. We will be sitting on the largest reserves in the world, even exceeding anything Saudi Arabia’s been doing in over a decade—and without the fucking excuse of war to get our hands in the ground. Once we get our facilities up and running, we can triple their output within six months. And, in case you’ve forgotten, I’m fronting $1.24 billion in my own equipment, petroleum engineers and drilling rigs to increase the number of wells across the country to make that happen.”

“I’ve already drawn up schematics for our exploration and processing crews to erect facilities in the jungle down there after we clear-cut the valleys, so we should be able to insert operations quickly after the election, along with getting the older facilities updated.”

Roth pushed the brim of his cowboy hat up. “Try leading with the good news next time, Ian, and deal with the rest of the tedious bullshit yourself. That’s what I’ve paid you for all these years, isn’t it?”

“It’ll be handled just like I always do. I will see you soon.”

When the call ended, he stroked the phone like it was a crystal ball, gazing at the screen, then he glanced back at Karl, who was standing beside the two dogs.

“When we’re done here, head back to the bunkhouse and notify Montoya in Virginia that I may have some more work for him and his guys in the coming days.”

Karl nodded, stepping closer and handing the Parker shotgun back to his boss.

Roth pulled two rounds of buckshot from his vest, placing them into the barrel. “But keep Landis out of the loop on this one.”

11

Maracaibo, Venezuela, Forty Miles East of the Colombian Border

Ernesto Rimaldi exited his blue Hyundai and sauntered across the street, entering a small café whose faded red-and-white sign was hanging by bailing wire to the crumpling façade. He smiled at the plump woman behind the counter, who gave a hearty wave then motioned with her hand towards the rear staircase that led to the balcony.

“He’s already waiting for you,” she said in Spanish. “I took the liberty of providing some coffee