Vigilantes: Drake Alexander Adventure

By Allan Hudson

The master vintner at Chateau Lambert Estates, Jean-Paul Chouinard, stares up the rise at the family cemetery, where the darling of the house was laid to rest yesterday. The grave site is surrounded by four men and a woman. The people whose service Mireille Lambert was in when she died. One of them was her lover. One of them is Drake Alexander.

 

Chouinard knows what they do. He knows who Alexander is. He hears the whispers. Vigilantes.

 

He grieves knowing the brothers who are responsible for his daughter's death twenty years ago have not been apprehended. Maybe it's been too long. Maybe the brothers are already dead. Maybe, if he asked, Alexander and his people could find them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: South Branch Scribbler
• Release date: Jan 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9781988291130

Allan Hudson

Allan Hudson was born in Saint John, New Brunswick now living in Dieppe, NB. Growing up in South Branch he was encouraged to read from an early age by his mother who was a school teacher.His short story, The Ship Breakers, received Honourable Mention in the New Brunswick Writer’s Federation short story competition. Recently, his short story, The Abyss, recieved the same award. Other short stories have been published on commuterlit.com, The Golden Ratio and his blog, South Branch Scribbler.

Book preview

Chapter 1

November 18

Bordeaux, France

Anne Chouinard was laid to rest on November 5th, 1984. Her closest friend, Mireille Lambert, was interred this morning. The ancestral cemetery is on the highest rise of the estate, overlooking lazy rolling hills by empty grapevines lined in precision, their weary stems hanging in mourning. To the left, the family chateau, a stately two-story edifice, is a five-minute walk along the rows. People attending the reception are visible in the wide windows of the downstairs rooms that face the Garonne River. Close by is a low-roofed structure with walls of the same brownish stone as the main building. Windowless with only a wide door on one end, it squats among the fields of naked vines. Jean-Paul Chouinard is a master vintner and has been for the last thirty years at the Lambert Estates, the family vineyard. He is one of three key holders to the storeroom. From the reserves, he carries ten bottles of 1993 Chateau Lambert Bordeaux. Before going into the house from a side entrance, he pauses to look back at the small group gathered around Mireille's grave.

When he heard their conversation about hunting criminals, he couldn't help but tell them about his daughter and what happened to her all those years ago. The tall man he talked to, Drake Alexander, is from Canada, a former soldier in the Canadian Armed Forces. When Chouinard was telling Alexander about Anne, he could see the compassion in the man's eyes, almost as if the sorrow were his. After speaking to him, Alexander assured him they would do everything in their power to find the men that murdered his precious Anne, even with a trail twenty years old. It's what he and his team do. Chouinard doesn't hold any hope as it's been so long. The brothers could already be dead.

Alexander introduced him to the others. Williston Payne, the information man. Not as tall as Alexander but he looked hardy, even in his suit. Chouinard liked his firm handshake. Watching the two men relate, Chouinard was certain they were close friends. Being a lawyer with offices in the US and Europe, Payne's contacts on both sides of the legal fence are significant. Although Chouinard wasn't told why, he was informed that Payne recently left his offices in the hands of his trusted management team to dedicate his resources to alleviating the world from some of its slime. His wife Isabella is inside with Drake's fiancée, Beth, at the reception.

Dakin Rush. Mireille's lover prior to her death, a onetime American Ranger, co-owner of one of the largest security firms in New England. He limps from a previous injury, somewhere in Bangladesh. He doesn't say much, which given the occasion is understandable. There is hurt in his eyes, but Chouinard remembers the set of his jaw. Not a man to wallow in it! Same height as Drake but thicker, wider shoulders, he looks like a soldier. He shares a common broken heart with Chouinard.

Elijah Glass. Described as a daring pilot, he's lauded and teased if not the best, at least one of the craziest. He and Alexander met in basic training and have been trusted friends since. Good humour exudes from his untroubled face, a sly grin tells Chouinard he's the rascal of the group. Same slight build as Alexander. He's the only one without a tie, still jaunty in his black suit and white shirt. He stays close to the young Asian lady at his side.

Plum Ishikawa. He felt there was caution in her dark glossy eyes even though her greeting was warm, the smile welcoming. Her hand was delicate like the rest of her except for the unexpected calluses on her palms like the men, the skin toughened by the weapons they use. He admires her simple beauty thinking of it as a pretty flower from another country. He commented on her charming name. She thanked him but offered no explanation. She remains an enigma.

When Chouinard remembers his mission to the wine cellar and stops scrutinizing the vigilantes, a faint hope straightens his back and he holds his head up. He's agreed to meet some of them in the city later at the Cafe Blondine, formerly La Croissant, the last place Anne and Mireille were together, to tell them all he knows.

***

Drake Alexander is a natural leader. Even as a young lad, he was always leading his friends off on adventures. Like a true leader he would never send anyone to a place or expect them to do things he himself would not do first. Integrity. Empathy linked to intelligence makes him a formidable individual and worthy opponent. Taller than most and with a way with languages, people follow him automatically and the ladies find him attractive even though each of his limbs is a deadly weapon. It's difficult for him to understand the cruelty in the world. He grew up in a loving home, surrounded by unselfish people. Given the opportunity to manage and eventually control his father's business, it was not only mankind's ugliness and deceit and his own honour that provoked him to be a soldier, but the vision of a sergeant he met when he was eleven, and the beret he was gifted back then, started his dream. It's a tough call to ask people to follow him.

The assembly standing around the fresh grave look to him after he spoke to Chouinard and relayed the man's request to them. They can see that he's already decided. They're waiting for his direction. The rush they feel is the onset of the chase. He looks at his friend.

What do you think Williston? Is a twenty-year gap too much time to hide a person's trail, or in this case, two brothers' trail?

Payne is rubbing his chin, looking down at the overturned earth of their fallen comrade, deep in thought.

We'll need as much background on them as we can garner from Mr. Chouinard. We'll need to talk to the investigating officers if possible. The next step will be to search all the data bases I have a connection to with their names and possible alibis which we should be able to find in police reports and what they were able to uncover back then. If they're still alive that is.

It's one possibility on everyone's mind. Plum responds. Due to a bad beginning, she's been in the company of evil people in her young life.

You guys know we'll need to dig below the police reports. When you're dealing with people like this, there will always be someone they crossed, someone that moves under the shadow of the law. There's no friendship among them. They trust no one. They won't talk to the police, but we find someone with a vendetta against the brothers or someone with their ear to the ground on the shady side of things and they might talk to us.

Everyone nods in agreement. Drake has an immediate thought which perks him up.

I know just the person.

He turns to Williston.

You remember Luther Bennett, the tough kid from Rexton that used to pitch baseball for them when we were teenagers Williston? That first summer you stayed with us in Cocagne?

Williston is laughing at the memory.

Damn right I do, he struck me out twice, but third time up I whacked the ball way past the fence and it pissed him off. He tried to hit me with the ball twice because he was so sore at us for giving his team such a thrashing. He calmed down after you gave him a black eye. Oh yeah, I remember him. Long curly hair, big freckles on his cheeks, stocky kid. What about him?

Well, he's been a bodyguard, bouncer all his life. I ran into him at Beth's high school reunion in ‘02. He's married to her cousin. Runs the security team now at a club in Berlin, he's the cooler or head bouncer. I can't remember the name of the bar but it's in the old east district. A onetime KGB hangout.

Dakin knows who Drake talks of.

Are you talking about Mad Luther? Before the wall went down in ‘89, he was all over the news when he led that protest group the year before with mauls and started pounding on the wall before unification actually took place. One of them was shot by the East German guards, a real scandal.

Drake nods.

Yeah, that's him. He was married to a German lady from East Berlin. He helped her escape. I remember seeing it on the news and we talked about that at the reunion. She died about ten years ago in a skiing accident. Beth's cousin, Sheila Stone, and Bennett dated in high school, split after. Chance has it that she's a flight attendant with Air Canada and they met again somewhere in the skies.

Elijah, always the joker, adds a note.

Members of the mile-high club, you think Drake?

With a scrutinous look, Plum elbows him in the ribs and shakes her head. Drake laughs at his friend's jest.

Not sure Elijah, but possible.

Williston interjects.

Why him Drake? What do you think he might know?

He lived in Paris with his wife when they first got married. Got in a little trouble with the law for dealing at a bar he worked at and for carrying an unregistered firearm. Avoided prison somehow and moved back to Germany in '86. The world he moves in, he may know something and it's the only place I can think to start.

Williston notices his wife standing on the deck by the house waving at them.

I think we'd better head back to the reception but before we do, when do you want to get started on this Drake?

Well, let's carry on with our original agenda. We'll meet with Chouinard later. In the morning when we board your Gulfstream, Beth and I need to get back to New Brunswick, there's business matters that I need to attend to and I think you said Isabella needs to be in Antigua for her doctor's appointment on the 22nd. Dakin is heading back to North Carolina to take care of business with his brother. Elijah is taking Plum to meet his family back in Ontario, so they have flights out of Orly in Paris. Let's all meet again at our hotel here on the 26th, next Friday. I'll make reservations. Everybody okay with that?

Affirmative nods all around. They all pause for a moment in silence in front of Mireille's grave to say their final goodbyes before returning to the house.

Chapter 2

Cafe Blondine has changed dramatically since Mireille and Anne met there twenty years ago. Gone are the bright colors. The seating arrangement is the same with the booths muted in beige and tans. The serving area is more modern with stainless steel and black counters. The only thing the same is the tempting aroma of coffee brewing and pastries right out of the oven. The large photos that once adorned the walls have been replaced with works of art – seascapes, landscapes and abstracts mingle on the walls, each bearing small white tags in the lower right corners proclaiming the artist's name and the price of the work.

Unknown to them, Drake, Williston, and Mr. Chouinard are sitting in the same booth as Anne and Mireille did. They met here twenty minutes earlier, shortly after 7 o'clock in the evening. The sun has almost finished its disappearing act and night shadows cover the streets like bullies. People are milling about outside, and the cafe is almost full. Chouinard nurses a cup of coffee while Drake drinks a Kronenbourg, Williston finishing an eclair with his green tea. Chouinard is at the part when he had to identify his daughter's body.

"It was the most difficult thing I have ever done. Even to this day I can see her face and how colorless it was, how shocked my wife and I were when we had the proof that our Anne was dead. C'etait terrible."

Chouinard is a small man and the hung head makes him look even smaller. He only nods when Drake and Williston give him a minute to compose himself. They eyeball each other, understanding the man's grief. Wiping the last crumb of the pastry from his upper lip with his napkin, Williston turns back to the notepad open in front of him near his teacup. His voice is sympathetic.

Do you remember the names of the investigators Mr. Chouinard? The people that were looking for the brothers?

Chouinard pushes his cup aside and sits straighter. He puts on a weak smile.

"Oui, I do. Capitaine Rudolphe Descartes and his associate Lieutenant Amelia Blaise. Descartes is retired now, went out about three years ago. Inspector Blaise would contact us once a year to offer any updates but there was never anything new. She might ask us the same questions again hoping for another clue. She is with the Police National. Her office is on Rue Ducau. We hadn't heard anything for several years until she called last spring, maybe May. She asked an odd question then, but I've never heard if it made a difference."

Drake prompts him. What was the question?

She wanted to know if Anne was wearing a cross the day she died. Up until that moment, both my wife and I had not thought of the gold cross we gave her for her First Communion when she was eleven. When we claimed her things at the morgue, the cross or chain wasn't there. We searched everywhere for it, never having found it of course. She wore it quite often, but we don't think she was wearing it that day, or she may have lost it.

Drake watches Williston furiously scribbling on his pad and he knows they're thinking the same thing.

Or maybe it was stolen, says Drake.

Chouinard frowns at that and scratches his chin.

Who would do that, and why?

Maybe one of the brothers did. As horrible as it sounds Mr Chouinard, some murderers take souvenirs.

Chouinard's distaste is evident in his shudder and head shaking. The idea of the cross in their possession troubles him.

It never occurred to me. Perhaps it is one explanation to where it went, as deplorable as that is.

Chouinard's stare turns from sorrow to a plea. He waves a tight fist in the air.

These men must be punished! They must be put behinds bars. I will do whatever I can to help you.

We'll do what we can to find them Mr. Chouinard. Now tell us all you know about the investigation.

The men talk for another hour. When he relates the events of the investigation, Chouinard gestures with his hands like a broken windmill. The robbers were clever, well disguised, well prepared and left no clues. They hit mostly smaller banks every four to five months. Many people died in the next two years before they attempted to rob the Banque de Sud Laurentian in Larvotto, a suburb west of Monaco, not far from the Italian border. It was mid-afternoon and what they hadn't planned on was a drug bust two streets away that took place an hour earlier. Several policemen were still milling about the scene when the bank alarm went off. Caught in the act, one of the robbers was killed and another wounded and captured.

…the other men escaped by speedboat. It is as if they went up in smoke, no trail left behind.

There's a heavy silence around the table as Williston and Drake contemplate their next move. Chouinard sits back watching them - Williston pouring over his notes, Drake frowning and rubbing a knuckle along his lower lip.

OK. Williston, you need to search for whatever you can find on the brothers. Let's meet back here next Friday like we agreed. We'll talk to Detective Blaise, then connect with Luther and go from there.

Drake and Williston part company with Chouinard on Ste. Catherine Street outside the cafe and walk back to their hotel. Williston is already on his phone to a hacker he uses occasionally when there is a need to go deeper in the net. His contact goes by the handle of Rassor and they know nothing about him, or her. The one thing they share is trust. Rassor is surprisingly nimble in the Cyber world, thinks in ones and zeros and discovers unusual and extremely useful information. For a fee of course. A fee not everyone can afford. Drake grins at Williston's explanation of what he's searching for.

That's right, Philippe and Manuel Monteux. M-o-n-t-e-u-x. Everything. Even what size underwear they buy. You know where to send it.

Williston frowns and shakes his head.

No, don't send the underwear, you smart ass. Just get me some dirt on these guys.

A pause and wide smile crosses Williston's face.

Sure, whatever they had for breakfast is fine too.

Williston flips the phone shut and as the two enter the hotel he gives Drake a thumbs up.

Give Rassor a day or two and we'll know more about these guys than breakfast and underwear.

Drake grins and shakes his head, admonishing his friend with what wouldn't be a compliment for anyone else.

You're weird.

I know. That's why you like me so much.

Chapter 3

Alexander's Fine Jewellery had its beginnings almost a hundred years ago by Drake's grandfather, Dominic Alexander. Having immigrated to Canada from Scotland in 1915, bringing an inheritance and goldsmith's skill, the young man started a jewellery repair shop on west Main Street in Moncton, New Brunswick. In 1916, he married Maria Desjardin and they expanded the business and moved to a larger store in 1918. Together they established a reputable company that prospered in good times as well as the bad times.

Nothing changed for many years until Dominic's son, Jacob took over the business as a young man. Through careful expansion Alexander's Fine Jewellery grew to three more stores. When Jacob attended a jewellery show in New York, he met Mellissa Wilbraham, heiress to a group of jewellery stores in New England. Love at first sight, the couple were soon married and the jewellery stores were managed under the same team. Mellissa was from Plymouth, Massachusetts, and they made their winter home there and the summers were spent in Cocagne, New Brunswick, a seaside community north of Moncton where Dominic and Maria had resided for many years. Unlike Jacob, his children had no interest in the business. Drake Alexander has always wanted to be a soldier. His sister Glory was fascinated by birds and became an ornithologist and an assistant professor at the University of New Brunswick. Drake joined the armed forces the day after he graduated from high school. As part of the elite Canadian Special Forces, Joint Task Force Two, he's been moulded into a warrior, trained to kill. He's led men and women in action in Afghanistan, Rwanda, and other parts of the world where Canadian soldiers have proven their worth in both war and peacekeeping efforts.