Scarlett and the Feds (6 page)

The elevator doors were closing when an arm shot through, causing them to spring back open. Nelson stepped into the elevator grabbing my arm and pulling me out of the elevator. His sense of urgency and panic as he hurried me to his office caused several sets of curious eyes to peer around from their cubicles.

“Holy shit! I need to talk to you right now!” he said.

He shut the door to his office behind him and pulled his blinds. Nelson was in full blown crisis mode he was pacing back and forth his nervous energy off the charts.

“Do you know who you’re fuckin’?” he blurted out.

“Excuse me!” I snapped.

“Your boyfriend, do you know who his family is?” he asked his eyes full of anticipation and panic all rolled into one.

I didn’t respond right away.

“Well,” he said on the verge of an aneurism if I didn’t answer.

“How do you know who Victor’s family is?” I snapped.

“My source.”

“Which one? You have several!”

“The only important one at this moment, is the one that gave me the file.” His toned hushed and he looked around the room making sure the coast was clear.

“Yes. I know who Victor’s father is,” I said.

Nelson’s eyes got wide like a star struck fan. “Have you met him?” The hope just oozed out of every nook and cranny.

“Yes!”

Scarlett swore he did a back flip. I didn’t see it, but it wouldn’t have shocked me.

“Holy fuck, Angelina, can you get me a sit down exclusive with him? That would be the pinnacle of my career. I’d be definite for the Murdock, the only reporter to ever interview Joe Salvatore.” Excitement was plastered all over his face.

“I doubt you’d live to the end of the interview. He will never agree it.”

He looked like I had just kicked him in the balls. Scarlett shined a pen light into his pupils to see if she could find out the devious plan he was cooking up, but his eyes gave nothing away. She was considering water boarding for a brief second, but I shook my head “No”.

‘Kill joy,’
she mumbled under her breathe and went to pout in the corner.

“This is your first day back, I could just as easily send you back to covering flower shows and weddings. Understood?”

“Yes,” I seethed.

“If you won’t set me up an interview with Joe Salvatore then I want you to wear a wire and do a covert interview.”

That was it! Scarlett left the room looking for the supplies she needed to water board his ass. I might not stop her this time.

“Jesus H, Nelson! I just told you he will kill anyone that poses a threat to him and reporters fall into that category, so you want
me
to risk my life again for
you
?” I was steaming mad, but needed access to his source for the Feds.

He just smiled a devious grin, rubbing his hands together hanging on every breath I took waiting for the answer he wanted so desperately.

“You’re a total asshole you know that right? But fine I’ll do it.”

He hugged me so tight I could feel my ribs on the verge of breaking in two.

“I’m so happy to have you back. You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.”

I pushed away from him and forced a weak smile. Scarlett appeared with a bucket and garden hose, reluctantly, I waved her off. She stuck her tongue at me and sulked off.

“I’m going to my old office. Is it still empty?”

“Yup. No-one has been in there since you abandoned me. I was hoping you’d come to your senses and come back,” he said, throwing me the keys to the door and my old desk.

I prayed that the flash drive with all the names and damming information was still securely hidden in my desk. I sighed as I shut the door behind me after I left Nelson’s office. I always felt like I needed to take a shower after my encounters with him.

Scarlett put her hand on my forehead to check to see if I had a fever or had just plain lost my frickin’ mind agreeing to set up a meeting with Joe Salvatore and wear a wire. My plan was to hold Nelson off as long as I could, hopefully pacifying him with some other dirt, or as he so affectionately calls them, pinnacles of his career. Scarlett and I both knew the next time I saw Joe Salvatore I’d be dead.

I was teetering on an apocalyptic tightrope. One slip and the people I loved would die.

My office was untouched from the last time I was there. It reminded me of going back to my childhood bedroom at Aunt Ella’s house, how it looked the same as the day I left for college.

I took out the small gold key hidden in the black hole of my purse, and unlocked the top drawer of my desk. I felt to the middle corner and my fingers brushed against the small flash drive taped securely in place. I kissed it and cradled it in my palm. This was my bargaining chip with the Feds if I could give them the people on this list, then hopefully it would distract them from Victor. 

I fired up my own laptop to save the contents from the flash drive to my own computer. I wanted to back up the contents in case the unthinkable happened and the flash drive got destroyed. Scarlett was standing guard at the door in case Nelson decided he needed another homecoming hug. She gave me the all clear sign. I grabbed my cell phone, and snapped two pictures on the computer screen from the files… just enough to make them want more. Then I found the number and hit send, dialing Agent Parker’s number.

“Hello?”

“Agent Parker, this is Angelina Ellington. We need to meet.”

“When?”

“As soon as possible, some place discreet.”

“Meet me under the Masonic Bridge in an hour.”

“I’ll be there,” I said.

The goon squad would be lurking outside the station keeping an eye on me, so the only way I could leave was in a station vehicle.

I knocked on Nelson’s door, as I opened it.

His back was to me and he was looking out the large window behind his desk that gave him a bird’s eye view of the city.

“Hey, Nelson, I have one last story I need to finish that I was in the middle of. I’m running out for an hour.”

“Fine,” he said turning around to face me, wiping his eyes.

I swear he was crying, but I wasn’t going down that road of crazy with him. Scarlett chucked s box of tissues as him as we left. 

I got that feeling like I was kicked in the gut every time I had to lie to someone. It went against how I was raised and I knew my parents would be upset for all the white lies I’d told, but it was the only way I could protect those that I loved.

In the elevator ride to the fleet garage, I flashbacked to when I was seven and my mom asked me if I had finished my math homework. I hadn’t, but my favorite show was coming on and I really wanted to watch it. So I’d said, “Yes, ma’am.”

Later that night, when I’d thought my parents were asleep, I got up to do my homework. But my mom was still up and saw my light on in my room.

“Angelina, what are you doing up?”

“My math homework,” I whispered tears streaming down my cheeks. “I fibbed to you, Mommy because I wanted to watch my show. I’m sorry.” I felt so guilty at the look in her eyes. They were full of disappointment.

“I see. Well then I guess we won’t be watching any TV for three days, and I’m going to ask Ms. Devaney to give you some extra math to work on.” She’d shut my light off and left my room.

I’d felt so awful that I had disappointed her that I promised I’d never lie again, but this was a matter of life and death. I hoped she would understand.

The door to the elevator springing open snapped me out of my flashback and I headed to the Fleet garage. I pushed open the large gray door.

“Hey, Jeff, where you at? It’s Angelina. I’m hoping to get a vehicle.”

“Be right there,” he replied from the back office.

Jeff appeared with a set of car keys to one of the station cars and a clipboard.

“How long will you need it for?” he asked.

“Not sure. Maybe an hour to an hour and a half.”

He handed me the keys and I signed the form taking responsibility for the vehicle.

I inserted the address into the GPS, Scarlett was not amused at the meeting place the Feds choose. I wasn’t so thrilled either to be meeting under a bridge. It seemed more fitting for a rendezvous with the Mob to whack someone, and ditch the body in the river than the Feds.

I looked around to see if I could catch a glimpse of the goons, but they were experts in hiding. Scarlett was convinced that the goons were descendants of Chameleons. I had to agree with her on that one.

A black Sedan was waiting for me when I arrived. Both agents got out and flanked my vehicle. Agent Parker was opening my door and Agent Davis was on the passenger side doing recon on the car, making sure I was alone.

They put me in the back seat of the Sedan just behind Agent Parker. 

“So I wanted to meet you and give you...”

Agent Davis turned around putting his hand up to stop me.

“Not here,” he said.

Agent Parker took off to an undisclosed location. I was waiting for someone to throw a black bag over my head. But Scarlett had some scissors to cut out eye holes if she had to.

Neither Agent spoke as we drove.

“Look, I can’t be gone from work too long,” I said.

No reply.

I was beginning to think that this was not my best path to choose and was trying to figure out my options when we pulled into a parking lot of a non-descript building. Agent Parker opened my door and whisked me through a black metal door, down a hallway, and into a small room. Scarlett hated small rooms with just a wood table and three chairs. So did I.

“Ok, Ms. Ellington, you have our undivided attention,” Agent Parker said his eyes intense.

“I’m in possession of a flash drive that contains the names of powerful people who have ties to the Mob, the list I told you about,” I said my gazed scanning between both agents for some hint of a reaction.

Scarlett was ready to burst, she had to know how they did that. She put on her lab coat and fired up the MRI.

“Where did you obtain this list?” Agent Parker asked.

“An informant?”

“What informant?”

‘That’s all I can tell you.”

“Do you have the flash-drive with you?”

“No. It’s in a safe place.”

“So how do we know it even exists?” Agent Parker snapped.

I grabbed my cellphone and pulled up my photos. I had snapped two before I left the station.

“I could charge you with obstruction of justice for not turning over that list and even accessory after the fact Miss Ellington,” Agent Davis snapped.

The flash drive was my ace in the hole with the Feds and I wasn’t going to be bullied by his threats. I knew they were salivating to get their hands on that list and needed me.

I slid my phone across the table to Agent Parker. I was trying my best to be intimidating. Scarlett was standing on the table between Agent Parker and me shaking her fist at him.

Agent Parker showed the photos to Agent Davis. Both agents exchanged looks. I thought for a nanosecond that maybe I saw Agent Parker grin slightly. Scarlett’s money said it was just gas.

Agent Parker slid my phone back to me across the table.

“My source has intimate knowledge of the people involved or who have a connection to Joe Salvatore.”

Both agents exchanged glances, but exhibited no emotion. Scarlett grabbed both agents by the wrist to see if she could find a pulse.

“I have met Senator Matthews on two previous occasions and let’s just say my last encounter was not amicable.”

“What was the nature of your contact with the Senator?” Agent Parker asked.

“I was following up on the information from my source and the research I had gathered.”

Scarlett gave me the thumbs up as she did detect a small pulse. She got distracted by the hand cuff on Agent Davis hip. She was devising a plan to snatch them without his knowledge, she had lost the key to hers and needed a new pair.

“Set up an interview with the Senator. You’ll be wearing a wire and ask questions we provide to you.”

“And if I get caught?”

Both Agents shrugged in indifference. “You agreed to the risks as a condition of us dropping all the charges against you.”

Both agents pushed their chairs back from the table and were on their feet. I was escorted back down the hallway and out the back door and back into the black sedan. You could hear crickets chirping in the car, in fact Scarlett swore she heard a couple. The agents pulled up behind my car.

Agent Parker turned and said, “Set it up and then be in touch when you do.”

“Fine,” I snapped.

I got out of the black sedan and headed back to my car, praying my legs wouldn’t give out. I had made a deal with the devil twice today, first Nelson and then the Feds.