Third Eye Watch (A Serena Shaw Mystery) (22 page)

Carter has cloned Mirik’s phone during his rescue of Serena, which caused they some level of excitement thinking their maiden foray had led them very close to the financial records of the Club.

But their excitement drained away when Soo had relayed the bad news; Mirik’s phone was new, activated less than two weeks earlier, and therefore it contained no real information. “In fact”, Soo had told them, “he seems to be more interested in browsing porn sites, than doing his job.”

But Sam’s gut told him that Mirik would be a valuable asset; so he asked Soo to keep monitoring his phone. Soo was now the recipient of every text and email received or sent by the man; and she also tracked all call activity on the phone.

The rest of the thoughts she had picked up were, in Serena’s words, “Icky, perverted, and not worth repeating.” When her words had caused them to burst out laughing, she had added in a soft voice, “And I can’t unhear them now.”  They had sobered up instantly, and Sam had pulled her into his arms and kissed her lingeringly and thoroughly, right there, in front of Audrey and Carter, leading to whistling and catcalls from the two, and much laughter all around.

They spent every waking moment creating and refining an operational plan for their mission. When she was available, Serena became their scribe, capturing their thoughts and ideas on a large tear-off easel board.

Three days later, they had defined the goals of their operation; in order of priority, they were; capturing Sasha, rescuing girls, and shutting down the sex-trafficking operation. They had also come up with a list of people they wanted for this operation. In addition to Soo and Carter, they wanted, Samantha Diaz, a wiretapping expert, Brian Stucky and Kelly Dickson, snipers or sharpshooters, Cal Decker: Explosives Expert, and Vince Sanders: Ammunition Specialist.

Their meeting with the SAC was scheduled for the following morning.

NICK SCHULTZ

SAC Nick Schultz was talking on the phone. He waived them in, motioning them to sit.

“No honey, next weekend I will be in Miami. I know. Look, I have some agents in my office…Uh huh, uh huh. Tell Jackie I will call her tonight. Yes, I’ll make it for dinner but try to delay it until 9. Ok, love you too. Bye hon”.  He hung up.

“Don’t say anything,” he warned them, smiling to take the sting away. They weren’t going to.

“I’m the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI. But at home, I’m the henpecked husband of five foot tall woman who comes up to here”, he mock complained, pointing to his shoulders. They smiled politely.

The SAC got up and poured himself a glass of water from a crystal jug that sat on the well-stocked bar in the corner, asking them if they wanted anything. They shook their heads in a no. They always shook their head in a no.

“So want to tell me what brings you two here?”

Audrey looked at Sam, who nodded for her to proceed, and began speaking. She gave him the background, starting with Sofia’s disappearance, then reminded him about the dead body they had found, and Fredrik’s dead body. She recounted their visit to the Criket Club, and then handed him the file that Soo had given them, which contained the report she had prepared, the report from Interpol, and printed copies of the surveillance photos from the Criket Club, along with the side-by-side pictures of Sasha; an old photo from FBI’s files, and a new one, from the parking deck adjacent to the Criket Club.

SAC Schultz leaned back in his chair and began reading the reports. Then he took out a photograph, examined it carefully before laying it face down, and picked up the next; continuing until he was done with all of them. He went back to the report from Soo, rereading it slowly a second time, and then a third.

Sam studied the SAC while he read the reports and absorbed the details Audrey had shared.

Nick Schultz was his first and only boss, he had already been assigned to the Detroit Division as the Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) when Sam had graduated from Quantico, and had requested and received assignment to the Detroit office.

Nick Schultz had transferred here from Oklahoma; turning down a Special Agent in Charge position for a lower post in Detroit; he was a native of Detroit, and rumor had it that he had pushed to get reassigned to Detroit, because he wanted to “clean up his city”, ridding it off drugs; and making it the place of his childhood.

It was a foregone conclusion that he was the best man for the job in Detroit, and so when he was promoted to Special Agent in Charge (SAC), no one was surprised.  Over the years, Nick Schultz had become a force to reckon with; he had close friends in Washington, and his reach extended all the way to the White House; although his wife was the reason for that access, she had been a classmate of the current President at Harvard Law School.

VCET had been his brainchild, and the VCET special agents reported directly to him.

Sam and Audrey knew that the SAC didn’t care about politics; he just got things done. He was like the rock surrounded by flowing water, confident and unmovable in the face of bureaucracy and allowing his agents to be who they were, empowering them in every way he could.

He exchanged a glance with Audrey; they both knew that the SAC would jump on board.

“So, you went to the Criket Club, and obtained these without a warrant, am I correct?”

“Yes, sir.” Sam replied. “We know we can’t use them, we just needed some validation after the Criket Club kept coming up during the course of our investigation into the murders.”

“And you lucked out.” SAC Shultz said, pointing to Sasha’s photo, which lay face-up on top of the envelope.

“Yes, indeed sir.” Audrey bobbed her head.

“Did you have anything to do with that?” The SAC asked Sam, referring to his supernatural abilities. He was one of the few who knew.

“No, sir.” Sam grinned. “It really was dumb luck.”

“Hmmm.” The SAC looked at them as if he didn’t believe them. They waited, as he stared outside for a couple of moments; the large window overlooked midtown. Then he looked back at them.

“The New York office has a taskforce entirely devoted to handling Albanian organized crime. They’ve been doing this a long time. We are perhaps not equipped to handle this. You may want to get a hold of Special Agent Yakov,…”

He paused, waiting for his agents to jump in and make their case.

“We have a straw-man proposal to take Sasha down ourselves,” Sam said and nodded to Audrey, who handed the SAC another envelope that she had kept hidden underneath her iPad.

The SAC’s cocked his head to one side, motioning with his hands, asking him to continue.

“If there is truth to the story about the good guys being in bed with Sasha, the more people we involve, the greater the risk of exposure. But if we run a small operation with only a handful of individuals, we can finally bag Sasha.”

“Who are we?”

“Soo Yun, Brian Stucky, Cal Decker, Samantha Diaz, Vince Sanders, Kelly Dickson, and Derek Carter.” Audrey rattled off the names of agents whom they had shortlisted.

The SAC nodded approvingly. “Ah. The crème de la crème.”

Sam and Audrey nodded. Then Audrey quipped, “Only the best for Sasha. Sir.”

“Indeed, Special Agent Glennon. Indeed!” The SAC’s laughter boomed in the room.

They spent another two hours with the SAC as he grilled them on every aspect of their plan. When they were done, he leaned back in his chair and asked one last question.

“And have you thought of a name for the Operation?”

“Operation Third Eye Watch, which has three goals. Rescue the girls, shutdown Sasha, and find the traitors in our midst, sir”, said Audrey grinning widely.

“Operation Third Eye Watch it is.” The SAC stood up and looked at his watch, then said; “Get that bastard.”

“Roger that boss.” They both said in unison.

A NIGHT OUT

He waited in his car for Serena to come down. They were meeting Audrey and Carter for dinner. Since that night at the Criket Club, Carter and Audrey were an item, but they had decided to keep their relationship a secret, especially around the office, and so the only people who knew were Sam and Serena.

He watched Serena now as she exited the elevator, smiling and waving at the super before dashing outside. She got in the car, and hugged him tightly, then pushed him away, telling him he couldn’t kiss her right now because it would ruin her lipstick.

He was tempted to grab her and kiss her until she begged for mercy, lipstick be damned, but decided to behave for a change, and drove them to the restaurant. Carter and Audrey had already been seated, and Sam and Serena grinned at each other when they noticed how engrossed the two of them were in each other.

Once they were seated, Serena leaned over to whisper something in Audrey’s ears and watched his partner blush. The guys ordered beer, the girls a pitcher of margarita; and they enjoyed a leisurely meal of tacos and enchiladas. After dinner, Sam and Carter watched their girls with matching besotted grins on their face; the girls were laughing so hard that they were doubled over.

On the way back home, Serena struggled to stay awake, and Sam thought it was no wonder; she and Audrey had polished off two pitchers of El Zocalo’s house Margaritas. Serena was not going to have a good morning, he thought in amusement.

Once inside the apartment, he slipped his arms under her knees and carried her into her bedroom. She softly giggled when he laid her on the bed and kissed her tempting lips. When he stood up, she was already fast asleep.

He laughed ruefully as he covered her with the comforter and turned the lights off.

Once again, he didn’t bother converting the futon into a bed. He took off his shoulder holster and jacket and changed quickly into shorts and a tee. Then he lay on the futon with his feet hanging over; letting exhaustion take over.

THE MORNING AFTER

Serena shuffled out of her bedroom, her head pounding furiously, promising herself that she was never going to drink again.

She looked for Sam but found the futon folded up. But there on the end table rested his holster and gun, so he was still around. But no one in the kitchen either, so where was he? She glanced outside the kitchen window, and froze.

Sam stood in the balcony, shirtless and barefoot, but wearing a pair of gray running shorts. The morning sun bathed his body, shining on his perfectly sculpted chest and abs; and he was covered with a fine sheen of sweat that made his body glisten. Sam’s muscled arms rippled as he went from one posture to another, his lean, muscular body executing every move effortlessly.

Serena poured coffee in a cup and waited for Sam to finish his sun salutations.

He winked at her when he came inside, then told her he’d be right back and hurried to the shower, then returned to make breakfast for both of them. As he dished the omelet on their plates, he asked Serena how she was feeling.

“I'm all right,” Serena said haughtily; then winced at the clatter, when Sam deliberately dropped a knife on the table. She glared at him, but he just shrugged, laughing inside knowing that her head was probably killing her.

After breakfast, Serena sat on the couch, browsing the Internet on her iPad, while Sam sat next to her, talked quietly into the phone. He hung up, then pulled her arm, and said,  “Come on; we’re going out Serena.”

“What? Where? Now? But it’s not even 10 am on Sunday morning.” She eyed him warily. She had been looking forward to spending a quiet day at home.

“It’s a surprise,” he said, his eyes shining with excitement.

“Oh. Well, let me change.” She reluctantly got up, but he stopped her.

“Nope, you are dressed perfectly. Just get some socks and wear your sneakers. Come on, hurry; time’s a-wasting.”