Together Again: Book 3 in the Second Chances series (Crimson Romance) (18 page)

“I told them what was on the flash drive and they confirmed that both Jameson and Nixon had access to the programs and the information’s worth a bundle,” Danny answered.

“No, I mean, have we downloaded and emailed what’s on that flash drive to them?” Tony asked.

Sam frowned. “What would that accomplish?”

“I’m no computer genius, but I’m wondering if a flash drive with that capacity could really hold all the programming it would take to create a new body-sensitive game and a new version of Microsoft Office with all the bells and whistles.”

“But we know that’s what’s on that flash drive,” one of the FBI agents said.

“No, we know there are two files on there with those labels,” Tony said, “and we’ve looked at some of it. But do we know it’s the whole program?”

“What are you suggesting?” Jeff Wyatt asked.

“The Genentec scientist in Long Beach — he said something about Viktor demanding a sample of what was for sale before he’d agree to a price. Could that be what Jameson had on the flash drive?”

“Christ,” Sam said. “That would explain it. Viktor had already seen the sample. He was expecting the rest of it. Danny, call that guy at Microsoft. Tell him Tony’s theory. See what he says.”

Twenty minutes later, Danny returned. “Tony was right. I sent him what we have and he says it’s just a portion of the program. We’re looking for something more like a couple high capacity external hard drives.”

“There was nothing like that in either briefcase,” Tony said.

“And nothing like that when they searched Nixon and Jameson’s houses. We specifically asked them to look for discs and drives,” Sam said.

“That leaves … what?” Margo asked. “Where else would they stash it? What would they consider a safe place?”

“A safe place. That’s it.” Sam said, “Keys.”

“What’s it, Sam?” Margo asked. “What did I say?”

“Not Margo Keyes. The ring of keys in Nixon’s bag. Wasn’t there a small key? One that could be for a safe deposit box? Danny, would you … ?” But his partner had already disappeared to retrieve the ring of keys.

A few phone calls and they’d found the bank where Jameson had rented a safe deposit box a month earlier. After the Redmond police got a court order, the box was opened. Two high capacity hard drives were inside.

They had Viktor’s “merchandise.”

• • •

On Thursday, shadowed by her bodyguard, Margo made the trek across the park to Central Precinct for a final run-through before her rendezvous with Viktor. She was dreading it. She had racked her brain trying to find a way to make her back-channel negotiations with Viktor sound like anything other than what they were — a secret she’d kept from Sam and the team. She’d been unable to come up with anything that sounded reasonable, even to her.

Now she was out of time. She had to tell them. It was only one change but it would make Sam angry. And God knows what Tony would say when he found out.

She was relieved to see that the meeting was only the operational team — Danny, Sam and Tony. At least if she was going to have her head ripped off, it wouldn’t be in front of the feds. As soon as they all sat down, she took a deep breath and jumped in. “Sam, I’m going to make a slight revision to the plan.”

“We’re past the point of making changes, Margo,” Sam said.

“Not much choice, I’m afraid. I made a deal with Viktor … ”

Sam’s eyes narrowed and he spit words at her like bullets. “What the fuck? What deal?”

“When I told him I needed more time he threatened me, told me I was playing a dangerous game … ”

Sam brushed her words away with an impatient gesture. “I know that. Get to what I don’t know.”

“He kept pushing about why I hadn’t brought the real merchandise to Blue Lake. Why I wasn’t living at home. Why someone was suddenly with me all the time. I said I didn’t bring the hard drives with me because I’d lied to you about them. I wanted the money so I let you think the flash drive was what he wanted. And I told him the police moved me after Blue Lake because my boss insisted.” She paused for a few heartbeats. “Then, I gave him Tony.”

“You WHAT?” Sam said.

“I told him Tony was a cop. Said he was the one who’d seen the email and made the deal because he didn’t want me going to Blue Lake alone. Viktor said he knew that.”

“You’re saying that to give yourself cover,” Sam said.

“No, I swear. His exact words were that he was pleased to see I was finally being honest. He said that made him more confident that he could trust me.”

“Bullshit,” Tony said. “You’re just … ”

“I thought I was pulling it out of thin air but … ”

“More like out of your ass … ” Sam said.

“But,” she talked over his comment, “he already knew. So, I have to go in alone tomorrow. I’ll wear a wire. You can hear the whole thing and come get me out if you need to. I can guarantee you, though, if Tony’s with me, the least that will happen is we lose Viktor. At worst … well, let’s just say it won’t be a good outcome for me and maybe not for Tony, either.”

“Christ, Margo, this is really fucked up,” Sam said.

“Wait just one damn minute. When Tony negotiated with him without talking to you, he was doing a great job. I negotiate with him and I’m a fuck-up?”

“Let’s start with the fact that Tony told me about it as soon as it happened. And he’s a cop. He knows what he’s doing.”

“So, am I to understand that you’d trust a cop you’d just met over someone you’ve worked with for years? Is it because he’s a cop or is it because he’s a man and I’m neither?” She snapped her fingers. “Damn. Of course, it must be because I don’t know how to negotiate. I never do it. Oh, wait, every now and then I do negotiate about minor stuff. You know, the death penalty or life in prison. But I guess that doesn’t count as much as emailing a mobster about an imaginary deal. In your world.”

“Jesus, Margo, you are … ” Tony started.

“For Christ’s sake, you can’t think … ” Sam said, his voice getting louder with every word.

“Hold it, you three,” Danny stood up and held out her hands, like a school crossing guard stopping traffic. “Do I have to send you to neutral corners?”

Sam muttered something that sounded like an apology.

Tony glared at her. Margo refused to look at either of them.

“Now,” Danny said as she sat down, “let’s get back to tomorrow. Margo, you did good getting him to accept that you’ve still gone to the dark side.”

“You shouldn’t have kept it from us,” Sam said.

Danny continued to talk only to Margo. “Given the reactions we just saw, I understand why you hesitated to tell these two. Although you did cut it a bit close. Luckily, it doesn’t change the plan that much. We’ll have you wired, you’ll have your cell phone on so we can trace that and the package with the hard drives will have a GPS on it. Once you’re out, we take him down.” She leaned across the table toward Margo. “Are you sure Viktor bought what you told him?”

Throwing Danny a grateful look, Margo said, “As sure as I can be. It was all done through email so I couldn’t read his face but he backed off the threats after I gave him the explanation. Even said at one point my father would have been proud of me.”

Margo sat back in her chair and kept her mouth shut for the rest of the discussion as the three detectives went over what they’d be doing now that Tony was with them and not with Margo. She didn’t look at him, knowing more would come when they got back to her office.

It didn’t take long. The door to her office had barely clicked shut when he lit into her.

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, have you lost your fucking mind, Keyes? You cannot go waltzing into that grocery store alone for a little chat with a killer.”

She walked to her desk and sat down. “Who do you think I chat with on a regular basis, Tony, the Ladies’ Altar Guild? And can we keep our voices down? We’ve provided enough entertainment for my office this week.”

“Don’t change the subject.” But he lowered his voice. “The perps you talk to may be bad guys but they’re bad guys who got caught, cleaned up and have a lawyer.” He paced back and forth in front of her desk. “What in God’s name made you think I’d agree to let you do this?”

“I don’t remember giving you the authority to
let
me do anything. It’s my life. I make the decisions about it.”

Tony stopped and faced her across her desk. “What’s this really about, Margo? Has playing with the big boys gone to your head?”

His words felt like a slap across the face. “Playing with the big boys? What the fuck? Who do you think you are to talk to me that way? That’s the most arrogant, outrageous … ”

He held up his hands and took a step back as if to fend off her anger. “Sorry. I’m sorry. That was a bad choice of words.”

“That’s what you think it is? A bad choice of words? That doesn’t come close to describing what … ”

“I apologize. I shouldn’t have said it. I was wrong. But Jesus, I feel like I’m up against the wall here. I’m trying to find a way to keep you safe, but you keep going in the other direction.”

“I did fine at Blue Lake and I’ll do fine tomorrow.”

“You did fine at Blue Lake with me backing you up. Armed. This is different. You don’t get paid to do shit like this. You get paid to go into a nice safe courtroom and follow all the rules. This is cop stuff — nothing’s routine, everything’s unexpected and it’s damn dangerous. If I have to, I’ll go over Sam’s head to make sure you stick to what you’re paid to do.”

“You’re a real pain in the ass, Alessandro.”

“Been told that by tougher people than you, Keyes.”

Unable to sit still any longer, she jumped up and leaned toward him on tightly balled fists.

“So, your plan is, what? Tattle and get me sidelined? Then what, Ace? Got a next move? No? Well if you can’t put up, shut up. I’m tired of playing Nancy Drew with the Hardy Boys in Central Precinct while my colleagues cover for me here. And I’m really tired of having you as a shadow and Danny as a roommate. This will get it taken care of.”

“Because you forced the issue so you could run it the way you wanted to.”

“That isn’t true. He knew you were a cop. What I told him wasn’t news. He knows the entire cast of characters — me, you, Danny, Sam, Jeff, the feds. We use me or let him go on his merry way stealing ideas and killing people who get in the way.”

“We’ll find another way. It’s what we get paid to do.”

She stared at the ceiling, took a deep breath and then looked at him. “Okay, if that doesn’t persuade you, then how about this: he thinks I have those hard drives. If I bail on him tomorrow, how long do you think it’ll take for him to come after me? I need to deliver his merchandise and get this target off my back.”

He stood with his eyes closed and his lips thinned to a stern, almost invisible, line.

“Tony, please listen to me.” Her voice was softer, almost pleading. “This isn’t about thrills or wanting to do what you do or forcing everyone to do it my way. It’s about getting this guy into custody, using the advantage I have. For the first time, being Kenny Keyes’ daughter isn’t an embarrassment. I don’t expect you to completely understand it, but I do expect you to believe I’m doing this for the right reason. Don’t you know me well enough to know that?”

He sighed. “Yes, I do. And I even understand what you’re saying, at least a little. But Jesus, Margo, I also know what could happen and it scares the living daylights out of me.”

“I’d be lying — and stupid — if I said I wasn’t a little scared, too, but you and Sam and Danny and every other law enforcement agency in the region — hell, in the nation — have my back. I’m meeting him in broad daylight in a fairly public place. He trusts me because he thinks I’m as twisted as he is, which gives me a level of safety you wouldn’t have.” She felt like she was begging by the time she got to the end of her speech. “He’s just wants those damn hard drives, Tony. I can deliver hard drives.”

“You know what the worst part is? The worst part, the part that really pisses me off, is that I have a feeling you’re right — this is the only way left to accomplish what we want and I hate it.” He was running his fingers through his hair so hard Margo was afraid he’d pull it all out.

“Tony, I know … I wish … ” She cleared her throat and started again. “I don’t want to let what’s between us personally get in the way of doing this and I don’t think you do either … so … ”

“I can’t pretend you’re just another person I work with, Margo. Don’t ask me to do that.”

She suddenly realized that his anger wasn’t because she had hidden what she’d done. It was because he was terrified she’d get hurt. No matter what had happened between them, he still cared.

“No, no, I didn’t mean that. I meant … oh, God, why can’t I find the right words?” She looked him in the eye. “Okay, let’s try this: I know you’ve been angry at me. For reasons that … well, for reasons that I deserve. But can we call a truce or something? Work out the other stuff when this is over and just get this done?” She walked to his side of the desk and put out her hand to him, as if to shake it. “I’d like to go into tomorrow knowing you’re not furious at me and maybe even accept that I know what I’m doing.”

He looked at her outstretched hand and, saying nothing, left her office, banging the door closed behind him as he went out.

Margo swallowed hard and sniffed back tears. She’d held out an olive branch and he’d rejected it. That said it all. Still sniffing, she sat at her desk and forwarded the series of emails between herself and Viktor to Sam. As she was sending the last one, there was a knock at the door.

“Come.” She didn’t look up, assuming it was Kiki wanting to dig into what was going on or Jeff with more advice about the next day.

“A truce sounds good.” Tony held out his hand. “Sorry I stormed out of here.” She stood up and put out her hand. He covered it with both of his. “I don’t know if I can say I accept what you’re doing,” he continued, “but you absolutely have the right to make the judgment call yourself. Just promise me one thing: you’ll give him the hard drives and get the hell out of there. No messing around trying to gather evidence or make a good case or get a confession from him. Let us take care of that.”