Watch Out for the Big Girls (21 page)

The unexpected knock at the door startled Loretta Douglass. Her eight-year-old daughter Cameron happily ran to the window hoping it was her father, who hadn't been home in two days. She was sad to see the two women in business suits on the doorstep. “It's for you, Mommy,” little Cameron announced.

Loretta stood up embracing the last line of the news reporter's words about the bank robbery and cold-blooded murder before speeding up to the door. She was stressed out behind the fact that she didn't knowing whether her husband would ever make it home. They had spoken earlier and he had claimed to have worked out a major deal with the Feds. He also stated that he had given them a useful lead already, which looked good on his behalf. The test was just a waiting process. She hated that he had gotten himself in such a mess. She became angry all over again just thinking about it. Her train of thought was broken by the sound of the doorbell ringing for a second time.

“Just a minute,” she yelled out as she made her way to the door. Loretta peered out of the small window and then opened the door. She cracked it as much as the chain would allow her to peek her head through the open space, while her daughter Cameron squeezed between her legs and did the same.

“Well aren't you just adorable,” the first woman declared while bending down to meet her face to face before standing upright and introducing herself. Loretta studied the two women who appeared to have come from the black Impala with tints and a siren behind the front windshield. They were both in black pantsuits and had the usual navy blue windbreakers with the large, high yellow FBI letters on the back.

“Yes, may I help you?” Loretta asked hesitantly.

“Yes, I'm Special Agent Marianne Peters and this is my partner, Violet Canan.” The woman who introduced herself as Special Agent Marianne Peters smiled. She flashed held her gold badge up to the chained door. “We're from the Bureau.”

“Oh, yes, please do come in.” Loretta Douglass removed the chain from the door and opened it.

The two women stepped inside. “Thank you, ma'am. We've been sent here on behalf of your husband's sensitive case. We've come to interview y'all for the witness relocation process.”

A sigh of relief swept through Loretta Douglass's body. “Okay, no problem, but how is he? Is he all right?” she wanted to know.

“Yes, he's fine. There's just some personal information that we need in order to properly provide a new identity for you and your family.”

“Sure. Can I offer y'all anything to drink?” Loretta asked as Cameron sat on the sofa and started playing with her doll.

“Coffee would be lovely, straight, no sugar, thank you,” Violet Canan stated.

“Same for me, thanks,” Marianne Peters declared.

“Coming right up.”

Within minutes, Loretta Douglass was back with two cups of joe.

“We're sorry to show up so unexpected, but we've been very busy. The funeral for our fellow agents is being held as we speak. It's actually live on television and then we got caught up with that bank robbery. Wasn't much we could've done there, so we felt that the safety of you and your daughter was more of a top priority. The outcome of the other two situations already played out. This is our prevention process right here. The women your husband is helping to take down are very powerful and will not be underestimated,”

“It's perfectly understandable. Thank you,” Loretta expressed.

The three women all smiled at one another. “So, Mrs. Douglass, did you have any knowledge of your husband's criminal activities at all?”

Loretta Douglass took a deep breath. “None,” she replied. “He hid it all from me well. Although, I did used to wonder where he would get certain things from, like his new car. He claimed it was a bonus from the department. He told me it was one of those seized vehicles from a drug sting that was up for auction. I found it kind of odd until his partner showed up with one too, making the same claims. So I let it go.”

“Did he ever mention the organization that's causing all of this trouble? The Double Gs, as they call themselves?”

“Occasionally, like when something strange on the news popped up, he would associate it with them, speculating to himself. That's about it,” she honestly recollected.

“And what did he tell you about the deal that's on the table for him now? The one that's going to bring y'all back together?”

“Just that he was being cooperative the best he could and we would be starting a new life far away.”

“Did he go into details about the information he was providing?”

“None,” she stated.

“You do know that what he is doing is very dangerous and very risky for the three of y'all. We have to tell you that it's no walk in the park. These women are professionals and very dangerous. Heartless if you ask me,” Agent Peters proclaimed staring at her watch again.

“I'm learning as much, lately. Most of what I've heard was actually unbelievable. You just don't figure women to be so relentless,” Loretta claimed. The interview was interrupted and Loretta Douglass's attention was drawn to the ringing house phone. “Will you excuse me?”

“Sure.”

Loretta Douglass made her way over to the phone and picked it up. It was another collect call from her husband. “Oh, here he is now.” She beamed. “He probably wants to know if you guys got here yet,” she assumed as she listened to the recording. She pressed the number five on her touch tone as instructed. Her smile widened to its full extent.

“Hey, dear, I wasn't expecting to hear from you again,” she announced. “No, everything's fine,” she assured her husband, still smiling while fiddling with her thin chain. “Honey, I don't know why the guard would've told you it was an emergency and to call home. In fact, I couldn't be more safe. Two of the female agents are here interviewing me about your witness protection deal right now.”

Her husband's reaction to her words startled Loretta Douglass. Before she could ask him what was wrong the cry of her daughter caused her to spin around. Loretta Douglass nearly fainted at the sight of the gun pointed against her daughter's head and the one pointed directly at her face. She immediately dropped the phone. “Please don't hurt my baby,” Loretta Douglass begged. Tears spilled out of her eyes as her daughter Cameron stood there with her doll clenched to her chest with tearful eyes.

“Mommy,” Cameron cried out. She tried to break free of the hold, but was yanked roughly by the woman who was introduced as Agent Canan.

“It's okay, honey,” Loretta Douglass assured her daughter. “Everything's going to be okay.”

The woman known as Agent Peters kneeled down and picked up the phone. The first thing she heard was Officer Douglass's cries. “Fuck you crying for now, pussy?” she mocked. “Isn't this is how you wanted it? For y'all to be somewhere together, far away in a beautiful place, with new identities.” She let out an insane laugh. “I hear heaven's nice this time of year.”

“No, please. I'll do anything, anything,” Officer Douglass pleaded.

“Anything?” she asked.

“Yes! Anything.” He put emphasis on his words.

“Okay, here's what I want you to do. I want you to suffer, suffer from knowing you caused this, and then I want you to wish you were dead with them and I want you to actually die, you cheese-eatin' rat motherfucka!” she spat. “Until then, what I want from your snitch ass is to never forget. Never forget this.”

Douglass heard the phone being set on the counter. The next thing he heard were screams followed by two muffled shots, and loud thuds.

“Thank you for your cooperation, Officer Douglass,” was the last thing he heard before the call was disconnected.

The televised funeral was intensely emotional. Speech after speech were being delivered by the loved ones and colleagues of each victim. Most of them were about the journey of each. It all deepened Agent McCarthy's guilt. He still felt responsible for each death. Even Agent Kelly's because he felt that he should've been there instead of Agent Reddick. It was his show, his operation. There was so much innocent blood on his hands. It stained. Never to be washed off. There was no going back in time. This would stick, forever. It would always affect his future decision making. Federal agents weren't supposed to feel. They were supposed to do. Do what it took. It was the exact same thing he instilled in his deep undercover agent posing as a Double G member.
What if she began to feel? Could she get the job done? Could she do what it takes? No.
It was the only truthful answer. So his mind was made up. It was time to pull her back out, before it was too late.

Right then and there, live, on national television, Agent McCarthy's convicting thoughts were interrupted and so was the entire funeral.

Agent McCarthy's daughter, Charlie's, eyes had rolled into the back of her head and she fell out of her seat, face first into the grass, and right in front of the three caskets.

Everyone gasped as they watched. Agent McCarthy and US Attorney Linda dropped to their knees, trying everything within their power to revive their only daughter whose pulse was dangerously faint and spaced far apart. Her eyes couldn't open and she definitely wasn't breathing. Agent Donahue tried CPR as Agent Constanza held her hands up screaming for medical assistance. They evaluated that an ambulance would never make it in time, but they were too scared to move her. The entire funeral came to a complete halt. Even the twenty-one soldiers rushed to the aid of the little girl. She was turning brighter shades of purple by the second and she still wasn't breathing. Agent Donahue continued to pinch her tiny nose and blow air into her lungs as Agent Constanza stood up from her knees and cleared the immediate space. Too many concerned people were closing in on them.

Agent McCarthy and his wife each held one of their baby girl's tiny hands while crying out. After a few more minutes, a helicopter hovered over the scene. Its propellers were strong. It blew away the empty plastic chairs and destroyed the tent over the podium and, even worse, the pictures and the flags that once sat on top of the caskets ripped away into the artificial wind.

A medical team jumped out with a stretcher and loaded the McCarthys into the air lift.

* * *

“Imfuckingpossible!” Agent Reddick grunted while standing in the center of the crime scene, scratching his balding head out of pure frustration. He slowly removed his sunglasses and scanned the living room with no heartfelt compassion over anything other than losing a grip of his case.

At first, the federal detention center didn't take Officer Douglass's claims seriously. In fact, they had laughed at him as he approached the CO's station in a frantic panic. It took the most real tears he could pour out to show them his pain. They still took their time before they finally called up the chain of command. Eventually, the captain on duty checked with the ITS phone technicians and had the call replayed. He couldn't believe what he was actually hearing. He immediately notified the local authorities and then the Federal Bureau.

After the locals had kicked in the door with their guns drawn, they quickly lowered them, surrendering, knowing they were too late. The killers were obviously long gone. But the angel of death was still there.

The bloody mess in the kitchen had been cleaned up. Loretta's body was placed back in the living room, sitting upright in the couch, next to her daughter. Both of her lifeless eyes were pulled back wide open to look as if they were watching the television in front of them. A single hole in the center of each of their foreheads was the only thing that didn't look calm and peaceful about them. An index card was planted in the arms of Cameron's doll. It read, WAR ISN'T ABOUT KILLING SOLDIERS, IT'S ABOUT PROTECTING THE CIVILIANS. NO ONE IS INNOCENT.

Agent Reddick slammed the card down hard on the coffee table and let out a loud bellow. His cry nearly shook the walls.

Diamond parked her Range Rover in back of Club Panties. The front entrance had been boarded up and police tape was spread all around it. She made her way to and entered through the steel back door. She hit the switch to the only remaining light that wasn't busted out. When the room illuminated, an instant migraine appeared out of nowhere at the sight. It looked as if Hurricane Katrina had struck the area. She stepped over the debris as she slowly made her way upstairs to Starr's office. Reality smacked her hard in the face as she stepped in. The walls, floors, and couches had all been stripped. The aquarium glass tank had been shattered. Dead fish and the smell of them were inescapable. She got nauseated and quickly exited.

She headed back downstairs, all of the way to the sublevel. She walked through the dark tunnel and entered the Double G meeting room. It was also torn apart. She went farther down to the private office. The round table in the Ovary Office was split in half, the shelves were stripped, and the file cabinets were empty and broken down. The expensive wall paintings that once hung were ripped apart. Tears of anger and sorrow filled Diamond's eyes at the sight. The entire club had been demolished and diminished, all except for one room.

Diamond entered the secret security room. The dozen monitors were still running. Many of the recorded CDs were removed, but she was sure the hard drive hadn't been erased. That would be giving the authorities more credit than they deserved, she knew. Just as she had figured, they hadn't thought that far. “Amateurs,” she spat under her breath as she attempted to pull up everything that had happened, hoping to make sense of it all. She rewound back to when the FBI entered their establishment and started tearing things apart. After punching in an unlock code she had full access to whatever footage she wanted. She was grateful Starr had trusted her with the information.

She started with the hidden cameras in Starr's office. She gritted her teeth at the image that appeared on the screen. A sense of jealousy and betrayal swept through her body. She knew it would only anger her if she sat and watched, but she made a mental note of it. Now was not the time for her to allow her personal feelings to take precedence over the bigger picture. She fast-forwarded past the sexual episode with Starr, Felicia, and Monica. She stopped when she saw the familiar image of someone.

“What the hell?” Diamond's spider senses immediately went off. Despite being a member, she knew the person had no business being there by herself. Diamond watched as the culprit cautiously snooped around like a police dog.

“What the fuck is she looking for?” she asked no one in particular. Coming up empty-handed, she watched as the girl exited the office. Diamond continued to sit, rewind, fast-forward and watch for the next hour. Aside from one of her sisters being out of place and out of pocket, she was still coming up with nothing. She was sure she was missing something.
Think, D,
she told herself. She was certain she was overlooking something.

She squinted her eyes as she carefully studied the footage. Out of nowhere, a thought came to mind. Diamond rewound to the part of the recording she had decided to bypass. She jealously watched the sexual escapade in its entirety. She had already told herself she'd deal with that matter at a later date. Right now, she had to stay focused for not only Starr, but for herself and the rest of the organization. There was no way she was going to sleep or could sleep for that matter, while her boss/lover was locked down. There was no doubt in her mind that Starr could handle any situation she was put in, but she could not stand to see someone she loved confined. They had talked about worst-case scenarios in the past and what Diamond should do in the event one came to light. That day had come. Starr was incarcerated and Diamond knew what she had to do, needed to do.

She lightly chuckled at the cat fight between Starr and Agent Constanza as she continued to search for the smallest of clues in the video surveillance. She watched as the agents spilled out of the room one by one with Starr in tow. That's when she noticed what she had missed the first time around. It was quick, but not quick enough for her not to notice it the second time around. She watched closely as Monica scooped up the cell phone that Starr had dropped with her pants. Her eyes grew cold. “Fucking bitch!” Diamond cursed.

She leaned in closer to the screen to her left and turned up the audio. The one to her right had ended and appeared snowy on the screen. She was hoping to hear something to go off it but audio was inaudible. She stuck a blank CD in the hard drive's slot and recorded the entire scene she had just witnessed. She smiled to herself for a job well done. “Gotcha!” she stated matter-of-factly aloud.

Just as she was about to remove the disc, she noticed out of her peripheral vision that the screen to her right had now come back on. An image appeared on the it. Diamond drew her attention to the screen. Her eyes nearly jumped out of their sockets behind what she saw.

“What the fuck is this bitch doing?” she questioned as she squinted her eyes.

This time it wasn't Monica she was referring to. Confused would be an understatement to describe Diamond's feelings right now. It wasn't until she saw the Double G member remove something from under the Ovary Office's desk that it all became clear to her.

Diamond stuck another disc in the recorder.

“You sneaky-ass motherfucka,” Diamond blurted out as she waited for the footage to download.

Minutes later she ejected the new disc and tucked it, along with the first disc, into her purse. She shut everything off, then stood and made her way to the service elevator. Her mind was all over the place. She was hurt and angry by what she had witnessed Starr partaking in, but she was more angry behind the new piece of information she had just come across.

Nobody crosses the Double Gs and gets away with it,
was her final thought as she exited the elevator and strutted her way out of Club Panties. She knew the information she possessed in her purse was priceless. The value of it was enough for her to decide not to reveal it to Starr or anybody else for that matter. At least until she figured out the perfect time to do so. With Starr now behind bars, she knew she had to be the eyes and ears of the organization. After seeing what she had just witnessed on the monitor's screen, she decided it was time for her to step up to the plate and temporarily take charge of the Double Gs.

 

To Be Continued