by Katie Reus
“Look, I’m thinking of reaching out to someone I used to work for. Someone Bird passed over for a promotion. I’m pretty sure some sexism played into it but there’s no way to prove that. Anyway, I’m going to ask her to search his work office. She’s got access.”
Lizzy let out a low whistle. “You really trust her?”
“I don’t know who to trust anymore, but yeah. I trust her enough.”
Lizzy was quiet for a long moment. “Is it Laura Leonard? The agent you told me about before.”
“Yeah.”
“I ran her financials. Hers and the other guy you mentioned. She’s not great with money and has some credit card debt. But nothing bigger than average. And she’s young. No school loans. She rents, so she doesn’t even have a mortgage to worry about. Her financials aren’t kickass but they’re not worrisome either. I don’t know if that helps.”
He rubbed his temple. At this point he’d done everything he could. “It does help. Thank you.”
“All right, I’m on the phone. I can’t see anything through the camera but as long as this phone is turned on, I’m recording anything I get from it.”
There it was again, that kernel of hope inside him. “I’m good to hang up on it, then?”
“Yep.”
He ended that call and continued rubbing his temple. He’d basically had a headache for months. A dull, pulsing throb that simply wouldn’t go away—except when he’d been with Arianna. “You think I should reach out to Laura?” Lizzy didn’t know her and could be objective in a way he didn’t trust himself to be anymore. He’d trusted Bird and look where that had gotten him.
“I don’t know how to answer that. I don’t know enough about her so there are too many unquantifiable factors right now. If you reach out to her and she’s dirty, you risk exposing yourself to even further scrutiny. But it’s not like Bird has forgotten about you. You’re still a wanted man. Although I don’t think they’ll be able to link you together with Arianna, if that’s what you’re asking. And from what I’ve dug up on the woman, she doesn’t have any skeletons in her closet. No hidden accounts that I can find.”
At least that was something. “Thanks.”
“No worries. I’m going to keep working on this, see if I get anything good.”
“Lizzy, you don’t need to do this. I know you have a job.”
“I do but I took some time off when you called—”
“What?”
“You gonna tell me to stop doing what I’m doing? Look, I’m still working on some stuff at the office but none of it is critical. Your life is critical. Besides, I own stock in the company now. No one’s gonna mess with me anyway.”
His throat grew tight. “Thank you. I owe you.”
She shrugged it off with a grunt. “We’re good, trust me.”
He half-smiled. “You know my number if you get anything from the recording. I think I’m going to reach out to my former coworker.” He had to start making more progress on clearing his name. And he couldn’t depend on Lizzy to do everything in her power to help. He knew he’d made progress but it still felt like everything was moving at a glacial pace. And he wanted his life back—now more than ever.
“All right. I’ll keep an eye on her communications once you talk to her. Talk to you soon.”
After they disconnected, he grabbed the keys to a car he’d parked a few blocks away. He wasn’t going to make this call from his safe house. It had been months since he’d talked to Laura and he just hoped he wasn’t making a huge mistake. Because if she turned out to be dirty, well…then he’d know soon enough.
Either way, it shouldn’t affect him—unless she managed to track down his burner, and then the DEA tracked him to his safe house.
It was a risk he’d have to take.
* * *
Ellis rubbed the back of his neck as he leaned against the oak tree outside the dog park. No one was around and he was far enough away from his safe house that he felt secure enough making this call. He’d already texted Laura, telling her that he was a friend who needed to talk so hopefully she answered. If Laura did trace it, he’d have enough time to get away from the park. Hopefully.
“Who is this?” she asked on the third ring.
“It’s Bishop.”
There was a long moment of silence, so long that he checked the phone to see if she was still there.
“Bishop. Where are you? No, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know. How are you?” Through the line he heard the sound of a door shutting quietly.
“I’m okay. Are you tracing this call?” He heard more doors shutting, then opening.
“No. I should though. I’m in the ladies’ room at work. I’m checking the stalls now…” Another door opened and shut. “All right, I’m alone. Why are you calling?”
“I need to ask you a favor. Like, huge. I didn’t kill Carter.”
“I never thought you did.” There was conviction in her words that soothed something in him. Her belief in him was probably the only reason she was talking to him now instead of flat out hanging up on him.
“I know who killed him. I saw it. I recorded it.”
“Holy shit, then why didn’t you turn that over!” she whisper-shouted.
“What I’m going to tell you could put you in danger. Tell me now if you want to know who killed him. Because someone from the administration is involved with the cover-up of Carter’s murder. I’m not going to tell you who unless you want to know. Because you will be putting yourself in danger with the knowledge.” He waited, letting her decide.
It didn’t take her long. “Just tell me. We all loved Carter. I don’t like the way your case was handled and I really don’t like how neat and tidy that whole murder scene was. It never sat right with me—or a lot of people. Tell me what you got.”
“Vitaly Rodin killed Carter. Shot him point-blank. I got it on my cell phone and gave it to Kyle Bird. But not before I emailed a copy to myself. He confiscated the phone and erased my accounts and sold me out. He’s working with Vitaly and I guarantee he’s using the video as leverage against the man.”
A long silence dragged out between them. “That’s quite an accusation,” she finally whispered.
“I know. And I also know that Bird has backup copies. He has to, otherwise he’s a complete moron. And he’s most definitely not or he wouldn’t have lasted so long as a goddamn traitor.” Ellis took a deep breath, shoving back his rage every time he thought of Bird, of what the man had covered up and stolen from him. Of how he’d killed Carter.
“Jeez, Bishop. This is…”
“I know. It’s why I asked you if you wanted the details. I can’t be certain, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a backup copy of the video in his office. It’s more secure than any bank or deposit box.”
“I…I can’t get involved. I’ve got to go.” She hung up on him.
Well, then. Sighing, he rubbed a hand over his face then shoved off the tree. He needed to get out of here in case she decided to run a trace on him. He’d thought that with her history with Bird passing her up for a promotion, she might be open to listening to him.
Apparently not.
Chapter 23
After he talked to Laura, Ellis kept questioning his decision to reach out to her, but it was done now. And he’d gotten his answer—she wasn’t helping him. Not that he should be surprised. He was asking her to risk a lot, the least of which was her career.
Though he didn’t like leaving the vicinity of his safe house, Ellis needed to grab some more burner phones from one of his stash locations. And while he was there, he loaded up on some canned goods and other food.
By the time he got back to his safe house, he was even edgier and feeling out of control—because he hadn’t talked to Arianna. He hadn’t heard from Lizzy though, so he knew she must be okay. Or he could only hope she was. The not knowing was eating him up inside and giving him irrational thoughts.
Stupid thoughts.
Like storming Vitaly’
s estate and getting Arianna.
But that would just get himself, and possibly her, killed.
Damn it. He had to get Arianna out of that house and give her a good reason to stay away from Vitaly’s estate. One that Vitaly would be okay with. Because otherwise she’d just have to go on the run with Ellis. But the first step was simply getting her away from Vitaly, especially since she’d planted that damn phone.
He’d been running over different ideas in his mind and could only come up with one halfway decent one. One that her stepfather wouldn’t question. But there were some logistics surrounding it he’d have to smooth out first. Even then, it was only a temporary fix.
As he opened the door from the garage into the kitchen, he froze for all of a second before he withdrew his weapon. The alarm hadn’t gone off for him to disengage.
“Don’t shoot!” his sister’s familiar voice called out.
Evie…
Heart still racing, he sheathed his weapon and pulled the door shut behind him. On silent feet he walked through the house and stopped in the living room, surprised when he found that Evie wasn’t alone.
Lizzy set her laptop on the coffee table and rounded the long dark blue couch. Wordlessly she pulled him into a big hug. At five feet eight or nine, she was fairly tall for a woman and her grip was hard despite her slender frame. She’d cut her hair since he’d last seen her. Now the dark brown barely hit her shoulders. But she still had the same sense of humor, if her T-shirt was any indication. Today it read, This is what genius looks like and she had on sparkly purple Converse sneakers to complete the look. “It’s good to see you, even if you do look a little like a lumberjack.”
He laughed, the sound rusty as he hugged her back. “What are you guys doing here?” There was no way they’d showed up without having something important to tell him. His stomach lurched. “Is Arianna okay?”
“She’s fine. Well, as far as I know she’s fine. But you’re going to want to listen to this.”
When he didn’t move fast enough, Evie grabbed him by the upper arm and basically shoved him into a sitting position on the couch.
Lizzy tapped a few buttons and then a recording popped up on her laptop. She pressed play.
“I say we start next week. Hit the Keys all the way up to Orlando in one swoop. Not a ton, but a trickle of what’s to come.” Ellis recognized the voice of Vitaly’s second-in-command, Zach Foster.
“It’s very soon after…the power shift.”
Okay, so they were sort of talking in code. But it was pretty clear that Zach wanted to release drugs along the East Coast of Florida next week. And Vitaly wasn’t so sure about doing it so soon after his boss had been murdered.
There was a slight shuffling sound, then what sounded like liquid being poured. Okay, someone was getting a drink. “You need to strike hard and fast now. You’ve already made it clear that you’re the boss. No one’s going to challenge you, not now. We’ve been hoarding our product for months. And the red, white and blue crew are ready to meet tomorrow.”
“I know.” There was a faint sound, as if someone was tapping a finger against the desk. “I don’t like what happened with Arianna,” Vitaly finally said.
Zach made a scoffing sound. “Someone has a vendetta against you. This isn’t news.”
“I don’t like being blindsided when I’m about to launch a new product. The timing doesn’t sit right.”
The man was very careful with his words, Ellis would give him that.
“Look, I’ve got feelers out on the street. No one is talking because everyone is too terrified to cross you.”
“Not everyone, clearly. My instinct says it was the Boy Scout.”
He lifted an eyebrow, wondering if that was a reference to him. Evie always called him that, as did people at work. Ellis’s frown deepened.
“We leaked the info about Arianna to the Boy Scout’s former CI—he said he told the Boy Scout.” Clothing rustled.
“I know. I want to tie up that loose end—and I’d planned to when he came for her. She says she was taken from her house. So either your guys were slacking—”
“No way. The Boy Scout is good, clearly. Or he wouldn’t be alive still. If it was him who took her—and I’m not convinced it was—then he would have come in through the back and been quiet about it. It’s not like we were able to sit on the house 24/7, and her phone has a tracker so it wasn’t important anyway.”
“Maybe.”
“No, definitely. Why do you think it was him?”
“She wasn’t assaulted. Not really. She said he just roughed her up a little but didn’t rape her. Anyone else on my list…they’d have hurt her badly. And he let her go instead of killing her when I wouldn’t meet with him. That narrows down my list substantially and he’s at the top of it now.”
“Whoever it is, I will find out who took her and then you can make an example of him. We can’t miss this opportunity. Besides, you’ve got your people on the inside. We’ll be able to meet with the crew and get what we need with no pig interference.”
The pig reference was clear too. Disgust filled Ellis as he listened to the rest of their conversation. It was mostly benign stuff but it was very clear that Vitaly planned a big meeting tomorrow and that his concern wasn’t for Arianna, but whether she now was a threat to him.
“What is the red, white and blue crew?” Evie asked as the recording ended.
“He’s talking about the Dominicans. He’s been working with them a lot in the last six months without the knowledge of Berezin. They’ve been cutting side deals, running weapons but mainly drugs. Berezin had a falling out with the Dominicans but Vitaly kept up his link with their leader. Now it’s clear why. And his man on the inside has to be my former boss. Bird’s going to help him get away with flooding the streets with drugs and look the other way. He’ll make sure their meeting goes off without any interruption.” That level of corruption and betrayal enraged him.
“Tomorrow could be a chance to catch Vitaly in action,” Evie said. “Maybe Bird too. And if you can get Bird, you know he’ll flip on Vitaly to save his own skin. He’ll give up that video if they give him a sweet enough deal. Then you’ll clear your name. And even if he doesn’t flip on Vitaly, all his credibility will go out the window if he gets brought down. This could be good for you no matter what. You’ll be able to build a case against both of them and make sure you’re in secure holding.”
She was right. Still… “I only trust a couple people at the DEA right now and none of them could run a sting operation at the last minute. And we don’t have the manpower to set something up.”
His sister crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, I might have a solution for that. But you’re not going to like it.”
“Say it.”
“I trust the Fed who was in charge of Evan’s bombing case.”
“Georgina Lewis.” He knew the woman.
“I think we should bring her into this. It puts you in danger of being arrested. But we can’t turn away from this opportunity. You can get your life back. I think it’s worth the risk to tell her what we know, but it’s not my life.”
Nodding, he stood, pacing. Evie was right. He couldn’t sit on the sidelines and do nothing when this might be his only opportunity. Even if they busted Vitaly tomorrow, it didn’t guarantee any change for Ellis’s situation, but it would bring Vitaly down. And the bastard deserved it after killing Carter.
“If I go along with this, if we reach out to the Feds, I need to get Arianna out of Vitaly’s house. Immediately.” As in ten minutes ago. Once he was in Fed custody, he wouldn’t be able to help her anymore.
A low-grade buzz hummed through him at the knowledge that she was still there, under that monster’s roof. An angry swarm of bees were stuck inside him, stinging, stinging, telling him that if he didn’t get her out soon, she wouldn’t last. And he couldn’t stand the thought of a world without her in it. No.
“I agree. I don’t like her being there,” Evie said.
Lizzy nodded once. “Just tell me what you need.”
Chapter 24
Arianna took a bite of the oatmeal she’d made, but it might as well have been sawdust. She couldn’t taste anything as she sat at the island countertop in her stepfather’s kitchen. She’d barely slept at all last night, wondering if he was going to find that cell phone. And even if he did, would he be able to trace it back to her? She couldn’t see how, but still. It would look suspicious and something told her that he wouldn’t hold back from questioning her—or worse.
She mustered up a half-smile as Otto strode into the kitchen. He grabbed a banana from the bowl on the island. “How are you doing? You look kind of pale. Are you sick?”
“I’m good enough.” She picked up her coffee mug, needing to keep her hands busy with something. Dammit, she needed out of this house.
Run, run, run. The words repeated over and over in her head. Because deep down she knew that if she stayed, she was going to die. Or maybe that was just the panic she was letting invade all the blank spaces inside her. And even if she did leave, she wasn’t sure where she’d go. If she went anywhere other than her home, it would look suspicious to Vitaly. Still, she wanted space from him.
Her new cell phone Vitaly had given her buzzed in her pocket and she jerked, sloshing a few drops of dark coffee onto the pristine marble countertop.
She was sure it had some sort of tracking app or spyware on it like before. But she’d been able to transfer all of her old numbers and information to this one from her online backup, so she’d reached out to the woman she sponsored to apologize for being MIA.
“Is that your phone?” Otto asked.
“Yeah.”
She didn’t make a move to get it, but when he stared at her expectantly, she fished it out and glanced at the screen. It wasn’t like she thought Ellis would actually contact her on her phone but she was letting her nerves get the best of her.
