by Ali Vali
“What do you think it’d take for these guys to stop watching?”
“That’s an easy one too, Lou. They’ll stop when I give them what they want, but that won’t be today.”
“Cain, could we join you for a minute?” Shelby asked. The two empty chairs at their table had their backs to the door and were in the way of the wait-staff traffic to and from the kitchen. They were the worse seats in the place, making Cain smirk when she pushed Shelby’s chair out with her foot.
“Are you here for the sweet rolls?” Cain asked, and Lou smiled slightly.
“Good place to get coffee.” Shelby sat down and laid her hands on the table.
“Just happen to be in the neighborhood, or are you planning to join the longshoreman’s union?”
“Could we call a truce until we finish our coffee?” Shelby asked. “You know why I’m here.”
“Sure, what can I do for you?”
“We wanted to talk. I don’t know if you’ve met—”
“Special Agent Lionel Jones, computer guru and boy genius? No, we haven’t met, but I’ve heard so much about him.”
“How did you...” Lionel acted like he didn’t know how to finish the question.
“I’ve always believed if I have to show you mine, you have to give some up as well.” Cain shrugged, then folded her arms in front of her chest and sat up straighter. “Maybe once Shelby starts on her second career as a longshoreman I’ll do something new as well. I might try my hand at writing. Think anyone would be interested in a book about what FBI agents do on their days off? What cute little sites on the Internet their boy geniuses visit when no one’s looking?”
Cain had to laugh when Lionel blushed visibly, despite his deep olive complexion. Sometimes she really enjoyed these guessing games that took only a little information and a lot of imagination.
“Stop picking on Lionel,” Shelby said as she looked from Cain to her coworker.
“If I do, will you return the favor?” Cain said, her smile not diminishing. “And to save time, don’t bother to tell me you can’t. We both know it’s your life’s work to follow me around skulking in shitty little vans and dark rooms. What’s brought you out of your cocoon next door?”
“We wanted to give you our condolences for what happened to Rick Greco. I realize you had nothing to do with it, but you did visit his family yesterday.”
What Shelby had said made no sense to her, and because it didn’t, Cain stayed quiet as she sorted the puzzle pieces in her head. No matter their past dealings, Shelby didn’t often crawl out of her hole to interact with her, so something had spooked her. Cain might’ve crossed the street to fish, but so had Shelby.
“Do you mean if Lionel here meets some tragic end, you wouldn’t bother to visit his family to offer your respects? Tsk,” Cain shook her head slowly, “I thought you were raised better than that, Agent Philips.”
“I didn’t say it was wrong.” Shelby seemed hesitant.
“You must’ve found something objectionable about it, considering you were most probably listening in, which reminds me.” Cain turned her attention to Lionel. “What’s your favorite song, Lionel? You don’t mind me calling you Lionel, do you?”
“No, I don’t mind,” Lionel stopped to clear his throat, “and the theme from Bonanza is my favorite song.”
“How manly of you, but back to Shelby’s problem.”
“I don’t have a problem, Cain,” she said, sounding as if she was losing patience.
“I went to the Grecos’ to reassure them they won’t be thrown out on the street after what happened to Rick. After his father died he was supporting his mother and sister, and I’m sure that was worrying Mrs. Greco. You beat me over there, but Sabana didn’t get the impression you came to hand off a list of government agencies ready to help them pay the mortgage.”
“Rick worked for you,” Shelby said.
“As do a lot of people. Lou here works for me,” Cain said, tired of their cautious verbal dance. “What does that have to do with me wanting to help out? That’s supposed to be part of your life’s work, to protect and defend, or whatever your slogan is, but you didn’t do such a bang-up job when it came to Rick, did you?” Then it hit her why Shelby was here with the most unintimidating member of her team, and the shock stopped her cold.
Shelby wanted the answers to the questions she’d asked Sabana, and bringing Lionel was supposed to make Cain relax enough to give them to her. Cain couldn’t believe she was right this time, but there was only one way to find out.
“We weren’t watching Rick,” Shelby said.
“You and your friends weren’t watching him, but somebody was, weren’t they? Do you allow an agent to sit by and let someone get killed? Or was he there to participate?”
The café was noisier now, but from the way Shelby blanched Cain knew she’d heard the question. That’s not what surprised her, though. She was shocked that Anthony Curtis had been at the airport and that’s why Shelby had asked Sabana about him. Cain didn’t know what he was doing there or if he actually had anything to do with Rick’s murder, but obviously neither did Shelby.
“What are you talking about?” Shelby finally asked.
“Curtis was there, and since we all know how he regards me, I’m sure he felt justified in taking out someone tied to me.” Cain stood up. “Don’t bother denying it.”
“Cain, wait, this isn’t a game. You have to tell me how you know that.”
After she handed their waitress a twenty, Cain turned around, and Shelby and Lionel were both standing. “If we’re playing a game, the rules have changed, don’t you think?”
“No one’s going to give you the benefit of the doubt for going after an agent, no matter how justified you think you are,” Shelby said.
“Not like they would you for going after me and mine? Don’t worry, Agent Philips. I’m not known for stupid flights of fancy.” Before Cain walked out she saw Shelby’s lips move, and even though she couldn’t hear her, the word “fuck” was easy enough to make out.
“See, Lou, now we know who we’re fishing for,” Cain said to him softly as they walked toward the office. “Get with Katlin and find him.”
“Will do, boss. You want us to bring him in for a chat?”
“You heard Shelby. No one’s going to forgive us for taking care of this problem. I’ve got other plans for him.”
“Anything else?”
Cain stopped at the door of the warehouse and glanced at the window across the street where the feds were lurking. “You heard the man, cue up Bonanza for him.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“Thanks to the smart guys you’ve got working for you, we’re all in deep shit,” Anthony said to Juan. After Juan’s arrival they’d moved to a hotel in the French Quarter and hadn’t left the room.
“Don’t you mean you’re in deep shit?” Juan took another bite from the shrimp cocktail he’d ordered from room service. “Nobody knows I’m here. You, though, were right in the middle of the action, but that’s what you kept saying you wanted. Ain’t no going back to that gray suit, Mr. FBI.”
“This isn’t some joke. Your guys killed a man for no reason.”
Juan pointed at him with a jumbo shrimp and laughed. “Jesus said Cain had sent him to spy on us. In my book that means Jesus did the right thing. What I want to know is how did you let Cain know I was back? You’re the supposed expert on laying low.”
“I didn’t,” Anthony said through clenched teeth. He got up and stared out the window again. At check-in he’d insisted on a room with a view of the street. If any of his co-workers were out there, he hadn’t spotted them yet. “Did you ever consider that Jesus isn’t being completely straight with you?”
“You want out, then get the fuck out,” Juan screamed, and pushed away from his plate.
“I’m trying to keep us all out of jail.”
“Forget about that shit. I got something for you to do.”
The tone of Juan’s voice made Anthony thi
nk his gamble was finally paying off. “What do you want?”
“Emma Casey,” Juan said when Anthony sat down across from him. “I want to know everything about her, but most importantly I want to know her schedule.”
“Why?”
“Who paid you to think? I want to know, and I need to know if you can do it.”
“That should be easy,” Anthony said slowly, as if talking to a mentally challenged person, because that’s what he figured Juan was. If he didn’t want what happened at the airport to end his career, he had to stick with Juan, though. He needed him to knock down the rest of the dominos.
“I don’t know. Cain’s better at picking up a tail than you ever imagined. Just a warning before you start. If Cain finds you sniffing after her whore, she can have you to do whatever she likes.” Juan laughed as he picked his teeth with the nail of his pinky. “I’ve found nothing motivates Cain more than when any man keeps his eyes on that piece of ass too long.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll start this morning, since they’ll be easy to pick up at the funeral. While I’m doing that, why not have a talk with Jesus and see if he tells you what really happened at the airport.” Anthony tried to relax and sound as if the outcome of this meeting wasn’t particularly important to him. “And you have to trust me.”
“You don’t think I trust you?”
“You order me around but you don’t tell me what for. That means you don’t trust me.” Anthony put both of his feet on the ground and pushed out of his chair. “If you don’t trust me, then what the hell am I doing here? Like you said, if you want me out, then tell me to get out.”
“What do you want to know?” Juan asked as soon as Anthony had made it halfway to the door.
“What’s so important about Emma Casey?”
“My uncle always preached to me that everyone has a weakness—the one thing you can use against them to make them fall to their knees. For Cain it’s Emma and those bastards they have together, but in this case I can’t blame her for letting this woman make her weak.”
One of the brass bands that played for tourists in the Quarter went under the window, and Anthony wished he was one of those people milling around down on Bourbon Street with nothing to worry about except where to eat that night. “What are you talking about?”
“I want to kill Cain, but I want to keep Emma for myself. What happens to the kids isn’t my problem, but I want her alive and whole.”
The way Juan went down his to-do list as if he were planning a trip to the grocery almost made Anthony’s hands shake. “She’ll never do that.”
“Who, Emma? You may have played nice all this time because it’s what you do, but there’s more than one way to break a woman. When I’m done she’ll beg to stay with me.” Juan turned so Anthony could see his face. “And every time she does get that pleasure, it’ll only remind her how much time she wasted with that bitch.”
“How’s your uncle going to feel about your plan?” Anthony tried to talk him back from the brink with the one thing Juan still feared. “It’ll take more than killing Cain to convince her friends and those loyal to her not to come after you.”
“My uncle should’ve listened to his own advice. He’s trying to be something he’s not, and the more he tries, the weaker and more pathetic he becomes.”
“What do you mean?”
“Rodolfo thinks he’s a civilized man, but he’s not. He’s just an old man chasing some sort of respectability that no amount of money can buy.”
Anthony had to laugh because, for once, Juan’s reasoning was right on the mark. “And you don’t care about being civilized?”
“All I care about is winning and control. If that’s not what you want, run back to your job or to my uncle. Whoever you pick won’t give you the respect and the freedom to do what you need to when it comes to beating Cain.” Juan stood and put his hands in his pockets. “We have a deal?”
“That we do, Juan.”
*
“Are you sure?” Remi asked. They were on the way back to her condo after a walk through the Quarter. Dallas had knocked on her bedroom door that morning, and instead of their usual forty-five-minute jog, Remi and Simon had gone for a brisk walk. “You could come in to work with me.”
“I checked my phone this morning, and so far I’ve gotten about sixty messages from Bob. To keep the peace I thought I’d have him meet me at my place, and we’ll go to the studio from there.” She wrapped her hand around Remi’s bicep and squeezed. “Please don’t be mad. I’ll call if I need to change my plan.”
“If that’s what you want to do, I’m fine with it, but don’t you think it’s strange for someone to call you sixty times a day?”
The breeze was picking up along the river, and Dallas moved one hand down and took Remi’s, then pulled her hair away from her face with the other. As they approached a bench, she pointed to it and Remi nodded. “I know you don’t understand why I don’t tell him to get lost. I would if I could.”
“Why can’t you tell me?” Remi lifted their hands and kissed the back of Dallas’s. “No matter what it is, I’ll still want to be with you.”
“Let’s get through this meeting today, and tonight we’ll talk.” When Remi moved closer and kissed her, Dallas went willingly. “You make me feel so much.”
“You can trust me, Dallas. Even if you decide this isn’t for you, I can help you get to a better place in your life, no strings attached.”
“I’m not sure how I lucked out by having you be so kind, but I’m grateful. I’ll tell you as much as I can and after that, the same applies to you. You can walk away—no hard feelings.”
Remi kissed her again before she stood up and helped Dallas to her feet. “Let’s get ready so you can get home to meet Bob.”
“Considering how you feel about him, you’re being good about this.”
“I trust you to handle Bob, after all you’ve been doing it for a long time.” She had to laugh when Dallas peered up at her like she didn’t totally believe her. “I’m sending some added insurance, and before you turn me down, remember you said you’d go along with anything I wanted.”
“You’re saying I might regret that promise, aren’t you?”
“I’m sure you’ll be fine.” They crossed the intersection between the aquarium and the Riverwalk Mall, and Remi spotted Emil sitting on the rim of the fountain in the middle of the courtyard that led to her building. When Emil stood up and started toward them, Dallas moved closer to Remi. “See, I told you. You’ll be fine because that’s the reaction this big guy always gets.” Remi smiled.
“You know him?” Dallas asked, still glued to Remi’s side.
“Dallas, let me introduce you to Emil, who works for my father. Actually he’s his Simon,” she pointed back at her own guard, “and until things calm down, he’s going to work for you.”
“I appreciate your thinking about me, but there’s no way I can accept.”
“This doesn’t have to do with Bob, but with what happened to Rick and what it means to me and our business. Things happen that I can’t control, and if something happened to you, I wouldn’t be able to accept the fact that I could’ve prevented it.”
Emil stood with his hands behind his back until Remi finished. “Ms. Montgomery, you’re not even going to notice I’m around.” Remi had to cover her mouth with her free hand when he said that.
“Do you really think someone’s going to come after me?” Dallas asked.
“You met Nunzio Luca. Do you think he’d be the type to do that?” Instead of having this talk outside, Remi walked them toward the elevator. “Once this is over we’ll go back to normal, if that’s what you want, but please consider my proposition.”
“Does he have to start today?”
Dallas glanced back at Emil, and Remi could tell she wasn’t thinking of her well-being, but of Bob’s reaction. “If you have to, blame it on me and the studio. Tell him it’s a new section of your contract.”
“As long as you
think he won’t have to stay with me forever.” Dallas looked back again and smiled at Emil. “Not that I have anything against him, but this is a bit out of my norm.”
Dallas kissed Remi good-bye, still feeling uncertain as Emil followed her out. When she met Bob, she asked Emil to wait outside for a minute while she explained his presence. Emil agreed to stand outside the door but not to a closed door.
He explained, “Not that I don’t trust you, Ms. Montgomery, but I can’t do my job if we have too many barriers between us.”
“Everyone at the studio is getting their own security?” Bob asked in a low voice.
“That’s what they told me when they sent Emil over here.”
Bob got close enough to put his lips to her ear. “Before the day’s out, find a way to ditch this guy so you can tell me where you’ve been. You know how much I don’t like it when you disappear and don’t return any of my calls.”
“Ms. Montgomery, are you all right?” Emil asked, poking his head in the door.
“Fine, thank you.” Dallas pushed away from Bob.
“This isn’t going to work for me,” Bob said.
Dallas held her hand up toward Emil. “Just a few more minutes and we’ll be ready to go.” She took a deep breath before facing Bob again. “My next job is the sequel, and if I want to do that, I don’t have much choice. Do you have a better idea?”
“Let me do all the talking at the meeting, and I’ll take care of this.”
The studio offices had been set up one block into the French Quarter in a building that had started as a coffee-roasting plant. Like Remi’s condo, it had a good view of the river, and the top floor, where the management team was housed, was opulently decorated. After walking around the waiting area to admire the collection of movie posters, Dallas stopped at the large window at one end of the room and tried to forget the two men watching her intently for two different reasons.
They had driven over with Emil and hadn’t spoken a word, and Bob acted more uncomfortable than when he went off about something. She pressed her fingers to the glass and thought about her relationship with him and how it would affect her relationship with Remi.
