by Don Easton
Whiskey Jake glanced back at the clubhouse. “Yeah, you’re right.” He shook his head. “I know you tried to warn him not to do what he did. If he does show up, we both better talk to him.”
“It’s been two days. He won’t be showing up.”
Whiskey Jake stared at Lance. “You certain he’s dead?”
“I was certain his days were numbered when he ordered that message be left for Taggart in the farmhouse.”
“Yeah, that guy. Guess the Russians did him a favour.”
“Yeah, looks that way.” Then again, you don’t know Taggart as well as I do.
An hour later Jack arrived at work and Rose waved him into her office.
“How was your weekend?” Jack asked pleasantly.
“Don’t even go there! My phone hasn’t stopped ringing all weekend. Did you know that Mortimer ordered someone to come in yesterday and get the paperwork so he could submit his resignation? He’s hoping if he quits it’ll pacify the bikers.”
“I didn’t know. That’s great news!” Jack caught her angry glare. “So why are you ticked off? Can you really sit there and tell me you’re sorry to see him go?”
“No, not really, but your actions … what you did to him without my knowledge … well, it proves to me you can’t be trusted.”
“I did come to you.”
“After the fact.”
“Sort of during the fact.”
“Don’t play games. I know that Pure E is still your number-one target. Now that you’ve been given Mortimer’s blessing, there’s no doubt in my mind that you’ve concocted some sort of plan you haven’t told me about.”
“I don’t have any plan in regards to Pure E.”
“It doesn’t matter if you do or not, because I’m going to be with you every step of the way.”
I probably shouldn’t tease her … but what the hell. “You’ve always been supportive,” Jack replied.
“I don’t mean that. I mean side by side. When you leave the office, if it has anything to do with Pure E — and I mean anything — you’re not leaving without me.”
“That’s awfully nice of you to offer to help, but —”
“I’m not offering and I’m not being nice,” Rose said tersely. “I’m ordering you.”
Guess the time for levity is over. “Then I need to bring you up-to-date. My informant called me Saturday evening and again yesterday. He told me that Whiskey Jake dropped Pure E off Saturday morning to meet the Russians and that he hasn’t been seen since. They think the Russians heard about the three-three being arrested and killed him to sever any ties.”
Rose leaned forward in her chair. “What time was Pure E dropped off?” she wanted to know.
“Between nine-thirty and ten.”
“The same time you called Crime Stoppers.”
Guess I better not use the word “coincidence.” “Uh, I suppose so.”
“Does anyone have any idea who these Russians are?”
“Nope, not a clue.”
Rose stared at Jack long enough to make him feel uncomfortable. When she spoke her tone was like ice. “Natasha is Russian — maybe someone should ask her.”
Jack didn’t blink. “I said hello to Isaac for you Saturday afternoon when we had a Scotch together. I told him you’d seen his text invite to me and that you’d said how much you respected him and admired his intellect.”
“I wasn’t referring to the bit where he said he didn’t want to know how you did it,” Rose said dryly.
“Weren’t you?” Jack waited a beat. “I presumed part of your respect for him was because he knew when to ask questions and when not to.”
Rose bit her lower lip and appeared to mull over what he’d said. Then she took a deep breath and exhaled. “It’s just not in my nature to be okay with not knowing.”
He nodded in understanding. “Come to think of it, I’m the same way.” He glanced at his watch. “It’s noon in Ottawa. Have you heard anything about who might replace Mortimer? I bet the rumour mill is working overtime.”
“I’ve already received a couple of calls. It looks like the top candidate in the running is Irene Lexton.”
“Irene Lexton? She was in charge of I-HIT for several years.”
“I’m told she wants to come back.”
“If she hasn’t been brainwashed or corrupted by pol-itics in Ottawa, she’d be a good choice. She knows her stuff and from what I’ve heard is meticulous and hardworking.”
“Her getting the job doesn’t worry you?”
“No, why should it?”
“Like you said, she was in charge of I-HIT. She knows your reputation, too.”
“You’re right.” Jack paused, then tried to be optimistic. “Maybe Isaac will invite her over for a Scotch to welcome her back.”
Two months passed before Assistant Commissioner Irene Lexton arrived in Vancouver to fulfill her new position as Criminal Operations Officer in charge of the Pacific Region.
It was with interest that she read an intelligence report discussing the circumstances surrounding her pre-decessor’s unexpected resignation. The report discussed the disappearance of Purvis Evans and noted a reliable and confidential informant as saying that Satans Wrath believed their leader had been killed by high-level Russian cocaine traffickers. The rest of the report was minor in nature, noting that the Gypsy Devils had dissolved as a club and gone their separate ways. The intelligence report was submitted by Corporal J.B. Taggart.
Lexton then retrieved an old operational plan that Mortimer had retained but not approved. Mortimer’s handwritten scrawl on the back of the report noted a time and date when Corporal Taggart was ordered to turn over all informants and never work undercover again. Six weeks later Mortimer has a hit team waiting outside his house. Yeah, Jack, hell of a coincidence.
Lexton took a new file folder from her desk and labelled it JT. A moment later that file folder containing copies of both reports was locked in her office safe.
Copyright © Don Easton, 2017
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purpose of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.
All characters in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Cover image: 123RF.com/ Ying Feng Johansson
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Easton, Don, author
Subverting justice / Don Easton.
(A Jack Taggart mystery)
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-4597-3980-2 (softcover).--ISBN 978-1-4597-3981-9 (PDF).--
ISBN 978-1-4597-3982-6 (EPUB)
I. Title. II. Series: Easton, Don. Jack Taggart mystery.
PS8609.A78S83 2017 C813’.6 C2017-902153-2
C2017-902154-0
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