“That’s something we didn’t know, and it explains how we’ve never seen them making deals. Normally, drug dealers are not that trusting. Most deals are made where one side shows the money, and waits to sample the merchandise, and the other side checks the money. Those kinds of deals could be every four to six months apart, and both sides are afraid of being ripped off–– there’s no trust with them.” Mike was now nodding his head. “So, Jimmy Murphy could be earning $250,000 a week.” Mike whistled as he read the report. “Wow! Another thing we didn’t know was how Murphy was getting his drugs. But Joe reckons two electricity workers pass over the drugs in their toolboxes, which have false bottoms––and they do it in broad daylight.”
“Yeah, they meet casually in the McDonald’s parking lot, and then exchange their toolboxes.” Alice was getting excited as she saw the interest Mike was taking in the report.
Mike read out part of the report. “There’s never a big consignment, just enough for a couple of days. But the last big shipment that came into this country came in a container from England. Joe reckoned Jimmy Murphy had a good laugh when he heard his drugs came in a container full of antique furniture. It arrived at the San Francisco docks, and in no time part of it was down here in L.A., with the rest distributed all over California, as required. I don’t know why Murphy would laugh, but I suppose you wouldn’t think the drugs would come from England.”
Alice watched as Mike’s confused expression change to a scowl. He shook his head and continued: “I don’t think the drugs came from England. Somehow they got into the container while in transit, and that’s why Murphy thinks it funny, drugs arriving in old furniture from England.” He gave a big sigh as he held up Alice’s report. “I would like for Joe to find out more about that run, see if he’s got it right. And, I’m sure my boss will want to find out more about this Gerald Lomas. However, Joe’s not to contact Lomas until the boss gives the okay. We’ve got to find out who this guy is before we make a move. We know Jimmy Murphy is the front man, but we haven’t been able to link him to anyone until now. We’ve been trying to find out where they make their deals, thinking on a bigger scale, but now we know it’s done on a small weekly scale. By the sound of it, the main dealer is up in San Francisco, so let’s hope this Lomas leads us to him.”
“Joe said that Lomas would be his next assignment.” Alice was feeling pleased with herself.
“You tell him to just chill out for a bit until we can find out more about Lomas.” There was panic in his tone––he pictured Joe ruining months of surveillance work. “We can’t back Joe up unless we’re organized properly.” He shook his head. “Alice, I need you to understand, we can’t have Joe running around playing detective––it’s too dangerous––especially when my own team doesn’t know who he is. We could take Joe down, or, worse still, one of Jimmy’s goons could find him snooping around, and that could be curtains for Joe.” He took a sip of his coffee. “And, while we’re talking about Joe, I might as well tell you the team is not happy about working with him.”
Alice felt sorry for Joe’s sake. “He’s trying to help you guys the best he can, and that’s the thanks he gets?”
“It’s not like that.” Mike put his cup down and squirmed in his chair. “It’s this gift he’s got, and the fact the FBI has him listed down as a sex pervert. There are twelve of us on the team, two are female. When I told them how easy it was for Joe to get into Jake Donovan’s dreams, and have him spill all his secrets, that spooked them out a bit. One of the guys teased the girls, said that Joe’s nickname was Invisible Joe.” He smiled tightly at Alice. “That’s what they call him. Anyway, the guy said to the girls that Joe would be in a pickle when he meets them, not knowing which one to pick first.” Mike made a gesture with his hand toward his head. “You know … to enter their dreams. But one of the girls trumped him; she said Invisible Joe would rather be in a man’s body, helping him give his wife a good time.” He shrugged. “That kind of brought it home how we all felt. Who would want to meet this Joe, knowing he could get into your head just by shaking hands, or saying hi?”
“I can understand that, and I think Joe understands it, too.” Alice gave a slight nod. “He’s never let his wife know about his gift, or any of his friends, because he knew they’d be feeling the same way as you and your team. How hard can that be, knowing that no one will want to be your friend? His mother is, or was, the only one who knew about his gift.” No wonder he lives out his fantasy in other people’s dreams, Alice thought.
“Well, I’d like it if you could tell Joe how we feel. Put it in a nice way, and tell him we’ll still work with him, but he has to stay out of our minds.”
“Of course, you’d rather work with him through me.” There was bitterness in her voice. “You’d like to keep it as it is, Joe keeping his distance.”
“Yeah, if we could, but if the boss says otherwise, then we’ve got to do what the boss thinks is best, and I can’t see us working with Joe without eventually bumping into him.” Mike had a stern look and pointed his finger at Alice. “Look, if we have to baby-sit you two, then so be it; but, it doesn’t mean we have to like it.”
“Right then,” Alice wanted to bring the meeting to a close. “You’d better give me a list of questions that you want Joe to ask Jake Donovan and Jimmy Murphy. And, I’m to tell him to keep away from Gerald Lomas for the time being, right?”
Mike could see he had upset her, but it was for the best to get things out in the open, and tell her what the talk in the Bureau was. “The FBI thinks this Joe is a freak, and they think you and your husband should reconsider working with him. I can’t see any good coming out of it for you two. I can see the both of you getting hurt. But that’s just my opinion.” He got up and left, saying over his shoulder. “Think hard about it before you get in deeper.”
Chapter18
Special Agent Burrows was at her desk trying to put a profile together on a gang of four young men over in L.A. who had committed gang-rape on at least four occasions.
The first case was a 16-year-old girl that had been walking home from a friend’s party. She remembered someone coming up behind her and putting a smelly rag over her mouth. The next thing she remembered was hearing someone say, “I think she’s awake.” She was on her back, naked, with her hands tied above her head. She thought she was lying in the back of a van or camper. She was gagged and had a hood over her head. One of them whispered in her ear: “If you are a good girl for us tonight, you can be back with your mother tomorrow morning.” She thought there were four of them, and they continually raped her until the early hours of the morning. They dressed her and then left her tied to a tree, which was near a quiet road and in view of the first car that would pass by.
Burrows jotted down notes: First Victim: Ruth Moon, 16-year-old Caucasian female, red hair. Kidnapped from the Pasadena district.
Second Victim: Emily Samson, a 15-year-old AfricanAmerican female. Same M.O. Kidnapped from the Long Beach district.
Third Victim: Jessica Palmer, a 16-year-old Caucasian female, blonde hair, and kidnapped from the Moreno Valley district. Suspects lacerated victim’s eyeballs after victim removed blindfold and saw her attackers. Victim claims suspects were young Caucasian males.
Burrows sighed, swore under her breath, and then read the latest report.
Fourth Victim: Nicole Knight, an 18-year-old Caucasian female, dark hair, kidnapped from the Simi Valley, same M.O. as first two victims.
Burrows started writing up her profile of the kidnappers. She had studied the map of the four areas where the girls were abducted. There were several universities in the areas, and one caught her eye––Westwood University. “Hmmm,” she whispered, “if we are looking for white boys, then you can’t get any whiter than Westwood, which is near Beverly Hills.” That’s nothing to go by, she scolded herself. Probably four college boys around 18 to 20 years old––more than likely on the same team at college and they have bonded a friendship and trust. She thought about it. The f
our of them must have enormous faith in one another to commit such a crime. It could have started by one of them asking if the others had ever screwed a red head. One saying he would like to have it with a black girl. Then one saying yeah, he would too, and another saying he would help, until they all thought it would be entertaining. Eventually, they made up a plan, and, seeing how easy it would be, they carried it out.
Agent Burrows was going over their M.O. They must have had chloroform on the rag––drugged and dragged their victims into the back of the van, screwed their asses off all night, then dumped the girls where they could be found. But, the third victim had her eyes poked out. Whoever had done such a deplorable act … it’s only a matter of time before they kill, Burrows reflected.
She looked up from her notes to see one of the juniors drop a file on her desk. “It’s from the Narcotics Division; it’s about the Magic Man.” He smiled at her and left. She had asked for a copy of Agent Jones’ report so she could use it to help create the Magic Man profile.
She picked up the file, leaned back in her chair, and started to read the copy of Agent Mike Jones’ report. Straight away she picked up that Joe had no problem getting into the mind of Jake Donovan, and finding out Jake had had sex with his own sister. Useless information that would only interest Joe, she thought, but she was excited by the fact that Joe had gotten the boy to give up his secrets. That’s what she wanted to hear. She read on about how easy it was for Joe to get information from Ryan Taylor. Again, Burrows wasn’t interested in the information about the running of The Eastern Promise. She was thrilled Joe had come through the test with flying colors. Burrows pushed her notes on the rape case to one side and read the report again. Agent Jones had written that he was holding Joe back from trying to get further information from a Gerald Lomas, at least until they knew more about Lomas and could give Joe added cover. They thought Joe was a loose cannon.
Burrows picked up the report and marched to the office of Shane Saxton, the deputy director of the FBI’s Virginia office. Saxton had been with the Bureau since leaving college. Now, at 58 years of age, he was a soft spoken guy who took no nonsense, and, he was the type of boss who ran his office by the book. Burrows could see through the glass partition that he was alone, so, with a sharp knock on the open door, she walked in.
“Are you busy, sir?”
“What is it?”
“Have you read Jones’ report on the Magic Man?” She
waved her copy at him. “I think he’s passed his test.”
“Yes. I’ve just read it, and yes, I think he’s done well,
considering.”
“Can we have him on board?” Burrows couldn’t hide her
enthusiasm. “There’s so much he could do.”
“Hold your horses,” he said as he pointed to a chair.
“Have a seat. There’s still a lot we’ve got to find out about this
Magic Man before we can ask for his help with anything too
serious.”
Burrows sat down and put the folder on the desk in front
of her. “He’s got into the minds of two people and found out their
secrets. Just think what he could do for Homeland Security! He
would be able to track Al Qaeda groups, Osama Bin Laden
followers, and the Taliban in Afghanistan––he’d be able to track
and find them all, given time.” She took a deep breath. “But,
most of all, just think what he could do for our team here. We
could use his talent in a hundred different ways.”
“I know how you feel about him.” Saxton held up his
hand to stop her from going on. “But the Pentagon doesn’t agree with you. What if the Magic Man is an Islamic extremist? He’s
not likely to help us with Al Qaeda, or go to Pakistan and Iran.” “The Pentagon has been talking about the Magic Man?” It
surprised Burrows that a small, sleepwalking investigationturned-drug-spy had reached so high, and she began to think she
was the only one who wanted Joe working for the Bureau.
However, in light of this new information, if the Pentagon agreed
with her and let her bring him in, it could mean a promotion for
her––she was sure of it. “I hope they know I was the one who got
the Magic Man to agree to help Narcotics, and set the ball rolling
with Agent Jones.” She tapped his report. “It’s more or less my
baby, not Agent Jones’.”
Saxton saw clearly what Burrows was thinking. “Don’t
get ahead of yourself, here.” He leaned over his desk and tapped
the report harder than she had. “The big boys don’t see it the way
you see it; they see your Joe’s gift as a threat. A Trojan horse, if
you know what I mean. ‘Beware of Greeks bearing gifts,’ is what
Frank Brubaker said about the Magic Man in that report.” “Frank Brubaker––as in Frank Brubaker, head of
Homeland Security? He’s read this report?”
“Agent Burrows, I know you mean well, but look at it
from their point of view. They’ve got to protect the President and
this country from all possible dangers. They think the Magic Man
might be a significant threat––if he can do what he says he can
do.”
“But, he could also be invaluable to this country’s defense
and to the safety of the President.” She threw her arms up in
protest. “He could be an asset, not a threat. Until we have him in
and assess him, how can they turn him down?”
“For a start, they don’t think he’ll come in. If he wanted
to use his gift or ability to help this country, he would have come
forward before now. The big brass in the Pentagon thinks, with
his gift, he would have used it to make a fortune over the years.
He must be a millionaire, if not a billionaire. More than likely,
he’s an old man set in his ways, and he is using Agent Jones to
keep us happy and off his back now that he knows we are looking
for him. They think he might even be wheelchair bound–– possibly mentally or physically disabled. Joe may be non-verbal, but able to talk normally in people’s dreams. His gift could possibly be part of his disability. Perhaps he has this gift of the mind, like no other person, and that’s how he can get into anybody’s mind––who knows?” He nodded: “I think they are expecting the Magic Man to be something like Professor Steven Hawking––he has a brilliant mind, and he’s wheelchair bound.” Saxton shrugged. “The Magic Man has kept his gift a secret for years, and the boys in the Pentagon think he wants to keep it that way. He has slipped up with this Timberlake couple––played with them longer than any of his other victims––and now he’s
trying to throw us off his tracks.”
Burrows was taken aback that she, as a profiler, hadn’t
thought along those lines. She was picturing Joe as being just a
dirty old man, a thought he had planted in her mind, along with
the notion that he wanted to help her and they could become
friends.
She sat back and crossed her arms. “I would like to put it
on record, sir,” Burrows began, a serious look on her face, “if we
don’t play along with him, we’ll never know who he is! I’d like
to find out more before we write him up as a threat.”
“I actually agree with you; I’d like to find out more about
your Joe, too.” He pointed to the report. “A man with a gift like
that would save the country millions of dollars on man hours
alone. For example, if we were to send him down to Guantanamo
Bay, he could get all the information we needed from those
prisoners, without them even knowing he had
visited them.” He
nodded and smiled. “Joe could get more reliable information out
of them in three days than the best interrogators could in three
years. He could see into a perpetrator’s mind and help this
country to no end.” He grinned at his little quip, and shrugged.
“But … that’s up to the Secretary of Defense.”
“The more we prove that Joe has the gift of getting into
people’s minds, the bigger threat he becomes.” Burrows sighed
heavily and nodded as she came to terms with the Pentagon’s
reasoning. “The more we use Joe, the easier it will be for the FBI
to find him. Do you think you could change their minds and give Joe another chance?” She frowned. “I’m sure he would come in
when he knows he can trust us.”
“Trust you, yes––but for Joe to trust the Bureau?––I’m
not so sure about that.”
“So what are we going to do?” Burrows asked
despairingly.
“For now, the Pentagon is keeping an open mind on the
Magic Man, and they are waiting to see what comes of his
assignment with Narcotics.” He paused. “It could mean anything.
For all anyone really knows, they could have an agenda of their
own.”
She knew anything meant he could be killed. “Can we
help Joe in any way?––to make him feel safe?”
Saxton had also been thinking how he could use Joe’s
talent when he had read the report. He thought for a moment and
his expression relaxed into a wide grin. “I think you should go
back to the woman Joe talks to through her dreams and tell her
that she’s now officially working for the Bureau. Swear her in,
and then try and get her to find out if Joe really wants to work for
us.”
Get Out Of My Dreams Page 14
