by Paris Morgan
He nodded casually in agreement.
“All right, Gavin. I’m going to make a recommendation to the federal prosecutor that you be given a lesser sentence pending a trial, your overseas assets forfeited, and your job as an agent is over.”
Gavin smiled. “Look, I can tell you as much as I know about each part of the operation and all of the heads-up I’ve given in exchange for complete immunity. I get to keep my bank accounts so I can disappear, because we both know that John Reed can make me disappear permanently.”
“You two are going to have to sit tight for a while. We’ll discuss this and get back to you.” Adam stood up and walked out of the room.
As the door closed, he asked for one of the other agents to take the lawyer’s phone away so that he couldn’t warn anyone about the other arrests we would be making in just a few hours.
We hadn’t started questioning Gavin until a little after midnight, and it was now almost 2 a.m.
“Do you think the prosecutor is going to go for it?” Ryan asked in disbelief.
“Since we’re not going to wake him up in the middle of the night, I’d say it’s a better chance than before.” Adam’s eye held a twinkle.
“We’re leaving them in there for the next seven or eight hours?”
“Yep. I want to make sure that we’ve arrested John and his top board members before we let the lawyer go. There’s too much at stake for us to make that kind of mistake. If he complains, he’ll be allowed to leave, but only to go into a cell until we have the information about Gavin.”
“Genius,” I marveled.
“Barbie got warrants for all of John Reed’s properties and every Urban Energy business, but there’s no way we could get to him without tipping off the entire network. So we’re going to wait until morning and ask him to come in for some questioning regarding his property—The Black Tie Club.” Adam grinned mischievously.
“Uh, what are we going to do for the next six hours?”
“I’d suggest that we grab a bite to eat and go home to shower. When we show up dressed like we mean business, he’ll be certain that we know something he doesn’t.”
I exchanged glances with Ryan. “Yeah, I’m down with that.”
***
Chapter 4
Ryan
I’d gone to the Demeter Ranch for those few short hours and spent time snuggling my new little baby. She was so cute, and was worth every minute spent holding her.
Who needed sleep when they had something this cute to look at?
Hope and I had fallen asleep in the chair, and when my alarm rang, it woke me up. While I didn’t have any drool coming from my mouth, I had a nice little spot on my shirt from where my precious little baby’s face was resting.
“Here, I’ll take her,” Shea offered as she pointed to a cup of coffee on the counter.
“Thanks, babe. I’ve got to shower and race over to join them. We’re finally going to do it today. Everything we’ve been working toward is finally here.”
“How about I put that coffee in a thermos to take with you instead?” She gave me a peck on the cheek as I walked by.
“That’s why I want to marry you. You know the way to my heart.”
“You finally figured it out, huh?” She was speaking to me, but was making faces at the baby.
“Yep. And when I get a night off, I’ll have to show you how much.” I yanked off my shirt and tossed it into the bathroom hamper.
“Promises, promises. So long as we don’t get pregnant again right away, I’m good,” she called after me.
“Got it.” And then to myself added, “I need to buy condoms to make sure that doesn’t happen when it’s time.”
***
With the baby making it hard to leave, I barely made it to the parking lot before Adam and Leslie went in.
There were a few looks from people when they noticed our holsters with guns and business suits, but no one tried to stop us.
The secretary looked confused when we stepped out of the elevator and stood in front of her desk.
“Do you have an appointment?” she inquired, drawing a blank as to why we were there.
Adam whipped out his badge. “We need to speak with Mr. Reed concerning one of his properties.”
“Um, tha–that’s not possible,” she stammered.
“Ma’am, I’m afraid it is if you don’t want to be arrested for obstruction of justice,” Ryan warned sternly.
The secretary pointed toward the huge double doors where we’d talked to John Reed months before.
“Sally!” he yelled. “What’s going on?”
When she didn’t answer, he looked up and squinted in our direction.
“John Reed, we’re requesting your presence at FBI Headquarters in relation to some properties that you own and business endeavors that you’re involved in. We’d like you to come on your own, but if you refuse, then we’ll have to force you.” Adam kept a straight face as he gave his spiel.
“Sally, call my lawyer,” he demanded as he grabbed his hat and coat.
His driver jumped up as he walked through the large doors toward the elevator. “You can take the next one.” He waved us away, but Adam ignored him and walked on before turning to face us.
With a nod, we stayed back and waited for the next one.
“Wanna bet that Adam’s going to ride with him? Oh, he’s not going to like that,” Leslie giggled as the arrow dinged moments before the door opened to let us in.
“I’m not even going to waste money on that because we both know he isn’t.”
When we arrived, Adam and his party were just ahead of us, so we hurried to catch up.
The limo driver walked ahead to open the doors for his boss.
John Reed got inside, but turned toward us before the driver closed the door. “I assume I won’t be able to convince you that I will arrive in one piece?”
“No, sir,” Adam countered. “I’m to deliver you there myself.”
“Very well,” he sighed, sounding resigned to his fate.
As Adam went around to get in on the other side, he gave us the thumbs up.
I walked back over to my car where Leslie joined me to wait for his call.
Moments later, Adam texted: “It’s a go.”
“Whoot!” I threw a fist in the air in triumph. “Let’s do this.”
We walked toward the building again and retraced our steps up to the top office.
“Sally, we’re sorry to bother you, but we need to see Noah as well,” I advised as I looked out the large class windows to watch the vans and cars all labeled with FBI logos on them swarm the building.
Noah and a few other executives appeared from their offices as the phones started ringing off the hooks.
Sally looked at all the lines and turned to her other bosses. “What do I do?”
“Answer each one and tell them to send their workers home. Take only personal items and leave their passwords on their computer monitors,” I instructed.
“You can’t do that,” Noah protested.
I waved the warrant in front of him and the others.
“Yes, I can. The FBI is doing it, so it’s not up to you anymore.”
Noah yanked the paper out of my hand and looked over it. “This says it’s for all of our records, and that as of today, the company will closed until the investigation is complete. Do you realize what that will do to this business? It will go bankrupt.”
I clucked my tongue at him. “Well, that’s what happens when a business breaks the law. Speaking of which, Noah Preston, you’re under arrest for…”
His jaw dropped as Leslie approached a few of the others to read them their rights as well.
A few of our selected agents arrived just in time to help place all the upper management under arrest.
Martha was beaming as she directed teams into the building as we escorted the others out.
“This is so exciting. I just wish that Kevin could have been here to see it all.” She gave us a sad
smile, but it quickly changed when one of the other techs came over and handed her a few sheets of paper.
“We’ll let you take care of this part while we go do the interviews.” I pointed to the van where the company’s top executives were being put inside with a few agents.
“I don’t envy you trying to get through all of their lawyers and to the truth. I’ll send you any information from their personal computers that I can, ASAP,” Martha promised.
“Thanks. We’ll need everything we can get to use against these guys,” Leslie offered before giving her a quick hug.
“Guess I’ll meet you there.” I couldn’t keep the smile off my face.
“Looking forward to getting Noah in there and seeing what he has to say for himself.” She rubbed her hands together in excitement. “This is going to be so fun.”
***
It was going to take a little while to get all those arrested through the system and booked, so I wandered down to where Adam was questioning John Reed.
They’d already taken Gavin back to a holding cell to wait for the Federal Prosecutor’s answer, and sent his lawyer home now that the need for secrecy was over. I did feel for the poor guy because he’d been up there the whole night. I hoped that he was getting paid by the hour. That was going to be an expensive night.
I flipped on the speaker so we could hear what Adam and another agent I’d never met before, but I knew that he wouldn’t have someone in there he didn’t trust.
“Mr. Reed, we’ve been looking into a few of your business ventures, and it appears that you’ve been a naughty boy.”
He just sat there looking beyond Adam, tapping his fingers as if this was all above him.
“I can’t believe I’m sitting here with the elusive head of the Gold Money Exchange.” Adam let a little bit of awe creep into his voice.
Both John Reed and his lawyer’s heads shot up, suddenly paying attention.
Adam leaned back in his chair. “Yeah. You thought we didn’t know about that connection, huh? In fact, we’ve served a warrant for your entire company. There are hundreds of FBI agents in your building going through all of your computers as we speak. We even sent a few over to your home.”
“How dare you!” John Reed pounded his fist on the table. “You have no right to do that!”
“No, we just produced evidence that you’re involved in the majority of the world’s criminal activities by helping them launder their money. Yeah, the rights to protect the world.” Adam shook his head in dismay.
An FBI agent waved me over, and I reluctantly headed that way to start interviewing Noah with Leslie.
Leslie had a profound hate for this guy, so I was going to take point in the interview.
“Ah, Noah. Now that we’ve got you all processed and your rights have been read, we can get started.”
“Ask me anything you need to. I haven’t done anything wrong.” Noah leaned back and crossed his arms.
“Hmm…I’m afraid we differ on that idea. We know that you had connections to the Black Tie Club, but we’d prefer to hear it from you,” Leslie interjected, unable to contain herself. Not that I blamed her, because I wanted to see this guy behind bars as well.
“Look, I told you back in January, I just go in there to occasionally blow off some steam. That’s how I met John Reed and started working for him. We have some of the same connections, and it was a way to move up in the company. There was no way I was about to pass up a chance like that.”
“Yeah, we got it. You’re not responsible for the Black Tie Club trafficking in sex slaves. You didn’t know, yada, yada, yada. Well, I’m not buying that, buddy.”
“Now, calm down, Leslie. Let’s hear what the man has to say.” I waved her to sit back down.
Playing good cop wasn’t something I got to do very often.
“Well?” I prompted.
“Anything that you guys have evidence for had to be before I started working with John Reed and the other board members. There’s been nothing that I’ve seen that could even be considered illegal.” He uncrossed his arms and held his hands out to show he had nothing to hide.
“You know what? I believe you. Why don’t you just sit tight and we’ll get back to you.” I stood and walked out the door with a bewildered Leslie on my heels.
“What’s going on? He might have said something. He hasn’t even asked for a lawyer yet,” Leslie protested right outside the door.
“Look, I think he had a good point. He’d just been with the company for a few months as one of the higher-ups. We both know that he didn’t move up without doing something to get John Reed’s attention, but until Martha sends us something that connects him directly…”
“We’ve got nothing,” she finished for me. “Crap.”
“Yeah, but we do have other members of the company that have been there for years who haven’t dealt with us before. Let’s interview a couple of them, and let Noah stew for a while,” I suggested.
“Makes sense,” she agreed with a frown. “Who’s next?”
“Just pick a room.” I pointed to the row of rooms with people sitting inside, waiting to be interviewed.
“Her. She’s the only woman in the group, and might be more willing to tell us something.”
“Why do you think she’ll talk more than the guys will?” I was curious because I would think she’d be the last one to give information out.
“These guys don’t like anything that’s not traditional. The only reason they have a woman in their inner group is because they have to appear inclusive. They treat her like crap, so that’s how I want you to do it. Be tough and overbearing, and I’ll be soft and understanding. Get pissed off and leave the room,” she suggested.
“Okay, so I’m an overbearing, macho male who has little use for women?” I wasn’t sure I could even do that because it went against my whole nature. We were about to see if I could pull off being a great actor.
I shoved open the door to the room and strode inside. “I don’t care what you think, you need to do what you’re told or you’re going to understand the meaning of the words suspension. Don’t they teach you anything at the academy?”
Grabbing the chair, I slammed it down, startling both the woman and Leslie. “I’m Detective Fox, working with the FBI, and this is my stupid partner, Detective Boxe. I’m going to let her read you your rights.” I smirked at Leslie. “That is, if she thinks she can do right?”
“Yes, s–sir,” Leslie stammered. “Ma’am, you have the right to remain silent—”
“Ugh!” I slammed a fist down on the table. “I have to do everything.” I finished reading her her rights and asked, “Do you understand your rights?”
“Uh-huh.”
“What’s your name?” Leslie asked gently.
“Frances.”
“Frances what?” I glared at her. “Do you not have a last name?”
“Mouch. Frances Mouch,” she answered, looking down at her hands in fear.
“Well, Frances Mouch, maybe you can tell me why your business is being used as a front for the Gold Money Exchange’s illegal activities?”
“I don’t know what that is,” she mumbled.
“Illegal activities? Those are acts of wrongdoing that are against the law, Frances.”
“I know that. I’ve never heard of that company before.”
“The Urban Energy Corporation is just a front to launder money for criminal organizations. How could you not know about it? You’re one of the top people there. Do you mean to tell me that you don’t know what’s happening with your own business?” I slammed a file down on the table in front of her.
Frances started to cry. “I don’t know what John does. Sometimes it doesn’t feel right, but I swear, I have no idea what the company does.”
“Women,” I muttered. “We have to do everything for you. I’ll bet you even have your clothes laid out every morning, don’t you?”
I stood up, and she cringed. “Doesn’t even matter, really. You’r
e going to jail for being an accessory. Hope you like wearing orange.”
The door banged against the wall as I left the room and walked over to the two-way glass to turn on the switch.
“It’s okay, Frances. He can be a little harsh sometimes, but he doesn’t mean anything by it. He’s just mad that we can’t take back all the evil the Urban Energy Corporation has done over the years,” Leslie comforted.
“Evil?” she sniffled. “I don’t think it’s evil. I mean, he might have tried to not pay as much on the taxes or something, but that’s really over the top to call anything he did evil.”
“Did you know that we raided one of his properties, The Black Tie Club, less than two weeks ago and found trafficked women there against their will? Did you know that most of the money invested in the company came from different cartels and mob bosses?”
A hand flew to Frances’s mouth in shock. “No! He wouldn’t do something like that. Our company is supposed to help the environment, not do awful things like that.”
Leslie patted her hand. “I know it’s hard to hear, but he isn’t a nice man.”
“There has always been a vibe, but I just thought I was imagining it. He’s the boss, so I did what he said.”
“Oh, that’s really good. It’ll help when the jury hears that you were just doing your job and make them understand why you went on with it for so long.”
“What?” She looked almost frantic. “I didn’t go along with anything. How can I convince you of that?”
“I’m not the one that needs convincing. Anything you can tell us will certainly help the jury decide in your favor.”
Frances bit her lip as she considered her options. “All right. John’s not going to be happy, but I’ll help.”
“Great. Start from the beginning.” Leslie clicked the pen and pulled the file closer to begin.
This was going to take a while, so I again wandered down the hall, looking into each interview room, pausing to listen and see how things were going.
Noah was still sitting in his chair, smiling. There was something about him that just rubbed me the wrong way.
