Cheaper to Keep Her part 3 (More Money More Problems)

by Unique, Kiki Swinson presents

  While I pondered on how my life had turned upside down, Sean unveiled the plan he had for me. “Lynise, we came at you today because we need you to help us find out where Bria is before something really bad happens to her,” he said.

  I placed my face in the palm of my hands. I figured if everything Sean was saying was true, then Bishop is more of a fucking psychopath than Duke. “I don’t know Sean,” I said while I pondered the pros and cons of their mission for me. I figured if Bishop was involved with his sister’s kidnapping, then getting rid of me wouldn’t be hard at all. I wasn’t his blood relative nor was I his only girl. And needless to say, we didn’t have kids together nor did I have anything to hold over his head. Needless to say, it would be really easy to put a bullet in my head and Bishop wouldn’t lose a wink of sleep over it. The thought of being around him after finding out he was capable of causing his own sister’s demise wasn’t exactly what I wanted to put on my to-do list.

  “What exactly do you need me to do?” I wondered out loud.

  Agent Morris stepped forward. “All we need you to do is wear a wire and try to gather as much intel on the whereabouts of Bria and Bishop’s drug operation so we can bring the case to a close.”

  “What if he finds out that I’m helping y’all?” I asked.

  “Don’t worry too much about that. We have our surveillance set up inside of Sean’s apartment and we’ll be right there if anything goes wrong,” Agent Morris tried assuring me.

  “Can I speak to you in private for a second?” I asked Sean in front of the other agents.

  “Yeah, sure,” he replied and then looked at the other agents and instructed them to give us a minute to talk in private.

  The agents got back inside of their black SUV. That gave me the green light to discuss my concerns with Sean in private. “What’s really going on Sean?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were a federal agent in the beginning? Do you realize the position you put me in?” I expressed. I felt like a damn fool thinking he and I could’ve got together and started a fling with this FBI agent. Stuff never worked out the way we planned them.

  Sean started shaking his head as if he was apologetic. “I know. Believe me I wanted to tell you I was working undercover while we were eating breakfast yesterday. But I would’ve gotten my head ripped off by my supervisor if I had.”

  Frustrated by my situation I turned around to see if the other agents where still inside of the truck. They were. I also looked around the area. This was crazy. We were in plain sight at a gas station two miles from my apartment. I was sure those around wondered what was up. I looked back at Sean and asked him if I really had to wear the wire, knowing how dangerous that could be for me? Bishop was no ordinary guy. I watched him murder my ex-best friend, Diamond, and slaughter Duke, so killing would be next to nothing for him to do.

  Sean looked like I was putting him under a lot of pressure to answer my question. But I wasn’t going to let him get off that easy. I had to know if I had other options. “Sean, please don’t make me wear that wire. I won’t be able to act normal around Bishop with that thing taped to my body. Additionally, he and I are still romantic . . . sexual. So I know he’ll start acting suspicious and find it.”

  I looked at him when I somewhat mentioned our sex life. I was hoping he at least understood that. He was a man and I hoped Sean understood that men could be very spontaneous when it comes to sex.

  “Lynise, I know who you are,” he surprised me. “And I know about that case you were involved in back in Virginia. But I kept that a secret from everyone in my unit. I did that because we really need you to help us take Bishop down. After we are able to do that, then you’re free to go on your way.”

  “What will happen if I don’t?”

  “I wouldn’t be able to let you leave.”

  Stunned by Sean’s response, I became bummed out that he’d hold this shit over my head. I mean, he basically told me if I didn’t wear the fucking wire, then I’d be shipped back to Virginia. What kind of deal was that? He literally just shut me down. “You have got to be joking,” I finally commented. “You are sending me on a suicide mission? He will chew me up and spit my ass out with no hesitation whatsoever.”

  “Agent Morris told you that we will be there in an instant if anything goes wrong.”

  I threw my hands in the air. “So that’s it? Y’all will be there if something goes wrong. Do you know if he found out I was wearing a wire, I’ll be dead by the time you’re able to kick in the fucking apartment? He doesn’t play around when he wants to get rid of someone. He stops their lifespan in the blink of an eye,” I warned Sean.

  “Look, I understand how risky this could be, but if you remain calm and do what we tell you to do, then you’ll be fine.”

  Realizing that I wasn’t going to talk my way out of this fucking mission, I let out a long sigh and asked him when was I supposed to start wearing the wire?

  “If you’ll follow us to the federal building downtown, we’ll set everything up. And then you can go on your way.”

  Sean waited for me to climb back into my car before he got into his SUV. And after he pulled out of the service station parking lot, I followed him while the other two federal agents followed me.

  The police escort!

  Cheaper to Keep Her part 3 Unique

  What’s Behind Door #1? – Chapter Nine

  I thought I saw one of Bishop’s partners following us down the road, but when I took a second look I realized it was some random guy going in the same direction as us. And when he passed us, I let out a sigh of relief.

  Sean and the other two agents escorted me into an underground parking garage directly beneath the federal building. I climbed out of the car and took inventory of all the unmarked FBI vehicles parked in the parking garage. I had no idea the government had these agents driving in such late model vehicles. I saw at least ten brand new black Suburban trucks, six Dodge Chargers and a couple of Tahoe trucks. There weren’t any shabby vehicles in sight. Now I realized where all the money seized by the government went.

  “Lynise, we’re gonna go through this door over here,” Sean told me, pointing to a gray steel door.

  I followed them through the door into an open floor of cubicles with wooden decks and modern office equipment. Sean led me to a conference room with a big screen mounted on the wall and a laptop computer placed on a table in the front of the room. I took a seat in the chair next to the table with the laptop and waited for Sean and the other agents to do their thing.

  Of course Sean acted as if he ran things in the office. Before he allowed Agent Morris to place the wire device on me, he went into a spiel about how big it was, where they were hiding it and how it worked. I was relieved when I saw that it was no bigger than a tube of Chap Stick. It could be easily hidden and hard to detect on my body.

  “Would you feel comfortable wearing it in the waist area of your pants?” Agent Morris asked me. “If you are, we can hide it in your hair.”

  “No way. That won’t work. Put it around my waist,” I instructed him.

  I stood there and watched Agent Morris as he penned the wiretap in the waistline of my pants. While he was steady at work, my Blackberry rang. My heart skipped a beat. I knew without looking at the screen that the caller was Bishop. He was the only one with my number. Besides that, I knew he was probably calling me back about the phone call Keisha and I had earlier. Knowing him, he was going to apologize for her ill-mannered behavior and then he was going to ask me where I was. I knew him like a book—almost.

  “Hello,” I said.

  “Where you at?” he didn’t hesitate to ask.

  “At the store,” I lied. I tried to remain calm like nothing was going on. But Bishop wasn’t stupid by a long shot. He sensed something wasn’t right with me. So I quickly blamed it on my personal issues.

  “Which one?” he continued to question me.

  “I’m at one of the local mom and pop sho
ps right by the apartment, why?”

  “Because I wanted to come and hang out with you today.”

  Shocked by his willingness to come and meet me so we could spend time together made me feel uneasy. He never wanted to meet me in the streets. He always waited for me to get back to the apartment before we decided to do something together, so this was kind of odd. While I talked to him, I motioned for the agent to hold off a minute from trying to secure the wiretap on me. I needed to concentrate and give Bishop my complete attention. Not only that, I didn’t want him to hear any peculiar noises in the background.

  “Oh, really. Wow! This is a first. I don’t know whether to smile or cry,” I joked, hoping he’d stop probing me about my whereabouts.

  “Look, I know I’ve been acting like an asshole lately but I’ve been under a lot of stress since I got back home. So, I wanna make it up to you by taking you out. Spend a little money on you and show you how much I appreciate you.”

  Taken aback by Bishop’s sudden change in behavior, I put him on speaker to make sure I wasn’t hearing things. I needed Sean and the other two agents to hear Bishop’s exact words and tone to confirm that this whole thing was real. “Can you make sure your stalker girlfriend doesn’t run up on us again?” I asked.

  “Oh, yeah, about that,” he began. “I really called you to apologize about the way she acted when you called earlier.”

  “I was pretty shocked that she answered your phone.”

  “Well, you don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

  I chuckled a little to bring humor into the conversation. “You must’ve cursed her out like you did me.”

  He chuckled back at me. “Yeah, it was something like that.”

  Okay, check it out. Let me pay for my things and I’ll be back at the apartment before you know it.”

  “A’ight,” he said and then we both hung up.

  Sean and the two other agents stood there and held a long stare at me. Sean spoke up. “I hope you’re not falling for that BS he just fed you.”

  “I don’t think it was bullshit,” I answered with confidence.

  Sean shook his head while the other two agents smiled. “He’s playing you big time,” he said.

  “Y’all don’t know him like you think you do. He’s a good man and he has saved my life on more than one occasion.”

  “Sounds like she’s having second thoughts,” Agent Morris told Sean. The other agent remained quiet.

  “Yeah, it definitely sounds that way but she’s aware that she has no other options,” Sean replied to him.

  “Well, let’s get this show on the road,” Agent Morris stated. Seconds later, he and the other agent resumed the task of planting the wire on me, while Sean stood back and watched.

  After the wire was secured around my waist, Sean gave me thorough instructions about how this device worked and how easy it was to remove and place in other clothing. “In the event he wants to have sex with you and wants to undress you, you are permitted to let him take off your shirt and your bra, but under no circumstance let him take off your pants. Try to distract him and do that part yourself, because if he makes the mistake and brushes his hands on the device, he’ll want to know what it is.”

  As I listened to these instructions my armpits began to perspire heavily. It felt as if I was sitting in a fucking sauna. And the horrific images of him finding out what I was about to do gave me an instant headache. I even felt lightheaded, so I took a seat in one of the office chairs and took a load off.

  “Are you okay?” Sean asked me.

  I started to tell him to go to hell because in all honesty he didn’t give a damn about whether I was okay or not. All he cared about was the fact that I was about to help him and his partners get more information on Bishop so they could arrest him on federal indictments. But I had a trick for their asses. I wasn’t about to let Sean or those other two crackers use me and hold my Virginia situation over my head so they could make their case stick. No way. Fuck that.

  “I’m fine. But I need to know how long y’all plan on me wearing this thing?”

  “Look at it this way,” Sean began to say, “the sooner you get us what we’re looking for, the sooner we can take it off.”

  Once I processed everything in my head, I stood to my feet and asked if I could leave?

  “Yes, you most certainly may,” Sean replied. “But please keep in the forefront of your mind that we’re not too far away from you if anything should go wrong. And don’t ever try to disconnect that wire because if you do, we’ll know it. And you will force us to blow your cover.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me? You mean to tell me that if I disconnect the wire, y’all are going to bum rush my spot?”

  “Most definitely. While you’re under our surveillance, we abide by strict rules. It’s important that we keep the line of communication open, so if it’s compromised than we have to react.”

  “What if I made a mistake and disconnected it?”

  “It would be the same protocol.”

  “All of you motherfuckers with badges are the same,” I told them and then I grabbed my handbag from the chair. On my way out of the room I rolled my eyes at everyone in the room and then I walked out of there.

  I’m a certified informant now! Ugh!

  Cheaper to Keep Her part 3 Unique

  Get Them Before They Get You – Chapter Ten

  I was shaking like a leaf dangling from a tree on a windy day. One part of me wanted to get on the nearest highway and drive in the opposite direction of the apartment. There was no way I’d be able to act normal around Bishop with this fucking wire scrapped to my body like this, so what was I going to do? I had already been given a warning not to disconnect the wire so that option went out of the window. Additionally, I wondered if this was how Bishop had found out about his sister being a snitch for the FBI.

  Ten minutes into the drive, Bishop called me back but when I said hello, he didn’t respond. “Hello,” I said once again but he didn’t respond.

  I did hear a little bit of rumbling and moving sounds in the background. Instead of saying hello, I yelled out his name. But to no avail, he still didn’t hear me. At that moment I realized his phone must’ve dialed my number by accident, so I disconnected the call.

  Fifteen miles later, I arrived at the apartment but Bishop’s vehicle was nowhere in sight. I started to wonder why he called me and lied about him being at the apartment, when, in fact, he wasn’t here? Was he playing some kind of game with me? Well, whatever it was, I wasn’t amused by it at all.

  Bishop’s absence gave me some alone time to think about whether or not I would tell him about the Feds and the wiretap. At the end of the day, it was either I let the Feds take him down or I say to hell with being their confidential informant and allow them to send my ass back to Virginia. I knew if I did go back south, the homicide detectives could expose me, and that would be scary as well. They could very well be the corrupt cops that would sell me to the Carter brothers or the highest bidder. I swear that wouldn’t be a good look at all for me. My life would definitely be nonexistent after that.

  As I made my way down the sidewalk to the apartment, I noticed a truck through my peripheral vision pulling into the parking lot behind me. I don’t know why, but my heart was beating faster than normal. I tried to block it out of my mind, but my heart and mind wouldn’t allow it. I had to turn around to see who it was. When I looked over my shoulder and saw that it was Agent Sean Foster, I became irritated. My facial expression showed it. I gritted at the agent as hard as I could.

  When I suddenly noticed Bishop had pulled up in the parking lot behind Sean, I damn near had a heart attack. I tried to straighten up my face immediately, but I knew it was too late. The look Bishop displayed gave me the impression that he had caught me in the act. When he looked over at Sean’s truck, that gave me confirmation that I had indeed been caught.

  How am I going to explain this? my mind raced.

  I began to think of the m
any lies I could tell when Bishop popped the questions. I wasn’t sure if I should go inside of the apartment or stay outside to greet him. In a matter of seconds, the thoughts were plentiful in my head. Then I just said fuck it. I didn’t want to bring on any extra drama, so I stood there and waited for him to approach me.

  I tried my best to try to act like I was happy to see him. I even forced a smile on my face. And when Sean finally got out of his truck to go inside his FBI-rented apartment, I didn’t look his way.

  Bishop, on the other hand, knew something wasn’t right, and he made it his business to make mention of it. “What’s up with you and that nigga?” he asked as he approached me.

  By this time, Sean was inside of his place. But with the help of this wiretap attached to my clothing, I was sure he heard Bishop’s question.

  “What kind of question is that? I don’t even know that man,” I lied, hoping he’d second guess his intuition and go with my word.

  “Well, why the fuck you frown at that nigga when he pulled up?”

  “I didn’t frown at him,” I continued. I tried to come across as sincere as I could.

  I was nervous, but there was no way I was going to show it on the outside. The thing I learned about Bishop in Virginia is that the man had a sixth sense. There was a reason he was the kingpin in this area. And a bigger reason the Bureau was on his ass to arrest him. Once again, I thought about his sister. If he off his own blood, I was an easier candidate to eliminate.

  Bishop stood there and looked at me as if he could see right through me. But I stood my ground and played the role. There was no way I was going to let him believe what he actually saw. No way!

  “You sure you and that nigga ain’t fucking around behind my back?” Bishop pressed the issue.