by Dean, Jason
‘God, no. I was called in to take over the moment my predecessor screwed up.’
‘When and where was this?’
‘Two weeks ago, in Apple Valley, California.’
‘All right, I admit it. I’m intrigued now. So how did it all go down?’
Delaney sat back down on the crate. ‘The way I understand it, the only outside party my predecessor – let’s call him Connors – allowed into the safe house was this cleaning woman who came once a week. Connors got her from this company we’ve used before and vetted her completely, and she never saw the witness or his family at any time, either. So everything’s fine and dandy until she has to fly back to Mexico for a sudden family emergency. Another cleaning girl shows up at the appointed time, a Desdemona Alvarado, and before Connors lets her in he gets the office to do an immediate check on her, which comes out fine. Connors also gets the owner of the cleaning company on the line to describe her in detail. He does and she checks out, so Connors lets her in.’
‘He didn’t search her?’
‘He couldn’t without blowing their cover.’
‘Which was?’
‘They were supposed to be a low-budget movie production company scouting locations for a future project. But they had a metal detector disguised as a movie prop just inside the front door and that gave her an all-clear, so Connors let her get to work.
‘The way Connors explained it, Alvarado must have hidden some electrical wire in her hair that she was planning to use as a garrotte. Somehow, don’t ask me how since we’re still not clear on this, Alvarado got into the witness’s bedroom and saw him dozing on the bed. She was creeping up on the guy, ready to do the deed, when the wife came in and saw her and shrieked. Alvarado got her right in the throat with one of those lethal karate kicks and broke the poor woman’s neck, and she was just turning her attention to the witness himself when Connors burst in and put her down with a head shot. Naturally, all hell broke loose after that and as soon as the director heard what happened, he ordered me to go in and take control of the situation, including getting the witness and his boy out of there and somewhere safe. Which is what I did.’
‘FUBAR,’ Bishop said.
‘That’s one way of putting it. Then once we got resettled I had to use some pull to arrange a very private cremation service for the wife, which was a logistical nightmare, but the witness insisted on it and I couldn’t really blame him. And now we’re all just holding our breath and staying away from the neon lights until the day our guy’s set to testify, which he’s still prepared to do, believe it or not. If all goes to plan, once the trial’s over we’ll bury him and his boy in WitSec and nobody will hear of them again, at least not under their present names.’ She puffed out her cheeks. ‘If all goes to plan.’
‘Things rarely do.’
‘Agreed.’
‘You said California before. Is that where the trial’s being held?’
Delaney gave a faint smile. ‘Not even close, Bishop. With secret witnesses we often go the low-key route by taking them completely off the grid and sticking them in the boondocks far away from prying eyes, and flying them in and out when necessary.’
Bishop rubbed a palm over his scalp again. ‘So the owner of the cleaning company who endorsed this Alvarado woman. What did he have to say for himself?’
‘Not a whole lot. The sheriff’s department found him in his office with his throat slit from ear to ear. Alvarado must have had a backup stay with him and make sure he said all the right things when Connors called him. Then he gets quickly disposed of and there are no more loose ends.’
‘Professional.’
‘Definitely.’
Bishop thought it all over for a few moments. The story had a familiar ring to it, based on his own past experiences. ‘You know it’s a leak from inside, don’t you? Possibly somebody on your own team.’
‘To be honest, I don’t know anything for sure at this stage, but I’m leaning heavily towards that conclusion, yeah. That’s why I’m here. Now I’ve made thorough checks on all the team members since the attack, and from there all the way up the chain of command, but nothing’s flagged up as even remotely suspicious. And I can’t simply request a whole new team without some kind of evidence to back me up, since that would only put a black mark against all our names for years to come. I’ve cut out all unnecessary links in the communication chain, though, just to be on the safe side, and currently I’m reporting directly to Director Christiansen and nobody else. So outside of my team, he’s the only one who knows our current location.’
Bishop smiled. ‘Plus whoever else he decides to tell. His deputy, possibly. His secretary, almost certainly.’
Delaney smiled too. ‘A cynic.’
‘No, a realist. I know how government agencies operate. So back to this witness. What is he, a disgruntled relative, an ex-employee, a John Q Public, what?’
Delaney paused, then said, ‘He’s just a normal guy off the street, Bishop. Nothing more than that, really. Just a normal guy with a really nice wife and a great kid. Except the wife’s now gone, and it’s just him and his boy.’
‘And he’s still willing to testify? That’s pretty impressive.’
‘Yeah, I know. And the worst thing is this could have all been avoided if he hadn’t gotten cold feet the day he was originally set to testify.’
‘Really?’
‘Yeah, a case of nerves or something. The DA did some fast talking, though, and convinced the judge to postpone the trial date that time. Then after the murder of the witness’s wife the judge had to authorize a second continuance, but he’s made it clear to the DA that he won’t postpone again under any circumstances. This time my guy either gets on the witness stand on … on the day he’s supposed to, or the case gets dismissed and the accused gets to walk out a free man. Which, believe me, would be very bad all round.’
‘So if your guy wants to get on the stand now, what’s the problem?’
‘The problem is, my gut’s telling me there’s going to be another attempt on his life before the trial date. I can feel it in my bones.’
Bishop nodded. He could understand that. He’d learned long ago that you ignored your instincts at your own peril, especially in the close-protection business. ‘Okay.’
‘But now I find myself in a position where I can no longer trust my own team, and that’s not a good place to be. I’m in a Catch-22 situation here, Bishop. One of them could well be the leak, but I can’t have them all replaced at this late stage without more proof than I’ve got. Which is zilch.’
‘And somehow this all leads you to my door.’
‘Right. Now what I want is to bring in an extra person, an experienced professional from the outside with no connection to the Marshals Service or any other law enforcement agency, and therefore no hidden agendas. See, I need somebody I can trust, Bishop. I’d want them to point out anything I might have missed, and I’d also want them to watch the other team members very carefully and tell me anytime they spot any suspicious behaviour.’
Bishop stared at her. ‘And this somebody. That would be me, right?’
Delaney smiled back. ‘Can you think of anyone better?’
THREE
Bishop thought for a moment, then said, ‘For how long?’
Delaney paused. She obviously knew that the more she told Bishop, the easier it would be for him to find out which high-profile murder trial she was talking about. There were only so many. Finally, she said, ‘A week, maybe. Ten days tops.’
‘A week to ten days,’ he said, then shook his head. ‘I still don’t get it.’
‘Don’t get what?’
‘There’s no shortage of decent talent out there, Delaney, and any one of them would be more than happy to take you up on an offer like this. So why come to me?’
‘Well, there’s another big problem, which is this has to be completely off the books. And that means I can’t get official authorization to pay a professional close protection officer the goi
ng rate. What I can do is fudge my expenses and pay him out of that, but it wouldn’t be much. I could probably go to eight or nine hundred, but that’s about it. How many of your old colleagues at RoyseCorp would agree to that kind of reduction in pay?’
‘Not many. More to the point, why would I?’ Bishop stood up and walked over to the window. ‘Out of interest, how exactly would you explain this new addition to the rest of your team? Without getting lynched, I mean.’
‘That’s all been arranged. Once I told the principal what I had in mind and how it might cause problems, he understood and said I can tell my team that he’s given me an ultimatum, that after what happened to his wife, either I bring in an outside agent to help or he takes his son and walks. They won’t be happy, but they’ll accept that.’
‘Sure about that?’
‘About as sure as I am about anything.’
Bishop looked out the window again. The sky was overcast with dark grey clouds coming in from the east. Looked like more bad weather was on the way, or worse weather.
After a few more moments spent thinking to himself, he turned back to Delaney and said, ‘Sorry, Delaney, but I don’t think I can help you.’
‘Really? Care to give me a reason?’
‘I can give you plenty. I’ve been out of the close protection game far too long, and I’m too rusty. That’s one. And I also stopped taking orders a long time ago. That’s another. I can roll off some more if you want, but the end result will be the same.’
‘Come on, Bishop, I can be pretty diplomatic when I want to be. I can suggest without ordering. And I already know your record back to front so it wouldn’t be hard for me to look upon you as an equal. In fact, I’d value any advice you had on possible weak spots in our defences. And I don’t believe you’re that rusty. So what other objections have you got?’
He stood up and sighed. ‘Okay. Here’s a big one. Why should I? And don’t bring up the money again. I’m not that desperate.’
‘Well, in that case, maybe you should cast your mind back to the first time we encountered each other. I seem to recall I played a sizeable part in getting you off the hook, in more ways than one. Or have you forgotten?’
‘I rarely forget anything.’
‘I know. Eidetic memory, according to your high-school teachers.’
‘So what’s your point?’
‘My point is you owe me one.’
Bishop shook his head. ‘I don’t see it that way, Delaney. While chasing me you came across evidence that confirmed I wasn’t quite as guilty as you’d been led to believe, which you then passed on to the relevant people. As far as I’m concerned you were simply a professional doing her job. And doing it well, I might add. I wish there were more cops around with your work ethic, but don’t start thinking I owe you any favours, because I don’t.’
She looked at him. ‘You’re a hard man, Bishop.’
‘That’s the second time you’ve said that to me. Maybe you should have thought about that before making this trip.’
‘And I can’t exploit any personal feelings you may have for me at all? We did share some pleasant moments together a couple of years back, or am I misremembering?’
‘No, you’re not, but we were just ships passing in the night, that was all. It was fun, but after two weeks I came out of it knowing as much about you as when I went in.’
She paused for a moment, frowning. ‘Okay, how about this for an idea? Come in with me, and after all this is over I’ll owe you a favour. A professional favour.’
He raised both eyebrows. ‘You mean like a get out of jail free card?’
‘My influence doesn’t run that far, Bishop. But if you ever get yourself in a bad scrape, I might – repeat, might – be able to get you out of it. And that’s not an offer I make lightly. In fact, I almost regret making it now. So what do you say?’
Bishop smoothed his hand back and forth over his scalp. ‘That’s a very tempting offer, Delaney. You don’t know how tempting, but it’s still a no. Sorry.’
He walked over to the front door, pulled it open and waited.
Delaney got to her feet and used a hand to carefully smooth out the creases in her trousers. She went over to Bishop and stopped just before the doorway. ‘Meeting’s over, is it? Just like that?’
‘I think we’ve pretty much exhausted the subject, don’t you?’
‘And I can’t say anything else to change your mind?’
Bishop shook his head. ‘I can’t think of anything else I want.’
‘In that case, I’m sorry to have wasted your time.’ She nodded grimly at him before walking out and down the hallway towards the stairs.
Bishop watched her go, then gently closed the door.
FOUR
Angela Delaney hated Mondays as a rule of thumb, but this particular Monday morning was turning into a real peach and it wasn’t even ten yet. They’d been ensconced at this new safe house in this remote section of North Vegas for almost a fortnight now without too many problems, so John Strickland decided today was the day to abandon all caution and screw with the routine, just so he could take in some fresh air. He currently had her cornered in the kitchen. She’d only come in to get a coffee refill, and now this.
‘Come on, Delaney,’ he said, ‘I need fresh air. We both do. Barn and me have been cooped up here for two weeks now and we’re going stir crazy. At least I am. I need a cigar and I need to feel the sun on my face. Just for a few minutes, that’s all I’m asking.’
‘Look, you can suck it up for just a few more days, can’t you?’ she said for about the twentieth time. ‘Then once this is all over you can have all the fresh air you want.’
‘Hey, we got desert all around us, for Christ’s sake. Who’s gonna see?’ He motioned to Deputy Marshal Reiseker, standing by the sliding glass doors at the other end of the room, watching them both. ‘Your man’s right there, keeping watch on the rear. He hasn’t seen anything. None of the others have spotted anything either. Just let me out in the backyard there for a few minutes. I mean, what can it hurt?’
‘I’d prefer not to find that out the hard way.’
Delaney took a sip of her coffee and watched him exhale loudly, trying to calm himself. She realized he was greying at the temples, and wondered why she hadn’t noticed before. Or maybe it was a recent thing. She studied the handsome, tanned face and saw it also contained lines she hadn’t seen before. Strickland had always looked younger than his forty-five years, but now he seemed to be aging before her eyes. Not too surprising, though, after what he’d been through. As annoying as he was being today, she still felt sorry for the guy.
Strickland went over to the kitchen island, perched on one of the breakfast bar-stools and in a calm voice said, ‘Listen, Delaney, in all the time we’ve been here I haven’t asked for much, but I want this and I’m not gonna take no for an answer anymore. Now anybody else would have told the DA to get screwed after Carrie … after Carrie got killed by that bitch, but I’m still sticking to the plan like I said I would, even though it was your people who screwed up in the first place. So it comes down to this. I’ll get up there and do my thing when the time comes, but only if you let me have some time in the open air right now. That’s the deal.’
‘And if I refuse?’
‘Then I don’t testify.’
‘Are you serious?’
‘I’ve never been more serious. I’m not bluffing, either. Try me and you’ll see.’
Delaney sighed and wondered if it was worth the risk. He looked as though he really meant it, though. And as much as she hated to admit it, he did have a point. He had been a good boy so far, despite having every reason not to be. She knew she was just being stubborn. And a few minutes of fresh air wasn’t an unreasonable request. But only after a few precautions were taken first. She wasn’t about to start getting careless now.
‘Okay,’ she said finally, ‘against my better judgement you can get your fresh air, but you follow my instructions to the letter and only on
e at a time. Agreed?’
‘Now that’s what I’m talking about,’ he said, grinning. ‘You’re okay, Delaney. Let me go tell Barney while I get my cigar.’
As he trotted off to his room, Delaney said, ‘Reiseker, go get the camera.’
‘Right, boss.’ The deputy moved off down another corridor towards his room, where both cameras were kept.
Delaney stepped over to the rear doors, made a gap in the shutters and looked out onto the large, empty, north-facing backyard and the desert beyond. This wasn’t anywhere near as good a spot as the one in Apple Valley, but it had been the best she could come up with on such short notice.
They were on Gulliver Street, in the sparsely populated north-eastern tip of Las Vegas. All the houses around here were set on large plots with plenty of space separating them. The streets at the front and sides were also quiet enough that strangers could be spotted immediately. The biggest downside was the flat desert beyond the rear fence back there. It was totally open, or almost. The unlit Las Vegas Beltway cut across the landscape two hundred yards to the north. But beyond that, nothing. That was why she’d also brought the thermal imaging cameras along. Day or night, they could pick out any life form within a five-hundred-yard radius.
Reiseker came back in holding the ATN thermal eye monocular scope. He slid the rear door open, stepped outside and kept going until he reached the wooden fence. It only reached his chest. She watched him bring the scope up and make a slow arc from west to east. Then back again. Then again. Finally, he lowered the scope and in her earpiece Delaney heard, ‘A few cars whizzing by on the Beltway, boss. Otherwise, nothing out here at all. Not even a road runner.’
‘Fine,’ she said into the wrist mic. ‘Stay there and keep scanning. Hammond, Lomax, I need you both at the rear kitchen doors. The principals are going to take a little fresh air. Alpha One will be going first.’
Both men acknowledged. They arrived in the kitchen area at the same time as Strickland, who had an unlit corona in one hand and a book of matches in the other.
