Oracle

by Douglas E. Richards

  And this was only the beginning, because this incident would be more than enough to warrant an investigation into her past, leading authorities to her home computer, which they had doctored.

  Very nice. She was as impressed as she was horrified.

  Anna ejected a dart from the rifle and examined it, impressed by how far these darts had come since she had last seen one. This one was tiny, sleek, aerodynamic, and perfectly balanced, ensuring it would fly as true as a bullet. She shoved the tiny dart into a small, zippered compartment on the outside of the duffel.

  This completed, Anna carefully adjusted the sniper rifle so that it was aimed precisely to the south, at the second sniper hidden behind a tree, and then commanded the drone to rise into the pitch-dark of the night sky once again.

  She flew the octocopter carefully behind the second sniper, and then directed it to accelerate straight into his back, removing the noise-canceling feature at the last moment to increase the element of fear.

  The instant this was done she returned her attention to the rifle, knowing she would need to aim and shoot within a second or two, and giving herself over to pure instinct.

  The drone slammed into the second sniper’s back and he reflexively moved a few steps forward, as Anna had known he would, temporarily bringing him into her line of sight. The detective adjusted the rifle and pulled the trigger in one smooth motion, taking her conscious mind out of the equation, and wasn’t surprised when the man clutched at his neck and dropped to the grass like a felled tree.

  She quickly located the last two men patrolling the area and used the sniper rifle to put them down as well, before finally doing the same to Jimmy, watching in satisfaction as he crumpled onto the surface of the concrete parking lot.

  Anna gave the rifle a grateful nod. If the company ever needed a spokesperson to tout their product, she’d be first in line to volunteer.

  The detective rushed to each of the three men who had been surrounding Jimmy and made sure they were each hogtied and gagged as she had done with the first. She collected her drone, returned it to its padded case, and placed it once again inside her blue duffel bag. While it had crashed into a man’s back, she knew from experience that it was sturdily built, and could withstand more abuse than this before it stopped being operable.

  Finally, she double-timed it to the parking lot and to the man she had come to meet, using her tactical flashlight to cut through the darkness.

  She zip-tied Jimmy’s wrists and ankles together, but in front of him rather than behind his back, and left him free to speak. Satisfied, she stood over her sleeping prisoner, now sprawled out on his back on the concrete lot, and waited for him to come to.

  Finally, fifteen minutes later, his eyes fluttered open, and he eyed her in confusion, still punch drunk from the drug.

  “Hello, Jimmy,” she said firmly. “You and I need to have a little talk.”

  8

  Jimmy Jessup blinked rapidly, as if to clear his head, and Anna could see comprehension return to his eyes. “What the hell?” he barked, rising to a seated position on the ground.

  “I know,” said Anna pleasantly, “I’m a little bit early. Sorry about that.”

  “What are you doing?” he demanded. “Is this the way you treat your informants?”

  “Really?” said Anna in disbelief. “Still sticking with that tall tale? You were going to kill me, Jimmy. Just admit it.”

  “I was going to help you,” he insisted.

  Anna shook her head. “Your people are trying very hard to frame me. And they’ve decided that they can’t leave me alive to refute their planted evidence. I’m sure they’ve done a very tight job, but they know how good I am. The question is, if they were going to kill me anyway, why go to all the trouble to frame me?”

  Jimmy remained silent.

  “Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure I’ve guessed the answer. But I do need you to fill in the gaps.”

  “I’m not going to tell you shit!”

  “Yes you are,” said Anna evenly. “You’re going to tell me everything you know.” She shook her head condescendingly, as though she was dealing with an adorable yet obstinate toddler. “After all, your buddies just did,” she lied, raising her eyebrows.

  “What buddies?” he bellowed into the night.

  The detective grinned. “Thanks for confirming that you’re as clueless as I thought.”

  She held her phone out and showed him images of the men she had recently hogtied and gagged. “Recognize anyone?” she said, enjoying the confused expression on his face. “And if you don’t like photos, how’s this?” She directed her tactical flashlight to the west, where the high-powered beam was just able to illuminate one of the men she had incapacitated, on his stomach, his arms and legs bound behind his back, tiny in the distance.

  “What’s the matter?” she taunted. “You don’t look happy. Upset that your boss didn’t trust you to get the job done all by yourself?”

  He glared at her, not responding, but it was clear that she had hit the nail on the head.

  Anna smiled. “Well I’ve got bad news for you, Jimmy,” she said in contempt. “It’s actually a lot worse than that.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “They weren’t here to babysit you, genius. They were here to kill you. Both of us were slated to die. That sniper rifle in one of the photos I just showed you was pointed at your head. Apparently, you aren’t part of your boss’s employee retention program. But he wasn’t going to fire you. He was going to fire at you.”

  Jimmy Jessup whitened, and looked like he might vomit.

  Anna held up a note she had found in his pocket, along with a packed brown paper bag she had found nearby. “Typed instructions for me to carry out,” she said in disgust, waving the note, “to make it look like I’m on the take. Not leaving a lot to the imagination, are we? And a brown-paper bag filled with hundreds? Talk about cliché. Why not bring a sack shaped like a bowling ball, with dollar signs painted on the outside?”

  She shook her head once more. “So you were assigned to lure me here, kill me, and then plant these items on me. But what you didn’t know is that your boss had an even better idea. He thought it would be even more incriminating if we appeared to have shot each other during our transaction. And do you know what? He’s probably right. You have to admire his attention to detail.”

  Anna paused. “I know your people planted incriminating evidence on my home computer. And no doubt elsewhere. And you’re going to tell me all about it.”

  “I can’t,” said Jimmy. “Because my boss didn’t tell me.”

  “My gut tells me you’re lying,” said Anna. “That you’re the only one your boss told the full story to. You probably thought it was because you were important. Special. But really it’s because you’re expendable. Dead men don’t tell secrets.”

  The detective shot him a look of disgust. “So why protect your boss now?” she asked. “He marked you for death. And even though his plan failed, you won’t be getting a reprieve. After all, he can’t risk that you figured out he was planning to kill you. He can’t chance that you’ll, ah . . . harbor a grudge against him.”

  Jimmy glared at her for several long seconds. “Okay,” he spat bitterly. “I’ll tell you everything I know. But I want immunity.”

  “How about you tell me what you know, and I won’t put a bullet in your head.”

  “You’re not going to kill me,” he said dismissively.

  “Aren’t I? If I don’t get answers, I’m as good as dead anyway, with my reputation poisoned. So what do I have to lose?”

  “Go ahead then,” said Jimmy, unconcerned. “Kill me.”

  Anna sighed. She had doubted this bluff would work, but it was worth a try.

  “I didn’t think so,” he said smugly after several seconds had passed.

  “Okay,” said the detective. “I’ll agree to your terms. But I can’t guarantee immunity. All I can do is promise to do my absolute best to see to it that
you walk.”

  Jimmy nodded. “It’s a deal,” he said. “Now, can I at least stand up?”

  “Not a chance in hell,” replied Anna immediately.

  Jimmy stared up at the detective, as if deciding if he should argue further, but her tone and the resolve in her face made it clear he’d be wasting his breath. “All right,” he said. “Ask your questions.”

  “Who is your boss?” said Anna

  “Neil Marshall.”

  Anna considered. She wasn’t surprised that this man was involved. He was smart, careful, and ruthless, which explained this elaborate plan.

  There were other drug lords almost as powerful in the region, but Marshall now reigned supreme, controlling much of the territory as far south as San Diego, as far north as Monterey, and as far east as the outer edge of San Bernardino. While this control was not uncontested, he continued to slowly make inroads into enemy territory, slowly squeezing out any competition like a California-sized python.

  “And where is this Foria coming from?”

  “Unclear. Neil’s supplier is a man named Shane Frey. I’ve never met him. For that matter, neither has Neil. But this guy claims to have invented the drug.”

  Anna’s eyes widened. Now they were getting somewhere.

  She had gotten wind of Foria recently, and while others in the department thought of it as just another illicit drug, with a better high and fewer side effects than most, she had seen it differently. Her intuition told her this would be a game changer, and not in a good way.

  In addition, three cases had cropped up recently of men and women committing crimes and taking actions that had been totally uncharacteristic of them, including depositing fortunes in unknown bank accounts. Actions that made little sense no matter how they were viewed.

  Anna’s gut had told her there might be a connection between these cases and Foria, even though none of the perpetrators were even aware that the drug existed. Even so, her hidden mind continued to insist that she explore this possibility.

  Either way, her instincts demanded that she raise red flags to her superiors, which she did with more persistence and urgency than ever before. She warned that LA was only the beginning, and that there was more to this drug than anyone thought. That if it wasn’t torn out by its roots while this was still possible, it would sweep across the nation in a blink of an eye. She requested a national FBI task force be established to investigate immediately, since there were already rumors of the drug having surfaced in New York and Chicago.

  If she were anyone else, her captain, a twenty-six-year veteran named Donovan Perez, would have laughed her out of his office. But she had a track record that couldn’t be ignored, and her hunches had a funny way of paying off. So Perez had gone to bat for her, making it clear to those many levels above him that she had an uncanny knack for being right. If she was this adamant that Foria would herald a game-changing crisis, they needed to take her very seriously.

  And Captain Perez had assured her recently that they were doing just that. The task force the FBI was considering would be much smaller in size and scope than the one Anna had recommended, but it would be something. And, in what the captain considered to be a minor miracle, he thought that approval of the project had now become likely.

  Likely, that is, unless Anna Abbott was totally discredited as a detective. The FBI was only humoring her because of her sterling reputation, after all. She was on the verge of creating a tiny ember, which she hoped to nurse into a raging fire, but the slightest taint on her reputation would snuff out the ember before it was born.

  Naturally, Neil Marshall and Shane Frey would want to prevent the creation of this initiative at any cost, ensuring that their law enforcement opposition wasn’t nationalized, and no dots were ever connected. But they couldn’t just kill her. If they did, her warnings would become all the more credible, as it would look like someone had taken her out because she was getting close to something big.

  Which is why they needed to frame her at the same time.

  Anna turned her attention back to her prisoner. “So what did they do to my computer?” she demanded.

  “They planted hidden files, supposedly created by you. Ledgers detailing the bribes you’ve taken from a handful of criminals around the city. To look the other way. Or to falsely pin their crimes on others. They also included records of how you planted and tainted evidence to make this happen.”

  Jimmy shrugged. “All of these files are buried, hidden, and password protected. But not so well hidden and protected that experts wouldn’t be able to eventually find them and crack them open.”

  “And has your boss also planted physical evidence of this supposed evidence tampering, to go along with the computer records?”

  “Of course. He never does anything half-assed,” said Jimmy. “He’s left breadcrumbs for the cops to follow to lead them to a storage vault, rented in your name. Containing just enough physical evidence to corroborate a few of the entries on your computer. Which will make the cops believe that they’re all true.”

  Anna felt sick to her stomach. She found this scheme to be unspeakably horrifying. If she hadn’t turned the tables, she’d be dead about now, her reputation would be savaged, and the Foria task force would never come into being.

  And she had no doubt the plan would have worked. Many in her precinct, in addition to being jealous, were suspicious of her success. They’d be quick to believe the picture that Marshall and Frey were painting, that the reason she always got her man was that she cheated. In addition to not caring if the person she sent to jail was guilty or not.

  And most despicable of all, any number of criminals she had put behind bars would go free, as the chain of custody of the evidence against them, and even the evidence itself, could no longer be trusted. Had this plan succeeded, not only would she be dead, but her reputation would be destroyed, and much of her legacy undone.

  “They also set up a numbered bank account for you,” continued Jimmy, “with almost two million dollars inside. This and the price of your condo will cement the evidence that you’re on the take. Clean cops don’t tend to be rich. Dirty cops, on the other hand . . .”

  Anna frowned. Ironically, since she already had a hidden account with many times this amount of money inside, the truth would make her look guiltier than the fabrication. But what was stunning was that they were willing to burn millions of dollars to further bolster their narrative.

  “Anything else?” she whispered in horror, needing to remind herself that she had caught this in time, so she could unravel what they were attempting. Which is the very reason they needed her dead in the first place.

  “They found and hacked your juvie records,” replied Jimmy, “which were apparently sealed. They put them on your hard drive. Again, well hidden, so it will take some doing, even by experts, to find the file. But they will. You racked up quite a criminal record of your own as a teen,” he added, raising his eyebrows. “This will shock your department, and show that being a dirty cop isn’t as much out of character for you as they might have thought. The icing on the cake. Not that this particular cake needed any icing.”

  “Anything else?” said Anna, continuing to be stunned by how flawless the trap really was.

  “No,” said Jimmy, shaking his head. “But it’s more than enough, don’t you think?”

  In lieu of a response, Anna removed a roll of duct tape from her duffel and sealed Jimmy’s mouth closed over his protests. It was time to give Jimmy’s voice a rest and call this in.

  The cops on the graveyard shift would respond immediately. She would also call Captain Perez in on this, as well, despite the hour. After Jimmy spilled what he knew, Neil Marshall’s grand plan would go down in flames.

  Still, she’d be having nightmares about this for years to come. Talk about dodging a bullet.

  As she pulled her phone from her pocket to call the station, a sick, panicked feeling swept over her. Her hand darted toward her gun of its own volition, her hidden mind react
ing to a threat that her conscious mind had yet to even detect.

  “Freeze!” shouted one of two men just emerging from the darkness. Both were dressed in black, and both had their guns drawn and extended in her direction.

  Anna’s subconscious yanked her hand away from her gun at the last instant, having calculated that she was sure to lose any exchange.

  “Hands in the air!” demanded the shorter of the two men. “Now!”

  9

  Anna raised her hands over her head and considered the two men coming toward her. Both looked trim and formidable.

  “Jesus, Jimmy!” said the taller man in amusement, looking down at his colleague still seated on the pavement. “How embarrassing for you. She’s turned you into her bitch, hasn’t she?” He grinned. “And taping your mouth shut is a nice touch. Someone should have done that a long time ago.”

  “But don’t feel too bad, Jimmy,” said the shorter of the two men, “Neil had four other men out here tonight, and she took them out too. The boss chose these guys over me and Cam,” he added, nodding at his tall partner. A smile flickered over his face. “I guess the out-of-town talent wasn’t as good as Neil thought. So we’re going to leave these guys hogtied for a long time. While we do their job for them.”

  “Good thing we decided to check up on you losers when we did,” added his partner, apparently named Cam. He approached Anna, but wisely remained out of her reach. “Kick your gun over to me!” he demanded. “Pull it out of its holster, upside down, using two fingers through the trigger. Carefully!”

  Anna did as he asked, her intuition telling her that with two guns trained on her and without the element of surprise, trying to use the Glock would be suicide.