Chapter 13
13
It took the entire weekend for her to get her head on straight.
Sure, he had a presentation. I believe him. Just like I believe I’m a supermodel!
One minute Matt was sitting there dunking cookies in his milk, and then she asked him about kids and he couldn’t bail fast enough. It was like he had a bottle rocket up his butt.
Lainey giggled.
“What’s so funny?”
She didn’t bother to turn her head, instead she just gave Janice the side eye. “Nothing that you would think was funny. How was your dentist appointment? Are they doing hair extensions these days?”
Janice whipped the extensions that didn’t match her other hair color over her shoulder. “My dentist appointment went just fine. He said I had perfect teeth.”
There were still four more months left on this particular banking intern rotation, and she didn’t know if Janice was going to survive. Of course, she’d never killed or maimed Bennett so Janice should survive. Her type of annoying was really just grade school compared to Lainey’s sister.
“So, why were you laughing?”
“Just thinking about my hot date on Saturday.”
“Yeah, sure. Like a stick in the mud like you would have a hot date. They talk about you around here. Every time somebody has invited you to go over to Home Port for a drink, you’ve said no. There isn’t a chance in hell you had a hot date…unless.”
Janice got up from her desk and planted one butt cheek on the corner of Lainey’s desk. She was going to have to use Lysol before she went home tonight.
“Did you set up a profile on Tinder? Did somebody finally swipe right on your picture? Come on, you can tell your good pal Janice. I won’t tell anyone. Was he like fifty or something? Looking for someone to stay home and bake cookies and raise his rugrats from his other three marriages? Is that who you dated this weekend?”
Janice leaned in. Lainey could hardly breathe, what with all the perfume that Janice was wearing.
“Or maybe it was something like this. It was somebody who was using a different picture, and you showed up at the restaurant and he was some bald, fat guy, who ate with his mouth open. Was that your hot date? It’s got to be something like that. Give me your phone. I want to see your profile. I can help make it better so you don’t attract those kinds of losers.”
“For goodness sakes, Janice. I don’t have an on-line dating profile. Those things scare me. I don’t want to go out with a total stranger.”
“Like hooking up with some guy in a bar and going home with him isn’t the same thing.”
Lainey shuddered. “Janice. You don’t do that sort of thing, do you?”
“Sure, I do. Everybody does. Get with the times.”
She thought about the conversation she had with Jada Harlow. The woman couldn’t say enough nice things about Matt. Of course, she didn’t know that he would turn into a butthead as soon as they started talking about kids. Heck, it wasn’t like she was asking him how many kids he would like to have when he got married. It was just plain weird.
“Janice, it’s not safe. You have to be careful.”
“Don’t sound like a granny.”
God give me patience.
“Haven’t you read any statistics about what could happen to a woman if she’s not careful?”
“I’m careful. I talk to them. I’m a really good judge of character. For instance, I know that the stick up your ass has been up there since grade school and needs to be surgically removed. I bet I’m not the only one who’s told you that, right?”
Lainey sighed. “Janice, why don’t you go back to your desk, and just concentrate on your work, and I’ll concentrate on mine? Don’t we want everything cleaned up and taken care of when Mr. Pine comes back from vacation?”
“Arnie won’t care. You just show him a little cleavage, and he lets things slide. Trust me.”
Janice slid off her desk, and Lainey waved her hand in front of her face, trying to dissipate whatever strong perfume the woman had been wearing.
“Oh yeah.” Janice turned back to her after she had sat down in her chair. “I got a weird phone call from some foreigner. He wanted to talk to the person in charge of cryptocurrency transfers. I told him that was you. I explained you were at lunch and you’d call him back. Here’s his number.”
She stretched across the aisle between their two desks and Lainey got up from her seat so she could snag the piece of paper that was actually a napkin. When she sat back down and looked at the message she let out a loud sigh that blew her bangs up from her forehead.
“Janice, I can’t read the phone number.”
“Do I have to do everything?” The woman squawked.
She got up from her seat and stalked the four steps over to Lainey’s desk.
“This is the country code. I don’t know what the country is. And these are the numbers.” She jammed her fingers against the mayonnaise-stained napkin.
“Read the numbers to me.” Lainey took out her pen and a sticky note.
Janice started to rattle off numbers, then stopped. “I’m pretty sure this is a five, and then next one is a one or a seven. I can’t read this next one, but if you just try all nine numbers, you’ll eventually get the right number, right?”
“Crap on a cracker, Janice. Are you kidding me? This is important.”
“Well, look in the crypto file. There has to be a phone number with this country code in there.”
“I’ve handled five cryptocurrency transfers this week alone. Each one of them contains at least ten phone numbers. Not only can’t I read the number, but you also didn’t write the name of the person.”
“Sure, I did.” Janice peered down at the napkin. “Ah shit. It’s covered with mustard.” She looked over at Lainey and winced. “I’m sorry. Okay, let me think a minute.”
This should be interesting.
“Okay, the guy didn’t sound Middle Eastern or Chinese or anything. More like those funny European countries. You know?”
Lainey could feel her muscles tightening and the pulse in her temples pounding. It was the precursor to a headache. She needed to breathe deeply then roll her shoulders and neck, then drink an enormous glass of water, then she might stop the headache from coming.
Might.
“Okay. I’ll go look at the last five transfers I did and see if there are any with a telephone number with this country code attached to it.”
“I knew you could figure it out. You’re really good at this. Arnie was right about you.”
Yeesh, she didn’t need to lay it on so thick.
“Okay, how did the date go?” Kostya asked.
Mateo was at the Little Creek base in his lieutenant’s office. They were supposed to be talking about when he was coming back to work. Instead, they were talking about his off-the-books mission.
“I blew it,” Mateo bit out the words.
Kostya said nothing. He just raised one eyebrow.
What the hell? Can everybody but me do that?
“I talked to Jada. Lainey called her for a reference before allowing me to come over to her house to pick her up.”
“That was smart,” Kostya smiled.
“That’s what I told her. Hell, Lieutenant, she found a recipe for one of Argentina’s most popular cookies and she made a homemade batch for me. They were just like, or maybe even better, than the ones my mom used to make.”
Kostya scratched the bristles under his chin. “Doesn’t sound like a terrorist, but there is a shit ton of evidence pointing against her.”
“It gets worse. She told me why she took the job with Lionel Security and Trust Bank. She wants to understand the ins and outs of the banking industry, especially what they require for providing small business loans. She intends to go back to school and get her master’s in Non-Profit Management so that she can help the people who really need help getting loans. And she uses phrases like fudge-bonnet and frack-cracker instead of really swearing because she doesn’t want to swear around her nieces and nephews.”
Mateo sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. He knew his posture basically told Kostya that he would not listen to anything negative about Lainey Simpson. Or was he? Shit, he didn’t know, she had him confused as hell.
Dammit, get your head in the game, Aranda!
“Mateo, I understand where you’re coming from. But if she is innocent, you’re not doing her any favors by basing her innocence on your gut. We currently have facts that point to her. And we’ll need actual facts to clear her, and when you do clear her, we need to get her on our side so we can trace those transfers.”
Mateo uncrossed his arms and leaned forward in his chair. “Shit, Kostya. She’s such a straight arrow, I don’t think she would help us. Not if it means disclosing confidential information.”
Kostya leaned forward and rested his forearms on his desk. “If she’s everything you’re telling me, she’ll help us. There is no way this woman will be any kind of unwitting accomplice to an organization like the Kraken.”
“I agree with you. I just think she’ll go to the FBI. Especially after she figures out that I’ve lied to her.”
“Then it’s your job to see that she doesn’t.”
Fuck!
“Now tell me how you blew it.”
“We were on a friendly date. Everything was going well. I was in her apartment at the end of the date, and I was going to kiss her, when I remembered how Iris, Lachlan, Amber, and the rest of those kids could have been killed. I couldn’t get away from her fast enough.” Mateo shook his head. “Kostya, she looked at me like I had two heads. First, I was all into her, then I was heading for the door. I doubt she’ll take my next call.”
“What kind of excuse did you use to leave?”
Mateo sighed. “I told her I had to get a presentation written and ready to deliver first thing Monday morning. I could tell she didn’t believe me. Hell, I told my mom better lies when I was five.”
“How did you leave things?” Kostya asked. He didn’t sound mad or disgusted, just curious.
“I told her I would call her on Wednesday. I explained that I would have to gather everybody’s feedback then update the presentation, so I’d be busy until then.”
Kostya shook his head. “You really are a shit liar. We should have sent Ryker, except Amy would have had my balls for breakfast. You’re going to have to grovel.”
“Don’t I know it.”
“Huh, so you’re probably not going to see her until this weekend,” Kostya said as he scratched his whiskered jaw.
“That’s only if I can do a good job groveling.”
“Call Lark. She’ll have good ideas. She’ll tell you which of my groveling attempts has been most effective.”
Mateo barked out a laugh. “Should I call Jada too?”
“Fuck, like Gideon has ever made a mistake.”
“Good point.”
“But you can help me out. I’ve got to keep as many of the team running around here as possible. Commander Nash is sharp. He notices things. However, you have a reason to not be around, and we need someone to track down a lead we have on somebody Ely Roberts was tight with when he grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania. Lark wants to go, but Mateo, I just don’t have it in me to let her go again. I want to send Lark to the same island where her mother has taken Romy, but she’d have my balls for breakfast if I sent her away. So right now, when I’m not home, Gideon and Jada are over at my house with her, along with Lucy. That I feel comfortable with.”
“Makes sense to me,” Mateo nodded. “So, who’s the target?”
Kostya pushed a slim file over to him. “His name is Pepper Higgins. Here’s the basics. I’ll have Gideon or Jada send the rest in an encrypted file.”
Mateo opened up the file and glanced over it.
“Shit, Kostya, this guy seems like kind of a loser. I’m not sure the Kraken would want him. The minute his parents named him Pepper, he was bound to be a little psycho. He was kicked off the police force and hell, he was even fired as a mall cop.”
“He and Ely both did time in juvie for trying to steal a car. According to Jada, they stayed in touch, even after Ely joined the Kraken.”
“Not only was he not at the caliber of lieutenant level of the Kraken, I don’t think they would let him polish his shoes.” Mateo shook his head in disgust.
“That’s for damn sure.” Kostya chuckled. “Hell, it sounded like his own son Ivan could run circles around everybody, unless he really was injured, which I bet my bottom dollar he wasn’t. I have no idea why Frank Sykes didn’t make him one of his lieutenants.”
Mateo looked up at his boss with a half grin. “You’re an exception, Kostya. A lot of men don’t want to promote people who could be their competition. They’re too insecure. Meanwhile, you just want to build the best team possible.”
“Shit yeah. I’ve met fools like you’re describing, and Captain Hale never puts up with them long. That’s why I have hope for this new commander, Theo Nash. But still, he’s coming from Strategic Command, not Spec Ops, and it has me a little worried.”
Mateo nodded. He and the rest of the team had talked about this at length, but this was the first time he’d ever heard Kostya talk about his concerns. Strategic Command was known for being a little more prissy, whereas Spec Ops knew what it was like to be in the field making split second, life-and-death decisions.
“Well, Lieutenant, you can count on me. I can definitely get to Pennsylvania and check this guy out.”
“One of the other things you’ll find out in the file is that he lives on a farm upstate, and he raises pit bulls. He’s been arrested three times for animal cruelty.”
“Is he training them to fight?”
Kostya nodded. “You’re going to have to assume he’s armed and dangerous, and you’re going to have to deal with a bunch of fighting dogs.”
“Wonderful.” Mateo said sarcastically.
“Kostya grinned. Aw, admit it, you love animals.”
“I might like dogs, but not when they want to eat me.”
Kostya laughed. “Get to your house, read the encrypted file, and call Gideon if you have questions. I want you to be on the road before nightfall.”
Mateo stood up. “Aye, aye.”
Kostya nodded, and Mateo felt great. It was good to feel like a solid member of the team again. Yeah, checking out Lainey was necessary, but questioning an actual target like Pepper Higgins? That was a real mission that he could sink his teeth into.
Mateo pulled out his M2010 sniper rifle from the false bottom of his tool chest in the back of his truck, as well as his pistol. Now that he and Rocco had fixed the exhaust leak, his truck purred like a kitten, letting him get within a mile of Pepper’s place on one of the many logging roads.
He slowly made it to the perimeter of Pepper’s place that was covered by enormous trees and put his rifle up to his shoulder. The scope was better than any set of binoculars, if you asked him. What he saw about broke his heart.
He counted eight pit bulls at the front of the fenced-in property. Four of them were chained up, but why Pepper even bothered was a mystery to him. They were so emaciated, their ribs were protruding, and they were just lying there, panting for their next labored breath. He saw abscesses all over their bodies that hadn’t been tended to. These must have been the fight losers. He saw a couple of bowls near them, but they were empty. Why that vile fuck just tortured them like this and didn’t put them out of their misery was a mystery to Mateo. Then he took a closer look, and realized every one of those dogs were female and pregnant.
He's breeding them?! What the fuck?!
The biggest of the male pits was roaming around the females, and it looked like he was standing guard. Mateo watched as he growled, then barked, and then swiped at one of the other three males who tried to get at one female. A bit of a fight ensued, which the big pit easily won. That big one had recent wounds that had been stitched up. Apparently, Pepper Higgins made money when he brought that pit bull to the fights. Pepper didn’t come out to see what was going on. That was a good sign.
Mateo had never planned to use lethal force on the pits when Kostya had told him about them. After watching his mother literally die in front of him, he was very judicious on who he tapped, and innocent animals weren’t on his list of targets.
He’d talked to his mechanic friend Rocco’s sister. She was a vet. She set him up with a tranq gun and enough darts to take out the rhinoceros and tigers at the Virginia zoo. She’d told him that each full-grown pit would only need one dart to put them to sleep, and it would take about fifteen minutes to take effect and it would last for no more than thirty minutes.
The pregnant dogs were a different case altogether. There was no way Mateo was going to tranq them. They looked so ill, he was afraid that a couple of them might never wake up. But would they bark a warning that would alert Pepper? That was the real question.
Gideon’s file had been very thorough. He saw the rusted-out Buick Skyhawk up on blocks beside the house, and the shell of a Ford Elite that he was obviously parting out. He also saw a Datsun truck circa 1970 that was on its side, which was no big loss. But there was no sign of the 2003 Jeep Wrangler, which had to be Pepper’s daily ride. He needed to do an entire perimeter check to see if that vehicle was anywhere on the premises. If it wasn’t, he was going in and waiting for the man.
Mateo finished watering and feeding the pregnant dogs. Two of them were so sick, he had to hand feed them before they could eat from the food bowl. Pepper had a lot to answer for. That was when Mateo heard a vehicle coming up the rutted road, music blaring. Mateo let himself back into the filthy house. The whole place stank to high heaven. It wasn’t just the cigarette smoke; it was the dirty dishes lying all over every surface that had attracted ants and cockroaches. How could someone live like this?
He'd planned to just sit down and wait for Pepper, but he was thinking he would need to have his boots sprayed with Lysol when he got home. There wasn’t a chance in hell he was resting the seat of his pants against any of the furniture. It had been bad enough searching for dog food and something to hold the water for the sick females.
The four other pits were going to wake up soon, but the fence only extended to the sides and front of the house. The back, where there had once been a probably nice patio with decent furniture and a barbeque, didn’t have the fence enclosing it. Whoever lived here once took care of this place, and Pepper Higgins let it all fall to shit.
He listened as the Jeep pulled around to the back, came to a halt, and the blaring music stopped. Damn, the man was such an idiot. He was just leisurely walking to the same back door that Mateo had used, like he hadn’t even noticed that his dogs weren’t barking. Even so, Mateo positioned himself behind the door, his Sig Sauer in hand. It always paid to be careful. The scent of body odor overpowered the scent of the pizza that the man was holding as he shoved through the door. Mateo kept his gun trained on him as Pepper used both hands to carry pizza toward the debris-strewn coffee table in front of the wide screen TV.
Mateo took his opportunity, and as Pepper was bending down to place the pizza onto the coffee table, he silently came up behind him and shoved his gun into his neck.
Pepper twirled around, dropping the pizza. He had a knife in his hand and he lunged. Mateo feinted left, his boot coming out and kicking Pepper in the side of his left knee.
Pepper howled, but didn’t let loose his knife. Instead, he swiped it around and caught Mateo’s thigh. There was no way Mateo was going to use deadly force on this fuck. He needed answers. Pepper re-gripped the knife and jabbed upward, and Mateo reared back, slipping in pizza sauce.
Pepper saw his advantage. He turned the knife around and aimed for Mateo’s boot. His steel-toed boot.
Dumbass.
Mateo kicked up and caught Pepper in the chin. He went flying, the coffee table splitting in two under his massive weight. All the disgusting debris fell on top of him. He was out like a light, and Mateo watched as ants and cockroaches started crawling all over the man.
He shuddered.
With two fingers, he picked up Pepper’s knife, then patted him down for other weapons. He shook off the bugs that had crawled on him as he finished his task. He didn’t find any weapons. He pulled out zip-ties and bound Pepper’s ankles and wrists, then went and rinsed his hands.
Of course, there was no soap.
He heard one dog start whining in the front of the house. He hoped it was the big dog who protected the pregnant bitches. He needed to get animal control out here immediately. That meant he needed information fast.
He found a moldy bowl that looked like it once contained Froot Loops, and he filled it up with water and swirled it around. He went into the living room and poured the mess onto Pepper’s face.
“What the fuck?” Pepper slurred.
He tried to wipe his face, but then realized his hands were tied.
“What the fuck?” This time, he yelled his question.
“The fuck is, I need some answers,” Mateo said calmly.
“Tell Cooter I’ll get him his money next week. I’ve got a shipment coming in and I’ve got a buyer. I’m going to be flush. I’ll even be able to pay the interest that I owe.”
Mateo felt a little trickle of blood sliding down his leg, and he didn’t want it to get infected from the dirty air, so he needed to get this done fast.
“I’m not here because of Cooter. I’m here because I want to know about your good friend Ely Roberts.”
Pepper looked him straight in the eye. “I don’t know anyone named Ely.”
“Wrong answer.” Mateo took the bowl back to the kitchen and threw it into the sink. He looked around and found something worse. God only knew what the dumbass had cooked in this saucepan, but it stank to high heaven, and the ants and cockroaches loved it. He poured a little bit of water into it and swirled it around, so that the paste at the bottom became liquified.
He went to the living room and started pouring this concoction over Pepper’s mouth.
“Ahhhhhh. Enough.” Then the man started to gurgle, and Mateo took pity on him and kicked him on his side so he could spit some of the goo out of his mouth.
“I can keep this up all day,” Mateo said quietly.
“I give. I give. I saw Ely three months ago. He needed a favor. He wanted me to get my sister to quit her job and start working at a different daycare. He gave me three thousand dollars to give to her.”
“What daycare?”
“Shit, I don’t remember. You’d have to ask her.”
“I’m asking you, you worthless piece of shit.”
“Some place in Virginia Beach.” Pepper started coughing, and Mateo waited. “The fucking bastard lied to me. He promised that he’d give me another seven grand after she started working there, but he gave it to Shelly instead. Bitch wouldn’t give me my cut, even after I worked her over…hard.”
Mateo couldn’t help it. He just couldn’t. He kicked Pepper in his side. Twice. Then a third time for the pregnant dogs. He waited until Pepper stopped gasping for air before he asked his next question.
“Give me her number.”
“I can’t. Cooter’s goons took my cell phone as part of my payment. I don’t know what her number is.”
Useless piece of shit.
“How about your mom, your dad?”
“Yeah. Yeah. Mom would know it. Mom’s number is on the fridge.”
Mateo stalked over to the fridge and saw a family photo. It was an average family. Smiling. The brother and sister couldn’t be more than seven or eight. Mateo recognized the haircuts. The boy was holding his skateboard, and the girl was holding her cat. Dad had his arm around his wife. A happy family.
Damn shame.
He yanked the stained piece of paper off the fridge that said mom with a number on it. Gideon should be able to trace the sister’s number from the mother’s number.
He headed to the back door.
“Please, man, you gotta untie me. The bugs are everywhere. Please. I told you what you wanted. Please untie me.”
“Fuck no. I’m calling the police and animal control.”
“I’ll report you,” Pepper threatened.
“Go for it. I wonder what all you’ll be able to describe that the cops’ll care about.”
“Fuck you!”
“Word of advice. Keep your mouth and eyes closed.”
Mateo hid himself back in the trees and waited until the cops and animal control came. He waited until he was satisfied that all of the pit bulls had been handled well, then he went home.