Chapter One #2
“All right.” Landon put a hand on his Springfield Armory 1911 Tactical Response Pistol with an Agency Optic System, or 1911 TRP AOS .
45 ACP caliber handgun tucked into the tan leather tactical holster at his side.
“Go,” he said, and gave a nod to personnel from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, who were assisting in the operation.
Within minutes, they had served the search warrant to a fortysomething, well-dressed female employee with brunette hair in a shag style, who was fully cooperative.
Beyond the impressive showroom with its art pieces, Landon discovered what they were looking for in a back room—on display on the walls, as if only for a select audience of buyers.
Nicholas Choi and Sheila Hanee, who had been tracked by other agents while riding together in a white Lincoln Corsair SUV, were stopped and taken into custody without incident.
“Another case for prosecutors to have at it,” Katie said satisfyingly as Landon walked to her cypress-gray Chevrolet Tahoe in the parking lot.
“With some major help from us,” he pointed out, knowing that their input was imperative for any successful conviction.
She nodded in agreement. “Always.”
“Catch you later,” Landon said, which was code for at any time—day or night—as their investigations both crisscrossed and went in separate directions, depending on the caseload and, at times, involvement with other law enforcement agencies in cases that overlapped.
He watched briefly as she climbed into her SUV before he moved toward his own dark ash metallic Chevy Tahoe.
It wasn’t till he was inside that Landon thought to check his cell-phone messages, having put that on hold while the mission was underway. He lifted the phone from the side pocket of his dark blue trousers and saw that there was exactly one message.
From Eddie Jernigan. His ex-brother-in-law. And current confidential human source.
Landon had recruited him as part of an ongoing investigation into a Native American art theft, forgery, and money-laundering ring.
Using his on-again, off-again occupation as an art dealer provided the perfect cover for Eddie to gather information from those operating illegally in the world of art and relay it back to him using a burner phone.
Investigative statement analysis, along with data from the NSAF had indicated to Landon that the info passed along was credible.
The fact that Eddie had been implicated himself in the handling (or mishandling) of forged art but given an out with his cooperation gave him more than enough incentive to work with the Art Crime Team.
In addition to putting organized art thieves out of business and into prison, federal law violations of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act required the repatriation of stolen art or cultural items. At the same time, Landon was promoting continual discourse between those mostly affected, such as American Indian tribes, art museums, and galleries.
Landon had chosen not to divulge to his ex, Raquelle, that Eddie was working for him as a confidential informant, or CI.
Not only would it have defeated the purpose of the secretive nature of Eddie being undercover, but the knowledge could have potentially placed her in danger.
Even with the somewhat strained—or more like nonexistent—relations between him and his former wife, Landon would never have wanted her to be put in any peril.
Eddie made it clear that they were on the same wavelength in keeping Raquelle out of it.
So what does Eddie have for me? Landon asked himself as he listened to the message.
Eddie’s voice cracked as he said, “Landon, I think they’ve figured out that I’m talking to you…
Now they want me dead. You have to help me, man.
I’m on my boat. I should’ve passed on being a snitch.
” He sucked in an erratic breath. “I need a way out of this—before I’m silenced forever…
” Another uneven sigh. “If something happens to me, fill Raquelle in on what’s been going on…
She deserves that much, don’t you think? ”
The voicemail ended.
Landon was left with more questions than answers. He called Eddie’s number but only got his recorded message of being unable to respond.
That’s not good, Landon thought, wondering if there was a sinister reason why he wouldn’t—or couldn’t—pick up.
Eddie had been walking a tightrope, being persuasive to organized offenders he was dealing with and being straight as Landon’s CI in dispensing relevant information to the investigation.
If they really had made him, he would definitely need to be pulled out, and not just for his sake.
For Raquelle’s too, as his sister and the person Eddie was probably closest to.
Starting the SUV, Landon headed for Knotter Marina, a short distance away.
He made another attempt to reach Eddie but got the same nonresponse.
Hopefully he was able to stave off any threats to his life till help arrived, Landon thought, trying not to allow himself to assume the worst-case scenario.
His mind wandered off to his ex-wife. From the moment he first laid eyes on Raquelle Jernigan as she walked across the campus of the University of South Carolina, he fell in love with the beauty.
She was the complete package physically.
And when he struck up the nerve to have a conversation with her, he was even more smitten and impressed with her personality and intellect.
Asking Raquelle to marry him had probably been the best decision Landon ever made.
She was the woman he’d dreamed about in so many ways but never thought he would land as a wife, lover, and best friend.
Unfortunately, things took a left turn during their six-plus years together, as both seemed to want more than the other could give to be happy.
Neither seemed ready to commit to having a family over pursuing their professional goals.
That major stumbling block, along with magnifying the little things into something bigger than they were, was more than either could handle.
Rather than continue to question each other’s choices and commitment to the marriage, which seemed to be nearing the point of no return, they chose to take the easy way out and call it quits.
Looking back, now Landon wondered if they had acted hastily in ruining a good thing. At least that was how he saw their relationship. Those memories he wouldn’t trade for anything. Maybe Raquelle saw it differently and had no regrets about ending their marriage.
Since the divorce, neither had gone out of their way to keep in touch for the most part, only bumping into each other on occasion when he was back in the area. He had wanted to reach out to Raquelle from time to time but didn’t want to push the envelope if this made her uncomfortable.
Was that a mistake?
Landon had asked Eddie recently if his sister was seeing anyone and the answer was no, but he admitted that Raquelle was pretty private about her social life. So maybe there was hope yet for them.
Or is that a stretch after four years apart?
Landon asked himself as he gazed through the windshield at the street ahead.
While his own dating life since the divorce had been unfulfilling at best and downright disastrous at worst, he had reconciled himself to the reality that life went on, like it or not.
I can’t change the past or make Raquelle feel about me the way she once did, he thought squarely.
He was left with no choice but to play the hand both had been dealt, for better or worse.
Unfortunately, the same was true for Eddie.
For his sake, Landon hoped there might still be light at the end of the tunnel that they both could benefit from.
When he pulled into the marina parking lot, Landon could see that a boat was on fire. His first thought was that it had to be anyone’s boat but Eddie’s.
But that belief—or fantasy—went out the window when Landon spotted what looked to be Raquelle. She was standing on the walkway, appearing as though she was in a state of shock.
Even as he left the SUV and raced toward his ex-wife, Landon had an unnerving sense of foreboding that she might feel duty bound to pull her brother from the flames engulfing his Crest Savannah 250 SLSC pontoon.
I have to stop her, Landon told himself, putting on even more speed as he crossed the walkway in record time.
Before Raquelle could literally plunge herself into the fire, the terrible consequences unthinkable for him, Landon caught up to his ex and grabbed her from behind, stopping her tall and still nicely slender frame in its tracks.
When she looked over her shoulder and glared at him with piercing brown eyes beneath thin brows, a dainty nose, full mouth, and dimpled chin on a beautiful diamond-shaped face, as if he were the enemy, he remained firm in telling her, “There’s nothing you can do to save him.”
Landon wasn’t sure if she heard him correctly. Or had deliberately chosen to tune him out. He could only consider that Eddie must have called her as well and possibly mentioned him in the conversation, causing Raquelle to react negatively to their association behind her back.
Gazing at the boat on fire as others began to emerge to see the awful display, Landon could only imagine what must have been going on inside Raquelle’s head that was surrounded by long and loose, thick raven hair.
He knew that no one could come out of that inferno alive, which was obviously hard for her to accept.
And it would be left for him to deal with the fallout, assuming that Eddie had been unable to escape the horrendous fate that was set in motion through their mutual cooperation.
Copyright ? 2026 by R. Barri Flowers