Chapter 13 #4
“This is how it is Tracy.” Elena spoke in a low scary intense voice.
Dane remembered it well. Had admired it when they’d been partners before.
Now he was mixed. Every time she looked and acted the way she was in Chicago, the way they were when they were together, he couldn’t help the fondness for the familiar, for what he’d longed for and mourned when he’d lost her.
The rest of the time, she was a traitor, almost like Cap but with better extenuating circumstances.
Then he only felt cold, distant, like she was an imposter, not that same Elena of his enamored memories.
“We don’t need you to admit to anything. Because we already know what you’re up to, what your PAC is funding.”
“I… I’m not giving you anything unless you have a warrant,” she said.
“We don’t need a warrant—“
“Yes you do.” Tracy regained some confidence.
“No. We don’t. Because we’re not cops.” Elena kept her hands on Tracy’s shoulders, pinning her in place.
Her squirming stopped. Her eyes went wider than before.
She darted an accusing look at Rick. He barely noticed.
He may as well have been filing his nails.
If Dane had been worried about him being squeamish, his concerns had been misplaced. Rick was more unaffected than Dane was.
“Now here’s how it’s going to go. You get me all the files, you make copies and then you put them back like no one ever touched them. You don’t tell your boss we were here—“
“Why would I—“
“Because you want to save your career in this business, Tracy. Don’t you? I think you’d have a hard time getting a real job if you were thrown in jail for, say, bribing a judge?”
Color drained from Tracy’s face, though she kept her chin up and her chippy-ness in place. “I… don’t know what you’re talking about.’
“Tracy, Tracy, Tracy,” Dane said. He stood and circled around the back of her seat, towering over her, leaving her in his shadow. He found this position intimidated the hell out of most people. Tracy Peal was no exception.
“What are you doing. I’m calling security.” She reached for the phone, her nerves completely shot now, all cool poise gone.
Dane snatched the phone from her grasp and ripped the cord from the wall. Then he grabbed her bag with her phone and all her belongings before she even thought to secure it. This was about as much physical intimidation that he needed to play, as much as Tracy Peal needed to fold completely.
Elena lifted her from the chair and led her to the file cabinet.
These were the kinds of files that would be kept on paper to avoid cyber security issues.
Tracy pulled open a drawer and pulled out a file folder.
It was about two inches thick. Dane took it from her and flipped through it.
About four pages in he spotted what looked to be a smoking gun.
A note from guy Ziffer with a dollar amount and a reference to the Senate campaign.
There were numerous such notes and one of them listed Yannis’s opponents.
He closed the folder and tossed the file to Rick to put in his back pack.
“We’ll make a copy and send you back the original. When is Yannis coming back to the office.”
“Not for three days.” Peal was visibly nervous now, hands shaky, a bead of perspiration at her temple.
“Where is he?”
“Texas.”
“Why would he be in Texas during the middle of his campaign for US Senate for Massachusetts?”
She shrugged. Elena shoved her shoulder.
“I don’t know. I think he’s meeting with Ziffer.”
“Where and what time?” This was exactly what they needed.
She didn’t speak, but her eyes drifted to a calendar. Elena snatched it up and paged it open.
“What does all this code mean, Tracy. Where and when is Yannis meeting with Ziffer?”
“Tomorrow. At a small restaurant outside of Amarillo.” She snatched a piece of paper and pen, anger in her movements now, all her cowering gone with the arrival of her resignation to her fate, uncertain as it was.
“Here’s the address. Now you have to protect me, get me amnesty. I don’t deserve to take the blame for this shit.”
Rick spoke, “You mean Yannis is fully aware of the deal with Ziffer and his prisons?”
“Of course,” she snorted and waved a hand. “You need to give me a deal. I’ll testify but I get off scott free and smelling like a rose.”
Elena looked at Dane. Dane knew full well that they weren’t in a position to make any deals, but then again, they did want her to testify.
“Okay. When the FBI visits you tomorrow he’ll be wearing plain clothes and he’ll take you in to make a statement without any fanfare. If your statement is helpful enough, you’ll get your deal.”
“That’s it?”
“Don’t leave town—or don’t try to. We’ll have someone watching you between now and then.”
Dane pocketed the piece of paper with Yannis and Ziffer’s meeting location and motioned for them to leave.
“We’re done here.”
He, Elena and Rick filed out behind him. When they got outside, Dane dialed up Oscar.
“About that assistance you offered…”
He arranged for Oscar to keep an eye on Tracy Peal, though some gut instinct told him she wasn’t a flight risk. Rick stayed outside her office until Oscar got there. Dane drove them back to the Governor’s mansion.
*****
After they rendezvoused back at the governor’s mansion, Joe flew Dane, Joe and Elena back by helicopter to Martha’s Vineyard. Through the headsets, he told them what Stravana said in his interview.
“Benito Stravana wasn’t nearly as mentally compromised as we were led to believe,” Joe said. “He’s sick, but he could have years to live. He was being transferred because of the trouble he’d been making about prison policies. It turns out he’s in one of the prisons run by guess who.”
“F—ing Guy Ziffer,” Dane said. “I can’t believe we didn’t check that first.”
“It was a recent contract. Brokered by one of Yannis’s PACs,” Elena said. Dane darted her a look. She didn’t blink even as he skewered her with accusation. She’d held back. As he knew she would.
“Damn,” he muttered. Then said to Joe, “And Stravano knew all this?”
Joe nodded. “He organized a group of prisoners inside. They’d been in correspondence with others from another prison via relatives outside. Impressive communications operation.”
“Doesn’t sound like this guy is sick at all,” Elena said.
“He is,” Joe said, “But not mentally. If you saw him you’d know. He’s a horror show. He thinks he’s being poisoned.”
“So why did they let you in to talk to him?” she asked. “They must have known he would incriminate them.”
“I don’t think they ever intended for me to get out.”
“Damn. What the hell happened, Joe?”
He moved his sunglasses from his face to show a black eye to go along with his swollen jaw. Dane had noticed the jaw, though he hadn’t said anything.
“I got out with Stravana’s help and one of the guard’s.”
“Shit. Stravano’s in danger of being killed and we could use his testimony,” Elena said.
“We have enough without him,” Dane said. He wasn’t ready to jump on the Benito Stravana fan wagon. “What did he have to say about his wife making threats against the governor?”
“Predictably, he said she only meant to get the governor’s attention. Natalia was never going to do anything to Peter, according to Benito.” Joe paused with an uncharacteristic hesitation. “Thing is, I believe him.”
Dane nodded his head. Things were falling into place.
“That explains why Yannis’s drone and photograph was almost identical to the one Natalia used. He knew she was threatening the governor and decided to piggyback onto it. The Feds screwed them up making the arrest so quickly.”
Joe landed their helicopter at Martha’s Vineyard airport as dusk fell, but the light was still good enough for Dane to see that they had company waiting to greet them. And it wasn’t the friendly kind.
Dane recognized Mark Richards and his FBI contingent standing outside their unmarked cars, guns drawn.