Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
John wasn’t the type to move too fast.
He dated, sure. But he never assumed a woman he met was the one. In fact, he’d never felt like any of them were.
Even back in high school, when his friends were dating and throwing around the word love like kids sometimes do, John never thought he’d found the one.
That changed the moment he’d met Trixie.
He’d tried not to be distracted on that mountain. And he was fully aware of how ridiculous the notion of loving her at first sight seemed. But it didn’t matter.
He knew then and he knew now.
They would need time to build a real relationship.
He knew their feelings would evolve and mature the more time they spent together.
And he wouldn’t rush her, either. This wasn’t something he’d try to force—though he suspected there was no need to, anyway.
The look in Trixie’s eyes told him that she felt the same way.
His little cutie didn’t want him to leave. She needed Daddy to stay with her.
Good. He had no intention of going anywhere. Nothing was going to happen to his babygirl. He’d make sure of that.
Tonight probably wasn’t the right time to spring all that love-at-first-sight stuff on her, though.
She’d been through a lot. The last thing she needed was him adding more to what she was already trying to process.
When all this was over, there would be time to properly get to know one another. The relationship would be built on a good foundation. That couldn’t happen until all this was handled, though, and she was safe. So John was of a mind to get to it.
Every second that his sweet Little was in danger was a second too long.
Once he’d seen her upstairs to hang out with the other girls, he went back down to the den to join the discussion.
The den was a spacious room with a built-in bar, a pool table, a back wall made up of mostly glass, and a bank of monitors resting atop a desk that was set in a little alcove in the wall.
There was also a large sitting area with leather furniture.
John took a seat in one of the chairs and said, “Sorry I’m a few minutes late. ”
“Don’t be sorry at all. You get Little Trixie all squared away?” Jack asked, standing at the front of the room, near the TV that was mounted to the wall.
“Yeah. The adrenaline has worn off and she’s coming to that exhausted, foggy-minded phase.”
John assumed all the men in that room knew what he was talking about. Every first responder experienced it at some point. Most more times than they could count.
“Well, she can get plenty of rest here. And all the girls have been through some pretty tough stuff. They can help her come down from this and decompress,” Jack said. “You want a drink?” He jerked his head toward the bar that was along the other wall.
John craned his neck to look at the impressive display of bottles that was spread out on the shelves but decided mixing a drink was more trouble than he cared to go to right now. “I’ll take a beer.” He started to rise, but Jack put up a hand to stop him.
He strolled to the bar, reached behind it, and it sounded like he was opening a mini fridge. A moment later, he returned with a bottle of beer that he handed to John. “Cheers, brother.”
John thanked him, pulled the top, and took a long swig. The cold, amber liquid felt refreshing as it went down.
“We were going to lay out the facts,” Jack said. “Sort of organize our thoughts and figure out what we know and what we don’t. Plus, we haven’t had a chance to relay all this to everyone, so it’ll be good for us all to be on the same page.”
“I’m all ears,” John replied.
Addressing the group, Jack started, “Trixie works for Vegas Property Management. Or she did. Until she suspected her own employer was trying to silence her through violent means.”
Just hearing that made John fighting mad, but he focused on the coolness of the beer and his pleasant surroundings, keeping his temper in check. It was important that he listen and gain a fuller picture.
Trixie’s life might depend on it.
“She’s an accountant and, from what we understand, a damn good one. Really knows her stuff. So much so that she was able to detect irregularities in the company’s books.”
Isaiah raised his hand. “What exactly does that company do? I mean, the name isn’t very creative, but do they just manage buildings and stuff?”
Jack grinned. “Yeah. It’s a bit too on the nose…
But yeah, they manage properties in Vegas but it goes beyond just leasing space to businesses and handling things like maintenance.
They also run some casinos. They don’t own them, though.
Just handle the day-to-day operations for a few of the smaller ones downtown. ”
“Downtown, huh?” Kendrick said. “Old Vegas. The relics left from when the mob ran the town.”
“Organized crime still runs it,” Ace said.
“They’ve just cleaned up their image. Now they’re publicly traded Fortune 500 companies that offer benefits and good retirement plans.
Controlled by Wall Street rather than Chicago or the Five Families in New York.
” He shook his head, snorted, then took a drink of his cocktail.
“In the old days the enemy was clear. Vinnie from Brooklynn or Carmine from Jersey who came out to work for the organization. They had a code and rules. But these Wall Street types, nah. They’ll do anything to make a buck.
They’re worse than La Cosa Nostra ever was, if you ask me. ”
A smattering of “Yeah” and “That’s right” indicated some of the others in the room agreed with Ace’s sentiment. John just chuckled and took another drink of beer.
“Well, according to Trixie, the mob is still involved,” Jack stated. “At least, she thinks so. Has the evidence to prove it, too.”
The room was silent now, with all eyes on Jack.
He nodded. “That’s right. She thinks the whole company is just a front. They’re laundering money, skimming some off the top, and doing lots of other shady things. Once she realized it, she started putting documents and things away. Stuff she can use to sink ‘em.”
“That’s great!” Matteo said. “So, we can keep her safe until the FBI builds a case. Seems easy enough.”
He must have read the look on Jack’s face, because he sighed and then said, “Let me guess, it’s not going to be that easy.”
Jack flashed him a wry grin. “Come on, Matteo. You were a cop long enough to know it’s never that easy.”
The others laughed and agreed.
It wasn’t just cops who understood that, John thought. The same was true battling flames and traffic accidents and rescuing people off cliffs and…
“The evidence she needs is locked up in a storage unit. Back in Vegas. She doesn’t think they know where it is.
I tend to agree with her. If they did, they’d probably just destroy it and leave her alone for now.
After all, then it would just be her word against theirs.
But with all this effort they’re putting into reaching her…
that tells me they don’t know where these documents are,” Jack continued.
Hearing this, John was fighting mad once again. He knew what those assholes would do to Trixie if they got their hands on her: they’d torture her until they extracted the information they wanted, then they’d kill her and toss her body away like garbage.
That. Wasn’t. Going. To. Happen.
No one would lay a hand on her. Ever.
To ensure that, he needed to understand where the breakdown came tonight. Clearly, she wasn’t as safe as she thought she’d be in Los Angeles.
“How did they know where she was staying?” he asked.
Jack turned his smile to him. “Good question. Especially from a firefighter.”
The other guys laughed. John chuckled, too.
He was used to the inter-departmental rivalry. Cops ribbed firefighters. The LAFD ribbed the LAPD right back. It was all part of the fun.
“Well, being as how none of you have asked yet, I figured I’d do your job for you.”
“Oh man! Shots fired!” Kendrick said with a laugh. “I love it.”
After laughing, Jack explained. “Our best guess is that she wasn’t as discreet coming to Los Angeles as she thought she was.
It’s a six-hour drive from here to Vegas.
Lots of long stretches of desert between here and there.
But she isn’t trained to look for tails.
No offense to Trixie but following her probably wouldn’t be hard.
Even if she thought she was watching for someone. ”
John had assumed the same thing. He wasn’t exactly adept at looking for tails. But firemen didn’t have to be. It had been covered some in his Army days. They mostly traveled in armored convoys, though. This was spy-type stuff they were talking about now.
Or the criminal underworld, like gangsters in Vegas.
“So, at some point, they’d trailed her to her hotel,” Jack continued.
“But we heard the story. They knew what floor she was on and, presumably, what room she was in,” Ace said. “I know they didn’t follow us inside the hotel when we dropped her off earlier.”
Isaiah scratched his jaw. “I know that hotel. You have to have to scan your keycard to go up to any floor on that elevator. And to go down, except the ground floor. So how did they get ahold of a card?”
Everyone looked at each other, exchanging puzzled glances.
John didn’t have any answers, either.
They all sipped their drinks for a few moments before Jack said, “You said one of the guys chasing her was an ex-cop, John?”
He nodded. “Todd Stark.”
“That asshole?” Matteo said. “Man, I can’t stand that guy.”
“A disgrace to the badge,” Isaiah added. “One of the worst since the whole Rampart scandal.”
“You’ll have to tell me about all the scandals sometime,” John chimed in. “I wouldn’t really know about them. The fire department doesn’t have things like that.”
Everyone laughed. And no one refuted what he’d said.
They couldn’t.
He’d talked to Jack and the other guys in there enough to know that one of the reasons they’d all left the force was because they were sick of the behind-the-scenes drama and even some corruption.
Not all cops were bad, John knew. But being on the streets, these guys had no doubt experienced enough to sour them on it.
“Another time,” Jack promised.
“Man, I wish I’d been there,” Kendrick said. “I’d love to punch Todd in the damn face. But instead a fireman had the opportunity and let it pass. Should have been some cops there.”
John flashed him a grin. “Well, as usual, the fireman reached the scene first.”
This brought another round of laughter from everyone.
“Touché,” Kendrick conceded.
“I’m afraid you set yourself up for that one,” Jack said. “All right. Let’s focus, though. We need to—”
John stood up. “Shit.”
All eyes were on him.
He began pacing at the front of the room, where Jack stood. Something was coming together in his mind, but he couldn’t quite make it all fit yet.
“This ex-cop. What did he do after he left the force?”
It was Ace who answered. “Started some private security firm.” He made air quotes. “I guess since he’s mobbed up, too.”
“Or… the mob hired his little firm to do their dirty work here in L.A. Shit!” John said.
“They outsourced it,” Jack said, nodding.
John was already running from the den, hurrying upstairs to find his Little girl.