Chapter 10 #3
“He’s been transferred to New York, but he still won’t talk.
He’s not asking for a lawyer either. He was told about Arlene but apparently there wasn’t even so much as a flicker in his gaze.
So he’s either stone cold or expects to be the next clean up job to happen and is okay with meeting his maker.
Either way, he’s not helping. We’re tearing their lives apart and have found that our assumption on the US arm of the bigger operation is correct.
She was leading this team with her half-brother as the liaison.
Now it looks as if the EU team is cutting off the rot and distancing themselves from the US kidnapping team.
There is no information on the EU members at this point.
Everything anybody gets is being sent to Interpol.
They will take over the case there. We are handling the US side of it. ”
Hayden replied, “I want to interview Brandon, see if I can get him on our side. Get him to talk. They let me talk to the Hulk, so I want in to talk to Brandon.”
“I’ll set it up, but Arlene’s murder makes him a bigger target. It’s a hell of a deal when they can reach these people while in jail or prison. Brandon’s a sitting target.”
“Exactly. The big guy was also killed in jail.”
“The Hulk, the one who committed suicide,” he shared, with a note of amusement.
“Yes, him, which obviously is a nice and clean way for everybody to put that, but we know that it’s unlikely to be the truth.”
“It’ll be the truth as far as the official files go because we don’t have evidence to prove any differently, at least not at this time.”
“And Arlene’s death was also not unexpected.”
“No, not unexpected, just not quite what we were looking for in a prison setting. Only security guards should have weapons.”
“Damn it, she would have had answers too.”
“Yeah, she would have had answers if we could have gotten her to talk, and, of course, that’s why she’s dead.
She’d already been picked up once. The big bosses couldn’t be sure whether she had spoken to the local cops or not, but the chances of her working on a plea deal, trading information for a lesser sentence, was probably too much for them to risk.
That would be my take on it anyway,” Mason shared.
“Yeah,” Hayden agreed, “but that means they’ll be coming back after Andrea.”
“No doubt, as they already are.”
“Damn it, I was hoping to get her out of here before too much more shit went down.”
“Too late,” Mason declared cheerfully.
Hayden added, “We have so many out there after her.”
“How many are there?”
“Hard to say. We had those three strangers interested in her car. Another trio interested in her apartment. All captured on police sketches and distributed to you and the team.”
“Oh, yeah, that reminds me,” Mason interrupted.
“The unknown man in the hotel room with Arlene, he matches one of those men in the six latest sketches. I figure he’ll be found dead soon enough, since he too spoke to Arlene.
So we figure those six from the sketches were just locals, hired for surveillance or kidnapping or whatever, right? ”
“Yeah,” Hayden confirmed. “Along with the two guys who followed us to the mall. Yet I would bet good money that they had more people on us than just that pair. Plus the shooter at the other safe house, and the guy who attacked Trent. I never got a good look at our shooter, and Oakley just missed Trent’s attacker. And these are just the foot soldiers.”
Mason asked, “But you figure some of the bosses are after Andrea now?”
Hayden agreed. “Yes. Both big bosses could be converging here, the one over the European arm and elsewhere across the pond, plus the one over the US arm. Obviously Arlene and her half-brother Brandon were not the masterminds here in the States. Still, with the ongoing demise of the US arm contingent, the European boss may be taking over the whole operation. Hell, he may have already popped the big boss over the US arm. We can’t be sure that some major power play isn’t happening here, whether an outer threat or someone within their own organization.
No matter, someone is getting rid of loose ends, wanting to take over the whole operation,” Hayden offered.
Mason added, “We don’t know for sure that whoever took out Arlene isn’t somebody else within the US arm of the organization just trying to move up the ranks. So, watch your back.” With that, he disconnected.
Hayden was left staring down at the phone with a sense of déjà vu.
It seemed anytime they got somewhere on one of these damn cases, something blew up.
It wasn’t that he didn’t have a ton of experience in this stuff.
He did. It’s just every time they got close enough to some possible intel to think that they could really get somewhere, shit would blow up, and they weren’t anywhere near as close to some evidence as they thought they were. That seemed to be happening now.
Death of the bad guys all too often prevented the good guys from making any real progress on theses cases.
Hearing a sound nearby, he headed into the bedroom, where Andrea was curled up on top of the covers. When he sat down beside her, she opened her eyes and smiled at him sleepily. “Why are you sleeping on top of the covers?” he asked.
“I just crashed,” she muttered, as she reached out a hand. “Did you get any sleep?”
“I got some,” he lied, “but I’m worried about you. How are you doing?”
“I’m fine.” She sat up and asked, “How’s Trent?”
“Trent’s doing okay. He’ll be fine. Otherwise, I would have taken him to the hospital.”
“Right,” she muttered, relaxing back.
“I also spoke to your father.”
She stared up at him and then groaned. “Of course. He called you, didn’t he?”
“Yes, he did.”
She grimaced. “Sorry. I had my phone off because I was sleeping. So that would make sense why he called you then. What did he want?”
“He just wanted to confirm that we’re looking after you,” he replied.
She peered in the darkness and then looked back at him, squarely in his eyes. “Did he threaten you?”
“No, of course not,” he replied. “Why would he?”
She thought about it and then told him the truth. “Because he’s done that in the past … with my boyfriends.”
“Wow, no, he didn’t. And I wouldn’t be the kind to threaten easily.”
“I know that,” she confirmed. “Yet he’s also not the kind to back off.”
“So, does he ever expect you to have a partner and to enjoy life even a little bit?”
“I don’t think so,” she replied, her tone slightly off. “I mean, if he had it his way, I would be living in a monastery—as a nun.”
He laughed at that. “Good thing he didn’t get his way, huh?”
She smiled. “Is that coffee I smell?”
“Yes, it is. I just put on a pot.”
“I’ll be there in a minute.” As she swung her legs over the side of the bed and went to sit up, she grabbed her head with both hands. “Uh-oh, everything’s spinning.”
“Take it easy. Don’t get up so fast. It’s been a rough couple days for you.”
“It hasn’t been that bad,” she muttered, staring down at the churning floor around her.
Hayden snorted. “You may say that, but you’re the one who’s looking mighty dazed all of a sudden.”
She shrugged, saying, “I’ll be fine. Just give me a minute.” He watched and waited, and then she finally nodded. “Okay, everything’s settling down a bit.”
“Good. And where are you going now?”
She got up and nudged him toward the door. “I’ll go to shower, and then I’ll come have coffee with you.”
He took the hint and headed back into the kitchen. As he was pouring coffee, he got a message from Oakley.
We got company.
Hayden swore, then headed to the bedroom where Trent was still asleep. As soon as Hayden placed a hand on his shoulder, Trent’s eyes opened right up.
He was immediately on alert. “Problems?”
“We’ve got company.”
He stood up, shaking off the shadows of whatever had been holding him under. “That’s a hell of a way to wake up,” he muttered, as he looked around, found his weapon beside him, checked it, then put it in his pocket, yet still held it in his left hand. He asked, “Where is she?”
“She went to the bathroom and was about to come out for coffee. I’ll go get her.”
He headed to the bathroom, and, when he pounded on the door, she snapped, “I’m coming already.” But when she opened the door, she was only half-dressed. “What’s the matter?”
“We have company. Get dressed. Now.” His voice was like ice.