Ramos #2
I leave the system running while making some things to eat.
With this acting as a safe house, most of the food here is nonperishable or has a longer shelf life.
So my options are limited, and I opt for a box of Mac and cheese, eating it straight from the pot with a giant mixing spoon.
The spoon reminds me of Maizyn and the guilt of lying to them twists in my gut.
Even if I did find a way out of this, she may hate me forever.
Part of me believes Atlas will understand why I did it.
I try shaking the thoughts from my head, but it's of little use.
This is so much harder than I thought it would be.
Just as I finish off the last bite of mac and cheese, my computer dings, letting me know we have action.
Rushing back to the laptop, I see that the script initiated a connection to the listening server, directing the interface over to me, allowing me to access system commands from my laptop.
A few keystrokes later and I'm in, the entire transaction list pulled up on my screen, and I scroll down to the timeframe.
Ramos mentioned looking for any abnormally large deposits, raising red flags.
It takes me an hour of digging through the money, tracking what's coming and going, and who it’s coming from when I find it.
Three million dollars paid to the shell company from WD Navicorp; this has to be it.
I can't think of any other reason for payment that high.
I need to get a hold of Ramos, but not from my phone.
Googling the closest corner store on my laptop.
I memorized the easy directions before rushing out the door of the house.
I speed to the store, parallel parking as close to the front door as I can get. Entering the store in a rush, I grab the first burner phone I see. Then head to the checkout counter. I pay the lady with cash, telling her to keep the change before racing back outside.
I fumble with the burner phone, rushing to pull it from its pack.
Discarding the trash in the nearby trash can.
This call can set everything in motion; excitement and fear intertwine in my chest. I just hope the information I found is enough to put the nail in the coffin.
Pulling out the crumbled-up napkin containing his number.
I quickly type it into the keypad and hit call before throwing that into the trash as well.
The hair at the back of my neck stands at attention.
It’s very possible someone followed me here.
I hurry to my car, cranking the ignition, just as Ramos answers.
“Ramos speaking.”
“It's me, Gavin.”
“Are you calling from a burner?”
“Yeah, I didn't wanna risk someone hacking the call, I know that sounds paranoid, but if he can find Maizyn, then he can find me. I'm pretty sure I'm already being followed. I want to be careful.”
“Are you okay? Did you need my help with anything?”
“I found something. I think it’s what you might need. But before I tell you what I found, can I ask what your connection plans are for the information?”
“That's pretty simple. They plan to take care of them and the men who carried out the job.”
“Good, that's all I needed to know. Does WD Navicorp mean anything to you? A three million dollar transaction went through from that LLC to the shell company right around the time you said the kidnapping was.”
“I’m not sure if the name means anything. I would have to ask the boss but you found the payment, which is exactly the proof we needed to connect it to Vin. Can you send me the files?
“Yeah, sending it right-”
Crash
“What the hell was that? Are you okay?” His voice rising loud enough that I can hear it over the ringing in my ears.
It takes me a few moments to regain my bearings.
The impact from the airbags causes me to momentarily lose focus.
I take a deep breath, trying to decipher how bad i’ve been injured.
My chest is sore from the seatbelt locking in place; my arm stings from where the airbag probably burnt me, but I don’t think anything is broken.
I pat around for the phone that I dropped while bracing for impact, finding it in the passenger seat.
I bring it back to my ear. “I think so. Someone just clipped my back bumper, pinning me into the guard rail. The airbags deployed, other than a little sore, I feel fine.”
“Out of the car now!” Two voices I don’t recognize scream at me to exit the vehicle.
“Talk to me, Gavin. What’s going on?” Ramos' voice breaks through the line, his rising panic easily heard. If he is panicking, I know this isn’t going to end well.
“Two men with guns are approaching the car. I’m not going to be able to get out of this, Ramos.” I squeeze my eyes shut replaying how amazing yesterday was. I smile at the memory before the thought turns sour. I will probably never see them again and I didn’t even tell them bye.
“Where are you right now?”
Shit! I forgot Ramos was on the phone. His rugged voice breaking me from my thoughts. “Concourse and 5th.”
“Alright. Hang in there, Gavin. We will get you out of this.” He says it with such conviction that I want to believe him.
“Just keep them safe for me.” It takes everything in me to keep my voice from cracking but it’s impossible to mask how despairing the situation is.
My door is yanked open as a gun is pressed to my temple. One man unbuckles my seatbelt while the yanks me from the car yelling into my face. “Hand over your phone now!”
“Gavin! Gavin! Fuck!”
Ramos