The Agent
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Logan glanced at the open doorway of his office at the sound. He was sitting behind his desk, typing away on his computer. A crease appeared between his brows at the sight of me. “Simone,” he greeted, feigning joy to hide his confusion. “What brings you in here on your day off?”
The subtle scent of peppermint from the oil diffuser on his desk greeted me as I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. “Oh, I was going for a long jog and happened to stumble into the neighborhood.”
“You should be resting. Not running.” He tilted his head. “How’s your head?”
“Fine,” I replied with a shrug. I held up the folder I was carrying in my hands. “Since I was in the neighborhood, I thought I could show you some things I found last night that might help with this case.”
“Simone,” he scolded, his voice taking a stern turn. “I gave you time off to relax.”
“I did relax. I binged some reality television while I did my research. Perfect brain rot to combat the heavy stuff I was looking at.”
He sighed. “And what did you find?”
I took some of the documents out of the folder and handed them to Logan.
“Well, Gabriel and I were talking and we definitely think the attack on Lorenzo was professional. Gabriel gave me the street name of a group known for kill-for-hire that were big in the eighties and nineties. We researched crime lords and runners with deep grudges held against them, and with some, we found their deaths were not done as traditionally as others. Some were self-inflicted, some accidental, and a few even appeared to be natural unless you took a closer look at the toxicology report. They were all murdered, but the execution was so precise and clean that they couldn’t pin the classification on it. ”
“Okay…” He leafed through the documents. “What does this have to do with the other night?”
“Before I came in, our murderer had a gun to Lorenzo’s head - not on his forehead, but his temple.
He was going to make it look like a suicide.
Not to mention he had the skill set to bypass our security measures and infiltrate the premises.
” And he also handed my ass to me, but I wasn’t saying that out loud.
“And you think he could be affiliated with this group?”
I nodded. “It’s just a theory for now, but he definitely has training from somewhere.”
Logan gave a cursory glance over one of the case files. “You have a good foundation of research here, but I don’t think I’ll be able to convince the brass that this needs our attention.”
“What? Why not?”
“Because, as useful as Rizzalli was going to be, he and the rest of the people in these files are convicted criminals.”
“What does that have to do with anything? They’re still human beings! Plus, all of these are textbook cases of first degree murder and conspiracy!”
“I understand that, but that doesn’t change the fact that their targets are those that society is better off without.
I mean, look at them: most of them are kingpins and traffickers and killers.
If anything, the brass is going to look at me and tell me this organization is doing our job better than we are. ”
“And what if their target wasn’t a criminal? What if our man killed me the other night? What would the brass say then?”
Logan frowned. “Simone,” he started.
“No. Tell me. How much money and resources would the brass shovel if it were one of their own? Or would they shove my death under the rug too? Considering I’m not their idea of the perfect victim either.”
“Listen, Simone, I’m inclined to agree with you. I am. But, I just don’t want you to put all this work in and be disappointed.”
Too late for that, I thought. Gabriel and I spent hours creating the small portfolio to present to Logan, hoping he’d let us take on the case.
If we managed to find so many deaths in one work session, I could only imagine how many we’d discover if we had more time and resources.
The top of the pile may be criminals, but who knows what we might find when we get closer to the bottom.
I had no doubts there were some innocents buried in there somewhere.
Especially after I almost became one of them.
Logan held the folder out to me. “I’m sorry, Simone,” he said. “The most I’ll be able to press for is an assault on a federal agent, but-”
“Criminals attack us all the time, so they probably won’t even bother. I know.” I snatched the folder out of his hands. “Thanks anyway.”
Frowning, I stood up and made my way back to the door.
“Simone,” my godfather called to me before I could open it.
“Hm?” I asked, looking over my shoulder.
Logan leaned his elbows on the desk and propped his head atop his knuckles. “Rizzali’s death isn’t on you, so you don’t need to compensate for it. Understand?”
I nodded, the words going in one ear and straight out of the other.
“I need you to promise me you’ll drop this. No more research. No more theories. Can you do that?”
“Sure.”
“Promise me, Simone.”
“Okay, I promise,” I said, mentally twisting my index and middle fingers around each other.
One side of Logan’s lips curled in disbelief. With a subtle shake of his head, he quietly dismissed me from his office. I could practically hear the thought cross his mind as I passed through the threshold into the hall. She’s just like her father.
And he was absolutely right.
I was going to take down that arrogant bastard - with or without the FBI’s blessing.