Chapter 27: Chapter twenty-six

Present day

 

“You did what?” Mike asked, staring at his partner across their usual table at the diner.

“I stole the FBI’s records.”

“But what about my guy in OPR? I thought we agreed to wait for the investigation.”

Alesha shook her head. “Nothing was happening there. There’s already one dirty Fed involved in this. Who knows who else is dirty?”

Mike’s stomach churned at that. But no, she didn’t know anything or she wouldn’t be telling Mike any of this. He was safe.

That thought did little to improve his mood.

“So,” he said. “What did you find?”

Alesha took out her phone, opened her photos, and passed it to Mike. She had gotten the records of which agents had been assigned which leads. The agent that had looked into the laboratory supplies was named Branson. Mike had seen him in the taskforce briefings. Tall guy, blonde. Seemed to think he was better than other folk. Probably figured he wasn’t being paid enough for how great he was and started working both sides to make up the difference.

Not that Mike was in a position to be judgmental.

Mike started to sweat. The photos were like a ticking bomb. They would set off a chain of events that would almost certainly end with him dead or in prison.

“Did you check that Branson actually talked to them himself?” Mike asked, thinking of anything that would buy time. He was sure he could figure some way out of the situation he had gotten himself into if he only had more time. “We don’t want to go accusing anyone before we know all the facts.”

“I asked around,” Alesha said. “I couldn’t be too obvious about it, but yeah, I’m pretty sure he went himself.”

There goes that idea, Mike thought. Alesha really was turning into a very fine detective. He would be proud if her investigation wasn’t going to lead to him.

Outwardly, he just nodded.

“We need to chase down the other leads he was assigned, as well as any that he covered for another agent. If he concealed evidence here, he might have done it in other places.”

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Another nod. That was sensible.

“Then we can take all the evidence to OPR. Missing one detail in a report could be sloppy police-work, but if there’s a pattern, then they won’t be able to ignore it.”

That wasn’t the time-buying tactic Mike had been hoping for. Looking into that would pit him directly against the man who had him under his thumb. And the thing about being under someone’s thumb is it’s the easiest thing in the world for them to crush you.

If he turned up evidence that Gino wanted buried, he would find probably find himself face down in a ditch somewhere. Even if he managed to avoid that fate, the investigation would lead to him eventually. The tips he had given Gino would come to light and he would wind up in prison. Which, to Mike’s way of thinking, might be even worse than death. Though, for a cop in prison, death would follow soon enough.

But what was the alternative; tipping off Gino that Alesha was onto him? That would probably keep him safe, but it meant throwing his partner under the bus, perhaps literally. Gino would have someone kill Alesha, of that Mike had no doubt, and he couldn’t do that. He might be scum, but he wasn’t a murderer. That was why he had kept Alesha’s name out of his tips after all.

He resolved two things then. First, that he wouldn’t make Alesha pay for his mistakes and if his life was the price, so be it. And second, that he would confess what he had done once this investigation was complete. He still had a little girl to be a role model for, somewhere out there, and he’d be damned if he was going to let her down worse than he already had.

“Mike?” Alesha said, bringing him back to the present moment. He had been staring into space for more than a minute. “Are you with me?”

“Yes,” Mike said, honest for the first time in a long time. “I’m with you.”

 

 

 

The man in black listened back to the detectives’ conversation and reviewed the photos Detective Price had taken. After her last breakthrough, he had invested in breaking into her house and bugging her phone directly. He was happy to know his investment had paid off. Though, of course, the happiness was far enough away from his thoughts that he almost didn’t notice it.

Agent Branson, he thought. He was the Program’s inside man. The man would need to look into the other leads he had been assigned of course, see whether there was anything else in Bryson’s records that Smythe didn’t want the world to know about.

But he had other places to be, other things to do. Detectives Price and Jones were already on this, and the man supposed he could wait for them to find the leads for him, but they could easily miss something.

If he wanted to be both thorough and quick, he would need help. Ideally from an expert in gaining illicit access to financial institutions. And, if that expert happened to be attractive, so much the better.

The man put the car in drive, and took off towards Gwen’s place. He would need to entrust her with more information than he normally did while the detectives confirmed whatever she turned up. The plan involved putting more trust in others than he would normally extend, but it had to be done for the sake of the mission.

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