by Sal Bianchi
“Shut up,” Ryan growled, all traces of the pathetic, sniffling man he had been just a moment earlier gone.
“I bet you got angry a lot,” I continued to provoke him. “Is that why you hit her? Because she made you lose your temper? Were you jealous of her position? It must have hurt, having a wife who was more successful than you.”
“I said shut up,” Ryan snapped, his eyes wide and his chest heaving as he drew short, stuttering breaths.
“Then she had to go and make you look bad,” I jeered. “She humiliated you on national television, and you couldn’t take that, so you killed her.”
“I’ll kill you!” he screamed as he lunged over the coffee table at me.
I had been expecting him to lose it at some point, so I was ready when he did. I dodged to the side and avoided the initial blow. His fist collided with the couch behind me, but he recovered quickly. He turned around to try to hit me again, so I ducked down and used his own weight and momentum to flip him onto the ground as he came toward me again.
“Don’t move!” Jase yelled as he drew his gun and pointed it at Ryan. “Put your hands up. You’re under arrest for--”
“Wait,” I called out to stop him. Ryan scrambled to his feet and turned to look at me. “Don’t arrest him. It’s my fault.”
“What?” Jase snapped, a look of confusion on his face. “He just assaulted you.”
“I provoked him.” I shrugged. “Shouldn’t have done that. I think we should just get going now.”
“Wait,” Jase protested as he looked between Ryan and me.
“He’s right,” Ryan barked. “Get the hell out! You think you can just waltz in here and make accusations without any proof? I don’t consent to have you here anymore, so get out!”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes at his posturing. He really didn’t have a leg to stand on, but the plan I had in mind wouldn’t work unless we let him go, so I held my tongue.
“Agent Park, let’s go,” I urged him. He finally seemed to understand that I had something in mind, so he sighed heavily and followed me out of the room.
We were barely into the hallway before Ryan slammed the door shut so forcefully that the sound echoed throughout the empty corridor.
“Okay,” Jase sighed as I led the way back toward the elevator. “Do you want to tell me what that was about?”
“I planted a bug on him,” I explained as we got into the elevator. “I had a suspicion that he would lose it and attack me if I prompted him about the domestic abuse. So we can definitely confirm that he has a bad temper and is liable to become physically aggressive when provoked. I took the opportunity to put a listening device in his pocket when I flipped him.”
“Nick,” Jase hissed as the elevator opened into the lobby. He looked around to make sure no one was listening before he continued speaking. “That’s illegal.”
“Okay, so cover your ears.” I shrugged as we left the hotel and headed back to the car. “I’ll listen to what he says, and then I’ll send an ‘anonymous’ tip to SDCT like I usually do.”
“That’s not…” he grumbled in frustration before lapsing into annoyed silence.
“Come on,” I grinned. “This is the best way to find out if he’s involved. If he is, there’s a good chance he’ll try to do some kind of damage control. This way, we can keep tabs on what he says and does.”
“Fine,” Jase sighed. “Just hurry up and turn it on.”
“On it,” I replied as I dug my phone out of my jacket pocket. The bug would transmit a signal to an app on my phone. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be too muffled from being in his pocket for us to hear anything.
At first, all we could hear was static, then, Ryan began to mutter something.
“No, no, no. This can’t be real,” he said. He sounded genuinely concerned.
I turned the volume up, so we’d both be able to hear it well. For a few more moments, there was just more staticky silence, until I heard a faint beeping, like buttons being pressed.
“Hello?” Ryan asked shakily. “I need to see you. No, I need to see you now.”
“He’s talking to someone on the phone,” Jase muttered as we continued to listen.
“No, I don’t care!” Ryan yelled. “Meet me at the same place as before. Yes, the restaurant downtown. No, you need to come now. I’m not asking. I’ll talk to the cops if I don’t see you there in half an hour.”
He stopped speaking then, and there was a rush of noise on the other end of the line, as though he was walking quickly around the room.
“Well, that didn’t help him look any less guilty,” Jase grumbled as he pulled on his seatbelt.
“No kidding,” I scoffed as I waited for him to appear. Just a few minutes later, he burst through the front doors of the hotel and toward a bright red car parked near the entrance. I waited until a few seconds after he’d left to begin tailing him in order to keep it from being too obvious.
I followed him all the way downtown, to where the beaches and bright skies gave way to towering buildings and pitch black asphalt. As I parked on the other side of the street and watched him head inside, I got a feeling of deja vu. My day had started tailing a man into a restaurant just like this.
I could hear the sounds of people chattering and silverware clanging against dishes as the man weaved through the crowded restaurant. I couldn’t see him from here, but we should be able to hear everything he said. For a long time, the only thing we heard was the sounds of the restaurant.
“It’s about time,” Ryan finally hissed a few minutes after we arrived. It was a little more difficult to hear him now over all the background noise, but I could still make out what he was saying.
“Why did you call me out here?” A different voice demanded. I frowned in surprise. It was a little difficult to tell with certainty, but the voice sounded distinctly feminine. “We agreed last night after what happened that we’re supposed to be lying low.”
“You tell me,” Ryan retorted angrily. “Why are the police coming to see me? This isn’t what was supposed to happen! And now, even the feds are showing up to harass me. You must have messed something up!”
“Be quiet,” the female voice snapped. “Stop talking about this while we’re in public. Are you sure you weren’t followed?”
“What do you mean followed?” Ryan asked.
“Are you really this stupid?” the woman scoffed. “You just told me the feds were knocking on your door earlier today. Did you really head straight here without making sure you weren’t being followed?
“W-well, I…” Ryan stuttered. He’d rushed here in such haste that he obviously hadn’t stopped to consider the possibility at all. “Stop trying to change the subject! You were supposed to make sure that nothing could be traced back to me. My own son saw what happened! His life was put in danger because of you!”
My jaw dropped, and I looked over at Jase, who looked just as shocked as I felt. There was no denying that these two were brazenly discussing the senator’s murder.
“Shut up,” the woman hissed. “You know what? I’m out. You’re going to get us both caught if you keep running your mouth like this. Just stay quiet and don’t talk to the feds. You know none of this can be traced back to you.”
There was a sound like a chair scraping and then a rush of footsteps.
“We need to move in now,” I declared. “She’s about to flee.”
Jase nodded, and we both got out of the car at once and began to make our way quickly across the street. A car blared on its horn at us as we stepped into the path of traffic.
“What are you doing, you stupid--” One of the drivers stuck their head through the window to scream, but I ignored him and continued to weave my way through the slowly moving lines of cars.
We stepped through the door of the cafe just as a woman wearing a grey hoodie was about to step out. She stopped and glanced up at me. She had the hood of her jacket pulled up over her head, so I couldn’t see clearly what her face looked like.
&nb
sp; “Excuse me,” she muttered as she attempted to walk around me and to the door. I stepped into her path to block her from getting to the exit.
“Why don’t we just sit down and have a calm discussion?” Jase suggested quietly. He probably wanted to diffuse the situation as calmly and peacefully as possible. The restaurant was small, and it was filled to the brim with people. It would be difficult to have a fight in such tight quarters.
I glanced up at the other patrons in the restaurant. No one else seemed to be paying attention to our conversation, aside from Ryan, whose face was ashen white as he stared directly at us.
I looked back down at the woman and witnessed the moment that realization flashed through her eyes.
“All right,” she replied quietly as she hunched her shoulders and buried her hands in the pockets of her jacket. To anyone else, it might have seemed like a sign of guilt or fear, but I immediately recognized it for the ruse it was.
“Gun!” I yelled even before I saw the metallic glint emerge from the pocket of her jacket.
I moved instinctively, years of mafia training coming in handy as I dove to the ground just as the shot went off. There was a split second of stunned silence as everyone in the restaurant froze in reaction to the gunshot. Then, chaos broke loose as everyone began to panic.
Some people shot up from their tables and tried to run for the exits. Others threw themselves to the ground for cover. This resulted in a stampede of people tripping and trampling over the ones cowering on the floor.
I cursed internally as I shot to my feet and looked frantically around the restaurant. I spotted the woman’s gray hoodie immediately as she made a break for the back of the building. I lifted my gun, but there were too many people in the way. If I fired now, I might accidentally hit one of the civilians instead.
I began to shove my way through the swarm of people attempting to make their way to the exit, but she was smaller and thinner than I was, and was able to slip past people more easily than me. I’d only made it halfway through the restaurant before the woman ducked out through the rear fire exit.
“Damn it,” I growled as I continued to make my way after her. I was nearly there when I caught a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye. It was Ryan, clumsily scrambling over a table and attempting to escape through the front entrance. I hesitated for a moment as I tried to decide who to pursue. Ultimately I decided to turn around and go for Ryan. I’d already lost sight of the woman, and if I tried to go after her, we might lose both of them.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I yelled as I gripped him by the arm and yanked him back forcefully. He lost his balance, and I used the opportunity to push him over and pin him face down onto one of the tables.
“Stop!” he coughed as I pressed his ribcage onto the rim of the table, compressing his lungs and making it hard for him to draw a full breath. “This is police brutality!”
“Too bad for you,” I smirked. “I’m not the police.”
“Nick, there you are,” Jase called from behind me. “Sorry, I got pushed back as soon as people started rushing the door. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I grunted as I eased off Ryan so that Jase could take over handcuffing him. “The woman got away, though.”
“We’ll get her,” Jase replied reassuringly. “The restaurant has security cameras. I’m sure we caught her face on one of them.”
“Yeah,” I muttered without confidence. She’d been wearing her hood up the entire time, and she’d clearly been on the defensive from the moment she entered. Somehow I didn’t think our odds were very good now that she had slipped away from us.
“Was anyone hurt?” I asked.
“I don’t think so.” Jase shook his head as he pulled Ryan up off the table and guided him toward the entrance. “It seemed like everyone got out safely. I’ll call for backup just to make sure.”
“All right.” I nodded as we stepped out of the restaurant.
The crowd gathered outside watched as Jase pulled Ryan along. Many of them were holding their phones out in front of them to document the event. I pursed my lips together, half amused and half concerned about the idea of what would happen once those videos got back to my brother. As fun as it was to annoy him, logically, I knew it wasn’t a good idea to irritate the mafia, and being caught on camera assisting a fed in an arrest was certain to irritate them.
“Oh well,” I thought to myself as I watched Jase hand Ryan over to the police. I’d just have to deal with the consequences when they came.
10
Jase
The atmosphere in the office was tense. After the arrest, Ryan Rothschild had been taken to the hospital. He’d claimed that he was injured when Nick grabbed him and had moaned and complained dramatically until he was taken away in an ambulance. Even though I was certain that he was faking it, we couldn’t deny a suspect medical treatment, especially with so many people recording the incident. In the meantime, we were in Agent Stein’s office going over the security tapes with Chloe.
“This is why I keep saying he’s a liability,” Agent Owens hissed venomously at us. I wasn’t even sure why she was in here. If I recalled correctly, she and Theo were currently on a different case. It really seemed like she went out of her way to harass Nick any time he was here. “Now, the SDCT is going to get in trouble because some wannabe action hero decided to put his hands on a suspect when he doesn’t even have the authority to make arrests.”
Nick, who was leaning against the desk and resting his chin on his palm, turned to glance at her. He’d been doing a pretty impressive job of ignoring her since she’d come in, but I guess even he was capable of losing his temper.
To my surprise, though, he didn’t get angry. On the contrary, he shot her the same charming smile I’d seen him use on girls every time we’d gone out drinking. The look on Bette’s face was murderous. In hindsight, it had probably been more effective than any verbal barb that he could have come up with.
“Bette,” Chloe sighed as she turned away from the computer screen. “Did you come in here just to pick a fight? If you don’t have anything important to contribute, could you just leave? You’re distracting me.”
Bette rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything else before turning on her heel and stalking out of the room.
“What’s her problem?” Agent Stein chuckled.
“She’s got a severe case of sanctimony,” Chloe smirked as she turned her attention back to the video feed playing on the screen. “One of the worst plagues to ever afflict mankind. Anyway, I know I said she was distracting me, but honestly, there isn’t much here.”
My shoulders drooped in disappointment. Chloe was an expert in human behavior, and she could usually tell a lot about a person without ever even speaking to them, just by observing the way they walked and carried themselves. We’d asked her to go over the security tapes from the restaurant to see if she could pick up anything significant from either Ryan's or the woman’s behavior. Agent Stein had even managed the pull up the recordings from some of the cameras from stores across the street for her to review.
“Ryan seems nervous,” she explained. “And the woman seems agitated and hostile, judging from the position of her shoulders and the way Ryan seems to cower away from her despite being bigger. That much is obvious, but I can’t really tell much else from this distance, especially without being able to see her face. Sorry, I know this isn’t telling you anything you didn’t already know.”
“Don’t apologize.” Nick smiled. “It’s still helpful. Now we know that she had something on him, if he was cowering from her. Thank you, Agent Summers.”
I watched as Agent Summers beamed and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, and I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. I wouldn’t go as far as Bette did, but even I had to admit that watching Nick flirt with every woman who crossed his path could get old pretty fast.
“Well, if you kids are done, would you mind taking it somewhere else?” Stein suddenly piped up. “
My office is getting kind of crowded.”
“Kids?” Chloe scoffed indignantly. “I’m thirty-one.”
“Sorry,” Agent Stein chuckled. “All of you new agents seem like kids to me. I have a daughter about your age, and sometimes I forget that she’s an adult now, too. Crazy how fast time flies by.”
Now that he mentioned it, there was a pretty large disparity between the ages of the administration and the field agents. Director Markus Flint, Assistant Director Lila Abrahms, and Agent Marshall Stein were all in their late forties and fifties.
When the SDCT was established, the three of them had been the ones assigned to oversee it. Because the organization was so new and unknown, most of the agents hired were rookies with little experience. It had been stressful, at times, to have an organization managed almost entirely by newbies, but I liked to think it had also made us more united. We’d all started on the same level and on an even playing field.
“Jase,” Nick suddenly called, breaking me out of my thoughts. “Let’s go, man.”
I realized then that Nick and Chloe had already left the office while I had spaced off again. Nick was waiting for me patiently. It was something I’d always appreciated about him. Even though he’d tease me about it occasionally, he never got annoyed or angry at me for getting distracted like I did. I used to get bullied for it a lot until Nick started hanging out with me in high school. Everyone had been too afraid of him then to bother me anymore.
I quickly left the office and followed him back over to my desk in the bullpen.
“So, what do we do now?” Nick mused out loud as he took a seat on my desk. I sank into my chair as I thought it over.
“It’s weird,” I muttered. “On the phone, Ryan was the one barking out orders, saying that she better meet him right now or he’d go to the police. But Chloe said that on the video, it looked like she was in the one in control and that he was the one cowering in fear.”