Vindication- Ties That Bind

by Patricia Kasdan

  45

  Travis and The Tramp

  Travis ended the call with Krista and flew down the hall. He burst into Boyd’s office as if he was on fire.

  “In a hurry?”

  “The Tramp, the info that dirt bag Tweak gave us, it might just be gold.”

  “I haven’t been having any luck deciphering the damn name. I presume you have?”

  “Jeffery Mitkin. “The Tramp” is Jeffery Mitkin.”

  “What? Did you pull that out of your ass?”

  “Krista, Special Agent Levell, she called to ask for my help with her father. I’m sure you know the entire story. She wanted me to help her look into some leads she thinks she has. While we were talking, she mentioned how her father would call Mitkin, The Tramp. When she said it, it all clicked. The day Tweak gave me the name; it kept tapping in the back of my head. It wasn’t until she said it again today did I remember. She had told me her father called him that because he almost trampled him with his horse on the day they met.”

  “If that’s the case, what I uncovered in these files puts another nail in his coffin. Mitkin, Doltz, and Hendricks are the main players. It’s all here in black and white. He’s been in front of us all along, and now we can finally connect him.”

  “We need to get surveillance on him and quick. If our intel is correct, he’s got to be scrambling to meet the new deadline.”

  “Can you have the Electronics Department(ED) check GPS coordinates of his phone?”

  “I’ll run it past Edwards.”

  “Okay.”

  When Travis got back to his office, he saw he had a missed call. He played the message and started swearing. “Damn it, Krista, I told you NOT to call him.”

  Looking at the time, he had just enough time to loop in his director. Hanging up the phone, he grabbed his coat and keys and flew back out of the door. As he passed Boyd’s desk, he yelled, need to get into Camden and fast. I’ll have my phone on high. Call me if you get a location on Mitkin.”

  Travis jogged out of the building and through the parking lot. He went directly to his Mustang; he wasn’t about to take the DEA’s beater car. He jumped into the car, fired it up and backed out of his parking spot, punching the gas he reached for his phone and called Krista. Her cell had rung four times before it went to voicemail. There is no way she is there already.

  He almost sideswiped the car he was passing, turning the wheel at the last minute, avoiding the crash. The driver of the other car leaned on his horn and gave him the finger. Travis was about to return the favor when he decided he didn’t need to get into a road rage match. Instead of bending his fingers he just slightly waved his hand, mouthing, “Sorry.” Getting flipped off again was the only thing it accomplished.

  This time he pushed a button on his phone, when it beeped he said, “Call Krista Levell.”

  “Calling Krista Levell.”

  The phone rang another four times and went to voicemail again. He decided he’d leave a message.

  “Krista, I told you not to call him, not only did you call him, you went to meet him. Are you out of your mind? I am heading to Camden now. Call me back and let me know where you are meeting him.”

  He ended the call and slammed his hand on the steering wheel, frustration rolling over him like a wave. She should have waited until I called her back. Not only can she be walking into a trap, but she could also blow their entire investigation.

  He downshifted into fourth rocketing down the road.

  Krista had left her apartment and was about half hour in front of Travis. She had hoped he would return her call; she could have used some backup. I'm not about to wait on him, who knows what he was doing. Travis is going to be ticked off that I called Jeff, my Uncle my ass. What a worthless piece of human skin.

  She reached for her phone to see if she missed Travis’s call, but couldn’t find it. She felt around her briefcase and under the seat as best she could while driving. The charger, I left it plugged into the charger on the counter. I’m not turning around now, I’ll be late, and he won’t wait.

  She was about two miles away from the building in Camden when she thought to see if her gun was in the glove box. She usually took it out and locked it in the safe in her living room. Going back and forth from Manhattan and Camden and then into Philly, she had been locking it in her glove box so not to forget it. Relief flooded her when she felt the leather holster.

  She turned down the street, pulled up behind Jeff’s SUV and killed her engine. Her heart was hammering in her chest. This is for you Dad. She took her gun out of its holster and slid it into her waistband near the small of her back. Pulling her coat over it, she walked into the building.

  46

  The Truth

  The moment Krista cleared the door, Jeff stepped out of the shadows. He had a .45 with an attached silencer, pointed directly at the center of her body.

  “You stupid, stupid, bitch, you couldn’t leave well enough alone. You had to dig and dig and dig. They’ll be digging a grave for you.”

  Travis pulled up behind Krista’s car, and he spotted Jeff’s SUV. His heart was pumping in his chest as he ran down the street. Where the fuck could she be? He headed towards the building on York Street, knowing it was Jeff’s shell company’s address. Praying he wasn’t too late, he took off running.

  The back door was cracked open, pulling his gun from its holster, he slowly opened the door enough to slide through. After a couple of steps, he heard Jeff’s voice. He yanked his cell phone out of his pocket and turned the voice recorder on and his ringer off, swiftly moving towards the sound of Krista’s voice, stepping like a wind blowing across an open field.

  As he got closer, he heard Krista words come tumbling out as she said, “You were supposed to be my father’s friend, and you had him killed. All this time and I never knew, I never even thought to look at you. You promised him over and over again, if anything happened to him you’d be there. I called you Uncle. You were like a brother to him. It was all a lie.”

  “I liked you, Krista, I honestly liked you. You were a good kid growing up, but you got too nosey. The facts presented to you were unacceptable. “You just couldn’t let go. Why didn’t you just let it go?”

  “Let it go? Why would I do that? They were my parents. They were supposed to be your friends; my parents were supposed to be your friends. How could I have been so blind?”

  Travis could hear Krista voice shaking. Hold it together Krista, just hold it together.

  “I don’t understand; you helped me with Evan, you helped me find him.”

  “That was just stupid luck on my part. I wasn’t looking for him. I could have cared less where he was. I wanted you to worry about him; I wanted you to be distracted and keep your nose out of my business. That’s all you had to do.”

  Your stupid ass brother, he was another story. He was so pliable, tell him anything, and he believed it, I guess some apples don’t fall far from the tree. He was just like your father.” Jeff’s laugh sounded like a madman’s to Travis. “He was easier though, get him hooked on some H and he became your problem, not mine.”

  “You, you did that? You son-of-a-bitch. Why? Why would you do that?”

  “Don’t put that on me; it’s your fault. I had to keep you off our scent, and it worked. You had to keep an eye on him, and you were distracted, just the way I wanted you. The minute they arrested him, I went from thinking it was just what I needed to keep you busy, realizing I couldn’t have asked for a better situation, to a feeling of dread. When you were trying to exonerate him, I figured it was going to cause trouble, you nosing around Camden. With you running around with that DEA agent, it didn’t do much to ease my mind. It worked until you got him out of prison. Then what do you go and do? You go right back to sniffing around. You’re like a dog with a bone; you never let go.”

  Travis was almost down the hall; he just needed to get on the opposite side of the building and fast. He could hear the hatred rising in Jeff’s voice, with each passin
g sentence.

  “My father was a good man. He didn’t deserve to die and have his name smeared. And what did my mother ever do to you except be kind to you, and what do you do? You had her killed.”

  “That’s where you are wrong; I didn’t have her killed, I killed them. I slammed the van into their car; I did it. I wanted to make damn sure the job was done right.”

  “Your father was an idiot, as smart as they come, but an idiot. I knew I should keep him close and there wouldn’t be anything I couldn’t accomplish. My ole’ man was the first to tell me that. Your father trusted my every word. He never had a clue about the drugs, he thought it was all about real estate and talk about naive, never knew how connected he was to the Russian mob. He thought I didn’t know about his father and the scam he tried to pull. He thought he could hide all of the Rubles your grandfather stole from the mob, millions of dollars’ worth. Why do you think I stayed so close to you? I know you have them stashed and when I return them, it will be me who has a territory that only I control. I will be calling the shots.”

  “What are you talking about, I don’t have any Rubles; Are you crazy? Even If I did, you would be the last person I would be giving them to.”

  “If you think I’m stupid, I’m not. Where the fuck did your father hide them? Either tell me, or I’ll put a bullet through your skull without a second thought.”

  “It was just what you said. It was a scam. My father told me about it; I was in the first year of law school. Somehow, the story blew up, as most bullshit does. My grandfather never had a single ruble, just a bunch of potatoes.”

  Lowering his gun slightly he said, “You lying bitch, I’ll end you like I did your father, I’ll drop you where you stand.” Jeff took another step closer to Krista, “I don’t need you, there’s still Dana. I’ll get what I need from her.”

  Travis had made his way around the inside of the building, and he was positioned just out of sight. He watched as Krista reached for her gun. Before she could get her hand around to her back, Jeff stepped closer and went to raise his gun. He was about to pull his trigger, Travis exploded from the shadows, pressing the barrel of his gun against Jeff’s temple. “DEA, fucker, drop it. Don’t make me shoot you, not now, not yet. You have some answers I want.”

  Krista pulled her gun and had it cocked and loaded before the next breath came out of her.

  As Travis was cuffing Jeff, he could see the rage flashing in Krista’s eyes. She hadn’t holstered her weapon.

  “He killed my parents, he killed my parents and hooked Evan on heroin. He destroyed my family. Now, I’m going to destroy him.”

  “Krista, holster you gun.”

  “Not happening.”

  Travis could see her entire body vibrating, her eyes boring holes into him as she spoke. “Levell, holster your weapon, I can’t stand here and watch you destroy your life over this piece of trash.”

  “He, he is the one who destroyed my life. He has to pay.”

  “And he will, I can help you there. I heard everything; I had my phone recording your conversation. I - heard - everything.” He looked at Krista, his eyes pleading, “Holster your weapon.”

  He watched as she slowly lowered her arm and slid her gun into its holster. He exhaled as he nodded towards her, he grabbed Jeff’s arm and yanked him forward as they walked to the car. “Jeffery Mitkin, you are under arrest for attempted murder, murder, money laundering, drug trafficking, tax evasion and anything else we can slap you with. You have the right to remain silent…” Travis finished reading him his rights as he opened the back door to his car and pushed Jeff into the car.

  “I sent a text to Boyd to get down here with a squad. I don’t want to take him in my car; it’s not secure. I want him locked up tight.”

  “How did you know I was here?”

  “I had Boyd hit up his GPS after I heard your voicemail. I knew you would be walking into an ambush.”

  “I don’t understand. How?”

  “We were looking into other intel we got and hit pay dirt. Hendricks was going to Camden to kill Mitkin. Hendricks and Doltz set it up. It’s all laid out in the phone tap recordings. Boyd and I went down to U drive, Hendrick’s car was there, inside it were detailed notes and files. Mitkin, as well as Doltz, are all over this. We’re going to bust this ring wide open.”

  Krista reached for Travis’s arm, her hand tapping it over and over as her breath caught in her throat.

  “Krista, are you okay? You’re as white as snow.”

  She tried to steady her breathing, but her voice hitched as she said, “I can help with that.”

  She walked him through how she figured out her father’s cloud account and all that she found in the files, which were in it, audio as well as the documents. As she was finishing, Boyd pulled up and stepped out of the car.

  “We got him, we got him and the entire fucking ring, they are ours. Get that bastard out of my car; I’ll meet you at headquarters and fill you in. Krista, I have a recording I think you may want to hear.”

  Krista slowly turned her head towards Boyd as she shoved her hands into her coat pockets. “What is it?”

  “We dug up a call put into the FBI’s switchboard. A burner cell made the call, but we identified the voice. It’s your father, he was calling to report, and I quote ‘a drug trafficking and money laundering ring.’ Why he hung up, I guess we’ll never know. It looks like he was coming clean.”

  “No, not coming clean, he wasn’t involved. I found my father’s files sitting in the cloud, waiting for me to extract them. They incriminate the entire organization. There was a recording from him. He wanted to make sure his family was safe before he took it to the authorities. That’s why he hung up. He realized we would be in harm's way.

  47

  The Beginning

  Travis rubbed his stomach as he leaned back in his chair, exhaling a swish of air. “That was some good eats, too bad Boyd had to go to his in-laws, he missed out.”

  “Dana and I wanted to have the three of you to dinner, for all the work you did to clear her dad’s name. We sent him a bottle of Cristal after we received his call. It sounded like he would rather put a dress on and run through the streets of Manhattan, then go to his in-laws.”

  Travis almost spit his wine across the table. “Sorry, I got a visual.”

  “Wow Travis, I almost forgot, I got a call from Griffin this morning. You know the Indian burial ground that was uncovered in Manhattan? They were having a difficult time trying to find the contractor responsible. They kept running into roadblocks, the name of the company turned out to be a shell company, much like everything else.”

  “Yeah, I know, you told me that last week.”

  “Well, after some searching, they uncovered the owner. Sasha Mitkin aka Alex Mitkin, Jeffery Mitkin’s father.”

  “Wait, the contractor -?”

  “I guess the apple is falling or the trees not standing; however you say it, is true. Talk about karma, you took his son down and put another mark on their family name.”

  “That’s my hard-ass sister for you.”

  “Between what she uncovered in the cloud, the recording I made and the files Boyd found in Nelson’s car and home, Jeffery Mitkin will be in jail for the rest of his life. With the two murder charges alone, life without parole is the usual sentence. You add tax evasion and money laundering to the mix. Not to mention his connections to one of the biggest drug busts in the past three decades.”

  Krista smiled saying, “And Craig Doltz got hit pretty hard too. He thought he could out-lawyer his way through to the side of innocents. Trying to pin everything on a dead man. Nelson outsmarted them. Well, other than getting himself shot. I wish I had taken a picture of their faces when the files Nelson hoarded, came into evidence. You would have thought the prosecutor didn’t disclose them.”

  It was Travis’s turn to smile, “Oh, he did, he just buried them amongst everything your father had in the cloud along with all of our investigation notes. Doltz thought he
could use the defense that Anton - your dad, fabricated his files.” He looked across the table to Krista, “We make a good team, you ever think about joining the DEA?”

  “I’m happy right where I am. And, yes we do. Slam Dunk.”

  Dana pushed her chair back and started to stand saying, “Okay who’s ready for dessert?”

  “Dessert? Tom, you out-did yourself. Everything was wonderful; if I eat any more, I’ll burst. I couldn’t decide between the angel hair pasta or the polenta and roasted asparagus, to have with the chicken piccata.”

  Tom couldn’t help but laugh, “I noticed, so you had it all. I’ll never understand where you put all that food.”

  Dana smiled as she said, “My father's favorite line was, ‘she had a hollow leg’. She has some appetite.”

  Travis raised an eyebrow as he shook his head. “That’s kinda what I figured too, a hollow leg. She can out eat me any day. Speaking of eating, I would like to thank you again for inviting me to dinner.”

  Tom looked at Dana and then to Krista, “No Travis, we would like to thank you. First off, for helping Krista and keeping her safe - “

  “Excuse me; I can take care of myself.”

  “That’s what I thought when I saw you in Jeff-“ Travis stopped in mid-sentence. “Yes, you can.”

  With her chin pointing towards her chest, Krista looked up through her lashes. “Thank you very much. But seriously, thank you for having my back.”

  Travis’s corner of his mouth lifted as he tilted his head to the side and squinted his eye, slightly nodded his head.

  Tom laughed before clearing his throat as he stood. “Okay, now with that catastrophe averted, Dana and I have something we would like to tell you.”

  “Tom wait, the call hasn’t gone through yet. He can’t call until eight o’clock, and it’s only seven fifty-nine.”