The Grey Zone

by Easton, Don

  “Is that a problem? Tell them it went fine.”

  “I feel like an asshole. They’re really nice people. I bet they’ve been worrying about me ever since Friday. That was four days ago.”

  Laura looked sympathetic. “Okay, I’m off to look for a red Mustang. Good luck.”

  Jack appreciated her giving him some privacy. He sighed as he picked up his phone.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  “Hello, David? This is Bruce. I came over the other —”

  “Oh, Bruce!” David sounded like he was on the verge of tears. “We’ve been on pins and needles. What’s happening?”

  Yeah, I’m an asshole. “Everything’s okay. I paid up and about an hour ago I got my boy back. He hasn’t been hurt … at least not physically. I think everything’s going to be okay.”

  “Oh, what a relief. Jia and I have been sick with worry. We’ve hardly slept. Thank you so much for letting us know. Andy called me this morning to ask if I’d heard from you.”

  Now I really feel bad. “It’s me who should be thanking you. We took your advice and everything went okay.”

  “Listen, now that your son is back, he may need to talk to somebody. If you like, I could pass on the name of the lady who’s helping Tommy. You and your wife may need some counseling, as well. Jia and I found it really difficult afterward. Damn near ruined our marriage. Blaming ourselves, blaming each other. It was —”

  “Sorry, David, but I need to go,” Jack interjected. “I appreciate what you’re saying, though. I’ll talk it over with my wife.”

  “Even if that’s not the route you want to go, we should still get together sometime,” David suggested. “Andy, too. Maybe everyone could come over for a barbecue.”

  “Maybe someday,” Jack replied. “We need some time.”

  “I understand. If you ever feel the need to talk to someone, don’t hesitate to call.”

  “Thank you. I — I need to get back to my family.”

  “No, I understand. Would you like me to pass on the news to Andy?”

  “Please, that’d be great. Listen, I want to get back to hugging my son. I promise I’ll keep in touch. The barbecue sounds like a really nice idea.”

  Jack stared blankly at his phone after he’d ended the call. Yeah, that’ll be a real fun get-together.

  Jack’s next call was to a Corporal Schneider in Commercial Crime. Jack said he was checking out informant information that indicated Powers was involved in a kidnapping.

  It was lunchtime when Laura returned to the office.

  “The red Mustang was still parked behind their apartment,” she advised. “I found Derek’s SUV in a parking lot off the alley that goes past his office. No sign of his van.”

  “It would appear that Peter likes to sleep in.”

  “Which means, I presume, we’ll be pulling some late nights. How’d it go with your call to David? Do you still feel like an asshole?”

  “Like an even bigger one now.”

  “Is that possible?”

  Jack gave his usual lopsided smile. “I want you to find out what led up to Peter’s cocaine charges. While you’re doing that, I’ll try and track down which vehicles Derek and Peter have had access to in the last couple of years. Tomorrow I’ll get Alicia to compare those with the CCTV footage she has from Chung’s case. Could be another nail in Powers’s coffin for down the road.”

  “That’ll keep her busy,” Laura noted.

  Laura finished her call with Drug Section by midafternoon.

  “How’d you make out?” asked Jack.

  “The charge against Peter six years ago was for two kilos of coke that they seized from the trunk of his car. He took the stand and said he’d lent his car to his brother-inlaw, who he suspected was involved with drugs. The judge bought it and dismissed the charge.”

  “That likely reinforced his confidence that it doesn’t take much to outwit the courts,” Jack replied cynically.

  “Word is the judge also called the prosecutor to his bench afterward and gave her hell for charging an innocent person.”

  “No doubt the judge would never believe that an accused might lie in court. The police maybe, but not the accused.”

  “His conviction from two years ago stemmed from being caught by VPD uniform in possession of a quarterpound of cocaine. An informant ordered the coke, and they busted Peter upon delivery. The informant then left town and Peter was later given a fine on a plea deal.”

  “I doubt that curbed his misguided ways.”

  “Seeing as most dopers are nocturnal, do you want to work a night shift?”

  “Friday night would be good.”

  “A sergeant who works surveillance on night shifts? I’m truly aghast,” Laura teased.

  “If this thing goes sideways, we may both be constables again … if we’re lucky.”

  Later in the afternoon, Jack received a call back from Corporal Schneider in Commercial Crime.

  “Have a little bit of info for you,” Schneider said. “I talked to a friend of mine who works for a company that hired Powers to check out their office security. He said it was basic kind of stuff. Ensuring use of identity cards, secure locks, alarms, cameras, passwords, that sort of thing.”

  “Any idea how many people work for Powers?”

  “Not many. My friend told me that some of the guys who do the grunt work are young and don’t have much experience. Mostly criminology students working parttime, or maybe full-time during summer break. That being said, he told me that Powers has a degree in criminology and also did a stint with the Military Police that included working in foreign countries. Apparently he comes off as a little cocky, but he’s smart and knows his stuff. There’s also a rumour that he does corporate espionage. I’ll keep digging and see if I can get more.”

  “Much appreciated.”

  “You told me to keep this between us because what you’re working on might involve a dirty cop.”

  “Yes, it’s possible we have a member supplying info to the bad guys.” Okay, Laura, no need to raise an eyebrow.

  “Can you give me a hint as to who you suspect?” Schneider asked.

  “I don’t want to point fingers this early in my investigation, but uh, if anyone from MCU contacts you, don’t mention this.”

  “MCU? Son of a bitch.” Schneider paused. “If whoever it is does turn out to be dirty, I hope you nail ’em.”

  “You got that right.”

  Laura stared at Jack as he put his phone away. “What?”

  “You told them that someone in MCU is dirty?”

  “Hey, it’s a stretch, but somehow Alicia got burned that day on surveillance.”

  Laura grinned, then glanced at her watch. “You mixing olive soup later on?”

  “Let’s hold off to celebrate when the new kid on the block can join us. I’m sure we can talk her into splurging for martinis after she sees what we got.”

  “Speak of the devil,” Laura said, looking at the call display on her phone, “she’s calling. What do I say?”

  “Tell her to have a good time at her party tonight.”

  “So I shouldn’t say that you started a rumour one of the MCU members is dirty,” Laura retorted, then answered.

  Jack listened to her exchanging pleasantries with Alicia.

  “Hang on, I’ll ask Jack.” Laura put the phone down and looked up at him. “Are we meeting early tomorrow morning to set up surveillance downtown?”

  “No, she hasn’t been introduced to Rose yet. Tell her we’ll meet her here at eight thirty a.m.”

  Laura relayed the message and ended the call. “She’s going to be one excited puppy tomorrow when she discovers what we found out. We may have to hide her from Rose for a month until she settles down.”

  “Yes, about that. How do you feel about her? Do you like her? More importantly, do you trust her?”

  Laura screwed up her face. “To start with, I didn’t like or trust her. Perhaps because she’s young and naive … which I find annoying. Whe
n she asked if you’d thought what would happen if she was questioned about your UC, I wanted to smack her.” Laura shook her head. “Can you imagine what she’d think about some of the things we’ve done?”

  “At least she was honest.”

  “Then she talked about Staffing looking for someone with an honest reputation. I thought, oh, man, Lexton put her in here to spy on us. That’s when I tried to talk you out of the UC.”

  “But after all that, she agreed to go along with it.”

  “She said nobody puts Baby in a corner.” Laura smiled. “I kind of liked her after that.”

  “Me, too,” Jack replied.

  “So you trust her?”

  “I trust her in the sense that she’s being honest with us. I also get a sense that she’s smart, but has no experience with the kind of work we do or its politics.”

  “Operating in the grey zone.”

  “Yes … and how well would she disarm questions thrown at her by seasoned investigators out of Internal Affairs? Or, worse yet, by Lexton, who’s clearly perceptive.”

  “I have the same concern, although in a way, she reminds me of myself when I was her age … and I survived.” Laura paused as if making up her mind. “I think she shows good potential.”

  “I agree, she reminds me of you, as well, except I think of you as my kid sister, whereas she falls more into the daughter-figure category.”

  “A daughter? There’s maybe fourteen or fifteen years’ difference between you!”

  “Just think what you and I’ve gone through. It ages you.”

  “Are you saying I look older than my age?”

  “I didn’t say we look older. I meant inside … maturity.”

  “Yeah, well, if you’re my brother, you’re a much older one. Much, much older.”

  Jack returned Laura’s smirk. “Hopefully someday she’ll be up to your standards. We’ll tread lightly and take it slow until we’ve had more time to assess her.”

  “Tread lightly and take it slow?” Laura was indignant. “You sure as heck didn’t do that with me!”

  “Really? I thought I did. Guess you were young and naive and thought everything was a big deal back then.”

  “You ass,” Laura muttered. “Don’t even get me started about what you were up to the first time I worked with you.”

  Jack chuckled. “It troubles me about Lexton,” he said, growing serious. “Particularly coming on the heels of Vath being murdered. If she’s looking to develop a source in our unit, Rose ought to know.”

  “Everything?”

  “Yup.”

  “This ought to be fun. I haven’t had time to sew my stripes onto my red serge yet. Maybe I shouldn’t bother.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Rose eyed Jack and Laura suspiciously across her desk. “What are you two up to?”

  “What makes you think we’re up to anything?” Jack replied.

  “The way you looked at each other when you came in. Like kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Does it have to do with the kidnapping file?”

  “Kidnapping file? You know about it?” Jack asked.

  “The newbie left a couple of file boxes on her desk last week. I took a peek and saw the pictures. Bloody sadistic, what they did to that kid.”

  “Goes without saying,” Jack said.

  “So out with it. What do you want? Or worse yet, what’ve you already done without permission?”

  “Laura and I have identified one of the kidnappers.”

  Rose’s jaw slackened, then a look of delight crossed her face. “That’s fantastic! How?”

  “Let me give you a little history on the file that you likely don’t know. The kidnappers threatened to harm the child if the police were called, but of course, David Chung did report it. Unfortunately, while the ransom was being delivered, the car Alicia was driving got burned.”

  “Oh, Jesus.”

  “It wasn’t her fault, but she blames herself. In their last call to Chung, the kidnappers said they were making an example of him.”

  “And then they did what they did,” Rose said.

  “I took that comment to mean that there’d be other kidnappings, and that the Chungs would be given as an example to future victims of what could happen if they went to the police.”

  “And have there been more kidnappings?” Rose asked.

  “Yes, but this is where things get a little tricky,” Jack said.

  “I knew it. What did you do?” Rose asked accusingly.

  “Alicia told us that the Chungs hated the police for what happened to their son and ceased any co-operation since the day their son was mutilated.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “So I did a very quick, very small UC on the parents by pretending my son was kidnapped.”

  “Quick, small, whatever you call it, you never submitted an op plan for authorization!” Rose’s face darkened. “I was there when Lexton warned you the last time. If you wanted a transfer, there were easier ways to get it.”

  “I’ll explain why I didn’t in a minute. First let me tell you that the UC worked; Chung introduced me to a guy by the name of Andy Zhao whose daughter was kidnapped last week.”

  “Last week! So there was another one,” Rose exclaimed.

  “Actually Chung told Jack that there have been two others since Tommy was taken,” Laura said.

  Jack nodded. “So I continued the UC on Zhao. From him I discovered a downtown location where both victims were told to go before they were sent all over town with the ransom. After that, Alicia managed to get some CCTV footage from Zhao’s run last week and compare it to footage from two years ago. We spotted a man who I think was using scanning equipment on Chung and Zhao without their knowledge. This morning Laura and I did surveillance in the area and spotted the guy. We’ve since identified him.”

  “Wow … that’s great.” Rose’s words were heartfelt, but she paused and looked at Jack. “Lexton isn’t going to be happy. Hopefully your results will help, but why on earth didn’t you submit a plan?”

  “Yeah, about that,” Jack said. “There’s a little more to it. The Chungs are taking legal action against the RCMP for what happened to their son and have named Alicia in particular. Internal Affairs put out an order that nobody talk to them. The kidnappers also threatened retaliation if any of the parents went to the police after the fact.”

  “Oh, shit, I knew this was too good to be true. Lexton would have a bird if she knew. The kidnappers would never believe that you got the information the way you did. What if they follow through on their threat? Couple that with the ongoing civil action, and it would really put her in a bind. She’d have to take disciplinary action. A transfer would be certain.”

  “The thought has crossed my mind,” Jack replied.

  Rose looked exasperated, but conceded, “I guess I should be happy you told me. A few years ago you’d have kept your mouth shut and just tipped off Crime Stoppers or something.”

  “Uh, there’s something else that you won’t like.”

  “Something else?” Rose made a motion to reach for her purse. “That’s it. I can’t take it anymore. I’m going to shoot you.”

  Jack knew she was half joking, but that the other half was angry. “It’s not about the kidnapping. At least not yet, providing nobody finds out what I did. It’s about Lexton.”

  “Oh, Jesus,” Rose cried, “what’ve you done to her?”

  Jack put up his hands in protest. “Nothing, I swear!” He filled her in about what Alicia told them and his concern that Lexton was trying to get an inside look at what went on in their office.

  When Jack was finished, Rose inhaled deeply and exhaled, then stared at him for a moment. “In my heart, I know your suspicions are right. Which makes me think she’d be happy to throw the book at you.”

  “I realize that.”

  “I should have been more suspicious when she said she’d spoken with Staffing on our behalf.” Rose looked at both their faces. “Really, what officer in
her position would bother to do that? I was so pleased about what she said that I never thought to question her real motive.”

  “Neither did we,” Laura noted.

  “At least Alicia wasn’t asked to spy,” Jack said. “If she hadn’t said what she did, we wouldn’t have been any the wiser.”

  “I think she went along with our plan due to her personal need to solve the kidnapping case,” Laura said. “At the same time, it caused her to reflect on why she may have been selected. We’re lucky that the circumstances led her to tell us about it.”

  Rose mulled it over. “Lexton likely didn’t know about the kidnapping — she was stationed in Ottawa at the time. Even if she did, she couldn’t have guessed it would lead to this conversation.”

  “Exactly,” Jack said. “I feel we can trust Alicia because she was honest with us, but at the same time, because she’s so honest, I doubt she’d last ten minutes if she were grilled on anything, uh, slightly untoward.” He paused. “She thinks you don’t know about the UC I did on Chung and Zhao. I think it’d be wise to keep it that way.”

  “So if her loyalty to you two falters, it leaves the door open for her to come to me.”

  “First line of defence,” Jack said quietly.

  Rose thought for a moment, then appeared to come to a decision. “Did you even think to have a plan before starting all this?” she asked pointedly.

  “Of course I did. My plan is to catch whoever chopped off Tommy’s fingers,” he replied heatedly.

  Rose nodded. “That sounds like a good plan.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  It was Wednesday morning in Toronto when RCMP Constable Greg Dalton finished testifying and stepped down from the stand. He’d caught the look of jubilation from the defence lawyer, heightened further by the Crown prosecutor’s look of consternation. He also caught the scowl directed at him from another Drug Section member sitting in the courtroom.

  Dalton had been called in by the prosecution to offer expert witness testimony as to the evidence that had been seized. It was not his case, but due to his years of undercover drug experience, his knowledge and expertise in the field were extensive. This gave him standing in court to offer an opinion about evidence, such as quantity and value of drugs, packaging, credit slips, coded conversations from intercepts, and anything else he felt was pertinent.