Fatal Frost

by Nancy Mehl

  “That’s outrageous,” Mercy said. “So they kill someone simply so they can make these fake videos? But their plan is doomed to fail. How many of them can they pull off before the public catches on?”

  “That’s the beauty of their concept, Merce,” Tally said. “They don’t have to release all of them to get the job done. They’ll primarily use them as leverage. Law-enforcement officers know that truth doesn’t necessarily matter in these situations. If the video gets out, their careers are over. Their lives, even their families, are at risk. Do you really think the people who hate cops will believe for one minute that these videos are doctored?” He shook his head. “They’ll jump on anything they think shows us in a bad light. We’ll never get the chance to prove the truth.” He took a deep breath. “The cartel believes some cops will do anything to keep these from seeing the light of day. Including looking the other way so the cartel can accomplish their goals. It’s a two-way threat. And don’t think St. Louis is the only target. If it works here, it will spread all over the country. The Vargas cartel is a huge operation.”

  “But cops won’t give in to that kind of extortion.” Even as the words left her lips, the expression on her best friend’s face made her stomach turn.

  “Unfortunately, Mercy, some of them will. Out of fear. At least for a while. Long enough for the cartel to achieve their goals. Cleaning up the mess they make will cost untold lives and millions of dollars most cities don’t have.”

  “So this attack is twofold,” Mercy said quietly. The awful brilliance of the plan left her feeling almost breathless. “False videos stir up anger and distraction so the cartels can sneak heroin in, and at the same time they use these things to intimidate and manipulate the cops? It’s a win-win for the cartels.”

  “And a lose-lose for citizens and law enforcement.”

  “But why can’t we just expose it now? Before it starts?” Mercy asked. “Why not release the video? Get ahead of them?”

  “The feds have some agents in deep cover with the Vargas cartel,” Mark said. “Even we don’t know who they are. They smuggled this out at great risk to their own safety. We can’t go public with it. If it gets out, they could be exposed. The cartel will kill them. Except for the FBI and the higher-ups in the LAPD, no one outside of our agency has seen it.”

  “And Batterson knows all about it.”

  “Yeah. LA sent a copy of the video to him. He showed it to me and Tally. No one else.”

  “My chief hasn’t seen it, although he knows you’re in danger from the cartel,” Tally said. “LA contacted him first when they found out about the threat, but they never shared anything about the video until yesterday.”

  “We had to be overly cautious, Mercy,” Mark said. “Too much information has been getting out. Things no one else should know. In fact, this location was only given to me right as I was leaving Batterson’s office. I’m the only one who’s seen the file with the real information. Batterson wasn’t taking any chances someone might find out where we’d be. Batterson and I only communicated through burner phones so no one could hack into our conversations. I tossed the one I had before I left and brought another one with me. Not that it’s doing me any good now.”

  “We’re the only ones who know where we are?” Mercy asked, shocked at how exposed they appeared to be. “Except for Batterson? What if something happens to him?”

  “My boss knows,” Jess said. “If anything happens to Batterson, my chief can find us. And we can trust him with our lives.”

  “Which is exactly what we’re doing,” Mercy said.

  “But agents are following us, right?” Tally said.

  Mark nodded. “That was the plan. They were only given our real location once they left headquarters. And they have people with them trained to watch over everyone carefully. No one will get a chance to release any information. I’m confident they’ll be here soon.”

  “Well, that would be great planning—except for the major winter storm cutting us off from getting help,” Tally said. He was obviously frustrated. Mercy completely understood how he felt.

  Mark grunted. “Our window of time was extremely narrow. The threats to Mercy were growing, and we knew we had to get her to safety. Someplace where we could keep an eye on her. Letting her stay in St. Louis was too risky. Batterson decided to move her, knowing the cartel was watching. He wanted to draw them out—make them easier to catch. He and Jess’s chief worked together on the plan. Chief Watson picked the detective he wanted here at the last minute to protect his identity. I didn’t get Jess’s name until I got the file after our meeting. Everything has worked out beautifully. But as Tally said, we didn’t count on the weather. The forecast called for light snow. Not this. Might as well call it an act of God and move on.”

  “I don’t think God had much to do with this,” Tally mumbled.

  Mark nodded. “Regardless, we’re here, and we have to deal with the circumstances we’ve been given.”

  “So, as far as we know, we might not have any backup?” Mercy said.

  Mark was quiet for a moment and stared past her. Finally he met her gaze. “As of right this moment, I have no way to answer that question. I think it’s best we assume we’re alone. We have to find a way to take care of ourselves.”

  Chapter

  Fifteen

  Mark’s words seemed to hang in the air. Mercy looked around at the men with her, but no one had anything to add to his bleak pronouncement.

  “Okay,” Mercy said, “now the big question. Just why am I a threat now? Why does the cartel care anything about me? What is so important that you’ve put all of our lives at risk?”

  Mark grew quiet as if searching for the right words. His expression made Mercy apprehensive.

  “Although this plan was originally hatched in LA where the Vargas cartel is situated,” Mark said slowly, “they chose St. Louis as the first location to implement their plan for two reasons. First, they were already there, even if they played a much more minor role than they are now. And because of past unrest, they felt our police department would be the most willing to capitulate to their demands.”

  “You mean because we’re the most vulnerable?” Tally snapped. “That’s not true. We have a top-notch department.”

  “The people who count know that, Tally,” Jess reassured him. “Trust me. LA knows it too.”

  “Sure, everyone on the inside knows our true value,” Tally said. “It’s the outside forces that make it tough.”

  “Yeah,” Jess said, “but the cartels and the gangs smell blood in the water.” He shook his head. “I don’t know how this is going to shake out, but one thing I do know. We just have to keep doing our jobs. Doing the right thing every day. Day in and day out.”

  Mercy reached over and put her hand on Tally’s arm. “Jess is right, Tally. We’ll be fine.”

  “I know. Sorry, Jess.” He shrugged. “St. Louis PD has had a tough time lately. Besides other pressures, we lost a fine officer only a month ago. And when Darius Johnson shot Mike . . .”

  “I completely understand.” Jess offered him a smile, and Tally responded with one of his own.

  Mercy couldn’t help but find herself attracted to the handsome detective. She caught Mark staring at her and quickly looked away. Had he noticed? She silently scolded herself. Tally wasn’t the only one being unprofessional. This was a job, and supposedly her life was on the line. What was she doing? She pushed thoughts about Jess out of her mind.

  “You were going to tell me what the cartel is looking for,” Mercy reminded Mark. “Why they’re after me.”

  “Originally, the cartel contacted Darius Johnson to help them implement their plan,” he said. “They sent Angel Vargas to St. Louis to manipulate Johnson into helping them.”

  “Angel is the son of Ephraim Vargas, the head of the Vargas cartel,” Tally explained.

  Jess nodded. “That’s right. Angel told Johnson to shoot someone and make sure it was recorded on a cellphone. It was supposed to look
as if the killer had no idea he was being filmed. Johnson picked someone who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “Dumb Willie,” Mercy said.

  Mark nodded.

  “Johnson sent one of his goons out to shoot Willie in his car,” Jess continued. “Following Angel’s instructions, the shooter approached him as if he were a cop. Told him to put his hands out the window . . . well, you saw that. Johnson filmed it. Once Willie was dead, Johnson was told to give the video to the cartel so it could be altered.”

  “It should have worked,” Mercy said.

  “It did,” Jess said, “except Darius Johnson was an idiot.”

  “No argument there,” Tally added.

  “And he proved it. He gave the cartel a copy of the video and was told to delete the original. He erased it off his phone, but not before he downloaded it to his laptop. He wanted proof of what he’d done. He was proud of it. Unfortunately he couldn’t keep his trap shut.”

  Mercy’s mouth dropped open. “I take it the cartel had no idea he’d kept the original video?”

  “Not until it was too late,” Mark said. “Your dad found out about it and got a CI to download the video to a flash drive. The CI who was trying to stay out of jail on a drug charge did what your dad asked. But someone saw him and told Darius. He sent some of his thugs after the CI, but it was too late. He’d just handed the flash drive off to your father.”

  “Who’s the CI?” Tally asked.

  “You mean who was the CI?” Mark mentioned the name of a man recently found murdered.

  Tally nodded. “We wondered about that. We try hard to protect our confidential informants, but sometimes the gangs figure out what they’re doing. We can’t always pull them out in time.”

  “If my dad had that flash drive, he would have turned it in,” Mercy said. “He wouldn’t have given it to me.”

  “You’re right,” Mark said. “If there’d been time. The CI died the same day your dad did, Mercy. The day you had lunch with him, he was headed to the station—but the gang was already looking for him. Darius wanted that video back. Not only so the police wouldn’t see it, but because he was afraid the cartel would kill him for doing something so stupid.”

  “And of course they did,” Jess said. “D-Money was a dead man walking.”

  “There were some rough-looking guys outside the restaurant when we were eating,” Mercy said. “My father seemed nervous about them. In fact, he cut our lunch short. He even left through a door in the back of the place.” She frowned at Jess. “So Johnson thought my dad gave me the flash drive? But that’s not true. He didn’t give me anything. We ate. He left. About six hours later I was notified of his death.”

  “Batterson is certain those men you saw were sent by Darius,” Mark said. “They probably grabbed your dad not long after he left the restaurant. They couldn’t find the flash drive so they killed him. Made it look like he got in the way of a gang conflict. Even used someone to back up their story. Case closed.”

  “They’re the ones who broke into my apartment during his service,” Mercy said matter-of-factly.

  “Yes,” Tally said. “Right around that time Mark contacted me. He asked me to keep an eye on you. Make sure you stayed safe until they could figure out a way to protect you.”

  Tally sighed. “I stayed up most nights watching your place. Except for the nights Mark parked across the street to make sure you were okay.”

  Mercy looked over at Mark. “You did that for me?”

  Mark colored a little. “Of course. You’re a fellow Marshal.”

  Mercy studied him closely. Could he still have feelings for her? Surely not after the way she’d treated him.

  “Then Batterson came up with the idea to draw out the cartel,” Mark said. “He believed they’d be easier to capture out here in the country. They hide like rats in the city, making it almost impossible to find them. If we could arrest some of them, we could offer them a deal. Maybe we could take down the cartel and stop their heroin operations.”

  “Okay, I understand that,” Mercy said. “But I still don’t get why Batterson thinks I’m the mole. Why would the cartel try to incriminate me if I was helping them?”

  Mark looked away and appeared to be staring into the fireplace. Once again her instinct told her Mark was hiding something from her.

  “I know it doesn’t make sense, but right now I think he suspects everyone,” Mark said, still not meeting her eyes. “Knowing someone around him can’t be trusted is driving him up the wall.” He finally looked at her. “Don’t worry about Batterson. Down deep he knows it’s not you. He’s cast a wide net because he has to.”

  “This operation was carefully calculated,” Tally said. “As we said, only a few of us know about it. Hopefully we’re safe. The idea is that when the bad guys are captured, Batterson will contact us and let us know it’s safe to come out of hiding.”

  “We originally came up with this plan to keep you safe,” Mark said. “Now we may have placed you in greater danger than you were in before.”

  “It’s not anyone’s fault,” Mercy said. “If it wasn’t for this storm, it might have worked.”

  “Batterson tried to cover all the bases. He even left a bogus file on his desk in case anyone tried to find out where we were. If our mole looked at it, they’d end up ten miles from our actual location. In the middle of a field. Our agents would be waiting there to scoop them up.”

  “And there was supposed to be a fake detour,” Tally said. “A way to divert the cartel away from us. But I have no idea if it was implemented. It’s possible Batterson never got the chance to use it.”

  “You have the correct file?” Mercy asked.

  “Yeah, Carol gave it to me right before I left,” Mark said. “No one has seen it except me. It has the right address—and info about Jess. His name, picture, bio . . . everything we needed to identify him.”

  “Let’s get back to that flash drive,” Jess said. “Here’s what I can tell you, Mercy. According to our undercover guy, your dad had it when he left his meeting with the CI. He had it when he met you for lunch. And he didn’t have it when they grabbed him right after he left the restaurant.”

  “Could he have left it at the restaurant? Hidden it somewhere?”

  Tally shook his head. “We searched the place carefully. Even went through the dumpsters outside. Nothing.”

  “But I keep telling you my dad didn’t give me anything.”

  “Did you leave the table at any time during lunch?” Mark said.

  “Wow. I’m not sure I can remember.” She frowned as she tried to recall that day.

  “Did you make a phone call, try to find the waiter, use the bathroom?” Tally asked.

  Mercy snapped her fingers. “Yes. I remember I had to wait on the bathroom because it was being cleaned.”

  “Did you have your purse at lunch with you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you take it to the bathroom?”

  “No,” she said after thinking about it. “But there’s nothing unusual in it. I would have noticed. I use it almost every day.”

  “Did you bring it with you?” Jess asked.

  “It’s in my room.”

  “Do you mind getting it?”

  Mercy nodded and got up from the couch, though she was certain it was a waste of time. She carried a small purse. If there was a flash drive inside, she obviously would have discovered it by now.

  When she reached the guest room, she looked out the window. “Great,” she mumbled as the snow continued to fall steadily. Traveling would be almost impossible. They were so isolated. When someone could finally get through, would it be friend or foe? They needed to be prepared for every possibility.

  She grabbed her purse and started toward the door when she remembered something. She pulled her leather jacket out of the closet and laid it on the bed. She’d worn it on the day she had lunch with her father and left it on her chair when she went to the bathroom. The jacket ha
d lots of pockets. Some outside, and a couple of smaller ones inside. Pockets she never used.

  A search through all the pockets didn’t reveal anything except a wadded tissue, a pack of gum, and some lint. She was about to hang the jacket back up when she noticed a small tear in the inside lining. It was under the right sleeve.

  “This is stupid,” she whispered. But just to be certain, she felt the inside of the jacket, all along the lining. When her fingers touched something hard that had fallen down to the bottom, near the hem, she couldn’t believe it. Not knowing what else to do, she ripped the lining open and reached inside. She pulled her hand out slowly and opened her fingers. In her palm was a small flash drive.

  Chapter

  Sixteen

  Mercy stared at the thumbnail-size device in her hand, several emotions surging through her. The most powerful one was anger. How could her father have put her in this kind of danger? Didn’t he know the cartel would come looking for her? She fought against the undercurrent of rage she felt inside. This was no time to think about her father’s actions. She needed to figure out what to do next.

  Her first instinct was to hand the flash drive over to the men in the other room. She trusted Tally with her life, and although she would have bet every penny she owned that Mark was on the up-and-up, Batterson was certain there was a mole in the Marshals’ office. What if she was wrong about Mark? And what about Jess? She didn’t really know him. Her father died over the information on this device. She made a quick decision to wait a while before telling the men what she’d found. Just until she was sure it was the right thing to do.

  She looked around the room, trying to find a safe place to hide it. Putting it back in her coat was out since someone else might come to the same conclusion. Besides, now that she’d torn the lining even more, it could fall out. She settled on an old bookshelf in the corner. She pulled a book from the shelf and slid the flash drive inside it. She didn’t think any of the tough law-enforcement officers in the other room would be borrowing Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice anytime soon. It was a safe place for now, but later she’d have to find someplace more secure.