“Verde.”
“Mr. Verde, this is Jim Kincaid returning your call.”
“Mr. Kincaid,” said Verde. “How are you making out with the list?”
“Not very well,” lied Jim. “I am having real problems with this list.”
For several seconds Verde said nothing. “You do understand the timeframe Mr. Kincaid?”
“Oh, yes sir,” said Jim cordially. “And I will keep working on it.” He paused for a moment, though to himself, and then made his decision. “But I have found something else that you might be interested in,” he said. “Unrelated to your list,” he added.
“Really?” said Verde, sounding uncertain what Jim could possibly say that would interest him.
“Oh, yes sir,” said Jim with excitement in his voice. “Would you like me to tell you now or would you prefer I e-mail you the information?”
“Tell me now,” said an impatient Verde. “Let’s hear what you have uncovered that is so interesting.”
“As you know,” began Jim. “I have been searching through computers all over the internet, trying to get information for your list.” Jim stopped talking and waited.
“Yes,” said Verde.
“Well, while I was searching I came across some computers at Transports Québec.” Jim paused. “That’s the Quebec transport ministry,” he added.
“I know what Transports Québec is,” said Verde.
“Okay,” said Jim. “Well, when I was looking through the computers at the ministry, I found that someone there was bringing drugs into Québec. He has a number of people working with him at the Montreal docks, making sure that the drugs came in without any problems. I just thought this would be the kind of person you might be interested in.”
Verde did not speak for a full two seconds but, finally, he broke the silence. “Maybe,” he said. “You have proof?”
“Yes,” said Jim. “I have e-mails between this guy and the docks.”
“Do you have any more information about this … someone?” asked Verde.
“I have a name, home and work addresses, and telephone number,” said Jim.
“Send the information to me by e-mail,” said Verde. “Right away.”
As soon as Jim had hung up the phone, he withdrew the diskette from his shirt pocket and sent the information on it by e-mail to Verde. When he was done he leaned back in his chair and covered his eyes with his hands. This was going to be an interesting few days, he thought.
***
At 10:00 Jim was picked up at the front door of his apartment building by a different RCMP constable who drove him to headquarters without incident. Once at the fifth floor door Jim smiled at the janitor plaque that Desjardins had placed there the day before. He swiped his card through the card reader and entered the empty room. Once inside he set to work.
A half hour later Gary walked into the room. “Everything okay?” he asked.
Without looking up from his monitor Jim replied. “Yep,” he said. “It’s going to be a busy day,” he said.
“I heard,” said Gary. “I saw Desjardins on his way down here so you had better get ready.”
“Okay,” said Jim, concentrating on his monitor.
Just then the door opened and Desjardins and Gordon walked into the room.
“Are you ready?” asked Desjardins.
“Almost,” said Jim.
“We have to go now,” said Gordon. “They’re all here.”
“Okay,” said Jim, logging off of the console. “I’ll finish this up later.”
The four men left the systems room and walked down the corridor to the elevators. Taking the elevator down to the basement, they walked down the basement corridor until it ended at a set of double doors. Gordon led the three others into the room and Desjardins closed the doors behind them.
The room had a single, large table with over twenty chairs around it. Most of the chairs were filled with policemen, but not ordinary policemen. There was more gold on their caps and epaulets than Jim had ever seen, barring a state funeral. Desjardins motioned Jim to a seat. Gary, Desjardins and Gordon sat close by.
Once everyone was seated, the man at the head of the table stood and addressed the group. “Good,” he said. “We all know why we are here. Most of you know me. For those that do not, I am Chief Inspector Pierre LaFleur.” Jim noticed that LaFleur had absolutely no French accent. “This sort of meeting is almost without precedent but it is in all of our interests to cooperate.” There were murmurings of ascent.
“Before we begin I would like set the tone for our work over the next few days. We must all work together in order to regain the credibility of the Canadian law enforcement services. We must not let MI-5 or any other foreign service solve our crimes for us. We must prevail. That is why we are here and that is why we are taking such extraordinary measures.” Everyone around the table was nodding.
“Let me begin by introducing a few people.” LaFleur introduced about a third of the people at the table, including the Chief of the Ontario Provincial Police, the Chief of the Québec Sûreté, and Desjardins and Gordon. Finally he introduced Jim Kincaid.
“Jim and I have not met,” said the Chief Inspector. “But,” he continued, looking at Jim, “I know we would not be where we are today without him.” He looked at Jim and smiled. “We have a lot to cover here in short period of time and so I am going to let Inspector Gordon describe to you the plan.”
Gordon stood up and addressed the group. “We will be using two separate teams, an Ontario team and a Québec team,” he began. “Timing will be critical.”
***
Desjardins, Gordon, Gary and Jim all returned to the systems room together. Standing together inside the door, Gordon spoke first.
“Well?” asked Gordon, looking at Jim. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s going to be tough to coordinate,” said Jim.
“I’m not worried about coordination,” said Desjardins. “I’m worried whether or not it will happen fast enough. We could end up with another body part or a dead Transport Minister.”
“What happens if it goes too fast?” asked Jim. “I thought you needed court permission for wire taps.”
“True,” said Gordon. “But we probably have the taps on by now.”
“I’m also very concerned about a few things,” began Jim. “I need to retrieve the calls Verde makes to my apartment. “I’m also worried about my mom and my friend Ben,” said Jim. “Verde has made some not too subtle threats.”
“Well, we’ve already done a few things,” said Gordon. “Your apartment phone has been rerouted to that phone over there,” he said pointing at a new red phone near the console where Jim had been working. “That way you’ll at least get your calls.”
“We’ve also asked the OPP to put a man on your mother,” said Desjardins.
“What about my friend?”
“Shouldn’t be a problem,” said Gordon, taking out his notebook. “What’s his name?”
“Ben Gould,” said Jim, giving Gordon his address and phone number.
“We’ll get a man on him,” said Gordon.
“Anything else?” asked Desjardins.
“I get the feeling I’m missing something,” said Jim. “For now I’m going to monitor the Transports Québec computer and Verde’s computer as well.”
“And I’m going to stick around in case Jim has any problems with the systems,” said Gary.
“Good,” said Gordon. Desjardins and I are going to liaise with the OPP and the QPP. We may have to go to either Quebec City or Toronto or both.”
“Here are our cell phone numbers,” said Desjardins, handing two business cards to Jim. “Call if you find out anything more.”
The four men agreed to stay in touch regularly throughout the day and then Desjardins and Gordon left the room.
“Are they any good?” Jim asked Gary.
“Why are you asking me? I just work here.”
***
Jim spent the rest of th
e morning watching a split screen. The left half of the screen showed traffic in and out of Verde’s computer and his e-mail accounts. The right half of the screen showed traffic in and out of the Transports Québec computer and its e-mail accounts. For Jim it was a very, very frustrating morning because nothing was happening on either side of the screen.
Gary used a different monitor to work on other RCMP business, letting Jim know that he was available for any problems. At noon Gary offered to have sandwiches and drinks sent up from the RCMP refectory.
“Just no ham or bacon sandwiches, please,” said Jim.
After lunch everything continued to be quiet and Jim just continued to stare at the traffic monitor. Jim was not just frustrated, he was nervous. He was worried about the outcome of this operation and he was beginning to worry what would happen if Verde could not be neutralized permanently, whatever that meant.
In the middle of his thoughts, the telephone rang. Jim looked around and saw that it was the red phone. Gary stayed clear of it. Jim picked up the phone.
“Hello?” he asked, unsure who would call him in the middle of the afternoon.
“Jim? It’s Penny.” She sounded very serious.
“Hi,” said Jim. He was pleased to hear from her. “What’s up?”
“I’m worried about,” she began to say and then stopped. “What are you doing home?” she asked, sounding confused.
“I’m not at home,” explained Jim. “I’m at the RCMP. My phone’s been rerouted.”
“Oh,” she said. “Well, that’s probably a good idea.”
“Why?
“Because I’m worried I’m being followed.”
“Really?” asked Jim, concerned. Then he realized what he had forgotten Desjardins to do. He had remembered Ben and his mother but he had forgotten to have someone watch Penny.
“Yes. When I went out for lunch a man seemed to follow me everywhere I went. Now he’s sitting out in front of my office. Do you think he works for your mob guy?”
“I don’t know,” said Jim. “But it doesn’t sound good. My mother is having the exact same problem.”
“What should I do?”
“Give me your number there,” said Jim. “I’ll get back to you in a few minutes.”
“Okay, Jim,” she said. “Thanks.”
“And don’t go out alone until we sort this out!”
Jim hung up the phone. He was about to call Desjardins’ cell phone number when data started to appear on the left side of his screen. Verde was doing something. Jim looked carefully at the screen and then started typing, probing into Verde’s actions. Before he could figure out what was going on, Jim saw data begin to appear the right side of the screen. On the surface it looked to Jim as though Verde was in contact with his Transports Québec man.
Jim picked up the red phone and dialled Desjardin’s number.
“Desjardins.”
“Something’s going on,” said Jim. “It looks like Verde is in contact with Transports Québec.”
“How? By e-mail?”
Jim looked carefully through the data on the two sides of the monitor. “Looks that way.”
“Has the mail been read?”
Jim looked again. “No. Not yet.”
“Okay, leave it with us.”
After hanging up with Desjardins Jim continued to watch the monitor. Gary had come over during the telephone call, standing behind Jim, and began to watch with Jim as events unfolded.
“Is this your White Cell software?” asked Gary.
“Part of it,” said Jim. “A little bit customized for this work,” he said, still looking at the monitor, his back to Gary.
“Looks good,” said Gary.
“Thanks.”
“I’d love to get a copy of it,” he said, expanding on his request from the previous day.
“I don’t know,” said Jim, still looking at the monitor. “We’ll see.”
The red phone rang. It was now 3:30pm. “Hello?” said Jim.
“Jim, it’s Ben.” Ben sounded very serious.
“What’s up?”
“Sorry to bug you,” said Ben sombrely. “I know you’ve got a lot going on but Cily and I went out for our afternoon break and there was a guy who seemed to be following us.”
“That’s okay,” said Jim. “I told the RCMP I was worried about you so I asked them to watch out for you.”
Ben let out a sight. “That’s a huge relief.”
“Sorry,” said Jim. “I should have told you but things are getting busy around here.”
“Good busy?”
“Yeah. I think so,” said Jim.
“Thanks though,” said Ben.
“No problem,” said Jim. “After all, I’m the one who got you into this mess.” Then, before Ben could answer, Jim shouted, “Shit!”
“What?”
“I forgot that Penny called. Someone was following her too.”
“So?”
“I didn’t arrange it.”
“Oh,” said Ben. “That’s not good.”
One of the other phones rang in the systems room. Gary picked it up. “Jim!” called Gary. “It’s Gordon!”
“I have to go,” said Jim to Ben.
“Okay,” said Ben. “Don’t forget dinner later.”
“We’ll see,” said Jim. Jim moved across the room to take the other phone from Gary. “Yes?” he asked.
“Has anything else happened?” asked Gordon. “We have the wiretaps in place but there have not been any phone calls yet.”
“Nothing besides an e-mail from Verde to Transports Québec.”
“Alright,” said Gordon. “Let me know immediately if anything happens.”
“Will do,” said Jim. He hung up the phone. When he returned to the console, the red phone rang.
“Hello,” said Jim.
“Jimmy, it’s Mom.”
“Hi Mom,” said Jim.
“Jimmy, now there are two cars parked out front of my window.”
“That’s okay Mom,” said Jim. “I spoke to the police and they have asked a policeman to watch you. One of the cars will be the police.”
“It doesn’t look like a police car,” said his mother.
“But it is, Mom,” said Jim. “Trust me. You’re perfectly safe.”
“How do I know which one is the police car?” asked his mother.
“I don’t know, Mom,” said Jim. “But you don’t have to invite him in for coffee.”
“But how do I know which one to trust?”
Jim was losing patience. “God damn it, Mom! The policeman will be the one not shooting at you!” There was silence at the other end of the line. “I’m sorry, Mom,” said Jim. “I’m a little stressed.”
“Me too,” said his mother.
“Tell you what,” said Jim. “I’ll try to find out what the license plate is of the police car that is watching you. Okay?”
“That would be wonderful,” said his mother.
“I’ll get back to you shortly,” said Jim.
Jim placed the red receiver back on the red phone but did not notice he had placed it down at an angle so that it did not properly break the telephone connection. Jim had returned to monitoring the traffic displayed on the monitor when the other phone rang. Gary was sitting beside him. Jim walked to the phone and answered it.
“Hello?”
“It’s Desjardins. Verde called Transports Québec.”
“What do we do now?” asked Jim.
“They will probably meet,” said Desjardins. “We wait until they pick a location.”
“What do I do?”
“You stay where you are. We need you to tell us if anything changes.”
After Jim finished talking to Desjardins he returned to the monitor with Gary and waited.
***
At about 5:30pm Jim remembered that he was supposed to call Ben about dinner. Jim picked up the red phone noticing something very disconcerting. It had not been sitting properly on the cradle. That meant that it h
ad been off the hook much of the afternoon.
“Shit!” exclaimed Jim.
“What’s the matter?” asked Gary.
“The phone has been off the hook the whole time,” said Jim. Gary said nothing. Jim dialled a number.
“Ben?” asked Jim.
“Yeah.”
“Jim.”
“Hi. We going for dinner?” asked Ben.
“I don’t see why not,” said Jim. “I think I’d …” Jim stopped talking when he heard the other telephone ring. “Hold on,” Jim told Ben.
Gary picked up the other phone. “It’s Gordon,” he said.
“Hold on a minute,” Jim told Ben, placing the receiver of the red phone down on his desk. Jim walked over to Gary and picked up the other phone. “Hello?”
“It’s Gordon. Verde and this guy at Transports Québec, Marcel Godin, are planning to meet tomorrow in Cornwall. Verde is going to confirm the timing later tonight.”
“Why Cornwall?” asked Jim.
“I suppose because it’s about half way between Toronto and Quebec City,” said Gordon. “We’re just looking for any information you might have on the meeting,” said Gordon.
“Nothing,” said Jim. “Just the original e-mail.”
“Alright,” said Gordon. “But keep checking for the next few hours. If you get any information, let one of us know.”
“Will do.”
Jim hung up and collected the red phone from Gary. “Can’t do dinner,” said Jim. “Something’s come up.”
As soon as Jim replaced the receiver, the red phone rang again. “Hello?” he asked.
“This is Giuseppe Verde. Where is my summary?”
For what seemed like a long time, Jim said nothing. He was just surprised that Verde would call him. Why would he pester him for the list if he had a meeting in Cornwall?
“It’s not ready yet,” said Jim.
“When will it be ready?”
“Tomorrow,” said Jim, knowing full well that Verde would be busy on tomorrow.
“We said Wednesday,” said Verde. “You’re not trying to stall, are you?” asked Verde.
“Of course not,” said Jim.
***
Penny Stein hung up the phone. The line was busy again. She sat in the ultrasound office and stared at the phone. Why had Jim not called her back? Why was his line still busy? She looked out the window of the office and saw the man sitting on a bench in front of the hospital pretending to read a newspaper. He had definitely been on the bus with her this morning and had been watching the hospital ever since.
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