by Bella Juarez
David stared at Irene in mute outrage.
“If this doesn’t work out then so be it.” Irene shrugged.
“Irene…” David started, dropping his voice. Irene turned to face her husband. “You don’t know what you’re screwing with here. Amy could be in just as much danger from this guy as Tim. Let’s say she decides to end this and he decides he’s not ready to let her go. This guy could snap and that would be the end of it. If this motherfucker ever goes postal, no one, short of other guys like him, would be able to stop him and by then Amy will be dead!”
“David! Stop this! You’re getting hysterical! Let Amy make her own decisions. I’m not talking about this anymore and you will not say anything to either one of them about that phone call this morning,” Irene said, pointing an angry finger at him.
“If anything happens to her again, it’s on you, Irene. I warned you.”
Irene turned and left the room. She went to the kitchen and started preparing the holiday dinner everyone would be sharing today. Gavin and Amy arrived at the house around noon. Amy brought her famous cheesecake and Gavin brought along David’s favorite beer. David’s mood was still very dark as they exchanged presents, so he watched Gavin and Amy. He had to admit, she had come alive once she started seeing Gavin and he seemed to be tamer around her, to the point of distraction.
Maybe it will work out…
David said very little while they were enjoying the present exchange part of Christmas. When the ladies broke to finish preparing the meal, he approached Gavin.
* * * *
“I got a call from the desk sergeant this morning. I understand Tim was picked up at Amy’s house last night,” David said.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Gavin confirmed.
David’s dark mood had not gone unnoticed by Gavin.
“At two thirty in the morning? And you were the one that called for the squad car?” David asked.
“Yes.”
David looked directly at Gavin. “And just what the fuck were you doing there at two thirty in the fucking morning?” he demanded.
Gavin closed his eyes and looked away. He knew that eventually his relationship with Amy would come to a head with David. He turned back and looked at David.
“What the fuck do you think I was doing? Do you really want to have this conversation?” Gavin demanded. David stared in mute hostility. “Because frankly, David, it’s none of your fucking business. You better thank God I was there, because if I hadn’t been, the coroner might’ve wished you a Merry Christmas. Newsflash, Chief, Amy’s a big girl. I’ve been putting up with this shit from you because of Amy. I don’t want her in the middle and I don’t want her getting hurt. By the way, I won’t stop seeing her. So you need to make peace with this situation and get over it already.”
The two men stared each other down. David looked away.
“Here’s the deal, badass, you become the cause of one single tear in that girl’s eyes, I don’t give a shit if it’s a fucking hangnail you don’t remedy, I will string you up and pinch your fucking gonads off and then slice your prick. Do you understand?” David demanded.
Gavin’s look turned dark and deadly. “The guy you should have done that to is sitting in the fucking lockup right now. Amy told me what he did to her and you were the one that let that little prick keep breathing. You are the one that fucked this up. I’m not the one you need to worry about.”
“Are you two done?” Irene snapped.
Both men turned and looked. Irene was standing staring at both of them, very pissed off. Changing their demeanor, they gave Irene their full attention.
“If either one of you messes up this Christmas for Amy, there will be hell to pay and I’ll be the one dishing it out. Do you understand?” Irene demanded. Both men acquiesced with their continued silence. Irene turned and directed her next comment at Gavin. “David already knows what that means and believe me when I say you don’t want to go there with me. Now clear this up and come inside, it’s time to eat.”
Chapter 14
Federal Bureau of Investigation Field Office
Secure Conference Room A
San Antonio, Texas
January 4, 2008/1348 Zulu
Gavin sat studying the information in front of him. He glanced across the conference table at Captain O’Malley and at Master Chief McGuire and then turned to the FBI field office supervisor. They were neck deep in documents as well.
“What a fucking mess!” O’Malley said as he closed the folder.
The FBI field office supervisor looked at Gavin. This man was his boss as long he was assigned to the task force in Texas. He had broached the subject of working with the military after his visit with Rock and Mac a month earlier. Gavin’s boss, a former Air Force OSI officer, immediately said no.
Gavin tried to point out that after 9-11 all these departments and entities could share information with a whole lot less bureaucracy, and he had been able to use the Navy’s help before with an interagency agreement. His boss still wouldn’t hear anything about the effort until they found out the money being stolen was US foreign aid to Pakistan.
That information meant that the case would transfer out of the FBI along with all the credit when this thing went down. Gavin was able to make his bosses sit up and rethink this whole teaming concept. Politics and turf wars, in this case, played to his advantage. When Captain O’Malley and Master Chief McGuire walked into the room it was clear the FBI wasn’t happy having to depend on and take orders from the Navy. Gavin had to suppress a smile. SEALs were a society all their own and it took some time to get used to them. These two SEALs were really special.
“Jim, Captain O’Malley has information. We can share information, and he can possibly assist us in shutting down this active terrorist cell,” Gavin said.
“Have you been cleared to share this information, Captain?” Jim asked.
“If I weren’t clear I wouldn’t be sitting here, Special Agent Munster,” Rock snapped.
“Messner,” Jim corrected.
“Why do you have to be such an asshole, Rock?” Mac demanded.
“What the fuck is that? Why would I be here if I couldn’t tell him anything?” Rock asked, directing himself to Mac.
“How the hell did you ever get an officer’s commission? Christ! The Navy will promote anyone,” Messner said to Captain O’Malley.
“Point is, we have some common ground here and we need to work together and not duplicate the effort,” Gavin interjected.
Special Agent Supervisor Jim Messner sat back in his seat, glaring at Captain O’Malley. He had made his feelings very clear to Gavin about sharing information with Navy Special Warfare. He didn’t trust them and Jim had expressed that distrust to Captain O’Malley and Master Chief McGuire the minute they walked through the door.
“I’m willing to work with Chief Walsh because I think he’s on to something here and he’s right. We have some common ground and these guys need to be shut down before someone really gets hurt,” Rock said.
“You mean Special Agent Walsh,” Messner corrected.
“No, I mean Senior Chief Walsh. I’ve had him recalled from inactive reserve status back to active reserve status. You want to share? We get to share him. The only way I could swing this was to reactivate him so that he would be cleared to see the information I have and he is your liaison with me,” O’Malley said.
“What?” Messner and Gavin exclaimed at once.
“Yeah, Gavin, it was the only way Dixie would go along with this teaming thing. By the way, Dixie says hey,” Mac said.
“Dixie? What the hell does he have to do with this?” Gavin asked.
“Who the hell is Dixie?” Messner demanded.
“Admiral Charles Dixie Campbell is the Commanding Officer of Headquarters Navy Special Warfare,” Mac said.
“Holy shit! Dixie’s an Admiral and running Navy Special Warfare?” Gavin exclaimed.
“Welcome back, badass!” O’Malley smiled.
�
�Are you saying I’ve lost an agent?” Messner asked.
“Just for three weeks a year and one weekend a month,” Mac said.
“Jesus Christ! I’m not putting up with this!” Messner exclaimed.
“Yes, you will, if you want me to share,” O’Malley said.
Gavin spent the better part of three days going over the information that was given to him. He kept Special Agent Messner in the loop enough to keep him happy. This thing was turning out to be much more complicated than a small-time drug thug from Victoria, Texas. It was turning into theft of international aid money by Pakistani officials. There were some high people stealing some serious money and funding some seriously scary terrorists. He seemed to be able to keep the FBI at bay, but the Victoria Police Department was another story.
David was starting to really get on Gavin’s nerves. Not only was he bitching to be included in what was going on in his department, he wanted to know where Gavin was getting his information. Gavin didn’t tell anyone about being reactivated into the Navy. He took his uniforms out of the mothballs and then decided to keep them at his apartment, deciding it was safer to pack them when he had to go to San Antonio. Not even Amy knew he was back in the Navy. It was better this way.
Keeping secrets again was starting to make Gavin suspicious of everyone. When Rivera managed to lose his surveillance team during a key meeting with someone who was big, he started to suspect he had a leak. When the surveillance team lost Tim at a crucial time, his suspicions were confirmed. There was a leak on his team. He started switching partners, leaving out different people at different times, and giving teams incomplete information, having two or three teams work together so that no one person or team had all the information at one time.
Gavin finally caught a break. Using his new active reserve status, he managed to obtain permission to tap all of Tim Livingston’s office and cell calls. They also started tapping all of Rivera’s calls. Rivera turned out to be a little more difficult than Tim. Rivera was always using a different pay-as-you-go phone. The calls would be monitored from San Antonio by Rock’s new communications guy. Lieutenant Dan Gamez was helping to stand up the support sections of the new Special Warfare Group. As part of his training operations, Lieutenant Gamez started taping all of Tim’s calls. Gavin could feel he was getting closer to connecting the dots between Rivera and Livingston. With perseverance they were finally able to link Tim and Rivera three weeks after Christmas.
Chapter 15
Victoria Police Department
Interrogation Room 3
Victoria, Texas
January 14, 2008/0330 Zulu
Gavin paused before walking into the interrogation room. His presence would be a shock to the man inside. He turned the knob and walked into the room. The man looked up as Gavin set a folder on the table and took a seat across from the suspect.
“What the fuck! What the hell are you doing here? Isn’t this police harassment?” the man demanded.
“Mr. Livingston, I’m Lieutenant Gavin Walsh. I’m a special investigator with the police department for the City of Victoria. You know that you have been brought in for questioning regarding the movement of large sums of money, specifically, three hundred fifty million dollars to a bank in Brazil. You have been directly implicated in—”
“Skip the shit, Dick Tracy. They told me why I was brought here. I don’t know anything about any money to Brazil,” Tim snapped.
“Mr. Livingston, let me reiterate your constitutional rights. You have the right—” Gavin started professionally.
“Yeah, Yeah. I’ve seen Dragnet,” Tim interrupted.
“Are you waiving said rights?”
“I ain’t got no money for an attorney, your whore has it all.”
“Do you understand your rights?” Gavin asked, unshaken.
“Fuck you.”
Gavin leaned forward in his chair and opened the folder in front of him.
“Do you know this man?” Gavin asked, placing a photo in front of Tim.
“No,” Tim said, not bothering to look at the picture.
“Take a look, Mr. Livingston, just to be sure.” Gavin pushed the photo forward.
“You know something? You two deserve each other. She’s just as stupid as you are,” Tim snarled.
“Mr. Livingston, the man in the picture? Do you know him?”
“She can’t even fuck right, doesn’t know how to even get wet. It gets old fucking a dry hole.” Tim sneered.
“Gavin!” Ortiz said through Gavin’s earpiece. David was on the other side of the glass witnessing the interrogation as required by department policy for the suspect’s protection. “We’re cutting this off. I’m turning off the video.”
“Are you sure?” Gavin asked, looking directly at Tim.
The question had been directed to Ortiz.
“Yeah, I’m sure. I tried fucking her for years. I finally gave up,” Tim said.
“Shut that bastard up!” David snarled at the same time.
Gavin, having received his cue from Ortiz, stood.
“All right, Livingston, I’m done here.” Gavin stood, taking the picture and closing the folder.
“No. I’m not done with you. I’m filing fucking harassment charges and I’ll own this department.”
Gavin knew how to inflict maximum pain with little damage. He had sized up Tim long ago and knew that he was a pip-squeak little bastard. It wouldn’t take much to get Tim to talk. All Gavin needed to do was make things a little uncomfortable and Tim would sing like a bird. He walked around to Tim as if to open the door but instead grabbed Tim by the neck, squeezing at the base of the skull. Tim screamed out in pain.
“Listen to me, you little fucking cockroach. Don’t fuck with me, you’re not good enough,” Gavin snarled.
Gavin picked Tim up by the base of his skull as if he were a rag doll. Tim howled at the pain.
“You’ll tell me what I want to know. And my girlfriend has nothing to do with this. Your playmates are about to get you turned over to guys that don’t play by the same rules I do. And a little cockroach like you won’t do very well in that environment,” Gavin continued in a low, evil growl. He violently threw Tim back into the chair and opened the folder again. “Now, one more time, is this the guy you’re moving the money for? And don’t play games with me, asshole, I’ll squash you like the fucking bug you are.”
Tim was breathing heavily. Gavin knew that the pain in Tim’s head could make him throw up, pass out, or both. Tim started to gag.
“You throw up in my interrogation room, I’ll make you pick it up with a fucking spoon and eat it again,” Gavin snapped.
Gavin walked around and planted his hands on either side of the folder, inches from Tim’s face. Tim was starting to sweat, meaning he could pass out at any minute.
“Answer my question! Is this the guy?” Gavin snarled.
“I can’t tell you,” Tim said weakly, his head dipping.
“You’re going to tell me or you’re going to tell my friends that are waiting on the other side of this window, and they’re not as gentle as I am,” Gavin said coolly.
“I don’t know this guy,” Tim said, swooning.
Gavin walked around Tim and placed his hand on Tim’s neck in the same spot.
“Oh Jesus, no,” Tim said, cowering.
“Talk to me, Timmy,” Gavin said in a low, even voice, slightly squeezing.
“No, he wasn’t the one.”
“No? Then was it this one?” Gavin turned a page in the folder.
“No.”
Gavin increased the pressure on Tim’s neck ever so slightly.
“No! I swear! It’s nobody in here. I didn’t even meet him here. Jorge got ahold of me in Corpus and asked me to do him a favor. I had borrowed money from him to get my firm going when I left Victoria. I paid it back, but he’s not the kind of guy you turn down.” Tim started flipping through the folder in earnest.
So that’s the connection between you and Rivera. “Who put you i
n contact with Rivera initially?” Gavin asked.
“Look, Jorge asked me to handle the portfolio of a friend of his. I don’t know where the money’s coming from. I’m not his accountant, I’m his financial planner.”
“Who’s the friend? And who put you in contact with Rivera the first time?” Gavin asked next to Tim’s ear.
“I can’t tell you, man. I’m a dead man if I do,” Tim said in a whine.
Gavin sat down and looked at Tim.
“You’re a dead man either way. I’m sure they’ll find out you’re here. You tell me what I want to know, I can at least get you a fifty-fifty shot at survival,” Gavin said.
“I can’t! This is fucking police brutality. I’m pressing charges!” Tim screamed as he recovered.
“You need a witness for police brutality, dumb shit,” Gavin scoffed.
“Fuck you and that frigid bitch you call a girlfriend,” Tim screamed as he rubbed his neck
“Okay, we’ll do this your way.” Gavin opened the door to some men dressed in nondescript black uniforms.
“Jesus! His name is Nayyaf Bakri. He just flew back to Pakistan a couple of days ago. He’ll be back in three weeks with some more money he wants moved,” Tim said.
“Okay, here’s what you’re going do. You’re going back to your office and staying there until Bakri comes back. When Bakri is no more, my buddies here will get you a new life. Until then you act like everything is the same, capisce? You understand? Now, you try to run, you do something that tips these guys off, A, they’ll kill you, B, we’ll kill you. So don’t do anything stupid, Timmy, if you want to live. My boys here will be watching you,” Gavin warned.
Gavin was reading the disbelief on Tim’s face as he laid out the plan he was to follow. In Gavin’s gut, he knew Tim would either fuck this up or betray them to his foreign buddies. His suspicions were confirmed when Tim recovered and found his stupid voice.