by Mike Ryan
“If they’re using Kanelos for his access to places to stay, if they know we’re on to them, they might think we’ll find out Kanelos is the last guy on the team.”
“And they’d know we’d run a check on him and find all these houses.”
“So they know we’re gonna go around spinning our wheels checking these places out that they never had any intention on being in. It keeps us busy chasing ghosts while they go in a different direction, putting even more time between them and us.”
“Smart.”
“These guys ain’t dumb.”
“That also means we’re no closer than when we started.”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s get back to base and try to figure this out from a new angle.”
Bridge nodded, though he wasn’t sure what else there was to learn. They needed a break. A big one. And he wasn’t sure it was coming. But they went back to the station anyway, hoping something would fall into their lap.
The crew was stirring. Dalton woke up and walked around the house, looking out the windows, making sure there was nothing suspicious going on. She didn’t want any surprise guests showing up.
“There’s no one there,” Kenny said. “We’ve got this.”
“It won’t take long before the CIA realizes what we’re doing.”
“By the time they do, we’ll be long gone. They’re probably still checking Kanelos’ houses right now.” He laughed. “Idiots.”
“And when they find nothing there, they’ll move on to something else.”
“Like I said, we’ll be gone by then. We only need one more day.”
Dalton’s head quickly spun around. There was a frantic look in her eyes. She had seen Magareth, who was in the same room as Abbott, guarding him. But she hadn’t seen the last member of the team.
“Where is he?”
“He went out for a bit,” Kenny said.
“What?!”
Kenny shrugged. “Said he was bored and wanted to get something to eat.”
“We have food here.”
“I dunno. Said something about some restaurant that he knows that’s close by. They have some local dish that he was craving or something.”
“That idiot! I specifically said for everyone to stay here and not go anywhere until we had to.”
“Said he’d only be gone an hour or two.”
“And you let him go?”
“Relax. Everything will be fine.”
“And what if someone recognizes him or the car he’s driving, and he leads them back here?”
“You worry too much.”
“And you’re not worrying enough. Or thinking, apparently.”
“Who cares about him? Who needs him, anyway? What’s he good for at this point? He’s served his purpose.”
“Everyone was promised an equal share for their service.”
Kenny leaned forward, putting his arms on the table in front of him. “But everyone’s not pulling an equal weight. Why should he get the same share as the rest of us? All he’s done is drive us around and give us a house to stay in. We don’t even need him from this point.”
Dalton folded her arms as she looked out the window. She couldn’t deny that Kanelos was a loose end. As much as she was angry at him, though, she still didn’t like the thought of eliminating him.
“C’mon,” Kenny said. “That money will stretch a lot farther for both of us if we don’t have to share some of it. We both know it.”
“There’s still plenty.”
“We’re talking a ten-million-dollar payday. Now, you’re taking half of that, which I’m good with it. It’s your deal, so you should get that. But five million split three ways isn’t as appealing as splitting it in two.”
“We may need him for some reason after we withdraw the money.”
Kenny nodded. He could understand that reasoning. Just in case the CIA or anyone else somehow caught up with them, an extra gun to have in the fight would be nice. But in the event that they didn’t need it, he wasn’t hearing her say no.
“And what about the little guy?”
Dalton stopped looking out the window and turned toward him. “Chris?”
“What are we gonna do with him?”
Dalton shrugged. “Send him on his way.”
“You’re serious?”
“After this is over, he can’t hurt us.”
“The hell he can’t. He’ll know what we did, where we went, and he’ll know about that bank.”
“So? We’ll never be using it again. And who cares if he knows what we did? He won’t know where we’re going.”
“We both know what we need to do with him.”
“No. That doesn’t need to happen.”
“Know what I think?”
“I don’t really happen to care what you think.”
“I think you got a soft spot for him,” Kenny said. “I think because you had a thing for his brother, and his brother’s now dead. Maybe you can’t do what you know needs to be done.”
“Because it doesn’t need to be done.”
“Loose ends. We both know in this business loose ends get you killed. And he’s a loose end.”
“I’ll take care of him.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. I’ll give him a little money or something.”
“That ain’t coming out of my share.”
“I’ll take care of it. Is that OK with you?”
Kenny stared at her for a few moments. He then shrugged. “We wouldn’t even be having this problem if you could’ve kept yourself in check.”
“Oh, you talking about Gary now? Is that what you’re doing? You didn’t have to kill him.”
“He wanted out. He wasn’t coming back here. He wasn’t helping us anymore. And most of all, he didn’t want you anymore. And you still haven’t accepted that.”
“I could’ve talked to him. I could’ve convinced him.”
“Bullshit. He was done. He was having second thoughts, and he didn’t want anything to do with anyone anymore. Not you, not me, and not the money. He was out.”
“I still could’ve talked him into it.”
“You’re deluding yourself. What you had with him was gone. You had a nice few months with him and thought you were living the fairy tale. But guess what? You put your slippers on at midnight and the dream was over. And you haven’t come to grips with that yet.”
“Go to hell.”
“I’ve already been there. Remember what I said about loose ends? Gary had become a loose end. He wasn’t willing to help us anymore. All he could do was hurt us.”
“He wouldn’t have talked.”
“And you know that how? He was working for the CIA, for Christ’s sake. You think he wouldn’t at some point reveal how that whole mole storyline shit was a bunch of crap? You think he really wouldn’t say what this whole thing was really about at some point? He was a loose end. You know it. And in this business, loose ends need to be dealt with. I knew you weren’t going to do it, so I did what had to be done. I dealt with it.”
Dalton turned her attention back out the window. She didn’t really want to hear anymore. It was all hitting too close to home. Everything Kenny was saying was probably correct, but that didn’t make it easy to hear. She didn’t want to. She still wanted to believe she and Gary had something special and would’ve continued to have it.
“You need to cut the crap, Zara.” Kenny stood up, ready to leave the room. “You’re a former MI6 agent, for crying out loud. You’re the best of the best. It’s time you start acting like it. Loose ends get you killed in this business. But you know what else does? Soft spots. Abbott needs to be cut loose. If you won’t do it, then I will.”
Kenny then walked out of the room. Dalton looked at him as he disappeared. She was angry. She looked out the window again, hoping to gain some clarity in her own mind. Everything was going through it: Gary, Chris, Kanelos, Kenny, the money. What Kenny had told her wasn’t pleasant to hear, but maybe she s
hould have listened to it. Maybe he wasn’t wrong.
Dalton then went into the other room, where Magareth was watching Abbott. She stood there for a moment, watching her lover’s brother, thinking about the future. Kenny’s words still raced through her mind. She wasn’t sure she could do it, though. She didn’t want to do it.
“You can go,” Dalton said. Magareth looked up at her. “I’ll watch him for a bit. Get some rest.”
Magareth nodded. He wasn’t about to argue with her. He was tired of watching Abbott, anyway. Not that Abbott had given any problems, because he had complied with their wishes every step of the way, but it would be nice to stretch his legs without having to worry about where their prisoner was. As Magareth left the room, Dalton took the same seat against the wall, with Abbott sitting against the adjoining wall.
“You hungry?” Dalton asked.
“No.”
“This will all be over soon.”
“I just want to go home.”
“I know. By this time tomorrow, we’ll have everything we need. And then it will be over.”
“And what about me?”
“What about you?”
“What are you going to do with me?” Abbott asked.
“I told you before. After it’s done, you can go.”
“What about Kenny? He killed my brother. I get the feeling he wants to do the same to me.”
“Don’t worry about that. Just worry about playing your part and helping me get the money. After that, everything will take care of itself.”
“And Kenny?”
“I have control of him. He’ll do what I tell him.”
Abbott felt only slightly better. Though he honestly believed that Dalton meant everything she said, he didn’t get the same feeling about Kenny. He seemed like the type of guy who did what he wanted, regardless of what he was told, or what anyone else wanted.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Positive,” Dalton said. “He’ll do what he’s told. He’ll do what has to be done.” Dalton thought about it a few more seconds. “And so will I.”
19
Bridge, Nicole, and the rest of the team were at the substation, trying to dig up any leads that they could. Though they couldn’t be sure of any timelines, it felt like they were running out of time. A call then came in from New York. Joe’s face came on the monitor. Everyone scrambled away from their desks and stood in front of it as he started speaking.
“While you guys were house hunting, we’ve been doing some background work on Argus Kanelos,” Joe said.
“Find anything interesting?” Bridge asked.
“Plenty. And we may have figured out what’s going on here. Or at least part of it.”
“What do you got?”
“We’ve uncovered several communications between Kanelos and another email address that we have still yet to figure out who is behind it.”
“What did they say?”
“Well, first of all, we’re assuming the email account he’s conversing with belongs to either Dalton or Kenny.”
“Why?”
“The emails were opened through an IP address that registers to a location in Ukraine.”
“At the time they were both there, I take it?”
“You guessed it.”
“Is it possible they were using a VPN to disguise their real location and maybe just incriminating one of those people?” Nicole asked.
“No, that’s a good call, though. Best as we can determine, the location is as legit as it gets.”
“But we can’t pinpoint who it was exactly?” Bridge asked.
“Negative. At least not as yet. We’re still working on it, though. We’ll get there.”
“How long ago were these emails?”
“The first ones we’ve got are from last year. We’ve got a few spread out since then, the latest of which we have is from last month.”
“You said you thought you knew what this was about?”
“In the exchange of emails, they go into several different topics, one is nailing down some type of housing situation for whoever Kanelos is talking to.”
“Housing?”
“Yes. We’ll send a few of the emails over to you so you can examine them, but the gist of it is they wanted Kanelos to find suitable housing for them for a period of one to three days.”
“We’ve checked every house the Kanelos family owns. There’s no sign of any of them being there. If they were in one of the empty ones, they left no clues behind that they were there, and if they were in one of the ones being rented, there was nothing to suggest they were being hidden.”
“That’s because they didn’t use any of those,” Joe said. “In the emails, Kanelos was explicitly told not to use any house that can be traced back to the family.”
Steve stepped up to ask a question. “Then what sense does it make to use Kanelos at all if they’re not using his family connections? I mean, he’s definitely no angel, but he’s definitely not up to the caliber of the rest of the people he’s hobnobbing with either. It doesn’t make sense.”
“It makes a little more sense if you come to the realization that they’re probably just using Kanelos to find an adequate house, help with whatever they need with Abbott, and in getting the money.”
“Money?” Bridge asked. “What money?”
“In several of the emails they reference a place called The Brick.”
“The Brick?” Bridge looked at the others to see if they knew the reference. Nicole shook her head, but by the look on Steve’s face, he understood it. “What’s The Brick?”
“Steve can probably fill you in a little better after we’re finished here, but for now, you need to know that The Brick is a large building, basically referenced to as a bank, designed for criminals, run by criminals, and used by criminals of all nationalities. Every government intelligence agency knows it exists.”
Bridge put his hands up. “If everyone knows about it, how’s it allowed to operate?”
“There may be a few people in either the police or government agencies that have a hand in the cookie jar, so to speak. We don’t need to debate the hows and whys right now. At this moment, the only thing we need to concern ourselves with, is whether that’s the target that Dalton and Kenny have. And since they’ve mentioned the name, which is basically forbidden unless you have business with it, we believe that it is.”
“What about a date and a time? How’s this system work?”
“A date and time we don’t know. But considering they’re there, which is where The Brick is located, we’ve got to believe that it’s happening soon.”
“Is that why they need Abbott?”
“We still don’t know. The inner workings of it are still somewhat of a mystery, but it’s a good guess that they need him for something.”
“It’s gotta have something to do with it,” Nicole said. “There’s no other reason for it.”
“Where’s this place at?” Bridge asked.
“Steve will fill you in on the details,” Joe said. “But it’s in a remote area, and it’s surrounded by guards. And plenty of them.”
Bridge smiled, already knowing the answer to his next question. “By guards, I assume you mean heavily armed mercenaries who shoot anyone who’s not authorized to come near the place?”
“That about covers it.”
“I take it that means we’re gonna have to stake this place out to see if our friends show up?”
“That’s about the size of it.”
“What about the alternate housing they directed Kanelos to find?” Nicole asked. “How ‘bout zeroing in on that and see if we can find out where they are?”
“We’ve been trying, but we haven’t been able to lock anything down yet. The theory we’re going with is that we believe they used Kanelos to find an appropriate spot, probably away from the hustle and bustle of a big city, a place they could settle into without any prying eyes while they wait for whatever it is they’re waiting for. They probab
ly also directed him to do it under the radar.”
“So nothing that we’re going to be able to attach with his name on it,” Bridge said.
“Most likely not. We’re still checking, but like I said, it’s unlikely we’re going to be able to lock anything down definitively.”
“Seems like a lot of loose pieces on this,” Steve said. “Sounds like they’ve got two extra parts they don’t need.”
“No, don’t discount anything. They need them for a reason. Maybe to get into the bank, maybe to get out, maybe to help keep us off our toes. But they need them.”
“They might be using Kanelos now to dump him later,” Nicole said. “No loose ends.”
“Quite possible. But for now, with the absence of their current address, we’re gonna need eyes on that bank.”
“Just out of curiosity, what’s the advantage of using this bank to begin with?” Bridge asked.
“Convenience. It’s mostly used by people who are either in a hurry, or want to hide their money. If you’re on the run and can’t take a large stash with you for whatever reason, you can deposit it there and come back for it later.”
“Any chance the money won’t be there?”
“None. It’s there. The bank has a stellar reputation—if you can believe that—in the underworld community. They do what they say they’ll do. They’ll hold your money for a fee.”
“What about this bank, Chief?” Steve asked. “You want us to hit it?”
“No. That bank has dozens of guards, both on the perimeter and inside the building. They’re prepared in case of an attack. I do not want any type of firefight in that area. We are not there to wage war on that bank.”
“Has it ever been hit before?” Bridge asked. “Just out of curiosity.”
“It has. Several times. You can imagine if the place is known, some people will think they can get an easy score and help themselves. And from the fact that it’s still there, you can guess what happened to the people who tried to hit it.”
“So if we see Dalton and the others go into or out of the bank?” Steve asked.
“Let it happen. Follow them. See where they’re going next. Whatever you do, make sure that you do not engage at that bank. If you do, you’ll not only have Kenny and Dalton firing at you, you’ll have the wrath of twenty other guards as well. And there’s no backup coming to help you. At least not in time to save you if something goes wrong.”