by Marie Astor
“Yes, it does. It’s a chip used in nuclear reactors.”
“Oh, I remember now. You’re the fella who got that huge contract with Pollux plants, right? And you bought out the company that had the original contract because something went wrong with it. I can’t remember exactly, but I do remember that it was all over the papers a few months ago.”
“That’s right.” Platt nodded, eyeing her shrewdly. “Roberts Enterprises had the original project. The problem was that Victor Roberts forgot about his duty to deliver the highest quality of work. Instead he got careless, sloppy, and money hungry, taking on a project he didn’t have the capacity to execute and causing humongous losses not only to Pollux, but to all of its customers. I bought Roberts Enterprises because of my sense of obligation to society. Someone had to step in and fix things, regardless of the cost. That’s why I carry this chip with me—to remind me to never be careless.”
“But you did make some money on it, didn’t you? Maintenance of all of Pollux’s nuclear plants must bring a nice little chunk of change.”
Platt nodded. “I’m starting to recuperate some of my expenditures, but it’s a slow process. We’re all in business to make money, but I’m in it for more than that. I feel an obligation and serve a moral purpose. To make my contribution, no matter how small, to society. I didn’t know you were interested in the energy business.”
“Only by association. My daddy follows everything that’s connected to oil, gas, or electricity. I must say though that he’d disagree with you. He thinks a fella should get every penny he can.”
“I’m aware that not everyone had the same advantages that I had. You see, I was born into money and my goals in life were never based on purely financial gain. I believe that money tends to bring out the worst in people. Sometimes it’s better when the reasons to squabble and fight over profits are taken out of the equation. I have the ability to do that because I don’t need to squabble over profits, and that’s my own personal contribution to society.”
I bet, Ally thought. If it were up to you, you’d eliminate the “squabbling” or competition all together. She couldn’t believe the moral crock of shit Platt was trying to sell her and that he was doing it with a straight face too. “I think you’re so inspiring,” she lied.
“Shall we?”
“Yes. I can’t wait.”
Platt slid the electronic key and opened the door.
“This is incredible,” Ally gasped, being sincere for the first time during the entire evening. The size of his collection was mind-blowing. At first glance she could spot Pollock, de Kooning, and Lichtenstein, just to name a few. Regardless of whether one was a fan of these painters, these works of art were worth a fortune.
“Better than the Italian masters?” Platt closed the door behind them.
“I wasn’t comparing, but your collection is very impressive.”
“I told you I’d make a convert of you,” Platt said, moving in so close she could sense his breath on her neck. “We can admire it better from here.” He motioned toward a leather couch by the wall.
Ally took a seat. “This is a beautiful view. I hope you manage to find time to enjoy it. My daddy loves horses, but he’s so busy with the business that he hardly ever gets out to his ranch. It must be the same for you, being so busy with work and all.”
“I have what you’d call an unconventional schedule. Sometimes I might have an eighty hour week and sometimes I might take a day off in the middle of the week to decompress. I find that it makes me more productive.” He paused, moving in closer to her. “I think it’s important to find time for beauty.”
“Oh, yes,” Ally agreed, conscious of his hand brushing her thigh. She barely resisted the urge to recoil.
Platt’s eyes turned lusty as he reached for the cognac bottle and filled their glasses. “I think this will enhance your enjoyment ever further.” He handed her the glass.
She lifted it to her nose and took a moment to appreciate the aroma. “I can tell this is some really good cognac,” she said after taking a sip.
“Oh yes, it is,” Platt murmured, moving in closer. “I must say, that perfume of yours is driving me crazy. What is it?”
“A girl can’t reveal all her secrets.”
“Have it your way.” He moved in even closer. “I love mystery in a woman.”
She could smell his breath, a mixture of caviar and pheasant laced with cognac undertones. “Oh, forgive me! I’m so clumsy!” Ally exclaimed, dropping her cognac glass on the floor where it smashed into pieces. “I’m so sorry!” She jumped up from the couch.
“Oh, nonsense, my dear. Sheer nonsense. Let me get you another glass. I’ll be right back.” Platt left the room.
While he was gone, Ally quickly emptied the contents of the vial she had with her into Platt’s glass.
Platt returned a few moments later. “Here you are.” He refilled and handed her a brand new glass, identical to the one she’d broken.
“Thank you.” She lifted the glass to her lips and emptied it. “Ummm, this is good.”
“Yes, indeed.” Platt finished his glass and refilled both of their glasses. “But it shouldn’t be rushed or you will fail to notice the flavor. A cognac this rare isn’t meant to be gulped down.”
“I’ll take my time on the second one,” she assured him. She wondered how long it would take for the sedative to knock Platt out. “So, which of the paintings is your favorite?” she asked.
“Oh, that’s a tough one. It’s like asking a parent to name their favorite child.”
“But these aren’t children.”
“I was speaking metaphorically.”
She took another swallow of cognac. “I still don’t see the metaphor. It’s not like you painted them.”
“No, but I feel responsible for preserving them for society’s sake. Obviously the people who owned this beauty before didn’t care for it, or they would’ve never let it leave their homes. Now these relics have been passed on to me, and I think of myself as a kind of shepherd, safeguarding them for future generations.”
Ally was tempted to say that people who really cared about preserving art for humanity donated their collections to museums, but she thought it’d be unwise to argue with Platt. “That sounds incredibly inspiring.”
“Thank you,” he yawned. “Oh, excuse me,” he slurred, “I don’t know what’s come over me. I’m suddenly very sleepy. Must be all that food.”
“Have some more cognac. It will wake you up.” She reached for the bottle and refilled his glass. “Bottoms up.” She waited for his to drain his glass. “Don’t you feel better?”
“Yes, I think so.”
Suddenly Platt keeled over and lay on his back on the couch. Ally leaned over Platt’s prostrate body to make sure that he was asleep. His breathing was quiet and he seemed to be out cold. Quietly she rose from the couch, grabbed her purse, and tiptoed out into the hallway, closing the door behind her. She opened the door to Platt’s office and examined her surroundings. Compared to the rest of his house, this room was very modest and functional. It had a large desk, a chair, and a couch. There were several paintings on the walls, mostly compilations of geometric shapes, but they weren’t nearly as expensive as the ones in the main gallery. She walked over to Platt’s desk, turned on his computer, and plugged in a flash drive Jake had given her. She wasn’t a computer whiz by any means, but she didn’t need to be; the software on the flash drive was going to suck all the data out of Platt’s computer like a sponge. Platt’s computer was encrypted, but the agency’s software was sophisticated enough to break through the encryption. In a few moments Ally saw a progress window pop up that indicated that the software was working. The first part of the job was almost done. Of course she still had to get out of there safely, but at the moment she chose not to worry about that. Instead she concentrated on the room, looking for a good hiding spot for a safe. She lifted one of the paintings. Bingo. There was a built-in safe underneath.
“Freeze
right there.”
At the sound of Platt’s voice, Ally’s knees buckled. Slowly, she turned around. Platt was standing in front of her, holding up a gun. He looked to be wide awake.
“Surprised to see me?” He shook his head. “Didn’t your daddy ever tell you that it’s rude to snoop around other people’s houses? Have a seat.” He motioned at the chair next to the desk. “Don’t even think about making a run for it. This gun is loaded and I will use it.”
Ally did as she was told.
“What have we here?” Platt’s eyes narrowed as he eyed his computer, yanking out the flash drive Ally had put in earlier. “And here I was thinking that you were interested in me when what you really wanted was to spy on me. Who do you work for?” he demanded.
She remained silent. With any luck, Jake would’ve already heard that her mission had gone awry and help was on the way. The longer she stalled, the better her chances for survival were.
“You will find that I don’t like it when people play games with me. I can find ways to make you speak, unpleasant ways. So let’s try one more time. Who sent you?”
She lowered her eyes and said nothing, preparing for the worst. He gripped her face with his hand, his unblinking eyes burrowing into her like a snake’s. She tried to move away, but his grip was like steel. In one swift motion he ripped off her wig, sending searing pain through her scalp.
“The plot thickens. The lady’s wearing a disguise. Who do you work for, bitch?”
Ally was scared now. She’d put on a good show of bravado before, but she never imagined she’d be in this much danger. Perhaps she should’ve listened to Jake and let him take the lead. She was in some really hot water now. Still, no matter how scared she was, she knew that she had to protect the agency.
“Answer me, you bitch!” He slapped her across the face, hard.
“My father was Victor Roberts,” she spat, hoping to buy herself some time.
He laughed. “I see. What was your brilliant plan? To get a copy of my files and reopen the case? The DA is my personal friend and so is the FBI director. Even if you’d gotten out of here, you’d still be nowhere. You’re just as idealistic and stupid as your father was. He had no place in business and it was high time I put him out of business.”
“You bastard.”
“I may be a bastard, but I won. Winning is the only thing that matters, no matter the costs. Only then can a true business empire be built.”
“So much for all your high and mighty talk about money not being important.”
He laughed. “That’s just a pep talk for the masses, the worker bees. People don’t know what’s good for them, and they need men like me to keep things in order and decide for them. It is much more efficient to have a few select competent parties run the market and eliminate wasteful competition. Your father, on the other hand, thought differently. He thought competition was important, that innovation was important. I tried to work with him, but he wouldn’t hear of it. He called me unprincipled. I couldn’t believe it when your father got the Pollux project. He outbid me because his technology allowed him to have a much lower cost basis. It was the last drop in the bucket of my patience. I had to put a stop to it.”
“So you destroyed my father to take over the Pollux project?”
“You silly girl, no wonder you failed at whatever it was you were trying to achieve here tonight. But since, as you probably already guessed, you won’t be getting out of here, I’m going to grant your dying wish and tell you how I put your father out of business. The Pollux project provided an excellent backdrop for his downfall. I began looking for weak chinks in Roberts’ armor the moment he got the project. I knew that his methods were too meticulous to sabotage and his employees too loyal to bribe, so I started looking at the equipment that Roberts had to get manufactured for the project. Most of the suppliers were large companies and it was too risky to try to involve them. And then I struck gold with Zigger Solutions. It was a relatively small company that was struggling financially because of Kyle Zigger’s expensive divorce. I met Zigger at an industry event and he was only too eager to make a few extra bucks.”
Tears were burning Ally’s eyes. All the horrible memories of her father’s trial were alive in her mind and she was reliving his death all over again. Her father was gone with everything he stood for destroyed, while Blaine Platt lived to reap the rewards of his crimes. She wanted to rip his eyes out, to strangle him with her bare hands.
With his gun-free hand Platt reached into his pocket and dangled his keychain in front of Ally’s nose. “This little chip was all I needed. You see, radiation hardened chips are meant to withstand very high amounts of radiation in nuclear reactors. I asked Zigger to deliberately use a lower grade material so that the chips would gradually disintegrate under the radiation exposure. Otherwise it would’ve been too suspicious. And the rest, as they say, is history.” His face smug, Platt bowed theatrically.
Ally seized the moment and kicked him in his shin, hard. He cursed and grabbed his leg, jumping on one foot. She jumped up and swung the chair at him, hitting him with all her strength. Platt crashed to the floor, the gun falling out of his hand. There was a gunshot and Ally felt a sharp pain in her arm. Shaking and barely able to think, she forced herself to pick up the gun.
“Don’t you dare move,” she hissed, standing over Platt. “Or I’ll shoot your balls right off.”
There was a sound of stomping feet in the hallway and moments later the door swung open and a squad of agents stormed into the room. They were wearing masks and bulletproof vests. Ally dropped the gun on the floor, relieved to see that help had arrived. Several agents surrounded Platt’s crouching body, cuffing him.
One of the masked agents immediately moved to Ally’s side, seeing that she was hurt. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” Ally murmured, recognizing Jake’s voice. But her legs told a different story, literally giving out from under her as she felt all strength leaving her. Jake’s arms were there to catch her, and he picked her up as though she weighed nothing at all. She felt woozy, her body overcome with nausea. It must’ve been all the shock and the adrenaline. She’d been holding strong up until backup arrived, but now her body was refusing to cooperate.
“Easy, baby, take it easy. I got you,” Jake whispered into her ear. “Get a doctor!” he barked at one of the agents.
She felt his strong arms holding her and leaned against his strong, broad chest. She felt him carry her to the couch and gently lower her on it. She leaned back into the reassuring warmth of his arms. She felt safe. “I think I got hit,” she managed.
“Yes, you did. You crazy girl. I told you this was too dangerous. Don’t you worry—I got you. You’re going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay. You did good, kid. We got the bastard. We’re gonna nail him good.”
Chapter 22 - Three Months Later
Ally opened the door of a small bar in East Village where she was supposed to meet Jake. It was a small place, one of those trendy bars that pop up in New York’s hot neighborhoods overnight and then close down with equal speed. It was seven o’clock and the place was already packed. Maybe this little joint would stand the test of time after all. Ally made her way to the back. She didn’t have to look long: she spotted Jake seated behind a tiny table in a corner. He saw her almost instantly and nodded.
“Hi,” he said simply, his gray eyes taking her in. Today had been a very emotional day for her and he knew it.
“Hi.” She took a seat and smiled. “It’s over.”
“Yes, it is.”
“I was so worried that Platt would get off the hook.”
“Not with all the evidence we had on him. I still can’t believe the stunt you pulled. You’d cut it so close. If we’d been even a few minutes late, God knows what could’ve happened.”
“As I remember it, I had things under control. Platt was on the ground and I’d clobbered him with a chair.”
“And you also got shot.”
“It was just a ricochet bullet; it only grazed my arm. But I’ll admit that I was scared. I never got shot before. I can’t say that I enjoyed the experience, but in the end it played to our advantage. Thanks to Platt’s cockiness, we had his admission of guilt on tape,” she paused, remembering the events of that adrenaline-charged night. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For coming to my rescue that night.”
Jake shook his head. “Ally, I hardly think you need rescuing. I was only busting your chops. You pulled off the entire operation on your own. The squad and I, we were just the clean-up crew . . . You were the one who rescued me.”
“What do you mean?”
“When Marion had insisted that I return to the field to work on the Platt case with you, I was furious. I thought I was done with the field. I’d convinced myself that I was happy being an instructor, but in reality I was hiding.” He looked away, a pained expression on his face.
“Because of that assignment that you told me about where a source died?” she asked quietly.
He nodded. “Yes. I was blaming myself and I used my guilt as an excuse, making the training job my personal penance. In reality, I was scared and I was hiding behind my guilt. Marion saw right through it and called me on it. Working with you gave me my confidence back, Ally. You made me believe that I still have what it takes to be a good agent.”
She touched his arm, moved by his words. “I think you’re giving me too much credit. You’re a great agent, Jake, and don’t you ever think otherwise. If it weren’t for you, I don’t think I would’ve made it out of Platt’s house.”
“You would’ve made it out just fine. It was the agency’s fault that the sedative didn’t work on Platt in the first place. With all the research they did on the man, they failed to catch that he was seeing an herbalist and taking experimental herbal potency stimulants. Apparently, the herbal stimulant had lessened the effect of the sedative.”
Ally wrinkled her nose. “Herbal potency stimulant? I don’t want to hear anything more about it. Delilah would have a blast with this one. Promise not to tell her.”