by Cruz, Cara
He’d been wound up ever since his meeting with Ralf the night before. Maria had gone along to take notes. She’d listened intently for any mention of Keton or any other potentially relevant information, but there was nothing. The two men had spent most of the time talking about fishing trips they’d made around the Keys and comparing notes on their catches.
The only thing they’d mentioned about business was a few scattered references to the office that Breton was about to open in Orlando. But that was legit: in her document search, Maria had found several memos and project plans relating to the opening. It was above board. She was sure of it.
She had a few questions of her own for Johnny. They’d agreed to meet at the A Street Deli. She’d chosen it because it was the busiest place she knew, especially in the morning, so she’d be safe. And the booths at the back were private: if she was going to betray Chase, then she was determined not to be overheard doing it.
The bell rung out loud when she opened the door and stepped inside. She walked straight to a booth without looking at anyone. That was another thing she liked about this place: there was no way to get in without setting off that damn bell. It meant that nobody could sneak up on you. Sometimes that was vital in her position. Although, during the morning rush the damn thing rung almost constantly. Luckily, she was confident that Johnny wasn’t out to hurt her. He needed her; or rather, he needed the information that she could get for him. She tuned out the sound of the bell and stared into space.
After a couple minutes playing with sugar packets, a shadow appeared on her table. Johnny stood over her looking as unfriendly as ever.
“Two coffees,” he yelled back toward the counter some distance away.
“Keep it down, would ya?” Maria hissed.
“Why? Ashamed to be seen with me?”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s not exactly a wise move, is it?”
“Maybe not for you. But I don’t give a fuck about that.”
“You wouldn’t, would you,” she sighed.
Johnny leaned forward. “Enough chit-chat. What have you got for me?”
She shrugged. “Not a lot. He mentioned Keton yesterday before a meeting.”
His eyes widened. “And?”
“And nothing. I attended the meeting. They mentioned nothing out of the ordinary.”
“What did they talk about?”
“The new office in Orlando.”
Johnny drummed his fingers against his lips. Without warning, he reached across the table and grabbed her wrist roughly.
“Did you tip him off?” he hissed.
She shook her hand free. “No of course not. How stupid do you think I am?”
He sat back against his seat as the waitress approached with their coffees. “I can tell you now. Keton’s got nothing to do with some office block in Orlando.”
Maria rubbed her face with her hands, suddenly exhausted. “Well can you tell me what it is to do with? Because I’m running around in circles here. I can’t help you if I don’t know what I’m looking for.”
He gritted his teeth. “And I’ve told you. That’s sensitive information.”
Maria sat back against the booth. “If my sister is jailed for life, do you know what I’m gonna do?” she said finally.
“What?”
She leaned forward. “I’m going to find every last one of the people you work for. And I’m going to destroy you. I don’t care what it takes.”
He smirked. “Sweetheart, do you have any idea who you’re dealing with?”
“Johnny, I don’t think you know who you’re dealing with. Janey’s the only person I’ve got left. Mess with her and you’ve got an enemy for life. Now you’ve fucked me around enough. Tell me everything you know. Or else watch your back. Forever.”
Under the table, Maria drove her nails into her palm. Hard. She was taking a risk here; a huge one. She hoped she’d judged Johnny correctly. She got the impression he was only motivated by violence or the threat of it. It wasn’t that she was unprepared to follow through with her threat. It was just that there was a very high risk that they’d get to her first.
But she had to take it. She was quickly running out of other options.
“Johnny,” she said, calmer this time. “I didn’t come here to fight. But just think of it like this. Imagine your boss sent you to collect a payment from somebody. A store owner. Somebody who hadn’t paid up.”
Johnny shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. But okay, whatever.”
“Okay, now suppose he did that without telling you where to go. You know you need to collect the cash from someone. You know you can do it - no one’s gonna mess with you. But you don’t know who the damn person is. You follow?”
He nodded slowly.
“Johnny, it’s the same thing. Help me to help you. I won’t tell anyone you told me. I promise. Think how good you’re gonna look when you go back to your bosses with the information I was able to get.”
He looked uncertain.
“Imagine the shit that’s gonna fly if you fail,” she laughed. “Seriously.”
He rolled his eyes. “Okay. Fine. But you have to promise not to tell anybody.”
Maria fought to resist the urge to jump out of her chair. It was far from a victory, she reminded herself. She still had to betray the guy she was rapidly falling for. But she had to do it for Janey – she was innocent too. Chase was a rich guy – a little intellectual property theft wouldn’t hold him back for long. They’d all come out of it unscathed; she’d just need to get over the fact that he’d never trust her again.
“What is it? A new product?” she said, leaning forward across the table.
He shook his head. “Nah, nothing like that.”
“What then? Blackmail?”
“Nah,” he said, sitting back in his seat looking smug. “You need to think bigger.”
“I give up,” she said. “Tell me.”
He leaned forward and licked his lips.
“My bosses have set up a number of little honey pots around the country,” he smiled menacingly.
“I don’t understand.”
“I’m probably not the best person to tell you, but I’m all you got. I don’t follow that corporate shit.”
She bristled. “What’s the trap? He’s not married. How could it damage him?”
Johnny watched her closely. “What’s that, jealousy? You did it, did ya? You fucked him like I told you to? Good girl.”
Maria resisted the urge to shudder and defend herself. It wasn’t like he said. The day she fucked someone just because Johnny told her to would be the day hell froze over.
“Where was I? Okay. There’s a guy in the company. Real high up. An associate of my associates. Let’s just say it’s in his interests to get your Mr. Breton and his bean counter brother out of the way.”
“He wants to take over the management of the firm?”
Johnny nodded.
“But why? Chase’s family owns it. What benefit…”
Johnny shrugged. “Come on, Maria. Major firm? Fingers in lots of pies? And you can’t see the benefit?”
“But he’ll never agree to step down. Never. It took him a while, he’ll admit that himself, but he loves that firm.”
Johnny bared his perfect teeth. She wasn’t sure whether he was smiling or grimacing. Whatever it was, it was pretty terrifying. She was glad they were meeting in broad daylight.
“We know that.”
“Okay, then how are you gonna get him out of the way…”
He smiled. “Finally catching on?”
She nodded slowly. “These honeytraps. They’re some kind of deals, right?”
“You got it.”
“And my job was never to get information. It was to tip you off when… wait. He’s a smart guy. How can you be so sure he’ll fall for it? He’ll be able to smell a scam a mile away.”
“That’s the beauty of it. On the surface everything looks squeaky clean. Our guy has been setting it u
p for years. Everything looks above-board to Breton. But that’s because he’s not looking for the right things.”
“Which are?”
“Man you ask a lot of questions. I don’t know the details. Only that as soon as he signs one of those deals, the noose is gonna tighten around his and his brother’s necks so fast they won’t know what hit them.”
Maria took a sip from her now-cold coffee and tried to stop her hands from shaking.
“What do you mean?”
“Securities fraud they called it. They’ll go away for a very long time.”
“What?” she hissed, slamming her cup down too fast and spilling lukewarm coffee all over the table in front of her.
Johnny rolled his eyes. “You really have got a thing for him, don’t you? It’s a waste. Pretty little thing like you would be better off with someone who can keep you in line.”
“Have I ever told you how much I want to tear your face off?” Maria hissed. “I don’t have a thing for him. I don’t want to be part of sending an innocent man to jail is all.”
“We both know they’ll end up in a low security facility that’s more like a resort than an actual penitentiary.”
“It’s still jail, Johnny. Jail. And for what, so some greedy son of a bitch can get his corrupt fingers in the till?”
Johnny rolled his eyes. “You finished? You’re not gonna change anything. It’s not like you’ve got a choice in this.”
Maria blinked in an attempt to stop her eyes from tearing up. What she was contemplating was something she’d never be able to forgive herself for. “I could decide not to help you. Find another way to get Janey out.”
He snorted. “Bullshit. If there was another way you wouldn’t be here.” He leaned in closer and glared at her. “Besides, this isn’t just about Janey anymore.”
Maria shivered. “Meaning?”
“How d’ya think my associates would feel if you abandoned them now, huh?”
“Is that a threat?”
He smiled cryptically and shrugged. “Now, did I say that? Anyway. It’s going ahead with or without your help.”
Maria couldn’t listen to any more; she needed to get out. “Fine. Whatever. So you need me to warn you when he comes close to signing one of those deals. BEK. Keton. Naylor.”
Johnny nodded.
“You could have told me that to begin with,” she sighed. “It would have been a hell of a lot easier.”
What an understatement, she thought, leaving the deli and heading toward the subway. If she’d known all along why she was there, then she wouldn’t have spent so many hours looking through files. Or his emails. Or concentrating on the work he gave her. She could’ve kept him at arm’s length. Instead of… this.
Now she was stuck in an impossible situation. Either help send Chase to jail or lose her sister and risk the wrath of Johnny’s friends. The ridiculous thing was, now that she knew the truth, they didn’t even really need her. She was a backup, she knew, just in case their guy on the inside decided to back out or cut Johnny and his crew out. Too bad that didn’t make her position any safer.
Maria’s pace got slower and slower as she neared the office. She felt a strong urge to run away and call in sick. But that wouldn’t help either Janey or Chase. Or herself. It would have stopped her from having to face him though: she wasn’t sure if she could live with the guilt and pretend everything was okay.
Chapter 20
Chase drummed his fingers on his desk. It was nine fifteen. It was five minutes since the last time he’d popped his head out of his office door to see if Maria had arrived. He fought the urge to check again. He still couldn’t get her out of his mind and he’d come no closer to making sense of the information Mike had given him.
It turned out that BEK and Naylor were two of a whole host of companies that Breton was looking at acquiring. Which meant what exactly? Mike suspected that Maria was on the payroll of another conglomerate trying to emulate Breton’s stellar performance of the last couple years. He had to agree it made sense, even though he didn’t fully believe it himself.
She had access to all of the company’s files, yet she’d searched for only three names. Two of which they weren’t even actively pursuing yet. Hell, Mike had just begun to look at the financials and hadn’t even brought them to him. They were about to finalize a deal on the third company, Keton, but it was tiny. The acquisition was insignificant compared to some of the other firms they were courting.
But Maria hadn’t even looked into the files in his drive named West and Lockyear. Any corporate spy worth their salt would have recognized those names and investigated immediately. The West deal alone was projected to net them almost twenty times the profits of the Keton deal.
It didn’t make sense.
He glanced at his watch again. It was almost nine twenty. Hating himself for it, he stood and walked to the door. She was bustling across the floor to her desk. She glanced up and saw him. She smiled.
“Sorry I’m late,” she said.
He shook his head. “At least pretend you mean that.”
He turned and walked back into his office leaving the door open for her to follow. That was another thing, he thought. She made no attempt whatsoever to charm him. Wouldn’t she have done that… he shook his head. This whole thing was going to drive him batshit crazy.
“I had to pick up some things from my apartment,” she said absently.
He turned around and leaned against the edge of his desk. “Shut the door and come here.”
She glanced up at him. He saw for the first time that her face was pale and drawn.
“Everything okay?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I’m just tired.”
She stalked across the room toward him. He wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, or whether her smile looked forced and put-on. He put his doubts aside and held out his arms. She fell into them. She clung onto him uncharacteristically hard, like he was the only thing keeping her from drowning.
He stroked her hair and was about to ask her what was going on when the door to his office burst open. Maria sprung away from him.
“What the hell, Mike? Knocking?”
Mike ignored him. He was glaring at Maria with a fierceness that Chase had rarely seen in his brother. He pointed to the door. “Out.”
“Woah.” Chase stepped forward and held his arm out to stop Maria from leaving. “Explain yourself.”
Mike looked him dead in the eyes and raised his eyebrows. A challenge. Suddenly Chase felt like his world was collapsing around him.
He glanced at Maria. If it was true, he couldn’t risk her running away. “Is it the Brenton deal?”
“Yes,” Mike hissed, understanding what his brother was doing. “Now can we talk about it before it’s too late?”
Mike watched as Maria rushed out the door and closed it behind her.
“You know why I’m here, I take it?”
Chase looked miserable. “We don’t know anything for sure Mike. I don’t want to push her away until we’re sure.”
Mike shook his head and held a brown letter size envelope out to his brother. “These just got dropped off to me.”
Chase opened the envelope with shaking fingers. Inside were three or four glossy photo prints. He glanced at them. One of the people in the picture was Maria, dressed in the same clothes as she was wearing today. He didn’t recognize her male companion. They were sitting in some kind of fast food joint.
“What is this?” he asked, glancing up at his brother.
“You don’t know him?”
Chase shook his head. “Should I? Looks like a rough character but I don’t recognize him.”
Mike leaned closer. “Johnny Macone?”
“Doesn’t ring a bell.”
“I didn’t know him either. But my investigator recognized him immediately. Hence the pictures.”
“Your investigator?” Chase asked, flicking through the other pictures. They showed the same scene from different angles. He scrutiniz
ed Maria’s face for clues as to what they were discussing. The time stamps on the corners of the pictures showed the photos spanned a half hour period that morning.
Mike nodded. “Yeah. I called a guy in as soon as her name came up on the warning list.”
“Do you always do that? As a precaution?”
“This is the first time the warnings have triggered.”
“Fuck, Mike. It seemed underhand.”
Mike stood and slammed his hands on the desk. “Fuck no. Underhand is whatever she’s up to with this guy Macone. You know who he is? You want to? Or are you too busy hating on me for putting an investigator on your girlfriend?”
Chase buried his face in his hands. “Of course not. Sit down and stop overreacting. Who is he?”
Mike inhaled sharply and sat down, still looking furious. “He’s a fixer. Italian connections apparently.”
Chase snorted. “What like the mafia?”
Mike’s face was deadly serious. “It’s not funny.”
“You mean he is mafia?”
“No. But he’s worked for them, among others.”
“What the fuck is she doing with him?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. For now.”
Chase turned and stared out the window. For once the panoramic view of the city left him cold. Of course Maria could be friends with whomever she liked, but this seemed like too much of a coincidence. Unusual searches were one thing. But coupled with a connection like this…
Mike leaned his elbows on the desk and looked Chase square in the eye. “So what’s the plan?”
Chase leaned back and stared up at the ceiling. “Get her in here. Act normal.”
Chapter 21
Maria stared at her monitor. With the new knowledge that she didn’t need to bury herself in the company’s files, she found herself at a loss. She wished she had something to do. Ever since Mike Breton had snapped at her and kicked her out of his brother’s office, she’d felt sick. Those two men behind that closed door would go to jail soon. And it’d be partly her fault.
It had to be that way, she knew. She’d gone so far as to type out a message to Johnny: I’m out. I can’t do this. But she’d deleted it almost instantaneously – it was as good as writing a suicide note.