An Element of Risk

by Don Easton

  “The disadvantage of being junior,” Laura quipped.

  Ana’s face looked grim, but she kept her thoughts to herself. “Anything I can get either of you? Coffee, tea?”

  “A coffee would be nice,” Jack replied.

  “I’ll put a pot on in the kitchen and you can help yourself,” Ana replied. She eyed Laura.

  “Nothing for me,” Laura responded. “I don’t want to be running in to use your bathroom. If you have a spare blanket, though, that’d be nice.”

  Jack smiled to himself when he saw Ana frown.

  Laura quickly added, “Not for sleeping. Simply to keep warm. I can’t sit in my car with the engine on because the exhaust would give me away.”

  “Oh … I’ll get you one,” Ana said, getting to her feet, “then I’ll put the coffee on.” She eyed the shotgun on Jack’s lap before leaving the room. “Please try not to shoot up my place too much. I taught Isabella one bad word. I think that’s enough for one day.”

  Jack grinned.

  * * *

  It was 6:00 a.m. when Ana plodded into the living room wearing a housecoat. “Long night?” she asked.

  “Probably longer for you,” Jack replied.

  “I didn’t get much sleep, that’s for sure,” Ana admitted. “I’ll put on a fresh pot of coffee if you’d like some more.”

  Jack gestured for her to wait as he answered his phone.

  “It’s done,” Lance said.

  “Any problems or collateral damage?”

  “No,” Lance replied, then terminated the call.

  Jack saw Ana looking at him with raised eyebrow. “You can rest easy,” he said, getting to his feet. “There won’t be any further threats coming your way.”

  “Kondrat and Pratt, they’re…”

  “Yes.”

  Ana’s jaw slackened briefly. “You’re sure?”

  “Positive. Nobody knows yet, outside of us and those who, uh, dealt with the problem.”

  Ana was quiet as Jack put his coat and shoes on in the foyer, then she placed her hand on his arm. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. Any time.”

  “I hope there is never another time,” she said seriously.

  Jack nodded. “Take care.” He then stepped outside and saw Laura watching from her car.

  He felt good as he walked over to where she was parked. When she unrolled the window, he said, “It’s done.”

  “Our friend called to confirm?”

  “Yes. You can go home. Count last night as your shift for today.”

  “Did it go as planned?” Laura asked.

  “Apparently it did. He didn’t say much.”

  “You heading home, too?”

  Jack grimaced. “No, my day is just beginning. I need to put in a report and see how Lexton handles it.”

  Laura looked surprised. “You’re going to tell her? I don’t think Ana will say anything.”

  Jack made a face. “Satans Wrath’s fingerprints will be all over it. In fact, they want them to be. I need to nip this in the bud and convince Lexton that I wasn’t involved.” He paused. “Well, sort of not involved.”

  “Oh, man.” Laura gestured toward Ana’s house. “Maybe you should go back and ask her if she could recommend a good lawyer,” she said wryly.

  Jack sighed.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Jack arrived at his office and prepared a short informant debriefing report outlining what had taken place. He kept it brief. In part, it said:

  20:50 hours — The writer was notified by the informant that Aron Kondrat and Jeremy Pratt, both members of a street gang called the Death Heads, told Buster Linquist earlier in the evening that they planned to murder Ana Valesi, who is a Crown prosecutor. Buster Linquist is a prospect for Satans Wrath and is subservient to the informant who is a full-patch member.

  Linquist also told the informant that he was told that it was Kondrat and Pratt who, while armed with handguns, kicked in the door to Valesi’s mother’s home less than a month ago as noted in a previous debriefing report dated April 1.

  Kondrat and Pratt did not reveal their plans to Linquist as to when or how Valesi was to be murdered. The informant expressed concern that few people knew about Kondrat and Pratt’s plan and that his life could be in jeopardy if immediate action was taken to arrest them or have them brought in for questioning.

  The informant further reported that Kondrat and Pratt showed disrespect toward Satans Wrath when they spoke with Linquist. As a result, Lance Morgan, who is the president of the Westside chapter of Satans Wrath, and Jake Yevdokymenko, who is the president of the Eastside chapter, conspired to have Kondrat and Pratt executed for what they perceived to be bad manners. They then assigned two as yet unidentified club members to carry out the order. With the exception of these two, only three other Satans Wrath members (including the informant) know the details, so again, any action taken by the police would jeopardise the informant.

  It should be noted that Kondrat and Pratt are the primary suspects in an ongoing murder investigation and their threat to murder Ana Valesi was taken seriously. As a result, the writer took immediate steps to ensure the safety of Ana Valesi and her family.

  At 06:00 hours this date, the informant advised that the aforementioned club presidents indicated that both Kondrat and Pratt had been murdered in their sleep within the last couple of hours. Two associates who lived with Kondrat and Pratt by the names of Peter Jones and Ronald Pierce were unharmed and apparently asleep when the murders took place.

  It is the writer’s opinion that Ana Valesi is no longer in danger.

  As soon as Rose arrived at work, Jack strode into her office. “Good morning,” she said jauntily, while taking off her coat.

  “Good morning to you, too,” Jack responded in kind. “Beautiful day.” Then his tone became serious. “Hopefully it’ll stay that way.”

  Rose gave him a hard look, then took a seat behind her desk. “What’s up?”

  Jack handed her his report and sat across from her. “Laura and I worked all night. I sent her home, but thought I should give you this report and be around in the event any questions arise.”

  Rose read the report, then looked intense as she viewed him over her glasses. “In the event any questions arise?” She glanced at the report. “Christ, couldn’t you have waited until I’d had my morning coffee?”

  “Your morning coffee? I’ve been up since yesterday morning.”

  “What did I-HIT say about this?”

  “I don’t think they know yet. The two roommates probably haven’t woken to discover the bodies.”

  “You haven’t told them?” Rose’s eyes flashed with anger. “Call them immediately!”

  Jack gestured with the palms of his hands for her to calm down. “Okay, no reason to give me the stink eye. I was only told they were dead this morning. I barely finished the report when you arrived. I was about to call I-HIT, but thought you’d like to know first.”

  Rose stared open-mouthed at Jack, then appeared to become more agitated. “Okay, so now I know! Call them!”

  “I’m sitting right here,” Jack said calmly. “No need to yell.” There’s that stink eye again.

  Rose paused to take a deep breath. “With this report, you better get used to it.” Her tone was stilted as she made an apparent effort to control her ire. “It’s not only me who’ll be yelling,” she warned.

  “Okay, I’ll go call Connie,” Jack said as he stood up.

  “No, sit! Call her from here, damn it.”

  Jack gave his wide-eyed look of innocence, then sat and took out his phone.

  Rose took a deep breath and exhaled audibly, then her voice returned to normal. “I want to listen. If you’re passed off to Inspector Dyck, I may need to handle the flak. Also, we’re going to have to meet with Lexton. No doubt I-HIT will want to be in on that as well.”

  Jack tapped in Connie’s number and put his phone on speaker so Rose could listen.

  “So, you’ve heard,” Con
nie said, sounding both pleased and excited when she answered. “I’m almost there. Heading down the hall right now.”

  This doesn’t sound like Connie. What the hell? Did she overdose on happy pills? “Heard what?” he asked.

  “The room bug! It worked. We got ’em!”

  “Kondrat and Pratt?”

  “Of course, Kondrat and Pratt. Who else would it be?”

  “I hadn’t heard that you got them,” Jack stated. Someone else … yeah.

  “Sure did! I got a call this morning to say that they listened to a recording made last night. Both Kondrat and Pratt talked about killing Irving by mistake. Can you believe it?”

  “Well —”

  “Wait, there’s more.” Connie’s voice became grave. “Apparently they’re planning to kill Ana Valesi next week right after their buddy is sentenced.”

  “You got that on the wire, too?”

  “That’s what I was told. I tell you, these guys are going down big time! And Jack, I owe it all to you.”

  “Actually to my informant,” Jack replied. “Hopefully you understand why I need to protect him.” He glanced at Rose, who looked irked at his comment. Come on, Rose, that was a good line. Might as well prime her when I can. She’ll be hearing it again when we talk to Lexton.…

  “He definitely came through for us, that’s for sure,” Connie said.

  “Did the monitors happen to mention if Kondrat and Pratt talked about Satans Wrath at all?”

  “No, but hang on, I’m entering their office as we speak. I’ll ask.”

  Jack listened to some background conversation and then Connie came back on the phone.

  “Apparently they did talk about telling someone off by the name of Buster and the need to stand up to those guys.” She paused, and when Jack didn’t reply, she asked, “Is Buster with Satans Wrath?”

  “Yes, his name is Buster Linquist and he’s a prospect for the club.”

  Connie let out a snort. “I’m surprised Kondrat and Pratt didn’t get punched in the face. From what I’ve heard, Satans Wrath doesn’t take well to being told off.”

  “Yeah … I’ve heard that, too,” Jack replied. Okay Rose, no need to roll your eyes.

  “So why’d you call if it wasn’t over this?” Connie asked.

  “Well, Connie, the thing is, I received some information from my informant at six o’clock this morning. He told me that Kondrat and Pratt were murdered last night. Both shot while they slept.”

  “What!” Connie exclaimed, then paused. “Nice going, Jack … trying to rattle my chain. Obviously, we’d have heard if that had happened.”

  “Do you have a phone number for either of the two roommates?”

  “We have a number for Peter Jones, why?”

  “Give it a wrong number call and then have the monitor turn the volume back up.”

  “Are you serious?” Connie asked.

  “I was told that, so let’s check it out.”

  “You better not be joking around,” Connie warned.

  Jack didn’t reply. He then listened to Connie muttering in the background and a moment later he heard her apologize to someone for calling the wrong number.

  “I did it,” Connie said, when she came back on the phone.

  “Good. Let’s wait a moment,” Jack said.

  A minute passed and Jack and Rose sat in silence, then Connie said, “This is bullshit. I woke him up and it sounds like he went to the can. I can hear him coming back into the room. There’s nothing to indicate anything’s wrong. Looks like your guy is way off on —”

  Jack heard the screaming emitting from the recorder in the monitor room and understood why Connie hadn’t finished her sentence. When she spoke again, Jack held the phone away from his ear.

  “You did this!” Connie yelled. “You bastard! You —”

  Jack put his phone away and turned to Rose. “I detected a hint of annoyance. What do you think?”

  “I think I better call Lexton before they do.”

  “Hopefully she doesn’t think I’m a bastard, too,” said Jack.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Jack plunked himself down at his desk and called Roger. After exchanging greetings, he said, “I called to let you know that Kondrat and Pratt were murdered last night by someone from Satans Wrath.”

  “From Satans Wrath? Holy shit! Why?”

  Jack then told him about Kondrat and Pratt’s meeting with Linquist.

  “Those bastards,” Roger replied when he heard that Ana’s life had been threatened. “Good news then that they’re dead.”

  Jack yawned. “I think so. Let me tell you the rest.”

  “Christ,” Roger said, when Jack told him that he and Laura had spent the night at Ana’s house. “You could have called me. I’d have helped.”

  “I’m not sure how this will pan out with the brass. I figured the fewer who knew the better. No use all of us getting in trouble. Besides, I had Laura with me. Taking care of Kondrat and Pratt wouldn’t have been a problem.”

  “Or worrying if you called backup as to what someone might say if you were, uh, forced to kill them yourself,” Roger commented.

  “That, too,” Jack admitted.

  “When it comes to protecting Ana, you could’ve trusted me,” Roger said. “As far as the brass go, if they didn’t like how the situation was handled, I wouldn’t give a shit. I’m due to retire anyway.” When Jack didn’t reply, he asked, “How was Ana when you left?”

  “Her husband’s in Ottawa at a conference, but she seems okay. Tired, but okay.”

  “The poor woman. I’ll call her later. So, tell me, how were the two rats killed?”

  “It happened when they were asleep.”

  “Asleep? Were Jones and Pierce killed, too?”

  “No.” Jack then related how the murders took place.

  “Holy shit,” Roger repeated. “Remind me to buy a guard dog.”

  “They wouldn’t be averse to shooting it either,” Jack stated.

  “Have you talked to Connie yet? She’ll probably be ticked off after going to all the work of getting a wiretap and putting a bug in their place.”

  “I called her a couple of minutes ago. She’s more than ticked. It turns out that last night they got Kondrat and Pratt on wire talking about killing Irving by mistake. They also heard them planning to murder Ana.”

  “No kidding? Wow. Sounds like Connie was a day late and a dollar short. At least it’ll save her a lot of work preparing for trial.”

  “Yes, you’d think she’d be happy, but for some reason she figures I had a hand in what happened.”

  “I suspect you two have a bit of history,” Roger noted.

  “A bit,” Jack admitted.

  “Still, she shouldn’t blame you. Seems to me what the two rats did was an act of suicide. It’s not your fault. I told you they were dumb.”

  “Do me a favour and tell Connie that when she calls you.”

  “I will.” Roger paused. “Do you still want us to follow Graves today and on the weekend?”

  “Please. I’ve been up all night and I expect I’ll be tied up here until late in the day. I’m sure he’ll be getting the guns sometime over the weekend. I’ll come in tomorrow, but if you could get your teams started on their own today it would be greatly appreciated.”

  “No problem. Considering what happened last night, I imagine the Death Heads will be running home to their mommies. At the very least it’ll take their minds off attacking the United Front.”

  Jack ended the call as Rose stuck her head into his office and waved a copy of his report. “I spoke with Lexton. She wants me to drop this off immediately.”

  “Maybe you should’ve waited until she had her morning coffee,” Jack noted.

  Rose made a rude gesture with her finger, then left. Twenty minutes passed before she returned.

  “I take it that she had you wait while she read it?” Jack asked.

  “Yes.”

  “And?”

  Rose shook he
r head. “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know? Give me a hint. Did you have to perform CPR?”

  “I think she was too gobsmacked to know what to think. Inspector Dyck also called her when I was there. We’re all scheduled to meet in an hour.”

  “Great. That gives us time to have a coffee.”

  Although an olive soup would be better.

  * * *

  Jack and Rose entered Assistant Commissioner Lexton’s office and saw that I-HIT had already arrived and were sitting with Lexton in a cluster of chairs around a coffee table.

  Jack nodded cordially to the group. He received a curt response from both Lexton and Dyck, but Connie chose to cross her arms over her chest and ignore him.

  Lexton gestured for them to take a seat. “Okay, let’s get started, shall we? First of all, Corporal Taggart, would you object if Inspector Dyck and Corporal Crane read the informant debriefing report you submitted this morning?”

  “I don’t object to them reading it, provided they never disclose the information outside of this office,” Jack replied. “My informant is connected to Satans Wrath and they’ve managed to corrupt officers before and gain access to secret information. If word got out that I’d an informant amongst them, it could be fatal for my source.”

  “I agree,” Lexton replied, turning to Dyck and Connie. “I will allow the both of you to read the report and we will discuss it after, but the contents of the report are never to be repeated outside of this room. Understood?”

  Dyck and Connie each agreed. Lexton then handed Dyck a copy of the report while Connie leaned over to read it.

  “So, you did know before they did it!” Connie blurted out, scowling at Jack.

  “Yes, as noted in the report, I was told about it at 20:50 hours last night.”

  “Told about it?” Connie scoffed. “Or was it your idea because you acted on the spur of the moment when you first gave me Kondrat and Pratt’s names? Then later became afraid that your informant might get burned so you conspired with him to do it!”

  All eyes turned to Jack.

  “I put a lot of thought into whether to help you when you first asked me for assistance,” Jack said firmly. “As I did when I told you that my informant identified Kondrat and Pratt as the ones who murdered Irving. It wasn’t something I did on the spur of the moment. Did I … and do I have doubts? Yes, a little. I always worry about my informant’s safety, but I decided prior to giving you any information that what I was going to give you was an acceptable element of risk for my informant.”