Exit Wounds

by V. K. Powell

  “Guess I fucked up.”

  “It’s not about you. Loane blames herself. And for the record, why are you helping us?”

  Kinsey scuffed her shoes across the worn carpet and looked down at the floor. She told Abby the story of June and how she’d gone missing while working for the Torres and her attempts to find her. When she finally looked up, her green eyes were rimmed with tears. “And my mother wouldn’t lift one finger to help. Said she wasn’t bartering her political clout for a teenage runaway. Can you believe the selfishness? That’s the last time I spoke to her—nine months ago.”

  Abby put her arm around Kinsey’s shoulder. “Honey, I’m so sorry. I had no idea. Did you tell Loane all this?”

  “The part about June, not the stuff about my mother. Guess I should’ve, huh?”

  “It might’ve helped avoid this misunderstanding.”

  “Will she forgive me?”

  “I wish I knew. She’s hurt right now. I wasn’t totally honest with her, and I’m still waiting for the answer to your question.”

  “What do we do in the meantime?”

  “The only thing we can. Wait, and give her space.”

  “You seem to know her pretty well.”

  “I’m in love with her, but I’m not sure how well I know her. She’ll never believe or accept my love until she feels she deserves it. She’s a complicated woman.”

  “Aren’t they all?” Kinsey poked Abby’s arm. “So…we’re not just sitting here and feeling sorry for ourselves, are we? Don’t we have work to do?”

  “Indeed we do, my friend. You have a device to install, cameras to remove, and I have phone calls to make. Let’s get to it.”

  When Kinsey left, Abby called Carl. She wanted to confirm what Loane had implied this morning and assure him that she was quickly falling under her influence.

  If physical attraction and sex were enough to bind Loane, they wouldn’t have any problems. But Abby wanted the whole package. During their little scene in the club, Loane had appeared totally unaffected by Abby’s advances, her feelings now bruised and protected, unlike the woman she’d bedded before the explosion. But like she’d told Kinsey, all she could do now was wait and pray that things changed.

  “Hello, Abby.” Carl’s gravelly voice returned her attention to her call.

  “Carl, I trust your trip is going well.”

  “Fine. What news?”

  “Loane Landry and I spent the night together. Congratulations, she likes me.”

  “Of course she does. Well done. When the time is right, ask her about the case the police were working on against my uncle. Someone has to answer for my family.”

  “I will, but these things take time. I have to build her trust first.”

  “Sure, sure…one more little favor?”

  “Another test?” Abby was half-kidding, but the silence on the other end of the line told her she was exactly right. “Haven’t I proved myself already?”

  “This is the last thing. I promise.”

  “Why didn’t you ask me before you left?”

  “I wanted to make sure you could pull if off with the cop first.”

  “Fine. What do you want now? It can’t be any worse than sleeping with a stranger.”

  “I need some merchandise taken up north tomorrow, and I’d like you to do it.”

  Abby wasn’t sure if she’d heard right. It couldn’t be a coincidence. Was this what they’d been waiting for—and what she and Loane had disagreed about—the gun shipment? She didn’t want to appear too eager, so she downplayed the task. “Couldn’t you have Ray or Tiny do it? I’m settling into the new job. They’re more roadrunners and I’m the mind-the-home-front type.”

  “I need you to do this, Abby. Then you’re in, all the way.”

  “It must be important merchandise.”

  “It is.”

  She was getting annoyed with his cat-and-mouse games. “Carl, I’ve been working for the Torres a while. I saved your nephew from an explosion, lived in the home with your family, and bedded a stranger to prove my loyalty. If you don’t trust me enough to tell me what’s going on, I’m walking, today.” It sounded like a threat, and she hoped he took it that way. She held her breath as she waited for his answer, wondering if her bluff would work.

  “Let’s say we started providing a service to certain groups when the government dropped the ball in Operation Fast and Furious.”

  Carl had admitted he was selling weapons to drug dealers. Fast and Furious was the government operation designed to sell guns to the drug cartels in order to track their movements and make arrests of high-level members. She had to pretend this was all new information. “What is Fast and Furious?”

  “You really are innocent, aren’t you? We’re basically selling street guns to drug cartels for a hell of a lot of money. And who cares? A bunch of dopers killing each other. The cops should pay us as a public service.”

  “So, Simon and Sylvia…”

  “Had no idea.”

  “And your father, Stefan?”

  “It’s been my operation for years. The rest of the family thinks we make millions on titty bars.” He seemed proud of his ability to carry on such an endeavor right under their noses. That pride would be one of the nails in his prosecutorial coffin. “I think Simon might’ve been suspicious near the end and I—”

  “You what?” Abby’s stomach twisted into a disgusted knot. Her instincts about Simon and Sylvia had been right. They’d simply been running what they thought was a legitimate business to support their family. And they’d been killed for no reason.

  “I’m afraid that’s what got him killed. If the people I supply had got wind that he was nosing around or was under investigation by the police, he would’ve been a marked man. But I have to be sure the cop wasn’t in on it before I jeopardize such a lucrative endeavor.”

  It was absolutely ludicrous that Carl would suspect a police officer before his gunrunning, dope-dealing associates. That twisted way of thinking was one of the mysteries of the criminal mind that made law enforcement necessary. It also proved that Carl’s number-one priority was money.

  “Are you shocked, Abby?”

  A sickening feeling rose in her throat as she recalled the months she’d spent in this man’s home, questioning his involvement in illegal activity. She called on all her acting skills to present an air of nonchalance and callousness. “Maybe a little surprised, but any money is good money, right?”

  “My sentiments exactly. I had a feeling you’d be on board, especially when I tell you your cut for making this little run tomorrow—a hundred thousand dollars, free and clear, no taxes. How does that sound?”

  “Too good to be true. What’s the catch?”

  “No catch. Ray and Tiny will load the van and take it to the club about five. The GPS will be loaded with the destination information. All you have to do is drive and not get stopped by the cops.”

  “What happens when I get to the other end?”

  “Someone will meet you, take the van, and give you another vehicle to drive back. Leave it where you got the van in the rear parking lot.”

  “When do we get paid for the merchandise?”

  “That’s the beauty of it. You don’t have to touch the weapons or the money. The money’s in the trunk of the car you’ll bring back, in the spare-tire wheel well.”

  Carl’s plan to include her made sense from a criminal perspective. As long as he involved his employees in the illegal operation with their knowledge, they were equally culpable under the law. Large profits, fear of prosecution, and threats of retaliation or death would keep them quiet. “Sounds like you’ve covered all the bases.”

  “So, you’re in?”

  “Absolutely…and thank you so much for trusting me with this.” It took no effort at all for her to sound sincere. She meant every word. Carl’s confession finally solidified his link to the weapons and brought her closer to shutting down the operation and getting back to a real life. The delivery run
tomorrow would be the final piece of evidence she needed. But was it too easy? Maybe he’d begun to suspect her of disloyalty. She had no choice but to follow it through, setup or not.

  Carl hung up and Abby made the other call she’d been dreading all morning. When the secretary at the Greensboro Field Office of ATF answered, she asked for Dan Bowman and waited. She wasn’t exactly sure what or how much to tell him, but she was overdue to report in. Their contact had been sporadic since her return, and he’d even been good enough not to assign a new cover officer.

  “Mancuso?” Dan Bowman’s business voice cut through the line.

  She launched into something tangible before he could start questioning her. “Dan, I have the business files I told you about the other day. They’re on a flash drive. How do you want me to get it to you?”

  “Oh…” He seemed surprised that she actually had something concrete to offer. “Can you send it in an e-mail, or is the file too large?”

  “I think it’ll transfer okay.”

  “Send it to this address, not the agency one.” He gave her what sounded like a personal e-mail account.

  “Have your financial gurus look it over. Carl Torre is running the gun operation through the Sky Bar accounts.”

  “And you found all this after a few days as manager?” He sounded skeptical.

  “He trusts me.” Bowman was silent for too long. “What’s going on, Dan? You’re never this quiet. I’m usually getting a policy-and-procedure speech by now.” While their professional relationship hadn’t been close, Abby never doubted Bowman’s commitment to his job. His adherence to rules and regulations alone was the stuff supervisors wished they could sprinkle over new recruits like fairy dust.

  “Hold on a second.” She heard him put the phone down, and a few seconds later a door closed with a thud. “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this. For all I know you’re an internal plant gathering evidence against me, or a high-level CI with clearance beyond mine. Either way, I’m taking a chance.”

  She wanted to be honest with Bowman about her assignment, but she’d been forbidden to do so. There might be a leak in the ATF office, but she didn’t believe it was Bowman, in spite of his shoddy treatment of Loane. She did the only thing she could. “Dan, all I can tell you is that you can trust me.”

  “You better be right about this.” He paused momentarily, as if he wasn’t sure how to continue. “I think we have a leak in the investigation. Well, not so much a leak as a plug.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m still trying to piece it together. After the explosion, somebody shut this case down completely. The coals were still hot when my supervisor, Gary Fowler, told me to wrap up the loose ends and put a lid on it. All my files were collected and the computer backups erased. The order came from above his head, and so did the order to put me back on the case. He has no idea. Everybody here thought you were dead, including me.”

  His last statement sent a chill through Abby’s body. “And who knows I’m not?”

  “I haven’t told anyone that I’m in touch with you again. I don’t think it’s safe until I know who’s running the show. From an organizational perspective this case is over, closed, no follow-up required.”

  “And that’s why you haven’t assigned a new cover officer and why you want me to send the financial info to a personal e-mail?” She wanted to tell him that Barrio was running the case now and had ordered the crackdown on information, but he wasn’t authorized to know.

  “Yeah.”

  “Why are you questioning all this now?”

  “At first I was taking orders, but I’d never seen anything wrapped up this tightly. When I asked Fowler about it, he threatened to send me to the North Carolina equivalent of Siberia if I didn’t drop it. He said we’d made a dent in organized crime in Greensboro and that was good enough for him. He and Councilwoman Jeffries held a huge press conference and crowed about our success. It didn’t feel like a victory to me.

  “And I got a call the night of the explosion from an anonymous source. She said I should go to the Torre home because something was going to happen, something bad. Then the line went dead. I was on my way there when I heard the explosion.”

  Abby made a split-second decision she was certain Loane, and probably Hector Barrio, wouldn’t like. “Dan, you need to know more.” In the next few minutes she filled him in on the delivery she was scheduled to make the next day without revealing Kinsey’s part in locating the guns. The real struggle was whether to reveal Loane’s involvement.

  “Abby, I don’t know how to advise you. You’ll need backup and I’m not sure who to trust. I should’ve listened to Landry months ago when she suggested there was a cover-up.”

  “Since you mentioned Loane, she’s been working with me. I assume you don’t have a problem with her now?”

  “Didn’t she quit the department?”

  “She’s on voluntary leave of absence.”

  The line was silent for a few seconds. “Well, technically she’s still covered under the year-long mutual-aid agreement between GPD and ATF. I don’t have a problem with her, but she might very well have one with me. I was pretty hard on her during our questioning, but I had my marching orders.”

  “Let me worry about Loane.”

  “If she’s willing, so am I. The two of us can probably handle the surveillance and cover you at the same time.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll fill her in and get back with you about the details.”

  “Abby…”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thanks for telling me about this. You didn’t have to.”

  “This needs to be a legitimate ATF investigation, and you’re the only connection I have to make that happen. If all goes well, you could be in for a promotion when this is over.”

  “If I’m not out of a job for disobeying a direct order and listening to an informant.” His emphasis on the word made her wonder if he already knew about her.

  She hung up and for the first time felt guilty about not telling Bowman she was an ATF agent, but her instructions from Barrio were explicit. No one was to know until the case was closed for the very reasons Bowman had begun to suspect.

  Abby spent the rest of the day and evening going through the motions of being a club manager. She helped inventory liquor supplies, dealt with personnel issues, and wrote employee paychecks like a normal boss.

  Ray and Tiny had apparently been briefed about her pending trip because they suddenly treated her like a real member of their crime family. They brought her drinks while she worked in the office and talked openly about how they’d spent the profits from their side job. It took all of her practiced skills to feign enough enthusiasm to avoid raising suspicion.

  She’d called Loane earlier and left a voice-mail message. Kinsey’s news about her mother had surprised Loane, but she’d consider Kinsey’s motives and adjust. Abby needed to talk to her, reassure her about Kinsey and about Dan Bowman. She wasn’t sure which would be the harder sell, a woman she’d been misled by or a colleague who’d completely turned on her. If the situation between her and Loane was any indication, it would definitely be the former.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Loane sat in Eve’s office the next morning staring into her coffee cup as though she’d find answers in the bottom. “What am I doing wrong, Eve? Do I have a sign around my neck that says sucker?”

  Eve stared with one of her Pretty-Kitty-is-smarter-than-you looks. “When you’re finished having a pity party, ask the real question.”

  “And what is that?”

  “Are you upset with Abby, Kinsey slash Vi, Tyler, and everybody else in your life, or are you upset with yourself?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Loane, I loved your mother like a sister, but she had issues. She never let anyone close enough to risk being hurt, not even your father. She drove him away. Did you hear that? She made him leave and made you feel like a second-class citizen for being a lesbian. I could’ve kille
d her for that one myself. Unfortunately, she passed all that insecurity along to you. It’s time for you to make a decision about the rest of your life. Do you want to live or go through the motions?”

  “I think I have a right to expect people I care about to be honest with me.”

  “You can expect anything you want, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get it. We make mistakes even with the best intentions. Abby thought she was doing the right thing. That’s all any of us can do. Kinsey helped you when she didn’t have to. Maybe she had other reasons for not telling you about her mother. And as for Tyler, that man loves you. Not a day has passed since you started this fiasco that he hasn’t called asking if I’ve heard from you.”

  “Really?” Loane listened to Eve, letting what she said sink into the aching places in her heart. “He did get the autopsy results on Simon Torre for me. That couldn’t have been easy in a case under federal lockdown.”

  “Exactly. You listened to your instincts and trusted these people initially. Could you be so wrong so often? You wouldn’t have survived two seconds in police work at that rate. And do you believe these highly intelligent people, myself included, would give a fat rat’s ass about you if you weren’t a decent, honest, caring person?”

  “Maybe that’s why I’m so confused. My heart is telling me one thing and my head another.”

  Eve placed her hand on Loane’s shoulder. “If I could make a suggestion? I know this will sound strange coming from me. And if you tell Thom I said this, I’ll deny it. Go with your heart. The head is great for facts, figures, and puzzles, but not so much for feelings. Settle whatever’s unsettled, end this charade, and get back to your life.”

  “So you think I should give Abby and Kinsey another chance?”

  “I think you should give yourself another chance.”

  “Huh?”

  “Have you ever been in a relationship without an exit strategy?”