Fatal Dose (24 page)

Marcia already started the background checks for Milton Bagnold. She wondered how Vennuti figured that out. This was her chance to introduce Wendy to Marco without arousing his suspicions. He was playing right into her hand.

“That’s awful risky. You’re asking me to betray the Bureau. I just don’t feel right about spying on people that I work with.” She allowed her voice to crack as she spoke.

“Save that patriotic drivel for someone else. I’m not asking you for state secrets, for God’s sake. I’m just trying to protect my company from the incessant interference of the government. You know that. You haven’t had any trouble helping me so far. You’ve been taking my money all along.” Marco stopped a minute, pointed a finger at her and said, “Let me put this another way, Marcia. You’ll do this for me because I’ve asked you to. I have ways of hurting you. Exposing you would backfire on me, but there is always the chance that you may meet with an accident. I don’t want to get physical with you, but if you don’t cooperate, your life won’t be worth a plug nickel. Now take the deal before I change my mind.”

Marco finished his drink. He looked directly at her with a look that told her that he meant business. “So, do I have your cooperation or not?”

For the first time since she started working with Marco, Marcia felt a shiver run down her back. She never sensed any physical danger before. It had been like a game to her, but now that her life was being threatened, she wished that she had never gotten involved with him in the first place. Then she thought about Dennis and remembered how important her role was to him. She knew that the solution to the problem was already worked out. Marco Vennuti was walking right into the trap that the FBI was setting for him.

“Look, Mister Vennuti, I don’t want any trouble. It’s against my better judgment, but if I can do it, I will. I can’t give you any guarantees as to what I will find, but I’ll do my best. Mind you, it’s only for the money. It will make a big difference in my life.”

“I don’t give a damn about your reasons. I want that information by tomorrow night. Bring it here at seven. Now get out of here.”

Marcia rose quickly and left. As she walked to her car a broad smile appeared on her face. This was going to be easier than she thought. She couldn’t wait to tell Dennis, but she delayed calling him until she was on the highway. Her previous feeling of fear was replaced by the satisfaction of being part of something so much bigger than her. “It happened just like you and Inspector Bagnold said it would,” she told Dennis. “He asked me to get something incriminating on one of our agents so he could recruit her to spy for him. He’s even agreed to pay me twenty-five thousand dollars.”

Dennis was elated. “That’s fantastic. Let’s get everybody involved to a meeting off-site and plan our next move.”

He made arrangements to meet later that day with Wendy, Marcia and Milton at the FBI house in Lorain where Mark was living. Mark was still visiting Centerville, so the privacy that they needed for planning the next step in the investigation was assured.

Milton and Marcia were already at the house when Dennis arrived. Wendy showed up ten minutes later.

“I’m sorry I’m late, but there was a bad accident on the highway.”

“That’s okay, Wendy,” Dennis assured her. “We just got here ourselves. Help yourself to some ice tea or water and let’s get started.

“I guess it’s no surprise that I asked Wendy to help us out with this. Under the circumstances, she is the best person for the job. Has anyone come up with a good enough story about Wendy that would justify her being blackmailed by Vennuti?”

Bagnold gestured with his hand. “I had a case a few years back that may be helpful. Background checks were more primitive back in those days. A lot of the checking was done by letter or phone. We didn’t have the internet or sophisticated computers networks to connect the dots for us. A female agent, a bit of a rarity in the fifties, came to us as a graduate of Northwestern University. She claimed to have majored in Criminal Justice, and according to her application she was valedictorian of her class. The Bureau was anxious to recruit women and jumped at the chance to sign her on. They did a very limited background check on her. She did exceptionally well at Quantico, and upon graduation was assigned to the Spokane, Washington office. She was an excellent agent, a really bright woman and very good at her job.

“It took the Bureau almost fifteen years, and then only by accident, to finally uncover the truth about her background. She had stolen the identity of a woman she knew who died of an overdose, in order to cover up her own record of teenage abuse and prostitution. I should be able to build a profile based on that case. Give me about a half-hour to polish it up.”

When all the details were finally ironed out, Dennis reminded them that Wendy’s special assignment was not to be shared with anyone outside of the four of them. “As tough as it might be, Wendy, that means you are not to discuss this with Special Agent Matthews.”

Wendy nodded in agreement.

After the meeting, Dennis stayed behind to talk with Wendy. “Are you certain that you want to do this? Vennuti is a very dangerous man, and after what happened to the Bennetts and Agent Paschal there is no telling what he might do.”

“Look, Dennis, Joan was a friend of mine. I want to find out what really happened to her. Besides, Vennuti more than likely had nothing to do with her death. It doesn’t make sense that he would kill off one of his Bureau contacts, seeing how desperate he is now to get another. I think she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“That does make sense, but we can’t let our guard down for a moment until we know for sure what really happened.”

“I’ll be careful. From what Marcia said, Marco Vennuti is anxious to get information about our investigations. Something big must be ready to go down. He’ll especially want to know what’s happening with the Pharmaceutical Drug Squad. He’ll be too interested in what we feed him to be suspicious about my loyalty. I’ll just have to find his Achilles’ heel. They all have one.”

“You’re probably right, but be extremely cautious, nevertheless.”

Later that evening, when she spoke with Mark, Wendy realized that for the foreseeable future she would have to lie to him about what she was working on and what her plans were.
That can’t be helped. I know he’ll understand after we’ve nailed Vennuti and closed down Atronen.
She also realized that he might have to do the same with her sometime. It came with the territory.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

“Make that two,” said Bruce. They were sitting in a booth at Barry’s. Mark had just ordered a colossal breakfast.

“It’s good to be back in Centerville. Let’s wait until we get to the office before talking business. We have a few days before I need to get back on the road. Right now I just want to enjoy my breakfast and some personal chit-chat.”

“That’s fine with me.”

Bruce Crandall appeared to have lost some weight since Mark’s last visit. “You look thinner since I last saw you. Have you been working out?”

“Twice a week. I’ve dropped eight pounds in the last month. Of course, not having you dragging me off to Barry’s for big breakfasts all the time has probably helped too.”

“Drag you? I don’t see any ropes on you. Methinks that thou doth protest too much, my friend. I distinctly remember hearing a note of excitement in your voice when I suggested having breakfast here.”

“Touché, I do love coming here, but let’s not do it too often, so I can keep on track with my weight.”

“Agreed. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for you losing that weight. I’m glad my metabolism keeps my weight under control because I hate working out. All that mindless repetition gets to me after a while.”

“It’s not so bad. I watch TV while I’m working out. The time is up before I know it.”

“Well, anyway, I’ll bet that Angelina doesn’t have any complaints, except that its one less thing she has to nag you about.”

Their breakfasts arrived and the chatting ceased as they dug into the generous portions. Ten minutes later they ordered coffee to go and headed to the office. When Mark and Bruce arrived at International Investigations Specialists, Mark liked the new look and ambiance of the offices.

His secretary Brenda gave him a cheery greeting. “It’s so good to see you again Mister Matthews. I know I speak with you a couple of times a week, but it’s not the same thing as having you here.”

“I feel the same way, Brenda,” he said as he gave her a big hug, “I miss this place. I wish I didn’t have to be away so much, but growing the business is what it’s all about these days and it looks as if the new international direction is working out extremely well. Bruce tells me that you haven’t experienced any trouble keeping up with the new case files he’s been heaping on you. He also says that you’re helping with some of the document translations. I’m very impressed.”

She flushed a little before answering, “It’s nice to finally find a use for the language courses I took in high school. Mister Crandall is such a nice man to work with. He and his wife Angelina invite me for dinner at least once a month. They’re such a sweet couple.”

“I’m glad that you enjoy working for us as much as we enjoy having you. I thank my lucky stars that you were able to come onboard full time.”

“It was my lucky day, too,” Mister Matthews.”

“Well, do you have some files for me to look at? Bruce said you just finished last month’s expense report and next quarter’s revenue projections. I’d like to go over those and the status report for all open projects.”

“Give me about five minutes and I’ll have those on your desk.”

“That’s fine. In the interim, would you ask Bruce to bring the Chinese company file in?”

After a cursory review of the file, Mark began, “Tell me about the deal. Where do we stand with them?”

“Well, the name of the company will be Pharma-Smythe. Whether we go ahead or not is up to you. They dropped the Euro exchange thing. I think that that was just a political ploy suggested by their government. That’s all good, now. They’re ready to go. They have a start-up date two months from now.

“What’s your feeling about it?”

“I’m all for it. Its good level-three work for professionals, mostly for marketing, finance and customer relations types. It’ll certainly help our bottom line over the next year. I’m sure I can fit it in with my other work. They’re expecting an answer from me this week. The plan is to start operations within two months.”

“Let me look over these reports and think about it a little more. I’ll give you an answer tomorrow. In the meantime, let’s review the accounts.”

Later that day, in the privacy of his home office, Mark placed a call to Dennis.

“Mark, how’s it going down there?”

“It’s going great, Dennis. Bruce has everything under control.

“Super. Things are progressing up here too. Milt Bagnold and I followed up on a lead and we uncovered another connection between Vennuti and Joan Paschal. It seems that she was involved in some pretty kinky stuff that Vennuti must have found out about and was holding over her head to gain her cooperation. At least that’s the take we have, as of now. We have a witness to some of this activity under protective custody.”

“You know Mark, I’ve got a feeling that with all the small things we’re doing, we’re much closer than we realize in building a solid case against Vennuti and Atronen. So, anything additional you can uncover about Atronen’s operations will only provide more grist for our case.”

“I agree, Dennis. It’s becoming very clear to me that if we can pull the plug on Vennuti we‘ll topple the whole syndicate. I’ll give Bruce the go-ahead to accept the assignment. I’ll set up a system that will allow me to monitor their activities and keep track of Pharma-Smythe’s employees.

“If the Chinese company is in anyway tied to the cartel, I’ll find out about it. Personally, I’ve got a gut feeling that this company is intended to be a supplier for Atronen’s after-hours activities. It’s too coincidental that they are using Atronen as a distributor. It’s got drug cartel written all over it, and where they are, Vennuti won’t be far from the scene. Before we go any further, though, maybe Brock should contact Justice and State to assure that we won’t be interfering with any other investigation or international agreements having to do with the Chinese company. It is odd that the company was approved to business in the States and we weren’t in the loop. There’s so much of that stuff going on right now and we don’t want to get caught in crossfire.”

“That’s a good idea, Mark. The last thing we need is for Washington to step in the last minute and prevent us from closing those guys down. Stop in when you get back. There are a few things I need to go over with you. See you soon.”

Before he retired for the night, Mark called Wendy and talked for over an hour. She carefully avoided anything that might lead to a discussion about her new assignment. If she could avoid telling him a lie, she would feel a lot better about her secret assignment.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

“Mister Simmons, it’s good to hear from you again.”

Getting right to the point, Mel asked, “Ed, what did you find out?”

“My guys have been checking around. You’re still on the list, but you aren’t as popular as you were at one time. You’re down to number fifty-nine. Basically that means that they are electronically monitoring all ports of entry and exit in case Mel Tarkington’s name shows up. Aside from that they will be checking periodically with international agencies to see if you show up on the radar of other countries. It doesn’t look like you have anything to be concerned about in the States.”