Rogue Alliance (38 page)

             
“I have a tape recording of a man down in San Francisco,
” she said,
“
named Cougar, telling Victor all about your betrayal. You want to hear it.”

             
That stopped him in mid-motion. With a sideways glance he slowly sat back down.

             
“Cougar, huh? That rat bastard. How in the hell did you get…never mind…I don’t wanna know.”

             
“Okay, so what? Victor wants to kill my ass. What’s it to you?”

             
“It seems that you might be more inclined to talk to me now that you know your predicament. It’s your ass or his
,
Ricardo. What’s it going to be?”

             
Ricardo’s
voice rose in exasperation and his eyes revealed his panic.

             
“You gotta be frickin’ kidding me. You want me to help you just to save my own hide?”

             
Shyla knew he was trying hard to put on a brave front but his fear was glaring. He knew he had no other options. She watched him squirm and let him come to the conclusion all on his own. He sighed and took his cap off, running his hands over his cropped hair.

             
“What exactly are we talking about here?
” he asked,
“y
ou want names? What do I get in return?”

             
She wasn’t about to tell him he was striking a deal with an unemployed cop. She figured she could still pull a few strings.

             
“You work with me, and I’ll make sure you stay out of jail and are safe from Victor until he is behind bars for good.”

             
Ricardo shook his head in frustration.
Shyla knew that m
aking a deal with a cop was one of the last thing
s he would want to do, but she
was taking advantage of the f
act that he had no other choice,
if he wanted to stay alive.

             
When he looked up the resignation was in his eyes. She had him.

             
“I’m not as concerned with names as I am with anything you might know about any upcoming transactions,
” she said,
“is there
anything that can be intercepted?”

             
Ricardo looked around nervously.

             
“Let’s get t
he hell out of this joint first,
”
he said.
He stood up and threw a five dollar bill on the
table to tip the waitress, who
Shyla had yet to see.

             
“You comin’ or what?”

             
Twenty minutes later, they were sitting in a small eatery half-way across town. As passenger in his purple, lowered S-10 pickup, she’d felt oddly out of place and
,
for the millionth time since she’d turned in her badge
,
questioned her sanity.

             
The little shop he brought her to was fairly quiet, clean, and run by an Italian family.

             
“Why’d you bring me to your family’s place?”

             
“That’s right
,” he winced,
“
you know pretty much everything about me. It’s safe here. We can talk without eyes watching and ears listening.”

             
A short, stout woman bustled out of the back room,

             
“Ricky, my boy, you come to see me. It’s been weeks. Where you been, how come you no come see your momma? You get into trouble again? Who’s this pretty lady?”

             
Ricardo rolled his eyes at the woman’s barrage of questions. He gave the woman a kiss and big hug then made introductions and ordered food. Shyla couldn’t get over the fact that she was sitting in a diner, having lunch with a criminal she’d been tracking for over a year.

             
“I’m not hungry,
”
Shyla said, as the woman walked off.

             
“Well
,
you better man up lady
,” Ricardo scoffed,
“’
cause momma ain’t gonna let you walk outta here without a full belly. If I’m going to make a deal with the devil, I might as well enjoy a good meal while I do.”

             
He wasn’t kidding. Within ten minutes the small table they sat at in the corner was filled with multiple dishes of pastas, bread, meatballs, and her favorite, lasagna. Feeling as if she were the one who was making a deal with the devil she threw caution to the wind and dug in to the aromatic goods.

             
“Two months ago I was tailing you all over hell and back and now I’m eating marinara and angel hair pasta with you. Life’s weird, eh?”

             
“You
can say that again,
”
he said around a mouth-full of food.
He paused as if the food was stuck in his
throat and he couldn’t swallow,
“I knew things were going south when my girlfriend’s body was found in that slaughter shop across town.”

             
Shyla recognized the beat change and was empathetic as she realized that Ricardo must have rea
lly cared for the girl, b
ut she didn’t want to give him an edge by acknowledging his loss. He’d made that bed for himself. He had to live with it and now he had to start talking.

             
“When’s the next shipment due?”
she asked.

             
Ricardo
set his fork down and wiped his mouth carefully with his napkin. Obviously his momma had taught him a few manners.

             
“There’s supposed to be a big one coming in to Los Angeles Harbor at the end of the month, the day before Halloween. It comes in from the Philippines on a cargo ship that’s meant for transporting recycled metal out of the country. Victor secured transport with the company years ago. One of his connections with the mafia helped him make the deal.

             
“Anyway, Victor usually doesn’t show his face to most transactions but when it comes to this one, he is always there. It’s a big one and he makes sure to keep his contact happy. I’ve never been to this show, but I’ve heard about it. It’s always at night and Victor usually goes with only a few of his men to preserv
e the contact’s anonymity. Then,
when hands have been shook and money transferred, Victor makes the call and his other men show up to handle the wares.”

             
Shyla was mentally rubbing her hands together. This was it. This was what she’d been waiting for.

             
“You’re telling me that Victor will personally be at one of the biggest shipments of the year? How has this been going on for so long right under our noses and no one has popped him? I mean, it’s too damn easy.”

             
“Are you kidding me?
”
Ricardo snorted, “T
hat guy has more cops, judges, and corporate business men on his payroll than his mentor, the mafia boss himself. And whatever contacts he doesn’t have, he figures out someone who does and will. He feels safe, invincible. Shit, the guy could sell a crate of coke in pure daylight and wouldn’t bat an eyelash. Everyone around him is either an employee or owes him a lifelong debt. Who in the hell is going to mess with him?”

             
Shyla twisted her fork gath
ering a huge bite-full of pasta.

             
“Someone he pissed off and has nothing better to do t
han make his life a living hell,
”
she said.

             
“Damn, lady,
”
Ricardo said, raising an eyebrow, “
I alw
ays thought you were half crazy. N
ow I know it.”

*

             
Shyla sauntered into the building of the F.A.N.C.
like she owned the joint. There was something about working on her terms that was liberating. When she first turned in her badge she had imagined that
,
eventually
,
she would find her way back on the force, once she met a few short term goals. But after only a few days, she was already considering working in the private sector permanently.

             
A few heads turned
as she made her way toward Captain
Eli Straton’s office. Knowing that word spread like wildfire and most of it outlandishly inaccurate, she was probably the hot topic around the water cooler. With her head held high, she refused to give them even a passing glance.

             
She gave a solid knock on the closed door, although everyone knew it meant that the Chief wanted to be left alone. Otherwise
,
he kept it slightly ajar. Most thought it was so he could keep tabs on the low-level hum of the daily conversations of his team. The man had ears like a cat.

             
“Come in,” he answered in a gruff tone.

             
When she stepped inside and shut the door behind her, he was standing behind his desk with the phone pressed to his ear. His eyebrows lifted in obvious surprise.

             
“I understand,” he said into the receiver,
“
I’ll make a statement to the press first thing tomorrow morning.”

             
He hung up and stared her down.

             
“Hello, Sir.”

             
“Well, hello, Shyla. I’ve got my hands full with a missing child case
that’s linked to a drug ring
, but I’m glad you’re here. I hope this means you’ve reconsidered your resignation.”

             
“No, Sir.
I mean, I haven’t changed my mind
,
that is.”

             
He sat down and leaned back in his cha
ir. His expression was solemn
.

             
“Well then
,
what are you doing here? I’m assuming you aren’t paying a social call, because I’ve got a lot to do and I don’t have anything to say that you haven’t already heard.”

             
It hurt
that he was giving her the brush, but she’d pressed him into a corner with her behavior over the last few weeks and didn’t blame him.

             
“I’m here because I have an insider tip on the Victor case, something that could finally bring him down for good.”

             
“Insider tip, huh? I guess it would be a waste of my breath to ask who this insider is?”

             
“Yes, Sir,
”
she nodded, “
at least right now, that is. But what is important is the information. This informant suggests that there will be a major shipment coming in over the next few weeks and that Victor will personally be there.”

             
“Why are you being so vague?”

             
“Because this is fresh information and I want to do some more homework before I proceed. I wanted you to know because
, when the time comes, I will give you a call with specifics:
date, time,
and
place, so that this will go down without a hitch and to the letter of the law.”

             
Eli
leaned forward and folded his hands on his desk.

             
“Now listen to me, Shyla. Y
ou know that whatever information you have, you have to tell me. I could arrest you for obstruction.”

             
The threat hung between them.

             
Shyla
gave a single nod.

             
“I understand. I’m not one hundred percent confident in my informant yet. I promise as soon as I know more and have confirmed the facts I will notify you and turn it over to the authorities, Sir.”

             
“You can come back
,
you know.”

             
“Thank you. I’ll consider it.”

             
He cocked his head to the side and looked perplexed.

             
“Why are you doing this, Shyla? Just because I put you on suspension doesn’t mean you get your knickers in a twist and toss your career away. I know that what you went through down there with Victor must have been horrible, especially after what happened when you were a kid, but that’s no reason to turn your back on the system. The system is what keeps the chaos of society from complete anarchy.”