Samurai Code (23 page)

“You think you are capable of ripping me off? You are wrong. We have nothing further to say to each other!”

Lee stood stone-faced as Jack and Laura left the restaurant.

Da Khlot waited patiently, without emotion. It was ten-thirty at night and the sun had long since set.
Ideal time to kill.

30

It was seven o’clock the following morning when Rose pushed the buzzer on the intercom and waited outside for an answer. Moments later, Natasha responded.

“Rose Wood,” she said. “I work with Jack.”

“I know,” she replied. “He’s not here yet, but called an hour ago to say you would be coming. He didn’t come home last night. I guess Laura didn’t, either.”

“I know. May I come up?”

Rose pushed the button on the elevator and watched silently as the door closed and heard the hum of the cables as she ascended. She went over the phone call she had received last night from Jack, telling her that he and Laura had met with Lee. He said they didn’t want to go home last night after the meeting. He told her that he and Laura would be spending the night in the penthouse suite. He was hoping Lee would contact him.

Rose sensed there was something else. His voice seemed edgy and nervous.
He isn’t the type to scare easy. So why? Perhaps fearing bad guys might follow him home to his wife would explain his fear. Or is there something else?

She was familiar with Jack’s personal file. Married less than two years — roughly the length of time Rose had been married to her first husband before he had been killed at a crosswalk by a hit-and-run driver.

She remembered the agonizing pain she had felt. In the initial months it had never let up. If she could have even gone thirty seconds without thinking about it, she would have felt some relief. Her doctor had prescribed medication. It made her brain feel fuzzy and did little to block her pain. She slept sporadically and only then through sheer exhaustion. Eventually time helped her cope with the grief enough to carry on.

Then there was the driver. Witnesses obtained the licence plate number, but were unsure about his face, except to say he was balding, with a horseshoe ring of black hair. The owner of the car matched the description and had four previous convictions for impaired driving. The judicial process lasted three years, during which time the driver racked up another impaired charge. Those three years to Rose seemed like an eternity. Then the driver was acquitted. After all, positive identification was in doubt.
Maybe some day I’ll tell Jack I know the difference between the law and justice. I’ve done my share of skating on thin ice. But I’ve also lost the love of my life and I know how that feels. Not something you would ever want anyone you loved to have to go through.

She tried to smile as Natasha answered the door and invited her inside.
An attractive woman. Young, bright, enthusiastic. So much in love. So much to lose.

“I made coffee,” said Natasha, cheerily. “Would you like toast or a bagel, as well?”

“Just coffee, thanks,” replied Rose.

“Jack said he and Laura will be here soon. Had to do some heat checks first.” Natasha paused and said, “That’s what you call it, isn’t it? Heat checks?”

Rose smiled and said, “Yes, that is what it’s called, although usually it’s the bad guys’ expression. They refer to the police as the heat and often drive in a manner to make sure they are not being followed.”

Natasha grinned and said, “With Jack, the police have followed him before, as well. Me, too, come to think of it.”

“So I heard,” replied Rose.

“Jack said the penthouse he and Laura are staying in isn’t that far away. I expected they would have arrived by now. Maybe he’s being extra cautious.”

“I’m sure he is,” replied Rose. “Does it — never mind. I’m sure they’ll be here soon.”

“You were going to ask if it bothers me that my husband spent the night with another woman?”

“It’s none of my business,” replied Rose. “Sorry. That was the psychologist in me coming out.”

“I would be lying if I said it didn’t,” replied Natasha. “At least, a little. But I trust my husband and accept that his role as an undercover operative demands it sometimes. I know he loves me a great deal. I’ve also met Laura. I really like and trust her, as well. I feel like her and I have bonded. I’m pretty good at reading people.”

“I know my husband used to worry about me dealing with some fairly dangerous people.”

“Used to?” asked Natasha.

Rose smiled and said, “The lofty position of management keeps me handcuffed to my desk. My work is not dangerous now.”

“How do you feel about it? Do you miss the action?”

“I’m content with my decision. I’ve collected enough wrinkles.”

“You don’t think Jack will give you more?” asked Natasha, grinning. “I know I’ve collected a few since meeting him.”

“Possibly,” admitted Rose. “I worry about the people I’m responsible for. Having two active undercover operators in my section adds to that worry.”

“Actually, I don’t worry about them all that much,” replied Natasha, seriously.

“You don’t?”

“Okay, maybe a little, but I keep the worry harnessed in the back of my mind. Jack has told me he is very good at what he does. He said if he had to rewire a faulty lamp he’d probably electrocute himself, but undercover is what he does. It’s his specialty. I believe him.”

“That he would electrocute himself?”

Natasha laughed and said, “Yes, that, too, but you’ll have to excuse me. I have to go to work. Please help yourself to the coffee.”

“Thanks, I —”

Rose was interrupted when Jack and Laura arrived. She saw the passionate kiss Natasha gave Jack, before saying goodbye and leaving for work.
Jack is a lucky man …

“So what’s up?” asked Rose, once Jack and Laura had each poured themselves a coffee and sat down. “You said on the phone that Lee met with you and invited you to go to Thailand and Burma to check out their organization. Fill me in on the details. We need to strategize.”

Jack and Laura started from the beginning of when they arrived at the restaurant and used the extensive notes they made later to tell Rose all the details leading up to when they stormed out of the restaurant.

“You did what?” exclaimed Rose when they got to that point. “Tell me it was a negotiation ploy to lower the price. You did go back in, right?”

“Wrong,” said Jack.

“Did Lee follow you out to talk some more?”

“No. Haven’t heard from him since.”

“Damn it,” said Rose in frustration. “I can’t believe you did this. Sounds to me like you blew a chance to penetrate one of the biggest international crime syndicates around. The intelligence we could have learned would have been invaluable.”

“Not at that price,” replied Jack. “I wouldn’t pay that for it.”

“Who cares? We probably can’t get authorization for a kilo, let alone a ton. You could still have played along and when the time came, we could have extrapolated you before the money transfer.” Rose shook her head in disbelief and said, “Okay, let’s hope you didn’t offend him and it’s not too late. Contact him. Apologize and say you reconsidered.”

“No,” replied Jack.

“What do you mean, no? Why not?”

“If I was genuine, I wouldn’t go for it. We’re talking big money. If I have the backing for that much money, it’s from being a good businessman. Not a stupid one.”

“Jack thinks it was a test,” said Laura.

“A test?”

“I think if I had agreed to it, Lee would have later cancelled.”

“More like cancelled us,” said Laura, frowning. “Tell her your thoughts about our flat tire.”

“A flat tire?” asked Rose.

“When we got back to our car,” said Jack, “we saw we had a flat tire. It looked like someone had punctured it with a knife.” Jack stared at Rose, wondering if she would connect the dots.

Rose said, “You’re thinking —”

“Exactly,” said Jack. “In my mind, there are two obvious reasons for doing that. To delay us if someone was waiting for a surveillance team to arrive and follow us … but they already think they know where we live and we did go back to the penthouse. So that leaves the second reason.”

“You were being tested,” said Rose.

“That’s my guess.”

“And to fail that test meant they weren’t going to let you drive away. Someone wanted to assassinate you.”

“Just a theory,” shrugged Jack. “Maybe it was some punk vandalizing property. It could have been coincidental.” He locked eyes with Rose and smiled, before adding, “You know how that is with me — coincidences do seem to happen.”

Rose ignored the comment as she realized how dangerous the situation was. She took a deep breath and leaned back in her chair and slowly exhaled before saying, “Now I know why I was never accepted when I volunteered to be an operator. I’d be dead. So what’s next? Do we simply wait?”

“The hardest part,” said Laura. “Waiting.”

“Lee is anxious,” said Jack. “He thinks he’s found the motherlode with us. My guess is we hear from him by the weekend. In the meantime, Laura and I will carry on like life is one big party. If I think we’re being followed, we might visit a travel agent and look at brochures for going to Caracas or someplace else on that continent.”

“Venezuela?”asked Rose. “Did I miss something? I thought all Lee’s connections were in the Orient. What does South America have to do with this?”

“Nothing,” replied Laura, sounding puzzled before pausing and smiling. “But for Lee, it could indicate our money is going to his competition. We might be investing in cocaine instead of heroin.”

Jack smiled and gave her a thumbs-up sign.

“I see,” replied Rose. “The thing is, you should be followed. By us.”

“So we could end up like Goldie?” suggested Jack.

“I don’t suggest you use that as an example,” said Rose firmly. “I have a distinct feeling that the narcs following Goldie wasn’t the only thing that got him killed. And skip the part about pretending to look surprised. I despise being played by anyone.”

After a moment feeling uncomfortable, Jack said, “I know policy calls for us to have cover, but these guys are smart. The probability of a cover team being spotted and getting us killed is much higher than it is of them being needed to rescue us. In this case, policy could get us killed. Besides, I think the real testing will come when we arrive in Thailand — a place where us fair-skinned, round-eyes stand out.”

Rose briefly massaged her temples with both hands as she reflected upon Jack’s instinct for survival.
Natasha was right. These two will be giving me wrinkles.
She looked up and said, “For now, I’ll agree to ignore policy on that issue, but I want you packing. The both of you.”

“We already are,” replied Jack. “Both of us have non-issue weapons.”

“Non-issue? You mean throwaway pieces?” asked Rose.

“No, no. My mistake,” said Jack. “They’re officially issued to operators, but aren’t the standard weapons issued to uniform or plain clothes members. No Mountie symbols.”

“Oh, good,” replied Rose.

“Yes, we wouldn’t tell you about the throwaways,” said Laura.

Rose looked quickly at Laura and saw her eyes sparkle.

“Gotcha!” said Laura. “You looked as freaked out as my husband did once when I said that to him. He works Anti-Corruption. I think he believed it for a moment, as well.”

Rose grinned, “Okay, you got me. But this is serious. Please be careful. What can I do to help?”

“Let’s get our ducks in a row,” said Jack. “We have the basic identification to match our aliases, but we’ll need passports, as well. Also, permission for foreign travel to the countries Lee has mentioned.”

“I’ll handle that. What else?”

“I want practice sessions with a polygraph operator. I want to know what I can do to beat that damned machine.”

“Don’t think you can,” replied Rose. “I’ve heard that the best you could achieve for some of the questions is maybe inconclusive results. No pass, no fail. However, it only takes one question to fail, and the probability of you failing that critical question, even with training, is extremely high.”

“Perhaps I can come up with an undercover scenario that might negate me having to take the actual polygraph. But polygraph operators are experts when it comes to body language. They conduct lengthy interviews prior to even using the machine. They usually know long before they put anyone on the machine if they are guilty or not. I need to know how to behave if I am being interviewed by someone like that. What I learn from a polygraph operator would affect the type of undercover scenario I use and add to my credibility.”

“If you’re being questioned by someone who is a polygraph operator, I’d like a cover team practically holding your hand,” said Rose.

“Me, too,” agreed Jack. “Lee has been looking to me for all of the business dealings. Drugs are still a male-dominated business. I doubt that Laura would be asked to take a polygraph, and if she was asked, we would refuse. One of us is risky enough, but it still wouldn’t hurt for her to learn the basics, as well. Will you arrange it?”

Rose looked deep in thought, but smiled.

“What’s so funny?” asked Jack.

“I was imagining the look on Assistant Commissioner Isaac’s face when I ask him.”

“Sort of like a bad guy asking if he can hold your gun,” said Jack, wryly. “Remind him that I really am one of the good guys.”