This was Larry’s third double shift in seven days. Not that he was complaining. He needed the money. He had promised Daria that when the baby was born, they would have no debt and a small nest egg to allow them to give their newborn child the advantages that neither of them was afforded. There was a comradery among the double shifters: Charlie downstairs, Nolan Ludeke upstairs in the medical facility. They had come to be known as the musketeers, as the three of them did the work of six and did it better than those working half the time on twice the rest.
As Larry finally turned his attention to the five who walked across the large marble lobby, he did a double take as he saw the face of the man in the middle of the group. He had read the papers, had seen the news, and had actually seen him just two days earlier with his wife. Larry had been devastated at the news of their dying, which confirmed his belief that it was always the good who were struck down before their time. But maybe that wasn’t in effect today.
At 8:25, J ACK walked through the main entrance to the Tombs. Aaron and Donal walked in front, with black bags on their shoulders, while Cristos and Josh were three steps behind. They had run through the plan four times, studying Jack’s hastily drawn map, discussing contingencies. And while there was no further discussion of Mia or the cost of failure, the threat was abundantly clear. If Jack did not succeed in turning the case over to Cristos, Mia would die. Jack had a part to play, and he was about to play it at award-level caliber.
“Holy shit,” Larry said.
Jack smiled back.
“But…” Larry was lost for words. “You’re alive?”
“Hey, Larry,” Jack said as he held his fingers up to his lips. “That’s between you and me.”
“And your wife, she’s OK?”
“Yeah,” Jack said, nodding. “Thanks for your concern.”
“I didn’t hear.”
“No one has, and I need you to keep it that way.”
Larry nodded in understanding.
“We need to go downstairs,” Jack said.
Larry looked the other men over.
“Show him your badges, boys.”
Aaron, Donal, and Josh flipped open their billfolds, flashing badges, quickly closing them up and stuffing them back into their pockets.
“FBI?” Larry said with raised eyebrows, turning back to Jack. “Don’t tell me you’ve gone over to the dark side, too.”
“No.” Jack laughed. “I’m still a good guy.”
“And who’s this?” Larry pointed at Cristos. He was still on guard despite the DA standing before him.
“He’s a member of the Cotis government. I’ve got a real hush-hush case going.”
“Is that what everyone downstairs is after?”
“You might say that. Who is downstairs, by the way?”
“Charlie, he’s always down there; some accountant”-Larry pointed at Aaron and Donal-“and three of their friends.”
Jack glanced at the two. “I don’t think these guys have any friends.”
“Oh, and I just sent two detectives from Midtown South, they’re just dropping off. You’ll probably pass them on the way down.” Larry smiled as he pushed the button releasing the security gate and waved them past. “What about you?” Larry said to Josh, who lingered behind.
“Sounds a little crowded down there. I think I’ll wait up here.” Josh held up his cell phone. “I’m waiting for a call, anyway.”
“Suit yourself. There’s a bench over there if you want it,” Larry said as he pointed to the far corner of the lobby.
“Larry,” Jack called out as they arrived at the elevator bank, “don’t tell a soul that you saw me or that we’re downstairs.”
“Mr. Keeler, once a cop, always a cop. You know I have your back.”
The elevator arrived, and the four stepped inside. Just as the doors were closing, Jack smiled and said, “Thanks, Larry.”
• • •
FBI Agent Joe Perry stood in the middle of the evidence room, thinking of what a misnomer its name was. The vast space was more like a warehouse or a storage facility than a room.
Perry had been assigned as the liaison with the Bureau of Courts in locating the evidence case in the possession of Mia Keeler before her death that morning.
A day earlier, an internal investigation had begun on her possible connection with evidence tampering, but he had his doubts. He had known Mia for several years, and that was something that was not in her character.
After ten hours here on top of his seventy-five-hour week, Perry was done. He was heading home for a late dinner with his wife and would crawl into bed for at least eight hours before he had to return the next morning. He was leaving behind two young agents, Bracato and Stratton, to ensure security. As both agents were younger than thirty and known for their weekend exploits and surveillance stamina, he had no fear of them being able to pull an all-nighter. Holly Rose Tremont, the analyst provided by the DA’s office, was still poring over computer records and wasn’t planning to leave until after nine. She had gone through the several hundred files in cases brought in since Tuesday but was forced to expand her search once someone realized that Mia might have had her evidence case stashed inside another case that was already down there.
Jack pushed the button for sublevel five, and the cab began its descent. The four banks of elevators were separate and apart from the prison facility serving the sublevels up to the fifth-floor medical and psychiatric facility.
“You realize we are all being recorded,” Jack said without looking up at the security camera.
Donal smiled broadly, looking straight into the lens. Both he and Aaron reached into their pockets and pulled out small black key-fob-like devices.
“Nobody sees us unless we want them to see us. You think we’d walk into the lobby of this building allowing our pictures to appear all over the place the minute we leave?”
“So, that’s how you didn’t show up on video when you killed the Bonsleys?”
Cristos smiled at Jack but remained silent.
As the car passed sublevel two, Aaron reached inside his jacket and pulled his gun.
“Absolutely not!” Jack shouted at Aaron before turning to Cristos. “You want my cooperation, no guns. Let me just walk in and get the box, and we walk out.” Jack felt as if he were descending into Hades with hell’s minions.
Aaron shook his head, but Cristos nodded in agreement. “No guns… for the moment. You’ve got two minutes to get the case.”
Charlie nodded to Perry, who stood at the exit from the evidence room, buzzing him out the security door into the lobby. Charlie didn’t much like the overly stiff FBI agent who walked around his domain as if he owned it, talking to his own people with respect yet talking down to both Charlie and the female analyst from the DA’s office.
As Perry left, Charlie smiled inwardly. Despite all of Perry’s arrogance, all of his blowhard superiority, Charlie knew he would never find what he was looking for. As far as Charlie was concerned, he was the one who actually controlled the moment. He was well aware of what everyone was looking for, he knew its exact location, and he knew that no matter how many records people pored over, no one would be finding it anywhere in the database. And if and when they decided to go through every box, it could take them weeks before they found the unregistered evidence box that Jack and Mia had hidden away.
But Charlie also remembered how scared Jack’s wife looked when asked about its contents. When he had heard of their untimely deaths this morning, Charlie knew that it was no car accident that ended their lives. Someone, somehow, gave them a little push. When he had arrived earlier in the day to see the FBI and judicial liaison waiting for him, asking if he knew where an evidence case belonging to Jack Keeler might be, he said he had no idea. It wasn’t in the system. Deny till you die; the phrase kept echoing in his head. It was Charlie’s intention to wait until things died down, grab the box himself, and turn it over to Frank Archer.