“Later today. Darko’s on board. I’m waiting to hear from Jakovich. I need three things to make it happen.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“I haven’t been working alone. The people who are helping me, they get a pass. In writing. I get a pass, too. In writing. Absolution from any and all charges arising out of our activities in this matter, now and in the future.”
“This isn’t a double-oh license to kill.”
“I’m not finished. I need seven hundred fifty thousand dollars, and I’ll need it in a few hours. Darko promised to front the cash, but he may or may not deliver. If he doesn’t, I can still make the play on Jakovich, but he needs to see cash.”
“Jesus. Three-quarters of a million dollars?”
“If I can’t show Jakovich the cash, he won’t show me the guns.”
She nodded, slowly.
“Okay. I understand. I think I can make it happen.”
“One more thing. I get the boy. You’re going to supply him with a U.S. birth certificate and full citizenship, so I can place him with a family of my choosing. This placement will not be a matter of state or federal record. No record will exist that his biological family can use to find him.”
Walsh was silent on this point even longer than when he asked for a pass on the killings. She finally shook her head.
“I don’t know if that’s possible. I mean, even if I wanted to, I don’t know if it’s legal.”
“I don’t care if it’s legal. I just want it done.”
Walsh let out a long sigh. Her fingernail ticked on the console between them, as precise as a metronome. She finally nodded.
“I’d better get started.”
Pike returned to his Jeep and drove back to Cole’s. Cole, Stone, and Pike spent the rest of the morning getting together their gear. When it happened, it would happen fast, and it started at ten minutes before noon.
Pike’s cell vibrated, and now it was Jakovich.
He said, “You have this money?”
“I can get it in four hours.”
“Cash.”
“Yes. Cash.”
“And Michael. I will want Michael.”
“If I get the guns, Michael is yours.”
“Yes, he is mine.”
“Where do I meet you?”
“Here. On the boat. I will be here.”
They agreed on a time, then Pike hung up and immediately called Kelly Walsh.
“It’s on.”
42
WALSH AND FOUR AGENTS from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms arrived at Cole’s house an hour later. Two stayed with their cars, but two male agents came in with Walsh-a tough-looking Latin guy named Paul Rodriguez and a tall lanky guy named Steve Hurwitz. Hurwitz was wearing an olive green Special Response Team jumpsuit. SRT was the ATF’s version of SWAT. They spread through Cole’s living room with an air of watchful suspicion, as if someone might jump out of a closet. Jon Stone had brought in a large box of his surveillance gear, and Cole was helping him set up. Cole was shirtless, but had strapped on a bullet-resistant vest. Pike couldn’t blame them for being wary, especially with the cash.
Seven hundred fifty thousand dollars in cash didn’t take up much room. It could be packed in four shoe boxes, and fit in a single grocery bag.
Walsh carried the money in a gym bag slung over her shoulder. The bag was smaller than Pike thought, but he could see the weight in her walk.
She hefted it onto Cole’s dining room table, and opened it, letting Pike see why the package was small. The bills were in vacu-packed bricks, bound in clear plastic wrap.
She said, “It isn’t all real. Half a million is funny money we took off a drug dealer.”
Cole said, “What if Jakovich checks?”
Hurwitz laughed.
“You’d better start running.”
Walsh placed a form on the table and handed a pen to Pike.
“You have to sign for it. If Darko delivers, don’t use it, but it’s the best I could do with this little time. C’mon, sign, and let’s figure this out. I have a lot of people to coordinate.”
Cole said, “Aren’t you going to let him count it?”
“Stop being stupid.”
Pike signed, and pushed back the form.
Walsh said, “Where’s the girl’s sister?”
Cole brought Rina from the guest room. She looked shrunken, and even more pale. Rodriguez placed her under arrest as Cole snipped off the plasti-cuffs. The agent immediately turned her around, and cuffed her again. Hurwitz repeated everything Rodriguez told her in Serbian.
Pike said, “For what it’s worth, at the end, she helped.”
“Goody for her. If she helps when it comes time to testify, it might do her some good.”
Rina looked at Pike as Rodriguez led her out, and said something in Serbian, but Pike didn’t know what she said.
Hurwitz looked at him.
“You speak it?”
“No.”
“She hopes you do it for Ana.”
Walsh looked irritated, as if they were wasting time.
“What about the kid? Where is he?”
“Someplace safe.”
She started to say something, but shook her head and changed course.
“Forget it. Okay, let’s go through this. What are we doing?”
Pike said, “Jon.”
Stone held up something that looked like the GPS locator he removed from Pike’s Jeep.
“Remember this?”
Walsh reddened as Stone went on.
“It’s not yours. We canned the one you put on his Jeep. This one’s mine. White-burst digital ceramic, no RF, will not show on airport scanners or wands. It’s better than yours.”
The SRT agent laughed.
“But my dick is bigger.”
Stone ignored him.
“One on Pike, one on Cole-they’re going together-and one on their vehicle, Pike’s Jeep. We link through a receiver that repeats on my laptop. I can email the software to you, and slave the repeater.”
Hurwitz went to the door, and called to the agents outside.
“Carlos. Get in here, dude. We’re into some technical stuff.”
Another agent trotted in on the bounce, and immediately got together with Stone. Pike went through the setup, and how he planned to bring Jakovich and Darko together with the guns. It would be up to Walsh and her people to follow in trail, and make their entrance when the guns were confirmed.
She said, “What about Darko?”
“Elvis and I will meet him in Venice. We picked a location close to the marina.”
Walsh looked at Cole.
“Both of you?”
Pike said, “He’s going to have people. It’ll look better if I have people, too.”
Cole pointed at himself.
“I’m his people.”
Pike went on with it.
“He thinks we’re meeting to pick up the money. The real reason is to give him this.”
Stone showed them a handheld GPS locator.
“He thinks he’s getting this to follow Joe and Elvis to the guns, but we’re going to use it to follow him. You’ll be able to track him, too, when you download the software.”
Carlos was grinning.
“I like it.”
Hurwitz said, “So Venice will be our start point?”
“Only to meet Darko. From Venice, we’re going to the marina. That’s the true start.”
Walsh said, “We don’t know the end point. Jakovich will be taking them to the guns.”
“If he takes them out on the boat, we’re screwed.”
Hurwitz wasn’t thrilled, but he shrugged.
“Okay. So we trail and set up on the roll. We’ve done it before.”
They spent the next hour going over their plan and setting up their equipment. Stone loaded his software onto Carlos’s laptop, then fit locators on Pike and Cole, one in Cole’s hair, and the other on the back of Pike’s belt buckle. Both Walsh and Hurwitz made multiple calls, coordinating the tactical SRT team and six additional Special Agents.
At twelve forty-five, the agents left, heading for Venice to rendezvous at their staging area. Walsh was the last agent to leave. She hung back until the others were gone, then pulled Pike aside.