The rest of the group looked around at each other. “Holy shit,” was all the director could say, his head swaying from side to side.
Masters picked up the phone and spoke into it. “He’s leaving the building now. He’ll know he’s being followed. Make it a short leash, but give him some room. He’s an expert at this stuff, so he’ll take you for a waltz around the city and then try to lose you. Be alert! When he hooks up with Tyler, communicate with me immediately. Keep them under surveillance, but don’t approach them.” He looked over at the A.G., who nodded her assent. Masters hung up the phone and took a deep breath.
“Do you believe Riggs’s story that it’s only one man behind all this?” the director asked, looking nervously at Masters.
“It sounds incredible, but I hope to God it’s true,” said Masters. “I’d rather be dealing with one guy than some worldwide crime syndicate.” The A.G. and director both nodded in agreement.
Berman looked around with questioning eyes. “So what’s the plan here?”
The director cleared his throat heavily and said, “We can’t ever let this come out, you all know that. No matter what happens. No matter who gets hurt. Even if Riggs is successful and we are able to apprehend this person and any others involved in the scheme, then we still face a major problem.”
The A.G. folded her arms across her chest and picked up this line of thought. “Even if we can build a case against him on all the other activities this person will know he has ‘leverage,’ to use Riggs’s term. And he’ll use the same threat Riggs used. Deal with him or he goes public. I can just see his defense lawyer salivating over that one.” She involuntarily shuddered.
“So what you’re saying is this thing can never go to trial,” Berman said. “What then?”
The A.G. ignored the question and instead asked Masters, “You think Riggs is playing straight with us?”
Masters shrugged. “He was one of the best at undercover operations. To do that you have to lie on a regular basis and appear not to be. Truth takes a backseat. Sometimes reality becomes blurred. And old habits die hard.”
“Meaning we can’t completely trust him,” the A.G. said.
Masters looked thoughtful for a moment. “No more than he can trust us.”
“Well,” the director said, “there’s the strong possibility that we won’t bring this guy in alive.” He looked around the room. “Right?”
They all nodded. Masters ventured, “If he’s half as dangerous as Riggs says he is, I’d shoot first and ask no questions later. Then maybe our problem goes away.”
“And what about Riggs and Tyler?” the A.G. asked.
Berman answered, “Well, if we’re going to go that route, you never know who might get caught in the crossfire. I mean none of us wants that to happen, of course,” he quickly added, “but like Riggs’s wife, you know, innocent people sometimes die.”
“Tyler is hardly innocent!” the director said angrily.
“That’s right,” Masters said. “And if Riggs is tying his allegiances to her instead of us, well then he has to accept the consequences. Whatever they may be.”
All of them looked at each other uneasily. Under normal circumstances, none of them would have been remotely contemplating any of this. They had dedicated their lives to apprehending criminals and then seeing them receive a fair trial before a court of law for their offenses. They’re now silently praying that justice wouldn’t happen this time, that instead several human beings would die before a judge or jury ever heard their case, was not sitting well with any of them. However, in this present case, they were all confronted with something much larger than merely hunting down a criminal. Here the truth was far more dangerous.
“Whatever the consequences may be,” the director quietly repeated.
Chapter fifty
Walking down the street, Riggs looked at his watch. The clock housing was actually a sophisticated recording device; the tiny perforations in the leather strap were the speaker component. The day before, he had spent some time in a well-known “spy shop” four blocks from the FBI building. The technology had certainly gotten better over the years. At least his deal with the government was recorded somewhere other than in his memory. With operations like this, he shouldn’t put too much faith in anyone, no matter which side he was on.
Riggs knew that the government could never allow the truth to come out. In this case capturing the criminal alive was just as bad as not capturing him, maybe worse. And anyone who knew the truth was in serious jeopardy, and not just from Jackson. Riggs knew that the FBI would never intentionally gun down an innocent person. But he knew the FBI hardly regarded LuAnn as innocent. And since Riggs had thrown his support her way, he was automatically lumped with her as the enemy. If it got dicey toward the end, which Riggs knew it would, and if LuAnn were anywhere near Jackson, well, the FBI might not be real careful about who they were firing at. Riggs didn’t expect Jackson to go down quietly. He would take out as many agents as he could. Riggs had seen that in his eyes at the cottage. The man had no respect for human life. To him a person was merely a factor to be manipulated and eliminated if circumstances called for it. As an undercover agent, Riggs had dealt with people like that for years. People almost as dangerous as Jackson. Given those elements, the FBI would err on the side of killing the man rather than taking him alive; they wouldn’t risk the life of an agent in order to ensure that the man would stand trial. Riggs was well aware that the government had no incentive to bring Jackson to trial and every incentive not to. So Riggs’s job was to flush out Jackson and then the Feds could do what they wanted. If that was pumping the man full of lead, Riggs would be glad to help them do so. But he was going to keep LuAnn as far away from the man as humanly possible. She was not going to be caught in the crossfire. He had been through that once. History was not going to repeat itself.
Riggs didn’t bother to look behind him. He knew he was already under surveillance. Despite Masters’s assurances to the contrary, he would have immediately ordered a tail. Riggs would’ve done the same thing in his position. Now he had to beat the tail before meeting up with LuAnn. He smiled. Just like old times.
While Riggs had been dealing with the FBI, LuAnn had driven to another pay phone and dialed a certain phone number. It rang several times and LuAnn thought she would probably get the standard automated message. Then a voice answered. She could barely recognize it, the connection was so bad.
“Charlie?”
“LuAnn?”
“Where are you?”
“On the road. I can barely hear you. Hold on, I’m passing some power lines.”
In a moment, the connection was much clearer.
“That’s better,” LuAnn said.
“Hang on, there’s someone who wants to talk to you.”
“Mom?”
“Hello, baby.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, sweetie, I told you Mommy would be fine.”
“Uncle Charlie said you and Mr. Riggs saw each other.”
“That’s right. He’s helping me. With things.”
“I’m glad you’re not alone. I miss you.”
“I miss you too, Lisa, I can’t tell you how much.”
“Can we come home soon?”
Home? Where was home now? “I think so, baby. Mommy’s working really hard on that right now.”
“I love you.”
“Oh, sweetie, I love you too.”
“Here’s Uncle Charlie.”
“Lisa?”
“Yes?”
“I mean to keep my promise to you. I’m going to tell you everything. The truth. Okay?”
The voice was small, a little scared. “All right, Mom.”