Duty Bound (1995) (18 page)

Our people picked up one of the hitters at the airport, and we got another trying to rent a car. All we're missing is the wounded one."

Eli waited for more news but saw his boss staring vacantly at his coffee cup. "Sir, you said there were a couple of breaks?"

Farrel nodded as if to himself. "I'm sorry, yes, the other break came from the Washington office. It appears the female, Dana Cooper, the assistant to Wentzel who was murdered, was the one who erased the computer hard drives and blanked the disks. Her prints were found on the computers and she was the last one to sign out of the office the day before the murders took place. A search of her apartment turned up an airplane ticket for Paris--she was scheduled to depart the afternoon she was killed. They also found a faked passport in the name of Delia Beckman, along with IDs and credit cards and twenty thousand dollars in travelers checks. They're checking her finances now, and I suspect we'll find she has big money deposited somewhere."

Eli's face tightened. "It's getting uglier by the minute, sir.

Whoever is running the show has money to burn and is taking no chances with loose ends. . . . Who is the player, sir?"

Farrel raised his eyes. "What?"

Eli met his superior's stare. "You can cut the crap with me, sir. Last night you told me they ID'd the blond shooter I shot--his name was Orlando, a Cuban. And yesterday, ten minutes before the attack, Agent Eddings told me about the anonymous e-mail he'd received saying a player was involved with the Yona Group. Come on, sir, I'm not stupid.

A hired Cuban hit crew stinks of a connection. . . . Who is the player?"

Farrel's eyes narrowed. "Eddings shouldn't have told you about that e-mail message, Tanner. Don't breathe a damn word of it or I'll have your ass, you understand me?"

"No, sir, I don't understand. What the hell is goin' on?

Why are you keeping the player connection secret?"

Farrel studied Eli's face a moment before lowering his eyes and speaking in almost a whisper. "The DEA has the lead on the possible connection, not us. The 'deputy isn't happy about it, either, but it's orders from the top--the DEA has it and we're to provide support."

Surprised by Farrel's words, Eli leaned closer. "The DEA has a suspect?"

"I don't know . . . their case agent in charge is flying up from Miami and briefing us this afternoon on what they have. In the meantime we're to keep working on reconstructing the senator's investigation into the Yona Group."

"This is bullshit," Eli said angrily.

"I know it's bullshit, Tanner, but I've got my orders and we'll all do as we're told. Now drop it; this conversation didn't happen. . . Have you seen Agent Sutton this morning?"

Trying to calm himself, Eli nodded slowly. "Yes, sir, she's feeling a lot better. They're going to release her sometime today if the shrink clears her."

"Good. She's a tough little thing, isn't she?"

"Yes, sir, she is."

"I had my doubts about her. Hell, I admit it. I didn't like her . . . a damn admin wire head, and a feminist to boot, but I have to give credit where credit is due. She's done all right as a field agent. Well, guess I'd better make the rounds and see our people. Damn, it's hard, Tanner; it's hard seeing them lying there all beat to hell. Hardest damn part of the job is doing this. . Damnit! They've got to get the asshole responsible for this."

Eli was about to agree but froze. Despite the blue canvas sling around her neck, Stacy Starr looked stunning even at that early hour.

Stacy smiled when she stopped only a few feet away from their table. "It looks like it's my lucky day. I've found the two men I've been looking for. How are you, Donny?"

Farrel dipped his chin. "I'm doing okay under the circumstances, Miss Starr. How's your arm?"

"I'm alive, thanks to Agent Tanner," she said, then pinned Farrel with a glare. "Donny, what's this about a Washington public affairs officer taking over as your office spokesman?"

"It's too big for my people to handle, Miss Starr. You can understand that."

"I do if you tell him to work with us locals on an equal basis. If he grants one interview with a national before he talks to us, you'll have hell to pay."

"He knows how it's played, Miss Starr. How's your sound man doing?"

Stacy stepped closer as she pulled a piece of paper from her oversize purse. "Like me, he was treated and released last night. I thought I'd better show you this. It was on my e-mail when I got back home from the hospital. It was sent yesterday morning."

Farrel took the paper and began reading. His head snapped up. "Where did you get this?"

"As I just said, on my e-mail. I take it by your response it's not just a weirdo who got my personal e-mail address?"

"Don't you dare use my reaction as confirmation. You ambushed me. Now where did it come from?" Farrel asked as he handed the paper to Eli, who quickly read the one paragraph.

To Stacy Starr, Channel 2:

The attack on Senator Goodnight and his family was ordered by a major Cuban drug player in Miami. The reason was to stop the investigation into the Yona Group of Dahlonega, Georgia. This information will give you a start in the right direction, but you must be very careful and don't trust anyone until you go public. Your life is in extreme danger now that you have this information.

Concerned Georgia Citizen "Come on, Donny, you know I can't reveal sources .. and I don't know anyway," Stacy said. "There was no return e-mail address. When I saw what it said, I downloaded it and ran a couple of copies. That's your copy. You can keep it, but you should know I'm already working on it."

"Sit down!" Farrel growled.

Stacy rolled her eyes but pulled up a chair. Farrel leaned close to her. "What you got cannot be released to the public, do you understand? It will jeopardize our case. I'm not being overly dramatic here, Miss Starr; I'm serious. Whoever sent this to you must be deeply involved. I can't tell you any more than that, but believe me, I can't allow you to go public with what you have."

Stacy shrugged. "You're obviously tired, Donny, and aren't thinking. Whoever sent me the information wants it to get out. If I don't follow up on it, the source will just send the information to some other station or paper until he or she gets what they want. I called around and did some checking and no other station or paper received that message. It looks like the source wanted the best reporter on it and gave it to me."

"Christ," Farrel said, lowering his head, "I don't need this."

Stacy smiled as she patted his hand. "Don't worry, Donny, I'll cooperate fully with you. I already found out one of the shooters killed in the parking lot was ID'd by your people. He was a Cuban named Jorge Orlando. I checked with some friends in Miami and found out this Orlando was a mechanic-for-hire for the drug boys. I also ran a check on the Yona Group to see what business they were in. I must admit that part of the e-mail didn't make sense to me--when I found out they owned a bunch of smaller companies that just do conversions of vans and boats. But Donny, when I ran a check and saw who was running the group and who the partners were, then I smelled a whopper of a story. Tell me, Donny, have you picked up the leaders of the Yona Group for questioning yet?"

Farrel looked into her eyes for a long moment before responding. "Miss Starr, we're going to need some time . . . you're way ahead of us on this."

Stacy returned his stare for a moment before her eyes widened. "You do know who runs the Yona Group, don't you?"

Farrel's face screwed up as if in pain. "Look, you were there yesterday. You know Agent Eddings was killed, but you probably didn't know he was my case agent in charge.

Don't quote me on that and don't say a damn word about Orlando or his possible connection to the Yona Group. We know who the group's leaders are, and we're investigating, but we need more time. You'll have to sit on your information for at least a day to allow us to catch up. Promise me."

Stacy held his gaze a long moment before lowering her chin. "Okay, but I want to be told when you do move. And Donny, I want to be told about anything else that breaks on this case two hours before it's officially released. That's the deal for my cooperation."

"One hour," Farrel said.

Stacy's eyes fell on Eli. "Okay, Donny, but one more thing and we've got a deal. I want you to please tell Agent Tanner to be at my place at nine tonight for dinner. It's my way of thanking him for saving my life. Do we have a deal?"

Farrel looked at Eli as if saying, Don't give me a hard time on this. Eli nodded. "Sir, I would be honored to have dinner with Miss Starr this evening."

"Deal, Miss Starr," Farrel said. "But don't tell a living soul we're giving you preferential treatment."

She got up and bowed her head. "Always a pleasure seeing you, Donny. And Agent Tanner, dress casual tonight.

Good day, gentlemen."

As soon as Stacy walked away, Farrel wearily shook his head. "Goddamn it! That's all I needed . . . the damn media involved."

Eli shrugged. "At least she was nice about it. Most of the sharks wouldn't have shown you that message--they would have run with what they had."

"Nice? Tanner, Stacy Starr is a lot of things, but nice isn't one of them. She's got me by the balls and knows it. You can bet she smells a Pulitzer in this story. You'd better call the GBI and move up the meeting time. I need what they have on the Yona Group. . . . I wasn't all that honest with Starr. Eddings was going to run a check on the group's leaders yesterday. Maybe the GBI has something on them and can save us time. Plus I don't want the GBI thinking this is an all-fed show."

"I'll call now, sir," Eli said, getting up. He handed the e-mail message back to his boss. "The source says the player was Cuban and that he ordered the hits."

"I read it, Tanner. Forget you saw it. I'll give the message to the DEA and see if they might know who the source is.

And Tanner, I'm sorry about the dinner thing with Starr. She had me in a box."

Eli sighed. "No problem, sir. Anything for the Bureau."

Ten minutes later Eli walked into Ashley's hospital room and was surprised to see her sitting in a chair, fully dressed.

She rose as soon as he entered. "Where have you been?

Come on, let's get out of here," she said.

"Whoa, Sutton. You're not going anywhere until the docs say you can go."

Ashley motioned to her dressing. "Look, they changed the bandage and gave me an appointment for next week.

I've been cleared for limited duty, so let's get out of here."

Eli still blocked the door. "You're supposed to see a shrink."

"She just left, Tanner. Now if you don't mind, I want out of here. I've been around you too much, I guess; I've picked up your aversion to hospitals."

Eli put his arm up to stop her from grasping the doorknob. "Wait a minute, Sutton, I'm working. I've got to be at the GBI headquarters in thirty minutes for a meeting. I can't drive you back to Columbus right now."

She pushed his arm down. "Fine, I'll go with you. Give me the keys; I'll drive."

"Slow down, will ya? Can you drive with your eye bandaged that way?"

"Tanner, I'm not riding with you if you drive, so it's me driving or me taking a cab to the GBI. Decide."

Eli handed her the van keys. Fifteen minutes later Ashley was driving down Peachtree Street listening as Eli filled her In on Stacy Starr's e-mail and the SAC's deal with her to keep a lid on the information. Eli left out the last part of the deal, the dinner date.

Ashley shook her head when he had finished. "The SAC shouldn't have made the deal."

"You don't get it, Sutton. Starr is a shark and that e-mail pointed her in the direction of fresh blood. What do you think would happen if she reported on the national news that she had received information from an unnamed source incriminating the Yona Group as being connected to the murders of Senator Goodnight and his family? And then she says that the FBI would not confirm or deny that the company is in fact under investigation? Come on, Sutton, tell me what would happen then?"

Ashley's shoulders sagged. "Okay, okay, I see your point.

If she released the information, the rest of the media would have pounced on it and started their own investigations of the group. Yeah, I see what you mean. They'd get to the suspects and friends and family before we would and really screw things up."

"Right," Eli said.

Ashley's face constricted. "Maybe we should let her release what she has. The media will fry them if they're dirty. The sharks will make sure the bastards get what they deserve."

Eli looked at her a moment before shifting his gaze toward the road. "That's not the way to run an investigation.

The source is running the show, and you have to ask yourself what's behind it."

Ashley clenched the steering wheel tighter. "Maybe the bastards killed somebody the source cared about, Tanner.

They know how slow we move. Maybe they wanted justice now."

"Attack by the media isn't justice, Sutton," Eli said softly.

"Just as long as they get eaten, Tanner. Media or us, it doesn't matter to me just as long as the bastards go down."

Eli said nothing; obviously his partner had been hurt from more than the eye wound.