Once a Killer (35 page)

That was easy for Caravini to say. He didn’t understand what was at stake.

“Can I have a moment?”

“If you’re worried about what could happen to you or your family, we can protect you. We’ve done it many times before.”

It didn’t matter what Caravini said. Nothing could protect them from Rondell using what he knew to destroy their lives. There was only one way to do that, to guarantee Rondell’s silence, and that was to have him killed, and he’d tried that already with Duane. But tattoo man had proven he was just another scam artist. He’d taken his money, but had never intended to go after Rondell. And there wasn’t enough time to find someone else to do it, even if he knew where to start locating another hit man.

Was there was a way to help the FBI bring down Rondell without making it obvious that Michael was the one who had helped them?

“I want to help,” Michael said, “but the moment I stand in the witness box against Grannis, my family is put at risk. We both know that man is capable of anything.”

“I told you; we can protect you.”

“The only way to do that would be some sort of witness protection scheme. I don’t want all that. My career would be over and my family’s life ruined. If it’s a straight choice between that and going to prison, then you can arrest me now.”

“There may be another way.” Caravini sat in silence, and Michael could tell he had something in mind. “Maybe there’s a way we could keep you out of the spotlight and avoid the need for you to be a formal witness.”

“What are you thinking?”

“The idea’s not yet fully thought through, but maybe we could create a phantom deal involving a real company; create a story and make out it’s about to be acquired. Then get you to leak it to Grannis in the usual way, while we monitor him buying the stock.”

“That might work. I tell Grannis the information is price sensitive and confidential, and the moment he deals in the stock, he’s broken the law.”

Caravini nodded. “Exactly. It would have to be something big, though. He’d need to go in heavy.”

“I’m sure I could come up with something convincing.”

“I’m certain of it. After all, you’d have a massive incentive.”

“Ugh?”

“If Grannis didn’t take the bait, we’d still charge you based on what we have here.” Caravini placed his hand on the thick file. “You don’t think you get to walk away that easily, do you?”

“Listen, if I help you indict Grannis, I want a cast iron guarantee that my name will be kept out of this and that no charges will ever be brought against me.”

“I don’t have a problem with that, provided you deliver. I need him indicted.” Caravini paused. “There is one potential difficulty, though.”

“What’s that?”

“What’s Grannis going to think when the fake deal fails to go through? He’ll know you set him up.”

“I could tell him the bidder withdrew the offer. I’d just have to do that after he buys the stock, but before you arrest him.”

“I guess that’s a risk anyone takes with inside information. Sometimes it turns out to be wrong.” Caravini grinned.

“You would need to tell him you are investigating me, too.”

“So he thinks you’re not the one who tipped us off?”

“Exactly. He needs to think I’m as much a target in your investigation as he is. There’s still a residual risk for me, but I can’t see how I can avoid that.”

“I guess we could let him find out after a while that we didn’t have enough evidence to charge you, but we knew the leak came from someone at Dudek’s.”

“That ought to work. He just needs to think I’m in the frame as much as he is when you arrest him. That way, he won’t immediately think I set him up.”

“Who knows? He might even offer to become a witness against you.”

“That’s not funny.” Michael peered at Caravini. “I have one condition before I agree to do this.”

Caravini scowled. “I don’t like conditions.”

“This one shouldn’t be a problem for you. It concerns Glen Towers.”

“Go on.”

“I want him completely cleared of any suspicion. I want you to spell that out to Art Jenks so he can get his job back. He’s an innocent victim in all this.”

“I can do that. We never really suspected him anyway. He was always our route to you.”

“I know that now, but this kind of thing will remain on his record. I don’t want that to happen to him. He deserves better. You need to convince Jenks he had absolutely nothing to do with your case.”

“I’ll make sure that happens.”

“Then we have a deal.”

Caravini leaned forward onto the table. “You know, something has confused me all along.”

“About what?”

“Why would a partner in one of the country’s biggest law firms become mixed up with scum like Grannis? It doesn’t make sense to me. It can’t be the money.”

“What if I told you it was?”

“We’ve seen your bank records. This isn’t about money. What hold does Grannis have on you? It must be something big.”

The last thing Michael needed now was for Caravini to start investigating his past, looking for any leverage Rondell might have over him. This had to stop.

“Listen, I’ve agreed to help you bring Grannis down. That’s all you need to know.”

“Okay, I was just curious. That’s all.” Caravini rose to his feet. “We’re going to need another session to get the story straight before you go to see Grannis. Let’s do that tomorrow morning, say ten o’clock.”

“Overnight, I’ll give some thought to the phantom deal and come up with a script.”

“You know you’re going to have to wear a wire when you go see him.”

Michael swallowed.
Nice try
. “That’s not going to happen. Our deal is my involvement is kept out of this. A wire leaves a record.”

“I guess we can live without it.”

“I’ll come armed with a written agreement tomorrow, something that sets out exactly what we’ve just agreed.”

“You don’t trust me?”

“Let’s just say I’ll want you to sign it before I go any further.”

Chapter 48

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to get the written agreement summarizing their arrangement through his legal department. He kept assuring Michael everything would be fine and pressured him to meet Grannis on the basis of their handshake. Michael was having none of it. He wanted every detail agreed in writing so there would be no wriggle room for Caravini to have a go at him at some later date. He didn’t trust him; it was obvious the man was out for himself and would say anything to get his own way. Besides, the delay gave Michael time to rehearse the story he and Caravini had created around the phantom deal. When the signed agreement eventually came through, Michael contacted Rondell.

Although he’d memorized the script he was about to use, his heart was racing as he pulled into the car park across the street from Rondell’s Brooklyn warehouse. He sat in the car for a few moments, wiping the small beads of perspiration from his forehead with the back of his hand. Telling himself over and over that this time was no different to all the others he’d been here didn’t seem to help. This time was different; what he was about to share was a complete work of fiction designed to entrap a very dangerous man—a man who’d have no hesitation in killing him if he found out what he was up to with the authorities. Stepping out of the car into the warm mid-afternoon sunshine, Michael felt a chill inside.

“Take a seat, Danny Boy,” Rondell said when they walked into his office. He grabbed a pad and pen out of the top drawer of his metal desk while Michael headed for the sofa. “Okay, what do you have for me?”

“It’s another acquisition,” Michael said, trying to control his rapid breathing.

“Hope it’s as good as that GrafChem deal. We made some serious money on that one.”

“I’m pretty sure you’ll think this one’s the best so far.”

“I like it already.”

“The target should be well-known to you. It’s the search engine business, BIX, listed on NASDAQ.”

Rondell rolled his head and whistled. “That’s a giant. There aren’t many companies that could afford to swallow up that one. Must be someone huge like Microsoft, Google, or Scanisoft.”

Michael smiled. “You’re good. It’s Scanisoft.”

“I told you we know what we’re doing. It’s our job to keep on top of the markets.”

“Anyway, the price is agreed and the diligence work is underway. They want it badly, so I can’t see anything coming out of that process to stop it from going ahead.”

Rondell wrote everything down. “What’s the timing?”

“Three, maybe four weeks at the outside. There’s a slight chance Scanisoft will pounce much sooner if they pick up that one of their competitors is sniffing around, so you may want to start accumulating the stock now.”

“Is this one of yours, Danny Boy, or one of your partners’ deals?”

“I’ve handled Scanisoft’s legal work for years. This one’s mine, so I’m confident of the information.”

Rondell rubbed his hands together. “Okay. Now the bit I’m really interested in. What’s the pricing?”

“BIX was trading at $32.67 first thing this morning. I haven’t checked since, but the price has been steady at around $30 for the past year.”

“And the bid price?”

“$60. Almost a one hundred percent premium.”

“Wow, they do want it. We’ll start buying right away. Think we’ll go heavy on this one. Nothing we do is going to stand out against their market cap. What is it? Must be a hundred and fifty billion at least.”

“Try two hundred billion.”

“You gotta let me cut you into this one, Danny Boy. It would be criminal not to take some of the profit for yourself.”

Michael shook his head. “No. I don’t want any of it. That’s not why I’m doing this.”

“All the same, I’m going to leave a little profit on the side in case you change your mind later.”

“I won’t.”

“Have it your own way. It’s a pity, though.”

“What difference does it make to you whether I make anything out of it?”

“None whatsoever. All I’m saying is we make a good team. I’d like to see you make something for your effort.”

“Let’s not pretend this is anything that it’s not. We both know why I’m here.”

“You always have to make these meetings difficult. You know, this would be much better for you if you could just lighten up a little.”

“I think we’re done here.”

“You got any more for me?”

“Isn’t that enough?”

Rondell grinned. “Yeah. I’m playing with you. I told you; lighten up. You keep bringing me deals like this, and we’re gonna get on real fine.”

“I have to get back to the office.” Michael stood up. “If the timing of the deal changes, I’ll let you know.”

Minutes later, Michael pulled up around the corner from the warehouse and gripped the steering wheel to steady his trembling hands. He looked pale when he caught his reflection in the rearview mirror, and dark bags hung under his glazed eyes. The turmoil of the past few months was beginning to extract a heavy price. He couldn’t take much more of this.

It took a while before he felt calm enough to talk, but he’d promised to report back to Caravini once he’d delivered the story to Rondell. Lifting his briefcase from the back seat, he took out Caravini’s card and punched the number into his iPhone.

“How did it go?” asked Caravini after only one ring.

“Pretty well, I think. He seemed to swallow it.”

“Did he give you any idea when he would begin buying the stock?”

“I got the impression that he was going to start right away. He said he wanted to go heavy, so I think he’ll spread his purchases over a few weeks.”

“We’re set up to monitor all the BIX trades from today.”

“Do you need anything more from me right now?”

“Not at the moment. Good work, Michael. It couldn’t have been easy.”

“You could say that.”

As Michael drove away, he replayed the meeting with Rondell in his mind. On reflection, he’d been a little too keen on the deal, maybe overselling it to compensate for his nerves. But Rondell had appeared to believe the story; after all, he said he would buy the stock. They wouldn’t have to wait long to find out. Caravini would soon know if he’d taken the bait.

Chapter 49

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. The line stretched back to the propped-open front door as hungry regulars waited for a table. When spaces became available, the sharp-suited customers at the front of the line pounced on them while those farther back watched to see if anyone already seated appeared to be finishing up. Everyone knew the etiquette during peak hours: once you’d eaten, you’d move on and let someone else have the spot. Lingering was frowned upon, but no one dared trouble the man sitting in the front window, even though he’d been nursing a single cup of coffee for well over an hour. There was something intimidating about his muscular build and what looked like some sort of gang symbol tattooed on the back of his right hand whenever he lifted his mug. The scar down his stubbly cheek didn’t help much either.