Risky Shot (6 page)

It was still dark at five fifteen in the morning. The street was quiet, and only the her footfalls made any noise on the empty street. But lights were starting to come on in apartments and had to be cautious when a jogger would come by on his morning workout. Luckily, it was the weekend so people tended to stay inside longer. She slipped her plate from her bag and quickly screwed it onto the Prius. Pretending to look for something in her bag, she slowly walked to the back of her car and quickly attached the stolen plate to her car.

Making sure the car was locked and the keys were easily accessible she ran back towards the front of her building. She approached from the far side of the street and looked at her watch. Five twenty-five. She felt it before she could register what it meant; the tingling that ran along her body. She always got that feeling when she was on the trail of an animal she desperately wanted to photograph. She looked again at her building and noticed the lights being turned on in her apartment. Sliding into a doorway across the street, she hid in the darkness and pulled out her notebook.

She noted the time her light went on and then off. The best she could figure was that they arrived within twenty minutes. That was a pretty broad area which they could have come from, but it told her they weren’t local to her area. The front door to her building was flung open and three men dressed in black came out. They stood next to the black Mercedes parked in front of the building.

“We listened to the recording device we left in the apartment. She talked to Kenna. She knows what’s going on, but doesn’t know who was involved. Then she talked to her parents at five at told them her and Kenna were going away together to a spa,” explained one of the muscled men in black she recognized as a firm investigator.

“So, they’re together. Figures. If we find Danielle, we’ll find Kenna. Focus on getting to Danielle now. She’s some beauty queen, so it won’t be hard to find her. It’s not like she’s all that smart. What kind of brains does it take to wave at people? She’ll leave a trail.”

Danielle smiled. She loved being underestimated.

“You want us to get the bug?” another muscle man asked Chad.

“No, leave it. Then we’ll know if she comes back. Make sure to put a flag on any calls going to her parents’ house from the U.S. and freeze her accounts. She doesn’t have money like Kenna does. She’ll be forced to come out sooner if she needs money.”

Crap. She pulled out her wallet and found seven dollars. She had forgotten about the money. She watched as the men piled into the car and took off down the street. She turned and sprinted three blocks down and over two to the nearest ATM. She pulled out the limit from each of her three credit cards, which was three hundred dollars. She then cleaned out the two hundred in her checking account. She was trying to pull her money out of the savings account when the screen popped up telling Dani to see a representative.

She looked down at the cash in her hand and was somewhat relieved she was able to get eleven hundred out before they froze her accounts. She walked the remaining block and a half to her car and noticed the Prius was gone. She checked her plate and saw the stolen one was still attached. No one ever remembers their license plate numbers. She smiled at her minor victory as she got into the car and pulled out a city map. She estimated how many miles she could travel in fifteen minutes and drew a circle around her apartment. It was a lot of ground to cover, but it was a start.

On a gut feeling, she drove toward Greendale, Thomson & Hitchem, or GTH for short. Copying the move at her apartment, she parked a good distance away. Still within a distance easily covered in a five minute run. She grabbed the basketball again and walked in the early morning light toward GTH. She felt her confidence bolster in the early morning light. There was something about walking through a city like New York in those hours. It was quiet. She felt like she was a conqueror. The only noise being the soles of her feet hitting the pavement. A basketball court frequented by the younger executives during lunch was a block down the street from GTH. She opened the gate and went in. She could watch from her position, but she wouldn’t be able to hear anything.

An hour later, she was sweaty and tired of playing basketball by herself. She had to leave her bag in the car since she was hoping to pass as a man. She slumped and slid down the chain link fence to rest. She opened her notebook and started to doodle. Traffic had picked up and she kept her eyes glued to the parking garage entrance as she doodled. A black Crown Victoria pulled up and parked in front of the building. A short man in his early thirties got out and reached back into the car. When he stood up, she watched him clip a gun to his hip and put on a navy blue windbreaker with FBI across the back.

She had to suppress a laugh as she watched him check himself out in the car’s window reflection. What a peacock. He seemed much more impressed with himself that anything else going on around him. He would be the weak link. If someone was so focused on how important they were, then they tended not to pay attention to anything they considered beneath them.

As soon as he deemed himself presentable, the FBI agent went straight into the front of the fancy glass building flashing his badge at the front desk security. This time, Dani did laugh out loud as she gathered her things and headed to get her car.

“Crap. Where is it?” Dani rummaged around her makeup kit looking for her smut gear as she liked to call it. “Ah-ha!” She pulled out long dangly earrings along with some bright pink eye shadow. She put on the earrings and applied heavy makeup. The more she caked it on, the more she looked like someone else. She turned around in her seat and dug around for the costume bag she remembered to pack. She silently thanked God for all the Halloween parties she went to. She felt around and came out with a blonde Farrah Fawcett wig. Still turned around in the car and pulled out a suit coat and some heels. Dani struggled to take off her Uggs and put on some heels. She stripped off her sweatshirt and put on the suit coat. It wrapped around her waist and tied at the side, letting her wear it without a shirt underneath. Her lace bra would be visible if she moved certain ways, which was exactly what she wanted.

As she put on her wig the FBI agent walked back out of the GTH building and got into his car. She put down her mascara and turned her car on. She followed him into the section of town that hosted the courthouse along with various governmental branch offices. He pulled into a garage across the street from the FBI building and walked into the office.

Dani gave him a minute and then got out of the car and hurried toward the building. On the inside she was shaking, but on the outside she portrayed a rushed assistant. “Just breathe, just breathe” she kept repeating until she got to the front door. Ripping open the door, she rushed to the man at the information/security desk.

Here we go! Putting a hand on her heaving chest she smiled and in her best Jersey accent said, “Oh my god! I was supposed to get that agent’s name for my boss and I forgot it! Can you believe that? He told me and then it just went right out of my head. My boss wants to call him and,” she paused to take a deep breath, “this is just so embarrassing, but I misplaced the card he gave me.” She leaned over the tall desk and didn’t try to close her jacket when her breasts started playing peek-a-boo with the guard.

She smiled sweetly when his eyes moved to her breasts and froze. “Um,” the guard cleared his throat and finally brought his eyes up to her face. She batted her lashes and the guard continued, “You don’t remember any part of his name?”

Running her tongue nervously over her lips she waited until he was distracted again. “He just came in here. He is about five six or seven. Dark hair that is slightly thinning, and not at all handsomely like yours is. He’s trying to cover it up and it looks funny.” She jutted her breasts out again as she ran a finger over the guard’s thinning hair he had cut extra short.

“That would be Mark Edwards. He’s on the eleventh floor in Public Corruption. Do you need his number?” the guard rasped out.

“Ohh, that would be great!” she pitched her voice and laughed, knowing he’d only be looking at her jiggling breasts as he handed over the information. “Thank you so much, you saved my job. Not to mention a horribly embarrassing situation. Have a good day!” She swung her hips as she walked out of the door. Hopefully if anyone ever asked about the woman who came in, all he’d be able to say is that she was blonde, from Jersey, and had great tits.

Chapter Five

Three months ago…

One week after her visit to the FBI building, Dani opened her wallet to see how much money she had left. She had spent fifty dollars on food and two hundred on a week-to-week roach motel. She would have to shell out another two hundred today if she wanted to stay. After having to spend another fifty dollars in gas, she only had eight hundred left.

“Okay Dani, one more week in the cheap hotel, but no more McDonald’s. No more coffee. Just free water and beef jerky for a while.” She went down to the hotel’s front desk and paid for another week and then went back to watching Agent Edwards.

She had called all the hospitals, morgues, and escort services she could find in the past week looking for the girl that was attacked by Chad. So far, she had turned up nothing. She had tried to get a copy of Kenna’s 9-1-1 tape, but there was mysteriously no record of it. The responsible party was either the firm’s investigators or Agent Edwards. She pulled out a big blanket and put it over her legs. Her car’s heater didn’t really work all that well to begin with. But the need to save money prevented her from letting the car idle.

“Thank God!” She nearly yelled when she saw Agent Edwards leave the building and head to his car. She followed him to a NYPD station and watched him go inside. So, maybe it was Edwards that made the tape disappear. He left thirty minutes later. Dani waited a while before she walked over to the nearest payphone and called the NYPD.

“Hello? This is Stephanie London at GTH. FBI Special Agent Mark Edwards was supposed to come in and file a report today. Could you tell me if he did that?” She took out her pad and pencil when she was placed on hold.

“Ma’am” a cold, snooty woman’s voice came on the line, “what exactly are you calling about?” Dani could hear the suspicion and knew the call would be traced in a split second if she didn’t act quick.

“Ma’am, as I told the person who answered, Agent Edwards was just in there filing a report. I am an attorney with GTH and since we are involved with this delicate issue, we wanted to know what the report stated. Agent Edwards was supposed to send us a copy for our records, but when I just talked to him he said he forgot to get me a copy. So, please, I need the name, date, and time the report was filed. I need it for a motion that must be filed in court today!” She let out an irritated breath to stress urgency to the person on the other end of the line. She then held her breath as she could tell the woman was debating on what to tell her.

Finally, she heard some keys clicking on a keyboard. “He filed the Material Witness Affidavit for McKenna Mason and Danielle De Luca at eleven fifty-three. Judge Dick LeMaster signed the Material Witness Order at twelve-oh-six.”

Whoa. That was fast. He must have signed the information needed and then had a courier hand-deliver it to the Courthouse down the block. She looked at her watch, it was only twelve fifteen.

“We put out an APB on both cars at twelve eleven. We have a note here to call Agent Edwards with any information that comes in on the case.”

“Thank you so much. I can finish my motion now.” She hung up and sagged against the payphone. There was an APB out on her car. Good thing she changed plates. She looked down at the pad and knew the risk was worth it. She had just gotten another name, Judge Dick LeMaster. The only way that Order would be signed so fast is if LeMaster was involved with Agent Edwards and GTH.

The next three days were far less productive. She learned nothing from following Agent Edwards. She decided to leave the car at the hotel and walk around town some to think. Her thoughts kept coming back to the men in black, as she liked to call them. Who did they work for? Each time she saw them, Chad and an investigator from GTH were there. But she didn’t know the other men. Maybe it was time to learn more about them. She walked into the center of town and swiped her metro card. Dressed as a man again, she carried a gym bag and basketball into the subway. She took a seat on the train and waited to see what, if anything, happened. At the next stop three men in black got on the train. One was the firm investigator. Dani sat bobbing her head as if listening to music and watched as they walked by. She glanced at them as they made their way down the train. Any women with dark hair received a tap on the shoulder and a stare down. Dani tried not to show her relief. It was clear they didn’t know what she looked like aside from height and hair color.

The tight knot in her stomach relaxed slightly. When the train stopped, the two unknown men in black got out. Yet the investigator remained on the train. Harnessing her courage, Dani strolled out with her basketball under her arm and her big black glasses perched on her nose. The hood of her sweatshirt was negligently tossed over her tobogganed head and she had sagged her pants looking like a regular street baller to anyone that might have noticed.

She followed the men up the stairs and onto Eighth Avenue. They turned around and she willed herself not to stop in her tracks. She stared ahead of them and kept her pace slow and steady.