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“You could have snatched her cell phone.” A little anger bled into Mack’s voice. “Brenda, you know better—”
“She knew it and I knew it, Mack,” Brenda explained in a hard voice. “Sooner or later Curanto would have gotten to her. And he still might. But now, at least that girl has a fighting chance to live. And maybe this might have scared her straight? I doubt it, but there’s always a chance.”
Mack stared into Brenda's tired eyes, and decided to drop it. What he saw told him everything that needed to be said.
“The old man is in the kitchen. I locked him in the freezer. Better go let him out.”
While Mack was gone, she whipped out her cell phone and called Brent Summers.
“Yes, Director, this is Agent Lawson... Yes, you warned me.... No, I'm not leaving New York, but I will tell Joey Curanto you are helping me unless you decide to show a little backbone.”
“What?” Brent yelled into the cell phone. “I'll—”
“You'll do nothing, do you hear me!” Brenda yelled back. “I'm not stupid, Director. I can make Joey Curanto believe a whole lot of lies if I choose to do so, is that clear!”
Brenda was fed up with these cowards.
“You hold the upper ground right now, Agent Lawson, but pretty soon the media is going to stop reporting you as a victim and move on to another story. Then you're dead.”
“He sent another hit team to take me out,” Brenda informed Brent. “I don't think Curanto is going to wait until the media stops gushing over me. He knows I'm just another quick story to fill a stupid time slot. He's not going to give me time to breathe.”
“What do you want?” Brent asked Brenda through gritted teeth.
“Information,” Brenda demanded. “I want to know who Joey Jr. is. I want to know where the rat lives, what he drives, what he eats and what kind of toilet paper he uses.”
“You're walking into a death trap,” Brent fired at Brenda. “You can't take Joey Curanto down. The man has an army of lawyers that can—”
“I'm going for him,” Brenda told Brent as she examined the street from the diner window. “I intend to kill Joey Curanto. That's the only way I'm going to stay alive. Now, stop chewing my ear off and get to work. I'll call you back in one hour.”
“You're insane. You can't kill Joey Curanto. The man has so many body guards… it's impossible. You're insane!” Brent yelled at Brenda. “You're going to get a bullseye painted on our backs and—”
“Stop gabbing and get to work,” Brenda snapped. “Mack and I are going to hide out at a warehouse on the east river. I'll call you from there.” Brenda snapped her cell phone back into her coat pocket as her eyes continued to study the street.
“Where's the old man?” she asked, feeling Mack looking at her from the kitchen door.
“Sent him for a walk out in the snow.” Mack walked around the front counter and joined Brenda. “What's your plan?”
“I can't keep dodging bullets all day, Mack. I have to bring Joey Curanto to me.” Brenda continued to eye the heavy snow that was falling outside in the gray street. “Director Summers will betray me, I'm certain of that. But I can use him to lure Curanto to us.”
“And kill the rat?” Mack asked in a voice that reminded Brenda that they were still cops under a strict code. “We're not killers, Brenda.”
“As of now,” Brenda told Mack, pulling out her FBI credentials from her coat pocket, “I'm a private citizen who is claiming the right to defend her life.”
Brenda tossed Mack her FBI credentials. “If I live through this, you can give me my life back.”
Mack glanced down at the black wallet Brenda tossed him, then nodded. “Good enough.” He put the black wallet into the side pocket of his trench coat.
“As of now, I'm a cop who is going to stick by you no matter what to make sure you have a solid witness.”
Brenda stared into Mack's hard eyes. Mack knew Brenda was now intent on killing Joey Curanto. That is the only way Brenda was going to stay alive.
“Let's get down to business.” Mack kicked the front door to the diner open and stepped out into the falling snow. Brenda followed. “From this point forward I'm your shadow. Got it?”
“Do you see me arguing?” Brenda asked as a line of sirens appeared in the distance. “Right on time.”
Mack walked to his wreck of a bullet torn car.
“Someone got a call and was told to wait before sending in the cavalry,” he told Brenda in an angry voice. “I wouldn't doubt it if I'm a marked target now, too.”
