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11
Max
“Gee,Max, you didn’t have to get all dolled up for me.”
I won’t give Agent Takahashi the satisfaction of rolling my eyes at his dumb fucking joke. I know I look like hell. I haven’t sleep in like three days now. I’ve been shot at, I’ve almost died, and I’m barely hanging on. If it wasn’t for Tessa, I’m quite certain I’d be dead right now.
It was a tough pill to swallow, calling him. Rats are rats, no matter how bad the bad guy is. But this is different. Dino came after what’s mine. He tried to and almost did hurt Tessa. I won’t stand for that. So fuck the criminal’s code. This isn’t “ratting.” It’s making damn sure the man who tried to take the one good thing in my life away from me goes the fuck down.
Getting Mike’s number wasn’t hard. These FBI guys like to pretend they’re secret agents. But all it took was a call to the main New York office. I just asked for him by name and said I had information about the Dino De Luca case. And boom, instant patch-through.
We’re on the second to top floor of a parking garage in Brooklyn. I’ve held many meetings here. It’s barely used, and the sightlines suck for snipers. Plus, it’s all cement, so you can hear if anyone has backup coming from three stories away. Thankfully, it seems Takahashi’s come alone. All he knows so far is that I’ve got information that could directly implicate Dino.
“Remind me why I shouldn’t arrest you and just threaten this information out of you?” Mike asks. “I know you work for De Luca. I’m sure I could nail you on a few federal charges and throw the book at you unless you give up Dino.”
“Seems like a lot of trouble when I was just going to give it to you, dumbass,” I grunt. Mike scowls, but he keeps his mouth shut. “Besides, you could take me and do it the hard way. And maybe you’d get some info out of me. But you’d never get the hard evidence, trust me. And you’d never get her damning testimony.”
Takahashi scowls and turns to Tessa. He looked confused as hell when he showed up and found her standing next to me. It’s a testament to how badly the FBI has been handling the De Luca case that he doesn’t even recognize who she is.
“Damning testimony, huh?” he mutters. “And you are?”
She rolls her eyes and purses her lips. “I’m Tessa.”
Mike frowns. But suddenly, realization spreads over his face. It’s like in the cartoons when the lightbulb blinks on above the guy’s head.
“De Luca?”He sputters.
“Yep.”
Mike looks like he’s about to have a heart attack. “And you’ll go on record against your father?”
Tessa doesn’t even blink. “I will.”
“I don’t mean to scare you, Ms. De Luca, but if you do this…”
“I’m aware of the dangers.”
“You might need some serious protection.”
“She’ll have it,” I growl. I step forward and my arm snakes around her waist. “And you’ll have the hard evidence from me.”
Mike nods and rubs his hands together. “Alright, let’s do this. Let me make some calls, and we’ll head down to HQ and get you both on the record.”
* * *
It takes four hours.Tessa gives them a treasure trove of information about her father and his operations. I can’t for the life of me understand why he’d have done what he did. First, it pissed Tessa off enough for her break the last “family” strand holding her back from being a star witness against him.
But also, how could he have his men fire into the building like that when he knew she was in there? It enrages me that the man was willing to hurt or kill her to get to me. And I make a vow to myself. When Dino goes to jail, I’ll be calling in some favors with some tough motherfuckers I know on the inside.
I tell the FBI guys where to find the hard drive I stole with the evidence of Dino’s pimping. It’s a drop in the bucket with the huge RICO case they’re building on him with Tessa’s testimony. But sex crimes will be a nice little cherry on top of his triple life sentencing. Prick.
When we’re done, Mike lets me borrow an unmarked Bureau car. Tess asks me where we’re going, but I just grin.
“Looking for buried treasure,” I say with a smile. I hold her hand as I drive us through the city. I double check the area near where I’ve stashed my haul from the Senator’s safe. But when I’m satisfied that none of Dino’s guys are prowling, we park. I lead her to the dumpster. Behind it, there’s a hole in the brick wall that I’ve covered with a sheet of scrap metal. But behind that is the satchel of documents from the safe.
“So what is this?”
I shrug. “I’m not sure.”
