Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 47606 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 238(@200wpm)___ 190(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47606 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 238(@200wpm)___ 190(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
“Basically, they all got off the planes at their destination and disappeared. None of them had families, all foster kids like you, Paxton, and so they all went poof into the ether.”
“That’s good.”
“You’re the one who kept your name. You’re the one who could be tracked. Why did you do that?”
“Because I had too much time and schooling put into my life to disappear.”
“Well, Agent Lattimer should have kept you there, or at least examined that drive you gave him before he let you get on a plane.”
“Why is that?”
“Because Antonov is a very untrusting man who recorded every horrific detail of the crimes he committed and planned for his boss, Sergei Csokas.”
“As I said, I have no idea who that is.”
“That’s because Gen was paid well to look like the guy in charge of the Kulich crime family in Los Angeles.”
“But you’re saying Gen wasn’t in charge?”
“No. He worked for Csokas, who in turn worked for Nickolai Rokov back in St. Petersburg—in Russia. Rokov has since moved to Miami, and he heads the syndicate.”
“Go on.”
“What the fuck, man,” Gabe roared from the passenger seat. “Where the fuck are you—Veda, I have no idea where this madman is taking us!”
I looked out the front window, as there were no others to check. “Oh, this is Wacker Drive. We’re fine.”
“The fuck are you talking about?” he yelled at me. “I don’t see this anywhere on—what the fuck?”
I turned back to Walker. “So the diamonds Erast thought were in the safe when I opened it belonged to Csokas.”
“Correct. After Lattimer reviewed the drive you gave him, he was able to pick up Antonov and everyone who worked for him. Antonov then made a deal with us and went into protective custody and eventually WITSEC, and Csokas went to jail. He couldn’t roll on Rokov—he was still in Russia at the time, and the CIA can’t pick up Russian citizens, no matter what the movies tell you.”
“You could have kidnapped him, though.”
“Yes, but once Csokas was arrested, Rokov cut ties with him.”
I nodded. “What does any of this have to do with me?”
“Where the fuck are we?” Gabe ranted at Colton.
“Lower Wacker Drive,” I told him.
He twisted around in his seat so he could see me. “The fuck are you talking about?”
“There are three levels of Wacker,” I began enlightening the agents. “The one we’re on now, if you don’t know where you’re going, you’re gonna end up on Lower Lower Wacker, and basically, God help you then.”
“I don’t—my GPS can’t even get a location under all this fuckin’ concrete!”
We came to a sudden jolting stop.
“The fuck are you doing?” Gabe shrieked at Colton.
“Do you see anyone?”
He was quiet for a moment, checking the side mirror, and then after another moment, got out of the van and checked around before getting back in.
“What the hell, man?”
Colton shrugged. “One wrong anything, and like Pax said, you’re way down there on Lower Lower Wacker. Even people who’ve lived here all their lives can get mixed up now and then. If you’re from out of town, you’re fucked. It’ll take ’em a minute, or several, to get outta there, but we need to be gone when they do.”
“Oh, thank God,” Gabe said with a heavy sigh.
“Where are we going?” Colton asked.
“The FBI office on Roosevelt Road, please.”
Colton glanced at me over his shoulder. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” I assured him.
“Come up here and tell me. I can’t see you from here.”
Gabe was more than willing to trade places with me.
FIVE
Zane Calhoun was the Special Agent in Charge in Chicago, IL, and he was horrified to learn that Veda Walker and Gabe Hall had left the office without backup. The whole “we thought they were with us” didn’t fly with him.
Once we were in the conference room with bottles of water, both of us having shed our outerwear, we sat across from Walker and Hall. When SAC Calhoun joined us, Walker repeated what she’d said in the van, adding more information.
“So due to some inconsistencies with evidence, DNA, and what a judge deemed improper testimony, the California Courts of Appeal concluded that a lower court admitted into evidence biased testimony, as Gen and others, like Erast, testified to charges not included in the indictment.”
“They gave too much damning information,” Colton said, “going beyond the scope of the investigation. Right?”
“Yes.”
“And because of that,” Colton continued, “the trial needs to be redone without a jury hearing all that.”
“Correct.”
“What does this have to do with Pax?”
“So Csokas is still in jail, held for the next trial, and we made a deal with one of the inmates, a guy everyone knew could procure things, and for a reduction in his sentence, put him in contact with Csokas.”
“And of course you don’t even care what this procurer did, right?”
“He moved a lot of drugs, but no,” Walker told Colton. “Getting his twenty years down to fifteen is not keeping me up at night.”