“Do you think we could get Agent Grappell to rush a warrant?” Ree asked, stuffing down the hurt from their earlier conversation in order to focus on the case again. “All we need is access to the warehouse. You could go in as a distraction.”
“Constantin could lie. Say he had no knowledge of what was going in and out of that warehouse. It doesn’t directly tie him to any crime,” Quint pointed out.
“It would be enough to arrest him. While he’s detained, I’d have time to work on Lola to see if I can convince her to testify,” Ree stated.
“Are you suggesting we go behind Bjorn’s back?” he asked.
“Not so much behind her back as doing our jobs without telling her first. We do that all the time,” Ree said. “You know how these investigations go. Sometimes things have to move quickly.”
“What about the DEA? Matias will get spooked if we go for an arrest with Constantin and Baptiste,” Quint said.
“All I can do is ask Shelly to give us a heads-up moments before the arrest goes down,” she said. “I trust her.”
“We’d have to in order to pull this off. A simultaneous arrest?” he asked. “There could be a lot of moving parts.”
“However, what are the chances Matias is going to be in the same location as Constantin?” she asked.
“Good point there,” he said. “Okay, I’ll see what Grappell thinks.”
Quint grabbed his cell phone and made the call. Phone calls like this happened on cases from time to time when judges had to be awakened for warrants. Time was of the essence in this case. The thought of wrapping it up and moving on from Quint to let him chase Dumitru crossed Ree’s mind. Was she getting in too deep on a personal level with Quint? These things happened, too. The intensity of an investigation coupled with the fact that two people were relying on each other in life-and-death situations caused people to sometimes confuse that with true intimacy. Those in-the-heat-of-the-moment relationships always fizzled out, leaving the partnership all kinds of awkward. Agents sometimes asked to be reassigned to work with different partners, and the gossip mill usually figured out the reason. It always came back to a romantic relationship.
How could Ree have been so naive?
She wasn’t, a little voice in the back of her mind pointed out. She was falling in love. Two totally different things. Once the partnership was over, the couple would be, too.
Quint ended the call and gave a thumbs-up signal. “Grappell will text when he has the warrant secured.”
“Good.” It was the only word that came to mind despite feeling the exact opposite. “Do you think this can all go down while I’m at work tonight? It’s Thursday, so the shift will be busy, but I should still be able to pull Lola aside, especially if I get there early.”
“You’ve made good progress with her in a short timeframe,” he said.
“I think she sees me as a friend,” Ree said. “I just hope we’re turning her world upside down for good reason.”
“Putting a dangerous criminal behind bars is always a good reason,” Quint pointed out.
Ree nodded. In theory, she knew it was true. But Lola had come to this country presumably to build a better life for her daughter. Her brother came along, too. Again, her mind snapped to him wanting a better life.
Quint was busy typing up the request to have someone at the ready in Argentina at Lola’s mother’s house to grab her for witness protection. Knowing her mother was secure and coming to America might sweeten the pot for Lola. Why a woman like her would have gotten mixed up with a jerk like Constantin was beyond Ree. And then the reason dawned on her.
“This is just a guess, but hear me out,” Ree started.
He stopped typing and glanced up. The second he saw the seriousness in her eyes, his expression morphed and he sat a little straighter.
“Something we said earlier resonates with me,” she began. “Lola would do anything for Lili, right?”
“I believe so,” he stated. “From everything we’ve seen and heard she’s a caring mother who is doing her best to protect the little girl from her father...”
Quint’s eyes sparked as Ree held up her index finger.
“What you’re saying is Lola’s relationship with Constantin was always a business transaction for her,” he said.
“A way to keep her daughter safe from a guy like Matias, who could potentially grab Lili and take her back to Argentina,” Ree reasoned.
“So, Lola meets a bigger criminal and, being beautiful, easily brings him into her life as her boyfriend. He’s serious about her, but she’s the one holding out because she doesn’t love him,” Quint stated.
“And never did,” Ree added.
“But she’s stuck now because Matias is always looming,” he continued. “And always a threat.”
“Constantin even brings her brother into the ‘family’ business as a show of trust,” Ree said.
“It makes perfect sense to me,” Quint stated.
“This is truly my first hope she’ll listen to me and go into WITSEC. We can give her and Esteban a new identity,” Ree said.
“In my experience, people from other countries living here illegally don’t exactly trust American law enforcement,” Quint said.
“That’s a barrier we’ll have to overcome with her,” she said. “I strongly believe that if we convince Lola to take the deal in exchange for her and Esteban’s testimony, she can convince her brother to go along with the plan. He wants out anyway. Even if he lies low for a couple of years, he’ll be able to go anywhere he wants and do anything once he has permanent citizenship.”
“She might have a difficult time turning on Constantin. We have no idea how loyal she is. He’s been protecting her and Lili for at least a couple of years now,” Quint pointed out. “She might not be able to bring herself to turn against him.”
“That’s the risk we take,” Ree said. “But I don’t see a whole lot of options if you want to bring this bastard down.”
“This is the equivalent of a Hail Mary touchdown,” he mumbled.
“Bigger miracles have happened,” she responded.
He looked like he was about to open his mouth to speak as the air in the room changed. Since she wasn’t ready to talk about “them” and she feared he’d spring the whole “it’s not you, it’s me” bit on her, she figured she’d save him the time.
“I think we’ve talked enough for one night, don’t you?” she asked as his mouth clamped shut.
“Okay,” he said.
“So let’s just go to our respective corners and take a little time to figure out what we need to do to wrap this case in a big bow,” she continued.
“Okay,” he said.
“Fine,” she commented. “And don’t say okay again.”
His lips compressed into a thin line. His expression said he was holding back what he really wanted to say. His face told her the news wouldn’t be good for her. There was no reason to take that bullet while they needed to plan the next few hours.
QUINT SAT AT the counter while Ree took the sofa. There was so much he needed to say to her, but she was right about one thing. Now wasn’t the time.
He spent the rest of the night mapping out a plan and lining up resources with Grappell. A couple of agents mobilized, planning to meet up at the warehouse ten minutes after Ree’s shift started at four o’clock. As for Matias, Quint couldn’t care less what happened on that side of the bust. Ree was right. The two wouldn’t cross over because the likelihood Matias and Constantin would be in the same room was almost zero. Unless, of course, Quint factored in the bar.
Speaking of which, he intended to follow Constantin after he dropped off Lola, because he wanted to personally make that arrest. Baptiste would be under surveillance as well. He would most likely be at the Galveston house or Houston home. Quint’s money was on the place closest to here while Matias was in town. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise Quint if Matias stayed in Lola’s apartment while she worked. It made the most sense when he really thought about it. Baptiste seemed to have an eye for movement in the building and was in charge of keeping watch over Lili at least part of the time.
His cell started dinging over the next few hours as assets moved into place. There would be four agents at the warehouse to make arrests and confiscate equipment. Quint had every intention of being the one to put cuffs on Constantin. Bonus if he got to arrest Baptiste as well. An agent was assigned to work with Quint.
It wasn’t lost on him that Ree would be tucked safely away at the bar while the arrests went down. In order to be able to hold on to Constantin, they needed Lola’s agreement to testify. In many respects, Ree’s job was going to be the linchpin in their whole operation.
Out of courtesy, he intended to send Shelly a text before everything went down. Bjorn might be involved on the back end, so the notice might be too little, too late on his part. But he planned to do it anyway out of courtesy for Shelly giving them a heads-up. Arrests would be timed in the order of Constantin and Baptiste, then the warehouse. Any other order and Constantin and Baptiste would likely disappear. The warehouse had to be timed last.
The day was long and the apartment was quiet save for the click-click-clack of the keyboard or the occasional cell phone buzz, indicating a message had come through. Meals came and went. Information was exchanged. And then it was time to walk Ree to work.
“When this is over, I’d like a few minutes of your time,” he said to Ree before they walked out the door.
“I think we’ve said enough to each other, don’t you?” she asked. “And don’t worry, I know this case is a stepping-stone to what you really want, which is Dumitru. You don’t have to show up to my mother’s ranch to convince me to sign on. Just give me a couple of days to get my head on straight so I can get some distance and think clearly again.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want?” he asked, wishing for a different answer but resigned.
“Never been more certain of anything in my life,” she said. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said before. People in this job can end up jaded and lonely if they don’t make time for a personal life. When this is all over, I plan to prioritize finding that.”
Before he could say a word, she grabbed the door handle and walked into the hallway. Angie popped her head out.
“Hey. How are my favorite neighbors today?” She practically beamed.
“That’s one big smile you have on your face,” Ree said, artfully dodging the subject of the two of them.
“I took your advice and told my parents about my fireman,” Angie said.
“Yeah? I’m guessing by the smile on your face they took it well,” Ree stated.
“Oh, not at first. But then they came to the realization that I’m a grown adult and in love.” She flashed her left hand, and there was a sparkling rock on a certain finger.
“You got engaged?” Ree asked. When she turned, a tear ran down her cheek. It seemed to catch her off guard. She quickly thumbed it away and brought Angie into an embrace. “I’m so happy for you.”
“LSAT be damned. My fireman said a score on a test wouldn’t make him love me any more or less. I knew right then he was the one.” Angie’s smile could light the building in a blackout.
Quint offered his congratulations along with a brief hug. “The fireman is one lucky guy.”
“You two have to come to my wedding,” Angie said with more energy than a Chihuahua after licking a bowl of espresso.
“We’d love to,” Ree said, thumbing away another tear.
He’d seen it before. This job, the isolation, the lack of a “normal” life. It could get to a person after a while. Had it gotten to Ree?
“I better get to work,” Ree said, “but I’m expecting an invite later.”
“How about a glass of wine tonight to celebrate?” Angie asked.
“Rain check?” Ree asked.
“You bet.” A little bit of Angie’s bubble burst. She really was a good kid who deserved everything in life. Quint reminded himself that people like her were the reason he did this job in the first place. It had sounded corny when he spoke the words out loud in the past, but that didn’t make them any less true.
“I’ll see you later,” Ree promised. She paused after taking a couple of steps toward the elevator. “Do me a favor tonight?”
“Sure. Anything,” Angie responded.
“Stay inside your apartment. Binge-watch Netflix. Just tonight,” Ree said.
“Okayyy.” Angie had no idea why she was agreeing based on the look on her face, but she was a person of her word.
“I want to hear all about what you watched tomorrow at breakfast,” Ree said, knowing full well she and Quint would be long gone by then. He doubted they would even come back to this apartment after the bust. One of the other agents would come in and clean up for them, sweeping the place and packing up their stuff, which would “magically” show up at the office tomorrow morning.
After this, Quint intended to take a few days off to regroup and catch his breath before the next case. And there would be a next case. He didn’t know how long it would take to get an in with the next rung on the ladder, but it would happen. It was a shame his certainty about life ended there and not with Ree.