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T
he next day, Wiliaml called Angela back.
“So, you were right. There is a transport scheduled for the 10th of January. And it does weigh 50 tons. I looked into it myself first before informing the FBI. The FBI needs causation. And the causation here was that the transport is happening two hours past midnight.
The shores are closed at that time, and no transport is authorized to happen then. So, this was clearly illegal. I told the Feds that I spotted the anomaly and they should look into it. They said they had better things to do than stop a 'maybe' smuggle, but I convinced them that this could be serious. And voila, I was able to get their attention. The bust operation is underway," William stated.
"William! That's great news! Alright, so, I will await the news till tomorrow night, then?" Angela replied.
"Yes, you shall. Also, the transport is going to Mexico. And there are no exact names attached to it. So, any idea who it could be? We might be able to stop the transport but might not catch the authorizers," Will responded.
“I don’t know that yet, but I’m waiting for more intel. When I know more, I’ll tell you more,” Angela said.
"Alright then, talk soon," William said as he shut the call.
Angela was so excited that she called David straight away. "David, hey, it's me. Are you free?" Angela said excitedly.
"I'm leaving for a meeting, but what's up?" David asked.
“Can we meet? I have something important to tell you, and I miss you,” Angela said.
"Same spot as before?" David said.
"Same spot," Angela replied.
Before long, both Angela and David were making their way to Little Italy, where their favorite pizza shop was present. The shop was pretty empty with only two customers, so the couple was happy to see both David and Angela walk in. As Angela walked in, David was already seated at one of the counters facing the windows. She was wearing a mask over her face to conceal her identity.
As soon as she entered the shop, the old lady walked up to her. “I know who you are. You don’t need to hide it from me. He’s seated right there,” she said.
Angela gave her a hug and then walked over to David. David turned around instantly, and they both embraced each other. "I missed you," David said in her ear. "I missed you too," Angela replied softly.
David landed a kiss on her forehead as they both sat down and took their places. The old lady from earlier came and placed two New York-style pepperoni slices in front of them.
Both David and Angela started to nibble on it. The smell was too irresistible not to eat it. "So, guess what?" Angela exclaimed.
"What?" David asked.
“The Feds are in. The FBI will carry out an operation tomorrow,” Angela announced.
"Hey, that's brilliant! How did you convince them to do so?" David asked.
"I asked for a favor from an old friend," Angela said.
"Of course you did. That's great work, Angela. You know, not going to lie, but we make a pretty good team," David declared.
"Ha ha ha! Do we now?" Angela chuckled.
“So, listen. I’ve been doing some digging of my own,” David said.
"Hmm, and what's that?" Angela asked.
"I've been trying to track down any rivals or enemies that Alveris has in attempts to get them to help us. And for now, I've been able to narrow it down to six people. I'm sure there are more, but these six are the most significant ones. One of them, Arnett, was killed in a shootout. Another one, George, was found dead in his apartment," David said.
"Classic," Angela replied, interrupting him.
"I know; two of them are in prison right now. Namely Bennet and Stan. One is in India, and the other is in Spain. So, I'm guessing we don't have enough time to go over to India and Spain to talk with his enemies. But I can try and get through to the two men at the prison," David announced.
"Yep. I think that's the only feasible option. Also, how were you able to find these six men?" Angela asked.
"Some of these names I had heard myself; the others came up through my conversations with Dotter," David replied.
"Ooo, who's Dotter?" Angela asked.
"He's the owner of the bar that Alveris goes to most frequently. And Dotter hears everything. Some money and some security were enough for him to spill some details to me," David said.
"Good work, partner...." Angela trailed off as she noticed a group of young girls looking directly at David and Angela. Shit! Did they just blow their cover? Oh my God, what do they do now? David saw Angela looking somewhere else and followed her gaze. He was shocked to see the bunch of teenage girls looking directly at them and fishing for their phones.
Angela started to panic. She didn't know what to do. Should she run away? Should she hide? Do they know it's her? Do they know it's him? And then, Angela realized that she had taken off the mask she previously had on her face to eat the pizza that was put in front of her. Her face was all bare and on display for everyone to see.
How could she be so dumb or callous enough to take off the mask? The girls knew exactly who they were, err, and if they uploaded the pictures they had just snapped to the internet, they would spread like wildfire, and people would question if they were back together. Their whole plan could go down the drain, and it would blow their cover. Alveris would know this was all a fake plan to get him to trust David. And that is when Angela went into fight mode.
"So, are you just gonna follow me to places now?" Angela yelled at David. "What are you, stalking me now? This is crazy. I am going to call the cops. This man won't stop following me. You know what? I will sue you for this too," Angela yelled at the top of her lungs.
David was lost as to what Angela was doing. Then, Angela started to throw her hands up. "Just because I wouldn't take back the case, you have decided to follow me everywhere, Mr. David? You don't intimidate me.
You know what? I'll see you in court!" Angela screamed again. David finally got the hang of what was happening. Angela was staging a fight, so even if the girls uploaded the pictures to the internet, they would add that the two were found fighting to let people know things were still not okay between them.
"No, I didn't come all this way for you to not listen to me. Angela, please, one word," David replied, almost pleading.
Angela raised her hand and said, "Enough. I've heard enough. Stop following me or I'll report you to the cops," Angela warned as she walked out of the café with a mask on her face. David followed her in pursuit. And they both went their separate ways.
The crowd behind them saw them going away and went back to their respective activities. Back at the apartment, David quickly called Angela on her burner phone. "Oh my God, are you okay? Did you get home safely? Did anyone follow you?" David asked.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Are you okay? Sorry for lashing out back at the pizza place. I was trying to stage a fight to make the girls believe that we weren't patching up, and this was just a coincidental meeting where we were at the same place," Angela clarified.
"Ha ha, yeah, I understood what you were doing. Smart, quick thinking," David remarked.
"Thanks; I hope I didn't cross any lines, though, " Angela replied.
"You did what you had to do, Angela. Nice work, partner," David replied as they both laughed.
"So, how do you plan on talking to the prisoners?" Angela asked David about his strategy.
"I don't know yet. They are both kept in a highly secure facility, and only family is allowed to meet them. But I'm sure I can find some people to pull strings for me and give me one-on-one time. Maybe some extra prison privileges might encourage them to talk to me," David said.
"Thus, a good plan. Alright then, good luck," Angela said as she shut the call.
Tonight was going to be a hard night. Angela wanted to take a warm shower and go to sleep, but some part of her wanted to stay up and wait for William's call to see how things went in the operation. Angela wasn't really close to God.
In fact, she didn't know if she even fully believed in the concept of God, but that night, she prayed to God that May's findings checked out, and they would be able to get underneath Ricardo's skin.
The call took forever to come, and Angela found it hard to stay up as the night progressed. She decided to make herself a strong cup of coffee and wait for the call. Then, she tried watching a movie, and then she tried doing a puzzle, but nothing helped her.
She knew if the operation was a bust, she couldn't count on William again because William wouldn't risk his job for her, and she wouldn't want him to, and then she thought of the bust operation and how things could be wrong. Alveris and his accomplices could somehow make the transport possible, and the Feds could miss them. There's a lot that could go wrong, so Angela had to keep patient.
Toby could see Angela was at the edge of her seat. And that is when he intervened. He started to show Angela pictures of himself from when he was a baby. And along with them, he narrated stories. "Oh, this is from my science fair days. I was in kindergarten and believed that if plants can stay alive in soil, then we can eat soil to survive as well." Both Toby and Angela chuckled. It was an hour till sunrise at this point, and that is when the call came.
