Jack was backing out of his garage to go to work the following morning when his phone vibrated. He stopped and glanced at the call display. Washington area code. Sorry, Wayne, I was going to call you when I got to the office to bring you up-to-date. He answered.
“Hi, Jack. It’s Betty.” Her tone revealed how depressed she felt.
Betty? He tasted the black coffee he’d had moments before rise to the back of his throat. “Hi, Betty. Uh —”
“I’m sorry it took me so long to call you,” she said. “I know you called and wanted to speak to me the night Ferg was killed.”
He breathed a sigh of relief, then said, “When I called then I was told you were resting and to wait until you called me. I’ve been thinking about you a lot.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I was there when you spoke to Wayne, but I wasn’t up to it then.”
“I understand.”
“I hope you forgive me. Emotions were running pretty high with the guys and I was in a mess from hearing the news. I thought it best to wait. Then things got busy with family and people dropping in.”
“I wanted to tell you how sorry I am,” Jack said. “I feel sick that I wasn’t there when —”
“No, don’t do that,” Betty said sharply. She paused and her tone softened. “Please don’t blame yourself. Ferg told me when you called him that night that he had to skedaddle up to the border. He mentioned you didn’t have permission to enter the States, but he wasn’t upset. He really liked you. He understood where you were coming from. The morning he drove your SUV up to the border for you he told me that you’d gotten in trouble for crossing the border. He felt bad about that and would’ve really gotten worked up if you’d done it again.”
Jack was conscious of the pause that followed, but didn’t know what to say.
“I’m sure you were frustrated over not having permission, too,” Betty continued. “You wouldn’t believe the number of times Ferg bellyached to me about policy or the law, too, for that matter. Still, when it came down to it, I know he respected both.”
“You have no idea how much your call means to me,” Jack said. “It really helps to hear you say that.”
“I don’t want you blaming yourself. Not in the least.”
Thanks, but it was me who let a piece of policy get someone killed. For that, I’ll never forgive myself.
“I mean that, Jack. We were married for twenty-nine years. I knew the risks involved in the work that Ferg did, and so did he. What happened … happened. It was through no fault of yours.”
“Thank you so much,” Jack said emphatically. “You’ve lifted a heavy burden off my heart.”
“Good. That burden should never have been there to start with.” She paused. “Anyway, I want you to know that the funeral is on Monday and I hope you’ll be there.”
Crap, I might be busy meeting whoever killed Ferg, yet I can’t tell her that and give her false hope. What will you think of me if I don’t show?
“I’m serious, Jack. I don’t care that you’re from another country. When it comes to this, we’re all family. Same for Natasha. You’re both welcome.”
“I know Natasha would like to attend and offer her condolences, but she won’t be able to because she works at a small clinic and is covering for another doctor who is away. Plus she’s juggling that with being home to look after our sons.”
“I see, but you’ll come?”
“I promise I’ll do my best.”
* * *
When Jack arrived at work he avoided Rose and went straight to his desk and called Wayne.
“How’d it go?” Wayne asked as soon as the salutations were over. “Any luck getting your source to meet Vath?”
“Yes. Good news. The intro was made and I met Vath last night on the pretext of buying five hundred guns.”
“Five … holy shit. You asked for a lot.”
“If I only ordered a few they might not have gone for it.”
“So what —”
“Vath called his source when I was with him and his source went for it. Tentatively they think I’ll be paying 1.25 mil in U.S. for them.”
“Oh, man. That’s great. The money won’t be a problem. I’ll arrange to get it in case you need to flash it. How soon is it going to happen?”
“I don’t think it’ll be necessary to show the money. Vath is to bring me down to the States Saturday night. I’m then supposed to take a look at the guns and decide which ones I want, then return to Canada and get the money.”
“Sweet baby Jesus! We’re gonna get ’em!”
“Vath also told me he deals with two guys.”
“The Coggins brothers?”
“Doesn’t sound like it. One guy is named Jerry, who he described as short, and the other guy he doesn’t have a name for, but said he’s big with long black hair and a bushy beard.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s who killed Ferg that’s important to me. Oh, God, this is fantastic!” Wayne exclaimed.
“I’m not sure how long it will take. Vath is supposed to drop me off and head back to Canada, but I was told to pack an overnight bag for two days.”
“Two days?”
“I’ve no idea where they’re taking me.”
“It won’t matter. I don’t care if they take you all the way back to Alabama. We’ll be there to cover you. Don’t worry about that. It won’t be like last time.”
Yeah … last time.
“It’ll be like we’re in you hip pocket,” Wayne continued. “That’s guaranteed.”
“The hip pocket is a little too close,” Jack replied. “These guys obviously run counter-surveillance. You’ll need to give me some distance. They had no qualms about murdering Graves to sever the connection to them. They wouldn’t hesitate to do the same with me and Vath.”
Wayne’s voice became solemn. “We also don’t want the same thing happening because we weren’t there to back you up.”
“I’m not too worried about needing protection. They think I’m with Satans Wrath and —”
“Satans Wrath! How the hell did you pull that one off? Steal a set of colours?”
“Don’t ask, and keep that detail to yourself,” Jack replied. “The point is that I’m sure whoever I’m meeting will respect me enough not to piss me off. They might be worried that I’ll try to rip them off, but I doubt they’ll ever suspect I’m a cop.”
“But you’ll still need protection. You’ll have a phone, right? We could keep a safe distance and track you through that, providing they don’t make you turn it off.”
“I doubt they would make me turn it off because of who they think I am. If I was really a biker and intent on ripping them off, my fellow bikers wouldn’t have the access to the phone companies along with the sophisticated technology needed to track me by phone. I’ll probably be treated like royalty. At this point they expect me to check out the merchandise and decide on what I want to buy. After that they think I’ll be returning to Canada to talk to my people and get the money.”
“So once you’ve seen the guns and are clear, we could arrest them,” Wayne noted.
“Exactly, but I still don’t want Vath charged or arrested later on. It would bring too much heat on my informant. I want to keep my identity as a police officer secret, as well. It’ll muddy the water enough that the bad guys won’t know whether both Vath and I ratted them out or only one of us.”
“Yup, you mentioned that before. I confirmed it with our district attorney. It’s not a problem. Vath isn’t who we want.”
Jack felt his anger rise when he thought about the nameless killer he was after. “You got that right,” he said vehemently.