The room smelled of copper and piss. Both from Gino. The copper was coming from the drying pools of blood that had been spilled. Splattered on the walls. On Levi’s clothes. On the floor. Pretty much everywhere. Levi had had the foresight to strip out of his suit before any of this started. He was wearing blue medical scrubs, and he was sure it looked like he’d just butchered a hog.
Gino had had each of his fingers broken multiple times, his face was a bloody mess, and his left ear had been torn cleanly off by one of the other mafiosos. Levi had taken over after that. He didn’t want Gino to die without giving up what he needed. But even Levi had his limits. He was pretty sure he’d felt a cheekbone crack with one of the last hits that had sent the man unconscious … again.
He looked over at Tony, who’d been standing off to one side, watching. “Wake him up.” It was almost six a.m., and Levi’s mind reminded him that there were only seven days left.
There was an IV tube hanging from a pole behind Gino, left over from the first time Gino had gone unconscious and one of the mafiosos had run a central IV line into the man’s neck. Tony plunged a syringe of something into the IV port, and within seconds Gino’s eyes were fluttering. “Please, just kill me. I didn’t take any little girls in a black car.”
The door opened, and Dino walked in, still wearing his suit. “Holy shit. Is he alive?” He stepped up to Levi, avoiding some of the mess on the floor. “What do we know?”
Levi kicked Gino hard in the shin. “Mister Fiorucci, tell me again about that transaction I saw yesterday over at Union Square.”
Gino’s head lolled back and forth. It looked like he was trying to lift his head up, but couldn’t quite manage it. Some of the muscles in his neck might have been torn during his last beating.
Tony grabbed the guy by the hair and pulled his head up so Dino could see.
“I … I … what did you want me to—”
“Union Square. Tell me about that guy you paid yesterday. What was that for?”
Gino’s eyes flickered and bubbles of blood came out of his nose. “I paid fifty G’s for papers and a manifest.”
“What were the papers for?”
“Passports, IDs for the girls.” Gino moaned, and his right eye began twitching uncontrollably. “They’re coming in on a freighter hidden in a dozen shipping containers full of rice.”
“What are you doing with these girls?”
“Selling them. I’ve got buyers already lined up all along the East Coast. These girls are prime stock. How the fuck do you think I bring in five hundred G’s a month?”
Dino’s face turned red, and he asked in a low voice. “How old are these girls?”
Gino sneered, and for a second he grew more lucid. He smiled, revealing that his two front teeth were missing and several others were chipped. “All ages. None older than twelve, but some are just right. Probably the same age as your Donna.”
Before Levi could even react, Dino pulled out a Smith & Wesson revolver and put three shots into Gino’s chest.
“Hey!” Tony yelled, jumping back from Gino’s body as it went rigid. “You could have hit me!”
Levi’s ears were ringing painfully, and he sighed as the smell of crap filled the air. Gino had lost control of his bowels and along with more blood pooling on the floor, there was now a fresh stream of urine dribbling from the chair.
He wasn’t going to be getting any more answers out of Gino.
“Son of a bitch.” Dino shook his head and turned to Levi. “There’s a shower down the hall. You clean up and get dressed. I’ll have the boys finish up in here.”
As soon as Levi walked out of the room, he took a deep breath of fresh air. His muscles ached from the physical exertion, and he smelled like the room he’d left behind.
He hated this part of the job.
###
Levi paced back and forth in an empty area of his hotel’s parking lot as he talked on the phone. “Seriously, I don’t have much time left, Denny. Can you can get those tracking devices to me overnight? I don’t trust any of these government bastards as far as I can throw them. I need to be able to track where these rats scurry off to when I drop the bomb on them.”
“I’ll do you one better. I can get on the train and be there in a few hours.”
“No, there’s too many eyes on everything. I don’t want you taking that kind of risk. I’m not sure who the bad guys even are right now.”
“Levi, you do realize that some people might think you’re the bad guy, right?”
“I’m okay with that. As long as it saves that little girl, I’ll be the nightmare people talk about in hushed voices to scare misbehaving kids.”
“Okay, my friend, I’ve got the stuff packed up. It looks like your hotel is on an early delivery route for FedEx, so this should get to you around eight a.m. if we’re lucky.”
“Sounds great.” Levi realized he’d nearly forgotten something. “Hey, Denny, can you do a quick lookup of the owner of that Suburban? The one with the fingerprint.”
“Sure. Hold on a sec, let me pull up the image of the report.”
A car pulled past the hotel’s guest gate and parked a few dozen yards away. Levi walked farther away.
“Well, it looks like that was a government vehicle.”
Levi stopped, standing between a Buick sedan and a Nissan SUV. “Really? How the hell did a Mafia associate’s fingerprint get into a government vehicle? Can you track down who that was checked out to?”
“I think so, but I won’t know if I can get access to that information until tomorrow. I’ll reach out to my guys first thing in the morning.”
“Okay, Denny. Thanks a bunch for everything. I’ll settle up when this crap is all over with.”
“All right, man. I’m out the door with your stuff. Expect it tomorrow morning. See ya.”
The line went dead and Levi glanced at his watch. He dialed a number and put the phone to his ear.
One ring … two rings … and the phone picked up just as the third ring started. “Hello?”
“Yoshi? Are you by chance in DC?”
“Oh, hey, Levi. Um—yes, I am. What’s up?”
“Can you meet me at Union Square, near the fountain?”
“Sure, I guess so. When?”
“Can you meet me in half an hour?”
“I’ll get in the car now.”
“Okay, see you there.”
Levi walked over to his rental and popped the trunk. Inside was the tactical case that he always had with him. One of Denny’s little specialties. He slammed the trunk shut and hopped in the car.
###
Levi walked around Union Square, panning his gaze back and forth, looking for Yoshi. Every once in a while, his baseball cap tingled, and he turned to see nothing obvious, or sometimes a scanning security camera. Denny’s surveillance detection hat had always had some idiosyncrasies that were unavoidable, but triggering a few too many alerts was infinitely better than not enough. With the hat constantly sending out infrared beams of light in all directions, the signal that bounced back usually wouldn’t register anything with Denny’s gadget. It was only when the signal bouncing back repeated frequently that it would trigger an alert.
That would only happen if someone was watching him. Their eyes would be following him, and the invisible light would keep getting a signal bounced back, triggering one of the metal posts in the hat to give his scalp a mild tingle. Levi may have looked like a skittish cat in a crowd, but he appreciated the invention.
One of the posts tingled, and he glanced in that direction. A blonde woman was looking at him. As soon as their eyes met, she lowered her gaze and blushed.
“Levi!”
He turned to see Yoshi jogging up to him with a look of concern. “I got here as quickly as I could. Is there some news on June?”
Levi shook his head. “I’m sorry, but not yet. I wanted to ask you a favor, but didn’t want anyone else to hear.” He motioned toward the far end of the square and they began walking. “Can you call June’s mom and arrange for us to visit?”
“Sure, I think so. But, why? And what’s this about not wanting anyone else to hear?”
Levi wished he’d have thought of this earlier. “Well, I’ve been thinking about what happened the night of the kidnapping. How the hell did the kidnapper know the Mom would be ordering pizza? You said that they didn’t order out very often. So, how did the kidnapper know to ambush the delivery driver and get past the gate?”
Yoshi’s eyes widened. “Shit, I have no idea.”
“I want to sweep Helen Wilson’s apartment, to see if there’s anything unusual.”
“I’ll see if I can arrange it.” Yoshi pulled out his phone.
Levi put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Whatever you say, figure someone’s listening. You understand what I’m saying, right?”
Yoshi nodded as he put the phone to his ear. After a moment passed, he smiled. “Hey, Miss Wilson. It’s Yoshi. I was wondering if you’d be around this evening. I wanted to do a quick check on the apartment, and I’d rather do it while you’re there” He paused, then nodded. “Okay, I’ll see you at five.”
Levi raised an eyebrow. “Miss Wilson? That seems a bit impersonal. I thought you two were closer than that.”
Yoshi shrugged. “On the phone, we’ve always played the roles of apartment security and tenant. But sometimes, when June was asleep, we’d meet at the apartment’s swings and talk.”
“Talk? Don’t get me wrong, but the way you carried on about her, I figured you two were having an affair. Am I wrong?”
Yoshi’s face turned beet red. “I-I’d like to, but it’s too early. And too complicated. I could never—”
“You don’t need to explain.” Levi chuckled and patted the man on the back. It was almost sweet how nervous he was. “Let’s grab a bite to eat and then we’ll go see ‘Miss Wilson.’”
###
Levi watched as Yoshi gave Helen the handwritten note that said, Don’t say anything. He’s going to check your apartment for listening devices. Her eyes widened, and she nodded her understanding.
Yoshi and Levi walked in, and Levi cracked open his case and extracted a wand-like device with a small loop at the end. It not only detected active listening devices, it also triggered passive ones that turned on only in response to motion or sound.
Levi had done this many times for hotel rooms, but doing an entire apartment was going to take some time. He decided to methodically work from one end of the dwelling to the other.
He started with the table next to Helen’s bed. Lifting the receiver of the corded phone, he ran the wand over it. A little red LED flickered over the handset. He retrieved his case and pulled out a container that was lined with a metal mesh. It was both soundproof and signal-proof. He unscrewed the handset, and out fell a fingernail-sized device. He plopped it into the container and continued the scan.
Yoshi scribbled on a notepad and showed it to Levi.
Was that a bug?
Levi nodded. For a second, Helen and Yoshi clasped hands and stared at each other.
It took almost an hour for Levi to cover the entire apartment. He collected all the electronic surveillance devices he could find, and for good measure, he also dusted for prints in the places where he’d found the bugs. He managed to snag a few prints.
He snapped the container shut and breathed a sigh of relief. “This place was bug central. All your phones, above the china cabinet, under the coffee table, in each bathroom, and in June’s bedroom. Someone really wanted to keep tabs on you.”
“But who?” Helen asked, a look of shock on her face. I don’t understand. Should I call someone?”
Both Levi and Yoshi said “no” at the same time.
“It’s best to just leave things alone for now,” Levi said. He shook the container with the listening devices. “I’ll have someone look into this. It’s best to just leave things alone for now. Has anyone had access to your house?”
Helen shrugged. “Well, sure. Plenty of people. The cops and the FBI have been all over this place.”
“How about before the kidnapping?” Yoshi asked.
“Well, I guess lots of people then, too. We had a birthday party for June. And I had some people over from work. I have no idea how that stuff could have gotten there or how long it’s been there.”
“It’s okay.” Yoshi put his hand on Helen’s shoulder and she put her hand on his.
To Levi, she said, “Did you talk to June’s grandfather?”
“I did.”
“And?” She looked up at him expectantly.
“I think he’d do just about anything to save her. He’s heartbroken over what’s happened.”
She motioned for Levi to come closer.
He leaned in, and she whispered, “The kidnapper asked for a ransom. Ten million dollars.”
Levi nodded. “What did the FBI say to that? I presume you don’t have ten million dollars.”
“They said they’re doing everything they can to find her, and even if I had ten million, which I don’t, they wouldn’t recommend paying. They said I’d lose any leverage I had.”
“Well, they do have a point. You have almost six days until the ransom is due—”
Helen gasped. “How do you know that?”
Levi smiled as both Helen and Yoshi looked at him with astonishment. “Trust me, we’re doing everything we can. Don’t tell anyone anything. I’m trying to flush out whoever took her. If I can, then I might have a chance of getting her before the deadline.”
Helen’s hands began to shake, and Yoshi held them in his. “This is really hard…”
“Actually,” Levi said, “I have an idea. We might be able to use one of these bugs. If you don’t mind, I’m thinking of putting one of the bugs back by the china cabinet back. We can use it against whoever planted it. Let them think we missed it. Are you okay with that, Helen?”
“I … I guess so. I just have to be careful.”
“Good. And if I ever send you a text directly, I want you to come up with some pretense to read it aloud.”
Helen looked confused, but nodded.
Levi put a finger to his lips to indicate silence, then he cracked open the container, removed a listening device, and put it back in its spot on the china cabinet.
He put his hand on Yoshi’s shoulder. “I’ll leave you guys. There’s some things I need to follow up on.”
Levi left the apartment, looked up the location of the nearest FedEx dropoff that could still ship overnight, and began texting Denny a series of names.
The puzzle pieces were beginning to fall into place. A plan was forming.