Here's the next chapter, folks. Sorry it's been so long in coming. My sight's been a bit off for a while and I went to the optician who told me I had cataracts and I would probably need an operation. He sounded most put out about it as, apparently, I'm a bit too young to have reached that stage. Anyway, after he told me that, I didn't feel too much like writing for a while. But, I'm back now.
Just to give you warning, this chapter includes references to the sexual abuse of children and some racist expressions. These, obviously, do not reflect the views of this author, or, even necessarily, the character who uses them.
Thanks, as usual to everyone who has reviewed or made this a story alert/favourite story. Welcome Throwra, Modog, astari22 and smrt1.
foxfire222 - Thanks for the comment on the characterisation. I am trying to keep it as close as possible to the actual series (both of them).
a friend ()– whoops! Sorry about that. I re-read the chapter and have identified the error but, I'm too lazy to change it!
Alinaandalion – well, we'll see how it all ends, but I promise you it will be exciting!
Peppymint – thanks, I hope this chapter maintains your faith in the story.
Tawnyleaf – hope you enjoyed your hols. Sorry that this chapter is more serious than some others I have written.
W.S.C. Magica De Spell – sorry for the delay.
nas2439 – no it's not bad for you to want the plan to go south so Eliot Spencer has to come in and save the day but you'll have to wait and see what happens!
Chapter 10
Captain Cragen, Alex Cabot and George Huang had all convened in the Captain's office.
"He can't be serious!" Alex burst out. "There is no way I can convince even the U.S. jurisdictions with wants or warrants out against them to grant full amnesty, let alone the foreign ones!"
"He's not." George Huang replied calmly. "He's playing for time."
"If Ms. Devereaux and Mr Spencer don't testify, we don't have a case." Cragen pointed out. "I thought you said he saw himself as one of the good guys? Do you think he's willing to let the guys who tried to rape a member of his crew walk in order to ensure his people's freedom or do you think he's planning a little street justice?"
Huang frowned in concentration. "His M.O. up to now has been to trick his targets into compromising themselves and then to call in the police." He said. "But, as far as I am aware, none of his people have been targeted before. The fact that he selected Mr Spencer, who has the most serious record of violent crime, to exchange for our people may indicate that he's using us to identify the perps and then planning for Mr Spencer to deal with them. On the other hand, you also suggested Mr Spencer for the hostage exchange because of the assistance he could give to the investigation and Mr Ford could have been thinking along similar lines. What I do know for certain is that Mr Ford excels in what is called lateral thinking, so whatever he's planning, it won't be obvious. If we're to beat him we need to start thinking laterally too."
"Speaking of Spencer," Alex Cabot observed, "he's a bird in the hand. If Ford sees himself as a good guy will he hurt Olivia and Elliot if we don't return him?"
Huang considered. "It's unlikely." He finally said.
"You may we willing to take that risk but I'm not!" Cragen burst out.
An urgent knock on the door interrupted further discussion. All three turned to see Fin Tutuola standing outside. He held something in his hand and looked excited. Cragen waved him in, automatically checking that Spencer was still sitting across the bull-pen busy with the mug books and could not have overheard the earlier conversation.
"I think we got a lead, Cap." The detective said as he came in. He waved the paper he was holding and Cragen recognised it as one of the line drawings. "A cop in the 17th Precinct recognised this guy as a local low-life, name of Kyle McLachlan, lot of petty juvie stuff. Looks like he's movin' up the rankings!"
Cragen turned towards Alex Cabot. "Do we have enough to bring him in?" he asked.
The A.D.A shook her head. "Get a picture of him and put it in a photo array. If Spencer identifies him, then we got enough." She said.
Sophie sashayed into the La Cantina del Norte restaurant, wearing a mink coat over a revealing black dress heavily decorated with sequins. The overall effect was what Hardison had earlier described as trailer-park chic but the look was absolutely right for the persona she had adopted; behind her was Nate, wearing a bolo tie, cowboy boots and a Stetson hat. Parker hung on his arm. She was dressed to accentuate her youth and looked every inch like a child bride and trophy wife, right down to the large and expensive looking pendant she wore.
Sophie surveyed the restaurant. It was an unpromising place. The table-clothes were old, tatty and stained with the accidents of thousands of diners, while the wooden bar was scarred and splintering. This was, very definitely, at the opposite end of Morales' restaurant empire to 'Cuba Libre'.
The place was empty, except for Morales himself and two of his goons. Their mark was sitting at a table towards the back, drinking red wine, while his goons were standing behind him, on guard. They looked over her party and she noticed their eyes linger on both herself and Parker with something more than professional interest. Pretending to ignore them she continued on towards Morales, coming to a halt in front of his table.
"Wa'all, Senor Morales, it's a real pleasure seeing you again." She drawled in her best Texan accent, sitting down opposite him without invitation. Nate took the other chair, while Parker remained standing, taking a position directly behind and to one side of Nate.
Nate grinned and, without asking for permission, grabbed the bottle of wine on front of Morales and used it to fill his and Sophie's glasses. The goons moved forward but Morales signalled them to remain where they were. He sat back and contemplated his guests.
"You seem to have suffered injury since we last met, Senorina La Belle." He noted.
Sophie fingered the healing, but still visible, cuts and bruises she had received during the attack. "Why yes." she replied, "Our customers can sometimes be very…difficult, but he saw the error of his ways after my… err security people had finished with him."
Morales grinned, wolfishly. He pointed to an almost imperceptible scar on his neck. "The bastardo who did this. He is, alas, no longer in this world."
"Yeah, this is all very nice." Interrupted Nate. "But can we get down to business?"
Morales nodded. "In a minute, Senor Hackett. If you will just allow my men..." He nodded towards his goons, who moved forward. "Just a precaution." He added.
Nate gave them an irritated glance, then shrugged as he stood up, an amused expression on his face. "Be gentle boys, I'm ticklish!" He raised his arms and allowed the goons to pat him down.
Sophie also stood and allowed herself to be searched but, when one of the goons rested his hand on the inside of her thigh, she grabbed his wrist and twisted, hard. "You don't go there sweety-pie unless you pay and I'm bettin' you ain't got enough dough to buy any piece of Passion La Belle."
The man looked murderous but, after a glance at his boss, he moved on to Parker. "And that's Mr. Hackett's property so don't paw the merchandise without his permission." Sophie called out.
The goon must have taken notice of the warning because the search of Parker took place without incident.
"So, Hector, darling, as you can see, we're not wired or strapped." Sophie said.
Morales made a sweeping gesture with his hand. "I apologise. It would not have been the first time the cops have tried to set me up." He replied.
"Wa'll, now you're satisfied shall we discuss the business Jedidiah here was talkin' 'bout?" Sophie asked, as she carefully smoothed out her dress, accidentally on purpose revealing even more of her bare flesh, before re-seating herself.
"Yes. I have completed my background research Senorina La Belle, as I promised at our last meeting. Or should I call you Mrs Jean Rogers?"
Sophie laughed. "Ah see you have been very thorough. It's Ms. La Belle, but, seeing as how I hope we'll be doing business together, you-all can call me Passion. Little ole' Jean was a girl from the wrong side of the tracks in Austin, Texas and Mr Rogers has been out of the picture for years. He could be dead in some gutter for all I know or care! I take it you'all can see the advantages of establishing a…working relationship with me?"
Morales nodded. "Si, you are the owner of record of the Love-Shack, one of the most profitable brothels' in Nevada, But, this I do not understand. Prostitution is legal there, why do you risk everything by trading in err…fresh produce?"
"And you are the owner of a very profitable chain of restaurants, Hector. Why do you risk that by dealing in coke?" Sophie smiled, knowingly. "I checked you out as well, ya see before I got Jedidiah here to approach you. The fact is, we're both in the business of giving the customer what they want and I got patrons, who prefer their pleasure, as you say… fresh; very wealthy and generous patrons."
Morales leaned back and openly studied Parker. "From what Senor Hackett was telling me earlier, you haven't had any problems in err…sourcing locally. Why come to New York; to me, now?"
"Yeah, in the past, we've been able to find fresh fruit like ma' darlin' Jodine here but that well's dryin' up." Nate replied, taking a long slurp from his wine glass. "What with the Adam Welsh Act and all that crap and the Feds taking an interest; it's getting' too dangerous picking from our own backyard. Anyone found with …early U.S. fruit… would be put away for the rest of their life, if they weren't lynched first, but some greaser wetback? The way things are in Nevada and the surrounding States, they'd probably get a medal for services to the nation!"
Morales expression froze at Nate's use of the derogatory term for those of his background but he kept his temper and leaned forwards, placing his hands on the table, "If those are your views Senor Hackett, I am surprised you would want to do business with me."
Nate grinned and made a dismissive gesture. "Hey, business is business and besides, you're a refugee from commie Cuba, right?"
"I think we're getting away from the point here, ya-all." Sophie intervened. "We need kids aged fourteen or under, kids whose disappearance won't be noticed. My clients prefer long-term relationships so they can mould them to their specific requirements and will pay well for the privilege. Can you supply them, Hector?"
Morales stared at her, consideringly, for a long time. Finally, he replied. "Perhaps; how many and how much were you thinking of paying for them?"
The bargaining began.
Elliot and Olivia sat in the van watching Hardison as he fiddled with the controls, bringing up two moving images of the restaurant's interior. They looked at each other, in surprise, as the sound of the conversation came over the speakers, clearly and without distortion,
Impressed despite himself, Elliot looked questioningly at the Hacker. "How are you doing that?" he asked.
The Hacker turned and Olivia could see he was pleased with the reaction he was getting. "Parker's pendant and Nate's tie pin both contain miniaturised digital video cameras with wide angled lenses. They pick up and stream sound and images right back here. This is state of the art technology baby, designed and built by yours truly! Even the C.I.A. doesn't have anything like this yet!" he added, proudly.
Both detectives tensed as Sophie, Parker and Nate submitted to the search, then relaxed when nothing was found. Noticing their reaction, Hardison grinned. "Chill out, guys, they wouldn't have found the cameras even if they'd used sensors. I'm the best!"
Olivia leaned forward concentrating on the discussion. "They need to be careful, we don't want Morales' lawyer to claim entrapment later." She said, worriedly.
Hardison waved her concern away. "Don't worry. They know what they're doin'." He replied.
The Hacker and the two detectives listened in silence for a while, then Elliot's curiosity overcame him. "Morales said he did a background check on Sophie. How did you convince him that she is the owner of this brothel?"
Hardison grinned. "Not Sophie, Ms Passion la Belle. It was easy!" Hardison typed a few commands and a web page appeared on a spare monitor showing some scantily clad women posing seductively. "This is the genuine web site for the Love-Shack" He clicked and another page appeared, entitled 'A Welcome from Madame La Belle'. It showed a picture of Sophie in character. Once I'd hacked it, all I had to do was cut the real picture and paste in one of Sophie. Then add a few news items, blog entries and comments in Forums and, abracadabra, you got yourself an internet trail that will be picked up by any decent search engine! The thing with the 'Net, is that it makes people lazy. Why pay P.I's when you can just type in the search term and the Net spits out results in seconds?" He paused and considered. "I am proud of Mrs Jean Rogers though. I real masterpiece, even if I say so myself! She was the piece d'resistance!"
Olivia was listening to the conversation in the restaurant. "Why children?" she asked.
"Huh?"
"Why bait your trap with child prostitutes? Morales is an established drug dealer. If your objective is to bring him down, why not just set up a drug deal? That's his comfort zone. So, I ask again, why children?"
Hardisons face took on a closed expression. "That's something you'll have to ask Nate 'bout. He's the man with the plan." He replied, making it clear that he did not wish to pursue the topic any further.
Olivia and Elliot exchanged glances.
Then Elliot nodded towards the screen. "Talking about Nate, are you sure he's going to be O.K.?" he asked. "He's knocking back that wine like its cherry soda."
Hardison glanced towards the screen, where the camera in Nate's tie was showing him, once again, refilling his empty wine glass. "He'll be fine. He's run cons when he's been a helluva lot drunker than he is now." He said, shortly.
But both detectives noticed that he appeared much more serious and that he watched the screen more closely though.
Conversation lapsed as all three listened to the bargaining going on in the restaurant. Finally, they heard Sophie say "That's a deal! Jedidiah and I will want to personally select the first batch. When and where?"
Hardison let out a whoop of joy and raised his open palm towards Elliot in a high five motion. He dropped it, looking disappointed, as Elliot just stared at him.
Eliot Spencer glanced at the photographs laid out before him. He picked up one. "That's one of the guys I saw attacking Sophie." He said.
"You're sure?" Fin Tutuola asked.
"I wouldn't have said so if I wasn't." Eliot replied.
"O.K. Pick him up." Ordered Captain Cragen, who had been hovering,
"Stall them." Nate's voice echoed through Eliot's earbud.
Eliot leaned forward. "Hey guys, I know this is your thing, but if you bring him in, won't that alert the others involved? There were five of them remember."
"He'll give them up." Munch assured the Hitter.
"Maybe, if you give him a deal." Eliot agreed. "I don't know 'bout you, but I'd like to see all these scumbags locked up for a very long time."
Cragen considered. Offering deals to rapists stuck in his craw. "Set up a stake-out on McLachlan." He finally ordered. "I want to know everyone he meets, everything he eats and every time he goes to the bathroom."
"Stay tight on the surveillance team." Nate's voice came over the earbud again.
"Then you'll want me along." Eliot said. "Seeing Cragen was about to say no, he added. "So I can identify the other rapists as soon as possible."
Cragen nodded reluctant agreement.
T.B.C.