Chapter 37
One issue in dealing with modern criminal gangs is that their operations are diversified. The heat-shielding you hope is hiding a human-smuggling operation could be hiding radio emissions from software-pirating computers. When Marissa and The TPD search team showed up at the storage company and handed the search warrant at the stunned manager she was sure she was going to find evidence linking Velova to the eviscerated bodies. Instead what she found was a computer geek's wet dream.
Out of the twenty units they searched at the storage units, fifteen were crammed wall to wall with CPUs, monitors and cases of cd spindles. It was only when Joe turned on one of the computers, and they all stood starting at a movie that was supposed to be opening two weeks later that she then put two and two together.
"Looks like we hit the jackpot." Phil Pancheck said as he walked into the unit where Joe and Marissa were documenting all the illegal items in Evidence Log books. It was no small task either as there were at least fifty boxes of bootleg movies in that one unit.
"Not the jackpot I was hoping for." Marissa muttered as she wrote the title of a DVD down in her book. "This doesn't help my case whatsoever."
"You can't be sure of that." Joe chimed in. "Velova has his hands in all kinds of dirty pots. Maybe this is just the beginning of the end of your case."
Marissa shot him an indignant look. "Must you always be the glass-is-always-half-full type of guy?"
He shrugged. "In my line of work it's the only way to be if you don't want to be popping Prozac for the rest of your life."
Well then. Guess it was too late for her.
"Good to know." she said giving him a tight smile before walking over to another box labeled 'Green Hornet.'
Joe followed her.
"You know, it may take quite a while to catalog all of this evidence. Maybe you should consider putting in for an extension to stay here in Trenton."
Hell no, Marissa thought.
Fat chance that was ever going to happen. As soon as she was done filling out her paperwork and arranging for the boxes to be sent to the Evidence room she was getting out of Torturous Trenton. What a week. She'd experienced less active and stressful things at Puerto Rican Day parades. No way was she coming back to Trenton unless by subpoena. Joe would be disappointed, but he was mature enough that he would get over it after a day or two. Hopefully.
But you promised to talk to him, a voice said in her head.
I didn't promise. I said I'd see him in the Task Room after the briefing with Targa and Scarpella. Okay, so maybe he didn't know that that briefing was only for the Tactical and administrative staff. But he would get the gist when he walked in and didn't see me there. By then I'll be crossing over state lines and on my way for a bagel and coffee and a stress-free personal life.
You are a horrible woman for misleading the man like that, the voice chastised.
I can live with that. Besides I've been called much worse things.
"Hey Morelli! Heard this was all your doing. Must be nice to get back on Targa's good side, huh?" Pancheck said as he scoped out a DVD cover.
Joe shot him a weary look. He was in no mood to verbally spar with the TPD's biggest asshole, so he just nodded and went back to his cataloging.
"So Boy Wonder enlighten us on how this ring operated, seeing as how you're now the expert on Russian mob activities?" Pancheck kept on.
Marissa watched as a muscle in Joe's jaw began to work overtime and his lips morphed into a thin hard line. Uh oh. Intervention time.
"It's quite a scheme actually." Marissa interjected quickly. "One that involves the theft of millions of dollars."
Joe shot her a look of gratitude.
She continued. "You see movie backers invest large up-front investments in the hopes of doubling their money when the movie does well at the box office. Guys like Velova see this as an opportunity to make money too by surreptitiously filming the movie and illegally distributing it."
"They get people known as 'cammers' to use digital cameras to record first-run movies off theater screens. Then they convert the video into master DVDs and sell those to 'wholesalers'. The wholesalers then make copies of the masters and package them to look like high quality DVDs and sell them to retailers. The retailers then make more copies of the DVDs and sell them out of storefronts."
"And these are sold nationally?" Pancheck asked.
"Not a lot, as most people in the US are aware of the consequences of intellectual piracy. But most of the sales are done in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Pakistan and Singapore. Far away from the jurisdiction of the FBI."
"Now go away Pancheck." Joe growled as he opened a box and dug through the contents.
Phil made a tsk, tsk sound. "Whatever happened to the brotherhood, man? You would think that you didn't like me or something. But no worries. I get that you want to spend time alone with Agent Carter here. Play on playa."
Phil gave Joe two thumbs up and a wink before Joe lunged at him. But Marissa anticipating the severity of Joe's irritation shot an arm out held a firm grip on his shoulder. "Later Morelli." she muttered.
Joe stilled, but shot Pancheck a look of disdain-his intent clearly displayed for all to see.
Pancheck chuckled and walked out the unit.
Two hours later as they were loading the confiscated goods into their evidence vans the lights from an incoming car almost blinded Marissa. Then the lights dimmed suddenly and she caught a glimpse of a glimmer of gold coming from the driver's side of the car. Focusing on the driver made out a gold disc hanging from the occupant's neck. Vasya. Galvanized into action upon recognition she drew her gun and aimed it steadily at the vehicle.
"FBI! Get out of the vehicle with your hands up!"
She watched as Vasya's eyes widened in surprise, then dread slammed into Marissa as she saw him jerkily shift the gears of the car and reversed, tires screeching, out of the parking lot. Shit! He was getting away!
Not giving a second thought to her actions she fired off a shot, aiming for the front tires, and watched with satisfaction as the rubber exploded and wobbled. Her contentment was short-lived though as Vasya, who didn't even slow down, kept on driving.
He executed a savage u-turn outside of the parking lot gate, causing the rim on the deflated tire to fly off and go rolling off to the side. The sound of a gunshot pierced the air and one of Vasya's back passenger windows shattered. Marissa turned around to see who the shooter was and saw Joe with his gun drawn and a look of determination on his face. More cops joined in the fray but Vasya's car kept on going.
And just when Marissa was sure they would have to embark on a high speed chase, a TPD squad car slammed into the driver's side of his car, rendering it useless. But one should never underestimate the determination of a criminal's flight game. And this was proven true when Vasya scrambled out the passenger side window of his mangled car and took off running.
A harsh growl erupted from behind her, and she felt a rush of air as Joe ran past her intent on catching the fleeing man.
Three alleyways and a chain link fence later, Joe found himself rolling around on the sidewalk behind a Shop Rite supermarket trying not to become a law enforcement statistic. Vasya's hands curled around Joe's neck at the same moment Joe's patience ran out. Widening his stance for leverage, Joe managed to lean forward a bit, giving him just enough room to ram his elbow into Vasya's stomach.
His attacker made an "ooff" sound and his grip on Joe's neck slackened. Taking advantage of the moment, Joe twisted out of Vasya's grasp and whirled around with his fists flying. Two punches later the medallion-wearing Russian dropped heavily to the ground just as Joe's back up arrived. Carl Costanza was the first one to reach him.
"Damn Morelli, you think you could've left him a little bit conscious so we could've read him his rights?" Carl said as he snapped his cuffs on a clearly knocked-the-fuck-out Vasya.
"It was on my checklist Costanza, but I seemed to have misplaced it when Mr. Kremlin here tried to rip my head off." Joe replied as he tried to get his breathing under control.
"Ah, assaulting an officer of the law. That's always something the boys at the precinct like to hear. Big Dog has a pair of brass knuckles he wanted to try out. Perfect opportunity." Carl said as he hauled Vasya up with the help of two other officers. "Thanks Morelli."
"Don't mention it. Just tell Big Dog to get a groin hit in for me."
Back at the precinct, at his desk, Joe downed two Aleves as he tried to alleviate the throbbing pain in his head. What a fucking day, he thought as he laid his head on his hands and closed his eyes. He could hear Marissa talking with Det. Heyman behind him about some random case that at the moment he had no interest in. Then the talking stopped. He lifted his head slowly and turned around just in time to see Marissa pick up the receiver of a desk phone.
"Calling Ranger?" he asked as his mouth drew into a tight line.
She glared at him. "No. I was going to call Bryan and tell him what he missed tonight."
"Can't it wait until morning?"
There was an underlying tone to his question; as though he was testing her to catch her in a lie.
She put the receiver down.
"Will you be here tomorrow for the debriefing?" he asked as he watched her intently.
Marissa shrugged. "Not my call. Technically I don't have to be."
"So this is it? This right here," he moved his hand back and forth between them, "is all we have right now."
Well when he put it like that...
"Morelli, look..."
He held up a hand. "Let's not talk about this now, alright? I think I speak for the both of us when I say that I'm exhausted and just want this night to be over and done with."
She nodded jerkily, keeping her eyes on the ground. She couldn't look at him for fear that he would see the emotions she was trying valiantly to hide.
"So, uhm, do you need me to drop you off anywhere in particular?" he asked in a low, tight voice. "I'm almost done filling out the paperwork on this mess."
Only if he wanted to drop her off the face of the Earth. How did she get to this junction in her life? This was supposed to have been an easy assignment. Come to New Jersey and collect info. Go back to New York with said info. Nowhere in that equation was there anything about meeting
Joe Morelli and his terrifyingly sexy self, and him accepting the fact that she had a bad case of emotional retardation when it came to relationships. Damn the Universe!
"Uhm. No. Detective Heyman offered to drive me over to the field office."
"Heyman?" He looked across the tops the desks in the bull pen and stared at the man in question who was talking to Captain Targa.
Okay, so she was lying. But Marissa just knew that she couldn't take spending a second more in Joe's company. It was hurting way too much just to have this conversation with him. She felt her heart constrict, as the knowledge that this would be the last time she would be talking to him enveloped her.
Emotion as strong as this wasn't something she was comfortable with; and as was her way of dealing with all things outside of her emotional realm, she shut down and immersed herself in some form of distraction. Sometimes she did it by drinking or working long past when she should be. Other times it was sleeping, and a few random times it was with sex. Out here in Trenton she knew there would be no drinking or sleeping. Sex was totally out of the question...especially with her sexual partner options. So that left work.
She squared her shoulders. "I think this is where I tell you goodnight Morelli."
"Really? Are you sure it's not goodbye?" he bit out clearly pissed off.
She gave him a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "It is what it is."
His face hardened. "You know people who use that line only use it when they're trying to let someone down easily."
"Joe I'm not…."
"I'm sure it comes easy to you especially when you're dealing with people not in your professional league of superheroes."
The sharp bite of the accusation caught Marissa with full force. "What does that mean?"
"It means sweetheart that just because we don't have little badges that say FBI, or drive around in expensive black cars doesn't mean that we're less than in anyway."
"I never said that!" she exploded.
"Actions baby. Actions." he spat back.
"I have never treated you like you were beneath me Morelli. But did it ever occur to you that I was doing you a favor by keeping you out of the loop? No. I didn't think so. You had to be such...a man about everything. And why are you always looking at me like that? Stop it! And...and stop with all the sexy touching and caring and...and bullshit. You push, and push, and push and I swear to God Morelli if you keep on pushing I'm gonna kick your ass!"
She was talking way too fast for Joe to make sense of what she was rambling on about. But clearly she was angry. She let out a frustrated growl and stomped off to where Det. Heyman was standing. She said a few words to him, and Heyman looked over at Joe and shot him a sympathetic look.
Joe watched as Heyman led her to the exit and tried to tamp down the overwhelming sensation of regret and discontentment. Every cell in his body was screaming at him to go after her and show her exactly how he felt, but he remain rooted in his chair as the pain in his head morphed into a dull ache that spread throughout his body. And as the door closed behind the couple he found himself unable to breathe, as the reality sank in that the only woman who'd ever truly challenged him was about to walk out of his life forever.