Chapter 27

"Are we in danger?" Foggy asked.

"I don't know. I don't think so, but I can't say for sure. His partner may not have even known why Maroney was at the women's center." Matt told them while he paced the floor.

"If they are cleaning up loose ends and covering their tracks, I don't like relying on maybes."

"But we haven't continued to press the missing person's case," Karen put in. "We backed off, so they might not think we're a threat now."

"More maybes," Foggy said with an exasperated huff.

"Well, panicking isn't going to do us any good. So, what's the plan?" Karen reached out to take his hand.

"I think we need to stick together for a while. That safety in numbers thing," Foggy gave her a reassuring smile.

"No, not about that. About getting these bastards. Do we have a plan that's better than Nyah's?"

That was the problem, Matt thought. Her last words were to urge him to carry out that plan and they didn't have a better plan. But they still had time to come up with one, if they could stay out of harm's way.

"I think we should prepare to go through with her plan, just in case."

Both Foggy and Karen looked at him in shock. He had been adamantly opposed to the idea from the beginning, now he was on the verge of going with it.

"But if we come up with something better, then we change course. That way, we have something in place if all else fails," he conceded.

Nyah's plan was as simple as it was risky. Report her missing to the police. Break into the DA's home and hide Wen Lei's ashes in the basement that way, when she resurrected it would be there. Hide her cell phone and the computer from the warehouse in another part of the house, so that the phone can be traced there, and the computer becomes incriminating evidence. Then get the FBI involved and give them all the evidence they have gathered so far and hope they bit. Simple.

"It would be great if we could get a recording of a meeting between the DA and Mrs. Williams or the other detective," Karen mused. "That would add to our body of evidence."

Foggy and Matt looked at her in surprise.

"I might be able to make that happen," Matt mused, "with the right equipment."

Karen grinned, "I will get on that first thing in the morning."

"And I will figure out how to get into Montgomery's house undetected. This plan is starting to sound better all the time," he smiled. "Just don't tell Nyah I said that!"

They laughed at the small joke, then settled in to work out the details of the plan, all thoughts of a better idea forgotten.

Monday morning, Karen started the ball rolling on their plan, by going to the police station to report Nyah missing. The entire station was in a state of upheaval and she was forced to wait for nearly two hours before being escorted back to make the report. Her time spent waiting wasn't wasted, though. Through snippets of conversations she picked up, she was able to piece together that Maroney's house had burnt to the ground from a gas leak and Maroney's body had been found in his bed inside, apparently asphyxiated in his sleep from the fumes.

The officer taking her statement didn't seem overly concerned about the disappearance of her friend and assured her that Nyah would probably be home in a couple of days with a hangover and a few hickeys to show for her time. He condescendingly told her that she "shouldn't worry her pretty head" about it.

"Are there any cops here that aren't complete assholes?" she asked him in return.

"Excuse me?" he sputtered, his face turning red.

"Never mind," she said, picking up her purse. "You will file the report, right?"

"Of course, Miss Page," he said in a chilly voice, all his earlier civility gone. "We will contact you if we have any further questions."

Karen didn't bother to thank him before she made her way out of the station. Her meeting went much like they had expected. Mission accomplished.

Back at the office, she logged onto her computer and started looking for long-distance recording and surveillance devices.

That afternoon Matt and Foggy cased the DA's Upper Westside home. Foggy discreetly took several pictures with his camera from the street as he walked by with Matt. Matt used their walk-by to get a feel for the neighborhood and check for surveillance cameras. This neighborhood had traffic cameras at every light and there were private cameras up and down the alley behind the home.

"This is not going to be easy," he observed as they made their way back to Hell's Kitchen.

"If it was, everybody would be putting on spandex and running along the rooftops," Foggy pointed out.

Matt chuckled, "you have a point."

"It does have a basement, at least."

"That's helpful. Let's see if Karen can find an itinerary for him. If he's not home, it will be easier for me to get in and out without being seen."

Later that night, Matt returned to the house as Daredevil. Keeping to the roofs proved to be challenging as he left his usual neighborhood, but by using alleys and fire escapes, he was able to make his way to the DA's home undetected by nothing more than pigeons and rats.

Skirting the perimeter of the brownstone, he was able to locate cameras and verify that it did have a basement and a crawl space in the back. All the windows and doors were wired with alarms, including the one opening to the rooftop patio. There was a garden in the back with several good-sized trees and a dumpster in the alley. The trees could provide cover, but he would still have to disable at least two cameras to make an approach to the back of the building, which was still a better option than the street side or the roof.

He found a position behind the building on another across the alley and watched the place for several hours. Research on the DA had revealed that he was separated from his wife of 22 years and that their children were all grown and living on their own. The soon-to-be ex-wife had moved back to the west coast. No sources on the internet had mentioned a potential girlfriend. From what Matt saw that evening, Silas Montgomery lived alone, which would make his task easier.

Just before dawn, Daredevil left his roost and headed back to his apartment to get a few hours of sleep before Matt Murdock's workday started.

Matt told Karen and Foggy what he had found out during lunch.

"I'm going to go in through the crawl space. I think that's the safest place to hide the ashes and to ensure no one's around when she comes back."

"Yeah, it would suck if she reappeared in front of the cleaning staff," Karen said with a smile.

"Shit," Matt said, shaking his head, "I didn't think about the cleaning staff. I wonder how often they go down into the basement. We don't need for them to find the computer. It won't be as easy to hide as her cell phone."

"Ok, we have three weeks or so," Karen pulled a piece of paper and a pen out of her purse. "What if I pick up two remote cameras and you place them to monitor the house this week. That way, you will know for sure who is coming and going on a regular basis, and we can find out the cleaning schedule and who does it."

"Sounds like a plan," Foggy nodded looking at Matt.

"Yeah, that will work," he agreed.

Karen made a note on the paper.

"What else do you have, Karen?" Foggy asked.

She held up the paper. "I have a good long-range camera with audio recording capability that should do the trick for catching conversations. But…," she bit her lip and looked down.

"What?" Matt asked her.

"If you are using it, how will you know you are actually getting the video? I mean, it's not like you can see what you are recording."

Matt paused to consider her concern. "You're right, but I don't see any way around it. It's not like you or Foggy can come with me while I'm following Williams, unless one of you have developed a liking for jumping from rooftop to rooftop."

Both Foggy and Karen emphatically shook their heads, making him grin.

"And I don't think I will have time to call one of you before I need to record, either. So, I will just have to take my chances."

"How about I get one with a wide-angle lens? That will give you a better shot, right?"

"Just as long as you set it up before hand, I guess that will have to work."

"Ok. So Foggy, tell him your news," she prompted.

Matt turned to his friend, "what news?"

"Remember Nate Anderson?" Foggy asked him.

"The guy we studied advanced environmental law finals with?"

"Yeah. Well, his husband is in the FBI's New York field office. He's not a field agent but is in the cybercrimes division."

"That's good. We do have evidence of them selling these women over the internet."

"If not, maybe he can put us in touch with someone for human trafficking."

"Ok, get in touch with him and see if you can get something set up. We can give them what we have on the missing women and see how they react."

"Already done," Foggy smiled, leaning back with his hands behind his head. "We have a meeting the day after tomorrow with Agent Boyd."

Shortly afterwards, the two men went back to their office, while Karen went in search of the list of electronic devices to help with their plan.

Matt had no trouble setting up the two camera's that Karen bought for watching the DA's home and continued to refine his plan to get into the house based on the data gathered from them. Karen reported that the only people that came and went with any regularity at the house, besides the Montgomery, was a two-person cleaning staff, on Mondays and Thursdays for three hours, and a cook that came in at 10:00 every weekday. The first day of the crescent moon was on a Tuesday, so the cleaning staff shouldn't be a problem if Matt planted the stuff on Monday night. It would cut it close, though, and not allow for any backup plan.

The rest of the week, Matt spent trailing Moroney's partner. He discovered the man's name was Scott Farley and that he lived on the south end of Hell's Kitchen near the docks where Nyah had been killed.

Farley met with several men, some obvious thugs, throughout the week, but only one of the meetings even hinted at the human trafficking ring. This meeting was with a tall, slightly built young man, who constantly adjusted his tie and the sleeves of this jacket during the conversation.

"We need to know when we're going to start up again," Farley told him. "Some of our regulars are getting impatient."

"Tell them to take their business elsewhere if they want, but they'll never find the quality we can provide," the younger man snapped.

"Look, I know the boss wants us to lay low for now, but if I could just give them an estimate?" Farley spread his hands. "It would go a long way and get them to quiet down."

"Tell them just a couple of months to let this blow over."

Farley smiled and clapped the guy on the back, causing him to stumble forward a half step. "There you go, Jimmy! That wasn't so hard, was it? I can work with that."

"It's Jim," he said with a frown, straightening his jacket. "He wants to know how the search for Maroney's killer is going."

"There's still a lot of energy down at the precinct, but nothing to show for it."

"So, no one's suspicious?"

"Nope, they don't have a clue. We're in the clear."

"Good. Now talk to your clients and tell them to be patient and we'll be back up and running before Christmas."

"Got it, Jimmy."

"It's Jim," he corrected again, but Farley was already walking back to his car and not listening.

Matt recorded all of the conversation. While there wasn't anything specific to tie the DA to the ring, it did suggest that they were behind Maroney's death and the staged fire. It was just one more scrap of information. Still it would be best if he could get the DA himself.