Butting heads with the FBI...
Chapter Four: Bigger Fish
Emma couldn't help feeling guilty leaving Henry with just Ruby for company, but she was keen to get the information she needed to start looking for Regina and wanted her business partner there to help. She left instructions with Ruby not to open the door for anyone and showed her where the panic alarm was should she need it.
Across town, she found herself facing a whole new headache. Two hours of interviews and background checks; questions about decisions she couldn't even remember making; round and round until they finally gave her a stamp of approval for the clearance she needed and led her to an interview room with one of those giant mirrors on one wall. She immediately wanted to know who was watching her from behind the glass, but bit her tongue and exchanged a look with her Viking friend.
"Miss Swan," Agent Zauberwald began as he took a seat in front of them and set a pile of folders on the table between them. "We understand your frustration and want to apologise again for the events which led to Miss Mills' unfortunate decision."
"Miss Mills' unfortunate decision," Emma parroted. "Way to take responsibility there, guys."
The other agent, Brookes, coughed and picked a folder from the pile. She opened it, glanced briefly over the first page and then pushed it across the table for the bounty hunters to look at. In front of them, was a bird's-eye-view photograph of a sprawling country estate in the sun-kissed plains of Arizona. "We've been investigating Cora Mills since shortly after her marriage to Henry Mills thirty-four years ago. The evidence you provided finally gave us the opportunity to bring her in for questioning, but just as you arrived at the safehouse, there was another development. One which linked to another case, so we had to take a temporary step back."
"Another case? So, she's involved in something that might catch you a bigger fish?" Ragnar concluded.
"Why didn't you just tell us, or send us home, rather than let us wait around feeling like sitting ducks?" Emma asked. "We thought you were just shit at your jobs and she'd slimed her way out of your custody or whatever." She groaned and rubbed her hands over her face. "Regina wouldn't have thrown herself on the sword if we'd known. And you still haven't told me what was in that letter you found, or how it got into our God-damned bedroom!"
Agent Brookes sighed and reached for another file before pulling a photocopy of Cora's letter from the stack. "It was the courier. We have him in custody."
Emma held out her hand and waved her fingers impatiently. "Good for you. Remind me to throw you a parade," she replied, her tone laden with all the sarcasm she could muster. She read the letter once, and then again when she couldn't quite believe the cruelty of the old woman. "Jesus, Regina," she muttered and passed the paper to her partner. "So, what was the development that put the kibosh on your plan?"
"This man," Agent Zauberwald answered and turned the page to show them a picture of a smiling gentleman in his late sixties. He stood at the door to a private jet, hair greying in fluffy curls on either side of his head and a well-developed paunch puffing out his expensive suit. Behind him, just visible inside the door, two young women waited. The agent turned the page again to a picture of another estate, this one surrounded by more greenery and from the accompanying notes, in Massachusetts. "This is where we think Miss Mills is being held."
Emma took one look at him and the house before pushing the folder away in disgust. "Leo White."
"You know him?"
"I've made it a point not to get to know him," she replied. "It doesn't surprise me that he's involved with the witch though."
Agent Brookes leaned over the table slightly as she explained the situation. "Well, on Monday evening, his daughter was reported missing by her husband. Nieve White's story is disturbingly similar to Miss Mills'. Her mother died in suspicious circumstances; she was set to be married to a business associate of her father's but eloped before the wedding with her lover and changed her name. Shortly thereafter, she gave birth to a daughter, who was stolen from the hospital and never found." She paused for the expected gasps from her listeners and nodded sadly. "Her father had been pursuing her quite forcefully up until that point, but when the case became quite high profile, he seemed to give up."
"I think I remember that case," Ragnar joined in the conversation. "I was just a kid, but I remember my Ma yellin' at the TV. Did they ever find out what happened to the baby?"
Brookes shook her head. "It's a twenty-five year cold-case, but there are heavy implications that Cora Mills was involved."
Something heavy landed in Emma's stomach and she swallowed with difficulty. "Twenty-five years? What month?"
"October," Agent Brookes confirmed.
Ragnar heard the strangeness in his friend's tone and turned to her. "Swan?"
"No… It's nothing."
"Miss Swan, any piece of information could be the missing piece of the puzzle in a cold-case."
"It's stupid, wishful thinking. I was 'adopted' that month. Three years later, when they decided they didn't want me anymore, they gave the orphanage some story about finding me on the side of a road." Emma shrugged at the intense stares she was getting from all sides. "It's nothing though, right? 'Cause they'd have reported it and the investigation would've come back to you. No one came looking for me so…"
"We have Nieve White's DNA on file, and her husband's…"
"No," Emma replied emphatically. "Can we just get back to this case? I want to find my girlfriend before her psychotic mother can do any more damage."
The agents nodded but their expressions said that they were going to revisit the discussion at some point. "Ok, well, Leo White has been linked to several disappearances of young women – one who had just tried to sue him for sexual harassment. He was also engaged to Miss Mills before she left Phoenix with her boyfriend."
"Regina was engaged to him!?"
Agent Zauberwald picked up the copy of Cora's letter and gave it a quick wave. "We assume that veiled threats were made. Probably towards Mr Colter. He and Miss Mills assumed false identities and married when they settled south of Boston. Mr Colter, then known as Danny Farrier, died in a work-place accident at a construction site a little over two years ago."
"Farrier was the name they used to adopt Henry?" Ragnar asked. Both agents nodded and Emma closed her eyes as she imagined the devastation Regina must have felt. "Was it an accident? His death?"
"Investigators at the time found Mr Colter to be at fault – gross negligence on the job – which made his widow ineligible for compensation. Shortly after, she was fired from her job for misconduct in the workplace." Agent Zauberwald's expression hardened. "Our informants tell a different tale."
"What does this have to do with White?" Ragnar asked, his brow furrowing at the many tangents.
"This man," Agent Brookes began and turned the page to show a photo of the same private plane, but this time focussed on a man at the foot of the steps, his suit, shirt and tie all black, his fair hair shoulder-length, and a gold-topped cane in his hand. "Robert Gold. He's been Mrs Mills' advisor at least since her husband's death, but has also been known to make deals with Leo White." She turned the page again, this time to a close-up of the two young women just inside the plane's open door. "These two are, sisters; youngest heiresses to a wine-merchant in Chile. They were recently married to a CEO of a pharmaceutical company and the son of an oil baron, who has close ties to Mr White."
"For years, we've been gathering information, but not until recently did we manage to get an undercover agent into their midst. This small group have joined forces to form what they're calling 'The Green Dynasty'. They auction their daughters, and sometimes sons, to the highest bidder to sell marriages between influential families."
Emma felt her stomach roll and tasted bile in the back of her throat. "Leo White bid to marry Regina? And her mother went along with it?"
"That is our suspicion now that we have evidence of their collusion." Agent Zauberwald answered. "Cora Mills looks to earn quite a tidy sum, not only from selling her daughter but by Miss Mills' marriage into the White family."
"These people are sick," Emma muttered to herself. "So, Nieve White is being forced into this too, you're thinking?"
Agent Brookes nodded. "Her husband received divorce papers from Mr White's lawyer the day after she went missing."
"Shit. So, what the hell is the plan to get them back?"
"Miss Swan, this case is bigger than just two people. If we're going to topple this construct, it needs to all come down at once."
"How much longer exactly do you plan to wait? You know at least two people are dead, and I don't know how many people being taken from their homes and forced into marriage. Aren't murder and trafficking pretty high up on your list of priorities, or do you plan on waiting 'til you can add marital rape to the latest victims' cases?" She noted their matching winces, which were carefully controlled but still there, and shook her head. "Yeah, I thought so. This has been going on for years and I get that you've got a lot hanging on the line, but these are people's lives you're gambling with. Regina gave you information on her mother; didn't it lead anywhere?"
Agent Zauberwald cleared his throat. "Yes, it tied up a few loose ends actually."
"What about Nieve White? Have you thought that she might turn similar evidence on her father?" Ragnar added now he had a handle on his partner's train of thought. He watched the agents share a look and had a sudden epiphany. "You're scared of them," he guessed and saw his friend's head spin to look at him with a frown. "They know how well money talks and how easy it is for people like Mills and White to buy their way out of trouble," he explained to her.
Emma saw the truth in their faces and came to a decision. "Then I'll go public." She read the expressions of anger and panic in their faces and grew angrier herself. "Yes, I know I can't reveal anything I've learned here. But before I came in here, I knew enough to make a noise about what Cora Mills has been up to. Wouldn't it interest the public to know how she tried to destroy her daughter's life because Regina wanted to marry for love, not money? They'll lap it up." She smirked. "Let her try to clean that shit up and come out smelling like roses!" She stood up abruptly, needing to let loose some of the excess energy in her body. "You guys need to make a decision, because if they hurt her in any way, I'm bringing this place down with them! I don't care what happens to me."
"And what about Henry? What will happen to him while you spend the rest of your days in federal prison?"
Emma leant her hands on the table and levelled a glare at him. "Keep the threats coming; just means I don't have to worry about being sued for slander when I tell the public how corrupt the FBI really are."
"Alright, alright," Agent Brookes cried, her hands waving the combatants down. "Let's not lose our heads or say something we'll regret. Miss Swan, though your friend is wrong, we are not afraid of these criminals, it is a real risk to act before success is assured." She settled her hands on the table and gazed levelly at the blonde. "Your priority is Miss Mills. Our priority is all of the victims, past, present and future."
Emma slid back into her seat – still fuming but able to understand the point. "What about a pissed of girlfriend with a giant and a shed-load of cash?"
"Excuse me?"
"I think my associate is proposing that we do what we do best. Find things and cause chaos."
The agents looked at each other and communicated silently until they each nodded and turned back to the bounty hunters. "The FBI does not condone the vigilante actions of individuals." Brookes said and then left the room, returning a moment later to nod at her partner. "It could work," Zauberwald conceded. "You have half an hour without surveillance," he added before both agents disappeared.
Emma and Ragnar discussed and came up with a plan of attack based on some of their previous work. Since the main aim of their plan was to give the agents a reason to intervene and investigate, they didn't over complicate matters too much. Ragnar would hit the front of the property with a team by posing as construction workers reporting to a job. Their aim was to cause as much chaos as possible and draw the majority of White's security away from the rear, where Emma would make her way in. She already had an outfit similar to the gear worn by White's guys and just needed to get close enough to the house to pass as one of them. Then she would find a way to sneak in.
Brookes and Zauberwald returned half an hour later and made a big noise about the cameras being turned off. The two guests denied knowing anything about it and grumbled about being made to wait around for too long. After insisting that they should be able to leave, Ragnar led the way out the door, followed by Emma and the two agents. They were being passed off to someone who would escort them out of the building when a cry of "Emma!?" came from a conference room nearby.
The blonde turned to look as spotted two startlingly familiar faces.
Regina barely slept that night. Just knowing that Leo White was in the same building as her, no matter how many rooms were between them, it put her on high alert and every little creak and shift from the house pulled her from any meaningful rest. So, soon after dawn, when a commotion outside – the sound of running feet and the crackle of two-way radios – invaded the deafening silence of her room, she felt a huge sense of relief.
She knelt on the chaise-long and pressed her face as close to the window as she dared to see what was going on. One black-clad body ran past, heading for the front of the building and then, a minute or two later, another joined it.
"What on Earth…?" she muttered to herself and began to imagine what might be happening.
From the room next to hers, she heard her fellow prisoner moving about and then seconds later, a tapping on the hidden door that joined the two. Since both rooms were locked from the outside, the portal didn't offer any hope of escape, but it did allow Regina to let the woman inside to share in the turmoil.
"What do you think it is?" Mary Margret asked as she automatically adopted the same position her new friend had taken moments before.
"Whatever it is, I hope it puts today's trials on hold," the younger woman replied. She drew the attention of pitying green eyes and immediately looked away to avoid them.
"I'm so sorry, Regina. I don't know what they're thinking. How can they think this is ok?" Mary Margret commented and waved a hand at the room and the locked door.
"Greed makes people do the unthinkable," Regina replied. "I don't intend to let it get that far though. I… I won't let him touch me," she added and immediately hated herself for the waver in her voice. Thankfully, before Mary Margret could offer any more condolences, a series of loud bangs, like gun shots, drew their attention back to the window. "I hope whoever that is, they're on our side." She looked down the side of the building as she had the day before and wondered again if she would survive a fall from this height, and if so, would she be mobile enough to hide? Her gaze swept the room. "Which of these chairs do you think we could throw together?"
"What?"
"Through the window?"
Mary Margret eyed the furniture and then looked outside as she imagined the damage that might follow the suggestion. "You want to jump out the window?"
Regina followed her gaze and shrugged. "I want options." Her eyes travelled the gravel path past the strip of manicured lawn and through an arch into what looked like a walled garden. She was just plotting a potential course toward the countryside she could see in the distance when two more guards ran in the same direction as before and another figure appeared moments later, studied the building for a long moment and sneaked through the arch. Regina narrowed her gaze as the person made a beeline for the rear of the property. Though bulked out by the outfit and accessories, she got the impression of a slender, feminine figure and felt her breath catch in her throat. She wouldn't.
"What is it?" Mary Margret asked as she spotted the curious expression on her companion's face.
"Possibly an ill-considered rescue attempt," Regina replied and immediately started to worry.
"Really? Is it David?"
Regina just about managed not to roll her eyes. She'd heard enough about David when they were swapping stories the night before. Though she knew that Mary Margret's life had been just as difficult as hers, she found the bountiful hope and positive outlook somewhat draining. She was seriously beginning to consider calling the woman Snow White since all she could talk about was her prince charming and their equally wonderful son, James.
"I think it's a woman," she replied. "I guess we'll find out soon enough."
Do we think it's Prince Charming to the rescue? ;-D