Chapter 4 – Shorthanded
Danny rushed into the break room holding up a file. "Viv, Sam…I got something here. Come on." Hurrying toward the conference table, Danny poked his head into Jack's office, "Got something you'll want to see, boss."
Gathered at the table, Danny passed out a several sheets of information and a mug shot. "Meet Ralph Wilkinson, aka "Willie." A lean, thin-faced man with slicked back dark brown hair sneered back at the agents.
"Thirty-one years old and has been in trouble with the law since he was thirteen. Typical story of his scrapes with the law escalating over time. Most recently, they liked him for an armed burglary, but couldn't make the charges stick. Local witnesses refused to cooperate. Said the guy was bad news in the neighborhood and were afraid he would take it out on their families. The boys in the local precinct think he's into something bigger, but haven't been able to nail him with anything."
Jack finished perusing the file. "Okay. Danny and Martin, go over to Charlie's school and see if anyone recognizes our friend Mr. Wilkinson here. If so, see if you can find out why a thirty-one year-old man is hanging around a high school. Sounds like he's recruiting runners for drugs, but see what you can dig up."
"Sam, you start finding out who's had dealings with Wilkinson in the past, including cell mates. Maybe they can shed some light on where we can find him. I've got the feeling if we find Willie, we find Jennifer."
"Viv, let's you and me go have another chat with Big X. I bet he knows more than what he gave us earlier."
As Danny and Martin headed for the elevator, Jack called out, "Oh Martin. Try not to piss any more people off today." Martin could only swallow hard and duck his head. Being in Jack's doghouse was NOT the place to be, and he feared it would be a long time before this calmed down.
Danny felt a little empathy for his partner and lightly punched his shoulder, "Come on compadre. Let's go catch a bad guy and earn you some brownie points with the jefe."
-xxxx-
Wilkinson surveyed the wooden cases. He'd worked very hard to smuggle them in from Mexico and set up distribution contacts. Now, as he stood looking at his fortune, he was livid Jennifer's slip up had put a kink in his plans. "Women are only good for one thing. Hell, if it wasn't for pussy, they wouldn't be worth a damned thing" he mused. He'd already made up his mind to"dispose" of her once his goods were sold. But a potentially bigger problem lurked in the shadows.
Looking down at the business card in his hands, he seethed, "You fuck this up for me Special Agent Malone, and I'll personally see to pounding you to death." Feeling his rage grow, he fought to control his mind. He had to be at this best to make these deals happen.
Walking over to the nearest wall, he pulled an eight-inch hunting knife from a scabbard on his belt, and with tremendous force, drove the knife through the card into the wall. Even the six goons with him jumped at the ferocity of the action.
"From now 'til the deals go down, two of you keep your ass at the office. Make sure the bitch keeps quiet. Everybody else is with me at the warehouse. When I give the word, I wanna be able to move fast."
Taking a deep breath, he spoke with an eerie calm, "Get the word out in the hood. Make sure this fed gets the news that I'll take him out if he gets in my way. I'm the best. He can learn that the easy way…or the hard way. Makes no difference to me."
-xxxxx-
Jack and Vivian pulled in front of the record store to find the same group of boys milling about. "How's it going Big X, fellas?" Jack said nodding his head to the group. The one who had gotten fresh with Samantha perked up, "Yo suit! Where's dat saucy blond number? I be thinkin' she was wantin' some of my love nectar."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Yeah. She tries to break the arm of all the guys she has the hots for."
His comment caused the gang to burst into laughter and razz the young man into silence.
"So Big X, is this the infamous Willie we're looking for?" Big X took a quick look at the picture, "Yeah. One and the same. He also the one tellin' everybody that'll listen if you fuck up his biz, he gonna take you out. Thought since you the object of his affection right now, you'd want to know."
"Hmm. Is that right? Well, if you happen to see Ralph, tell him I'm not scared of someone who doesn't even know who I am. Or, you can tell me where I can find Ralph, and I'll tell him myself."
Big X studied Jack intently before saying, "Look man. You seem like you got the up and up goin' on and you one good cop, but you don't want to mix it up with that dude. I'm tellin' you, he's a crazy fucker. Dat girl, she ain't worth you gettin' sixed."
Jack just shook his head, "No. You see, my team won't stop till we find her. She's in danger and has no one else to help her. If Willie is responsible, we will hold him accountable AND if we find out he's doing anything illegal, he's going down for that too. Mark my words."
"All right. I got your drift. You might wanna check out some old places out West of the airport. Watch your back suit."
-xxxx-
Driving back to the office, Vivian said, "Sounds like you won't be getting a birthday greeting card from Mr. Wilkinson this year." And then, "Maybe you ought to stay in the background from now on and let us move on this one?"
"You going soft on me, Agent Johnson? I didn't know you cared so much!" Jack scoffedas he tossed her a you-gotta-be-kidding-me grin.
"Look Malone. Don't read too much into my suggestion. I just know how Human Resources works, and if you're out of commission, it really slows down the approval process for paychecks."
Jack just snickered at her attempts to disguise her concern, but assured her she would be paid on time with or without his presence.
Back at the office, Samantha filled them in on her work. "Well, I'm getting nowhere fast with Wilkinson's prison contacts. Most of them are still in the pen and the few that are out seem to have gravitated to the West Coast."
Looking directly at Jack with an ever-so-slight smile, she continued, "Now, if you would like to arrange for the company jet to send me to Carmel for a few days, I would be happy to interview all of his acquaintances."
Jack gave her a ridiculous smirk, "Yeah. I'll get right on the clearance papers." He pretended to consider it, then looked disappointed. "But wait. I can't send you out there alone, and there's no way I can free up myself up to go any time soon." He shook his head sadly. "I guess I'll have to deny your request…sorry."
Viv watched and listened to the light banter between the two and couldn't help but feel the electricity between them. Not wanting Jack to go backward in his efforts to move on from Samantha, she interjected, "Well, I'm not that booked up right now. I could go with Samantha."
Her words caused Jack to duck his head. He'd been dancing around flirtatious behavior again, and Viv called him on it. He hadn't even realized he was doing it…it had just come so easy and natural with Samantha.
He was saved from the awkward situation when Vivian's desk phone rang. As she turned to answer it, Jack gave a shy smile to Samantha and turned for his office. Plopping down in his chair, he could kick himself for letting his guard down on his behavior around Samantha. She was a dangerous cocktail for him, and he feared he would hear more about this from Viv sooner or later.
Vivian knocked on Jack's door. "Jack, that was the nurse at Reggie's school. I hate to do this to you, but I need to go get him. He's running a high fever and vomiting. Marcus is out of town and won't be back until this evening. I'm sorry."
"No, no. Go. I understand. We can cover any leads that Danny or Martin might flush out. I'm hoping we can get our hands on Charlie soon. Let me know if you won't be in tomorrow." He felt himself rambling, but knew it stemmed from being self-conscious after she had just nailed him for flirting with Samantha.
Danny and Martin returned to the office about thirty minutes after Viv left. Sitting across from Jack in his office, Martin made a concerted effort to avoid Jack's eyes and let Danny do most of the talking.
"Okay. Charlie wasn't at school again today and according to his teachers, it's not like him to miss class. We showed Ralph's picture around and several students positively identified him as someone Charlie has been around. We already have the NYPD helping us look for him."
Jack listened intently. "Any of the students have an idea of what Charlie was doing with Wilkinson?"
Danny continued, "They weren't sure, but one kid said Wilkinson always showed up with a couple of men. Interestingly, everyone we talked to were adamant that Charlie wasn't into drugs."
"Well, that sounds strange, but let's hope they're right. Martin? Anything to add?" Jack noticed Martin was avoiding him like the plague. He figured the young agent had learned his lesson and there wasn't any need to keep up the pressure.
Martin seemed genuinely surprised Jack was addressing him without barbs attached to his words. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out the enigma known as Jack.
"One young lady told us Charlie introduced Jennifer to Wilkinson and that the two were dating. I'm thinking it's no coincidence we can't find Charlie right now, either. If they stumbled onto some of Wilkinson's illegal activities, they might both be in trouble."
Jack's phone rang. "Malone." Listening, he shot a quick look at Danny and Martin followed by a disgusted face. "You've got to be kidding me? Now? Both of them? Okay. Okay. But this is really bad timing. I'm already down one agent, so do me a favor and don't keep them unless it's absolutely necessary. Yeah. Alright. They're on the way."
"Crap! That was the ADA Casolaro. He needs both of you over there to prep for your testimony at the Yorke trial. Viv had to go pick up Reggie, so get back over here as quick as you can."
tbc