Dozer nods. “I’m sure Kynan will want me to map out some different scenarios and probabilities.”
“And then we’ll have to manage Saint,” Bebe points out. “He’s more apt to run off after Mercier and take care of the problem himself.”
“Nah,” Dozer says with a chuckle. “He’s not going to do something stupid, not when Sin’s got a bun in the oven.”
I swivel back and forth between them as they talk out their problem, but I’m only following about half of it. But as interesting as the issue is, I’m sidetracked by something else. “Saint? Sin? Those are their real names? Seriously?”
Bebe smirks. “Yup.”
I shake my head, refocusing. “What’s the risk to Saint?”
Dozer gives me an apologetic smile. “Sorry, man. See… Saint infiltrated an organization that was planning a huge heist—”
“Dozer,” Bebe says in warning.
She gets an eyeroll in return. “Relax… I’m not going to tell Griff about any of the hundreds of ways we might have broken international laws to bring this guy down.”
Bebe groans, putting her face in the palms of her hands. Laughing, I nod at Dozer. “Yeah… don’t tell me those details. But tell me what you can, and maybe I can help.”
It’s Bebe who fills me in. “It’s really not a big deal. Nothing will probably come out of it. But let’s just say Saint executed an ingenious plan that took this guy, Mercier, down for the largest diamond heist in history. The guy was arrested, but he managed to escape before he was brought to trial.”
“And you think he poses a danger to Saint?” I ask.
Bebe shrugs. “Maybe. But maybe not. The man was filthy rich, and he has enough money to disappear forever.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Yet, he showed his face in Antigua. He can’t be that scared he’ll get caught.”
“It’s a catch twenty-two,” Dozer says. “We use our technology to help him get captured and brought to justice, but the flip side is Saint could be at risk for getting in trouble for some of the things he did. Or we just let him continue his life on the run, knowing that as long as he’s outside of custody, he won’t drop the dime on the things he knows about Saint.”
“But,” I manage to conclude, finally understanding. “He might want to execute this vendetta against Saint, meaning he’s at risk that way.”
“Exactly,” Bebe says, sighing so heavily her hair blows back from her forehead. “But… nothing we can do about that right now. It’s going to take some talking things through with Saint, but that’s for later. For right now, we need to start figuring out how to get the information Griff needs on Bogachev.”
“Within the confines of the law,” I add with a grin.
“If you insist,” she drawls dramatically, shooting me a wink. She then nods at the acrylic thought board. “Dozer… you take point. Let’s get to brainstorming.”
The rest of the morning is spent tossing up ideas on the board, arguing them through and erasing those that won’t work. Bebe and Dozer’s brains coming together is an amazing thing to watch, and I’m basically providing the parameters in which they have to work.
At noon, I head out on my own to grab something to eat while Bebe and Dozer meet with Kynan and Saint to discuss this Mercier fellow. As I eat an Italian sub, I’m tempted to google this guy, but I ultimately decide against it.
I’m afraid I might learn something from a news article that could cause me to want to dig a little deeper, which could theoretically lead me to some damning conclusions against Bebe and the people here at Jameson.
And something I’ve come to learn very quickly… I like these guys. Despite their methods and the fact they don’t mesh all that well with my duties as a law enforcement officer, I don’t want to see a single one go down for their… extreme methods.
So instead, I give Aaron a call to see how things are going. I talk to Gloria for a few moments too, mainly to assure her that Bebe is doing okay.
I next handle the unpleasant task of texting a fake update to Bogachev, telling him that I’ve got a promising lead in California and I’ll update him in a few days. That should keep him off my back until then.
If we’re lucky, we’ll have a plan long before I’m obligated to give him another fake update and we can implement a takedown of the bastard.CHAPTER 19BebeMy apartment door opens. Griff comes in looking completely out of place, leading the little four-pound Yorkie by the leash.
This is the weekend I told Dozer I’d watch Brutus so he could do a weekend getaway in Miami with his current flavor. Ordinarily, I’d just stay at Dozer’s place for convenience as he has a tiny fenced-in yard. I have to say it’s much nicer dog sitting while being able to open the back door for him to go out and do his business versus having to walk him on the city streets.