3 Bad Guys Get Caught (18 page)

“
Sex and the City
lifestyle,”
Dennis offered.

“You’re not helping, Dennis,” Janet
snapped. “I can’t backstab her like that.”

“Janet, we don’t have a choice in the
matter,” Ham said firmly. “That’s the nature of our job; sometimes we have to
make tough decisions. It’s been a while since I worked in the field, but
believe me, I know what you’re going through. Mila will be fine; her only
involvement will be that of a witness. Once the investigation is over, she will
be free to go.”

“Well, at least I’m glad I won’t be
there to see the look in her eyes when she learns the truth,” Janet said.

“Thanks, partner.”

As Janet entered the lobby of the gray
office building in downtown Manhattan, located at the address Ham had given her
earlier, it occurred to her that she would’ve never guessed that a building so
ordinary housed offices of the FBI. Matters of supreme importance were being
decided upon beneath the unremarkable façade, but one would’ve never suspected
it from the looks of it. Of course that was the intent, but then it also
depended on how one looked at it; to the FBI’s agents it was probably simply
part of a job, just like preparing tax returns or operating a cash register was
for an accountant or a cashier. Only it wasn’t just a job because decisions
made inside that building could make or break people’s lives.

After checking in with the security
desk, Janet was told to wait to be escorted to the upstairs offices. A few
minutes later, a woman in her early twenties greeted her.

“Janet Maple? I’m Penelope Wice. I work
for Mr. Falk.” She was dressed in a black suit with a knee-length skirt; her
hair was pulled back in a tight bun and her eyes shone brightly with
purposefulness. She had junior agent written all over her.

“Very nice to meet you, Penelope.” Janet
momentarily regretted her loosely hanging hair along with an outfit of jeans
and sweatshirt, but then she wasn’t cooped up in an office, toying around with
paperwork. After last night, she deserved some slack.

“It’s right this way.” Penelope motioned
at the elevator bank.

After the elevator ride they entered a
gray carpeted, gray walled corridor. Penelope led the way until she stopped by
one of the gray metal doors.

“Right this way.” Penelope swung open
the door revealing a small conference room with a round wooden table and chairs
with gray upholstery.

“Thank you.” Janet took a seat.

“Mr. Falk will be right with you.”
Penelope’s elegant shoes made soundless steps down the carpeted floor.

Janet examined the threads of the gray
chair upholstery; the FBI sure had a lousy taste for decorating.

There was a brief knock, and the door
swung open. “Janet? I’m Jeffrey Falk.” A tall, trim man in his mid-fifties
entered the room. “Pleasure to meet you.” He was dressed in a gray suit
(surprise!), white shirt, and a red tie.

“Very nice to meet you, Mr. Falk,”
replied Janet, trying not to wonder whether Falk had to obtain a special
permission for his red tie.

“Please, call me Jeff.”

“Nice to meet you, Jeff.”

“May I?” Falk motioned at a chair across
from Janet’s.

“By all means.”

He sat down and eyed Janet curiously. “I
must say that the agency is very impressed with the headway you’ve made.”

“Oh, it was just a coincidence really.”

“I don’t believe in coincidences when it
comes to investigations. Kovar’s been on our radar for some time now, but we
never could pin anything on him. We’ve had our man undercover there for several
months, and he found nothing. You’ve only been there a few weeks, and already
you found Kovar’s underground casino. Amazing, simply amazing.”

“You have an undercover man in Kovar’s
entourage?”

“Yes, at Panther. You’ll meet him
shortly. He’ll be your backup for tonight’s operation.”

“Tonight’s operation?”

“Yes, forgive me for the lack of detail,
but these things are on a need to know basis only, so even Ham doesn’t know the
specifics. We’re going to take down Kovar’s casino tonight, and I hope that you
will help us.”

“Of course,” Janet replied. Falk’s
polite but firm tone had made it clear that she really didn’t have a choice,
but then wasn’t that what she wanted? Wasn’t that why she’d become an
investigator in the first place: to catch the bad guys? Yes and no. The more
experienced she became at her job, the more she found that the line between bad
and good often became blurred. Sure, the Kovar family deserved to be put away,
but what about the people who worked for them? Janet hardly had any compunction
about the grizzly bodyguards who looked like they had an entry or two in their
criminal records, but the waitresses and the croupier girls at the casino just
seemed to be victims of their circumstances, and then there was Mila.

“I can understand the position you’re
in. Our agents are trained for their assignments. Needless to say, it is human
nature to form attachments, but I want to assure you that the prosecution will
not indict those innocently entangled in this abominable web. We’re only after
Kovar and those who truly did his bidding. It’s a real viper nest, Janet, and
we need your help to clean it out.”

“You can count on me.”

“Great. I think now would be a good time
for you to meet your partner.” Falk picked up the phone. “Would you come in
here, please?”

After a few moments of silent anticipation,
there was a knock on the door. Janet barely had the presence of mind to keep
her mouth closed when she saw Jason, the flirtatious bartender from Panther,
enter the room.

“Hi there, Janet,” Jason greeted her;
there wasn’t even a trace of brogue in his speech.

“Hello, Jason.” Janet wondered if it was
even his real name, but she knew better than to ask.

Jason took a seat next to her. Now his
outgoing demeanor made perfect sense; ever so friendly, Jason was always there
to lend a hand, to play confidant, or maybe even lover, while all the time he
was out looking for information. They were on the same team, but Janet couldn’t
help a welling sense of resentment; she didn’t like being made a fool of.
Still, apparently Jason wasn’t very good at it, for it took Janet’s arrival to
get a tangible lead on Kovar. Jason smiled at her and she smiled back. It made
no sense to hold grudges now that they were going to be working together.

***

As she prepared for her last shift at
Panther, Janet couldn’t help being uneasy. Jeff Falk had assured her that she
would be under the FBI”s protection, and she was convinced that he had meant
it, but people could slip, people could make mistakes, and the FBI agents were
only human after all. She had been pretty cavalier about her actions, but now
the full realization of the predicament she had gotten herself into weighed
down on her shoulders. She was about to bring down an international empire of
drugs, racketeering, money laundering, and God only knew what else, and she was
trembling like a leaf. Maybe she should’ve listened to Dennis from the
beginning, but instead she’d been pigheaded, biting off a piece of action way
too big for her stomach. She wondered what Dennis would do if he were in her
place. Would he be shivering with nervousness or be cool as a cucumber?
Probably the latter. How she wished he were there to comfort her, but he was
busy being prepped for his assignment with Mila. Even if Dennis had been there,
she wouldn’t have been able to tell him a single thing about tonight’s
operation. Besides, Dennis had plenty of things to worry about: tonight he
would be breaking into Anton Kovar’s safe.

Janet took the pendant that Jeff Falk
had given her and hung it around her neck. It wasn’t a token for luck; inside
the pendant was a hidden camera with a very sensitive microphone that was going
to transmit the electronic lock sequence Roman used to open the casino bunker.
The FBI agents would then be able to gain access quietly, taking the entire
outfit by surprise. Of course there was always the option of brute force. The
casino doors were reinforced, but no door provided foolproof protection against
explosives. The disadvantage of this option, however, was the possibility that
the noise from the explosives would give advance warning of the raid, letting
the key people make their escape. At first Falk wouldn’t hear of Janet wearing
the hidden camera, but she had assured him that she could handle the pressure.
It was of utmost importance for the FBI to apprehend Roman Kovar during tonight’s
raid; after that, his uncle would have no choice but to cooperate with the
authorities. According to Mila, as well as the FBI’s independent sources, Anton
and Petr Kovar would be arriving in New York the next day. Prague was six hours
ahead of New York, which meant that uncle and nephew had already boarded
Kovar’s private jet. Tomorrow there’d be a surprise welcome for them at the
airport.

Janet checked her lipstick in the mirror
and grabbed her keys. She patted Baxter behind the ear, instantly feeling
calmer; when all else failed, Baxter was always there for her. “Come on, boy,
you’re staying with Mrs. Chapman tonight.” As if intuiting her tension, Baxter
licked her hand, as though trying to tell her that everything was going to be
all right.

Janet closed her door and rang Mrs.
Chapman’s bell. A few moments later Mrs. Chapman’s door opened.

“Hi there, Janet. My, you look lovely
tonight, a hot date?” Mrs. Chapman eyed Janet’s navy sequined shoes.

“Yes. Dennis is taking me out to
dinner.” Janet shifted from foot to foot. She’d been able to find a pair of
evening shoes very similar to the one she’d worn last night, only these were in
her size. The price tag of two hundred dollars was hefty to say the least. If
she made it out of tonight’s mess, she would make sure that Falk would foot the
bill.

“He’s not picking you up?” Mrs. Chapman
sounded disappointed in Dennis’s slipping manners.

“Oh, he’s just working late, that’s all.
I’m meeting him by his office.”

“He sure works a lot; good husband
material,” Mrs. Chapman whispered, winking.

“We’ll see.” Janet smiled. She had
enough on her mind as it was; she didn’t need to be reminded of Dennis’s
complicated views on the subject of matrimony. “Well, I have to get going or
I’m going to be late.” She stooped to scratch Baxter behind the ear one last
time. “In you go, Baxter,” she whispered, gently pushing him over the threshold
of Mrs. Chapman’s apartment. Usually Baxter would bark up an argument, but this
time he only wagged his tail and joined Mrs. Chapman.

“What a good boy you are, Baxter!” Mrs.
Chapman exclaimed. “Just wait until you see the treats I have for you—” she
broke off, eyeing Janet apologetically. “I promise I bought organic dog
cookies.”

Janet smiled. At least Baxter would be
having a good time tonight. “Thank you, Mrs. Chapman. I don’t know what I’d do
without you.”

A quick cab ride later, Janet was
standing by Panther’s door. Roman let her in himself. Her heart skipped a beat
at this unusual gesture; was he suspecting something already?

“Janet! My favorite hostess.” Roman
kissed her on both cheeks. “The customers were very happy with you last night;
you got glowing praises.”

“Thank you. You’re too kind.” Compared
to Regina’s abrupt demeanor and that of the rest of the girls, being slightly
above civil was enough to earn rave reviews. “I sure enjoyed that extra cash.”

“You’ll have the opportunity to make
some more tonight.”

“Sounds great. I even got the shoes to
fit the job.” Janet wiggled her foot.

“See what I mean? You’re a real worker.
Most girls don’t know the meaning of the word. Those look expensive. I’ll
remember to pay you a little extra for tonight.”

“You don’t have to.” Considering the
fact that tonight was going to be Roman’s last night as a free man, Janet
didn’t feel right asking him for reimbursement.

“Mila is out today again.”

“I know.”

Roman shook his head. “Anton is away and
she thinks she can do whatever she wants, but he’ll be back soon. I’ll need you
to host at Panther until eight thirty, and then we’ll go to the other place.”

“Sounds excellent.” Janet beamed. Her
heart was about ready to explode from the adrenaline pumping through her veins,
but her voice was calm, or at least she hoped it was calm.

Janet went downstairs to change into her
uniform. A few of the girls were there, and she chatted with them, hoping that
the mindless conversation would relax her. It did the trick; as she listened to
the girls’ chatter about their hopes of making it in New York’s modeling /
acting scene and their latest conquests, her thoughts drifted away from the
enormous task that lay ahead of her. Things were going at their usual pace at
Panther, and no one seemed to suspect her of anything.

Janet walked back upstairs. As soon as
she set her foot on the floor, she collided with Jason.

“Easy there, Janet.” He grasped her
elbow to steady her. Sure enough, his brogue was back.

“Thanks. Slippery floors.” She tugged at
her hair, but instantly dropped her hands by her side. What the hell was she
doing? It was a world-known fact that whenever women were nervous, they fumbled
with their hair.

“You be careful in those heels.” Jason
eyed her legs with admiration.

She knew that it was part of an act, but
Janet felt her earlier nervousness return; Jason’s fake Irish banter was the
last thing she needed right now.

“Everything all right?” Roman Kovar had
materialized out of thin air.

“Everything is  awesome, boss.” Jason
grinned at him. “I was just checking on the bar supplies, and Janet here
slipped on the floor. We may want to have it mopped; wouldn’t want to have a
lawsuit on our hands. Well, I’ve got to get back to work. See you all later.”