Denouement

I grabbed a coffee from the lunch room and headed for my office. After turning my key in the lock, I took a seat at my desk. The clock read 7:16 a.m., Wednesday morning. I’d talked to Faust an hour earlier. He said he would stop at the station at eight o’clock. I rubbed my eyes and sipped my coffee. That cup had to be the tenth I’d had since four in the morning, when I’d seen Callie off.

Captain Bostok appeared, walking through the bullpen.

I stood, grabbed my coffee, and headed for my door.

Bostok walked up, holding a giant box of donuts. “You’re here early,” he said.

“I sent Callie off and couldn’t fall back asleep. Plus, Faust said he was stopping in at eight. What’s with the donuts?”

“I have a meeting with Danes and the board in a couple minutes upstairs. I’m just trying to grease the wheels.” Bostok smiled. “What’s Faust stopping over for?”

“I don’t know. I’m still pissed about being blocked out of whatever they have going on.”

The captain nodded and motioned for me to follow him into his office.

I did and took a seat across from him at his desk.

Bostok spun the box of donuts toward me. “Dig in.”

I grabbed a cruller.

“What time did you send Callie off?” Bostok asked.

“About four o’clock or so. It’s a three-hour drive up to where Faust got them set up. She was supposed to meet everyone around now. I’ll give her a call in a couple minutes and see where she’s at. I can’t say I’m happy about any of this.”

“Did Faust give you anything on Azarov?”

“Not really. Basically, they are putting my family up in a safe house until they finish doing whatever they are doing. The only thing concrete I got from Faust was to make no attempt to do anything regarding finding Ray or arresting him. It looks like they even put someone on me to make sure I didn’t.”

“The feds put someone on watching you?” Bostok asked.

“Yup. Black sedan with government plates followed me from my condo to work this morning.”

“Nice.” Bostok rubbed his eyes. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around how Azarov could have lived. You shot him six times. The last, you said, was with his Desert Eagle at five feet? I mean, he should have had a hole in his back this big.” He held up his hands in a ten-inch circle.

I shook my head. “I don’t know.”

“No. I mean literally, how the hell could he have survived that? Even if he was wearing a vest.”

I held up my palms. “Like I said: I don’t know, Cap.”

Bostok grabbed a donut from the box and took a bite. Pink frosting clung to his snow-white mustache. He leaned back and talked between chews. “Someone helped him get out of the water,” he said.

“I know. It was the first thought that crossed my mind when Faust told me he was alive. Ray damn sure didn’t swim to shore. It had to be someone from the Coast Guard. I asked Faust to see if he could get me bank and cell-phone records for whoever was on that day. Maybe someone got paid off. Just because I can’t go after Ray doesn’t mean I’m going to let whoever helped him skate.”

Bostok glanced at his watch and stood. “Hey, I need to get upstairs for this meeting. Let me know what Faust says.”

“Will do.” I slid my chair back. “I need to call Callie anyway.”

I left Bostok’s office, walked next door, and took a seat at my desk. I grabbed the desk phone and called the prepaid phone I’d gotten for Callie.

She picked up within a few rings. “Hi, babe. I just got here. I was going to call you in a couple minutes,” she said.

“Good. You got there okay? You weren’t followed? Did you remember to leave your phone at the house?”

“I left the phone. Did you remember to leave yours?” she asked.

“Yeah. I have the one I picked up yesterday in my pocket. The only people who have the number are you, Hank, dispatch, and the captain. How is everything there?”

“Fine,” she said.

“How did Butch do in the car?”

“He was good. He had his head out the window like a dog for part of the ride.” Callie chuckled.

I smiled at the thought. “Is everyone else there?”

“Yup. Your dad, Sandy, Melissa, Jeff, and Tommy. We’re all here.”

“How many agents?” I asked.

“Two of them.”

“Good.”

“Um, how long are we going to have to stay here?” Callie asked.

“Hopefully, not more than a few days.”

“Okay. Remember we have that doctor’s appointment next week.”

“I know,” I said.

“What about the home inspector?” she asked.

“I already called Kathy. She’s going to meet him over there tomorrow. I don’t need to be there.”

“All right. Can you let me know how the inspection goes?”

“Of course.”

Callie let out a long breath. “I’m sorry, Carl. I thought we were done with this.”

“Sorry?” I asked.

“The whole thing with Viktor and Ray is my fault. I mean, I see your family here, hiding out, and I can’t help but feel guilty.”

“It’s not like that, Cal.”

“Did you find out anything?”

“Faust is stopping in shortly. Hopefully, I’ll know more soon.”

Hank stopped at my office door and tapped on the sill. Then he saw me on the phone. “Sorry,” he said.

“Hold on one second, babe.” I moved the receiver from my mouth and looked at Hank. “What’s up?”

“I just saw Faust walking in. He has another guy with him,” he said.

I glanced at my desk clock. He was early by almost a half hour.

“Tell him I’ll be with him in a second.”

“Sure,” Hank said and walked away.

I gave my attention back to Callie. “Hey, Faust just showed up, I guess. I’ll give you a call back in a little bit.”

“Okay. I love you.”

“Love you, too.” I hung up and stood from my desk. Through the windows of my office, I saw Hank talking with Faust and another man in the bullpen. I stepped outside my office door and waved Faust over.

He and the other guy headed my way.

“Faust,” I said with a handshake.

“Kane,” he said. Faust introduced the agent accompanying him. The guy’s name was Hodges.

I looked him up and down. He was small for an FBI agent. From everything I’d seen, the agency’s minimum height seemed to be six foot. That guy was barely five eight. Wearing street clothes, he was thin, maybe a hundred and sixty pounds—wet. His brown hair was short and his handshake limp.

I closed the door at their backs, rounded my desk, and took my seat. Faust and Hodges pulled out the guest chairs across from me.

In front of Faust, on my desk, was a thick manila folder he’d carried in. I assumed it to be the Coast Guard members’ bank and phone records. He rested his hands on it. “I just got word that your family is at our place and secure,” Faust said.

“I know. I talked to Callie a few minutes ago. How long are they going to be there?” I asked.

“This whole thing should go pretty quick. We have a meeting set with Azarov tomorrow night,” Faust said. “If all goes well—and we don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t—we’ll take him into custody after this meeting.”

I rocked back in my chair. “I can’t say that I’m exactly on board with any of this, Faust. I don’t like being in the dark. Especially when my family is involved and when the murder charges I have on Azarov, I’m sure, trump whatever you guys are doing.”

“I just… It’s the way it has to be done, Kane. As soon as we have him, we’ll send him over to you for the homicides you have on him.”

“Why do you have someone following me?” I asked.

Faust looked at Hodges.

Hodges looked away, sealing his guilt.

“So it’s you?” I asked.

He looked at me. “Agent Faust brought me in this morning to meet with you and let you know I’ll be close by,” he said. “I’ve been assigned for your protection.”

I raised my eyebrows. “You’re going to protect me?” I looked back at Faust. “Is that a joke? Why don’t you call it what it is? He’s babysitting me and going to call you if I attempt to take matters into my own hands.”

Hodges remained quiet.

Faust scratched his black-and-gray beard. “It’s two part, Kane. I want someone watching your back, and yeah, we need to make sure you don’t interfere with what we have going on.”

“What exactly is it that you have going on that’s so damn important?”

“You know I can’t get into specifics, but we have to do this a certain way to make sure all the other pieces fall into place.”

“Other pieces?” I asked.

“Just trust me that everything here is in your best interest. After we conclude our meeting with Azarov, we’ll have enough to take down every remaining member of his organization permanently. That means no more looking over your shoulder.”

That small piece of information was the most Faust had given me yet. I’d assumed they were working some kind of organized crime case or were back on whatever he and Viktor were doing regarding counterfeiting. Whatever it was, I did like the sound of every person involved with him going behind bars. However, I still remained annoyed at the current situation.

“As far as this meeting you have with him, what makes you so sure he’ll show?” I asked.

“He’ll be there. The meeting can make or break him financially,” Faust said. “Either way, not the reason for the visit. I just wanted to introduce Hodges to you and give you this.” Faust slid over the folder he’d brought.

“What’s this? Coast Guard bank and phone records?” I asked.

“Bank and phone records, yeah,” Faust said. “But not from the Coast Guard. My guys brought this to me this morning. Unfortunately, it looks like one of yours was involved.”

I cracked my neck from side to side then opened the cover of the folder and caught the name: Iler.

“You checked into the Coast Guard members as well?” I asked.

“I had my guys pull everything on everyone that was there that day—Coast Guard and TPD. This guy is the only person that’s questionable.”

“Son of a bitch,” I said. “You haven’t talked with him yet?”

“No. He’s one of yours, so we’re letting you handle it.”

“I’m going to handle it all right,” I said.

“Well, if you bring him in for questioning, you’re going to have to bury him somewhere until our operation is over. We don’t know what his relationship is with Azarov and can’t risk him blowing the whole thing up.”

I pressed my fingers into my eyes and let out a long breath. “Yeah.”

Faust stood. “I’ll give you a call tomorrow and touch base.”