Worth Dying For (39 page)

She nodded and smiled. “I do understand, and I also understand that Rheyna was the best thing to ever happen to my daughter, and I think the reverse was true for her as well. When the two of them were together, it was like the sun and sky. I’ve never been one to believe in soul mates, but I truly believe that’s exactly what the two of them were to each other.”

She leaned against the side of the car and sighed deeply. “As for Anthony, I guess deep down, I always knew it was only a matter of time before it came to this,” she said, looking out over the bluff. She absentmindedly fumbled with the top button on her blouse as she collected her thoughts. She struggled with the words now caught in her throat, and Edwards could see the pain in her eyes.

“I did care for my husband, Agent Edwards, but even I have a breaking point. I’d had enough. I just couldn’t take it anymore. I made a decision to no longer stand idly by and watch him destroy yet another life. It makes me sick to my stomach to think of all the decent people he’s ruined—or worse yet, killed. Some of those people meant the world to me.”

Edwards felt for this woman. She was a good person, and through unforeseen circumstances, and no fault of her own, she had been thrown into the Mafia way of life—a life fueled by greed, power, and crime so brutal, it usually resulted in death. It was inevitable. It was the La Cosa Nostra way and always would be.

“You know I could lose my job and possibly my freedom for what I’m about to do,” he said, sliding his hand inside his jacket pocket. He pulled out the cassette tape from the surveillance room and handed it to her along with a small, white envelope. “But I don’t really care. I think you and Caroline have suffered enough and it’s the least I can do to repay you.”

She watched him take out his pocketknife and cut a slit in the envelope. He pulled out several sheets of paper. He looked at the offshore bank account numbers used to launder the money from Bayshore. He quickly scanned the sheet containing the names of several high profile officials on the mob’s payroll and their payoff schedules. It also included the amounts they had already been paid.

He felt his stomach knot up as he removed the photos paper-clipped to the top of the page. He shook his head in disbelief as he looked at the photo showing Special Agent Carl Stevens accepting an envelope while shaking the outstretched hand of Sonny Valachi. He thumbed through the photos, each one showing Stevens at a different time and place as he met up with Big Tony’s right hand man. He stuffed the items back into the envelope and took out a cigarette.

“Thank you, Terasa,” he said, opening the car door.

Terasa and Vincent got back in the limo, and Edwards watched them leave as quietly as they had arrived. He waited until the limousine’s taillights disappeared over the hill and out of sight before getting into his car. He took a drag from his cigarette and blew the smoke out the window.

How could Stevens have done this? They were supposed to be best friends. Their wives shopped together, their kids attended the same schools. Hell, they even went on family camping trips together. How could he have been so heartless to do this to Rheyna—and for what, a few extra thousand dollars?

From the beginning, he knew this didn’t feel right; he felt it in his gut sitting in his office the night the team had their first meeting, and somewhere deep inside, he had suspected Stevens could be the leak. There were just too many coincidences. He had discovered that in some way or another, Stevens had direct access to the information coming from the bureau’s relationship with the informants. Each time he found an inconsistency, he excused it away with some sort of rationalization.

He just didn’t want to believe it, and although the hard truth was staring him in the face—along with the documents and pictures to prove it, he still had a hard time accepting it. He should have known to trust his gut and because he didn’t, his agent paid a very high price. He felt responsible for what happened to Rheyna. He broke his own rule—he forgot to practice what he preached.

Laura had reminded him not too long ago to look at the little details inside the big picture. She gave him a taste of his own medicine, and he hadn’t heeded his own advice. All along, the details pointing to Stevens were there, and he ignored them.

He let his mind drift back to when he first entertained the idea it could be Stevens. It was the conversation with Laura after Paulie and Georgie were killed in front of the delicatessen. Stevens blatantly ignored the notion a hit was going to take place, and he ignored Laura’s suggestion to contact the L.A. field office.

However, it was when Laura commented on Aldrich Ames that he seriously considered the idea. Ames had also been a thirty-year man in the bureau. It was obvious by Laura’s comment that she had also entertained the idea of it being Stevens. What Stevens had done was comparable to the heinous acts perpetrated by Aldrich Ames’ betrayal to America.

At the time of his arrest in 1994, Ames had been spying for the Soviet U.S.S.R. for nine years, having received nearly two-million dollars. His betrayal turned out to be one of the deadliest in U.S. history, costing several Russian informants their lives. Ames had sold the identities of those informants to the KGB and once the KGB had the informants’ names, the men were rounded up, arrested, and then executed.

Edwards started the engine and backed the car out of the parking lot. He glanced down at his watch. His flight back to Washington was not due to leave for another three hours. That would give him plenty of time to hang out in the airport bar for several much-needed drinks. Laura and Stevens had left the day before and would already be there when he arrived. He picked up his phone and dialed Laura’s cell number.

###

Five hours later, Edwards pushed through the double doors of the J. Edgar Hoover building. He noticed Laura sitting on one of the sofas with two armed guards standing a few feet away. She stood up, walked over to him, and waited as he flashed his badge to the security guard behind the desk. Then the two of them, along with the guards, stepped inside the elevator. They rode up to the fifth floor in silence, both knowing that nothing was worse than arresting one of your own for a crime. What made this especially bad was the crime hadn’t only been against a fellow agent, but a minimum of seven informants had lost their lives in the process.

###

When Edwards had phoned Laura on the way to the airport and confirmed that Stevens was the mole, she was not the least bit surprised, and like Edwards, she felt guilty. She felt guilty for not being able to answer her cell phone and for not pushing the issue harder with him regarding her suspicions. She listened as he filled her in on the details.

Afterward, he was grateful that she was professional enough not to say, “I told you so.” It wasn’t her style, and he knew it. She was too classy for such pettiness, and he appreciated it.

Although it took only seconds to reach the fifth floor, it felt like forever. Normally, Edwards dreaded moments like these, but all he felt right now was anger—blood-boiling anger. He stepped through the open doors and felt an immediate rush of adrenaline.

Stevens was standing at the end of the hallway near the conference room. A puzzled look crossed his face as he looked at Laura and then at Edwards, and then at the two guards walking beside them.

Edwards walked up to him and stopped. He leaned forward and brought his face within an inch of Stevens’.

Edwards glared at him, feeling nothing but rage. He looked Stevens squarely in the eyes. “You’re under arrest, you son-of-a-bitch,” he said through clenched teeth.

Stevens held his hand up to protest, and without giving it a second thought, Edwards drew his arm back and hit Stevens squarely in the mouth with his fist. The impact sent Stevens reeling backward into the wall. He instinctively put his arms up in front of his face as Edwards drew his arm back to strike him again.

“No, Kyle, he’s not worth it,” Laura said, grabbing Edwards by the arm, pulling him back.

Stevens slowly got to his feet. He used the back of his sleeve to wipe the blood from his mouth. He started to say something and stopped when Edwards and Laura both turned their backs to him.

Edwards nodded at the guards, who proceeded to slam Stevens up against the wall. They pulled his arms behind his back and as they cuffed him, doors began opening along the hallway. Several agents came out of the adjoining offices and watched with a look of dismay as one of their own was led away in handcuffs.

###

Terasa stood at the door for several minutes looking at Caroline. She was glad to see Caroline had gained some of her weight back, and she was equally thrilled to see that she had finally left her bedroom, even if she was only standing on the outside balcony.

The past month and a half had been so hard on her. She thought about Edwards and the risk she herself had taken. What she had done would have been unfathomable if her husband were still alive. In fact, she would have paid the highest price for her betrayal. She would have paid with her own life.

Terasa went outside. She leaned against the rail next to her daughter. Caroline smiled as Terasa wrapped her arm around her waist.

“I love the view from up here,” Caroline said as she looked out across the bay.

Terasa looked around the expansive property and nodded in agreement. She sighed heavily. “The view is what first sold me on the property when we decided to build the house.”

It felt like a lifetime ago. She turned to Caroline and reached up to brush a few stray hairs back from her face. “You know, I have truly loved only one person in my life,” she said, and then paused to collect her thoughts. “I met her in Sicily while attending college. I was twenty-two at the time, she was twenty-four.” She laughed at the surprised look on Caroline’s face as the realization of what her words meant sank in.

“Oh—wow, Mom, I had no idea,” Caroline said, unable to keep the surprise from her voice.

Terasa smiled and looked back out at the bay. “When my father found out, he forbade me from ever seeing her again.” She laughed again at the shocked expression on Caroline’s face.

“What did you do?”
 

Terasa chuckled. “We sneaked around until we got caught, and when your grandfather found out, he sent me to America. He arranged for me to marry your father and told me that if I cared about Serena, I would do as he asked, or she would pay the price for my disobedience.”

Caroline turned to look directly at her mom. She reached up and wiped the tears from Terasa’s cheek. After all these years, she could clearly see the pain in her mother’s eyes.

“She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, with hair like black silk and piercing grey eyes. In a lot of ways, Rheyna reminded me of her.”

Terasa smiled as she thought about how much Serena and Rheyna resembled each other. There were times when she thought if Serena ever had a child, she would look just like Rheyna. “I wanted to die. Just knowing that Serena was out there somewhere without me was unbearable,” she said, her voice shaking with emotion. She turned to look at Caroline. “But I loved her enough to let her go.”

Terasa tried unsuccessfully to keep the tears from spilling down her cheeks. She placed her hands on Caroline’s face so she could look her in the eye. “No person on the face of this earth should ever be forced to pretend to be something they’re not, or to live life as a lie.”

Caroline’s heart was breaking for her mother. “Maybe you can still find Serena. There’s no one to stop you now.”
 

“Maybe,” Terasa said, taking Caroline by the hand. “Come with me, there’s someplace I want to take you.”

“And where might that be?” Caroline asked as she let Terasa lead her back into the house.

A sly smile formed on Terasa’s mouth. “You’ll just have to wait and see,” she answered as they stepped outside to the waiting limo and Vincent. He nodded to Caroline and smiled as he held the door open.

Caroline turned to Terasa with a puzzled look on her face. Her mom was up to something and had obviously enlisted Vincent’s help in this little adventure. “Can’t you at least give me a clue?” she asked after they were settled onto the backseat.

Terasa shook her head and gently squeezed Caroline’s hand. “No, I told you it’s a surprise.” Terasa thought about the strings she had to pull to make this happen and the countless number of favors she now owed. They were big ones, but in a short time, each one would be worth it because Caroline was the only thing that mattered to her. She would do anything to ensure her daughter’s happiness, no matter the cost.