Listen To Her Heart, page 10
Rheyna took a deep breath and then sighed. “You would assume correctly. I swear to god though, we anymore clean up one mess and someone is right there to take over and start another one. It’s a vicious damn cycle.”
Yalen agreed with her one-hundred percent. “I hear you.” A part of her missed this part of the job. The part that took her to unfamiliar places where she had to tread carefully in an unknown territory; her wits and common sense being the only thing to keep her alive on most days.
Being in the CIA or FBI, wasn’t always about blood and guts and combat and spy gadgets like you see in the movies, it was also a mental game where you had to stay one step ahead of the baddies. One mistake, one wrong word, and you’d end up with a bullet in the back of your head or worse, dumped into a river with cement shoes while you were still breathing.
“So, what’s going on, Yalen? I know you wouldn’t have called if it weren’t extremely important. Are you okay?” Rheyna asked, her voice pulling Yalen from her thoughts.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Yalen laughed.
“Yeah and I hear a big ‘but’ in there.”
Yalen smiled. Rheyna knew her too damn well. She brushed her hair back from her face. “I’ve got myself mixed up in something really stupid and it has now turned serious.”
“I’ve got some time, so how about you start at the beginning then,” Rheyna chuckled.
For the next fifteen minutes, Yalen filled Rheyna in on everything that had happened, starting with the online dating scam. No matter how embarrassed she might be, she knew she couldn’t leave out one single detail; otherwise, Rheyna might not be able to help her.
When she was finally finished, she let out a deep breath. She hadn’t realized how good it would feel to finally get everything off her chest and out in the open to someone. Although she had her friends and now Briana, she hadn’t been able to tell all of them the entire story, only bits and pieces and she had chosen to do it that way in order to protect them. Very few people knew she was ex-CIA and those who did know, knew they couldn’t tell anyone.
Yalen remembered feeling relieved when none of them had asked her for details about her work. Even if they had asked, she wouldn’t have told them. There were some things in her life, things that she had done while on the job, things she wasn’t proud of and those were the things she would take to her grave. The only saving grace was in knowing that most CIA officers and some FBI agents too, held the same type of secrets. That knowledge brought small comfort—she wasn’t alone.
Rheyna was quiet for a few minutes after Yalen finished with her story. “I hate to say this but it sounds like we’re barking up the same tree.”
“What makes you say that?” Yalen asked although she knew what Rheyna meant. After all, she was in Prague and if she was in Prague it was for one reason and one reason only—the Vory. Yalen knew the scenario all too well.
“You know if I’m in Prague, it means one thing,” Rheyna said as if reading Yalen’s mind, which confirmed her suspicions.
“I thought as much. What is it this time? Drugs, gambling, money laundering?”
“D, all of the above and you can add in sex trafficking and major arms dealing. We’re not talking rifles and hand grenades this time. They’ve been unloading surface to air missiles, all Russian made. Our urgency though, concerns stealth technology, meaning a new machine that’s capable of detecting every one of our Stealth Bombers and we’ve tied it back to the Czech’s who are working in concert with the Albanians. Our Intel says there is a disk floating around that’s about to be put on the auction block to the highest bidder.”
“Let me guess who’s interested, Vladimir Lebedev and the Russians?”
“You got it, along with China, North Korea, and Iran.”
“So the online dating scam’s just a new avenue of revenue in order to fund their other operations?” Yalen asked as she tried to piece it all together.
“That would be my guess because our Intel shows that the Albanians have safe houses in Prague where the women are being brought before they are shipped to one of five different strip clubs around London. They also have a warehouse here that’s used as a stationing hub before the women are either shipped to the U.K. or Brighton Beach, and from there, they are sold as sex slaves. The Vory’s main place for conducting business in the U.K. is a gentleman’s club owned by Lebedev called Mystics.”
Rheyna paused for a moment. “I know it’s not much of a consolation but your girl probably didn’t have much choice in the matter. If she refused, you know the consequences with the Vory.”
“Jesus Christ. This is unbelievable,” Yalen said, shaking her head. She knew the consequences all right—death.
“It’s far worse than when we were here before, Yalen … so much worse. A lot of the low-life criminals we dealt with have been replaced with college-educated men and women wearing thousand dollar business suits and the officials in Russia are in it up to their ass. The former KGB is now part of the Russian Mafia and how the hell anyone expects us to put a stop to it when the entire damn country is being run by criminals, including its President, is beyond me.”
Yalen could hear the frustration in Rheyna’s voice and she knew that feeling well. “You’re preaching to the choir,” Yalen laughed. “When the President of Russia is tied to the Vory, what chance do we have to shut off the pipeline? Those weapons aren’t being used on him or his country and you know damn well he doesn’t give a rat’s ass in China if the U.S. is where they’ll end up. The bastard probably gets off on the fact that Americans will die while his bank account just gets bigger. Personally, I think we’re fighting a losing battle.”
“I know and it’s depressing as hell if I think about it too long. Listen, Yalen, who else have you talked to about this? The reason I ask is because we have quite a few hitters enquiring about this disk and the CIA is heavily involved as well. I have a bad feeling about this one and my gut is telling me that there is more to this disk than just stealth technology.”
“You know as well as I do that the gut doesn’t lie. It’s the only thing you can really trust in this business and the only person I’ve had contact with is Kramer. The other is the investigator I told you about. He’s the one who linked my girl with the head Vory in the U.K.”
“Okay, good. I trust Kramer to a certain degree from what I know of him. He seems like a good man and you know how my trust scale runs these days.”
“Can’t say I blame you there,” Yalen said.
“The reason why I asked is because we’ve run into the same problem again only we’re leaking like a sieve and the leaks aren’t just in the bureau, you’ve got one, maybe more on your side. We also know that Scotland Yard has a problem as well and if they do, my guess is MI5 and MI6 is in the same boat. Whatever you do, don’t trust anyone else outside of Kramer with this information. The Vory have grown so big, they have officials in their pockets who normally wouldn’t take a dime if it didn’t belong to them.”
“Are you kidding? I don’t trust anyone as far as I can throw them and trust me, at my age, I can’t throw very far at all anymore,” Yalen laughed, trying to lighten the mood with a little humor.
“So now that we’ve got the doom and gloom from around the world taken care of, what’s your plan?”
“I’m going to the U.K. and I’m going to find this woman.”
Rheyna laughed. “And what are you going to do when you find her because we both know you will.”
Yalen was quiet for a moment as she thought about the question. “You know, I was so angry that I just wanted to shake her and tell her to wake up and then a part of me wanted to see her in jail because I have no doubt she’s done this same thing to other women, probably men, too.”
Now was the time for Yalen to be completely honest about her motives. “I’ve given it a lot of thought over the last couple of hours and like you said, I did consider that maybe she was being forced to do these things, especially after I knew for sure that the Vory was involved.”
“She did send you that email warning and she didn’t have to do that. So on some level, she cared enough to try and protect you, and she did that at great risk.”
Yalen nodded in agreement. “I know, I thought about that as well and that’s why my motives have changed. I want to try and help her now. If I was a betting person, I would put my money on her being forced to do what she does.”
“You also started caring about her too, didn’t you?” Rheyna asked, surprising Yalen.
“Yeah, I did,” Yalen reluctantly admitted. “It’s funny but you hear people say they can’t shut their feelings or emotions off like a light switch but I was able to do just that with Emily or whatever her name is.”
“Nothing odd about that. Your mind and heart both realized that everything was a lie, so how can you possibly be having feelings for someone that you know doesn’t exist, at least not in the way you originally thought. How do you feel about her now?”
Yalen really didn’t want to have this conversation. “I feel indifferent. The feelings I have for her right now is sympathy.”
“I understand. Been there, done that unfortunately. In our line of work, it’s bound to happen and more than once.”
Yalen laughed. “Once is enough for me, thank you very much.”
“All right, how can I help you?”
“I’m not going up against the mafia without being prepared, so I’m going to need weapons, ammo, and a few other supplies. Most, I have on hand but there are a couple of things I’ll need when I get there. I would take my own gun but it would raise too many questions with Homeland Security and if I could get around them, I wouldn’t be able to get it into the U.K.”
“I can definitely help you in that area. When are you leaving?”
Yalen reached over and turned on her desk lamp. “As soon as we’re done, I’m going to book our flights.”
“You know having the model with you is not a good idea.”
“Don’t I know it but if I leave without her, she’s going to show up on her own. She’s pretty damn stubborn. It’s maddening.”
Rheyna laughed. “Sounds like you’ve met your match.”
Yalen chuckled. “Yeah, match made in hell is more like it. At least if she’s with me, she can’t get into any trouble.”
“Does she know?”
“No,” Yalen answered, shaking her head.
“It’s going to be hard to keep it from her, especially once you hit the streets. Another thing, if your girl’s boss knows she blew it with you, they’re liable to be ready. Chances are she told them that you threatened her.”
“I know and I’ve been thinking on how to handle it with her. It’s just … the less Briana knows, the safer she will be.”
Rheyna paused and then said, “I’ll tell you what, I’m going to make a few calls and see if I can find out some more info.”
“Sounds great, I’ll be here waiting on your call. I doubt if I’ll get much sleep tonight, so call no matter what time it is.”
“I will and it was good to talk to you, Yalen. I’ve missed you.”
“Same here,” Yalen said and disconnected the line. She tossed the phone onto the desk. She couldn’t help the uneasy feeling creeping into her gut as she leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. A sound from the hall made her sit up in the chair.
Briana slowly pushed the door open.
“I didn’t hear you come in. How long have you been standing there?” Yalen asked, leaning forward with her arms resting on the desk as she looked at Briana.
Briana shook her head. “Not that long … just long enough to know you’ve been hiding a lot from me.”
Yalen swallowed what felt like a lump the size of Texas. “You … you … don’t understand, Briana,” she stammered, shaking her head and by the look on Briana’s face, it was the wrong thing to say.
Briana felt her temper flare. Consumed with more anger than she had felt in years, she glared at Yalen and for a brief moment she thought she saw Yalen flinch as if someone had hit her. She took several steps and stopped next to the desk. She leaned forward, bringing her face less than six inches from Yalen’s face. “Let me tell you what I do understand,” she said accusingly, pointing her finger at Yalen’s face. “You aren’t who you claim to be and not only that, this wacko bitch that you were dating online is part of some red mafia thingy or something, and now I’m in the middle of it, yet you never thought for one moment that this was maybe something I should know about.”
“But—”
“I’m not finished,” Briana interrupted with a growl.
“Sorry,” Yalen mumbled, holding her hands up in the air in complete surrender.
“I asked you yesterday. I told you that I knew you were hiding something and do you have any idea how that makes me feel? Like I’m some stereotypical ditzy blonde who is just too dumb for anyone to bother having a decent conversation with because it would be a colossal waste of their time and it would be way over my head. Well, let me tell you something, miss smart book person or whoever you are,” she said and walked around the desk. “I have a bachelor’s degree in Business Management and I graduated with a perfect grade point average but you wouldn’t know that would you and you know why you wouldn’t know that?”
Yalen opened her mouth to answer but quickly closed it.
“You wouldn’t know because you had already made up your mind about me from the minute we met, probably before then if the truth was known. I’m just not smart enough to be anything but a damn pretty face on a sales ad to convince women to buy sexy lingerie who otherwise, shouldn’t be caught dead in it. You know what you can do, Yalen Martinez?”
Again Yalen started to open her mouth and thought better of it.
Briana looked at Yalen, her eyebrow raised. The look on her face was one of those Go on, I dare you to open your mouth right now, looks and for reasons Yalen couldn’t explain, she definitely knew better.
“You can go to hell!” With a triumphant smile on her face, Briana turned and left the room, slamming the door shut behind her with a loud bang.
For several minutes, Yalen just sat there in shock. She knew she looked like a guppy because she could feel her mouth opening and closing but no words came out. She shook her head as if to shake away everything that had just happened. Several more minutes passed before she finally snapped herself out of it. She jumped up from her chair and begun pacing back and forth in front of the desk.
“What in the name of fuck was that?” she said out loud. “I’ll tell you what it was, a whirling goddamn dervish, only worse.” She never saw that coming and here she was worried that Briana wouldn’t be able to protect herself. Without meaning to, she busted out laughing. “Oh, dios, just wait until the Vory get a load of her. They will be so sorry and beg us to leave. Hell they’d probably pay me to take her away.” What was I thinking? Even if she and I were the same age it would never work, Yalen thought.
“Match made in hell is right. Damn stubborn woman,” she mumbled under her breath and even as she said the words, she couldn’t help but smile. The woman was definitely outspoken; she had to give her that and Yalen actually admired her for it, although she would never admit that to Briana.
Briana sat in the middle of the bed, her legs crossed Indian style. She wiped at the tears running down her cheek. It was always the same whether it came from a woman or a man. She’s not smart enough, not capable of understanding the simplest things and it was all based on the way she looked. If it wasn’t that she was dumb, then she must be a stuck up bitch who thought she was better than everyone else.
She was sick of people judging her based on her looks, the outside cover. “How ironic,” she laughed. “Judging a book by its cover. You’d think an author of all people would know better.”
And to think I found her attractive. She’s just like everyone else, she thought as her mind replayed her outburst. “I never gave her a chance to get a word in but she didn’t give me a chance either.” They weren’t even though, not by a long shot and Yalen had some explaining to do.
She hopped off the bed and grabbed her laptop bag from on top of the dresser. She tossed it on the bed and then smiled as she plumped several pillows up against the headboard. “I might as well make myself comfortable. It’s going to be a long night.”
She climbed back up on the bed, unzipped the bag, pulled out her laptop, and then waited for it to power ‘on’.
“You may know some things I don’t but in the mean time, I’m going to do some investigating of my own. Oh how I love Google,” she said, bringing up the search engine. ”
Yalen stood in the hallway, her forehead pressed against the door to Briana’s bedroom. She owed Briana an apology and she was about to knock when she heard sniffles followed by Briana mumbling to herself. She had made Briana cry and felt like the biggest heel on the planet. She didn’t know how long she had stood by the door but finally, when she heard no more sounds coming from the room, she had assumed that Briana had fallen asleep and went back to her office. She needed to get their plane tickets reserved and then needed to work on the list of supplies she was going to need.
When she was finished with that, she would do more research while she waited for Rheyna’s call and in the morning, she would have a talk with Briana. For some reason she thought other than the apologizing part that she would have to do, there might just be some groveling involved considering how stubborn the woman was.
She shook her head and smiled as she thought about Briana. “What a pistol. My father would have really liked you, Briana Latham, I know I sure do.”
Chapter 8
Karzi pulled the ringing cell out from inside his suit jacket pocket. He looked at the caller ID and then answered the phone. “You have information for me,” he said into the receiver.
“The reservation was made six hours ago with Delta.”
Karzi glanced at his watch. It was nine A.M. London time, which meant the author had bought the ticket at three in the morning. So she like bat or owl, don’t sleep much maybe, he thought to himself. “When is flight?” he asked. This was good news but it was also bad news and meant he had one more headache to deal with and more mess to clean up. He had hoped that the author was bluffing but that apparently was not the case. When he found Emily, he was going to strangle her with his fucking bare hands for putting him in this position.
