“No problem, Alex.”
“Thanks for letting me rant a little.”
“Anytime.”
They were quiet as Alex pressed the accelerator.
“By the way, do you really want to get on a plane for New York?”
Alex glanced towards her. “How else are we going to talk to Richmond?”
“Well, it might be easier if we stay here. After all, Ken just told me that he flew in for Radcliffe’s funeral.”
Slowing for another red light, Alex took a deep breath and forced her hands from the steering wheel. “He’s here?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Not sure. Probably wouldn’t be too hard to find out, though, don’t you think?”
Alex nodded. “Hand me your cell phone.”
Teren did, and watched at Alex dialed a number.
“Ben? Hey, good to hear your voice.”
“Jesus Chr– Alex? Where the hell are you?”
“I’m back. Didn’t you hear that?”
“We heard you were back, and Cliff said the bastards had taken your badge. Everybody’s pissed about that.”
“That’s nice to hear, Ben.” The light changed, and she guided the car forward.
“Hey, ‘d’ya hear about Rudy and Tom?”
“No,” she said. “What about Rudy and Tom?” She glanced over at Teren who had raised an eyebrow.
“They found both of them dead. Not sure what happened, just that they were both killed. Cliff said it was being looked into, and he wasn’t sure if it was cause of the case or not.”
“I see.”
Ben paused. “You don’t sound too surprised, Alex.”
“I don’t think anything can surprise me anymore, Ben.”
“Bet you’re wrong.”
She could tell he was smiling. “Well, you can try to surprise me later, Ben, but right now I need a favor. I’m betting you know where Martin Richmond is. Can you tell me?”
“Shoot, course I can, ” he chuckled. “That’s part of the surprise.”
“What?”
“Mark and I did what you told us to. We figured there was somebody in the Bureau who was railroadin’ you for their own purpose. So, we just kind of did what we did without talking to anybody.”
“Which was?”
“Follow the money. And you’ll never guess where it lead us.”
Her mind made the connection, but it took Alex a moment to say it. “To Richmond?”
“Yup.” The older man sounded smug, and she could practically see the wide, satisfied grin on his face. “Didn’t trust nobody with the stuff when we found it — not even Cliff. This morning we high-tailed it over to the Justice Department, to Melissa Kimball, you remember her?”
“Yeah, I remember. I thought she’d been on vacation.”
“She was. Got back just yesterday. Mark and I met with her first thing, and laid out everything we had.”
“What did she say?”
“She issued an arrest warrant. We were just about to leave to go get the son-of-a-bitch. Wanna come?”
Alex put the phone down and yelled in the car. Teren reached for the cellular, but Alex grabbed it first, hearing Ben’s laughter.
“Okay, I’m surprised, and you bet your ass I wanna be there. Where the fuck is he?”
“Now, you watch your language, young lady.”
“Right, excuse me. Where in the hell is he?”
Ben laughed again. “Marriott, near National airport. If you get there ‘fore us, you wait, you hear?”
“You do the same, alright?”
“Sure thing. See you soon, kid.”
She hung up and tossed the phone at Teren, a grin on her face.
“Want to tell me what’s up?”
Alex nodded. “Richmond is at the Marriott, by National.”
“Okay. Is that what made you scream?”
“No. You remember how we talked, on the plane, about who we had evidence against, and who we didn’t?”
“Yes.”
“And we agreed that Richmond would be the last one we’d go after, because we didn’t have much on him. The papers from Eisenbein only mentioned him once or twice.”
“Right. So?”
“So, Ben and Mark followed the money trail, and got the evidence. They also got a warrant for his ass. They’re on their way to arrest him.”
Teren whooped.
They did get to the Marriott first, and Teren thought she might have to restrain her partner to stop her from going right after Richmond. When she saw Ben and Mark pull into the parking lot, with several cop cars behind them, she sighed with relief.
Mark slammed his door and jogged over to Alex lifting her in his arms. “Reis! Goddamn, you had everybody worried.”
“I’m sorry, Mark.” She patted his shoulder and gave him a hug. “I was a little worried myself, for awhile.”
She moved over to Ben and kissed him on the cheek. “Good to see you, Ben.”
“You, too, kid, you too.” He pinched her chin between his thumb and fingers and looked in her eyes. He frowned at what he saw. “You need a vacation, Alex.”
“Yeah, well, I think I might just take one, after we finish this thing.”
“You better — or I’ll hog tie you and take you down south.” He grinned, and hugged her. “Glad you’re still in one piece.”
Her eyes stung, and she blinked them several times. With another smile for Ben, she turned to Teren, to see her in deep discussion with Mark Garnett.
“Oh, boy,” she whispered.
Teren had watched her friend be greeted by her fellow agents, smiling at the obvious concern they showed. When Garnett turned and walked toward her, she steeled herself for his anger and disdain.
She was pleasantly surprised when he held out his hand. “It’s good to see you, Teren. How are you?”
Teren shook his hand with a smile. “I’m okay, Mark. You?”
“Not bad.” He pointed at his face. “The eye healed.”
She chuckled. “I’m glad.”
Mark leaned a little closer, and whispered, “How is Alex, really?”
Her smile faded a little. “Struggling. It’s been rough on her. On both of us. I’ll be very glad when this is over.”
He nodded, and put a friendly hand on her arm. “You look like hell, Teren. Let’s go get this bastard, so you and she can rest, eh?”
Teren raised an eyebrow and regarded him thoughtfully. He winked at her, and she smiled.
“You know, you look like someone mistook you for a weed, Agent Mylos,” Ben called.
“Yeah, I know. I ducked when I should have dived.”
They shared a chuckle, then Ben’s expression turned serious. “Alright. You and Alex can come on in with us, but you can’t be part of the arrest, okay? You need to just kind of stay in the background.”
“Fine,” Alex said. “We just want an answer to one question. Give us a minute to get that, and you can have him.”
“What’s the question?”
“Who’s CJ?”
Mark frowned. “CJ? Who is that?”
“He’s the ring leader of this whole organization, Mark,” Teren answered. “The problem is we don’t know his real name — just CJ. We don’t know if it’s his initials, or a nickname.”
“Hm.” Ben nodded. “We’ll be sure to ask.”
They entered the lobby of the hotel, and Ben got the room number from the front desk. Together, they took the elevator to the sixth floor.
The man who answered their knock tried to tell them that Richmond couldn’t be disturbed. Mark and Ben pushed past him, announcing they had a warrant. Alex was nervous and worried, and kept her hand on her gun until she saw Richmond stand, and Agent Cleves placed the cuffs around his wrist. Then she relaxed.
Richmond, in a soft voice, told his secretary to call his lawyer. Then they led him away.
As they stood waiting for the elevator, Alex leaned over and asked Teren, “Why is it that we always get the ones that shoot back?”
Teren smiled and whispered her answer, “I don’t know, Alex. Maybe I’m a jinx?”
“Nah. You didn’t even show up ‘til after the shooting started.” Alex sighed. “I think it’s cause we’re women, and no one takes us seriously.”
The smile on Teren’s face turned to a grin. “You may be right, Alex.”
The four agents got on the elevator with Richmond. They hadn’t gone down very far, when Ben reached over and pulled the emergency stop button.
“Mr. Richmond, this here is Alex Reis. She’s gonna ask you some questions. Now, she’s no longer with the Bureau, so you don’t have to answer her — course, if you don’t, Agent Mylos here, who’s with the CIA — well, she’s gonna be a little pissed, and we might not be able to stop her from ripping you a new asshole.” He grinned at his prisoner. “Go ahead, Reis.”