“That person repaid the debt owed to me. His loyalties are back with the club. All we would be doing is exposing our interest in Varrick. As far as getting an informant goes, it is rare to get one in the club. Our chances of getting one in The Brotherhood would be good, providing we can find someone connected with Varrick that could help us.”

“So we keep doing what we’re doing?” asked Connie. “I feel like we’re spinning our wheels and going nowhere.”

“If the bikers were going to cut Varrick loose, they would have already done so. They plan on using him, but are being unusually cautious.”

“Hope you’re right.”

The morning of April 1 arrived and Jack and Laura were on surveillance at Headstones. When Varrick left in the usual black pickup, he started driving aimlessly around some of the side streets in White Rock.

“He’s doing heat checks!” said Laura.

“Something’s up,” replied Jack. “See if anyone is around to help us. No use following him around in the residential area, we’ll only get burned. If he doesn’t come out, we can start a search later to see where he’s parked. Let’s set up on 152nd Street. That’s the usual route for him to take if he’s heading out. See if anyone is available to give us a hand. Get them to set up on 148th and 16th Avenue, as well.”

Laura grabbed the police radio and a marked police unit pretended to work radar while watching for Varrick’s truck.

Twenty minutes later, Jack and Laura saw Varrick driving northbound on 152nd Street and they followed. Minutes later, a couple more cars from Drug Section answered the call for assistance and joined in on the surveillance. They weren’t needed. Varrick believed he had cleansed himself of any possible police surveillance and drove directly to a small strip mall in Port Coquitlam. He parked his truck and got in the passenger side of a white van. The surveillance team followed the van as it left the mall.

Jack radioed in the licence plate and the registered owner turned out to be a young woman who did not have a criminal record and lived in a house in Abbotsford.

“Anyone get a look at the driver?” asked Jack, as he drove several cars behind in traffic.

“Ten-four,” replied a female voice. “Late twenties, bull-dog neck, bald, and wearing a gold fertility horn around his neck. Thought those things went out in the seventies,” she muttered.

Jack smiled and said, “Is that you, Tina?”

“Ten-four.”

“I owe you one. You just turned a cold investigation into a hot one.”

“Hey, they don’t call me the Asian Heat for nothing,” replied Tina.

Jack chuckled. Tina was an undercover operative who was good at her job. She didn’t look like a cop and was someone who could walk right past a target without them getting suspicious.

“He sounds like the one in Gabriel’s basement who called himself John,” said Laura.

Jack nodded and smiled with satisfaction. “Get the camera ready.”

The van was followed to a small, older-style home and Jack got his first glimpse of the driver as both men walked up to the front door.

“Know him?” asked Laura.

Jack shook his head and said, “He looks vaguely familiar, but I can’t place him yet.”

An elderly woman answered the door and the van driver introduced her to Varrick. She handed a key to the driver and closed the door. Both men walked around to the rear of the house.

“Another basement suite,” noted Laura.

“There’s an alley in the back … limited parking, want us to risk it?” radioed Tina.

“Negative,” replied Jack. “Don’t want to heat them up. Everyone keep their distance. There is a third guy that we still need to identify so keep your heads up.”

Seconds later, both targets returned to the van while Laura discreetly stood between two houses across the street and snapped pictures. The van returned to the strip mall and Varrick went back to his truck.

The surveillance team followed the van to an apartment building where it pulled into a secure underground parking lot. It was not known which suite he went to and there were no names posted on the intercom system at the front door.

Later that afternoon, Jack called the surveillance off and returned to their office. Laura sent Connie the photos she had taken while Jack pulled out his laptop to study all the photos they had previously shown Gabriel and Noah.

Minutes later, Jack smiled and motioned for Laura to look at a particular picture. It was of a man with scraggly, long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and sporting a bushy beard. Laura took several moments to look at the picture of the van driver and compare it to the photo on Jack’s laptop.

“It is him,” she breathed. “He’s changed his appearance a lot. No wonder Gabriel and Noah couldn’t recognize him. It’s a definite match.”

“David Zacharias,” said Jack. “Goes by Zack. Long record for drugs and a close associate of Satans Wrath.”

Within the hour, Jack received a call from Connie.

“The bald guy is him!” said Connie excitedly. I showed Gabriel the photos. She said there is no doubt he is the guy who said his name was John. Can we ID him?”

“Already done,” said Jack. “Meet us at our office and we’ll fill you in.”

By the time Connie arrived, Jack had discovered that the young woman who owned the white van was actually Zack’s sister and was married to a drug trafficker who had a record for dealing in methamphetamines.

“I don’t want these guys for dope,” growled Connie. “I want them for murder. Varrick is due to appear for his trial in two weeks and my wire runs out in two days. What can we do?”

“Put a bug in the place we found today,” said Jack.

“The landlady handed them a key,” said Connie. “Means they haven’t even moved in yet.”

“All the more reason to get the bug in quick before they do,” said Jack. “I’m free to work tonight if you want teams to sit on Varrick and Zack to make sure you’re not caught.”

“You forgetting there’s a person living upstairs?”

“She’s old,” replied Jack. “Probably doesn’t hear well. Tell the team to go in with stocking feet.”

“Yeah, well, even if we do get the bug in, what chance do you think there is that they’ll actually talk about the murder? Especially in the limited time we have left.”

“Maybe by then we can prove they’re setting up a meth lab and can get a new wire for that,” suggested Laura.

“Do you know the work involved to do that?” replied Connie. “Besides, proving it’s a meth lab won’t take long. If we keep a new wire running in the hope of getting evidence on a murder when the wire is for dope, then defence will claim we were on a fishing expedition and have it tossed out of court.”

“Quit being so pessimistic,” said Jack. “Get the bug in. I don’t care if it is only for a couple of days. I think they will talk about the murder.”

“What are you?” she snorted. “One of these guys who says the glass is half full?”

“Naw,” replied Jack. “Who cares if it’s half full or half empty. It’s just beer. Slam it back.”

Laura caught a glint in Jack’s eye. She knew he had a plan.

The investigators were successful in placing listening devices in the basement suite late that night. Neither Varrick nor Zack returned or did anything of significance for another two days. It was nine o’clock at night before Varrick retraced his steps from Headstones and once more met with Zack at the strip mall before returning to the basement suite.

Connie stayed in the monitoring room to listen to the recorders. She had three hours before the wiretap would be disconnected. Jack and Laura were on surveillance and saw the men unloading boxes from the van. By the sound of glassware and a few comments she heard, Connie knew that they were setting up another meth lab.

“Jack,” she radioed. “One of ’em said it was the last of the boxes. Also a comment about having a few days to set it up before they get the juice.”