Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six Part Seven Part Eight Part NineTruth is the Savior, Part Ten
Somewhere outside Releinthi, Abanhfleft"Tim, how can I help you today?" Raphael Durant asked as he stood up to greet Tim Lane, who had just entered the same roadside diner in which the two of them had agreed to a deal that would see Tim finally walk free from his involvement in the Releinthi State University shooting of 2008.
Tim took Durant's hand, shook it, and then turned it into a manly embrace. Durant returned the gesture and then they sat down in the same corner table that they had occupied eight days ago. There were already two bottles of beer on the table, one of the bottles already half-consumed. Tim took the full bottle and took a swig. "I'll get to the point, man," he said. "YKI knows I'm here."
"So I've heard," Durant said. Although the attempted killing of Tim Lane had not made the news, nor did both men wanted it to, Durant had enough contacts in the Releinthi Police Department to know that a man matching Tim's description had dropped off a would-be assassin in the police station near the RBI safehouse where the state witnesses against YKI were stashed.
"So, who else aside from you knows I'm back in the country?" Tim asked bluntly.
Durant took another drink of beer and laid his chin in his hand, deep in thought. "There are only three people I can think of that know about you," he finally said after a few moments. "Aside from me, only the SAC, the Undersheriff, and Director Soriano of the RBI know that you're here."
"Let's go over these three people," Tim said. "I want to know if any of them have any sort of involvement with YKI; that kind of shit. Let's start with this Director Soriano. How reliable is he?"
"
She is very upright, Director Soriano is," Durant said with a smile. "I've yet to see someone more incorruptible than the Director. She's one of the most straight people in my line of work. The mere thought of selling out to a criminal group like YKI would sicken her at the very least. No, I'm sure she's not the one who sold you out."
"Well, you never know," Tim said. "Sometimes it's these 'incorruptible' people that are actually the most corrupt."
"Not Director Soriano," Durant countered. "I'll tell you that much, Tim."
"All right, I'll take your word for it," Tim conceded. "Who else did you mention again?"
"The Releinthi SAC--Special Agent in Charge. Another girl, let's get that in the open now. Her name is Vera Jacobson. I think you may know her."
"Oh, yeah, I know her," Tim said, nodding his head. "I remember her very well, the crazy bitch." Tim had less than pleasant memories of Vera Jacobson during his brief and ill-fated association with Releinthi State University. Vera, who was the same age as Tim but was a grade higher, had tormented the younger man, not as a bully but as a stalker. Even though Tim had clearly entered into a relationship with Catherine Lucas during his short term at Releinthi State, Vera had been convinced that he loved her as much as she loved him, and she began stalking the hapless Tim even as he was dealing with schoolwork and bullies. But that was seven years ago now, and Tim hoped that all of Vera's affection for him had vanished in the wake of his deeds at Releinthi State all those years ago.
"So she became a rep too, huh?" Tim said. "Wonder how that happened. And she's the SAC? Does that make her, like, your immediate commander or something like that?"
"You got that right," Durant said as he drank his bottle dry, and he lifted up a finger to order another one. He waited for his second beer to arrive before continuing. "All I know about Vera now is that the Bureau trusts her enough to be the Releinthi SAC. I don't know anything about any dealings with YKI, but I'll see to it that someone looks into that."
"Okay." Tim nodded his head and drank his beer. "Now what about the Undersheriff?"
"Ah, Max Grapayev, the Undersheriff of the Releinthi Police Department," Durant said through his beer. "He's not a dirty cop, but he's not exactly clean, either. I'm not saying that he's deep in the cartels and gangs' pockets; it's just that he's got some dirty laundry that would be best kept hidden, if you know what I mean? But he can't exactly keep it all hidden from the Bureau, you know what I'm saying? And whatever he's kept from us, the MSS knows, but it's nothing too worrying. A mistress here, some undeclared property there... the usual middle-class stuff."
"Not that you would know because you're upper class, right?" Tim said, and both he and Durant had to laugh at his joke. "But seriously, though, I really want to take a deeper look with these two people, Vera and whatsisname?"
"Maksim Grapayev," Durant furnished.
"Him," Tim said. "I want to take a closer look on both of them. One of them or maybe even both of them may be in YKI's pockets. It's the only way that they could have known that I was here."
"Or maybe they've got guys in the airport who saw you coming in when you did," Durant said. "You've got to take that into account too."
"Nah, that's too smart for those bastards," Tim said. "Trust me, I know. Cool Kid, Big Johnny and Killer Mark were ruthless, but they sure as hell aren't smart. No way in hell that they've got people in the airport watching for me. Someone in your side ratted me out."
"Whatever, man, just giving you as much info as you wanted." Durant shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, let's say you're right, and either Vera or Grapayev ratted you out to YKI, How are you gonna deal with it?"
"I thought you were gonna handle that part," Tim replied.
"Of course."
"All right, here's how we're gonna do this," Tim said. "I'm gonna go to Vera, while you go check out this Grapayev dude."
"Are you sure you wanna go for Vera, man?" Durant asked. "The history between you two might color your thoughts of her now."
"You're her subordinate, man," Tim replied. "How's it gonna look when the Releinthi head RBI agent is investigated by her own people? We don't want to draw any attention to what we're doing, Raffy."
"Oh, you're right," Durant conceded. "Tell you what: let's look at our suspects for the day, and then meet back here for dinner. How's that sound?"
"I think I'll have to tell myself not to expect any pork for dinner tonight," Tim said. "See you later, man," he said as he got up from the table and left the diner. Durant stayed for a little longer, and then he laid his payment down on the table and left the diner too.
Unknown to both of them, a man dressed entirely in black had been watching them as they discussed the latest happenings about them. Once the man saw Durant about to leave the diner, the mysterious man stood up and proceeded to follow the RBI agent.
Tim looked up at the modern and imposing skyscraper which housed the headquarters of the Releinthi section of the Republican Bureau of Investigation. Never in a million years had he thought that he was going to go to this place willingly and of his own accord. But sometimes time and circumstance had a way of making men do things that they normally would not do under other circumstances. But now he had been brought to the RBI headquarters in Releinthi by an attempt on his life. There was some irony in the situation, but Tim was not sure if he appreciated it.
No one questioned Tim as he entered the building and showed them the identification that Durant had provided him. Tim had some thoughts to himself as to what this entailed for homeland security. Finally, he arrived at the office of the RBI Special Agent in Charge in Releinthi, and he knocked on the door once and then opened it.
Vera Jacobson was seven years older the last time that Tim had laid eyes on her, but much of her looks had remained the same, except for some age lines here and there. But there was also something in Vera that Tim couldn't see on her anymore. It was something that he used to see on her before, but now it was gone, and he couldn't tell exactly what it was he was looking for.
"Tim Lane," Vera said as she stood up from behind her desk. "Someone's finally come home."
"Look, Vera, I'm gonna be straight with you," Tim said. "I'm not here to say hello or revisit old memories--"
"You're here to find out if I'm the one who snitched you to YKI," Vera interrupted. "Well, I can tell you that I'm not the one who did that. Look, I know you've got a lot of doubts about me knowing about you being here, but I can look you in the eye and say that I'm not the one who betrayed you to those gangster bastards of YKI. In fact, I'll tell you something that you really have no business knowing, and that I've just found out that Maksim Grapayev is deep in the pockets of the syndicate. It's him you should be going after, not me."
"Well, what do you know, Vera?" Tim replied. "Raffy and I have been talking about this Grapayev dude sometime ago too. And he told me that he'd gone after the bastard. Does he know about this?"
"I just called him a few minutes ago," Vera said. "Before you came here."
"Oh, shit!" Tim took out his cellphone and called Durant. The line rang about five times before Durant finally picked up, By his tone, it sounded like he was sneaking around wherever he was now. "Tim, what's going on?" he asked in a hushed tone.
"Are you at Grapayev's place?" Tim asked.
"Yeah," Durant replied. "I'm gonna take down that traitorous scum myself." Suddenly Tim heard a scuffle at the other end of the line. "Who's there?" Durant asked. "Show yourself--aah!"
"Raffy!?" Tim called out. "Raffy!"