The Trap (Agent Dallas 3) (12 page)

Two days later, he heard Charlie had died in solitary, supposedly from a stroke.

Tuesday, Oct. 7, 7:35 a.m.

Dallas tucked her phone and pepper spray into her yoga pants, pulled on sports shoes, and headed out for a run. She always carried the spray when she jogged alone, but it was worthless if someone really wanted to hurt her. On her last assignment, she’d run under a pier on the beach, and an unsub she’d chased earlier had clobbered her with a rock and dragged her into the water. Another reason—besides the Phoenix heat—that she preferred the elliptical machine, which was easier on her body. But she was stuck out here with no access to anything, and she really needed to burn off some energy.

The scenery was lovely, with groves of trees turning bright crimson and orange. An occasional car passed, but otherwise the morning was quiet. Between the trees, she caught glimpses of upscale homes set back from the road. The farmhouse where the inner circle lived was a relic of the past, the last one standing in what was now an upper-class rural suburb.

At the two-mile point she turned around. This was an opportunity to call Drager, but she had nothing new to report. The inner circle had a mission planned for the afternoon, but it was another event sabotage like the last one, and the bureau wasn’t interested in the small-time stuff. Drager had made that clear. Dallas was still waiting for the opportunity to bring up Senator Pearlman and steer the group toward the takedown Drager had in mind. At dinner the night before, Luke had briefly discussed the next day’s outing, then he’d gone to his room, and Abby had left in the van and not come home until midnight. Where had she gone? To buy drugs? Finding Abby’s gun had made Dallas look at her in a new light, and she would have given anything for access to her car, so she could follow Abby if she left late again. Dallas thought about the GPS device back in her apartment. Too bad she hadn’t been able to sneak it out past Luke.

No, she wouldn’t risk calling Drager on her Tara phone again, unless it was something critical. Every contact she made had the potential to blow her cover and get her killed.

After a shower, she spent an hour online, reading articles on the JRN website and working on another political blog. She also visited the Real Food blog as a setup, in case she needed to use it later to contact Drager with critical information. She didn’t think Aaron monitored her internet activities, but she had to assume that he might. Everything she did in this house had to build and protect her Tara Adams persona.

At ten, she went down to the kitchen, expecting to find her roommates preparing for the mission, but only Cree was at the dining room table, eating a sandwich.

“Hey, where is everyone?”

Cree shrugged. “Probably doing last-minute prep for this afternoon. It’s an unfamiliar location, and the security could be tighter this time.”

Jitters filled her stomach, and Dallas lost her appetite. It wasn’t committing the crime that bothered her. Not something as low-level as sabotaging a political speech. Not after all the undercover work she’d done, preceded by her wild years in college. And she’d grown up with meth addicts, who’d broken the law on a regular basis. What worried her was getting arrested. She’d never been in jail, and she had some concerns about getting out. What if the inner circle didn’t post her bail? The bureau probably couldn’t help without blowing her cover. Dallas shook it off. The last sabotage had gone well.

“What’s my role this time?” she asked Cree, standing across the table from him, too hyper to sit.

“I’ll let Luke tell you. We’ll be leaving soon.”

“Should I wear running shoes?” Dallas mimed someone in a hurry, then laughed.

“Always.” Despite Cree’s smile, his tone was serious.

Dallas headed to her room to change. At the bottom of the stairs, she heard loud voices and paused. From Abby’s bedroom, she heard Luke say, “Don’t get started again. You’ll put us all at risk.”

Abby yelled back, “It’s none of your business. You broke up with me, remember?”

“Don’t make me kick you out.” Luke’s voice came toward her, and the doorknob clicked.

Dallas hurried up the stairs. What was that about? Started again with what? Drugs? In her room, Dallas changed into running shoes, pulled on a dark sweater, then stuffed a twenty-dollar bill into one pocket and her lucky cloth into the other. Not knowing what they had planned was both exhilarating and frustrating. She sensed they didn’t fully trust her yet. After packing a few things into her small backpack, Dallas grabbed her laptop and stuffed it in too. She might have a chance to send her report.

Downstairs, Luke and Cree were in the dining room, and she heard Abby in the kitchen.

“Is Aaron coming with us?” Dallas looked at Luke. How should she play this? Still a little nervous?

“That’s the plan.” Luke turned to Cree. “See if he’s ready, would you?”

After a few minutes of waiting, during which Abby made a trip to the van with water bottles, they all headed out. Luke fell back to lock up. As they crossed the gravel, Abby tapped Dallas’ backpack.

“Is that your laptop?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Bad idea. If it gets confiscated, they’ll track your communication to this place.”

“I planned to leave it in the van.”

“Why take the risk? Just leave it here.” Abby stepped in front of her.

“Aaron takes his.”

Abby rolled her eyes. “Aaron’s computer is essential to his part of the mission, and he never gets out of the van. Just leave it. The ride into the city isn’t that long.”

Oh well.
The report could wait. “No problem.” Dallas went back into the house, trotted upstairs, and stashed her laptop between the mattresses where she kept it when she left her room. Someone doing a thorough search could find it, but at least she wasn’t making it easy to take a quick peek while she was out.

They took the same seats as the time before, with Aaron in the back. Dallas turned to him. “Are you feeling better?” She hadn’t seen him since driving him home from the clinic the day before.

“Fine as frog’s hair.”

She laughed at the expression. “I’ve never heard that. Is it regional?”

“It’s from the past, and you’re making me feel old.”

“Sorry.”

Luke pulled out onto the road. “We appreciate Aaron’s experience and wish more middle-aged people would join JRN. Seniors too. Everyone knows someone in jail or who does drugs and could have gone to prison just as easily.”

Dallas started to mention her father, then choked it back. Now that he was dead, it was harder to think about him. “I saw on the website that JRN is staging a protest in Richmond today. Is that where we’re going?”

Luke spoke over his shoulder. “Yes, we plan to hijack the governor’s speech with our own message, like last time.”

“Only we have another surprise for him.” Abby turned in her seat and grinned. “You know how I want to raise the stakes? We begin today with your burglary skills.”

A wave of apprehension washed over Dallas. “What did you have in mind?”

“We need you to open a locked garage door, so Cree can break into the governor’s car.”

“And do what?”

Abby held up a packet of white powder. “This is meth, and you’re going to plant it in his glove box.”

That was why she had the drugs.
Devious!

Abby handed the tiny plastic pouch to Dallas. “Maybe getting arrested for possession and having a felony conviction will convince the governor that something needs to change.”

Dallas couldn’t argue. Drager wanted her to steer the group into something even more radical, so it would seem bizarre to protest this, then later suggest a home invasion. “How will you arrange for him to get stopped and searched?”

“Easy,” Luke said, keeping his eyes on the road. “Governor Slaybaugh likes to drink at a downtown bar called Mac’s. We’ll call in a drunk driving report on his license plate, which he deserves, and the police will handle the rest.”

“Where do you get all this information?”

“From the JRN network. The organization has people everywhere, and we tap into the database and connect with members who can help us.”

Did those activists know what the inner circle was up to? Dallas tucked the packet of meth into her jeans pocket, wondering if she would have an opportunity to ditch it. “What does Slaybaugh drive and where will it be parked?”

“A 2009 charcoal-grey Bentley. We believe it will be in a private VIP garage connected to the convention center.” Abby pulled out a map that looked like it had been printed from an online site, then pointed to a central location. “This is the building where the speech will be held, and the VIP parking is this locked area here. The van will be down the street at the mall.”

Dallas didn’t see how they would get away with it. “His vehicle probably has an alarm.”

“Cree will be with you, and he’ll jam the RF, disabling the car’s locks and the alarm.”

“What’s my role?”

“To get into the back area of the building and pick the lock on the door to the VIP garage.” Abby’s voice challenged her. “You can do it, can’t you?”

“Probably, but why I do I have to carry the drugs?”

Abby chuckled. “You’re the newbie. That’s how it goes.”

Cree patted her leg. “Don’t worry. We’ll be in and out. Piece of cake.”

Dallas wished she’d known the whole plan before she’d called Drager the day before. Getting arrested in Virginia for drugs could be devastating. What if she just said no? Again, she thought it would seem weird if she refused this somewhat minor thing, then suggested something more criminal later.

Luke spoke up. “Tara, don’t forget there will be protestors, and we’ll be messing with the sound system, so the security will be distracted.” Luke looked back over his shoulder. “We wouldn’t ask you to do this if we thought you’d get caught.” He pulled onto Highway 95, heading south this time.

“I’m good with it.” It was time to put Drager’s plan in motion. “In fact, I’m surprised you guys don’t have something bigger planned.”

Abby, still turned in her seat to face the team, smiled at Dallas for the first time in days. “I like your thinking. Remember, I said that the other night too.”

“That’s what got me going on it.” Dallas paused, not wanting to seem too eager. “Senator Ray Pearlman seems like the biggest obstacle to justice reform.” She started to say more, then backed off. This had to seem like their idea.

“He definitely is,” Abby said. “JRN members have been bombarding him with emails and case histories of devastated families, but nothing has moved him an inch toward reform.”

“Have you looked for weaknesses?”

Abby’s eyes widened. “You mean like something we could blackmail him with?”

“Or use as leverage.”

Cree’s leg vibrated beside her. “The pot decriminalization legislation comes up for a vote Friday. If we could pressure Pearlman to support it, I think it might pass. That could change everything.”

“Pass in the Senate, you mean.” Dallas thought it seemed like a long shot, but JRN had been working on the issue for years.

“Yes, but that makes it a legitimate idea, and that’s how the revolution starts.” Cree was more animated than she’d seen him so far.

“Pearlman has a weakness,” Luke said, suddenly. “A little terrier that he loves more than his wife.”

Dallas tried not to laugh. “A dog-napping?”

“Why not?” Abby blurted. “If we take the dog, he’ll vote the way we want and encourage his pals to vote with him. Then we give the pooch back. No harm done.” She glanced at Dallas and mumbled, “Unlike what happened to Treck.”

Everyone ignored the comment.

“I like the idea.” Luke tapped the steering wheel. “It’s time to be more aggressive. But we don’t have to actually take the dog. We can just send a video from inside his house.”

“What about his wife?” Abby asked. “Stella Pearlman is the chairwoman of that damn group that’s opposing everything JRN does. We should threaten her instead. That way we get both of them to back down at the same time.”

“No!” Luke snapped his head toward Abby. “We’re not threatening a person, especially not in their own home. It’s the same as kidnapping and carries a very long prison sentence.”

Dallas felt relieved. She wanted Drager to get the big bust he was after for this investigation, but she kind of liked these people and their cause. Sending them all to prison for decades didn’t seem right. Plus she was glad Luke wasn’t a kidnapper. Then she remembered the dead judge. And the cyber theft. Stealing campaign funds was dirty business even if they didn’t keep the money, so they had to be stopped. But no matter what happened, she wouldn’t walk away from this one feeling good.

Cree asked, “So we would take the dog when no one was home?”

“Yes,” Luke said. “Minimizing our risk.”

Dallas had planted the seed and nudged them toward a major crime—now she needed details to report. “If the dog is inside and they have an alarm, how will we pull it off?”

Cree held out an electrical gadget a little larger than a cell phone. “This little baby will deactivate almost any alarm. It’s how we’re getting into the governor’s car today.”

“We should do the dognapping Friday morning.” Abby was clearly excited. “The decriminalization vote is that afternoon.”

“We’ll look into it and find out what their schedule is,” Luke said. “But it does seem like an ideal opportunity.”

Dallas itched to relay the intel to Drager.

Two hours later, they parked at the edge of a mall in downtown Richmond. Blocks away, a crowd gathered outside the Convention Center. A few had signs, and some were seated, waiting.

Luke checked his cell phone. “The luncheon and speech start in twenty-five minutes. The protestors will begin chanting and enter the building about five minutes after he starts speaking. We need to all be in place before then.” Like the previous time, he laid out a map of the area and blueprints of building, then walked them through the plan.

“Why are we going in a locked door at the side instead of using the front like the guests?” Dallas asked.

“Because this is a private event, and we need to access the back part of the building.” Luke gave her a quick smile. “You can do this, right?”