Page 50 of The Lost Empress

Clark gave her a deadly serious expression. “You know what’s going down?”

Gen hid her embarrassment. “I do, but I also don’t know. I mean, it seems so obvious when I put it all together that I think I’m oversimplifying it.”

He shook his head. “Things are simple. People overcomplicate the facts usually.”

“That’s true,” Liv added. “That’s one of the commandments that Sherlock Holmes goes by. He says the facts speak and the problem is usually that people try to judge things by what’s missing instead of making deductions based on what’s presented.”

Gen nodded. “That sounds like something that the great detective would say.”

“Of course,” Liv continued, opening up one of the magazines and starting to flip through it. “His assistant, King Rudolf, says get drunk and the truth slaps you in the face. But I think he’s just confusing truth with all the people who he’s offended and have tried to knock sense into his dimwitted brain.”

Gen laughed. “That sounds like King Rudolf.”

Clark leaned forward, a no-nonsense expression on his face as he spread out Gen’s research. “What do the facts here tell you?”

She glanced at the data regarding the vehicles, the explosive material, the changes in police patrols and the construction activity and personnel around the bank. Gen sighed, feeling nervous, but knowing she had to trust her gut. “Someone…on the inside of city government is going to try and rob the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.”

CHAPTER FORTY

A BABY’S FIRST SWORD

Beaufont Residence, West Hollywood, California, United States

“And why do you think that?” Clark asked, but there was no doubt in his voice, he simply sounded like he was helping Gen to lay things out so that she understood them better.

“It’s the law enforcement changes mostly that bring me to that conclusion,” Gen stated. “Someone has orchestrated this so that good police officers didn’t discover the plans and get in the way. Then neutral officers were moved out of the way. And from our surveillance, it appears that the morally corrupt officers are surrounding the perimeter of the downtown area and the Federal Reserve.”

“It definitely is no coincidence,” Rose remarked, flipping through a catalogue and browsing the images. “It would take someone high up to orchestrate all this.”

“And there’s a new Commissioner of Los Angeles, who I’m already skeptical of,” Gen stated. “His name is Charlie Sloan and since he’s come into office, immediately after the murder of the old leader, he’s made a lot of personnel changes, not just to head the police force reorganization.”

“So what are you planning to do next?” Clark asked, giving Gen a thoughtful expression. “Are you going to give this information to Dwayne Stone?”

Gen lowered her chin. “Do you think I should?”

“Oh, can I answer that?” Liv asked, popping a cookie into her mouth and chewing, crumbs sprinkling down onto her magazine.

“Of course,” Gen answered. “What should I do?”

“Here’s the answer,” Liv said. “Do you trust your boss?”

Gen didn’t have to think. She simply blurted out the answer. “No. Not at all, although I don’t have any concrete reason for why.”

“Then don’t tell him.” Surprisingly it was Clark who offered that advice, although he was usually a rule follower. “Do more investigating of this bank robbery and confirm that’s what’s happening. If you give your suspicion to the rogue police officers, they should be able to look into it more for you. Then you have to find out when it’s happening and how to stop it.”

“But give yourself an alibi,” Liv advised. “Even if Dwayne isn’t corrupt, he’s a power-hungry, control freak who is looking for a reason to fire you from the Rogue Riders. So you can’t be caught intervening in this since you haven’t been cleared to work cases yet. So ensure that whenever this is going down, that you aren’t linked to stopping the robbery.”

Gen thought for a moment and then smiled when an idea popped into her head. “I think I have the perfect way to cover my tracks.”

“Good,” Clark said proudly. “Now is there any way that we can help with resources or investigating?”

Gen thought for a moment, looking around at all the information she had. “What I really need is to get an idea of what the Federal Reserve Bank looks like on the inside. They are doing construction, which I think is just a ruse for setting up the robbery. There’s a bunch of underground activity in that area, according to my rogue officers.”

Clark frowned. “You can’t be seen anywhere around that building. If Dwayne’s involved or even if he’s not, you can’t be associated with a place that’s about to be robbed.”

“Besides, you need more than information on the bank, you need city maps,” Liv suggested. “And not just any ones. You need the detailed ones they keep locked up in city government offices. Those will tell you all about the underground, the road access points and the Federal Reserve Bank.”

“How do I get those?” Gen asked.

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