Page 17 of No Reason to Trust

“Livvy should start, ma’am,” Jake said. “Her incident was disturbing on so many levels. She almost died. It’s what triggered our suspicions.”

“Call me Diana,” Redfield said. “We’re colleagues, or at least we used to be,” she said with a nod at Livvy. “Tell me what’s happened to have you so alarmed.”

Livvy glanced at Jake and gave him a tiny nod, which he returned. ‘You tell your story, then I’ll tell mine,’ was reflected in his eyes.

Drawing a deep breath, Livvy began, “I was sent on an undercover job several months ago in Brighton Beach. To a Bratva group.”

One of Diana’s eyebrows rose. “Bratva? I wasn’t aware we had any operations involving the Bratva.”

Livvy shrugged. “I wasn’t either, but those were my orders, so I went to Brighton Beach. Did some surveillance for a couple of days, then made my approach.” She glanced at Jake, and she knew he’d realize she was asking permission to tell his part in the story.

Jake nodded. “Tell the director everything.”

“Before I left, my supervisor told me that Jake would be my backup. Even gave me very specific instructions to have a text ready on my phone and send it immediately if I was concerned about my safety.”

Livvy took a deep breath. “Which I was. Very quickly. I had been told that this group of men were interested in working with the FBI. But that was the farthest thing from the truth. They had no interest in working with us, and that was clear from the beginning of our conversation. They had no idea why I was there, although they did acknowledge that my supervisor, Don Nelson, had contacted them.”

Livvy swallowed, and she felt Jake reaching for her hand beneath the table. She curled her hand around his -- retelling her story was rattling her more than she’d realized it would.

“I managed to get away from the meeting, but I knew I’d been very lucky. The man in charge sent his teenaged son out of the building with me. I kept him in front of me, but I was extremely wary. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, he began to reach beneath his shirt. As if he had a gun concealed there. So I kicked him in the, ah, privates. When he dropped to the ground I kicked him in the head. Then I opened the door and ran like hell to my car and tore out of Brooklyn.”

Diana looked at Jake. “And your backup never showed up?”

Livvy inhaled and nodded at Jake. He nodded back, as if he understood completely. This part of the story was his.

“The day Livvy met with the Russians, I was in Tennessee for a trial. The trial was for a kidnapping we’d investigated and resolved six months earlier. We recovered the kidnapped child and arrested the perp, and because I was part of the team that broke into the house and saved the kid, as well as arresting the perp, I had to be there.”

Diana looked from Jake to Livvy, then back to Jake. “Were you ever told you were supposed to be Olivia’s backup for this meeting in Brooklyn?” she asked.

“No, ma’am,” he said. “My boss never told me I needed to back Livvy up. That trial had been on my calendar for months. And my boss, who was also Livvy’s boss, knew very well that I’d be testifying at the trial on that date and unavailable for backup duty.”

Diana’s mouth tightened, and she looked from Jake to Livvy. Back to Jake. “I see,” she finally said. “From the expressions on your faces, there’s more.”

Jake nodded slowly. “Yes,” he said. “A week ago, my boss, who’d been Olivia’s boss, as well, told me he was sending me on an undercover operation. Since Livvy had already told me what had happened to her, I was immediately wary. Concerned.” He pressed his lips together. “And rightly so.”

He told Diana what Nelson had told him -- to rough up the reluctant shopkeepers he was trying to convince to pay protection money to the Bratva. About what Livvy had told him about that particular group of the Bratva -- how dangerous they were. “Thank goodness Livvy got permission from Blackhawk Security to be my backup for this job.” He clenched his teeth. Swallowed. “After what happened to Livvy, there was no one at the Bureau that I trusted to protect me. No one I was certain would have my back.”

Chapter 7

Just then the doorbell rang. Diana, her face grim, said, “That’ll be the pizza. Hold on a moment.” But Livvy noticed that she checked the peephole in the door before she opened it.

Then Diana opened the door and took the two boxes, handed the delivery person some folded bills, then shut the door and clicked both locks. Put the boxes on the table, then slid into her seat. “Please continue, Jake.”

He shrugged. “Not much more to say at this point. I haven’t gone to Sheepshead Bay for the meeting. I’m going to do a few days of surveillance before I do anything. And Livvy is going to back me up.”

Diana, who’d been leaning across the table to listen, leaned back in her chair. “Who is your supervisor?” she asked Jake.

He held her gaze. “Same supervisor Livvy had when she worked for the Bureau. Don Nelson.”

“I’m going to assume that the two of you have discussed this. Any conclusions?” Diana asked.

Jake nodded at Livvy, since she’d actually met with some Bratva members. He hadn’t yet had that pleasure.

She nodded back as if they were perfectly in sync. Like she knew exactly what he was going to say. His chest constricted, and he blew out a breath.

Livvy glanced at him again, then looked back at Diana. “Jake and Ihavediscussed this,” she said. “Jake is concerned that Nelson might be a Russian asset.” She swallowed. “I’ve heard about what happened when Cliff Kingsley was arrested. Mel Melbourne and Devlin Smith were the ones who took Kingsley down. I’ve talked to them, and they’ve said they were sure there were more Russian assets at the Bureau, but that they hadn’t found anyone after Kingsley was arrested. They had no idea who they might be, other than the one person who’d been arrested shortly after Kingsley was caught.”

Diana looked at both of them, her mouth tight. “I suspect your fears about Don Nelson are on target,” she said. “We knew Kingsley wasn’t the only one, but after he was arrested, any others went deep. Stayed in the background. Didn’t cause any trouble that we could use to catch them.”

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