Page 36 of Operation: Valiant Angel

“Look, you’re not even a footnote on my report,” he said when Aiello didn’t step back or speak. “But if you don’t back off right now, you’ll be prominent in it.”

“How do you know your case doesn’t involve us?” Aiello asked.

“Trust me. I know. I don’t care about that cash you’re so worried I saw you with. As far as I’m concerned, it was friendly wagers between friends. I’m here to fry much bigger fish that you probably don’t even know is operating at this port and this facility.” He pushed back against Aiello, who finally took the knife away from his throat and he stepped back. “That’s better. Thank you,” Wilson said. And it was a far better outcome for the man. Had he not removed the knife, Wilson would have broken his wrist removing it himself.

The three other men exchanged nervous glances. “Now what?” the man named Victor Kent asked.

“You all go back to work and don’t mention anything about me or my partner to anyone else. If anyone figures out who we are, I’ll know it came from one of you and then I will go out of my way to jam you up. We’re nearly done here and will be out of your hair in a few days, and we’ll make the world a hell of a lot safer.”

“Huh?” Aiello asked. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”

“Good choice,” Wilson said. He watched the four men retreat back the way they’d come until they disappeared around the corner of one of the containers. Even though he’d played it cool, his fight-or-flight hormones flowed through his veins. He took a deep breath to calm his racing heart, and he kept his gaze in that direction, just in case this wasn’t really over.

“Everything okay, Taco?” Garcia’s voice came through comms.

“Yeah, they’re gone.”

“Nice play,” Garcia said. “I’m heading back to my section. Bubbles, do you still have eyes on the target?”

“Affirmative,” Michael replied. “This guy is as boring as they come.”

The following day, Bianchi and the team were off shift. Because of the assault on Wilson by Aiello and his little band of budding felons, Garcia had the Digital Team dig deeper into the four of them while they waited for the Little Falcon to open. Cooper and Madison were in the car across the street from the gastropub, watching for Bianchi to arrive. They knew he went there daily when not on shift, and from the examination of the receipts by the Digital Team, they knew he went at all hours of the day and evening.

Wilson woke just past thirteen hundred. Not bad. He’d gotten five hours of sleep. Michael and Doc still slept, but he found Garcia in the living room area clicking through screens within the MRG Enterprises intranet work system on his computer tablet. He wasn’t surprised Garcia was already up and working, but he was surprised he was in the intranet system that was supposed to only be accessible when inside the building.

“You looking for anything in particular?” he asked Garcia. “And are you having any luck?”

Garcia shot him a grin. “I built a backdoor in for myself and the Digital Team. It was easy enough. Their intranet links with their external internet presence. I’m just going over the last few work orders Bianchi closed out and I’m verifying dates that he actually worked the days the orders were closed. So far, all is lining up.”

“Can I help?” Wilson asked.

“Thanks, but no. I’m nearly done. By the way, the Digital Team sent a complete file on the four guys with the cash who assaulted you. They all went to school together, played on the same high school football team. Aiello was the team quarterback.”

“My guess is he’s still the ringleader, as he’s the foreman and the rest are just labor.”

With a few clicks on the keyboard, Garcia looked back at him. “I just sent you the file. See if anything jumps out that may explain what they’re into. I have a feeling we’ll be wrapping this case up soon and I’d love to make a referral to the proper authorities regarding them. You’re lucky they wanted info and didn’t move in to kill you right away.”

“I knew they were there before they struck, wanted to see what they had in store. Aiello didn’t realize it, but I had hold of his hand and there was no way he could have cut my throat, but it’s nice you care.”

“A heads up you knew you were about to be assaulted would have been nice,” Garcia’s deep voice said.

“Next time, I promise,” Wilson joked. He grabbed a cup of coffee and his tablet and opened the file on Aiello and the others. As usual, the Digital Team had done a thorough job. After he’d finished reading the file, he spoke again. “Bianchi has no known criminal ties, but Kent and Darrow do. I’m not sure how Darrow has stayed out of jail with his arrest record. Either he’s protected or is one lucky sonofabitch that the charges keep getting dropped.”

“I’m going with protected,” Garcia said.

“The question is, by who and is it related to the money I saw and what they’re up to?” Wilson thought aloud.

“All four men had money in their hands?” Garcia asked.

“Yes, identical rolls of cash,” Wilson answered. “So, it didn’t look like one guy was paying the three others.” He thought about it for a moment. “More like one guy was passing it out and showing the others his was an equal cut.”

“That would make more sense,” Garcia agreed.

“These four are all in their late thirties and have a history going back at least twenty years. None of these guys are rich or if they are, they’re hiding it well,” Wilson continued. “My original thought that whatever they’re into is small potatoes looks accurate based on this report.”

“Yeah, I have to agree with that. If they were making serious money, no matter what agreement they had, at least one out of the four would be living above his means,” Garcia said.

“And that just isn’t the case,” Wilson agreed.

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