Page 51 of Vinny

Vinny watched Tony carefully as he answered. “I don’t know that it ispersonally againstAnnalissa, as though someone wants to target her for trouble. But yes, I think she was specifically chosen and my guess is that it had happened before and would have happened again if she hadn’t discovered it.”

“What about the goddamn neighbor?” Vinny growled.

“Lester McCleod?” Lily asked. “He’s a graduate music student. Plays in a local band called The Turners that can be found at a lot of local pubs on the weekends. Annalissa has played the violin with them and sometimes her harp.”

“I didn’t like that guy. Keep looking,” Vinny ordered, his foul mood deepening.

Gabe looked at his twin knowingly. “Bro, just because the guy knows her and has played in a band with her doesn’t mean?—”

“I know what it doesn’t mean. I just think if we’re looking at the people who know her in the symphonic orchestra then we need to look at his local band as well.”

Tony nodded at Lily, silently communicating for her to keep digging.

The group meeting was interrupted by Terrance entering the room quickly. “Boss, Doug and I combed through hours of video from Dulles to see if we could identify anyone. We finally came across a video of the handlers taking the luggage off of the plane. Looks like one of the airline handlers was searching for something and kept going back and forth between the baggagetrucks and the conveyor belt. After about ten minutes, he pulled out his cell phone and made a call.”

The group listened intently at the first break they had had in the case. Tony barked out, “Good work. Now isolate that video and send it to Jack and feed it into Lily and BJ here.”

“You got it,” Terrance answered as he left the room.

Several minutes later, BJ pulled it up on their screen so that everyone could see. Sure enough, as the luggage came off of the trucks from the plane, one handler seemed to search for something specific.

“Can you isolate his face and bring it up closer?” Vinny asked.

With a few clicks of the keyboard, BJ was able to show a clearer, but still fuzzy, photograph of a middle-aged, Caucasian male with dark hair. His badge was unidentifiable and Vinny cursed as he looked at it.

Within twenty minutes, Tony received a call from Jack. The conversation was short but Tony was not smiling when he got off the phone. “Jack’s FBI source has an identification. The airline worker is Milo Richards. He’s only been working for the airline for about a year. He lives in D.C. and Jack just checked him out. He’s dead.”

The group sat stunned for a moment as Tony continued. “Milo was found dead in his apartment by his girlfriend four days ago.”

“Damn,” Vinny spit out, as the others cursed around him.

Lily piped up, “Annalissa flew to Los Angeles eight months ago and again four months ago. Same airline.She also flew to New York two months ago. In and out of Dulles Airport and same airline.”

Tony, calm as ever, said, “I think we can assume at this time that Annalissa is definitely a targeted carrier, but may not be the only one. Although with the amount that was found in her harp case, someone wouldn’t have to make many trips to keep someone local supplied and dealing.”

“So it could be a dealer on a small scale or someone who is part of a larger gang?” Jobe surmised.

“Yep.” Tony looked around the room and added, “We need someone on Annalissa at all times when she’s not with Vinny. If the person thinks that she has figured out who they may be, they may decide to deal with her directly.”

Vinny jumped up, heading out of the room. Tony looked at Jobe. “Follow him.” Jobe nodded and left as well. Tony then looked at Gabe and added, “Set up a rotation for when she’s alone.”

The meeting broke up much the same as it had started. Frustration all around.

Don Juarez looked out on the Los Angeles skyline, his mind wandering over his empire. A slow smile crossed his face, as he felt untouchable. Who knew the most powerful drug lord in California sat in a million dollar office, his legitimate businesses flourishing. And laundering his drug money. He never dirtied his hands with the seedier side of the business. That was why he paid agreat deal for those under him to handle all of the transactions…and the problems.

His cell phone rang and he glanced at the number. Answering curtly, he asked, “Anything?”

“The baggage handler was taken care of,” Jawan reported.

“That’s hardly what I would call progress,” Don’s voice bit out.

“I know. I’m in constant contact with my person on the inside of her group. We’ll have it soon, I promise.”

“If not, you’ll end up like the handler.”

With that, Don hung up. His angry gaze now glaring at the skyline. Taking a deep breath, he relaxed. Jawan will take care of everything.

On the other end of the disconnected phone call, Jawan paced his office. Calling his contact, he growled, “What have you got for me? I’m telling you, you’d better come up with something. You and your little helper.”

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