Switched (11 page)

Chapter
Seven

  After Kali
’s revelation
earlier that afternoon, and after closing down the store for over an hour, Brad
once again found himself standing behind the counter at
By the Book
. It
was just before five thirty. Eric had some errands to run and Amy was helping
Kali move some of her stuff to Brad’s house, so he was alone. He had just
finished reading his e-mail. In it, Ted Agares told him everything he’d just
learned, and a little more. He had no idea Kali’s parents were dead, or that
she was an only child, though he’d assumed the only child part since he figured
no one could help but mention siblings in passing. The ex, Victor, even made
Agares wary, which is why the PI left, but Agares never wrote back.
He
probably got busy with his family and forgot
, he told himself. With a heavy
sigh he began wiping down the counter.

  When the agents walked in he found
himself immediately on alert. Some people just have that certain vibe about
them and these two definitely did. While people from all walks of life came
through that door, it was unusual for two older men dressed in suits to walk in
at once.

     He gave them a tight, welcoming
smile. “Can I help you gentlemen find anything specific?”

     The short, dark haired man looked
at the notepad in his hand. “Yes, we’re looking for a Brad Hudak?”

     “That’s me. What can I help you
with?” Brad didn’t change his stance or do anything that might indicate
discomfort.      

     The man pulled out his badge and
set in on the counter so Brad could inspect it. “I’m Special Agent Brocco and
this is Agent Salazar. We’re here about Ted Agares and Laura Stanton.”

     Narrowing his eyes, he looked at
Brocco’s credentials again. He only had to give the second agent a wary eye
before he had Agent Salazar’s credentials on the counter in front of him, too.
“It’s not illegal to have a PI dig into your girlfriend’s past is it? Certainly
not a case for the FBI?”

     “Not at all. However, Ted Agares
ended up dead in Los Angeles last night, so it became our business,” Brocco
said.

     Brad found himself speechless. Agares
had only sent him the emails last night. “He’s dead?”

     Agent Brocco nodded. “Evidently
your girlfriend’s ex didn’t want to leave any loose ends. He already has three
guys out here looking for her with orders to bring her back to Los Angeles, by force
if need be. Evidently she stole some money from him. He’s not happy about it.”

     A whirl of thoughts raced through
his mind. Between not being able to imagine Kali stealing money to wondering if
she was safe with Amy his racing mind finally stopped on one question. “How did
you find me so quickly?”

     “We stopped at Agares’ office and
found all your information there. Now we need to know where Ms. Stanton is.”

     “She’s with her friend and they’re
moving some things out of her apartment into my place.” A queasy feeling
started in his gut. This couldn’t be good.

     “We should probably find her
immediately. Now luckily we have a guy inside Kolknov’s crew cooperating with
us - for now. We have no way of knowing if this guy is going to back out at the
last minute. Your girlfriend could be that key we need to finally catch
Kolknov.” Brocco’s expression remained even and detached.

     “You can’t possibly mean you want
to use Kali as bait…” he lifted an eyebrow. He wasn’t stupid. As an ex-soldier
he knew all too well how a situation like that could turn out.

     “We’d use an agent, but that won’t
work. She’s known to one of the men and your PI showed her picture around so
the others know what she looks like.”

     Brad could tell Brocco was holding
back. That wasn’t the whole plan. “Okay, let me call her.” Numb, he picked up
the phone and dialed Kali’s cell phone. He breathed an audible sigh of relief
when she answered. “Kal, it’s me. Where are you and Amy right now?”

     Kali seemed to be back to her usual
cheery self. “We’re sitting in your house having some early evening coffee
before unloading the car. Why? Don’t tell me you need Amy. I need her more.”

     He heard Amy giggle in the
background. “Do me a favor and stay there. In the house and lock the doors.”

     Kali grew suddenly silent on the
other end of the phone. “What’s wrong?” she finally asked.

     “Just trust me and stay there,
okay? I’ll be there in a few. I’m closing the store. Today just wasn’t the day
to open.”

     After she agreed and they said
their goodbyes, he hung up. “Let’s go.”

     Brocco nodded. “Lead the way.”

     Brad closed
By the Book
and
soon found himself driving toward home followed by the black sedan.

     They arrived at Brad’s less than
twenty minutes later and he led them into the house, greeted by a cautious Kali
and a suspicious Amy. Without word they all made their way into the dining room
and Brad motioned them to sit. He took a chair and beckoned Kali to sit beside
him.

     Brocco and Salazar both sat across
from them at the dining room table. After assuring Kali they were both FBI by
allowing her to inspect their IDs, she seemed more relaxed. Amy sat at one end
of the table.

     It was Brocco who spoke first.
"So, Ms. Stanton, you understand that Victor Kolknov is after you?”

       She nodded.

     “Good. I don’t want there to be any
secrets here. You know he’s after you, we know he’s after you. Here's what we
want to do. We want to create a controlled situation where Richard..."

     Kali interrupted, "Richard
Vogt?" 

     Brocco nodded. "You know
him?"

     "He was a friend. He and Misha
were close," she said, her eyes distant.

     "We want to create a
controlled situation where Richard leads his guys in to, presumably, kidnap
you. We strategically shoot Richard and hope the other two will run off to call
Victor. Tell him what happened. We convince them Richard is dead and you're now
property of Alexi Amelin," Brocco paused.

     Brad's eyes were wide. "So
wait, you want to use my girlfriend as bait and there are going to be guns
involved? And who the fuck is Alexi Amelin?"

     "We're dealing with the
Russian mafia Mr. Hudak. Not the boy scouts. You, of all people, with your
military background, should understand this. We'll put her in a bullet-proof
vest. The point of this little operation is to lure Victor out here to
Massachusetts, get him on attempted kidnapping, or at least conspiracy to
abduct Laura, and get him behind bars. At least for a few years. That way we
get him off the street while he's being indicted on other charges. We're hoping
with him in jail, more witnesses will come forward and help out in other cases
we’re trying to make against him. With Richard Vogt's written and recorded
testimony, we hope to put him in witness protection and have Victor think he's
a dead man. We will need Laura to bait him, and then testify. Then, if
necessary, we can stage her death and put her in witness protection,
too."  

     “And Alexi whatever?” Brad asked,
annoyed that the agent wasn’t answering his questions as quickly or as directly
as he wanted.

     Brocco gave Kali a long look and
drew in a deep breath. “Alexi is head of a rival Russian gang out here in this
neck of the woods. He and Victor have an old rivalry.”

     Brad leaned back in his chair,
taken aback by Brocco's revelation that they'd already looked into him. Nothing
got past these guys. More upsetting was the revelation that they wanted to use
Kali in conjunction with the name of another crime boss to help lure Kali’s ex.
They weren't playing it safe. If he knew anything from the deserts of Iraq, if
a person started dropping names, eventually that information was going to get
the attention of the person whose name was dropped. This was an all or nothing
campaign to get Victor Kolknov behind bars. "If you plan on using Kali as
bait," he said, refusing to call her Laura, "Then I have to be
involved, too. I'm not letting her do this without me."

     He felt Kali squeeze his hand under
the table.  She still didn't say anything.

     Amy sat quietly at the end of the
table looking back and forth from the agents to Brad and Kali. She looked
terrified.

     All eyes turned on Kali.

     "So what do you think about
all of this?" Brad asked. Brocco and Salazar had big plans, certainly, and
yet no one had really asked Kali how she felt about it. "You can keep
running or you can help get this guy. If you don't want to, you don't have
to."

     Brocco gave him a look of protest.

     Brad shook his head, "Don't
act like she doesn't have a choice. She does."

     "True, we can't force you to
do anything you don't want to do, Laura." Brocco gave her an expectant
look.

     Finally, Kali drew in a visible
breath and said, "I'll do it. I trust Richard and if Brad is going to be
there, too..."

     "We need to get Mr. Hudak
cleared first before we can make that kind of promise."

     Kali shrugged. "Then I can't
promise I'll help you."

     A slow smile spread over Brad's
lips. That was the Kali he knew.  "Guess you guys need to get on the phone
and see if I'm allowed to be present to make sure you don't accidentally kill
my girlfriend. You can't put a bullet proof vest on her head."

     Brocco gave Salazar a nod.
"Call it in; see what the higher ups think."

     Salazar stood and made his way into
the living room with his cell phone.

     He heard the agent's low voice in
the other room.

     "I realize this isn't easy for
you Laura. Did you know we've been looking for you for a long time now?"
Brocco asked Kali.

     She bit her lip and looked down at
her hand. "I should have guessed."

     "Several years back we
investigated another car bomb, like with Agares," he motioned to Brad. "There
was a witness in a shop along that street, an old guy, working late. He said he
saw someone fitting Victor's description and said he saw a woman with him. The
description matched you back when your hair color was dark blonde, but then you
disappeared and we couldn't find you. To be honest, we were waiting for someone
to report you missing. Thought you were dead.”

     Kali looked at Brad, "Who's
Agares?"

     "The private detective I
hired," Brad said. There was no way to proudly say that. Not only because
he'd done it behind Kali's back, but also because, for a stupid petty need to
know more, Brad had unknowingly sent the poor man to his death. He cringed when
he realized Eric didn’t even know his friend was dead yet.

     "Victor killed him, too?"
Her jaw dropped a little. She shook her head. "I'm not surprised."

     "Ms. Stanton, you didn't
really answer my question," Brocco said.

     She frowned at him. "You
didn't ask a question. You just described the night I saw Victor slit a guy's
throat, shove him into a car, and bomb it. There's a reason I ran off, Agent
Brocco. Not only was I being sexually abused by the man, but he was, is, a
complete psychopath. Not to mention I stole some of his money." 

     It didn’t go unnoticed to Brad that
Brocco had already known about the money she stole from her ex, but the agent
didn’t mention to her that he already knew. Evidently their inside guy had
given the agents a lot of information and probably knew most of what Kali was
telling them anyway. They just needed to hear it from her.

     Brocco's eyes widened a little.
"You saw him slit the man's throat?"

     "It was kind of hard to miss.
He did it right behind the car." She was still frowning. "Am I going
to get busted for stealing Victor's money?"

     The agent shook his head. "I
imagine you had good reason."

     "I did.  I needed cash to
start a new life. A new life doesn't come cheap," she said with a hint of
malice in her voice.

     Brocco seemed lost in thought.
"We always wondered how that guy was killed. Would you be willing to
testify as a witness in that case?"

     She shrugged. "If I do does
Victor send his gang of idiots after me? Do I have to spend the rest of my life
fearing for my life?"

     "There's always witness
protection," Brocco said.

     With a visible gulp, Kali crossed
her arms over her chest. “I’d have to think about it.”

     Brad cocked his head to one side.
"Amy, could you get Kali some water?"

     Amy got up and went into the
kitchen.

     He leaned over the table to Brocco.
"What if she gives testimony on tape and camera and a written affidavit
and then, like you mentioned earlier, we fake her death, too? She can change
her name again and disappear again right here. It might be easier than witness
protection, especially since she doesn't have family. Victor doesn't know who I
am. He’ll think her boyfriend is Alexi Amelin."

     The agent nodded. "That might
be enough."

     “But I have to admit I’m not
comfortable with the whole Alexi angle. You know, it’s a small world…” he
hadn’t even finished his sentence when Salazar wandered back into the room.

      He didn’t bother politely
interrupting, he just did. “Jackson said if we got a signed affidavit that he
agreed to put himself in harm’s way, he could go in armed. He does have a
current valid concealed carry permit.”

     Brad forced himself to appear
unaffected by how much they knew. They’d really done some serious research into
him. He nodded, “Good. Now back to Alexi…”

     “Alexi is currently at his vacation
house up in Saratoga. He won’t be around to hear anything,” Brocco assured him.

     He didn’t believe that for a
minute. “He likes betting the horses, huh?”

     “Men like Alexi don’t just bet on
the ponies, they own them,” Salazar quipped.

     “Oh goodie. Anything else we should
know?” Brad forced a smile.

     Kali gave him a strange look.

     Brocco shook his head.  “That’s the
plan.”

***

     "How bad is this
going to hurt?" Richard put on the bullet proof vest, surprised at how
light it actually was.

     Agent Brocco shrugged,
"It will knock you on your ass and knock the wind out of you. Falling on
your ass is what hurts though. The fake blood packets attached to the outside
of the vest should be enough to convince your buddies that you've been hit and
you're not going to make it. We expect them to scramble and call Victor. If you
leave your phone in the car, we’re hoping one of them will grab it and find the
contact
information for Alexi. Then we wait for them to contact us."

     "I don't know if
this is going to work..." he started.    

     "If I know Victor
Kolknov, and I think I do, he'll fall for it. Making him think Ms. Stanton fell
for a rival crime boss should be easy if you stick to the plan and don't bail
on me. Are we going to have a problem?" Brocco asked, putting his hand on
Richard's shoulder.

    Richard shook his head.
He knew Victor and Alexi Amelin were rivals. They had once been friends, but
about six months before Laura disappeared, there was a dispute between Victor
and Alexi. They parted as bitter enemies. Brocco was right though. It probably
would lure Victor here, but on the flipside of that if Alexi found out his name
was being used as bait it could open a whole new can of worms and Richard
didn’t like that idea. That was a fire fight Richard didn't want to find
himself, or Laura, in the middle of. "It's dangerous," he started.

     Brocco cut him off.
"I know. I know you're taking a big risk doing this and if we put you in
jail you're as good as dead. That's why we offered you witness protection. We
also know we're risking Laura's life and her boyfriend’s..."

     It was Richard's turn
to interrupt. "Laura's boyfriend?"