Cold Hit

Chapter 40

Cubio said, "I think, under the circumstances, we need to put these men into a deep-cover assignment.

Get them the hell out of here, find a secure location, and have them report in on SAT phones."

"I agree," Tony nodded.

"Chief, this morning you mentioned we needed to be totally covert and not confide in anyone," Roger said. "But if we're going to be effective, we need to confide in a few people."

"Such as?" Tony asked.

"Something strange is happening between the CIA and the Israelis," Broadway continued. "Eddie Ringerman and Bimini Wright were meeting tonight at the Russian Roulette. Ringerman used to be an LAPD detective. Now he does security for the Israelis. Bimini's head of the CIA's Western section station. We may need to start by getting them to brief us. Eddie used to wear blue and Wright's a straight shooter. She also owes us on the Lincoln Boulevard shooting last year. We put the case down without questioning any of her people. We could've blown a lot of covers and we didn't."

Tony stood thinking about it, and then looked over to Cubio for his opinion.

"Might as well. We ain't foolin' anybody anyway," Armando said.

"Okay, but not Ringerman," Tony said. "I don't trust a guy who changes sides like that. Start with Agent Wright, but don't talk to anybody else unless you clear it with Lieutenants Scully and Cubio or directly with me.

"Yes, sir," Broadway said.

"And we need to code name this," Tony added. "I don't want the feds to subpoena any internal memos using your names."

"How about Unusual Occurrence?" Cubio suggested. "It's the section in the CTB Operations Guide pertaining to tactical and covert operations. It's vague and it's already in our literature. Shouldn't attract much interest."

"Unusual Occurrence it is," Tony agreed. "All communications will be under that heading. No names. Broadway, you're One. Perry, you're Two. Scully, Three. Cubio, Lieutenant Scully, and I will be Four, Five, and Six."

We left the chief's office and moved into the hall. Alexa was just coming out of the elevator. She'd made it back to headquarters from home in less than twenty minutes. A new record.

"We'll meet you across the street in the park," Cubio said, nodding a greeting at Alexa.

Once the doors closed, Alexa took my hand and led me across the hall toward her office.

"Tony called and told me what happened in the garage," she said.

"I must be kicking over some of the right rocks," I smiled.

"I'm worried. It's one thing fighting criminals; it's something else when it's our whole federal government."

"This is not the U. S. government," I responded. "And it's not Big Brother either. It's just five or six assholes on a power trip. Tony wants us to work this undercover from a secure location."

"I think that's a good idea." Then she looked furtively around and planted a quick, secret kiss on my lips. "Once you get settled I want a call every five hours. If I don't get that call on schedule, I'm going to crank up this department and come looking."