Betrayal

"Do you know why?"

"Not sure. I only overheard pieces of the conversation, but I thought you'd know what it means."

"I do," I told her. "And thanks."

"Sure Max. Maybe someday after this all blows over we can have another drink at the Club."

Whoa. That got my attention. Maybe she liked slumming from time to time.

"Sure Heather. I'll call you."

I was right about Lester.

* * *

I only had a couple days to get Brianna ready for the meeting with Parsons. I got the list of questions from my buddy at the newspaper and went over them with Brianna. They were good, and thorough. Alan at least wouldn't be tipped off by her lack of preparation. She of course didn't have anything to wear that was appropriate for the meeting so we went out shopping.

Living in a cheap motel afforded me an excess of funds. I decided to splurge on Brianna's wardrobe and grooming. First stop was a hairdresser. I knew a good one. Brianna's hair was on the long side. A trim and new shampoo and conditioner gave her blonde hair a model's sheen. Next was make-up. We went to an exclusive boutique. I'm sure Lester's mom was a customer there. Brianna had never been professionally made up before. With her hair and make-up done, she looked every bit a movie queen. The final stop was the designer department of a high end department store for a new outfit and heels. After $1,500 on my card, she was paparazzi worthy. She would have given Heather a run for her money.

It was quite a contrast taking a decked out Brianna to the Royal Palms motel. She looked completely out of place. She took my arm as I led her up the stairs to my room.

"The executive suite of the Royal Palms, madam," I said, waving my arm for her to enter.

"Why thank you Max," she said. She walked to the full length mirror and admired herself. "I never thought I'd ever look like this."

"You look beautiful Brianna. See what's inside you? It's not too late," I assured her. I couldn't get it out of my head that I could save her.

She had other ideas. She took off her designer jacket and carefully placed it on the back of a chair. She unbuttoned her silk blouse and reached behind to unclasp her new bra. She stood there in her skirt and heels and nothing else.

"Do you want me Max?"

"More than ever," I answered.

"Then fuck me."

I did.

* * *

Brianna and I arrived early for our appointment with Alan Parsons. We were sitting in the lobby, watching all who passed by admiring the sexy blonde who was with me. Alan came out and was surprised to see me with a beautiful woman in tow. There was a glint in his eye.

"So I see you've brought a reporter..."

"I'm not exactly a reporter Mr. Parsons. I'm a writer," Brianna interjected.

I jumped in. "So Alan, this is Dee Klein. As I mentioned to you, she's a freelance writer we've hired to prepare a profile on the Mayor's office. Who better to give us the background than you?" It was making me sick kissing up to him but I had to suck it up.

"Well, Max, Dee, why don't we go into my office and finish this conversation?" We followed him back to the office. I was surprised to see he was walking instead of slithering.

He closed the briefcase that was on his desk and sat down. Brianna and I took the guest chairs. Brianna crossed her legs, and her slit in the skirt allowed Alan to see all of her leg with the stiletto heel on her foot. I was watching his eyes, which were watching her exposed thigh.

"Well Dee, I've got a dinner appointment after this, so why don't we get going?"

It was time for me to go. "I don't think I need to be here for the interview." I got up. "I'll leave the two of you to it."

Brianna turned her head to look at me as I left. Her face said, "I've got this."

* * *

I was in my motel room watching a mediocre Netflix movie. The Reds had an off that that day. I was eating a microwave burrito when my door opened. Pushover Max had given her a key to my room.

"I think I got what wanted," she said.

I was excited. "Show me," I told her.

"So I got these pictures...". Brianna showed me her phone. "I took a picture of all the papers in his briefcase."

I scrolled through her pictures. Amazing. There must have been more than a hundred images.

"Tell me what you had to do for this."

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Well, not a lot. Right after you left we did the interview in about twenty minutes. I could tell from the way he was looking at me that I was going to get what I wanted. I played the innocent girl and he was looking at me like one of my customers. Once we finished the interview he cancelled his dinner date and took me to a nice Italian restaurant where everyone knew him. The food was really good. I got something called spaghetti vongolo or something like that..."

"Spaghetti alle vongole," I corrected her in my best Italian.

"Right, right. So we had a really nice dinner and an expensive bottle of wine and then he took me back to his apartment. At this point he thought he was being smooth with his moves, thinking he's seducing a hick. We kissed a bit on the living room sofa and he put his hand under my dress, lifting up the hem to my waist. When his hand hit my panties I stopped him. I told him if we were going to do anything more he needed to get a condom. He didn't have one so I made him go to the corner convenience store. That gave me at least ten minutes, which was more than enough time to photograph everything in his briefcase."

"What did you do after that... you know... after he came back?" I was afraid of the answer.

"Nothing. I left before he came back. I'm sure he was surprised to see that I was gone."

"Gone?" I started laughing. I tried to picture Alan getting back to his empty apartment with a box of condoms in one hand and his dick in the other. He was going to get fucked, but not in the way he was hoping for.

* * *

"Hey Max. You look like the cat that swallowed the canary," Lanny said when he spotted me in the locker room.

"I got a treasure trove of documents from Alan Parson's briefcase. The best was a scrap of paper with a phone number on it. I strongly suspect it's a burner phone that belongs to Jumbo or one of his confederates."

"I'm not even going to ask you how you accessed his briefcase. What are you going to do with that? It would be kind of hard to get a warrant to tap that phone."

"That's true. But I don't have to do it. Jumbo's already under surveillance by the Feds. I wonder what would happen if Carl Banks were to suddenly come into possession of this number? They already have a warrant to tap his phones."

"Hmmm." Lanny thought for a moment.

"Max?"

"Yeah."

"Remind me never to fuck with you."

* * *

"So what did you get?" I asked Carl. I gave him the phone number a couple of days ago.

"Max, you know I can't reveal that information."

"Just tell me if it's good."

"It's good Max... really good."

"You can have Jumbo. I want Steph. You'll do that for me, won't you?"

"Yeah, it's Jumbo and Alan we want. The rest are small fry. She's all yours."

"Using the football ring as bait?"

There was a pause on the phone. "How'd you know about that?"

"Even a blind pig finds an acorn every once in a while," I told him.

"Yeah right," he said. He knew I'd never reveal my source, which in this case was Lanny.

"You just give me a heads up on when it's going down."

"You got it Max."

* * *

I got back to my room late and Brianna was waiting outside the door, sitting on the cold concrete floor smoking a cigarette and drinking a forty ounce malt liquor wrapped in a brown paper bag. She was wearing a white tube top, pink hot pants and white thigh high boots. She was shivering.

"Max! Finally. Unlock the fucking door."

"What happened to the key I gave you?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno. Lost it?"

Another reminder that you shouldn't trust a junkie with anything valuable.

She got up, taking a last drag off her cigarette and grinding the stub with the stacked heel of her gaudy vinyl boot.

"Good to see you too Brianna," I replied snarkily as she pushed her way past me into the warm room.

She pulled back the covers and threw herself on the closest bed. "I'm fucking beat." She pulled a pillow over her head.

I rolled my eyes, even though she couldn't see me, and muttered "Whatever," under my breath. She was like an entitled stray dog. Though a very cute one. I stripped off my clothes for a shower.

"I'm taking a shower and going to bed," I announced.

"Uh huh," Brianna grunted, her eyes still closed.

I started running the water for the shower when I heard my phone ding. I was already naked, and decided to check it when I was done.

The shower was refreshing. I felt clean and awake again. I wrapped a towel around my body and plodded into the bedroom to check my message.

"Tomorrow. 10 a.m. 50 Breton Court," the message said. It was Carl Banks's phone number. That was one of Jumbo's safe houses. I'm sure their intel told them that Jumbo, Steph, and maybe Alan Parsons would be there.

Tomorrow. The day of reckoning with Steph... and Jumbo. I'd been looking forward to this day for a month of Sundays. Brianna was already snoring softly. I pulled the covers over her.

"Sweet dreams Brianna."

* * *

I got there at 9:45 a.m. The tactical and SWAT teams were already there. A command post was set up a block away. I went to it and searched for Carl, finding him in an animated conversation with an agent. He was wearing a FBI windbreaker over a bulletproof vest. I waited until he was done.

"Max, you made it."

"Wouldn't have missed it for the world."

"We're going in for Jumbo. We think Alan will be there. According to our tap, Jumbo's going to give him $50,000. My guess is that Steph will be there to manage security."

"Who's in there now?"

"Not sure. We've had the safe house under surveillance ever since the call yesterday, and we haven't seen any movement yet."

"OK. When are you going to let me go in?"

"After we snag Jumbo and Alan. We'll put Steph in a separate room and let you have a private meeting with her before we formally arrest her."

"More than fair."

"Sit tight. You can hang out here." He handed me a police radio. "I'll call you on this. We'll be jamming cell phone traffic when the operation begins."

* * *

The radio crackled. "Black SUV and silver Lexus arriving at premises," announced a female voice.

Thirty seconds later, the same voice, "Large black male in hoodie exiting black SUV. White male in hoodie exiting silver Lexus."

"They're entering premises."

"Wait for my signal," came a different male voice.

I felt my skin prickle with anticipation. Silence for what seemed like forever.

"Go, go, go!"

I heard commotion and lots of chatter.

"False alarm, false alarm!" the male voice shouted. The radio traffic stopped. My shoulders slumped. The operation failed. I waited for Carl to return. Ten minutes later he did.

"So what happened?" I asked.

"They must have been tipped off," he said glumly. "Turns out that the black male and white male both had the general body shapes of Jumbo and Alan, but weren't them. We were fooled."

"Fuck."

"We're going to find the leak," he said indignantly.

"It wasn't you Max, was it?"

I looked at him surprised. "Absolutely not. I haven't said a word of this to anybody."

"Someone's going to pay," he muttered. "What a waste of fucking time."

* * *

I was cuffing one of the neighborhood toughs on one of the busy street corners in the West End. There had been numerous complaints lodged about the open drug traffic during the day. One of the larger elementary schools was in the area, and many of the children passed through the intersection on their way home. My phone started to buzz in my back pocket.

"Lanny, would you pull my phone out of my pocket please?"

Lanny fished the phone out and answered. "Uh huh... she's busy right now... yeah... I'll tell her to call you back. OK."

I pushed the lowlife's head down so he could get into the back seat of our cruiser.

"Here's your phone back Max. By the way, your ass is a lot firmer since you quit drinking." He patted it as if to reassure me.

I took the phone from him. "Thank you asshole. Are you in the business of sexually harassing your superiors?"

"Only you Max."

"Look... I know you saved my life once by taking a bullet. That goodwill is gone."

"Not in my book Max... lifetime pass."

I hit the "call" button on the last number to call me.

"Banks."

"Carl... you called?"

"Yeah... you know someone named Brianna?"

Fuck. Why was her name coming up? "Uh yeah. She's a CI for me." That was a white lie. She did provide me with information from time to time.

"She told Jumbo."

Double fuck. "How do you know it was her"

"We've tapped all of his phones. He called her to arrange for the payment they agreed upon."

"Max... did you tell her?"

I didn't, but I figured out how she could have known. She must have checked my phone when Carl texted me. I thought she was sleeping. Apparently not. I couldn't believe she betrayed me.

* * *

Chapter Eight

The Reckoning

It had been a week since the botched raid. I'd visited all of Brianna's hangouts and talked to her buddies. No trace of her. As a last resort, Lanny and I went to the abandoned house that we found Brianna at months before. There was trash strewn on the front porch that I kicked aside with my boot. The front door was hanging on one hinge. I pushed hard to open it as the bottom edge dragged on the scored hardwood floor. There were used needles and other drug paraphernalia scattered helter skelter and gang markings spray painted on the walls.

I went up the stairs, watching my feet as the treads were loose, and found the bedroom Brianna was in last time. Sure enough, she was sprawled out on it naked, with a different man than the one she was with the last time. It was abundantly clear from the smell that they'd smoked weed and done God knows what else and had just finished fucking.

She looked at me with heavily lidded eyes, making no move to cover herself up. Lanny was standing behind me.

"Ohhh... it's you Max," she said, slurring her words.

"It's me Brianna. Who's your friend here?"

"I don't know his name..."

The man could barely open his eyes. His limp cock was still glossy.

I kicked his bare foot lightly. "Got a name?"

"Ray..." he finally muttered.

"Well Ray. I think it's time that you go." I kicked his grimy clothes in his direction. "Get dressed and get the fuck out of here before I arrest you."

He fought to keep his eyes open. He stood up and stumbled forward as he attempted to pull his pants on. He took one look back at Brianna and left.

Brianna was still high, but lucid enough to understand me. I rifled through her bag. She had a roll of bills in it bound with a rubber band. I threw the money into her lap.

"Looks like a lot of money here Brianna. You're always broke. Where did you get it?"

She thought for a moment. "Jimmy Beans gave it to me."

That was an obvious lie. "Jimmy Beans wouldn't give you shit Brianna. Where did you get the fucking money?"

I grabbed a handful of her blonde hair and pulled her to her feet.

"Hey Max... that hurts!" I was killing her buzz.

"Where'd you get the money Brianna?"

She started sobbing uncontrollably. "I... I...needed the money... you know... for..."

I knew. I knew all too well. I should have known that I'd be playing second fiddle to her drug habit. She must have looked at my phone when I was in the shower. I guess she must have seen me put in my passcode more than once and memorized it. Stupid me.

I'm sure I showed disappointment on my face. "Brianna, I thought I could trust you."

"I'm so sorry Max..."

I've heard that before from a drug addict. They're sorry, that is until it's time to feed the beast.

"Get out Brianna, get out before I do or say something I'm going to regret."

"Please Max... I didn't mean to hurt you. I love you." Her face was distraught. The plea felt sincere, but I knew it was hollow inside.

I opened the door to the bedroom. "Please Brianna... just leave."

She picked up the money off the floor, put it in her bag, and left. I was sure it was going to be the last time I saw her.

* * *

It had been a few days since Brianna left. Of course I hadn't seen her, but I couldn't help but wonder where she was. She was a lovely girl, but drugs had taken over her life, and me, being a recently reformed raging alcoholic, was not in a position to pull her out. I was hoping, somehow, that she would find her way. Maybe our confrontation was just the shock she needed to pull her life together. I should have been mad at her but I felt only pity.

Work was... well work, and Lanny was my sole source of entertainment. We spent hours in the car together with me listening to his troubles with his latest love, a court reporter he met while he was acting as a bailiff in court. Chelsea in H.R. was long forgotten. I was living vicariously through him, and that should tell you the sorry state of my life.

We were driving down Liberty Street when I spotted Jumbo's black SUV. It was hard to miss with two of his bodyguards, dressed in all black, standing next to it. They were double parked in front of a famous local barbeque place that had a line of patrons out the door and onto the sidewalk. Not having anything better to do, and wanting to jerk his chain, I had Lanny pull over behind his car.

I approached one of his thugs with my ticket book in my hand. Lanny was in the car calling for back-up, not trusting me to behave. The man, well over six foot tall and probably outweighing me by a hundred pounds, got between me and the car.

"Can I help you officer?" he asked politely.

"Is this your vehicle sir?"

"No it's not. The owner is in the restaurant. I'm his driver."

I could see there was a bulge in his jacket. "License and registration please?"

He opened the passenger side door. There was someone sitting in there who got out holding his driver's license and the car's registration. It was Steph. She was dressed smartly in a business appropriate suit with matching jacket and pants. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

"Aren't the zoo animals keeping you busy Max?"

"No... there's one here that needs to be put back in his cage."

She smiled. "You haven't changed Max, though I heard you dried out."

She handed me the license and registration. I started writing a ticket for double parking.

"So the great Max Pemberton, busted down to a traffic cop."

I continued scribbling on my pad. "Better than working for scum," I told her, without looking up.

"Look at you who's talking. No better than fucking scum. So how is Brianna?"

Whoa. That hurt. So it was all true. The money was from Jumbo. Brianna sold me out for some pieces of paper.

"I don't know," I said, trying to control the shakiness in my voice.

"Once a junkie, always a junkie." She glared at me with the hate built up from sitting in a prison cell for two years. "Just give me the fucking ticket and move along."

Jumbo appeared from the restaurant, holding a bag fragrant with hickory smoked meats. "You girls catching up on old times?" he snickered.

Steph took the ticket out of my hand, crumpled it and threw it on the ground. "She was just leaving."

The back-up patrol car pulled up.

"Looks like mommy and daddy are here to pick you up Max," Jumbo said, taunting me.

Lanny came up to us. "Any problems here, Max?"

I pulled the flap on the bottom of Jumbo's greasy paper bag. The burgeoning contents spilled out onto the sidewalk.

"No problem Lanny." I kicked the foil wrapped package that had fallen on the sidewalk and three half racks of ribs came out and skittered across the pavement. I glared at Steph. "Clean up this shit, otherwise I'm going to cite you for littering."