Dying For LA by Ian Jones (best adventure books to read TXT) 📗

thought about Moran and the way he had looked at her, and the obvious threat in his voice when he told her that against what he believed she could go and do it. How was she going to explain this to him?

She sighed so heavily as she got out her seat that everyone around her stared, then walked slowly back down to her car. She sat there for a while watching the sea, wondering how the hell she could have been so optimistic when she had first arrived here.

She shook her head, twisted the key and the engine fired up. She rolled toward the car park exit and spotted the low fuel light was on.

Typical.

Chapter Thirty

Reed had changed back out of his uniform and they headed over to Santa Monica in his own car, a battered and faded Mustang that he was clearly very proud of. They didn’t talk much on the way, both men were starting to really feel the tension in the situation. At any moment they expected to hear of some new event that had occurred, and both felt powerless to prevent anything further happening.

Reed believed Keane would crack sooner rather than later, to be locked up on his own with nothing and nobody around would do it. But privately, John wasn’t so confident. Keane had completely fooled him, if it hadn’t been for the gun he would never have completely believed that the man was the leak, and he wondered how long this had been planned, and how deep Keane’s involvement really was. John didn’t believe he would be right at the top, but he could well be a lieutenant for all they knew.

Judy had been confident but in the end struggled with the track on Pinsky’s phone. It turned out that he was on record with the FBI, Homeland Security and the CIA. He was connected to the Russian consulate in Washington, and listed as an attaché to the Military, although his exact role was unclear, as was why he was spending so much time in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. He had served in the KGB, and as far as anyone could tell had no criminal record, either in the US or Russia. So, because she could not confirm any crime only suspicions Judy’s request was immediately denied, which had put even more pressure on John and Reed to get something out of Keane.

But Judy had kept them informed; she wasn’t giving up. She was determined, doggedly looking to avenge not just Kyle Warner but also the innocent women at the Metro station so began persistently calling in favours all over the FBI, and had discovered that Pinsky had been detained as part of a raid on a house in Baltimore several years previously. The local police were watching a man suspected of people trafficking and had built up a solid case. The story was this man had thrown a party at his home, and many girls, some of them very young were seen entering the property, shepherded inside straight out the back of a van, everything being recorded by the watching surveillance team. They had seen enough, so called in reinforcements then stormed into the building armed and ready; everyone was taken away for questioning.

Pinsky was one among many others detained and had been held for some time but eventually released, mostly due to his diplomatic status but the police had found he was carrying an unlicensed Beretta handgun and a small amount of cocaine on him. He had denied all knowledge, claiming they must have been put in his jacket when the house was raided but his fingerprints had been found on both.

Baltimore PD had a dilemma; they weren’t used to dealing with suspects like this. He appeared to have no connection to the target they had been working on other than being invited to the party. In fact at the time of the raid he was not found with any of the girls. Despite the weapon and the drugs he was released, but flagged as ‘a person of interest’.

As soon as Judy found this out, she cranked up the pressure and eventually her own chief relented and went to bat for her.

The trace would go live later today or first thing tomorrow all being well, which was great news and both John and Reed felt their motivation returning on hearing the news, getting the call just as they entered Santa Monica.

Although neither man was particularly concerned for their own safety they had decided to get out of the Ocean Vista, but opted to stay somewhere else in the immediate area. Money was no problem, there was a massive wad burning a hole in Reed’s pocket, so the first thing they did was to settle up and move along the beach to where the bigger more mainstream hotels were. They had a scout around while they were at the motel; the car the two men had arrived in was still there as was Keane’s, both were unlocked so they quickly searched them, finding another mobile phone in the door pocket of Keane’s car. It was an old, basic model, and they could see a lot of missed calls, from many different numbers. One of them looked familiar so John called Judy, she confirmed it was the number they were starting the trace on.

Even more confirmation to what they already knew, even more ammunition, but John knew that Keane would continue to deny everything.

He stuck the phone in his pocket then they followed the crowds and checked into a nondescript Marriot right on the seafront.

John went up to his room and stood looking out the window. His room wasn’t on the shore side, his view was of the wide street, a big petrol station right opposite. He watched the traffic and considered what to do next.

The problem was obvious, they were moving too slowly. They needed a backup plan.

They had Judy and the phone trace, and they had Keane locked up, which should