Page 5 of King

I walk down the street closer to the bridge, where our favourite hot dog vendor is located.They have the best corn dogs.Freshly made on site, while you wait, they’re delicious.I hope it will distract me from my current reality of being tailed by an FBI special agent.

I see Michelle walking down the street towards me and smile.She sees me and comes over right away, putting her arms around me for a quick hug.

“There you are, sweets,” she says.“Let’s eat.I’m starved.I haven’t eaten anything since breakfast.If you can believe it.”

I glance at her bag and see a can of pepper spray hanging off the strap.

“You carry pepper spray now?”

“I sure as hell do.You should, too.”

“That doesn’t sound like you.You always said New York was one of the safest places in America.”

“It is, unless you have friends in the mafia,” she replies, wagging her eyebrows.

I shake my head once more.“I’m so sorry…”

“Forget it.Let’s order.I’m starved.”

We put in our order, and then when our corn dogs are ready, after applying liberal amounts of mustard, we go to a bench that overlooks the park and dig in.The corndogs taste so good that for a moment, I forget the reality that I currently live in.

I’m lucky to have Michelle, and I hope she will stay loyal to me during the next few months.

I’ll need her…

ChapterThree

Harrison

FBI Headquarters, Manhattan

On the drive to Fogarty’s office, he goes over the new terms of our mutual agreement for cooperation.

As the cars and buildings whiz by, I think about my new handler.“What happened to Reynolds?”

“Sorry, but that’s none of your business.Just know that I’m assigned to your case, and you answer to me.”

A sense of frustration fills me.“You don’t think I should know why he was taken off my case?”

“I don’t know why, and therefore you shouldn’t know why.Let’s just say it was a decision made by higher-ups and none of our business.What we gotta do is work out how you’re gonna cooperate with me to take down the Siderov and Andropov crime families.”

“All right,” I say, frustrated that I won’t know why Reynolds was taken off the case.It isn’t that I like Reynolds.I wonder why he was removed.Did he do something wrong?Was he compromised in some way?

Does that put Natalia or me in danger?

We drive up to the FBI building and into a spot in the underground parking space.Before we get out, Fogerty turns to me.

“Look.I want this to work out.You want this to work out.That way, we can each move on and be satisfied that we worked on an important case and solved a major crime problem in the city.You have an honorable career in the army that you can be proud of.You could’ve joined the FBI when you got out of the service.You would’ve been a shoo-in.If you hadn’t gotten yourself mixed up with your family's attempt to take back the diamonds, you would be all clear now.But you made a bad choice, and now you have to pay the price.Hopefully, it will clear your record, and you can move on.Now, let’s go inside.”

I consider what he says, knowing that he wanted to state his case and get it over with.“I know I made a mistake when I went with my brother and other members of the group to the Russian bank,” I say, “but I thought I could contain the damage.I was wrong.I didn’t count on a very brave mall cop intervening.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” he says, his voice sounding disingenuous.“You thought you could handle it yourself, but you were wrong.Now, you gotta work with us.No more going rogue.We know how to manage these cases, so you gotta follow along and do what you’re told.I know that’s gonna be hard for you, but if you wanna get out of this alive and with your life intact, listen and obey.You were an army ranger; you know about following orders.I’m counting on you.”

A sense of frustration fills me.He’s right.I made a mistake, and now I’m paying the price.I’m used to following orders, but I’m also used to making decisions in the moment under intense pressure.I’m not some green recruit who doesn’t know how to react.But I push that feeling down and nod, agreeing with him without speaking.I can’t trust my voice in the moment.

He unlocks the door, and we get out.“Follow me.It’s this way.”

We take the elevators to the main lobby, where we check in with the security guard.I’m given a guest pass, which hangs on a lanyard around my neck.Then we take the elevator to one of the floors and go into an office space.There are a half dozen people in the space, sitting at desks in front of computers, their earphones on.