A Stolen Season (4 page)

“I told you, I was just going to do crowd control today,” she said. “I was ready for the longest day of my life.”

“I remember.”

“I get to work, and my CO says I need you to go up to the Mounties’ office on Yonge Street. I’m thinking, what the hell is this? What did I do wrong now?”

“The Mounties…I thought they only worked in provinces without their own police.”

“No, they have a regional office here. For anything national. Or international.”

“What did they want with you?”

“That’s what I’m getting to. I go up there, and they take me to the operations room. There’s about thirty people in the room, all sitting in chairs. There’s a podium up front, a big projector screen. The whole works. They’re obviously right in the middle of something. They’re showing pictures of people on the screen. But as soon as I go in, everything stops and they’re all looking at me.”

She paused for a moment. I didn’t say anything. I listened to the faint hum on the line, the sound of the distance between us, until she spoke again.

“The man up front, his name was Keller. He’s some kind of special operations commander for the Royal Mounted. He introduced himself, and then he says to everybody in the room, he says, this is Natalie Reynaud of the OPP. She has a certain talent I think you’ll all be interested to hear about. I’m thinking, what the hell is going on here? I felt like I’d been called down to the principal’s office.”

“I imagine.”

“He says to me, tell us about your previous undercover experience.”

“The stuff you were talking about last night.”

“Yes. He says tell us all about it, so I gave him the whole story. How I had hooked up with these bikers in Hearst. First through the woman and then the leader and everyone else…How it never amounted to anything.”

“Because they ended up dead.”

“Exactly. But somebody I was drinking with last night, they must have tipped off Keller, because he got on the phone to the Mountie who had run that operation up in Hearst, way back when. That guy must have given me quite a recommendation, because all of a sudden I’m a natural-born undercover agent.”

“I’m not surprised, Natalie. I’m sure you were great at it.”

“I don’t know about that. But next thing I know, they turn on the projector and there’s this woman’s face on the screen. She’s really attractive. Just killer. They say her name is Rhapsody. Which is such a perfect name, isn’t it? Doesn’t that make her sound like somebody who should be answering the phone at a beauty salon?”

“Sounds more like a stripper to me.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. Appearing in the lounge tonight, ‘Rhapsody in Blue.’”

“I take it that’s not what she did for a living?”

“Apparently not. According to Keller, she’s hooked up with a man named Antoine Laraque. And Laraque is the reason why everybody’s in that room.”

“Drugs again? Like the biker guy?”

“No, not drugs. Guns.”

“In Canada?”

“I’m telling you, Alex. You wouldn’t believe it here. This whole city is going crazy with guns right now. All these gang members, especially in Rexdale, Scarborough…It’s like they’re catching up with the American cities all of a sudden. It’s like they picked up Detroit and dropped it in Ontario.”

“Hey, that’s my old hometown you’re talking about.”

“I’m sorry, but you know what I mean.”

“Sad to say…But yes, I do.”

“In fact, as it turned out, half the people in that room were from the States. There’s this big joint operation between the ATF and Royal Mounted. Because, of course, you know where all the guns are coming from.”

“Of course,” I said. “But this sounds like big-league stuff. What exactly do they want you to do? You’re not telling me this whole group got together just because you—”

“No, no. The operation’s been active for a good two months now. They’ve got this one Mountie, a guy named Don Resnik. He’s a real undercover pro. They were thinking they’d try to use him to make some kind of contact.”

“But then what? You came along? All of a sudden they’re changing the plan?”

“They think I’ll have a better shot at it. I’m a new face in town. Nobody will recognize me, and they said if I have this ability to make a connection with another woman…Maybe if I have the right kind of backstory to work with…Like maybe I’m here in town trying to set up some kind of deal.”

“Natalie, doesn’t this sound kind of far-fetched to you? Do you think these people are going to fall for this?”

“We haven’t gotten that far yet. Right now, it’s just a little test, to see if I can make the contact. But if you think about it…I’m the perfect cover, aren’t I?”

“How’s that?”

“A woman gun dealer…Who’s going to suspect she’s really a cop? It’s the ultimate double fake-out.”

“Women cops work undercover all the time. Everybody knows that.”

“Yeah, and it’s usually what? A hooker working the corner, right?”

I thought it over for about two seconds. I hadn’t seen many solicitation stings back in my own day, but hell, prostitution was usually the least of our problems in Detroit. In any case, I knew she was right. I couldn’t think of one single time a female officer had posed as anything else.

“So when does this happen?” I said. “When do you try to connect with Rhapsody?”

“Tomorrow.” I could hear the excitement in her voice. And the nerves.

“Just like that? What are you going to do, start talking to her at the supermarket?”

“Actually, it’s a coffee shop. She stops in there every morning. I’ve got this whole script made up. I better go over it again before I go to bed.”

I had a mixture of feelings that night. I was proud of her. I knew how important the operation must have been to everyone involved. If so many guns were really flooding the city, I knew what the effects would be. I knew that all too well. Beyond that, I was envious. She was getting into the kind of police work I would have killed to do myself, back in the day.

But more than anything else, I was scared to death.

Another cold day
in Paradise. Jackie was starting to get a little cranky about it. I got my first cancellation. I was almost done with the roof. I wasn’t much use to anyone, though, because all I could think about was Natalie going undercover in Toronto, trying to connect with this woman named Rhapsody, and then, beyond her, with a network of international gun smugglers. I had to try pretty hard to imagine a worse group of human beings to fool around with.

I think I hit my fingers with my hammer about four times before Vinnie finally stopped by and asked me what the hell was wrong with me. I gave him the quick version. I was up on the ladder, finishing up a row of wooden shingles. The sun was trying to fight its way through the gray clouds, finally giving up for the day. Summer was still on back order.

“She’ll be fine,” Vinnie told me. “You know they’ll be right behind her.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said. “I know that.” Like I really believed it. Right behind her. Tell that to my old partner.

When we were done, we had dinner at the Glasgow. We sat by the fire. My hands were sore from the cold and the hard work and from hitting them with the goddamned hammer. When it was late enough, I wished everyone a good night and went back home. The phone was ringing when I opened the door, so at least I didn’t have to sit there again like a high school kid.

“Alex,” she said, “tell me what you did today.”

“Never mind me. What happened with the undercover thing?”

“Please. You first. I want to hear about you so I can clear my head a little.”

“What’s there to say? I worked on the cabin with Vinnie.”

“Tell me everything. What did you do?”

She wasn’t going to let me go, so I told her the spellbinding tale of how we nailed on some more wooden shingles.

“Is it still cold there?”

“It’s unbelievable,” I said. “I’ve never seen it like this before. It’s almost July.”

“It was actually kinda nice here. It was a great day for making new friends.”

“How did it go down?”

“Good, good. I think. I don’t know.”

“Tell me what happened.”

“I was in the coffee shop. I was sitting at a corner table, with a laptop. We had one car parked on the street outside, couple of guys in plain clothes. One with a newspaper, the other with a cell phone. She usually stops in around nine or nine thirty, so I was there at eight thirty, just to be sure.”

“Were you nervous?”

“No, not at all. Terrified, maybe. But not nervous.”

“I got it. So go on.”

“I was sitting there for an hour. By nine thirty, there was no sign of her. I kept sitting there, waiting. I was thinking maybe she wasn’t going to stop in today. Or maybe, hell, it’s crazy but I was wondering if she made us before she even opened the door. Just smelled something funny and kept walking.”

“There’s no way.”

“I know. I’m just saying, it’s the kind of thing that goes through your head. Anyway, it was almost ten, so I figured we’d have to shut it down. Then she came in. You should have seen her, Alex. She had this white jacket on, black skirt, this blouse that was sort of like a Dalmatian print. Like that woman in the movie. What was her name?”

“What movie?”

“With the Dalmatians. Cruella De Vill. Like her. Except younger. And better looking.”

“Whatever you say.”

“Black-and-white shoes. She even had a white streak in her hair. She was just so…put together. Like it was almost too much but not quite. Somehow it looked good on her.”

“What were you wearing?”

“Oh, I was all in black. They bought me this nice black suit, with a short skirt. Black stockings, shoes, the works.”

“I’m trying to picture that,” I said. I had a strong suspicion she looked pretty great dressed like that. It gave me a hollow feeling in my gut.

“They got me a real Coach bag, too. Black, of course. The idea was to show a little flash, but I don’t know. Seeing her walk in, I felt totally outclassed.”

“There’s no woman on this earth who could outclass you, Natalie.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment. “Yeah,” she finally said. “Well…”

“Keep going.”

“She generally doesn’t spend much time there. She gets her coffee and leaves. So I made like I was coming back to get a refill. I was standing right behind her. You should have smelled this perfume, Alex. It smelled almost like Opium, but the top note was different.”

“You’re losing me now.”

“Sorry, it’s just that…I mean, it’s funny how much you notice when all your senses are on red alert, you know?”

“Uh-huh.”

“I waited a few seconds, and then I said, ‘You’re Rhapsody.’ She turned around, and she said, ‘Do I know you?’ She was pretty cold about it, too. Like she wasn’t sure if I was wasting her time. I said, ‘I hit Kingston right around the time you left. I saw you around for a few days.’”

“Kingston?”

“The women’s penitentiary. In Kingston, Ontario. It’s closed down now. But the backstory was that I was going in the same week she was going out. Like five years ago.”

“What were you in for?”

“Jailhouse etiquette is not to ask that question, even when you get out. But if it came up, I was in for grand theft and assault.”

“I can see that.”

“Yeah, thanks. Anyway, the whole point of today was for me to just say hello, let her know I recognized her. So maybe the next day, if I was there again—”

“You could strike up another conversation.”

“That was the idea. But she came right out and asked me what I was doing in town, if I lived there now. I told her no, I was just in town for a few days, working on putting a deal together.”

“A deal?”

“Yeah. She asked what business I was in. I said, ‘Personal protection.’”

“Very nice.”

“Then I said, ‘How about you?’ She said, ‘Oh, I’m into all sorts of things these days. It’s good to be diverse, don’t you think?’”

“She said that?”

“She was so smooth, Alex. And here I am with my knees knocking together.”

“Natalie—”

“I had a good exit line, though. As she was leaving, I said to her, ‘Nice shoes.’ You think Resnik would have thought of that?”

“Natalie, are you sure about all of this? I mean, what’s supposed to happen next?”

“Eventually, if we get to it, I’m going to be there in Toronto, trying to move some guns across the border. I’ll have a supplier in Michigan, and I’ll be trying to connect with the right person so I can put a deal together. I’ll be staying at the downtown Hilton with my muscle.”

“Your muscle?”

“Yeah, Resnik gets to play that part. He’s about six foot five, and he looks like he could wrestle a grizzly bear. He’s a real good guy, though. Ordinarily, you’d expect him to resent me for coming in and taking over the lead role. But he’s been fine with it.”

“Natalie, I’m sorry, but this all sounds crazy to me.”

“You sound like my CO now.”

“Your CO thinks it’s crazy, too? Oh, that’s a good sign.”

“He’s just looking out for me, Alex. A few days ago, I was the new kid on the block. Now I’m going undercover.”

“You’re undercover, all right. If this goes any further, you’re gonna be about as deep undercover as you can get.”

“They’ll take over a whole floor of the hotel, Alex. There’ll be men in the rooms on both sides, and across the hall. Cameras, microphones, the whole deal. I’ll be the safest woman in Toronto.”

“Yeah, until the bad guys show up.”

“They had another homicide today,” she said. “Out in Regent Park, with a gun from the States. That’s twelve already this year. Twelve people shot dead and it’s not even July yet.”

“I hear what you’re saying, but—”

“They told me I could keep the clothes when we’re done. Not bad, eh? What do you think?”

What I thought was that she was making jokes about it because she had no idea what she was getting into. That she was even more scared than I was, if that were even possible.

“Natalie, for God’s sake. Are you gonna be careful?”

“Of course I am. When we’re all done here, you’re going to come out and visit me, right?”

“Sure. Of course I will.”

“I’ve got to go to bed now, Alex. I need to meet with everybody again first, then get ready for another meet at the coffee shop.”