“I’m not going to win this, am I?” Margo said.
“Nope. And, FYI, I’m better at bossy and stubborn than you are, which might explain why it irritates you so much.”
Margo pretended to ignore the grin on his face. And she refused to look at Tony who snorted at Sam’s response.
Sam borrowed Lt. Angel’s office, which was empty for the moment. After Danny arrived he started with, “So, where are we?”
“I got a message from Viktor I need to tell you about.” Margo looked from Sam to Danny. “But first, no one’s asked me why Viktor hasn’t thought twice about dealing with me. Aren’t you curious?”
“He thinks you’re your father’s daughter,” Sam responded.
Margo felt her eyes widen. “How do you know about my father?”
“Same way Viktor does, I imagine. I Googled you.”
“I’ve never seen anything about my father when I’ve Googled myself.”
“Must not have gone back far enough. It was there when I looked last week. The feds and I wanted the answer to the question you just asked. I asked Jeff and he suggested I search online.”
“What the fuck’re you talking about?” Danny asked.
“My father was a lawyer, too, Danny. He had a private practice with a lot of little clients and one big one — the Philly mob. He died in a federal prison after being convicted on RICO charges. Tony’s family lived next door to mine so he knows about it. But no one in Portland knows — well, I thought no one knew — except Jeff and he’d promised not to tell anyone. Viktor has hinted in the past that he knew and now, with this last email, he’s blatant about it.”
She handed Sam a copy of the message. “You’re playing a dangerous game. Being Kenny Keyes’ daughter won’t protect you. Follow these directions precisely or you’ll pay the same price your two colleagues did.” It continued with a list of instructions on how to deliver his “merchandise” to a Russian grocery store in two days.
“Now what, Sam?” Margo asked.
“Now we have two days to figure out what he wants. Anyone have any bright ideas?” There was no response. He started pacing the floor. “Okay, what do we know? Two people were trying to sell something they’d stolen from Microsoft to Viktor and maybe to someone else in competing deals. We thought the flash drive was it, but Viktor says it isn’t. He thinks Margo’s holding out on him. Two people who crossed him are already dead, which puts a big, fat target on Margo’s back. That’s all we know. And it’s jack shit.”
He scrubbed his hands over his face as if to wash away his frustration. “I’m tired of what we don’t know, can’t find or didn’t do right. We cannot fall on our asses again. It’s too important and I don’t like having the rug pulled out from under me this way.”
Tony shook his head. “So, what do we do? All I can come up with is tearing Jameson’s and Nixon’s bags apart. Literally. Maybe something’s hidden there.”
“That’s all I can come up with, too,” Sam said. “Can you get the Philly police or the feds to take Jameson’s bag apart while we do hers?”
“Yeah, I’ll do it now,” Tony said and left the meeting to make the call.