Together Again(75)

                “And nothing like that when they searched Nixon and Jameson’s houses. We specifically asked them to look for discs and drives,” Sam said.

                “That leaves … what?” Margo asked. “Where else would they stash it? What would they consider a safe place?”

                “A safe place. That’s it.” Sam said, “Keys.”

                “What’s it, Sam?” Margo asked. “What did I say?”

                “Not Margo Keyes. The ring of keys in Nixon’s bag. Wasn’t there a small key? One that could be for a safe deposit box? Danny, would you … ?” But his partner had already disappeared to retrieve the ring of keys.

                A few phone calls and they’d found the bank where Jameson had rented a safe deposit box a month earlier. After the Redmond police got a court order, the box was opened. Two high capacity hard drives were inside.

                They had Viktor’s “merchandise.”

                • • •

                On Thursday, shadowed by her bodyguard, Margo made the trek across the park to Central Precinct for a final run-through before her rendezvous with Viktor. She was dreading it. She had racked her brain trying to find a way to make her back-channel negotiations with Viktor sound like anything other than what they were — a secret she’d kept from Sam and the team. She’d been unable to come up with anything that sounded reasonable, even to her.

                Now she was out of time. She had to tell them. It was only one change but it would make Sam angry. And God knows what Tony would say when he found out.

                She was relieved to see that the meeting was only the operational team — Danny, Sam and Tony. At least if she was going to have her head ripped off, it wouldn’t be in front of the feds. As soon as they all sat down, she took a deep breath and jumped in. “Sam, I’m going to make a slight revision to the plan.”

                “We’re past the point of making changes, Margo,” Sam said.

                “Not much choice, I’m afraid. I made a deal with Viktor … ”

                Sam’s eyes narrowed and he spit words at her like bullets. “What the fuck? What deal?”

                “When I told him I needed more time he threatened me, told me I was playing a dangerous game … ”

                Sam brushed her words away with an impatient gesture. “I know that. Get to what I don’t know.”

                “He kept pushing about why I hadn’t brought the real merchandise to Blue Lake. Why I wasn’t living at home. Why someone was suddenly with me all the time. I said I didn’t bring the hard drives with me because I’d lied to you about them. I wanted the money so I let you think the flash drive was what he wanted. And I told him the police moved me after Blue Lake because my boss insisted.” She paused for a few heartbeats. “Then, I gave him Tony.”

                “You WHAT?” Sam said.

                “I told him Tony was a cop. Said he was the one who’d seen the email and made the deal because he didn’t want me going to Blue Lake alone. Viktor said he knew that.”

                “You’re saying that to give yourself cover,” Sam said.

                “No, I swear. His exact words were that he was pleased to see I was finally being honest. He said that made him more confident that he could trust me.”