We made our way towards the harbor, at least I assumed we were. The windows were even harder to see out of when it was totally dark outside. The ride wouldn't have been as long as the one from my apartment, but the silence in the car was killing me, so I finally turned to Nate and said, "Saying I told you so in this situation seems so childish, so ? I told you so."
"What are you talking about, Avery?" he asked, like he didn't already know.
"Oh, only the fact that I went on and on about how horrible I'd be in an undercover situation and within thirty minutes of being undercover I blurted out directly to the suspect that we were on to him. That has got to be some kind of record. Is there a reward for stupidest agent? I think I'd win hands down at the award show. I could even wear this dress." I'd ventured into rambling, so I shut my mouth and awaited his response.
"What I heard, and know from how your mind works, was that you instinctively knew Jimmy was a good guy. You realized he was telling the truth, and he needed your help. In fact, I have a feeling you can always tell when someone is telling the truth. I think you'd make a great interrogator.
"Put you in a room with a guy for a few minutes and we'd for once know if they really didn't do it, like the majority claim. It's a talent you don't see a lot, but if more people had it, the world would run a lot smoother," he said. I tried not to look at him like he'd grown a second head, but it was hard.
I didn't understand why it appeared I could do no wrong in his eyes, and he always turned things around to make it sound like I was God's gift to humankind. He hadn't known me long enough to make those kinds of assumptions.
"You've known me for about a week. How in the world do you think you know how my mind works? If you did, you'd be afraid to be in this limo with me right now, because every day since I met you, I've been plotting a gruesome death for you. I know you guessed about the skewers once, but if you saw the other things I've been thinking, I'm pretty sure you would've tried to keep me away from automobiles in general."
The time I thought about tying him to railroad tracks while I rode over his head with Winnie popped in my mind. Sadly, it was too messy for me, so I didn't act on that one.
Nate visibly shivered at my statement. "Yes, well I know you don't really mean those things so I've let them go. If you really wanted to hurt me, we've spent enough time together that you've had plenty of opportunities."
"Wait, so he can read your mind?" Jimmy asked, for no apparent reason. Nate hadn't really said anything to make the idea a possibility.
"He likes to imagine he does," I replied before Nate could weave a grand tale about how he knew everything going on in my head. "He makes decent guesses on what I'm thinking based on a given situation and what he's seen me do in the few days we've known each other. Really, he's just a super-agent who has tons of field experience and has decided to use that against me."
Nate winked at me and said, "That's what I want her to think."
Yeah, like that explained everything. There were times I wanted to know what was going on in Nate's head and how he was able to read me so well, but most of the time, just the idea that he could read me scared me enough to keep my mouth closed.
"Whatever, Agentman. So what's the plan when we get to the harbor?" I asked as I rolled my eyes at him. The lighting was low in the limo, so I doubted he saw it.
"Well, we're going to get close enough to get a good look at the Statue of Liberty, like we said. If anyone overheard and followed along, they'll see we're doing exactly what we planned. There are already agents and local police blocking off all the exits. They confirmed the ship is still in the harbor and there are crates onboard, presumable filled with weapons.
"They'll do their thing around eleven, so we'll probably miss some of?the action, but I'll most likely still leave you guys and go over there to make sure everything is under control. I don't expect any problems with the force we have, and the fact that they're reporting about twenty men moving on and around the ship," he explained.
"We get to sit around and drink coffee while all the action is dealt with elsewhere. That sounds like a plan even I wouldn't mess up. If given half a chance, I'm sure I could cause some chaos to ensue, but generally I think I can pull that off." If I ruined things by sipping on a drink, I was even more of a lost cause than I'd always thought.
"What about my sister?" Jimmy asked. "They have her at another location and I'm worried what they'll do if they're able to get a call through before everyone is caught."
"We have people on their way over to the hotel already. We were planning on sending them in there when the word was given to take the ship. That way no one can call to alert the others that we're on to them," Nate relayed.
"I just really want to see her and make sure she's okay."
Jimmy and Nate looked at each other for a few extra seconds, almost like they were having a private conversation. It was clearly a guy thing, so I let them have their moment.
"You'll get a chance to see her very soon. If I was a betting man, I'd say within the next hour you'll be able to check that everything is as it should be," Nate assured him. "Look, there's Lady Liberty." He pointed out the window in case we'd missed it. I still couldn't see much, but I imagined he knew what he was talking about. "Start looking for a coffee shop we can stop at."
Within a minute we found the perfect coffee shop with a great view of the harbor. We stopped to order, plain black coffee for both the boys and some herbal tea for me. Once we were given our order, we made our way back outside to the small patio they offered and took our seats.
Sitting with two guys staring at each other while sipping coffee was making me want to walk away, so I tried to start up some kind of conversation. Driving a conversation wasn't something I was used to, but I was finding I had to come up with something to fill the lulls.
"So Jimmy, are you excited that this time tomorrow you may be on your way back to Chicago?"
"I'm sure I'll need to stick around and deal with any questions the police have for me, so it might not be as soon as I'd like. Who knows, this time tomorrow I might be behind bars for my part in all this. As I said earlier, I'm more than willing to help any way I can, though.
"I never wanted to be involved and other than transferring money from one party to the other and being required to be here while they pick up their guns, I didn't have anything to do with the negotiations. I think they just wanted the money and emails to go through me to try to throw the law off their scents. They clearly didn't know how carefully they were being watched."
"I can't imagine how traumatic this situation has been for you, Jimmy." I took a sip of my tea. "From my experience, I think you're a great guy and I hope once this is all cleared up and the right people are behind bars, you can get back to your life."
"Am I a great enough of a guy that you might decide to come visit me in Chicago sometime soon?" Jimmy asked as he reached for my hand and kissed it. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought there was an evil twinkle to his eyes.
Not hearing the usual growl from Nate, which had become a natural occurrence when anyone tried to flirt with me, I looked over at him. I immediately saw that he was busy trying to decide how big of an apple to buy, so he could shove it in Jimmy's mouth and roast him on a spit like a luau pig. I could easily tell that was what he thought, because I'd had the same idea about Nate and I imagined the same look on my face.
Turning back to Jimmy, I said, "Sorry, Jimmy, I don't fly for one, and we've already discussed the issue of Chicago being way too close to Montana."
"Oh yes, the dreaded mother. Well, I'm definitely going to have to find some reasons to visit New York it seems."
He added, after looking over and seeing the glint in Nate's eyes, "I'm speaking of visiting for purely platonic friendshiply reasons. Ha, is friendshiply even a word? I think I just made that up. It's clear Avery and I aren't exactly the same species, figuratively, of course. I get the sense she's more of a bird and I'm a cute woodland creature with a furry tail. Those two things
really shouldn't mix." I could tell there was supposed to be meaning in his words, but the translation got lost.
Even when he was talking nonsense, Jimmy was a good guy in my book. If Frannie wasn't already in a relationship with Gary, I would've tried my hand at matchmaking. The only other female I was sort of close to was Liz, and I wasn't sure I wanted to unleash her moodiness on someone as nice as Jimmy. It would end up scarring him more than the business with the Schwartz's had.
"I do believe that is a new word and it describes our relationship well. We are friendshiply," I laughed as I tried to pronounce the word correctly.
"If friendshiply is all I can get, I'll have to accept it. I've visited New York before so I've seen a lot of the sights, but I haven't seen the city through your eyes. I think in a couple months I'll have to bring Julie back so you can give us a tour."
"That would be difficult, since for me New York tends to be my work and my apartment. Neither of you are cleared to see my work and the three of us wouldn't fit into my apartment. Maybe I'll have to spend the next few months going on tours of the city myself to prepare."
Nate's phone rang and he hit a button to answer. "Agent Barnes." After listening for a few moments, he replied, "Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes."
Hanging up the phone he stood up. I didn't like the idea that he was going to head off into a potentially dangerous situation. It was a weird sensation to want to kill him, but yet not wanting any harm to come to him.
"That was the call I've been waiting for. Since I'm the agent in charge, I need to head over and make sure everything is done the way I want it. I want you both to stay here and wait for me to come back. It'll probably be a while, so you might walk around a little, but please don't go too far. I wish I could send some people over to keep an eye on you, but we're a little strapped for staff right now."
I understood, and didn't think we were a priority. He leaned over and gave me a small kiss on the lips, before turning and running in the direction of the harbor. I stared after him as he covered the distance like a track champion. It wasn't fast enough to explain my quick nachos the first night we met, but it was impressive.
Jimmy laughed, drawing my eyes over to him. "No, that man isn't interested in you at all. Don't think for a second I didn't notice him plotting my demise while I was teasing about a possible relationship between the two of us. If I'd known you already had a mate, I wouldn't have bothered getting my hopes up."
"Hey, you be nice and knock off that talk about mates," I said, poking his arm. "If you aren't nice to me I'll unleash my coworker Liz on you. She'd probably have a field day doing a background check on you to see if you were good enough to date her."
"Alright, alright I give. If you aren't aware of the truth, there isn't any need for me to waste my breath." He held his hands up in defeat, while my eyes travelled back to check on Nate's progress.
When I couldn't make Nate out in the darkness, I noticed the limo's front door opening, and the driver exiting to walk around to the passenger seat. From there, he hauled out a young woman who had duct tape around her hands and covering her mouth. It looked like she'd been crying and her clothes had seen better days.
"Oh no, Jules," Jimmy sobbed, looking at the sight before us.
I could only assume that Jimmy knowing the lady meant that we'd found where his sister was being held, and I didn't think anyone expected it to be in the limo with us. The part that made my heart sink down into my stomach was that I recognized the driver from mug shots I'd studied since my case had started. Olaf Schwartz held a gun to Jimmy's little sister's head.
CHAPTER 23
Showing up with a knife to a gun fight is a bad idea