Re: Skin the Wolfe continued: Chap24-Between a Rock and a Hard Stone
Chapter 24 Between a Rock and a Hard Stone
*
Aliosha Danilenko was back at his company headquarters after the rather lavish luncheon with Nevzorov and Jarovsky. He liked Jacob's idea to give that PI Leo Rossi's CSI Files a closer scrutiny, even if he did not approve of killing the rogue in order to lay hand on the incriminating information concerning Lt.Horatio Caine and some members of his team.
He decided to give Nevzorov a short call and advise him to forbid Jarovsky to kill that PI. He might be more useful alive then dead in the future and they had sufficient financial resources to afford top class intelligence. While Danilenko approved of Ivan Sarnoff and loved him like a father, he was rather of the opinion that their organisation would do better, if they'd distance themselves as soon as possible from acts of violence and reorient themselves to more profitable, less visible and white-collar criminal activities. He'd been very fond of that real estate fraud with the boat slips in Miami's most lavish marinas and had been slightly upset, when Ivan had compromised it by beating Nathan Madden to death, dropping his bloody body into a dustbin next door to the Aegaen Fighting Club and thus bringing Lt.Horatio Caine and his team onto the plan! Now it where Caine and his CSIs who were making their lives difficult.
Danilenko gave the set of gloves with the reproduction of CSI Wolfe's full set of fingerprints a thoughtful glance. They were ready, together with his service side arm and could be used at any moment, as soon as Timofeij Belkin had solved the issue over in France.
In the meantime, waiting for Belkin's reporting back from a hopefully successful mission, it would perhaps be a good idea to spend his time in a productive manner and bring a first grain of discord and strife into the remaining team of Horatio Caine. Fortunately not everybody in this Crime Lab was incorruptible and beyond reasons for doubt and beyond the little mole, he had inside the lab he had also incidentally hired a man, who had been an integral part of Caine's team for years, before getting himself fired on a charge of credit card fraud and usurpation of identity.
Danilenko had not hired Dan Cooper on purpose. It had more been an accident, already time before Horatio Caine had first stepped on the toes of the Ismyaiylovskaya's Miami branch. Cooper, the jobless and a bit desperate after a rather rough run in with his former colleagues over a practical and very dangerous internet joke he had played on CSI Dusquene, had applied for a programmer's job in Danilenko's company and Danilenko's Human Resources Manager had found the ex-lab technician's CV rather exciting.
Cooper -most certainly- was not aware of the fact for whom he worked and whose money paid his weekly salary and Danilenko rather preferred to keep it like that, but he wanted nonetheless to exploit the man's knowledge of the internal structures of the CSI. He called up Coopers HM file on his computer and went through the info. The guy performed well. He was a clever IT wiz and did a great programming job on their project with the US MoD. It would not look suspicious if he'd call the man into his office, putting the lure of promotion and better money in front of him and then take him out for a drink "to discuss the details" and ....press him like a lemon for info.
Human Resources had noted in Cooper's file that the man had a tendency to being very chatty and something of a rumour monger with his working colleagues. This together with the practical internet joke on CSI Dusquene some two years ago indicated to Aliosha, that the man would talk in order to make himself interesting and important. He rang his secretary and quickly instructed her to find Cooper and send him upstairs.
Hardly an hour later, when they headed towards a bar at Miami Beach, Danilenko knew that he had been right in his appreciation of former MDPD CrimLab technician Dan Cooper. All it had taken to make the guy literally spill out "secrets" and tell the life stories of all his former colleagues including confirmed and unconfirmed rumours and juicy details was the suggestion that it could be a good idea to try and develop a scientific police program based upon the facial reconnaissance program they were developing for the MoD and that he -Danilenko- was considering making Cooper the new Program Manager together with a promotion and salary rise!
Already in his office, Aliosha had learned several very spicy facts concerning CSI Dusquene and her father - lawyer Kenwall "Duke" Dusquene. Duke was obviously not only a notorious drinker but also had had several serious run ins with the law for driving in a state of inebriety.
Once -according to Cooper- "Duke" Duquesne had even been suspect in a involuntary homicide. CSI Dusquene's old man had shown up at the CSI offices firmly convinced that he might have killed someone when he was in his car. Caine had helped his little favourite immediately, launching all the lab's resources to figure out the puzzle and try to innocent Calleighs father. This close run thing obviously had not sobered up "Duke" Dusquene and according to Cooper he still had his habit and liked to go to a certain bar in Miami to indulge in Whisky and other strong brewages.
Aliosha had the strange feeling, that it would put a lot of spice into the Miami CrimeLab and the remainder of Horatio Caine's team minus the Wolfe in Sheep's Clothing, who was actually running from Tim Belkin, if "Duke" Dusquene would turn up once again, convinced to have committed an involuntary homicide with his car after a nightly drinking orgy. Such a show would be relatively easy to set up -without hurting or killing someone - and could be highly entertaining to watch. He bought Cooper a couple of drinks, listened to the rest of his CSI gossip, congratulated the man to his promotion and their new common project and finally disappeared into the night -leaving a rather inebriate Dan Cooper behind - in order to set some things for Calleigh and Kenwall Dusquene into motion.
For the show had to go on...until they could do some nastier things to Lt.Caine and his little pack.
**
Dr.Padraig O'Briain was not surprised when he saw the black Renault Laguna of Prefect Erwan de Kersausson drawing into their drive way. Before rising up to one of the highest positions in the French Police Forces, Erwan had been a real cop and done years and years of field work.
The man who left his service vehicle and came over to their lunch table once again resembled that copper, Paddy had first met and befriended twenty years ago and under very sinister circumstances. O'Briain did not doubt in the slightest, that the energy and spring in de Kersausson's step and the malicious smile over his habitually stern and serious face were closely related to their earlier little telephone conference and the information he had given his friend and protector. Valodija Tiomkin had already confirmed the quantity of the Mistrals and Padraig knew, that they were offered for sales via the Paris branch of the Ismaiylovskaya.
This confirmation brought probably an entirely new perspective to their business with the mob.
Claire gave the prefect a friendly smile, motioned him over to their table and hurried into the kitchen to get another plate, glass and knife and fork for the unexpected visitor. She was rather satisfied with the positive change his little nap and the news from Moulin and Delveaux together with her tasty food had wrought on Ryan. Even more first hand information and the feeling of being kept involved would rather keep him quite and cosy at home then make him take his French badge and the Glock and try going out with the guys.
***
"I think..." Delveaux concluded his long explanations, "..that your problem with the mob and your decision to come and see us for help was about the cleverest thing you could have done, Ryan!"
Wolfe swallowed his last butter crusted green asparagus with a slight air of regret, watering it down with the last drop of the delicious, ice-cold sparkling Saumur, Paddy had sacrificed from his extensive collection of Loire wines and placed his knife and fork on the now empty plate. " At least, it was worth it!" He said with a twitch of dark humour in his voice.
Also he would most certainly not volunteer for another 12-hours encounter with some sadistic brute from Russia, he considered his considerable collection of colourful haematomas, welts and broken bones a rather low price for the benefits, they were now able to reap on both sides of the Atlantic. He turned to de Kersausson, who was still having a full plate of Claire's delicious butter crusted asparagus and tiny salted potatoes and was tucking in happily.
"And you really managed to make that Belkin guy crack?" The news, that the Paris police Prefect had announced a bit earlier during their luncheon had come as a great surprise to Wolfe. He still remembered that other Russian mobster at Marc Gantry's, who had not hesitated one second to kill himself, when Horatio saw his mob tattoo and stated the fact aloud.
De Kersausson nodded. "There is nothing worse then complete isolation and people who do not do, what you expect them to do, Ryan. It may be the most cruel and most efficient way of breaking a man....but it is perfectly legal. He agreed to cooperate with us completely and as we speak, he is in our safe house at Fontainebleau, spilling out all the secrets of Mr. Sarnoff's Miami organisation to my interrogators. We offered him a new identity and a new life in exchange....easy, since he did not commit any crime in France."
"So what are we going to do now." Ryan enquired.
De Kersausson smiled. "We are going to change our initial plans slightly....if you agree." What he had learned from the interrogators together with Padraig's intelligence concerning the stolen French Mistrals that were up for sale now had given him an exciting idea.
But the idea was perhaps a little bit more dangerous for the young man in front of him, then what they had initially in mind. He would first tell Wolfe about his discussions with his people over in the States at MDPD. Then he'd nudge the young police officer gently towards the "other" possibility to get rid of Sarnoff and the hit on his head.
While Padraig's case with Oleg Ivanov was hopeless -Ivanov sitting far away in Moscow and being surrounded by his entire soldiery and even out of reach for the law enforcement of the Russian Federation - Ivan Sarnoff was at this moment an inmate of a US Detention Facility and in a rather more vulnerable position.
He had already had a long discussion via teleconferencing with their legal attaché at Miami's French Consulate, Commander Marais and the MDPD police officer who obviously ensured the liaison with the American colleagues - Detective Frank Tripp. Regine had been enthusiastic and Tripp, while initially a bit sceptical had ended up accepting his idea as a potentially good plan, too and agreed to bring it up with Caine.
Ryan Wolfe smiled and rose an eye brow into an impressive high arch. "If I agree to what....?" He was no dunce and seeing an officer of de Kersausson's rank playing cat and mouse made his bullshit detectors going off and his adrenaline level go to unexpected heights.
The rush of adrenaline was wonderful. It worked better then the lousy Ibuprofen 1000 mg on his killer ribs. He felt suddenly able to breath and got the impression that even a cross country would be within the reach of the possible.
Dr.Padraig O'Briain frowned, when he saw his son suddenly so excited and de Kersausson so cheerful. He knew both men pretty well. "If he agrees to what, Erwan?" he enquired in a dark voice.
De Kersausson served himself more sparkling Saumur. Paddy's wine cellar had always been excellent and he would not deny himself this threat at such a decisive moment. "Well, Padraig....turn bad cop for the show! The French MoD wants their Mistrals back, Ryan wants to get rid of Sarnoff and I want Rossinski's business shut down for good....and all it needs to achieve our common goals is....a bad cop!"
Delveaux and Moulin swallowed. Both men looking slightly dazzled. They had been working their lines with Rossinski and Poniatowski since daybreak and had not been prior to the evolution with the real Belkin. They were still at the point, where Rossinski had agreed to assist a man in his plans to murder another man in front of a microphone and they were already more then happy to have the Russian mobster's words engraved in stone....or rather on the tape in the Organised Crime Unit surveillance van on Avenue Foch.
Ryan wanted to speak, but his father snatched his forearm hard and squeezed it mercilessly. "You shut up for the moment, boy!" He snarled at the younger man, his blue eyes having turned suddenly into dark storm clouds. "What..."He pronounced every word hard and clear, "..do you intend to suggest to Ryan?"
Erwan de Kersausson had known the former IRA Intelligence Chief for two decades and no gnarling and snarling of Padraig's could impress him. He had seen the man kill without mercy or a second thought and negotiate with even less retinue or scruples. But he also knew that Padraig was the most honest person he had met in his lifetime, even if his political convictions were discussable and his means to achieve his aims not always legal by French police standards. But politics had always been a dirty business and de Kersausson was capable to accept this fact. So he would play it straight and honest with Padraig...as always.
"Listen, you -better then anyone else around this table - know the rules of the Ismaiylovskaya! You and I, we both know, that it is impossible to finish them off for good, as long as the Russians do not get rid of Oleg Ivanov himself...and this is....if you ask me...a lost cause. Impossible! Ivanov has friends in high places and hands out money at a political level, you and I can only dream of. But they always played by their own rules and stuck to them."
Padraig suddenly understood with frightening clearness, what de Kersausson wanted to explain. " You will allow the French branch to make their deal and ship the Mistrals over to the US, Erwan!"
"I will, Paddy! The Americans have accepted to return the hardware, as soon as they lay hands onto the shipping."
"Which means, that Ivan Sarnoff will have to account for a monumental failure with Oleg Ivanov!"
"Exactly, Padraig....and you know how Ivanov handles such kind of mistake...he will let Sarnoff drop like a hot potato and whoever can off the rogue, will be most welcomed by the 'vozhd' to do so...."
Ryan shook his father's hand off. "And you think, Monsieur Le Préfet, that nobody in BunkerHill will even lift a finger, if someone -inside- will go for Ivan at this moment....."
"Exactly, son!" The prefect replied happily. He ignored the furious looks on the faces of Moulin and Delveaux completely. He was perfectly aware of the fact that neither found any charm in his project, but he could not care less. If they could kill off three flies with a single stroke, everything was good for him.
O'Briain exploded.
Ryan almost choked, when it became suddenly as clear as crystal what de Kersausson insinuated. "I am a cop, not a killer...." He said softly.
"You are most certainly not, young man!" De Kersausson said nonplussed, ignoring Padraig O'Briain's side show and his own officers' scandalised faces."...or else you would not sit here with me and discuss this project, but keep Mr.Sarnoff happy company at his state-founded vacation centre!...but I firmly believe that you are perfectly capable of killing a man, should need arise..."
.
