Неизвестный - 3. In Pursuit Of Justice

“That won’t be necessary, Detective,” Avery Clark said as he and the two agents converged on the scene from the rear of the house. “We’ll be taking the equipment into custody.”

“The hell you will,” Rebecca snapped, ignoring the faint sound of the dispatcher calling her name over her radio. “This is my crime scene and I’ll log the evidence.”

Clark shook his head. “Sorry, Detective. We have jurisdictional priority here.” He turned to one of the two federal agents with him and said, “Go ahead, Reynolds. Start packing this stuff up. Call and get the rest of the team to give you a hand.”

Sloan caught his last statements as she entered the room. “You lying son of a bitch,” she seethed, stalking towards Clark from across the room. “Is this what you call a joint investigation? We lead you to the suspect and then you take all the evidence?”

Rebecca edged forward as she noted all three of the Justice agents stiffen, ready to intervene if Sloan put hands on him. She had no doubt that this time Clark or one of his men would get physical.

“If we find anything that we can pass along to you in the way of other guys like this,” Clark said, nodding toward LongJohn, who slumped in Watts’ grasp, staring dumbly at the strangers who were beginning to dismantle his equipment, “I will. We’re after the big fish here, not the pervs sitting around getting off on this garbage.”

“What about what happened to Michael?” Sloan demanded angrily, raising her voice above the cacophony and attracting further attention from Clark’s two underlings, both of whom edged closer. “We need to follow the trail from here to find out who’s behind that.”

Clark met her hot gaze impassively. “You’ll get info on a need to know basis.”

“I’ll get the fucking info right fucking now,” she grated, heading toward the CPU the bigger of the two Justice agents was standing guard over. Clark stepped to intercept her, but before he could, Rebecca grasped her arm and stopped her in mid-stride.

“Hold up, Sloan,” Rebecca cautioned. Leaning close she whispered harshly, “You touch one of them and you’ll end up spending the night in a cell down at the Federal Building.”

For a fraction of a second, something dark passed through Sloan’s eyes. It was a mixture of fury and pain. “Son of a bitch,” she whispered hoarsely.

“Yeah,” Rebecca muttered through clenched jaws, just as frustrated and angry. But it hadn’t been the first time, and it most likely wouldn’t be the last time that when it came time to reap the benefits of a joint operation, the local authorities were left with nothing. A hand still on Sloan’s arm, she ordered, “Watts, get those two down to headquarters.”

“You can have him,” Clark said amiably, nodding toward Jason. “I want first crack at this guy,” he said, indicating LongJohn with his head.

Rebecca stepped very close to him, her chest nearly touching his. She was an inch taller, and for an instant his smile faltered. “To do what? Offer him a deal?”

“We just want to talk to him. Then you can have him.”

“”You’re all heart, Clark,” she snarled. Walking to where Watts and Mitchell waited, Sloan following reluctantly, she said, “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

“WHAT’S HAPPENING?” CATHERINE asked as Sloan and Rebecca flung themselves into the sedan and slammed the doors. “Is Jason all right?”

“He’s fine,” Sloan replied, suddenly weary beyond belief. The only thing she wanted was to get back to Michael.

“Did you get LongJohn?”

“Yeah, and we’ve been screwed,” Rebecca seethed as she ignitioned the car and pulled away from the curb in one rapid motion. “Clark’s taking first crack at the suspect and the evidence.”

“Which means,” Sloan added darkly, “we’ll never get anything out of any of it.”

Catherine stared from one to the other of the women in the front seat of the careening vehicle. The level of fury and frustration was incendiary. “What about the task force—the investigation?”

Rebecca laughed bitterly. “My guess is it will be tabled while the feds play games trying to get this guy—LongJohn—whoever he turns out to be, to name names or lead them to the next guy who will. With a real live perp, and one who is connected enough to be brokering sales of these sex videos, Clark probably figures he’s got a hotter lead than anything we can turn up from the internet. At least for now,” Rebecca clarified, trying to keep her anger at bay while she considered her options. Clark might have stonewalled her for the time being, but the investigation wasn’t dead. There was still a porn ring to break, and a leak somewhere to plug. And Jeff’s killer to find.

“And the children?” Catherine asked quietly. “Where do they fit into this plan?”

There was an uncomfortable silence, then Rebecca answered, “Eventually, the pornography ring will be exposed—either during the Feds’ sweep if they ever make a case—or by one of us at the local level. Someone will get to them.”

“That could take months, couldn’t it?” Catherine was struggling to understand how the politics of this jurisdictional battle could be allowed to affect the welfare of these innocent victims, but she knew in her heart that there would never be any sense to it.

“Clark’s agenda is to bring down the organized crime syndicate that controls drugs, racketeering, prostitution, protection—you name it,” Sloan said resignedly. “In one way or another it affects thousands, and the federal government isn’t particularly interested in saving the few.”

“But then, what about the pornographers?” Catherine insisted. “Are they going to get away with this?”

“No,” Rebecca responded firmly. “Special Crimes has always been after the guys who were marketing kids. This internet search was one way to get to them, but it’s not the only way. We know more about how the ring works now—we’ll just have to go back to the streets and do it the way we always have.”

She was thinking of what Sandy had told her about the young prostitutes who had been involved in making sex films. She and Watts needed to track them down. She remembered too Sandy’s offer to sign on for one of the films. I can pass, Frye. I’ve done it before. Rebecca blew out a frustrated breath. “I’ve still got some leads.”

“You’ve got more than that,” Sloan responded with a hint of her usual fire.

Rebecca glanced at her sharply. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve got the download of tonight’s video,” Sloan said, lifting her laptop. “All of it. There’s information I can get from that. I might not be able to tell you a street address, but given enough time, I can probably give you a sector location. It’ll be a place to start.”

“You’re likely to be unemployed by tomorrow, Sloan,” Rebecca reminded her. “If Clark gets anything out of this guy, he’ll probably work that angle in preference to anything else we might get from the Internet.”

“I told you,” Sloan replied evenly, “I don’t work for Clark. Someone behind this pornography operation, or someone working with whoever’s running it, tried to have me killed. They put my lover in the hospital. I’m not done with this yet.”

“No,” Rebecca added, thinking that this someone was probably the same person who had her previous partner killed, “neither am I.”

“What a fuckarow,” Watts grumbled. “Although we should have seen it coming. You can never trust the Feds.”

Jason rubbed his wrists, trying to erase the slight indentations the cuffs had made. He was also trying to erase the images he still held of the scene on the monitor.