Ghosts by Matt Rogers (ap literature book list txt) 📕

‘I have a lunch meeting,’ Kerr said. ‘Get to my offices before then and we’ll talk. If you even think about trying to blackmail me I’ll bury you and everyone you’ve brought with you. I own the cops.’

‘Darling,’ Violetta said. ‘If I wanted to blackmail you, I would have blackmailed you. And you never would have known I existed.’

Silence.

Violetta thought, Twist the knife.

It was her best shot at putting Kerr on the back foot. If she was reeling, she was more likely to surrender important information.

‘Just remember,’ Violetta said, ‘you cannot pretend to be a shark in these waters. You must be the shark.’

Silence.

Violetta said, ‘See you soon.’

She hung up and drove out of the valet zone, onto Las Vegas Boulevard. No shot came through the windshield. No blood sprayed from her chest or her face. Tourists shuffled up and down the Strip under the glare of the sun, some overweight and sweating freely, others thinner. The Rolls purred into gridlock traffic and Violetta swiped to a different app on her phone, bringing up the address for the offices of the Clark County District Attorney.

An office building deep in the heart of a business district in downtown Vegas, just east of the freeway.

She swung the big car around in a U-turn and dialled Alexis, who answered promptly.

Alexis said, ‘I’m all good.’

Violetta fell back into her normal accent and said, ‘Did you get anything?’

‘Yeah. Ray and Gates are linked without a doubt. I passed it to King and Slater. They’re doing their thing.’

‘That’s good,’ Violetta said. ‘You’re not being followed?’

‘Not that I’m aware of. I spoke to a junior officer. He was nice. What’s your situation?’

‘I have a meeting with the DA.’

Quiet.

Then, ‘How’d you manage that?’

‘I didn’t give her much of a choice.’

‘You have a button too, right?’

‘Yes,’ Violetta said. ‘You get in any sort of trouble, you press it without thinking twice. You understand?’

It was an aspect of the operation Violetta had insisted on. An automatic system between the four of them — a panic button of sorts — that, when pressed, sent an urgent warning to the other three. King and Slater had theirs — she’d insisted — but she doubted they’d use them, or even have them on their minds. Which was fair enough, if she really broke it down. If King and Slater fell in the line of duty, there was little Violetta or Alexis could do for them.

They were their country’s best for a reason.

But she was deeply worried about Alexis, so earlier that morning she’d handed her a device indistinguishable from a car key fob. It had a single grey button on it. Pressing it would send King, Slater and Violetta’s phones shrieking.

Alexis said, ‘It’s in my pocket. If I need to, I’ll use it.’

‘Good,’ she said. ‘Now head home and bunker down. There’s a fair chance this’ll get messy.’

‘Do you need me there?’ Alexis said. ‘I want to help.’

You’ll be a burden, Violetta thought.

She said, ‘It’s fine. I’ve got this covered. I’ll be in touch as soon as I’m out.’

‘Good luck.’

Violetta hung up. On cue, traffic seemed to part for her.

She merged into an empty lane and gunned it for the DA’s office.

26

Armando Gates had all the time in the world to make calls.

Slater fidgeted restlessly, unable to help himself. Twice the goons told him to stop moving, and twice he ignored them. He wanted desperately to speak to King, to formulate a plan using something other than the occasional sideways glance.

For the time being, that was what they were limited to.

But Gates was nothing if not efficient. He was back in twelve minutes, a smartphone clutched tight in his hand, his gaze jumping all over the place. Slater knew the look of someone crippled by overthinking. Gates was now conspiratorial, distrusting of everyone he thought he’d had allegiances with.

It was perfect.

‘I called Keith,’ he said to nobody in particular. He was just voicing his thoughts. ‘He denied everything categorically. But he sounded jumpy. I mean, I know he’s a coke addict, but … he was jumpier than usual. He promised to do his own investigation into it. Said he’d put out his own feelers.’

Gates looked at them.

Neither of them said a word.

Gates said, ‘Well?’

‘What the hell do you want us to say?’ King said. ‘Let us out of here, man.’

Gates pulled the Glock out of the rear of his waistband and twirled it recklessly on a finger. His eyes were manic, and Slater started to think the man might have done an illicit substance to give himself a confidence boost.

The whole “coke addict” thing sounded like projecting.

Gates said, ‘You two know how I run my shit now, don’t you?’

King said, ‘Wouldn’t have a clue.’

‘You know I have ties to law enforcement.’

‘Do we?’ Slater said. ‘I don’t know much of anything.’

King said, ‘Honestly, you think we’re going to rat you out? Did you forget why we came here in the first place? What we’re interested in?’

‘You didn’t go through with it,’ Gates said. ‘That sounds deliberate. Sounds like you wanted to be untouchable in the eyes of the law.’

Slater rolled his eyes.

Gates yelled, ‘Don’t you dare disrespect me!’ and trained his gun on Slater.

Slater said, ‘You want the truth, ’mano?’

King thought, Don’t.

Gates bristled at the slang. ‘You’re not with me. You don’t call me that.’

Slater ignored him and said, ‘Here’s the truth. You’ve pointed that thing at me too many times. You’re the boy who cried wolf. You’re ranting about conspiracies, thinking we’re involved in one thing or another, but you know the truth. You know we have nothing to do with this. You know we paid you for an underage girl. We’re not even going to ask for our money back. That’s how badly we just want you to leave us the hell alone. We came here for answers but clearly your problems are far worse than we thought, so we’ll leave you to it.’

Gates stood quiet.

Slater said, ‘So either shoot us both and bury us, which will only