Dying For LA by Ian Jones (top fiction books of all time .txt) 📕

deal with is what we know. There may be nothing on it at all. But we must assume the worst and prepare for it. I have been busy and already have alternative accommodation I think will be perfect.’

‘So, we are still on?’ Sal asked, confused.

‘Of course. I should have been more open with you. I apologise. It is force of habit, but as you rightly said, we have been together for a while now, and you should know what we are doing. What we are after is a document. Just a few sheets of paper I understand. Now as Sal alluded to; the intelligence has not been, well, very intelligent to put it bluntly. And it was not in the briefcase. There has been some additional work by others and it is also nowhere to be found in the briefcase owner’s home. But there is a theory, and we are getting a resource that should be of great help, although he is not one that I am personally comfortable with. The others will not be joining us today, I have been advised to wait until we are set up in our new premises.’

‘Right. So, er … we better pack, right?’ Rico said.

‘Indeed. At least that will not take long. Our destination is in fact not so far from here, but we must be careful from this point on. And we will need to get the vehicles moved, which I imagine will take some time.’

He looked down at the tray, realising that he had eaten the last of the muffins.

‘Come on, let’s get started.’

He smiled again, which he clearly wasn’t practiced at doing, and then eased himself upright. They left together and walked back to the apartment, which both Rico and Sal were pleased to be leaving but unsure what was coming next.

Chapter Fifteen

Reed called Keane a couple of hours later. They were back in Judy’s room, Warner slowly getting more information on Sung-Min Byeon. Judy and Keane were working through the women’s backgrounds, while John was getting everything possible on 1-Too.

When his phone rang, Keane stood up, relieved, and rubbed his eyes.

He talked for a while, nodding and then gave the address of the hotel and room number.

‘OK, Captain Reed is coming back. It seems like he belongs to us for a couple of days; the army want to make sure they aren’t going to be dragged through the shit. Terrorist attack on the subway, then one of their own officers gets shot by what appears to be the same people, the press are already onto them. So Tom Reed has been told to help.’

‘That’s good,’ said Judy.

‘Handy if we have to change a lightbulb,’ John said, looking up at the ceiling and smiling.

‘Really useful if we have to kick the shit out of someone,’ Warner agreed, giving John a high-five.

They went through what they had found out so far.

John had been told that it appears that 1-Too were born out of Beirut initially, but there had never been any arrests or even detainment of note since they first appeared close to ten years ago. Very mysterious but deadly, no real leads on the people behind it.

Warner reported that Sung-Min Byeon came from a rich family, and had an expensive education. He ran into trouble with the police at an early age, and there are several warrants out on him in Korea. It had been thought originally that he had fled to North Korea, in which case he would have to be forgotten about, not a hope in hell of getting him back to stand trial.

Judy had some good information on the women. Deanne and Madeline shared an apartment in Vegas, they both had the same address on Walt Drive in Paradise, it seemed like they had been sharing for a long time. Madeline had been in rehab on two separate occasions, both times for heroin addiction, the last time ten years ago when she was twenty-nine. Both women had made recent forays into the porn industry around five years earlier, and had appeared in at least one movie together, and it was possible that was why they could have been in LA. Judy was getting more information on that, and was still waiting for the financial reports.

She passed around her mobile phone, there was a picture of Madeline, who had long dark hair and was very striking.

Jane Elliot had no record. She was a member of her local church, and dating a teacher. She was said to be very quiet, and had only moved out from her parent’s house in the past year. She was recently diagnosed with diabetes, and had been unwell over the weekend.

Keane had the statements from Captain Bryant and David Mays.

Mays who was forty-five, was suitably vague, considering his tricky relationship with the police. Hayter had been placing bets with him for some time, and had a debt that needed paying. Mays was keen to work with him to resolve it.

‘Yeah, I’m sure,’ added Warner.

Mays stated they had been there about an hour when the two men walked into the bar and he saw one of them had a gun. Originally, he had believed he was the target as currently quite a lot of people owe him money, but Major Hayter was shot. Mays was still very shocked and upset by what had happened, he was keen to tell all to the police. He said repeatedly he had nothing to hide. He had never met James Bryant before, he believed he was there because Hayter was a pussy and scared, but all he had wanted to do was work out how to get paid. He knew Hayter from the days when he was in the army and based at Indigo, but he had been out over ten years and they had never been exactly friends. Deanna Hayter had not been mentioned once, he had never heard of her, had no idea he was even married, in fact didn’t know anything about Hayter’s personal life at