“So how do you know where Screen is?” he asked Linda.
“A friend of mine deejays for Expo sometimes, and he gets me in. Tonight they’re set up in this abandoned subway station a few blocks from here. They bribed some guys from the MTA. You get on a certain train, and if you’re on the list, they let you stay on when they go out of service. When they turn around at the end of the line, they open the doors for you-and presto, you’re in Screen.”
“It must be the old City Hall station,” Dan said, nodding. “It was the jewel of the IRT before they shut it. The tile work on the arches is some of the most beautiful you’re ever gonna see.”
“Have you been in there?” Melanie asked.
“Yeah. Buddy of mine in the transit police took me on a tour once.” He leaned closer to Melanie. “I know you think I’m about as sharp as a marble, but I’m really interested in stuff like that. I’ll even go to an arty movie now and then.”
“I don’t think that,” Melanie said, looking up into his crystal blue eyes.
“You don’t?”
“No.” She shook her head.
“So listen,” Linda shouted. “My buddy Fabulous Deon can get a few of us in, but I’m not sure how many. And everybody has to look the part.” She studied Dan, frowning.
“I don’t fit the bill, huh?” he asked.
“To me you’re a little too big and clean-looking. Honestly, you look like a cop,” Linda replied.
Dan looked handsome and respectable in khaki pants and a navy V-necked sweater with a T-shirt under it. Melanie felt offended on his behalf.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she protested to Linda. “He looks like every one of these traders in here. I bet they could get into Screen, so why can’t he?”
“I’m just saying-”
“Hey, it’s okay,” Dan said. “No need to have family strife over this. I know the layout. I’ll figure out how to get myself in on the tracks. But those two over there”-he nodded toward Bridget and Trevor-“should go in the front door to make it believable.”
“And me,” Melanie said.
“Who said you were going in?” Dan asked.
“Bernadette. She wants me to vet the ops plans, make sure nothing gets screwed up. It’s sensitive stuff, and she doesn’t trust Bridget or Trevor.”
Dan took her by the elbow and pulled her aside, out of Linda’s earshot.
“You got to be fucking kidding me,” he said. “Even if the Bureau let prosecutors review our ops plans, which we don’t, and even if we let prosecutors ride along on buys, which we totally don’t, I wouldn’t let you put yourself in harm’s way.”
“Well, thank you. I appreciate your concern. But this is not your call. Bernadette wants it done this way. This is an ENTF case, not a Bureau case, and Albano’s in agreement with her. So you’re outvoted.”
He shook his head in disbelief. “Craziest thing I ever heard. And don’t pretend you don’t agree.”
“Hey, what’s the big deal? I’ll keep out of the way. With you there I’m not so worried about things going wrong, but still, I’m the one who looked Trevor in the eye and promised he’d be safe. Remember what happened to Rosario Sangrador,” Melanie said, and at the very mention of Rosario’s name, her eyes welled up. She’d never forgive herself for that.
Dan’s face softened. “It means that much to you?”
“Of course it does.”
“Okay, I’ll go along with you, but listen up, sweetheart. You step out of line and get crazy on me, I’m pulling the plug on the drug buy. We clear on that?”
“Dan-”
“Just say yes. That’s the only answer I’ll accept.”
“I’m not planning to do anything risky. I promise.”
He looked at her quizzically, then broke into a grin. “Don’t think you’re getting over on me here. I see what you’re doing. Jeez, you lawyers, always with the sneaky language.”
“If you’re done scolding me, can we go over the plan?”
“What do you want to know?”
“First off, is Trevor wired?” she whispered, glancing around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping. With the noise level in here, not much danger of that.
“Not until we get the lay of the land,” Dan said. “Who knows, they could be doing pat-downs at the door. Besides, with the club underground in the subway tunnel, it’d be tough to pick up a signal anyway.”
“Has Trevor been searched?”
“Yes, ma’am. I go by the book, every time.”
Before making a controlled buy, a careful agent searched the cooperating witness to prevent him from sneaking in his own drugs and claiming he’d bought them from the target. For the price of a few Baggies and a little perjured testimony, many a drug dealer had bought himself a nice sentencing reduction without doing the heavy lifting of actually infiltrating the target’s organization. Dan was too thorough to let an informant scam him like that.
“What’s the ops plan once everybody’s inside?” Melanie asked.
“Bridget sticks with Trevor every step of the way. He makes the contact with Expo’s people, but she does the hand-to-hand. She tries to buy dime bags. We recorded the serial numbers on the buy money in advance ’cause that’s procedure, but prob’ly we let the money walk this time. Don’t make any arrests, try to build to something bigger. Ideally get a cell number or something, see if we can work up a wiretap.”
Melanie had been listening with great attentiveness. Now she looked over at Bridget and Trevor, who were laughing together conspiratorially. Bridget was wearing tight jeans, a black T-shirt, and boots, and she’d made up her eyes. She actually looked cute in a butch sort of way, but very young.
“You really think she’s up to this?” Melanie asked.
“Only one way to find out.”
“Seriously, Dan.”
“Look, she was on the mark with that text message before. I think we’re underestimating her. Weren’t you the one who said to give her the benefit of the doubt?”
Melanie sighed. If something got screwed up here…man, she couldn’t even stand to think about it. Still, there wasn’t much more she could do. In fairness to Dan, ops were really his baby.
“Okay,” she said, nodding.
He signaled to the rest of their group. “We ready?”
Linda looked at her watch. “Yeah. Fab D should be at the station by now.”
“Let’s go,” Melanie said.
FABULOUS DEON KNEW how to command a room. Resplendent in a calf-length mink coat, orange trousers, and patent-leather spats, he sported short, bleached-blond braids that stuck up all over his head like horns. His brown face was plump and sweetly feminine, his eyes sparkling with silver glitter eye shadow, so that the wispy little soul patch on his chin came as a surprise. His dubious gender and wild attire drew amused looks from some passersby in the subway station, while most others simply ignored him. This was New York, after all. Still, Melanie thought, they weren’t sneaking in under the radar with this dude as their escort.
Deon waved excitedly to Linda, who rushed up to him.
“Hello, gorgeous!” Deon cried, double-air-kissing Linda while looking past her at Melanie. “Don’t tell me this is your gorgeous sister! So much fabulousness in one family is just too much to bear!”
“Don’t worry, D,” Linda said. “She’s not really fabulous. I just dressed her up tonight.”
“She has to make a comment,” Melanie said, smiling broadly. This guy was a trip. No wonder Linda liked him.
“Really, mee-ow. Don’t listen to her, sweet sister! You’re absolutely beyond. The problem won’t be getting you into Screen, it’ll be fighting them off.”