Chapter 10 : Beat the Grass

9 2 0

by junktom

by junktom

Based on a list of addresses given by the beaten driver, Chloe and Kalani visited all the spots, and concluded a possible target. It was a taxi service building, it has a two-story office and a garage, inside parked four yellow cabs, two of which under maintenance. There has been no services going in or out for the pass half-an-hour.

Kalani was eating a shrimp cake, watching the building from a Chinese restaurant across the road.

"You should try it! They're even better than the ones in New York!"

"How can you eat after what you did to that man? You were going to burn him alive!"

Chloe was digging through the Cardinal's laptop, she lost all appetites witnessing what Kalani just did. Although they didn't kill him in the end, they left him locked in the trunk of the Camaro, hidden at an underpass that no one may ever discover.

"And you saved him, good cop bad cop, I thought we made a great team!" Kalani answered with a mouthful.

"You were literally lighting him on fire!"

"And I knew you'll save him, just like I knew you wouldn't pass that enchiladas challenge." Kalani laughed.

"What if I was a second late? He could be burned to death."

"Trust me! People don't get burn to death so easily, their skin may catch fire but they can still talk, as long as..."

"Please! I don't want to know!" Chloe went back to the laptop, trying to make sense of all the data.

"So what are you going to do now?" Kalani looked out at the taxi office. "Take them or leave them?"

"Leave?" Chloe looked up from the screen.

"You already got the Cardinal, and the evidence at hand." Kalani shrugged.

"I don't know what I have. I can't make anything out of all these numbers."

"You have one terabyte of child pornography materials there, enough to send anyone to jail for life."

"Would you please keep your voice down?" Chloe reminded as a waitress passing. "I need to find the clients."

"You won't find clients there. No one is going to keep sensitive data on a laptop, and leave it lying around the house. Whereas..." Kalani pushed the Cardinal's phone across the table. "You are to keep them next to you at all time."

"But we don't know who it leads to."

"The staff at rehab said he works every Tuesday and Thursday, but..." Kalani scrolled down the text messages. "He's busy every other day. Chances are he's arranging girls to the Albanians."

Chloe scrolled down the messages, there were traffics back and forth, including pictures of young girls, and GPS coordinates. The last message was an appointment tonight.

"Do you think we should go?" Chloe asked.

"To scout the place? Why not?"

"Scouting. Means just watch, no contact." Chloe reminded.

"You just have to take all the fun out of it, don't you?" Kalani yawned.