Page 58 of Paranoia

Mary Catherine looked at me and said, “We’ll be fine older parents. Look at this bunch. Not a liar in the whole crowd. That’s good parenting.”

CHAPTER 83

BY MIDMORNING THE next day, I found myself on surveillance with Rob Trilling again sitting in the passenger seat. I was on the phone with Terri Hernandez, who was in court in lower Manhattan. We were talking over one of the most sensitive subjects: informants.

I said, “Are you sure you’re okay with Trilling and me talking to your informant?”

“I’m going to be stuck in this trial all day. I know we can’t wait on this case. Just be careful with Jaime Nantes. He may have worn a wire for us, but I don’t trust him.”

“You don’t trust anyone.”

“Mike, I’m serious. This guy could turn on you. And I’m not sure your plan of bringing up some old warrant for child pornography is the best idea. He may just decide to run. Leave New York altogether. That’s the easy solution.”

I said, “I hear you. We’ll be careful. I just don’t see any other choice going forward.”

Terri said, “Tell Super Jock I’ll give him the benefit of my experience when I get done with this trial appearance. Until then, you need to keep an eye on him.”

“Sounds like you’re finally warming up to him.”

“I just know how little a rookie really knows. I don’t want him doing anything stupid.”

Right after I hung up with Terri, Trilling pointed down the street toward the warehouse. “That’s our man, Nantes.”

Jaime Nantes didn’t look much like his last booking photo. He was a little sloppy, with a gut he tried to cover by leaving his shirt untucked. Or maybe he left his shirt untucked to hide a gun. Either way, it wasn’t a very good look. His unkempt beard and curly hair were both streaked with gray and looked like they could use a good washing. He took a long drag from a cigarette, then flicked it onto the sidewalk. He then crossed the street and headed toward his typical destination, a tiny restaurant called Island Delight connected to a bodega near the drug gang’s clubhouse. The sign in the window was handwritten and someone had run out of room so there was noton the end of “Delight.”

I sensed Trilling tense up when Nantes passed a teenage girl. The look he gave her set me on edge as well.

As if he were reading my mind, Trilling said, “Now that I know about the child pornography allegation, seeing him anywhere near a young woman pisses me off.”

“What’s this guy like to deal with face-to-face?”

“I never really had to talk to him. I usually sat in the back. But I noticed Hernandez was really short with him whenever wecollected the transmitter after a meeting. It’s clear she didn’t think much of him.”

“Really? Our Terri doesn’t think much of a guy with a long criminal history trying to work off an assault charge? It doesn’t sound like her.”

That made Trilling laugh.

I reminded him, “No matter what this guy says or does, don’t lose your cool. Once he finds out we know about the child pornography warrant, he may get hinky.”

“He may get what?”

“Hinky. You know, squirrelly.” I looked at Trilling. “You’re just busting my balls. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

Trilling kept that goofy grin on his face. And that’s what made me laugh.

We didn’t waste any time. We wanted to be inside by the time Nantes stepped through the door.

We got out of my car and casually walked toward the restaurant.

CHAPTER 84

KEVIN DOYLE PUT off doing anything about the cop, Bennett. He still had plenty of jobs to complete. He’d deal with Bennett when the time was right and he had his ducks in a row.

Doyle examined the interior of his current car, a stolen Ford Taurus. He’d taken it from a construction site in Brooklyn. Now he realized the owner was some sort of building inspector. He wouldn’t keep this one too long. He was only using it for one job. And right now, he was watching as his target walked from the gang’s warehouse in the Bronx to a restaurant where he ate almost every single day.

The target’s name was Jaime Nantes. He was every bit as bad as or worse than all the drug dealers Doyle had taken out so far. At the moment, he was under indictment for assault with a firearm. Apparently, a stockbroker in lower Manhattan had decided Nantes’s price for cocaine was too high. He refused to pay, so Nantes tookthe business dispute into the restroom of the club where they met. Following a short discussion, Nantes pulled out a Colt .45. After smacking the stockbroker in the face with it several times, Nantes stuck the pistol in his customer’s mouth. All this was generally accepted business tactics in the world of narcotics. Nantes’s problem occurred when the bouncer had to use the bathroom and walked in on the disagreement.

The bouncer was a former Marine and quick on his feet. He barreled into Nantes and his customer, knocking the pistol to the ground. Nantes was in custody a few minutes later.

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