Page 76 of Operation: Sharp Angel

“Team, continue. Needles, play the recording of Standish.”

A small monitor on the desktop came to life after Winston typed on the keyboard.

The interior of James Standish’s office displayed. The tail end of Becca’s meeting with him was on the monitor. It ran for a minute prior to her leaving the room. The mic was so sensitive, it picked up her whispered warning to him that “this is not over.”

Watching it and hearing it, Becca was impressed with her own performance, as well as the depth of her confidence as she played it out. She didn’t recognize herself.

Then, with her out of the room and the door closed, Standish grabbed his cell phone from his desk and hit dial what had to be a programmed-in contact. “Yeah, we need to move on the lawyer. She was just in here and she knows too much.” He waited a beat and listened. “No, she hasn’t put it all togetheryet.” He listened again. “Do it! I don’t care! She’s living on borrowed time as it is. If your men had done their job,” he began, pacing and appearing agitated. He stopped speaking, listening again. “Tell them not to fail this time. We’re too close. She can’t fuck it up for us.”

Then Carter and Jackson entered the room, surprising James Standish with their unexpected presence.

Becca felt dizzy and knew she wasn’t breathing. She sucked in a deep draw of the cold air in the room and became even more chilled. No wonder Shepherd had ordered them to pick up Standish, too. That conversation was damning. Too bad it wasn’t admissible in court.

“Has Brielle figured out who he called?” Jackson asked.

“Negative, but his phone will tell us,” Shepherd said.

Tessman held it up. “Our first order of business will be to get it unlocked so we can see the call log and messages.”

“Do it,” Shepherd said. “Moe, you and Jax take point with Standish.”

Becca watched the two men leave the room. Carter barely made eye contact with her before he left. She glanced over the control panel. All the rooms showed the volume muted until Eddie flipped the switch on one of the rooms and she heard the unmistakable sound of a metal door opening and then closing in conjunction with both Carter and Jackson walking into the room James Standish was confined to. The monitor that had displayed the footage from Standish’s office now showed the same scene she was viewing live through the window. They were recording the interrogation.

Jackson pulled the bag off his head. He was wild-eyed and confused. First, they played for him the recording of his last exchange with her through his phone call being interrupted by Jackson and Carter entering his office. Becca watched his face while he listened. He went from being confused to scared.

“What happens in the next half hour in this room is up to you,” Tessman warned Standish. “You tell the truth, and you leave here in protective custody. You lie and you may not leave alive.” During the four second walk into this room, he had hardened himself and tucked away the fact that Becca watched. She’d chosen to stay. He had a job to do and if she couldn’t handle seeing what they sometimes had to do, she didn’t belong working in their world. It was better to know now, he told himself.

“You’re cops; you can’t do this?” Standish quivered.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Jackson said. “Let’s start with something easy. Who did you call when Becca Elliot left your office?”

“I want to see a warrant. You bugged my office.”

Tessman fisted his right hand and slammed it into Standish’s abdomen. Standish grunted loudly; the air being expelled from his lungs in response to the punch. Standish slumped forward.

“Wrong answer number one,” Tessman said in a quiet growl. He held Standish’s phone up in front of his face. He watched it. No facial recognition lock on it. It required a password. “We’ll get it unlocked and see who you called. This is an opportunity to provide us with good faith.”

By the look on James Standish’s face, Becca could see he now recognized the trouble he was in. She also saw the distinct expression that showed he’d never been punched before. He was shocked it had happened. Violence wasn’t his normal world. How the hell had he crossed a line that put him into this world?

“Who did you call?” Tessman repeated.

“Please, they’ll kill me,” Standish pled.

Now they were getting somewhere. “Like they killed Nick and Nicole DeSoto and their two children?” Tessman replied.

“Nick fucked up. He wasn’t careful enough. He killed them.”

Tessman wasn’t sure what that meant. He knew that if it was confirmed that Nick had been involved with any of this, it would crush Becca. “Explain.”

“I can’t. They will kill me,” Standish repeated.

“And we can save you. You tell us everything you know, and the Marshals will come through that door and take you into protective custody,” Jackson said.

“Oh no, they can’t. This is bigger than them,” Standish said.

“What’s the password for your phone? We’ll get it open, eventually. Why not save yourself a lot of pain?” Tessman said threateningly.

Watching from the control room, Becca no longer saw the baby-faced guy she’d met that first day. Carter was intense. He was frightening.

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