Page 41 of Operation: Sharp Angel

Jackson chuckled. “Look, she seems to be a nice woman who is going through something really shitty right now. Don’t go there with her if you don’t plan on staying there.”

“I haven’t gone anywhere,” Tessman argued.

“Yeah, well, I know you,” Jackson countered, his smile broadening.

“Pot, kettle, black. And by the way, fuck you.”

Jackson laughed again. “The difference is when I let things with Angel go where they did, I knew fully well I was staying there. I envisioned the life we have right now.”

Tessman shook his head. This was not a conversation he was interested in having. “Back to the drug angle. We’re focusing on Nick. What could Nicole have been into?”

“It’s Nick that was into something,” Jackson said as fact. “He was the one set up to look like he’d killed his family, not Nicole.”

“I’m still shocked that no neighbors heard the shots. I saw the report that Brielle got on the lightning strikes in the area that night. One shot could have been discounted as thunder. I don’t see five of them being timed right for that.”

“I believe a silencer was used on all five shots. That could explain it. The shots would have been quieter and more apt to be believed it was just thunder.”

“Yeah,” Tessman agreed. “That is plausible, but it points to a professional hitter.”

“Yes, it does,” Jackson agreed. “Now we just need to figure out what the hell Nick was into that cost him and his entire family their lives.”

***

For the second time in one day, Becca found herself in Colonel Shepherd’s office, seated at his conference table. This time it was just Briana and her sitting opposite of the man who still intimidated her. Briana and Becca laid out what they’d discussed with Angel regarding the cameras and mics, the arrest, and the application for the restraining order in conjunction with the serving of divorce papers in front of the police, hoping for the worst possible reaction from the client’s abusive husband.

The corners of Shepherd’s lips tipped up. He was impressed that Briana accepted his silent challenge to come up with a different way of attacking this case. “We can have the cameras and mics installed in thirty minutes with a team of two going in who knows what they’re doing. With the current case, your abusive husband works from his home office and reportedly rarely leaves the house. What do you suggest we do to get him out of the house?”

“A car hitting his in his driveway hard enough to set off the car alarm should do it,” Briana said. “His wife says he loves his car. And if he wants to file a police report, certainly the officers can help us out by keeping him outside long enough.”

Shepherd rubbed his forehead as though he had a headache. “We need to come up with something that doesn’t involve us disclosing ourselves to the local LEOs.”

“It takes at least a half hour for the police to respond and for a report to be taken,” Briana said. “And if the person who hit his car, one of us, keeps interrupting the police and maybe provoking our client’s husband, we can drag it out that long.”

Shepherd nodded. “So now we have two of our assets besides you assigned to this.”

“For a half hour,” Briana said with a shrug.

“It should be a woman who hits his car,” Becca said. “He’s abusive to his wife, so he’s already shown he has no respect for women, unless he has a short fuse with everyone. Is he a coward who only hits women, or is he just a bully with anger management issues waiting to explode?” Becca asked.

“I think a bully based on what she’s said,” Briana answered. “But I agree, it should be a woman, me, who hits his car.”

“Then that woman needs to provoke him in front of the cops. Wouldn’t it be awesome if he’s so pissed off that he loses it in front of the police? That’s one more report on his abusive behavior,” Becca said. She really wanted this guy to cause a scene with the police. “The more instances of his behavior noted, the better the chance the wife would get the restraining order and, hopefully, sole custody of the two minor children.”

Shepherd gazed at Becca first. Then his gaze shifted to Briana. “I’ll want another Operator nearby to assist you if he comes out swinging. I know you’ve passed your advanced self-defense modules since coming on board, but I don’t want you injured. This guy isn’t known to carry a gun, correct?”

“Correct,” Briana answered.

“Consult with Joe on tactics to push this guy’s buttons and get him to lose his cool in front of the cops,” Shepherd ordered.

Briana smiled. “I’ll do that right after this meeting.”

“Okay. When is the wife due to check in with you again?”

“This evening at eight p.m. when he’s in his basement gym working out.”

“Find out what time tomorrow will work for us to set the plan in motion. She’ll have to let our two installers in the back while you and the police keep the husband busy out front.”

“I’ll draw up the divorce papers,” Becca volunteered.

---