Page 58 of His Virgin Vessel

I'm not an expert on the rules for the legitimizing of CIs (Confidential Informants), but, from the look on Quint's face, I could tell that Dugas knew his rights extremely well and wasn't going anywhere. Which, I had to say, I appreciated. He might not like me, what I stood for, or my relationship with his daughter, but he had taken me on as his responsibility, and he would stand by me. I could have used a man like Brian Dugas in War Cry.

The thing was, none of this was going as planned. Predictably, Dugas had done things by the book. He had called in before we set out, and the agents were there on our arrival. I had assumed, and I guess Brian had too, that they were there because I was going to be handing out details on a gang they had been trying to take down for a while, but, as it turned out, they were more interested in me and War Cry. Why that might be, I couldn't be sure. A man like Rassi was sure to have his contacts in the cops, but could they extend this far? More likely, this was the perennial problem of crime statistics. Real cops, like Brian Dugas, care about preventing crime and putting those responsible behind bars, but the upper echelons - the commissioners, etc. - only care about the figures. Right now, they had a known criminal in their custody -me. If they could pin a bunch of crimes on me and War Cry, maybe get me to turn on the rest of my gang, then they could mark a bunch of crimes as solved. The fact that neither I, nor War Cry, were responsible was neither here nor there. They just wanted the statistics. The fact that I was offering them evidence to help in catching the man whose gang was likely responsible for all those crimes was of equally little interest to them. Why would they try to catch another criminal when they already had me? That was just a waste of energy, and a man could get himself hurt doing that sort of thing. This was the sad reality of policing, and it was the reason that so many felt forced to turn to men like me for protection.

The only thing that made me feel slightly better about this unpleasant peep behind the curtain of law enforcement was that it was obviously angering Brian Dugas even more than me. Policemen are used to being accused of corruption, and there is nothing that angers an honest cop more than the people who drag down their reputation.

"Well?" Agent Quint got to the end of his assessment of all the things I had done or was planning to do for what had to be the tenth time.

I shrugged, still struggling to keep my composure. They were just waiting for me to snap, or to do or say something on tape that they could use in court to paint me as the mad dog biker they so wanted me to be. "I'm sorry. But it's just not true. I'm no saint, but the stuff you're talking about, I wouldn't touch. It's not who I am, and it's not what we do."

"Ah," Quint leered. "There's that word again. ’We'. I think it's about time you expanded on that."

It was bound to come up. They wanted me to name and shame all the members of War Cry. Of course, they had most of them on file, and, since we didn't meet in secret, it would have been easy enough to get the rest, but having me name them added a veneer of guilt. It would make them complicit in whatever these assholes finally pinned on me. Maybe it was empty symbolism, but either way, there were some things you just didn’t do.

"I'm sure you know most of their names."

Quint sat back. "You want me to believe that you have useful information on one criminal, when you refuse to name others? How am I supposed to trust you?"

"There's a difference between giving names of friends who've done nothing wrong, and getting a Mafia kingpin off the streets."

Quint sneered again. It was an expression that suited his face. "I think if you give me the names, then we can do immunity. But if you're not willing to do that as... call it a goodwill gesture, then..." He threw up his hands.

I simply met his gaze.

Quint wagged a finger at me. "I don't get you. I don't get you. You say you want immunity. I offer it. You turn me down. I don't get you. I don't know what you're after, and I can't trust that."

For the first time, Agent Hamlin now stepped forward. "Perhaps I should have a word with Mr. Covert in private."

"I think I'll stay, if it's all the same to you," Dugas said, sticking to his guns.

Hamlin shrugged. "Well, in that case, I feel that we've done all we can do. Let's find a cell for Mr. Covert, and get him charged."

Dugas snarled. "You're going to turn down my CI request, just because I won't leave you alone with him? Something which I am in no way obligated to do? You're going to send the man to jail over that?"

"I'm going to send the man to jail because he broke the law," corrected Agent Hamlin. "Repeatedly. And by his own admission. You surely don't have any objection to that."

"He's more use to us as a CI, and you damn well know it."

"Only if he cooperates," Hamilin said smoothly. "And he seems to be completely unwilling to do so at the present, which makes him no use to us. But I have to ask myself - it's my job to ask myself - what if there's something in this room that's stopping him from telling us everything he knows?"

Dugas glared. "You're saying that he's not telling you what you want to hear because I'm here."

"It's a possibility. It's equally possible that my colleague, Agent Quint, may have, in the diligent pursuit of his duty, so enraged Mr. Covert that he is holding back information out of perversity. Either way, getting both of you out of the room will allow me to have a more useful, as well as a more frank and productive, interaction with Mr. Covert. Don't you think?"

Dugas clearly didn't think anything of the sort and was opening his mouth to say so, when I interrupted.

"It's fine. I'm happy to talk to her alone." It wouldn't help me if Dugas put himself on the wrong side of these people, and it certainly wouldn't please Corinne if her dad totaled his career this way.

Dugas shot a glance at me. I think he may have even been grateful for my interruption, though he sensibly disguised it.

"Fine," he said at last. "If you think it'll help."

"I do," Hamlin replied, as calm and collected as ever.

"But, you know, there is one possibility you've overlooked, as to why he's not telling you what you want to hear," Dugas said, as he headed for the door with Quint behind him.

"Indeed?" Hamlin asked. "And what is that?"

"It's not true," Dugas replied plainly. "What you want him to say isn't true; and at some point, you may have to come to terms with that."

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