Mandy

Trey seems a little bummed out after we retrieve the SUV from the valet and head south toward the SEC regional headquarters. I’m excited to see what they have dug up on Tommy and whether or not it can be extended to a criminal case. He has rubbed me the wrong way since the first night we met, as well as in every encounter ever since.

“Tyler was a total asshole today,” Trey finally says after riding in silence for several blocks. “He actually said that its time for a new girlfriend and Vanessa heard him say it.”

“He probably didn’t realize what he was saying,” I speculate, wanting to give him the benefit of the doubt. He has been through a lot.

“It would be one thing if he used to be a nice guy and had become an asshole after being poisoned,” he responds, turning back toward the window. “But he’s been an asshole ever since he hit puberty.”

“We’ll soon be done here and then you won’t have to deal with him much,” I reply, knowing full well that it’s not true. If they are the two majority owners of Addison Media, they are pretty much tied together.

Trey rolls his eyes and glares at me. “Do you really believe that?”

“No. I was just trying to make you feel better,” I tell him, giving him an innocent smile and scooting closer to him. “I’m just excited to get some dirt on Tommy.”

“Yeah, I knew that’s why you’re in such a good mood,” he replies, placing his hand on my thigh and looking into my eyes. “I know he’s dirty and I know he’s very smart, but I think you’re smarter… so hopefully we can nail him to the wall.”

“You might want to focus a little more on Carly,” Anthony declares after checking a message on his phone. “Apparently, Agent Mitchell was able to track down two large transfers from her account, one of which went to an Eastern European bank.” He pauses for a moment before continuing his thought. “Son of a bitch, maybe it is The Ghost.” He checks both side mirrors, before peering back at us through the rear view mirror.

“You just got paranoid, didn’t you?” Trey asks him with a hint of sarcasm.

“If you had ever seen any of the man’s work, you would be more than just paranoid,” Anthony replies with a stoic expression. “The guy would string up his own mother and not think twice about it.” He stares back at us for another couple of seconds before focusing his attention back on the road.

A chill runs through me as his words soak in. I’m suddenly glad that Trey bought a bulletproof SUV and we have a decorated Navy Seal Sniper as our chauffer. I think back to the harrowing ride we had the night we met him. We survived that night on sheer luck and the grace of God.

I click to the messages on my phone and send Dad a quick text letting him know that everything is good and that we are going to meet with an SEC investigator. After sending it, I can’t help thinking about the way that Silvia was flirting with Crusher. I don’t think Dad would appreciate it if he saw how she was acting. I have kind of been hoping that those two would end up together. I think they would be good for each other.

Trey

My stomach turns over a bit as we approach a sign that says: SEC Regional Office. It’s weird to think that not long ago Mandy could’ve been coming here to dig up dirt on me. I’m glad things have turned out this way. She has a lot of tenacity; I wouldn’t want her on the opposing side of the table.

“I’m going to park here,” Anthony tells us, pulling into a one-hour parking spot close to the door. “You aren’t going to need more than an hour are you?”

“No,” Mandy tells him. “We will be in and out… twenty minutes tops.”

“Okay, I’ll wait here for you.” He opens the center console and pulls out a black plastic case. “I need to take care of a couple things.”

“Alright,” I respond. “We’ll be back in a bit.” I open the door and step down from the vehicle, reaching back for Mandy’s hand.

“You really are becoming a gentleman,” Mandy says, apparently impressed by my gesture.

“You suck up,” Anthony gives me shit as I close the door. I return an unapologetic look that says, I don’t want to be single for life, like you guys.

Mandy picks up the pace as she struts to the entrance and maintains her stride moving through the revolving door. She turns and heads straight to the elevator that will take us to her colleague.

“Have you been here before?” I ask, as the elevator doors close and the elevator hesitates for a couple seconds before slowly beginning its labored climb.

“Yes, I spent a couple days working here before going with you to Geneva,” she confirms, glancing down at her phone and reading a text message. “It’s Dad, I sent him a quick text earlier.”

“Did you warn him that he now has competition?” I ask her kiddingly.

“No. I don’t want to rile him up or he’ll show up at the door. He’s already chomping at the bit.” She laughs, shaking her head from side to side. “Silvia and Crusher still kill me. It’s about as likely as the Incredible Hulk dating Meryl Streep.”

“I’m not sure if Mom would be flattered or angry by you comparing her to Meryl Streep. I think she’s about fifteen years older,” I tease as the elevator stops and the doors open.

“I’m not saying she looks like her, oh forget it.” She hits me in the arm before exiting the elevator and heading straight to a woman sitting behind a large counter staring at a computer monitor. “I’m here to pick up a package that Vicky Sterling put together for me.”

“May I see your ID?” the woman asks curtly, staring at us over the top of her glasses.

“Sure, I’m Amanda Greyson,” she says, pulling her ID card from her wallet and handing it to the woman. “I’ve been here before. I normally work out of the San Francisco office.”

“Yeah, I thought you looked familiar,” the woman groans, struggling to rise from her chair. “Vicky is in a meeting, but she left this for you.” She plops a large manila envelope onto the desk with a thud. “There is a whole lotta stuff in there.”

“Thank you,” Mandy tells her. “And thank Vicky, too. Tell her I’ll be in touch.” She picks up the envelope and we proceed back out to the hallway. After pressing the elevator button, she unlatches the metal clasp and opens the flap of the envelope, peering inside. “Vicky feels there is a strong case against Tommy,” Mandy mutters after reading the first few lines of the enclosed cover letter.

“That’s actually what I was hoping you would find,” I reply, feeling a bit elated by the idea of taking Tommy to the woodshed. “It will make things much easier for the board of directors.”

“Vicky has all of the proposal documents which contain the falsified accounting. Apparently Bill dropped off a copy of them the day he died.” She looks up and gives me a pensive look. “So much for Tommy thinking that he shredded all of the evidence.”

“Alright, I’m going to give Detective Kelly a call and see if we can get together with he and Agent Mitchell,” I tell her as we begin our decent back to the lobby. “If Tommy found out that Bill was providing documentation to the SEC, that would’ve given him a direct motive to take him out.”

I click Detective Kelly’s number, but it goes right to voicemail. I hang up and wait for a few seconds before trying it again. Once again it clicks right to voicemail, so I decide to try Agent Mitchell instead of leaving a message.

“No answer?” Mandy asks as the elevator comes to a stop and the doors open into the lobby.

“No, I’m going to try Agent Mitchell,” I reply, punching his number.

“Agent Mitchell,” he says, answering on the first ring.

“This is Trey Addison,” I tell him, pushing the lobby door open and allowing Mandy to exit the building ahead of me. “We are just leaving the SEC office and I would like to get together with you and Detective Kelly. Mandy has a huge case file that’s very damaging to Tommy and…” Suddenly, a sharp searing pain shoots through the back of my neck as someone grabs me from behind. I hear Mandy scream, but when I try to turn my head I’m hit by another blast of searing pain.

“She didn’t want to hurt you or your brother, but neither of you can take a fucking hint,” someone with a strong Russian accent hisses in my ear. “Now I have to scramble your brains, too.”

“No!” Mandy screams. I can see out of the corner of my eye that someone is holding her hostage as well. God dammit, I can’t do a fucking thing about it. Where the hell is Anthony?

“Slide the file over to me!” the man behind me demands. “Now or he’s dead!” I feel another sharp pinch in the back of my neck.

I hear the file hit the concrete and a second later is the sound of it sliding toward us. He turns me toward Mandy, so now I can see a man behind her holding a gun between her shoulder blades.

“Let her go,” I tell the man. “I’m the one who has been pushing her to go after Tommy.”

“I do not know this Tommy,” my captor says. “But you both need to be erased, he says as his hand shifts and I once again feel a surge of pain in the back of my neck. A split second later, there is a thud and a warm spray of blood splats across the right side of my head.

“Uuugh!” the man behind me screams out, just as there is a second thud. I reach back pulling a syringe from my neck, just as the other man’s head explodes like a pumpkin that has been shot with a shotgun.

“My God!” Mandy screams, dropping to her knees and covering her head with her hands. I scramble over to her with the syringe still in my hand. Anthony and I both reach her at the same exact time.

“You’re okay,” Anthony tells her after giving the back of her head a quick once over. “How about you?” he asks, turning to me. He grabs my head, pushing my eyelids up and looking into my eyes. “I think you’re okay,” he says, before scurrying back to his feet and taking off after the guy who had attacked me.

I turn to see that my captor has disappeared, along with the manila envelope. An engine revs and the sound of squealing tires fills the air. I immediately know that he has gotten away and taken the case file with him. I turn to Mandy, putting my arms around her and squeezing her tightly. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“I’m glad you’re okay too,” she replies with tears rolling down her cheeks. “Trey, are you all right?” she asks as spots begin to fill my eyes and everything begins to go dark.

Mandy

“Trey! Trey! There is something wrong with him,” I yell to Anthony as he comes jogging back toward us.

“I was afraid of that,” he replies, but I wanted to see if I could catch that fucker. “I wanted to take him alive,” he says, glancing over at the other man who is missing a chunk of his head.

“Trey, can you hear me?” he asks loudly, slapping the side of Trey’s face. “Call 9-1-1 he instructs me. We aren’t close enough to anything, so we’re better off waiting for an ambulance.” He pulls the syringe from Trey’s hand and continues to try to get a response from him. “It’s either the toxin or else the needle itself did some damage,” he adds, wiping away the blood in an attempt to examine his neck.

“Holy fuck,” Trey moans, while his eyes begin to flutter rapidly.

“The ambulance is on the way,” I tell them, dropping the phone and taking Trey’s head in my hands. “You’re okay, just open your eyes,” I tell him, looking directly into them.

“Uugh, I don’t feel good,” he says turning to the side and expelling the contents of his stomach onto the concrete. “Oh, fuck, I feel weird.” He sits up and drops his face into his hands.

“I’ll make sure they do a tox screen and take you in for a ct scan to make sure nothing is bleeding back there,” Anthony tells him, looking around to make sure the area is still secure.

“How did you know this was going to happen?” I ask him, amazed by the fact that he seemed to be ready for them.

“I noticed a gray CR-V a few times on the way here,” he tells me, still trying to wipe the blood from the back of Trey’s neck. “It pulled into a parking spot, right over there, after you two went inside,” he says, pointing across the street. “So I snuck out of the vehicle and picked out the best vantage point.”

“Well, thank God you did or we both would have had scrambled brains right now,” I reply, still not believing what just transpired. “I’ll never forget the feeling of having that gun jammed in my back.”

“Yeah, sorry I left you hanging for a bit, but until he turned Trey around I couldn’t get a clean shot at both of them,” he explains. “I wanted to take The Ghost alive, but I guess I should’ve just taken him out. I got greedy.”

“Well, I don’t think he will make it too far,” I reply, looking at the huge pool of blood on the floor. “Where did you hit him?”

“Right in the wrist,” Anthony says showing me the inside of his wrist. “I damn near blew his hand right off.”

“Okay, now I’m starting to feel nauseous.” I stand up and try to walk it off. “Noticing that Trey’s phone is still laying on the ground, I pick it up. “Hello?” I say, seeing if Agent Mitchell happens to still be on the other end.

“Mandy?” he replies, sounding distant. “I had you on speaker phone. I’ll be there in just a few minutes, so you guys stay put.”

“We aren’t going anywhere for now,” I inform him. “We are waiting for an ambulance, Trey isn’t feeling well.”

“Alright. I’ll be right there.” I hear a click as he ends the call. At least he heard how everything went down; there will be no ambiguity as to what happened here.