Dino by Jaime Lewis
Chapter TEN
It was late in the evening when Agent Hurts entered his home in a quiet subdivision in Alexandria, Virginia. His day had been a complete shitshow of meetings with directors from various divisions across the agency. All of them linked to the clusterfuck that went down in Rome a week and a half ago.
Usually, after an assignment had been concluded, the merry-go-round of debriefing meetings was conducted immediately within days of arriving back at the agency. However, he had been rerouted the morning after he and Arianna had returned because of an urgent situation in Kansas City that warranted his presence. It had been related to a cold murder case from eight years ago that involved an undercover agent.
He walked into the kitchen, went straight for the refrigerator, and grabbed a cold beer before heading into the living room. He sank into the sofa, propped his feet up on the coffee table, and twisted the cap off the bottle. He took a big swig and sighed.
Damn, that tastes good and is exactly what I needed after a day like today, he mumbled to himself.
He had totally been blindsided when he arrived at bureau headquarters earlier and visited the Forensics division expecting to find Arianna down there working. That was when Sam, her former boss, had filled him in on what had happened. He, too, was upset at the accusations Gabbert had leveled against Arianna.
At least Gabbert’s sly tactics had finally caught up to him. Hearing that he had been let go was the only positive news he’d gotten all day.
After hearing what happened with Arianna during her debrief, Hurts was pissed off and concerned that the agency wouldn’t get her back when the time came. He wanted to be present during her meetings, but he was unable to because of his impromptu trip.
During his conversation with Scarborough, Frey, and Wilson, he made it clear that while he understood their decision to place Arianna on administrative leave, they needed to accept that she may not want to return to the agency. He had been under the impression that the three higher-level directors were going to explain the entire situation to her and why they did what they had done. But instead, they went and acted like she was guilty, ultimately driving her away.
He also now understood why Gabbert held so much hatred toward Arianna. The guy was a total douchebag. Scarborough had also told him that the bureau was looking into other investigations that Gabbert had been a part of. Once the news of his firing was broadcasted through the bureau, some employees came forward with some complaints and concerns of their own. When they were asked why they hadn’t come forward earlier, their response had been that they were fearful of Gabbert because they saw what he had done to others who had crossed him.
He let out a frustrated sigh.
He had tried to call Arianna earlier in the day to check in with her, but her phone went straight to voicemail. He had driven by her apartment on his way home, but after knocking on her door for about five minutes, her neighbor had come out and told him that she moved out about a week ago. When he asked if he knew where she went, the guy just shrugged his shoulders.
He was aware that Arianna lived a relatively private life and wasn’t one to talk about her personal life much. After he left her apartment and was driving home, he called Sam to see if he had heard anything from her, but Sam had been surprised to hear she moved as well. He did remember that she mentioned she had family in Virginia, but Virginia was reasonably large. Since Sam had still been in the office, he tried to access Arianna’s file, but it had been locked down, which was odd, adding to the mystery surrounding the situation.
Hurts felt that he had let Arianna down. Arianna had been one hell of an agent, and if the bureau hadn’t pulled the plug on the assignment, he was confident that she would’ve succeeded in cracking the Barros case wide open and exposing Demitri for the piece of shit he was.
Now that the investigation into Demitri’s trafficking scheme was back on the agency radar, Hurts had to develop another plan of action to bring Demitri down. The previous plan couldn’t be used any longer since Gabbert had sabotaged it.
He reached for the burner phone on the coffee table and pulled up Enzo in the contacts. It rang twice before the loud Greek answered.
“I expected to hear from you sooner, Agent Hurts,” Enzo stated with a hint of sarcasm in his tone.
Hurts leaned back on the couch. “Yeah, I thought that too, however, duty called, and I just got back in town last night.”
“What can I do for you?”
“Got any news for me?”
“I thought your agency had backed off the Demitri case.”
Hurts let out a frustrated sigh. “As of today, it’s back on the agency’s top five case list.”
Enzo was quiet for a few moments before he finally spoke. “And Arianna? How is she?”
Hurts explained how Arianna had been railroaded by someone within the agency, though he didn’t give names.
“That’s complete horseshit,” Enzo commented.
“You’re preaching to the choir.”
“How is she holding up with the accusations against her?” Enzo asked, clearly concerned, and Hurts couldn’t blame him as he felt the same.
“I haven’t spoken to her. She won’t answer her phone, and her apartment is empty.”
“Damn.”
“I know. I’ve got a few feelers out there to track down her whereabouts. Since you two were close, she may try to reach out to you.”
“If I hear from her, I’ll let you know.”
“Thanks. Speaking of Arianna, are there any rumors within the industry floating that I need to be concerned about since her abrupt disappearance from the public eye?”
Hurts knew it was only a matter of time before people started to talk, considering Arianna was a prominent face in the industry.
“Enough to keep the gossip mill running,” Enzo replied.
“Anything I need to be concerned about?” Hurts asked, though he could only imagine what was being circulated. The industry was so vile and cutthroat. If anyone caught wind of anything scandalous, it would escalate and spread like wildfire. In some cases, it was enough to ruin someone's career. In this case, it could destroy Arianna’s life.
Hurts heard Enzo sigh. “Let’s see…these are a few I’ve heard personally; she is pregnant, and in hiding, she had a mental breakdown and was admitted to an undisclosed rehabilitation center seeking help, or my favorite; she was one of the seven people killed during the incident at the castle, and the police are covering it up.”
“Jesus Christ, people are sick.”
“You don’t have to tell me that.”
“You mean nobody connected her to you, considering a witness saw you leaving the castle with her?”
“They tried, but I shut that down quickly. Until she surfaces, people will talk. On the positive side, nobody but Demitri and Carmine knew I was in the room, and I’m quite sure those two won’t be running their mouths. But then you have Miles, your agency’s rogue agent. I did confront him when I was looking for Arianna. He could be an issue should he resurface.”
Hurts was still pissed that Miles had broken his oath to the bureau and went rogue. There was a warrant for his arrest on multiple counts, including several drug offenses. The real concern over Miles’ vanishing act was the information he knew of. If he was drugged up and started spewing classified information regarding cases, they could have a massive problem on their hands.
“Miles is someone else’s problem now, but you’re right. He could be an issue. How about Demitri? Any word on what he’s been up to?”
“For the most part, he and his people have been laying low since the incident at the castle. The local police questioned him, but of course, he was given preferential treatment due to his team of lawyers.”
That news hadn’t surprised Hurts, but Enzo’s following statement made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
“Be forewarned—Demitri is hunting for Arianna.”
“Does he know her true identity?”
“No, at least I don’t believe so. A contact of mine close to the situation said that Demitri has become obsessed with Arianna since that night, and he won’t stop looking until he finds her.”
“Shit. That’s not good.”
“No, it isn’t. Because Demitri, like myself, has a lot of contacts all over the world—some in high places who owe him favors. If you know what I mean.”
Agent Hurts knew exactly what Enzo was suggesting. It was no secret that law enforcement agencies worldwide were infiltrated with traitors working for the enemy, mainly because they were greedy, and the pay is good.
“Well, if you hear anything that you think I should be aware of, give me a shout.”
“Will do.”
The line went dead and Hurts threw the phone on the table. He was beyond frustrated. Dammit, Arianna. Where in the hell are you? He said to himself. There were other ways to locate her, but he preferred not to draw attention to the matter considering the FBI was closely monitoring all those involved in the current situation at hand. He was determined, though, to have her name cleared. But first, he had to find her so he could talk to her.
Hurts’ gut feeling told him that something huge was in the works, but he wondered at what cost and how it involved Arianna.
