FBI Matter

Randall Meechum’s POV

Dallas Apartment

I was still tired when I woke up, yesterday had been a LONG day. I was very happy with how Tania had testified. She was such a strong wolf with a fantastic memory, no matter how much pain it caused her to remember all that. She was a good mate for my little brother and would be a fine Luna when she was ready.

I looked at my phone and had something like fifty messages. It was eleven in the morning, so I called my Dad first. “Dad, what’s going on?”

“Your little mate just flipped the werewolf world upside down, and in a good way,” he said. “I sent you a video file, watch it when you can. The Reader’s Digest version is that I held a teleconference with all the Alphas and the Council over the attack on us.”

“Woah, Dad, what attack?”

“Didn’t Talia tell you about Todd and the rogues?”

Now I was awake. “No, I got a text from her while I was heading back to Dallas last night saying she had stuff to do and wouldn’t have her phone.”

He snickered. “Yeah, she had some things to do. She still does, I think. She is not talking, she just lets the damage in her wake do the talking for her.”

“Dad, the attack.”

“Todd managed to scrape together about twenty rogues, they kept an eye on our Pack entrances. We sent Talia out to spring the mousetrap, with the Vampires following behind to steal the cheese. It was smooth as hell since we had our drones up showing what was ahead of them. The rogues are all dead, and Todd is in the cells.”

“Thank Luna,” I said. “Talia was not hurt?”

“We barely had anyone hurt, it was an ass kicking. Watching Talia, Erica and the Vampires fight, it was like everyone else was in slow motion. They had two chances, zero and none.”

“I bet. My mate is a fierce fighter.”

“Even Erica is becoming one quickly, and the Vampires, especially the older one, are on an even higher level. They didn’t leave much for the rest of us, but we did get some shots in. Anyway, that was two nights ago. The next afternoon, I called a teleconference of the Alphas to complain about the Council hiring rogues and criminals to attack my Pack members. Chairman Wolfe was explaining how the madness had to stop when your mate kicked the door in.”

“Oh shit,” I said with a laugh.

“Yeah. She picked him up by the throat, slammed him on the conference table and ripped his throat out. Then she grabbed Kendall and slit his throat, throwing him on the table too. She’s not even breathing hard, she’s covered with blood, and she tells the other five Council members they have five minutes to resign before she comes for them.” Dad laughed. “You should have seen their faces. Three of five resigned, and Councilman Lee refused but was removed by his regional Alphas anyway. The only remaining Council member is Pierce, the Midwestern Packs didn’t reach the two-thirds majority. Talia is cleaning up the mess at headquarters, then I think she’s going after Pierce.”

“I should be there,” I said.

“No, you’re where you need to be. The werewolf side is just about done, but there are a lot of humans still needing their punishment. It is important to Tania they get it.”

I closed my eyes, I knew my Dad was right, but the werewolf method was SO much faster and final. Rip out a few throats, bury the bodies and move on. “All right. I have to get to work,” I said.

“Good luck. Check in with me when you can, and hopefully your mate will be done soon and back home.” He hung up, and I quickly dressed and left for work, grabbing a sandwich on the way.

I was there just before one, and Rosalie called our whole task force into the conference room. “The Deputy Director has promised me all the resources I need to shut this operation down, and I intend to do so quickly,” she said. “Now that Randall and I are here, fill me in on what you found out this morning.”

The team divided up her testimony, with one investigator looking into each person. Joey ‘Bag of Donuts’ Venucci should have been the easiest. The investigator had asked for his file from the Chicago FBI office, in their Organized Crime Unit. Rosalie was going to have to step in, because they were claiming jurisdiction. “They will be happy to take our information, but anything with the Chicago Mob has to go through them,” the agent said. “They claim ongoing investigations, yadda yadda.”

“I’ll contact my boss,” Rosalie said. “I’m not going to give up a human trafficking bust because they’re farting around with RICO or something. How about the training facility?”

“Running the suspect drawings through the system, that’s going to take a while to sort the possible. It’s not an exact thing, going from a drawing instead of a photograph. I’ve sent along the drawings to the human trafficking divisions in all FBI offices. Nothing back on them yet, but it’s early. We are assuming it is in the Midwest based on the Chicago Mob connection, but that doesn’t have to be the case at all.”

“Keep on it,” she said. “Where are we on the island?”

’That witness is a gold mine,” another agent said. “I’m taking her list of names and creating files for each. I’m looking at public source information that might corroborate this, but we need to get a US Attorney involved and start looking at warrants and indictments.”

“We have to keep this all close to our vest,” I said. “If word of the investigation gets out people will clam up. We build cases, pick ones to try and flip, then net all of them at once.”

“That’s what I want from this end,” Rosalie agreed. “You’ll be working closely with AUSA Perkins. She’s briefed her boss on the testimony, and she’s practically going to be living with you all as we build our cases. One big net, closing on them all at once. They’ll be begging for deals and we won’t need to give them any,” she said.

“What about the island,” I asked.

“It’s in Colombian territory, and their police aren’t interested. The druglords own the cops and will not cooperate. We can continue to work through the State Department, but it doesn’t look good,” she said.

“If we could get the records of that place, we wouldn’t need Tania as a witness at all,” I said. “From what she said, there are around twenty sex slaves there at a time, many of them children. It pisses me off that we know they are there, and we can’t do anything about it.”

“We think they are there, Randall. Tania’s testimony is helpful, but she hasn’t been there in over a year.”

I snorted. “So, we don’t have jurisdiction, we don’t have cooperation, and we can’t do anything.” I looked around the room. “What would it take for us to be able to move in there and rescue them?”

“State, Department of Defense, FBI, Justice Department, Homeland Security… Jesus, Randall, do you have any idea how many hoops there are? If we can’t get the Colombians to play ball, the President would have to authorize the use of force on a sovereign country’s territory. I appreciate your passion, Randall, but there’s nothing we can do.”

I choked down my thoughts. There was something that could be done, that SHOULD be done, but I don’t think it was going to happen with the sanction of the US government. I needed to talk to my Dad, my mate and my family. “Understood, boss.”

“Now, anything come out of the information she gave us on the dead pimps?”

“Nothing much, names of people we are running through the database. Since she was 17 or 18, all we could get them on is solicitation and that doesn’t help much. Even with her testimony most will walk.” The investigator on this area was just as downcast as the one on the island. “The list of people isn’t near as famous or rich. They did go all around the country, but the only ones to really go after are both dead.”

“It is what it is,” Rosalie said. “Take time to document everything and turn it over, then help with the Island johns.” She looked at me. “I just don’t get why guys would travel there and pay that kind of money.”

“Unlimited sex with underage girls and prostitutes, it’s a weekend of fun,” he said. “From what she described, they could make any fantasy come true. Even if that fantasy involved beating the shit out of a girl before fucking her.” I had to push my wolf down, thinking of this and my sister-in-law wasn’t helping. “I’ve got to step out, sorry.”

I could feel them watching me as I walked out and I didn’t care. I walked down the hall to the bathroom, shutting and locking the door before letting out a scream of frustration.

I’d like to say that after blowing off that steam and getting my wolf under control things got better.

They didn’t. At about five, a furious Rosalie came out of her office and called the team around her. She had been on the phone for twenty minutes, the blinds in her office closed, and I could smell her frustration. “Attention please everyone,” she said as we stopped and gathered around. “Effective immediately, we are to cease inquiries and investigations into the Chicago mob. Assemble the information you have and send it to me, and I will pass it to the Organized Crime bureau.”

I slammed my hand on the table. “Really? Those fuckers are taking this from us?”

“Those are my instructions. Randall, my office. Now.”

She turned around and stormed back into her office, and I followed her in and closed the door. “Take a seat,” she said. “You’re getting too involved in this case, you need to let things go,” she said as she sat down.

“Like you are right now?” She covered her face with her hands. “What’s going on, really.”

“Joey ‘Bag of Donuts’ Venucci is an FBI confidential informant,” she said as she sat back in her chair. “Organized Crime Unit won’t allow any investigations to go forward, he has immunity from prosecution. It wouldn’t do any good.”

Fuck me sideways. “Well, can’t he give us information on the training facility?”

“They don’t care about him or the facility, they are trying to take down the crime family. We are not to proceed with anything, including any investigation that could draw attention to him.”

It was my turn to sit back. “What did you find out about the island?”

“It’s a no go, the State Department is trying to gain cooperation from them in other areas. Exposing a sex island in their waters would embarrass the government further.”

“So we fucking leave twenty women, God knows how many of them American, sitting there to be abused and we can’t do a fucking thing? What the HELL are we even doing? I should be leading a Hostage Rescue Team into that island by tomorrow night, killing every one of those bastards!”

“Watch your language, Agent Meechum. I’m still you’re fucking boss, and we don’t have authorization to kill them all, no matter how much you want to.”

She was a good one, but this was becoming difficult. My frustration boiling over, I stood up and punched the wall. I left a hole in it, looking at my fist I wasn’t hurt. “I’m sorry. There’s a lot going on in my family right now and I’m taking this case way too personally.”

“Anything I can help with?”

“I met a woman while I was back home. It’s… it’s getting serious quickly. I think she is the one, but her sister… her little sister was tricked into prostitution and died of an overdose. It’s made my job all the more real and urgent. I’m having trouble holding myself back from violence. if I found anyone that hurt Tania, I’d be as likely to kill them as arrest them. Maybe more likely, I don’t know.” I figured it was a good enough lie for now, it’s not like I could say ‘hey I’m mated to the sister of our main witness who is mated to my little brother.’

She watched me as I took a few deep breaths to calm down. She knew my reputation with women, the whole office did. I didn’t screw around on the job, but in my off time I screwed around a lot. I’d never had more than a one-night stand, though. “Really. She must be quite the woman to get a second date out of you.”

I blushed a little. “She’s special, I love her.”

“Go back to her,” she said. “Look, you’ve hardly taken any vacation and your sick time doesn’t count. With most of this investigation stalled, I don’t need you in the field yet and I know how bad you are with computer investigations and paperwork. You’re more of a ‘bust heads and get confessions’ kind of agent.” I smiled at her characterization of me, I hated the grunt work. I wanted action. “This has been tough, take a week or two and get your personal life in order. If anything comes up, I’ll call you.”

“I can’t leave you shorthanded,” I said.

“You can’t be beating up witnesses or shooting perps, do you have any idea how much paperwork that causes me?” She threw her hands in the air. “Look, I’m not asking. What you just said could get you in a lot of trouble if you told it to me and then it happened. I’d rather you take some time off and come back when you’re ready.”

I blew out my breath slowly. “What if it doesn’t change? What if I can’t hold back?”

“Then I’ll have to reassign you or you resign, Randall. The FBI is bigger than you, this case is bigger than you. I can’t have it ruined because you can’t control your anger. Now, it’s been a long day. Go home, Agent Meechum.”

“Yes boss,” I said. “Sorry about the wall.” I walked out, everyone in the office looking at me as I grabbed stuff out of my desk and left. I showed them my badge and gun. “It’s all right, I’m just taking a vacation,” I said. “Keep on these assholes. I want to have plenty of warrants to serve when I get back.”

There were some pats on the back and whispered ‘good lucks’ as I left, but they all knew this vacation wasn’t my idea. It was a suspension with pay, without the paperwork.

I took the elevator down to parking and got in my Jeep. I tried Talia, she still wasn’t answering, then I called Dad. I told him what had happened and what my plan was. “Come on home, son,” he said. “You don’t have to do this alone.”

Damn right. I had a Pack, and we’d take care of this ourselves.