Heather Jenkins

"Sounds okay to me," Nadia shrugged.

"That TIN belongs to a shell company that doesn't seem to have any business other than selling unknown goods to the NLA and making larger donations back. I dug back into the shell and they have invoices but no properties. They can't even deduct those so-called 'donations' because the NLA isn't a tax-exempt organization."

"So the NLA pays taxes on those donations?" Nadia asked. "That does sound weird."

"So far that's the only time I see even a mention of that or any other TIN in these sheets."

"So someone goofed on the copying?"

"As far as I can see," I nodded. "I wasn't supposed to see that number."

"What's the 'too much' you were referring to?" Nadia asked.

"In the years I've graphed so far they send eight hundred fifty thousand dollars one way, and six million plus comes back. With the information you just gave me, I get to find out the who is behind the money and hopefully the why," I explained.

"Ohhh. How did you twig to these specific transactions?"

"The amounts are the same, it's just the frequency is getting faster. Over six years the amounts have remained constant. I need to get home, run these numbers through my databases," I said. "I've got to see the rest of the money trail."

"You can do that here," Nadia offered. "But you can do it tomorrow."

"I don't work on Friday, that's why I want to do this tonight," I countered.

Nadia seemed confused for a moment, then handed the tablet back. "All right, do your thing."

Kimberly showed up at twenty-three hours with a look of concern on her face. "Why did you turn your comms off, Nadia?"

"I needed to help Heather and I couldn't do that with a voice in my head," Nadia replied. "Heather found something terrible here."

"Go on, please," Kimberly said.

"Someone at the NLA is involved in human trafficking. They are paying for young women to be smuggled into the United States, indoctrinating them or whatever, and selling them. I don't know where they come from or where they go, but it is happening."

"Show me your proof."

I gave Kimberly the one trail Nadia and I had fully decoded. One woman, white with blonde hair was brought into the port of Seattle in a cargo container. The transfer was captured on digital video, which was how Nadia had found it. The woman was then taken to a house which I had found via the ledger under mortgage payments, where she stayed for a month. The video transaction record attached to the sale 'donation' showed a very well dressed woman being led into a van which pulled away from the house and drove out of view of the camera.

"Nothing is confirmed, this was years ago," Nadia explained.

"Heather, I know this is against your method, but can you do the last year now?"

"We need to build a case, compile all the evidence. Hell, all of the information outside of these ledger papers came from hacking! I mean, I'm not an agent anymore and you aren't, so this case can't be prosecuted!"

"Just gather everything you can," Kimberly said. "We'll push your info up to the people who will handle the prosecution."

"To what agency?" I could tell she knew something, but wouldn't, or couldn't tell me.

"I can't tell you that, not yet," Kimberly countered.

"Then I won't share any more information with you," I shrugged. "It's that simple."

"Fine," Kimberly snapped. "I'll tell you."

"I need to eat again, and not in here. If I'm going to be pulling an all-nighter, I need a steak and a beer."

"At zero hour?" Nadia asked.

"You've been following me for six months and you don't know my favorite eatery?" I asked.

***

The Columbus City Center Complex was a good place to be in the middle of the night. The mall that it used to house was bought out and turned into an entertainment zone.

There were clubs, private and public, on every anchor point of the building. There were arcades, movie theaters and almost every type of restaurant imaginable. My favorite restaurant was on the top floor, an elitist place that only a few could enjoy.

"Pascal, party of four," I told the hostess.

"Excuse me?" She wrinkled her brow at us. "I have no listing for you."

She was obviously new, or just enjoyed being snotty. "I have a standing table," I said.

"I'm sure."

"Call Miss Chance then," I tapped my ear to draw her attention to her earpiece.

"Miss Chance is very busy," the hostess said. "I'll thank you to leave."

Nadia snorted. "Are you sure this is the right place, Heather?"

"Shut up and let me have my phone." I tapped out a quick text to Charlemagne Chance, the owner.

It didn't take long. Snooty Woman flinched from what I assumed was an earful of invective from Charlemagne. "Party of four? Right this way," she turned around and started walking without even looking to see if we would follow.

A moment later we were sitting in a booth which faced outward. The skyline of Columbus was still a wonderful view at half past zero hour. "This is a great place," Kimberly commented. "I'm sure not everybody has a direct line to the owner."

"Most don't. I audit Charlemagne's books every so often, and I rate a membership here because of that."

"Hmm," Kimberly squinted at me. "There is something else, what is it?"

"That's private," I shut her down. "I'm going to wash my hands. Nadia, you probably should as well. The dirt on those NLA books is both figurative and literal."

"Sure," Nadia slid out of the booth and followed me to the restroom. As I was drying my hands off, Nadia put her hand on top of them. "Some of the things you are going to hear from us tonight will stretch the imagination. Try to keep in mind that everything in life doesn't fit into a spreadsheet, okay?"

"Okay," I nodded.

When we went back to the table, Charlemagne was sitting there talking with Kimberly and Shehzadi. "Good morning, Charlie," I held out my hand to her. "To what do I owe this honor?"

"You can stop the smooth-talking any time young lady," Charlemagne took my hand and used the leverage to pull herself out of the booth. "I was just getting acquainted with your new girlfriend here."

"Kimberly isn't my girlfriend," I protested. Nadia and Shehzadi were actually closer to me than Kimberly was.

"Mmm hmm," Charlemagne nodded. "I'll bet. Y'all have a good morning now."

"Thanks, Charlie," I gave her hand a squeeze before letting it go. She walked off, greeting other patrons as she made her way through the dining area.

Nadia gave my jacket a tug. "You joining us?"

I sat down, giving Kimberly a raised eyebrow. "What did you say to her?"

"Nothing. She did most of the talking," Kimberly shrugged.

"None of the other women I have brought in here have gotten Charlie's attention, not even Laura rated anything beyond 'friend.' You said something to her."

"She's a psychic," Shehzadi blurted out. "A powerful one, at that."

"You're kidding, right?" I wasn't feeling the joke.

Nadia set her hand on my forearm. "You promised to keep an open mind, Heather."

"Are you religious, Heather?" Kimberly asked.

"I used to be. Then I had my eyes opened to the world in a rather rude way. In a world where people kill other people in vicious ways, and others do unspeakable things to children, I have a hard time believing in an all-seeing benevolent deity watching over us all."

"What about just a plain deity?" Nadia asked.

"It's probable. That does fit into a spreadsheet, you know," I admitted. "Shehzadi, you look like the cat who ate the canary."

Kimberly and Nadia glared at Shehzadi, who looked like she was going to explode with the secret she wanted to tell. Then I heard a giggle in my brain. "God is a woman, magic is real, and true love is forever."

"There you go," I smiled. "Anything you ladies would like to add?"

"You know how we are able to anticipate you so well? It's because we can hear what you are thinking," Kimberly admitted.

"You're reading my mind?"

"Nothing like that," Shehzadi said. "Like I just broadcast to you, you broadcast to us."

"So much for keeping my mouth shut," I muttered. "No secrets anymore."

"Don't you go fretting about that," Nadia scolded. "You are broadcasting to just us, not to everybody."

"Good, because some of the things I've been thinking lately need to stay in my head. How would you explain that god is a woman to me?"

"She's not a god in the truest sense of the word," Kimberly explained. "She has rules to follow."

"Phenomenal cosmic power, itty-bitty living space." I muttered. "What kind of rules?"

"Gaia is not permitted to interfere in the laws of man or to meddle in the course of normal human affairs," Kimberly said.

"So she couldn't stop Hitler or the atomic bomb," I sighed. "People grow through adversity?"

"Precisely. Also, people who are blessed with Gaia's power are bound by the same rules," Kimberly finished. "Some people call it witchcraft, some call it Wiccanism, or just call it magic."

"Can you show me magic?" I asked.

"Have you noticed how quiet it is in here? A restaurant full of people?" Nadia asked.

She wasn't fooling. The restaurant around us was packed, and I couldn't hear a peep. "You're doing that?"

"Miss Chance performed the spell," Nadia admitted. "She thought we would need the privacy."

I felt the click of a piece sliding into place. Charlemagne had always been a good friend to me, always making sure everything was all right with my experience in her restaurant. Part of that attention I could attribute to the money I saved her, and another part to my being just plain charming. She had asked me to bed several times, but I had refused her because she was a client, yet she was attached to me nonetheless. "Charlie was here to deliver a warning, wasn't she?"

"Miss Chance made it very clear that if we didn't inform you about the reality of witchcraft, she would," Kimberly nodded.

"We aren't using magic on you," Nadia interjected. "Just around you. A little glamour here and there to catch your interest."

"You didn't need magic to catch my interest," I gave Nadia a wink. "In the great scheme of things, I understand why you felt it necessary to withhold that information from me. I also understand you are waiting for me to finish my commitment to Carla, my word was my contract with her, and that's a law by itself. I don't understand why you are able to break the laws of man while claiming to be bound by them."

"Are you talking about the hacking?" Nadia asked.

"That first," I nodded.

"In most cases, we aren't allowed to use magic to break the laws of man," Nadia said. "Technically, I wasn't doing the hacking. The actual work was outsourced to those who use technology to break the laws."

"I'll buy that," I nodded. "It's too early to split hairs in any case. My real question is about who is going to prosecute the case I am going to assemble."

Nadia and Kimberly paused, but Shehzadi was the next to say anything: "Revengers."

"What's that? Who's that?" I asked.

"Have you ever had a nightmare where the nameless, faceless monster comes for you?" Nadia asked.

"More than once," I nodded.

"Try to imagine the monster that your nightmare is afraid of." Kimberly got a fearful look on her face. "That is a Revenger."

"Okay, so why don't these Revengers go out and get the bad guys on their own?" I asked. Picking at this was too good to pass up.

"Again, there can't be just good guys in the world. Some of us believe there is a cosmic balance, others just believe that having bad guys makes the good guys stronger."

Balance, I could accept that given my career choice. I was going to ask about how the laws of man fit into the whole Revenger scheme, but then I remembered: Sometimes the bad guys got away. Like that child molester down in North Carolina, who cut a deal to take down a big drug supplier but had vanished without a trace. A young girl who had gone missing, supposedly appearing in the middle of a crowd with a story about a nice lady and man who had broken her out of a cage and brought her home. Justice. Revenge.

"Okay, I believe you on that front." I had to deliver the bad news to Kimberly. "I'm not going to vary my method, Kimberly. I've been doing it that way for years, and I can't change now. I may miss something important, skipping to the end. Working on the weekend isn't foreign to me, so I'll give you today. Sunday is a free day, no negotiation."

"Agreed," Kimberly nodded. "Miss Chance said our food would be ready at one."

Charlie always knew what food I wanted. I should have picked up on her talent earlier, but I wasn't paying attention. Just like I wasn't paying attention to Laura's relationship with Kaylee. Would I have been able to do anything to win Laura's heart?

A nudge in the side brought me back to the present. "Do you miss her?" Nadia asked.

"Laura said something to me, right before I showed her the ring I was going to propose to her with. She accused me of not being in the relationship to get married."

"The ring should have showed that you were," Kimberly pointed out.

"Maybe. I don't know. I really don't know what to think about the three of you right now."

"The situation is fluid. We don't know what your answer to the job offer will be, and the question can't be asked until you finish the job at hand," Kimberly said.

"We need to tell Heather about our group," Nadia said.

"No I can't," Kimberly countered.

"I can. I don't work for you any more," Nadia said.

"Shit," Kimberly mumbled.

"There's a group, nice group formed of nice people. They have goals, and are recruiting people to help reach those goals. Some people, like yourself are single and wild and free. The group will play matchmaker in order to lure said person into the trap."

"So Kimberly was sent to entice me, psychologically matched to me because she is a professor of mathematics," I mused. "I'm not professor level."

"Semantics," Kimberly smiled.

"All right, that makes sense," I nodded. "Your explanation has a hole, well two holes."

"As originally established, there are family units of four. This is a one male, three female family unit." Nadia smiled. "All in love, one heart."

"Polyamory," I said.

"Yup," Shehzadi nodded. "Sound like fun? Make your own harem, maybe?"

That was one of those thoughts that I wished had never gotten out. Was Shehzadi playing with me, or not?

"The families are supposed to be psychologically compatible, that's why there's a screening process," Kimberly interjected.

So Starr was supposed to be part of Kimberly's family until Nadia and Shehzadi had professed their desire to be with me. Was Kimberly involved with Starr? There would have to be another woman, probably one of the 'bodyguards' in the other Suburban.

"Interesting thoughts, Heather," Shehzadi said. "Yes, Nadia and I muddled up the structure of the family unit a little. Yes, Kimberly and Starr and Geonna were a trio. In the early days the foursome was the standard, everyone having the same interests."

"Like that standard gets followed anymore," Nadia scoffed. "There are a lot of happy, large families that didn't have the psychological meddling to match them. Love is in the magic, as Janine would say."

"Things have gotten a little weird since the words 'practical magic' were introduced into our lexicon," Shehzadi added.

"Don't I know it," Kimberly rolled her eyes.

"You also forget that there are more than four people in some families," Nadia said to Kimberly. "I think Heather could handle an eight or ten person family."

"That's funny," I wagged a finger at her. "It's a good thing the food is here, or I'd take you over my knee."

"Promises, promises," Nadia sighed.

Over the meal I learned that their group was based in California, but had members worldwide. They also let me in on a little secret, magic was expensive to use. By default, all of the more expansive spells, like the cone of silence that was keeping out conversation private, used gold to focus the energy of the mind onto the physical plane.

The three of them were quiet on the ride back to the warehouse. Both Nadia and Shehzadi were perturbed at the group of toughs that were hanging around my building.

Once we were inside, I explained that the toughs were actually my self-appointed security force. I had done an audit of the district's books for the county commissioner and found someone had been embezzling money from their accounts. The county was able to recoup those funds and used them to refurbish the local community centers. The re-opening of those centers had brought youth together and allowed them to flourish instead of fight. Nadia made an off-hand comment about someone called Jaci Stone and Kimberly and Shehzadi shushed her.

At half-past five hours we took a snack break and I changed the music from classical to classic rock. That helped us pick up the pace until Carla called me at nine. "Hey Heather, I was thinking about a good place to spend the day with you. How about Kings Island?"

"What would give you the impression that I would want to go to an amusement park on a Friday?" I asked.

"Laura said that you took Fridays off, even when you were doing an audit," Carla replied.

"I was under the impression this audit needed to be completed as soon as possible. The sooner it is under my belt, the better." I countered.

"There's a lot of paperwork work there, Heather," Carla said. "Neither us nor the FBI can expect you to do it at light speed."

"I also don't want Agent Sumika going all McCarthy on me," I finished.

"You have to take some time off," Carla countered.

"Soon. Good-bye, Carla." I set my phone down with a sigh.

"You should have gone. They have a great fun house there, you can hide and make out for hours," Nadia teased.

"Which would lead to what?" I asked. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Nadia."

"For now," Nadia promised.

While I was copying the numbers to the boards and highlighting the anomalies, Kimberly and Shehzadi were quietly passing my findings along to whomever was on the other end of their tablets. At year sixteen, I hit a wall. There were absolutely no anomalous transactions that year, none.

I went back through the registers and didn't find any transactions relating to the shell companies I was chasing. "Damn. Fuck. Shit!"

"Maybe they decided to stop," Kimberly offered.

I shook my head. "They wouldn't stop like that. The previous year they made over twenty million dollars selling women. You just don't walk away from that kind of money."

"They could have just switched organizations," Kimberly shrugged. "Maybe we are all tired and need to call it a day."

I looked at the clock, it was half past fourteen hours. "Yeah, we have been here a little while. I'll clean up this mess after I get a few minutes off my feet."

"Do you need us to do anything?" Kimberly asked.

"Just a little time alone." The three of them left the room quietly, making me hope that I hadn't been too brusque with them.

My record player was still playing eighties music, so I plopped down in my chair and let the music wash over me. I was almost fully relaxed when Tommy Tutone's '867-5309' came on. All of a sudden I was alert and back at the February board for the year I had lost the trafficking transactions. Sure enough, the total income for that month was eight million, six hundred seventy-five thousand, three hundred nine dollars.

"Holy Shit!" I exclaimed.

The loudness of my voice brought Nadia and Shehzadi rushing back into the room. "What's wrong?" Shehzadi asked.

"This whole month is fake! The person who doctored these books used the Tommy Tutone fake! Look at this," I held out my phone. "See the 8-6, then the 7-5-3, then the 0-9. They all follow a diagonal slant across the pad." Then I showed them that every entry in that month followed lines from the telephone touch-pad.