It wasSarawho chimed in to answer his question. “Theyassumecovertroles in organizations that are often hard to get into.Theyprovide theFBIand sometimes theCIAor theMarshalServicewith valuable and credible information about suspected criminal activities.Handlers, like myself, cultivate relationships with informants, ensuring they understand the risks and benefits of cooperation.Wealso focus on protecting the informant and ensuring the informant's safety.”
“Okay, now to the part aboutwhyyou are aNOC,”Isaid, since she had never mentioned this once in the time we knew each other.
Ace sighed, twisting her hands in her lap.Icouldn’t tell if she was nervous, or just wasn’t sure what to say.
“Because my role as a news anchor can get me into places most people can’t—without looking weird,” she explained, her shoulders slumping as she exhaled. “Forexample,I’vebeen the emcee for banquets with billionaires suspected of funding international crime rings.I’vebeen the keynote speaker at a business leadership conference, which was really an insider trading ring for stock movements.I’vealso shown up at a judge’s office pretending to be there for an interview about a trial but was really there to gather evidence of him taking bribes.”
“Holy shit,”Vincesaid, sounding very impressed.Hiswords were the same onesIhad been thinking too.
“I can go places that other people can’t under the ruse of working inTVnews.Ifa cop shows up to any of those situations, people clam up and hide.Evenwith some reporters, people can be wary that they will report on what they tell them.ButI’velearned to play the role of just anews girl.”Sheemphasized those last two words with air quotes, not hiding her derision for how people labeled her sometimes. “ThinkingI’mjust a pretty face behind a news desk, people will talk more freely about a lot of things in front of me.”
“We usually only meet once a month—but we’ve been adding more training sessions since you informed us about the death threats,”Saranoted. “Now, do you have enough basic information?Canyou fill me in on what happened tonight?”
No,Ididn’t have enough information.Ihad about a thousand more questions, but in the interest of time,Iwould delay those so we could wrap this up.Ino longer worked in law enforcement, and whileIhad friends who still did, being in the system allowed you to have access to information.Rightnow,Ineeded information about what happened, andSaracould likely get that a heck of a lot faster thanIcould.
We spent the next ten minutes filling her in on everything that had happened tonight.Fromthe vehicle following us, to leaving the gas station and hiding behind the dumpsters, toAceevading the cops’ questions.
I was told that because she was aNOC, it was easier for her to pretend to just be a regular civilian since her name isn’t on any officialFBIpaperwork and would likely just confuse the cops even more.
Law enforcement generally worked well together, but there were definitely times when jurisdiction became a cat fight and people got into a dick measuring contest over who had control—localPD,FBI,CIA, sheriff’s office, etc.
“He almost blew it for us,”Aceannounced, nodding in my direction.
“No,Ididn’t,”Icountered, fully offended by that assessment.
Still looking atSarabut talking about me, she continued. “Idon’t know where he learned to whisper, butI’mguessing it was inside a helicopter filled with a dozen leaf blowers,” she noted asIrolled my eyes.
A light chuckle had me looking back over atSara, who was staring at both of us as though we were highly entertaining.
“We need a plan,”Vincespoke up, a glimmer of a smile on his face, indicating he was enjoying this but also wanted to move things along. “They’veobviously found you.Theyalso know where you work, if they followed you fromRSS.”
I had a plan—it had been a planI’dbeen thinking about for days now.Ihad even mentioned it toVince, butIalso knew it was risky, andIdidn’t want to putAcein any more danger than she already was.Butthat was whenIthought there was still a chance we could stay under the radar and let them be caught by the authorities before they caught us.Now, that didn’t seem likely.
“I think you should do it,”Vinceoffered, looking at me. “I’llgo with you if you want backup.”
“Do what?”Aceasked.
“He’s got a plan,”Vincetold her. “It’sone we’ve been working on and talking about for a few days, but we had hoped we wouldn’t need to use it.Tonightproves otherwise.”
“Okay, genius, then what’s your plan?”Acelooked to me as though she was angryIhadn’t shared the plan with her before this.Whichwas true, but it was becauseIknew she wouldn’t go for it.
“We gotta go back to where it all started,”Iannounced.
“What do you mean by ‘where it all started’?”Aceasked.
“Vegas,”Sarachimed in, picking up on whereIwas going with this.
“Feel like getting hitched again?”IaskedAce, seeing her eyes practically bulging out of her face.
“Absolutely not,”Aceargued, shaking her head emphatically.
“He’s right,”Sarainterrupted, causingAceto turn to her, appalled, as if she had betrayed her. “Hearme out.It’sthe best way to get their attention.AndI’mguessing that was your plan?” she questioned, looking back toVinceand me.
Vince laid most of the plan out whileIwatchedAce’sface for any expression or reaction she may have.Shemay not be a full-fledgedFBIagent, but she had definitely learned to keep a stoic face when she needed to.
Sara chimed in with questions from time to time, but otherwise listened asVinceandIgave her all the details.Oneperson, however, was noticeably silent.
“You’re awfully quiet over there,”Iremarked, notingAcehadn’t said a word the last few minutes asVinceandIlaid out our plans.
