Chapter 290: The Rat

He drank his whiskey and thought through the implications.

If Dante had someone on the inside, it meant Dimitri’s entire operation was potentially compromised. It meant the carefully constructed network that he’d spent months building could be infiltrated at any point. It meant that going forward, he couldn’t trust that his operations were actually secure.

"I need a list," Dimitri said. "Everyone who knew about that shipment. Everyone who had access to the route. Everyone who could have provided that information."

"Already compiled," Mike said, sliding another folder across the table. "Twelve people total. Warehouse manager, three drivers, two security personnel, me, you, Marco, and four administrative staff who handle the logistics."

Dimitri opened the folder and studied the names.

Peter warehouse manager, fifteen years with the organization, completely reliable.

Rivera, Patterson, David.....drivers, all clean, all tested.

"Who are the security personnel?" Dimitri asked.

"John and Richard," Mike said. "Both ex-military. Both vetted extensively."

"By who?" Dimitri asked.

"Marco," Mike said.

Dimitri nodded. If Marco had vetted them, they were probably clean. But probably wasn’t the same as certainly.

"What about the administrative staff?" Dimitri asked.

Mike hesitated slightly.

"That’s where it gets interesting," Mike said. "One of them.....Jennifer, her brother was arrested six months ago on drug charges. He’s currently serving time. She applied for a position here about four months ago. I hired her because her credentials were solid and we needed the help."

There it was.

A pressure point. A vulnerability. A way to get to someone on the inside.

"Her brother," Dimitri said. "How much time is he serving?"

"Ten years," Mike said. "First offense, so he’s at a low-security facility. But he’s still inside."

"Dante could have made an offer," Dimitri said, understanding the play. "Get us information, and we reduce the sentence. Get us good information, and we get her brother out entirely."

"That was my thought," Mike said. "But I wanted to run it by you before we made any moves."

Dimitri stood and walked to the window overlooking the club below. The dance floor was packed with people.

"Bring her in," Dimitri said finally. "Tell her we need to talk about her brother."

"What if she denies everything?" Mike asked.

"Then we know she’s not the rat," Dimitri said. "But I suspect she won’t deny it. I suspect she’ll crack fairly quickly once she understands the stakes."

Mike nodded and made a phone call, giving instructions to bring Jennifer to the club immediately.

While they waited, Dimitri and Mike went through the other names, discussing each person’s history, their financial situation, their family connections, anything that might suggest a vulnerability.

By the time Jennifer arrived thirty minutes later, Dimitri had a clearer picture.

She was young, probably early twenties....with blonde hair and nervous eyes that suggested she already knew why she’d been summoned.

Marco brought her into the lounge and closed the door, positioning himself at the exit so she couldn’t leave without going through him.

"Jennifer," Dimitri said, his voice completely calm. "Sit down."

She sat, her hands trembling slightly.

"Your brother, Matthew, is currently incarcerated at Rikers Island for drug distribution," Dimitri said, not bothering with preamble. "Serving ten years. You applied for a job here four months ago, shortly after his sentencing. You were hired by Mike based on your credentials. How much did Dante Romano offer you to feed him information about our operations?"

Jennifer’s face went pale.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about...." she started.

"Don’t," Dimitri interrupted. "Don’t insult my intelligence. We already know about the hit on the warehouse. We already know the information had to come from someone with access to the logistics. And we already know your brother is the kind of leverage that would make someone like you willing to betray people who’ve treated you well."

Jennifer’s eyes filled with tears.

"He’s my brother," she whispered. "He made a mistake. He shouldn’t have to rot in prison for ten years because he was stupid once."

"You’re right," Dimitri said. "He shouldn’t. But betraying me to fix his situation is not the answer."

He stood and walked closer to her.

"Here’s what’s going to happen," he said. "You’re going to tell me everything you’ve given to Dante. Every piece of information. Every operation. Every route. Every timeline. Everything. And then you’re going to help me catch him."

"And if I do?" Jennifer asked, hope and fear mixing in her voice.

"Then your brother gets transferred to a minimum-security facility in upstate New York," Dimitri said. "He’ll serve his time in relative comfort. And when his sentence is up in ten years, he walks out clean. No parole violations, no additional charges, nothing that extends his sentence."

"How do I know you can actually do that?" Jennifer asked.

"Because I’ve already done it before," Dimitri said simply. "I have judges and corrections officers on my payroll. If I want your brother somewhere specific, he goes there. If I want his sentence to have favorable conditions, it happens. But only if you cooperate."

Jennifer looked at him, and Dimitri could see her calculating. Weighing her options. Understanding that she’d made a mistake but that there might be a way out of it.

"What do you want to know?" she finally asked.

"Start from the beginning," Dimitri said, sitting back down. "When did Dante first contact you? How did he do it? What did he ask for?"

Jennifer took a shaky breath and started talking.

Over the next hour, she outlined the entire operation. How Dante’s people had approached her outside her apartment. How they’d explained the situation with her brother. How they’d shown her evidence of Dante’s connections to the prison system. How they’d made it clear that the price for helping was her brother’s freedom.

She’d given them information about three operations, the warehouse hit being the most recent. She’d provided shipping schedules, route information, security details, timing. Everything they needed to plan and execute the hit.

By the time she finished, Dimitri had a complete picture of how Dante had compromised his operation.

"You understand that what you did has consequences," Dimitri said, his voice hard. "You understand that people died because of your actions?"