My respect for Nick ticks up a notch, but with caution. “I hope sharp enough to give me a solution to Martina that doesn’t include me going to the FBI.”
“We have a plan,” Nick confirms. “It’s now a matter of your approval.”
“First things first though,” Seth says, sliding one of the folders from the center of the table to him. “We pulled the security feed from the night Emily met her guard Randy.” He opens the folder and sets a photo clearly captured by elevator footage. “That’s Randy. Real name José Garcia.” He sets another picture down, this one of José with Adrian Martina. “He is to Adrian what I am to you.”
I look up and between Seth and Nick. “What the hell was he doing in my offices and near Emily?”
Nick answers. “It’s not immediately clear if the contact with Emily was intentional or by chance. And since Derek was not in the building, his purpose for being there is also unclear.”
“In other words,” I say. “I have no way of knowing if Emily is a target.”
“In my professional opinion,” he replies, “she isn’t a target. Not yet.”
I arch a brow. “Not yet? What the hell does that mean?”
“It means,” Seth says, “that we believe Martina’s visit this morning was about him trying to draw you into his circle.”
“The man has a god complex,” Nick adds. “He believes he can mend all, and do all, including your resistance to this partnership. Emily won’t be in danger until he decides you’re a problem he can’t solve by simply including you, where Derek has excluded you.”
My jaw sets hard. “Then, as I’ve already stated, we need to get him the hell out of my company before that happens.”
“I agree one hundred percent,” Nick quickly says, “which is what we want to talk about today.”
“Let me summarize what we’ve done thus far,” Seth interjects, sliding a folder to me. “This is all inside the file if you want to follow along.”
“Just get to it,” I say, eager to hear solutions, not problems.
“We have a paid informant inside the locker rooms at Mike’s ball club, as well as for the one associated with Brody Matthews. We also pulled records on Ridel, the drug that we assume is being used to package an illegal performance-enhancing drug. We’ve found prescriptions have doubled since last year’s records, with a concentration in Colorado.”
My lips thin. “A drug that is all but retired has doubled in usage. Were the users athletes?”
“We’re still working on that,” Seth replies. “As well as looking closely at the doctors and medical clinics involved.”
“And while doubling in numbers sounds big,” Nick adds, “the numbers are still extremely low. This is good news, as I doubt Martina would be involving you if he planned to localize Sub-Zero. He’ll plan a wider release, which we have no reason to believe has happened as of now.”
I think of the video Seth obtained of after-hours packages being moved out of our Boulder division. “What about the transportation division?”
“They may be testing it out,” he replies. “Using it to supply these doctors, or for other substances.”
“That is way too deep into our operation for comfort,” I say. “What if one of those trucks gets stopped?”
“Which is all the more reason to shake things up now, not later,” Nick says. “Adrian wants to rule the world. He’s power hungry, savvy, and smart, which makes him dangerous, but it also means he doesn’t make stupid mistakes. If we can give him cold feet, I’m of the opinion Adrian will be forced to pull out. If he doesn’t, and his father gets word of what’s happening, he’ll yank him out of here himself. And believe you me, Adrian doesn’t want that to happen.”
“Cut to the chase,” I say. “What’s the proposed plan?”
Nick and Seth exchange a look, with Seth delivering my answer. “We stage a raid of both the main BP facility and the Boulder warehouse in unison. We’ll do them late at night when there are limited employees present.”
Nick quickly adds, “We believe that this is the kind of heat that will get Adrian’s attention, especially this early in the Martina-Brandon relationship. Will that be enough to get him to pull out? We can’t promise it will be, but this is only step one of a two-part plan.”
I am not ready to move away from step one. “Who would do these raids?”
“Obviously we need it to appear official,” Nick says, “but we have to tread cautiously. Pretending to be an agent when you aren’t is a federal offense.”
“But I have a solution to that problem,” Nick quickly offers. “And his name is Ted Michaels. He’s an active agent that contracts for me.”
I flick a hard look between them. “Are we really going down this path again? I told you both no Feds.”
“He’ll run the raid off the books, and after hours,” Nick assures me. “He’s a good man, and we can trust him.”
“Define ‘off the books,’” I say, far from ready to say yes. “And if he’s trustworthy, why is he operating off the books at all?”
“Tragedy and necessity,” he replies. “His sister had a DUI accident and ended up paralyzed.”
I narrow my eyes on Nick, looking for where this goes south. “What about insurance?”