Catching the Storm

25. Surveillance

She frowned at me in confusion, not following along.

I sighed again. "The moment Branson hears that the FBI are investigating my father, the moment he learns that they're arresting him, he'll disappear. And a guy like Branson, he'll be impossible for the FBI to find. Who knows how many people he'll hurt before he's finally caught." I looked down at the cup of coffee in front of me. "If he's ever caught."

"That's not your problem."

"Isn't it?" I asked her as I locked eyes with her. "The moment he finds out I'm the one who turned over all the information, he's going to be hunting me down." I looked away. "My father, I think I could handle. Him," I shook my head. "no way."

She shrugged. "I get what you're saying, but this doesn't exactly seem like the best way to go about this."

"Maybe not," I replied. "But honestly, I think if anyone could take down Branson, it would Jackson Storm." I looked back at her. "Do not tell him I said that."

She smiled. "I won't. And I hear you." She crossed her arms over her chest and stared out the window. "I think you're right. But I also think there's more going on here that Mr. Know-it-all conman doesn't want us to know about."

I nodded in agreement. "I get that feeling too."

"Yeah." She made a face and then turned back to me. "Look Crystal, I get why you're deciding to stick with Storm right now, but I'm just worried that when this all goes to shit-which I'm sure it will-that he's going to get you caught in the crossfire and I don't want him taking you down with him."

I smiled at her. "You're a really good friend," I told her. "You know that?"

"Damn right I am," She replied with a smile. "And in case you change your mind about sticking with Storm, I have a getaway plan."

I raised my eyebrows at her. "You have a getaway plan?"

"Yep."

"Care to share?"

She winked at me. "Take me up on my offer and I'll share."

"Alright," Damien said as he came walking over to our table after he'd walked outside to make a few calls. He slid into the seat next to Julie. "The pictures we got of her, are useless. I had a coworker run them through the FBI facial recognition program, no hits. She either doesn't have a record because she's clean, or she's been very good at keeping her extracurricular activities on the down-low."

I shrugged. "Or she's got some very powerful friends."

Damien nodded. "That too. Whatever the case, we've got nothing. No name, no age, no history, nothing. I've been trying to get a hold of my partner, see if he can get any information for me but so far he's been ducking my calls."

Julie blew out a breath of frustration. "Well, that sucks."

Damien nodded. "For now, at least with her, we're in the dark. We don't know for sure if she is dangerous and if she is, we don't know what kind."

Julie frowned. "What kind?" She questioned.

"There are different kinds of dangerous," I told her. "If she's in a place of power, she'll just send people to do her work but won't get her hands dirty. If she's knowledgeable then she'll just use that knowledge against us." I shrugged and leaned back in my seat. "It just depends."

Julie was back to looking out the window. "Well, I don't know how dangerous little miss sunshine is, considering she looks upset that she just broke a nail."

I looked out the window to see that she was indeed staring down at her nails on one hand with a frown on her face.

"Yeah," Julie said. "on a scale of danger I'm going with rat."