Part 48: An Ugly Business

Lucy thought she'd been around the block; that she'd been places and seen some things. After hours of questioning in a small room in the Berlin Schönefeld Airport, she realized that she'd been nowhere, and she knew nothing. Once she realized how dangerous and vile Lex Brady really was, she had to excuse herself from the interview to go vomit. As she splashed water onto her face with shaking fingers, she thought about what a gamble she took, and how things easily could have gone the wrong way. So many had tried to take him down in the past and failed; brought charges that didn't stick or went to the police with cases that were later thrown out. Turns out, he had half the city under his thumb. The whole thing started with a massage therapist. Sick of Lex's dreadful stories during his massages, the guy secretly taped one of his sessions. Turns out Lex loved to talk about the terrible things he did as his own particular way of unwinding during a $450/hour massage. He also tried to extort sexual favours from the guy, and he'd finally had enough. From that report on, the dominoes began to fall and one by one, people began to come forward. They just needed some final pieces of the puzzle to make it all fit. Enter Lucy. When she called Aiden in the middle of the night on the plane, he jumped into action. He put her in touch with his friend in the Bureau who talked her through the plan. Her new FBI agent pal was listening and recording her entire chat with Lex, conveyed crystal clear through her phone, thanks to the ultra-sensitive mike. Authorities had radioed the pilot and ordered him to land, and she was whisked to safety. That was hours ago; she was exhausted from not having eaten or slept in hours and being in a continual state of shock and stress. She couldn't stomach another cup of coffee. The revelations were coming at her so fast, she barely had time to process them. At first the new food network was a legitimate enterprise. Lex wanted to conquer that area of the market, and he needed Quinn to do it. He had always been obsessed with Quinn and taking him down ever since college, but something inside him fully snapped when he saw him with Lucy. His obsession transferred over to her. He decided he wanted to take everything away from Quinn, including her, as if she was some piece of furniture Quinn owned. Lex had convinced himself that Lucy would actually fall in love with him once he kidnapped her and pressured her into sleeping with him. The very thought of it made her skin crawl. She couldn't believe she defended the guy to Quinn, allowed him to come between them. Quinn sensed his bad intentions, but all Lucy saw was the praise coming from an older mentor, the professional stamp of approval she'd always craved. By the time he hatched the plan to practically kidnap her, the net was closing in on him. One by one, New York's most powerful and elite came forward at the risk of exposing their most private and embarrassing moments, and the charges began to pile up. Lex Brady was in serious trouble, so he decided to flee — with Lucy in tow. His scheme was so outlandish, she still couldn't believe it. There was a warrant for his arrest for extortion and racketeering charges back in New York, but there was some kind of problem with extraditing him from Italy, which was why he was heading there. But there was no issue bringing him back from Germany, to the feds' delight. And she had played a large role in bringing him in. "We want to thank you again, Ms. McLean. You've been extraordinarily brave, and you stayed pretty sharp during a tricky situation. If you ever want a career with the Bureau..." Agent Colton was joking, the first hint of humour she'd seen on his face since he began delivering the grim truth hours before. "No thanks. I've got a brewpub to run," she said. "Can I have my phone back now? I should call my partner, tell him I'm alright." "Of course. We have tried, but we've been unable to reach Mr. Allen. You understand that you both will need to return to New York in a few months to testify against Mr. Brady. We will also need to speak with him back in New York before you both leave for Nova Scotia." "Yes, we will do whatever is needed," she said, stifling a yawn. He nodded. "We've booked you on the next flight back to New York; accompanied by an agent for your protection. We're pretty sure Lex won't have the time or chance to retaliate, but you never know." Retaliate? Well, there was a new worry. "Great. I'm looking forward to getting some sleep on the plane. I feel like crap." He smiled. "Delayed reaction. You're in shock, most likely. I suspect you'll have no trouble getting a few hours rest on the plane. I understand you're going home to Canada in a few days; I hope you'll be able to put this ugly business behind you." "Yes, I'm sure I will." There was nothing but good things ahead for she and Quinn, she knew that. But first, she'd need to do a whole lot of apologizing to him. Maybe some grovelling. "And you're sure the sex tape involving Quinn won't see the light of day." "Of course, there's no complete guarantee but we're fairly certain it will never get out." She sighed with relief, feeling awful about the violation of Quinn's trust and privacy. At least he'd never have to know about it. "I still can't believe you can't arrest Natasha." Lucy crossed her arms and sat back in her chair. "She tried to destroy Quinn — twice!" "Unfortunately, what Natasha did is not illegal. You could sue her; take the matter to the civil courts." "But then everyone would know about it. No, we'll just have to let karma get the bitch," she shook her head in anger. "Sorry," she said with an apologetic smile. "No need," he said, nodding to a female agent who came into the interview room, introducing herself as Kovacs. She handed Lucy her things. "You're all set for your flight back to New York; it boards in about an hour. Just enough time for us to get you something to eat," she said. "I'll be accompanying you back." "Thank you," Lucy said, accepting her phone and scrolling through the messages. "I'll meet you outside, whenever you're ready" Kovacs said, before leaving. Colton shook her hand. "Thank you again. We'll be in touch." She smiled at him, and he left her to gather her things. Her window screen was full of messages, none of them from Quinn. She was equally worried by the two missed calls and three texts from Jasmine, Quinn's best friend. She and Jasmine had hit it off, but they weren't in regular contact. Her heart dropped when she read the last text. Hey, Lucy. Sorry to bother you again but I just left NYC and Quinn's not looking so hot. I don't want to ruin your vacay, but you might want to head back, pronto. I've never seen him that sick before. Just get back to NYC fast, OK? Text me when you get this. She called him, but it went to voice mail. Her stomach in knots, she opened the door to join Agent Kovacs. So much for getting any rest on the plane.