The next two hours before Corning went on the air was full of phone calls and

experts. The station accountants went over the ledger and pronounced it likely to be

real evidence of a problem.

Corning wrote out the script for his story. There were legal things he had to stay away

from since the station could get sued for blatantly saying that a businessman in the

northern part of the state was a gangster and bribing key officials in his grasp as well

as killing reporters investigating him.

Wes hated giving his story to another reporter to report, but he felt he had no choice.

He needed to get out from under Delveccio looking for him. That meant giving

someone else a reason to look into the mobster’s businesses.

Corning went on the air. The segment on Delveccio was in the middle of the

broadcast. He laid out he had one of the ledgers in his possession, and who was paid

from it. He also said that he would be looking into any crimes above and beyond the

embezzlement and corruption outlined in the book.

The station started receiving calls as soon as Corning went off the air. He and Wes

had moved back to his office. If anyone official came for the ledger with a warrant,

they would have to give it up. Otherwise, it could sit in the station safe.

A few of the calls were from other news agencies, wanting to interview Corning on

the details about the ledger, the provenance, and how they could confirm what he

said.

The Bureau called at one point. They didn’t like Corning besmirching their reputation

for ratings. He offered to give them the ledger to use to check out things, but he had

already sent copies to other people to help him dig in to the corruption. He expected

that confirmation would be quick as the news hit the wire and went nationwide.

The Bureau was less than happy about that.

Several state agencies called next, wanting to know about effects in their specialities

like tax evasion, and money laundering. Specific entries were read back to them with

specific names attached. It would be up to them to serve warrants before everybody

moved their money out of state.

“This has stirred up more than I thought it would,” said Wes. He sat in a visitor’s

chair and shook his head. “All I wanted was a little story. This has blown up into

something reaching across the state.”

“Probably across the region,” said Corning. “Some of the people named in your book

live out of state. The Feebs will have to track them across state lines. It probably

won’t stop Delveccio wanting to kill you, and me, for the broadcast. Hopefully, he

will be too busy defending himself to get around to that until he is in court.”

“Don’t think that,” said Wes. “He will hire someone to get rid of me before I give you

the rest of the ledgers. He will know it was me. He probably has someone looking for

me right now. I’m going to have to go underground.”

“The Bureau are going to call back to talk about the rest of the ledgers,” said Corning.

“I’ll drop them off with someone I can trust,” said Wes. “Putting some of these people

on the air might make them run. Maybe I can figure out something to get me out of

the hole I’m in.”

“Wes, this is going to be a big story,” said Corning. “There will be a mad scramble

over this.”

“I need to go somewhere and sit the rest out,” said Wes. “Delveccio is not going to

stop looking for me after what I did to him. The best I can expect is a shallow grave

down in Death Valley. You should think about getting protection too. You’re the one

that broadcasted his money moving stuff all over southern California. He isn’t going

to forget that.”

“The station is going to want to send someone up to cover things if they break open,”

said Corning.

“Tell them to stay away from my place,” said Wes. “They already tried to kill me

there once. They might think any reporter on the scene is connected to me somehow.

That will lead to trouble.”

“They’ll be in danger?,” asked Corning.

“I don’t know,” said Wes. “But taking them hostage for the ledgers is something I

would expect Delveccio to do if he was desperate enough.”

“He definitely will want any proof we currently have,” said Corning. “So will

everyone else.”

“Sticking your neck out like this will get you a pulitzer,” said Wes. “That will get you

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

a lot of free drinks across the country.”

“It could get me killed depending on how things go,” said Corning. He smiled to take

some of the sting off his words. “I’ll let the local color guy know to keep an eye on

things and watch from as much of a distance that he can.”

“He might need to wait for the Feds to start cleaning house if they do get around to

it,” said Wes. “That way they can do interviews with the slant the Bureau was on to

the crooked members of their agency and was waiting for the chance to weed them

and their underworld contacts out.”

“I like that approach,” said Corning. “How do you plan to get through things?”

“I thought about heading into Mexico for a bit, maybe circle around and watch things

and see who gets arrested and who walks,” said Wes. “My life is shot no matter how

I slice it. I made a mistake grabbing those books. I made a mistake thinking I would

be more effective than I am.”

“It wasn’t a mistake, it was something that could only be done by someone with

nothing to lose,” said Corning. “It would have taken years for an outside agency to

get involved and take those books. And it still might take years for this to wind down.

Take a few days and see if there are places that can hire you. You know we can’t over

the conflict of interest things, or I would despite the trouble you might be in for your

vigilantism.”

“I know,” said Wes. “You can’t be seen hiring the guy who is wanted and stole the

documents you used to flush a criminal enterprise down the drain.”

“Especially with the Bureau wanting to fix their image after their traitors made the

rest of them look bad,” said Corning.

“So I’ll be the first to help them do that if they catch up with me,” said Wes.

“You are going to have to go underground, Wes,” said Corning. “There’s no lie about

that. Law enforcement across the state and anybody hooked to Delveccio are going

to be looking for you all the harder now.”

“I hadn’t really thought it would come to this when I stole the ledgers,” said Wes. He

smiled. “I thought I would just be able to walk away like the Lone Ranger.”

“Instead, you are going to have to run away like Richard Kimball,” said Corning.

“I guess I’ll give you the other ledgers before I leave town,” said Wes.

“Keep them,” said Corning. “You are going to need some kind of insurance in case

someone catches up with you. They are going to want those books, no matter what

side of the law they are on. They’re not going to give up on you if you hand them

over to be read on the air, but when the time comes, you can use them as hostages.”

“I doubt that will do me any good, but it’s something to consider,” said Wes. “I better

head out and figure out what to do with the rest of my life.”

“Be careful,” said Corning. “Stirring up the waters will help you for a while, but

eventually things will settle enough for someone to look for you.”

“I hope that I will have a new name and job as a cover so I can hide for the rest of my

life before anyone even thinks about trying to get even with me,” said Wes. “If I

uncover something else, I will turn it over to you first. Your coverage has blown a

hole in this big enough to drive through.”

“The ledger was the key,” said Corning. “Your word against Delveccio’s would have

meant nothing if you hadn’t been able to shame the Bureau into moving. I expect they

will want to talk to you, so you might want to clear out before they try to keep you

locked down for the rest of your life, and sweat the rest of the ledgers out of you.”

“You’re right,” said Wes. “Thanks for your help, Steve. Keep an eye out. You might

be in as much danger as I am with this.”

“I’m just a lowly newscaster,” said Corning. “Getting back at me would gain nothing

with the authorities sniffing around.”

Wes stepped out of the office. He walked to the stairs. He wasn’t getting on an

elevator again unless he had to. And it would be easier to fly off the roof to wherever

he wanted to go from here.

He could expect a bunch of flying bullets if he went home. Where did he go from

here? He would have to start over and build a new identity for himself.

Did he want to do that? That meant giving up his dream of reporting the news.

It meant giving up his life such as it was.

On the other hand, his life was ruined. As soon as the Feds got through with

investigating the one ledger’s worth of information he had thrown out there, they

would be trying to find him to get the others.

And Delveccio would not forget how he had ruined his power base, even if he

went to prison. Someone would always be looking for the reporter to shut him up.

He opened the stair doors to head up to the exit on the roof to fly away. He could rig

up another few nights in a hotel before deciding where he wanted to go.

Men waited in the stairwell. He froze, and so did they. But one snapped out of his

surprise to pull a gun on Wes. He pulled the reporter into the stairwell by his jacket.

“If you say anything, we’ll have to leave a bunch of dead witnesses behind,” said the

gun man. “Understood?”

“Yes,” said Wes. He held up his hands. “What now?”

“Put your hands down,” said the gun man. “We want to make this as quiet as possible.

We’re going to walk downstairs and get into a car. We’re headed back up north. You

can talk to the boss, and he’ll make his demands known.”

“I guess I will be put in the water after this is over,” said Wes. He put his hands

down.

“Not my call,” said the gun man. “Mike, go down and get the car and bring it up to

the front door. Walt, go with him and watch the front for anyone who might get in the

way. Head down, reporter. We’ll put you in the back, so you can ride back home in

style.”

“So you don’t want the rest of the ledgers?,” asked Wes. He started down the steps.

“That will be up to the boss to decide,” said the gun man. He kept a respectable

distance between himself and Wes as the designated members of his mob hurried

to carry out their part in things. “He’s up to his neck in alligators because of you.

I think the books are the last thing on his mind. If he wants them, I guess he will send

us to get them from wherever you hid them.”

“That seems fair,” said Wes.

They headed down to the front door.