Endangered Species: PART 1 Read Online Free PDF Page B

grabbed the
bartender’s tie close by the knot and yanked his head down so the
man’s eyes were level with his. “You seem to have an attitude
problem. But if you want me to, I’ll show you a whole new meaning
of bad attitude.”
    The bartender had both of his hands on
Christie’s fist, trying to pull it away from his throat. He looked
in his assailant’s eyes. What he saw there frightened him. “I got
milk,” he stammered.
    Christie released the man’s tie. “Scotch and
milk then.”
    As the bartender scurried away, Burkhardt
leaned back in the booth and laughed. “That’s a side of you I
wasn’t aware of, Mitch. Is that standard Bureau behavior or are you
just having a bad day?”
    Christie wagged his head, trying to shake
off the sudden burst of anger. It wasn’t helping his stomach
issues. He looked down at the tabletop and said, “I’m sorry. I
shouldn’t have lost it like that.”
    “ Don’t sweat it. He had it
coming.”
    “ Truth is, things haven’t
been going all that well lately.”
    Burkhardt leaned forward and put his hands
on the table, fingertips to fingertips, forming a vee. “Yeah, I
don’t mean to intrude, but I’ve heard things to that effect.”
    Christie looked up. “Like what?”
    “ The divorce, the shakeup
at Bureau HQ…and the less than warm welcome you’ve gotten from
Wojakowski.”
    Christie looked down again. Unconsciously,
he turned his hands palms up. “Can a man have no privacy anymore.”
It was more of a statement than a question.
    “ The cop community is
pretty tight knit across all agencies. No one has any secrets for
very long.”
    “ A hell of a note,”
Christie said glumly.
    “ But hey, I’ve got
something that ought to cheer you up.”
    Christie looked up and hesitated for a
moment then, with a suspicious note in his voice, said, “Yeah?”
    Leaning back in the booth again, Burkhardt
smiled. “There’s a lady in the BSD that has an interest in you, a
secret admirer.”
    Christie looked puzzled. “So, what are you
saying?”
    “ Do I need to draw you a
picture?” Burkhardt said with a smile. “She’s pretty hot, recently
divorced and looking to get back in the game. She wants to meet
you. Whaddya say?”
    “ Who is she?”
    “ Name’s Camila
Ramirez.”
    “ Ramirez? She’s Hispanic?”
Christie realized how that sounded and said, “Not that I have a
problem with that.”
    “ You’re out of touch, dude.
The term is ‘Latina’,” Burkhardt said. “She’s got a pretty face and
a hellova body.” He paused briefly then said, “Pardon the pun ol’
buddy, but opportunity’s banging on your door.”
    The bartender arrived and set their drinks
in front of the two men. He didn’t look at either one of them and
left quickly.
    “ I don’t know,” Christie
said. “I’ll think about it.”
    Burkhardt smiled. “Don’t wait too long. The
department’s full of skirt chasers and they’re starting to
circle.”
    * * *
    The FBI field office in
Albuquerque was located at 4200 Luecking
Park Avenue NE. It was a large two and three story building with a
brick façade, sandwiched between I-25 and the North Diversion
Channel in Luecking Park Complex. The area was a mix of office,
industrial, and residential uses. There were modest residential
communities to the east and mixed-use commercial and industrial
areas to the south of the complex. The FBI and other governmental
agencies learned a costly lesson in Oklahoma City on April 19,
1995. The Bureau’s field offices now were fenced, gated, well
illuminated at night and guarded 24 hours a day. The Albuquerque
office was no exception. A deep trench recently had been dug around
the building to prevent a modern day Timothy McVeigh from crashing
an explosives laden vehicle through the fence.
    The moat amused Christie. The concept had
been sold to the local planning commission as a water management
structure. He chuckled at the thought. New Mexico was bone dry, as
his bleeding nasal passages and itchy