Chapter 6 - The Smuggler
Clara didn't go to the local precinct. Vanessa had too much money and too many connections. An "accident" would be swept under the rug. Clara needed leverage so undeniable it would shatter Vanessa in public.
She called the only person she trusted: an old EMT buddy named Jax, who ran in some of the city's shadier circles.
"I need to trace a phone number," Clara told him, sitting in the waiting room of a secure clinic where Leo was being checked over. She read him the number for The Exterminator.
Two hours later, Jax called back. "That number belongs to a guy named Silas. He runs an underground exotic pet trade out of an abandoned warehouse in Oakland. Venomous snakes, illegal arachnids, you name it."
Leaving Leo guarded by Jax, Clara drove to Oakland.
The warehouse was dark and smelled of damp earth and rotting meat. Clara walked in, a heavy Maglite flashlight gripped tightly in her hand. Silas, a scrawny man covered in tattoos, was feeding mice to a python.
"We're closed," he snapped.
Clara didn't hesitate. She stepped forward, illuminating his face with the blinding flashlight, and pressed a heavy taser to his neck.
"A blonde woman in a silk coat bought a Scolopendra gigantea from you three weeks ago," Clara said, her voice like ice. "I have the burner texts linking her to you. If you don't want the FBI raiding this entire facility tomorrow morning, you are going to tell me exactly what she asked for on camera."
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Silas swallowed hard, eyeing the taser. "She... she paid cash. Fifty grand. She wanted something that would cause agonizing pain but wouldn't kill the kid immediately. She said she needed it to look like a medical mystery."
Clara hit record on her phone. "Say it again. Slower."
