Risky Reunion

MEMO: Top Secret/Top Priority

TO: FBI Organized Crime Task Force; U.S. Marshal's Office

FROM: Jackson McGraw, Special Agent in Charge, Chicago Field Office

RE: Operation Black Veil

Federal Bureau of Investigation Date: June 2, 2010

Chicago Mafia kingpin Salvatore Martino is dead. Per informant--Vincent Martino, now the head of the Martino crime family, will make good on a final tribute to his father by executing Eloise Hill, the woman who testified against Salvatore twenty-two years ago.

Recent sightings place Vincent Martino in Montana--READ--he intends to oversee this hit himself. Through joint investigation with the U.S. Marshal's office, we've learned that even though Eloise Hill left the Witness Protection Program, she is still living in Montana under an assumed name. Current location and name--on a "need to know" basis. Agents currently in place. Witness under twenty-four-hour surveillance. Subject will be immediately informed of these developments and will remain under protection until suspect is apprehended.

Please contact SAC Jackson McGraw on any new leads or changes regarding the above information or any new developments in the Martino case.

Special Agent Jackson McGraw did a visual sweep of the trees on the other side of the little stream then watched as a butterfly fluttered around a cluster of vivid pink bitterroot blooming just outside the window of the vacant apartment he'd been holed up in since 3:00 a.m.

The brown, yellow-tipped butterfly was beautiful, a quiet and graceful contrast to the tension coiled like a snake inside Jackson's gut. Something wasn't right.

Something hadn't been right for the past six months, but now he instinctively knew that something was about to go all wrong, completely wrong, if he didn't move quickly. This entire investigation had boiled down to one thing--he had to keep Eloise Hill alive.

But in order to do that, he had to find the leak that seemed to stem from the U.S. Marshal's office, a leak that had jeopardized the entire Witness Protection Program and caused a number of people to be killed. And he had to find Vincent Martino and stop him, one way or another.

Jackson thought back on his last conversation with his informant--the Veiled Lady--back in Chicago two weeks ago. They'd met on a sunny day near a heavily wooded park by the lake. But even though the day had verged on being warm, the woman had worn the same outfit she always wore--a wide-brimmed black hat with a heavy veil covering her face and a black wool coat, gloves and dark shades. And there under the cover of trees surrounding the secluded park, she'd told Jackson the very thing he didn't want to hear.

The woman spoke in a whispery, low voice, her words slow and carefully formal. "Salvatore is dead. He died late last night in his home with several of his top capos there by his side. Vincent was there, too, but as soon as his father is buried, he will be leaving for Montana. He is going to find this woman--Eloise Hill--and finish the job himself. This will be his final tribute to his father. As if Salvatore Martino would care one way or another. The man had no heart." She'd paused, taking a deep breath that almost sounded like a sob. "And neither does his son."

Those chilling words spoken two weeks ago contrasted sharply with the beautiful June morning, Jackson...