Costa Crew: One More Shot

Chapter 7 - Breakthrough

"The usual, Courtney dear?" asked Joanne as Hannah approached the counter gloomily. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Hannah shrugged. "Another rejection. I need to make my big break soon or I'll get kicked from my apartment."

"I'm sure you will, sweetheart," said Joanne, stroking Hannah's shoulder. "You just need to keep trying, that's all."

Hannah smiled at Joanne and nodded. "I suppose you're right. Could I ask you something, Joanne? I know I've only been here for a few weeks, it's just… well, I don't really know anyone here, and you've always been so kind, and Frank says you turned his life around…"

"Of course, dear," said Joanne. "Ask away."

Hannah hesitated. "Well, I was wondering… is there any way I could work for you? If it's not too much trouble… it's just I really need a job and I don't know who else to go to for help."

Tears began to stream down her face. "There there," said Joanne soothingly. "I'll see what I can do, okay? Why don't you stick around until closing time, and I'll see if I've got anything you could help me with."

Hannah wiped her tears away. "Thank you. You have no idea what this means to me."

On the other side of the city, Becky grinned. "I know what it means though," she said to herself. "It means we've got ourselves a breakthrough."

She reported this news to the others, and John beamed. "Excellent," he said. "DCI Houston?"

"According to Coulson, the next step is Joanne calling her superiors," said Paul. "We don't know whether this is the Godfather or one of their henchmen, but it's likely a major player."

"The phones!" John said sharply, but Becky was already back in the surveillance room and her hands were flying over the keyboard. She had already hacked GPS satellites to find any phones present in Joanne's Coffee and Cake Stop and had a link to Joanne's mobile.

"Incoming pager," said Becky as she worked.

John grabbed the pager and read, "Joanne is basically the witch from Hansel and Gretel. She saw me at my most vulnerable and I think I'm about to get recruited."

"Tell your agent to plant a bug in whatever room she takes them to," said Paul, as John began typing his response. "And get her phone number."

Once everybody except Hannah and Joanne had left, Hannah followed Joanne through to the kitchen.

"Take a seat, Courtney," said Joanne. "The answer is of course, I can give you a job that pays well, but I need to know that we can trust you. That you won't question what I tell you."

Hannah nodded eagerly. "I just need money. It's this or selling drugs."

Joanne smiled. "Then I'll call my boss."

Hannah pretended to be puzzled. "I thought you owned this business."

Joanne nodded. "I do. But the business I'm setting you up in is a much larger organisation. We've got all sorts of jobs for all kinds of people. But we need to know we can trust them or we can't have them. How do you feel about travelling?"

Hannah shrugged. "I'll take it."

John had isolated the signal to the phone and was ready to listen, pen and paper in hand. Becky was manning the other bugs, Charlotte was making a blueprint of Joanne's cafe and Paul and Ted were using images from the cameras Hannah had planted to search for Joanne in their databases.

"Hello?" said the voice on the other end.

"It's Joanne," said Joanne. "I've found a possible new recruit. What jobs do we have going?"

"Are you sure?" asked the mysterious voice. "They could be undercover. The boss thinks that Coulson snitched to the cops and now they're after them."

"I trust this new kid more than I trust the boss. Courtney Beckett is desperate, we can use her. I don't even know the boss' name."

"You don't need to know the boss' name," snarled the voice on the other end. "The cops can't get it out of you this way. Something which you should be grateful for. If you snitch and the boss gets wind of it, you'll be the next target."

"I thought the next one was personal?" asked Joanne. "An old grudge is what I hear."

"You don't need to tell me. I'm practically arranging the assassination. Tell me more about this new recruit."

"Impressionable young girl," said Joanne. "Very sweet, not the kind the cops would suspect. I don't think Coulson's job would suit her, but if we set her up on messages and go from there I think we'll make good progress."

"She won't snitch?"

"Don't worry," said Joanne. "I'll let her know what happens to snitches."

"Good. We could always use a messenger, of course. Give her a phone."

"Will do. Give the boss my regards," Joanne said as she hung up.

"Get everyone in here," said John the second the call was over.

Becky did so, and John played back the recorded conversation.

"So the guy Joanne was speaking to is right at the Godfather's side," said Ted.

"If he's not the Godfather," said Paul.

"I was thinking the same thing," said Becky. "What if he invented a fake boss so Joanne had no idea who the Godfather is?"

"Therefore if the police catch Joanne-" Paul began.

"-she knows nothing about the Godfather." finished Becky, hi-fiving Paul.

"Alright, Tweedledum and Tweedledee," said Ted. "So if we catch this guy, we could get positive identification on the Godfather?"

"Possibly," said Becky. "But the call also mentions the next target being a personal grudge of the Godfather's."

Paul nodded. "Exactly. If we can get a name on this target, I can have my DI find out who their enemies are and run thorough checks on all of them."

Becky smiled. "We find the target, we find the Godfather."