Betrayal - A Bucky Barnes Fanfic

Chapter 29

After only working for half a day, Ava left the editorial building and breathed in the stuffy midday air. She was not used to enjoying the sun at midday. Still, she had no time for the park despite her coming out of work early. Without further ado, she made her way to the subway and sent Nat a quick text to let her know that she didn't need to pick her up after all, but should come straight to her flat. She stowed her phone away again and read the newspaper she had bought outside the subway station.

A short time later she was already standing in front of her fridge, treating herself to a cold beer. After taking a big gulp, she finally took her phone out of her pocket and made herself comfortable in front of her laptop at the dining table. As she looked at her phone screen, she almost choked on her beer. A coughing fit later and Ava was finally able to get her thoughts straight. Natasha had tried to call her several times. Immediately Ava called her back and after the first ring Natasha was already answering.

"Ava?!" she hissed into the receiver. Ava felt like a little child who had done something wrong and was now dreading being scolded by her mother. Only what had she done wrong? She was not aware of any guilt.

"Yes? Is everything all right?" asked Ava, confused.

"So you're okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"You didn't answer your phone, I couldn't get hold of you and all your text said was 'come to my flat'! I was seriously worried ... God Ava, don't ever do that again!", Natasha was starting to sound more conciliatory and less stern.

"I'm sorry Nat, I didn't think you'd be so worried. I'm fine, honestly. I was just taking the subway home, after all." Ava started to suspect that Natasha's work was getting to her more and more. Ava hadn't known her best friend to be so paranoid and fearful. That made it all the more important for her not to argue with Natasha right now. She wanted them both to have a relaxed evening.

„Around what time will you be here?" asked Ava, after Natasha had only let out a sigh.

"Around seven. And don't open the door for anyone but me, promise?"

"Promise!" grinned Ava, wondering if Natasha's new job in the taskforce listed paranoia in the job description.

Ava now had a solid three hours before Natasha showed up at her place – more than enough time to scour the internet for clues to her research. She flipped open her laptop and typed "arms exports new york" into the search bar.

After an hour, she had fallen down a rabbit hole, knee-deep in articles and published court filings about arms exports in New York. But there had been no reports of the observations she has made so far. Until she got stuck on the headline "Arms Export King Sentenced to Ten Years in Prison". Tensely, she opened the article that had appeared a few months ago.

"New York. Two years after his arrest, 'arms export king' John G. was sentenced in court today to ten years in prison. In 2019, after a lengthy investigation, police were able to take him into custody and charge him with several crimes, including weapons possession and aggravated assault. For a long time he had had a firm grip on New York and had handled millions of dollars worth of arms deals with the Middle East through his organisation. Due to his prison sentence, not only his reputation as an arms export king has now come to an end, but also arms exports will no longer happen in New York, Commissioner Pallet assured in an interview:

"I am pleased that after many years of investigation and two years of trial, a dark chapter in New York's history can finally be closed. The streets of New York are now safe again and on behalf of the New York Police Department, I can assure you that the illegal export of weapons will not recover from this crude setback."