Italian Temptation | Teen Ink

Italian Temptation

May 10, 2016
By Danish BRONZE, Montgomery, Illinois
Danish BRONZE, Montgomery, Illinois
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

                     The light shining in the center of the room added intimidation to the stern face of the FBI detective. The bulb swaying to move the shadows is abruptly stopped by the hairy knuckles of one agent Derrick Burke. His voice echoes through the room.

“We got enough to send you away for a handful of years now, you better hope that pretty face looks good in an orange jumpsuit.”  A quick half smile and a scoff from the other side of the table, He twists his wrists in in motion to add comfort to his handcuffed wrists.
“You've been tracking me down for 4 years now agent Burke, and you've been wearing the same suit all 4 years.”
“Ahh yes, the typical sense of humor and wit, you wouldn't be Frode Amado without it” a light shrug in agreement follows as agent Burke finally sits down.
“Why am I here Frode? Why did you want to meet with me so badly? Frode hesitates before speaking, rare for a golden tongued con man like himself and Burke notices the unusual act, then he begins his proposition.
“I know you've been chasing this jewelry thief for almost as long as you were after me, you're having trouble catching him, I can help you.
“How does that work? You wanna be prison pen pals?” Burke replies sarcastically.
“You can get me outta this orange jumpsuit.” Burke smiles as Frode continues, “There is case Law, precedent. I could be released into your custody.”  Burke cuts off Frode and reminds him that he knows how Frode works. “The minute I let you free to help me catch the Dutchman, you’ll make a run for it. You’ll leave the country or something.”
“This is where it gets interesting agent Burke, there are new GPS tracking anklets, the ones that are tamperproof, never been skipped on.”  Burke insists he runs the information by his boss before letting the man the FBI chased for years walk free, within the two mile radius the GPS anklet allows of course.
The next day Derrick makes a trip to the state penitentiary to pick up his new Criminal Consultant. The alarm buzzes as the rusty doors begin to slide. Agent Burke’s sunglasses allow him to keep his trademark stern face. Frode steps out into freedom, squinting and followed by police officers. They escort him to Burke’s car with caution.
“I’m good guys, thanks” Burke commands as he gives a nod that releases them of their duty. “Let me see it.” Derrick insists  Frode pulls his pant leg up to reveal the GPS tracking anklets.
“You understand how this works?”
“I’m being released into the custody of the FBI under your supervision, and let this anklet chafe my leg. Missing anything?” Burke replies to the sly question.
“Yeah, if you run and I catch you, and I will catch you, you aren't going back to prison for a couple years, you're back there for life. Is that understood?” Frode implies his answer by entering Derrick’s car.

Derrick opens the office doors the next morning and notices Frode waiting patiently inside.  The smell of Italian dark roast coffee fills the room.
“You’re here early”
“Yeah I made coffee too, Italian dark roast, your favorite.” Frode says as he pours his new boss a cup.
“How do you know how I take my coffee?”
“You chased me for years hunting me down and studying my life, so I did a little research on my pursuer. Don't forget ,Derrick, your anniversary is next week. Try and get Elizebeth something nice this year.” Derrick grabs the coffee, shaking his head and taking a sip, then hands Frode their first case. Frode examines the case file.
“So this man stole an engagement ring, do we have a name for our jewelry thief?”
“Yes we do, he goes by the name of Jason Keller, no priors except for a couple of parking tickets, he was a cashier at the jewelry store he robbed, no clear sign of motive yet, other than the money.”
“Isn’t that motive enough?” Frode smiles at the unamused Derrick as they begin to brainstorm
“Frode when you were running from me, what was the main form of transportation?”
“Well I avoided airports because that's criminal suicide, airport security is tight, I know to avoid trains because you can't get off of them. The best shot we have is that he took a taxi to run. That is how he is getting around.”
Derrick signals to his assistant and asks for Taxi records the day of the theft. They notice Matt Glover, one of Keller’s aliases, ordered a taxi and paid with cash. The two pay the taxi driver a visit and ask if he can remember Keller’s face to talk to a sketch artist. The Taxi driver is able to sit down with a sketch artist and get a face for Keller. Frode suggests that they use traffic cameras and ATM cameras to see what direction Keller is going. They compile different videos to track Keller back to his hiding place, a warehouse in the North side of San Diego.
Later that night Derrick gets a call from his assistant informing him that Frode’s tracking anklet lost connection. Derrick bolted out of his house and made his way to Frode’s motel. He breaks down the door and sees Frode sitting watching T.V
“You could have knocked Derrick, here have a beer.” Derrick figures out that the GPS tracking anklet glitched and lost connection. Frode did not cut it. “Wow, you don't trust me, do you Derrick?” Frode says with a smile. Derrick goes back home and the two go back to the warehouse parking lot the next morning.

“We have no evidence that Keller is hiding in that warehouse, we can’t just knock and flash our badges. We’re going to need a warrant but that could take days, I can't take the risk of Keller leaving.”
“You can't go in there Derrick, you’re an FBI agent. This guy is a professional, he’ll sniff out a Federal agent from a mile away, but I can go in there. The law states that if I have my tracking anklet on, you don't need a warrant to search the area I am in. All I have to do is get in, then you follow.”
“That’s brilliant but how are you gonna get in there?” Frode scoffs and tells Derrick to hide, he walks up to the garage  and bangs on the door, three men open it up with confused looks and grab Frode. They throw Frode in a little cage in the warehouse. Immediately Derrick calls for backup and they infiltrate the warehouse and catch Keller. They confiscate the ring and cuff Keller. Derrick and Frode drive back to the motel Frode is saying at. Derrick notices a smirk on Frode’s face.
“I see the smile on your face Frode, don't do anything you’ll regret.
“What are you talking about, what could I possibly do” Frode asks sarcastically.
“You know the location of a multi million dollar ring, you have the skill to take it from the evidence locker at the office, don't do it.” Crickets chirp as the open window covers the floor with paper. Distinct facial features are all that show as the two obstinate figures face each other, patiently waiting to see who blinks first.
“I gave you a chance at a better life Frode, don't throw it away over some stupid temptation.” Frode flashes his winning smile and scoffs.
“I'm not gonna steal the ring Derrick.” A sigh of disappointment compels Derrick as he sees right through Frode.
“You can spend the rest of your life in an orange jumpsuits, rotting away in prison, or you could stay here and do something with your life.” Derrick whips the door open to storm out but stops midway, as if he hit an invisible wall, glances up and looks into Frode after another long pause,
“Do the right thing Frode.”

Derrick is awoken in the dead of night from another phone call from his assistant, with the same issue, Frode’s anklet went dead again. Burke takes his time getting dressed and makes his way over to Adamo’s Motel, knocking this time.
“Frode, you there? Your tracking anklet went out again.” No response, this time Derrick bangs on the door and with no hesitation, he kicks it down to discover an empty apartment. Derrick makes a call to his co-worker to check for the engagement ring in the evidence locker, he says it was replaced, with a note that said “I put some of your favorite coffee on the stove Derrick” followed by a smiley face.
Burke calls in another investigation to find Frode, Derrick remembers their conversation about transportation and knew he needed to call in the taxi company. Shortly after, Derrick gets a call from his assistant saying that someone spotted Frode entering a cab heading north on Sixth Avenue. Derrick tracks down his leads and finds the cab that Frode is in. Frode gets cut off by police cruisers and is cuffed away.
“When I warned you about catching you if you ran, I wasn’t bluffing” Derrick says to Frode as he is put in the back of the car,
“You had a good thing going Adamo, why throw it all away?”
“You can't make a criminal change his ways.”


The author's comments:

The main theme of the story is that you cannot force someone to change who they are. They can temporarily change as an act, but will always go back to their true ways.


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