“Absolutely,” Agent Battle said.
“As a paid source, I wouldn’t have to worry about any criminal indictments coming my way?”
Agent Battle nodded. “That’s correct, but, and I stress the word but, let me be clear. You wouldn’t have to worry about any criminal indictments coming your way from any of your involvement in any past criminal activities. But if we agree on things and you become a source, that doesn’t give you a license to commit crimes. It’s like you help us, and we can wipe your past slate clean, but your future slate is contingent on you doing what’s right and abiding by the law.”
Agent Battle had to give that spiel, though she and Agent Gosling both knew that the feds and most law enforcement agencies often turned a blind eye to the continued criminal activities of their informants. But there was no way she could just outright say that to Jasmine.
Jasmine slowly nodded, deep in thought as she weighed her options. “Okay, so what kind of money are we talking about?”
“Well, it depends. It’s not as if you show up every week and you get a paycheck. It’s usually not structured that way. It’s more on a per-assignment basis. For example, let’s say the information that you source to us leads to us confiscating two kilos of cocaine. Something like that might get you a five-thousand-dollar payment. Or let’s say your information leads to us confiscating a million dollars in cash. That might get you a thirty-thousand-dollar payment. Or if we are targeting a specific individual, the payment would depend on the individual. If you got us a high-level drug distributor, that could generate you twenty thousand dollars. And obviously a lower-level drug distributor would get you less.”
Jasmine was starting to like the sound of the numbers she was hearing. She could easily see herself making a hundred grand a year for basically maintaining her current lifestyle.
Agent Battle went on to explain, “And, just so we’re clear, the payments wouldn’t always be so extravagant. We might give you a hundred dollars to make a hundred-dollar marijuana purchase, and for something like that, you would be paid dollar for dollar and would earn a hundred dollars for that purchase.”
Jasmine didn’t show it, but she was ready to leap out of her bed and do back flips. Jasmine never knew that being a snitch could be so lucrative. She was thinking how she could make a hundred-dollar weed purchase all day every day.
“Question,” Jasmine said.
“You got questions, we got answers,” Agent Gosling replied with a smile. He and Agent Battle both knew that they had Jasmine where they wanted her.
“This is just hypothetical, so don’t read more into it than necessary.”
Both agents nodded.
“So let’s say I was going to go work for BMW and they were going to pay me fifty thousand a year, but then I found out, for the same job, I could make seventy thousand a year working for Mercedes Benz, wouldn’t I be kind of stupid to not go and work for the company that’s paying me more money?”
Agent Battle was about to speak, but Jasmine cut her off.
“Okay, okay, what I’m saying is, can other agencies beat the FBI’s pay rate for sources. Like, if I could make more with the NYPD or with the DEA, then why wouldn’t I just fuck with them? I mean, no offense or anything, I’m just asking.”
“Actually, that’s a very good question,” Agent Battle responded. “All I can say is, there are no written rules about it. But all the agencies have unwritten rules where we all respect each other’s sources, and we don’t make it where sources are only going to the highest bidder.”
“But would I be wrong or get in trouble if I became a source for other law enforcement agencies? I just want to know up front.”
“No, you wouldn’t be doing anything wrong per se,” Agent Gosling explained. “And there have been times where sources were being handled by different agencies at the same time.”
“Just wanted to be clear,” Jasmine said with a slight smile that was almost undetectable, since she was trying so hard to suppress it. “Oh, one last thing. I mean, I’m not saying that I will definitely commit and do this whole snitch thing—”
Agent Battle interrupted her. “Jasmine, you would be a source, not a snitch. I don’t know any other way to convince you of that.”
“Source, snitch, confidential informant, yada yada yada—we’re talking about the same thing. Okay, but let’s say that I did commit to it. Is there any way I could get an apartment or a house out of this? I’m not talking about something that I would own or anything like that. I’m just saying something furnished where I could move into and not have to worry about paying rent or anything. Like, could y’all cover the rent for me?” Jasmine figured she might as well milk it for all it was worth.
Agent Battle and Agent Gosling both knew that the answer to Jasmine’s question was yes, but they didn’t want to give her the impression that they were desperate. See, the FBI had a lot of leeway with their confidential informants. They knew that the money that they paid them wasn’t coming from taxpayer dollars, so they could be flexible. All of the money paid to confidential informants was funded from money that had been confiscated from past drug busts and asset seizures. So Agent Gosling knew she would be able to find a house or an apartment that a government agency owned and let Jasmine use it if she wanted to.
The IRS, for example, had condos in Manhattan that they had seized from someone who had been arrested for tax evasion. It wouldn’t be anything other than the FBI filling out paperwork and sending it to the IRS for their approval, and once approved, Jasmine would be able to access the apartment. And, again, that would be at no cost to the taxpaying citizens of the country.
“Well, that’s something we could discuss.” Agent Battle began to gather her things, preparing to leave.
Jasmine wondered if she had pushed too far.
“I’ll leave you with another card and give you some more time to consider everything we spoke about. I don’t have more than thirty-six hours for you to think about this, and I would hate to have my agents come visit you with an arrest warrant because, if they do, it would be too late, and the offer we just spoke about would forever be off the table.”
Jasmine nodded.
Agent Gosling reached out his hand, and Jasmine shook it with her good hand, and then she reached for the remote control and turned the TV back on to ESPN.
Just as the two agents reached the door to exit Jasmine’s room, she said, “You’ll hear from me before I hear from you.”