Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 109640 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109640 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
She valued her sleep, and she didn’t see a cot anywhere in that equation. Tonight, she’d get serious about looking for an apartment or condo to rent nearby.
“Next time we have a meeting, you’ll get to meet the rest of the team. For now, this is Mullins. He’s a narcotics detective with the Pittsburgh PD.”
The man rose from where he was working at the conference table and gave her extended hand a firm shake. He tried not to be obvious about sizing her up. He failed. “Don Mullins.”
“Camila Cabrera. Narcotics detective, huh? This task force is right up your alley, then.”
“Sure is. Welcome aboard.”
That sounded like a genuine welcome. “Thanks. I’m looking forward to digging my teeth in.”
While Mullins’ smile had been warm, she didn’t miss the exchange of looks between him and Crew.
Crew grabbed her upper arm and pulled her over to two men sitting in front of computers.
“This is Bradley Lennox, but he goes by Nox. He’s going through some of the recorded footage from the two locations where we have cameras planted. We’ll go over that another time.”
Nox didn’t get up, smile or shake her hand, he gave her a slight chin lift before turning back to the computer.
Friendly.
“Did you say Camila Cabrera?” asked the man two desks away. He got up from his seat and approached. Before Crew could introduce him, he did it himself. “Luis Torres.”
He jutted out his hand first and Cami took it. His grip was warm and firm, and his eyes were inviting.
“My father’s name is Luis, as well,” she told him.
“¿Hablas español?”
Well, that was music to her ears.
“Con fluidez.” She spoke Spanish since she was born, so she definitely was fluent.
Torres grinned. “Eso es genial. Conocerás a Antonio Alvarez. Crew aquí no habla nada de español, así que nos metemos con él. Mucho.”
She tried not to laugh at the part where he stated that he and Alvarez messed with the task force leader by speaking Spanish.
“Estaré feliz de ayudarte con eso.” She looked forward to speaking Spanish with Alvarez and Torres. Especially if it annoyed Crew.
Torres’ face lit up as he laughed. “Perfect.”
“Do I need to enact a no Spanish policy here?” A frown marred Crew’s annoyingly handsome face.
Torres ignored him. “Where’s your family from?”
Cami took his cue and did the same. “My grandparents were from Columbia. Both sides.”
“Alvarez’s parents came from Venezuela. Mi padre era de México; mi madre de Texas. I consider myself Tex-Mex.”
Cami laughed. “Love it. It’ll be nice to have someone to speak Spanish with so I don’t get rusty.”
“Let’s keep it to a minimum,” Crew warned.
Torres grinned and tipped his head toward the task force leader. “Man’s paranoid. He thinks whenever we’re speaking Spanish, we’re talking about him.”
“Entonces nos aseguraremos de hablarlo mucho.” She assured Torres that they’d make sure to speak it a lot to mess with Crew.
“Torres here is the plant manager. He’s in charge of the wiretapping and transcriptions. And that redhead over there, fat-fingering the keyboard is Pippi Longstocking.”
“Oh hey! I’ve heard of you before,” Cami called out as they headed over to where the man with the red hair sat at a desk on the other side of the room. “You sure look different than I remember.”
When the man stood and turned, Cami lost her train of thought. She had never been into redheads but then, she had never come across one as smoking hot as this one. She hoped she controlled her surprise well enough. “Do you go by Pippi?”
“Pippi works,” Crew answered for him. “Or Heat Miser. Prince Harry. Conan O’Brien. Carrot Top. Ginger Snap. Little Orphan Annie. He answers to any and all of them. Or feel free to make up your own.”
Cami’s eyebrows rose as she waited for the man himself to answer.
“Stupid-ass nicknames are a requirement around here, but Finn works. The name’s Daniel Finnegan.”
They shook hands. “I’m assuming you don’t speak Spanish, but maybe a bit of Irish Gaelic?”
Finn shook his head. “Not even close. But I can sing like a motherfucker.”
“Lies!” burst from Mullins. “Cabrera, my first words of advice to you are to keep a pair of earplugs in your pocket in case he starts belting out a tune. That’s if you want to save your hearing.”
“I kind of like my hearing. It comes in handy, especially to hear Spanish,” she joked, risking a glance at Crew.
“Hey, I smash it at karaoke!” Finn exclaimed.
“You mean they smash the karaoke machine as soon as they see you heading up to the stage,” Crew added.
“Welcome to the team, Cabrera,” Finn said before taking his seat.
Funny, he didn’t seem bothered by her joining the task force, either. The only one so far was the leader himself. Though, she couldn’t get a good read on the broody one with the steel-set jaws.
“All right,” Crew started. “We’ve got two members undercover with the Dirty Angels. They’ve been undercover with that MC since the start. They attend team meetings via phone but you most likely won’t see them unless they’re pulled.”