Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149137 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 746(@200wpm)___ 597(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Ezra stopped and let his head fall back for a moment. Frustration was evident in every muscle of his body. “This is all wrong. I feel it. I want to pull you out now.”
There was no way she let that happen. “You can’t because I’ll quit. I’ll quit and I’ll stay with Josh. You might as well allow me to do the job you hired me for because I’m not leaving him.”
He pulled his sunglasses off his face, his blue eyes fierce with intensity. “You damn straight will if I tell Dec and Shane to fucking carry you out of here.”
She stared at the agent, well aware that he was simply worried about her. Still, there was the alpha female part of her that wasn’t about to take that shit from anyone. “No. I won’t. I’ll just make Dec and Shane wish they hadn’t been born male.”
“I can call Big Tag and Knight and explain to them that you’re in over your head and you’re going to get hurt,” he continued. “They’ll see things my way.”
“And I’ll quit and stay here with Josh and have no one to watch my back.” She had him in check and she knew it. He knew it.
He was quiet for a moment and she could practically see every wheel in that big brain of his working.
She needed to calm him down and see reason. “Tell me what you’re really worried about. It’s not me dealing with Morales. You know I can handle him.”
“Don’t underestimate Morales. He’s a killer.”
“And I’ve dealt with men like him,” she assured the agent. “Many men like him over my years of service. It’s the joy of being a five-foot-three-inch chick. They underestimate me. Always. They see a piece of arm candy and don’t bother to look past the surface.”
“I don’t know. I’m worried that we’re not seeing past the surface. I’m worried we’re seeing exactly what they want us to see and that’s going to get you killed,” he replied.
“All right. You obviously have a theory. Let’s hear it.”
“What else happened five years ago, Kayla? It’s all in the history. That’s what I think. Before five years ago, the Jalisco Cartel was small. They ran some drugs, but mostly they did the bidding of a Colombian cartel, one of the biggest. Then something happened and shortly thereafter, Morales’s cartel took over and started getting damn lucky with the DEA. They started getting lucky by avoiding raids on their properties both in Mexico and the States. Did you know that years before, when Morales’s father ran the organization, I heard about a case involving human trafficking and drug cartels? One of the cartels was involved in a slavery ring that ran from South America up to Canada and all through the Midwestern US.”
A chill went over her skin. “The Jalisco Cartel was responsible for that?”
“Yes. Before they took over the Colombian drug routes, that was what Morales was suspected of running. Prostitutes. And he didn’t care about age. They talked about it in the Agency because all the files went missing. This all went down shortly after the operative working on the case was blown up in his car. Kayla…”
She shook her head, utterly denying every word that came out of his mouth. “It wasn’t John Bishop. It wasn’t. You didn’t know him. Call Big Tag. Call Ten. They’ll tell you that John Bishop wasn’t capable of doing the things you’re accusing him of.”
“John Bishop was known as the Ice Man, and he didn’t get that reputation by being warm and fuzzy. It was Bishop’s faking his own death that started all of this. I know it. That was the trigger that led to the Jalisco Cartel taking off and putting Morales into the position he’s in now.”
“No. Okay, maybe, but it can’t mean what you think. Maybe John Bishop leaving the case led to that, but Bishop didn’t leave so he could help Morales build the cartel. No way. According to your own records, he’s been in Colorado.”
Ezra’s head nodded tightly, as though her very words proved his point. “Yes, and I’ve studied that town. Did you know there are two ex-DEA agents who live in town? I find that highly suspicious. They would have contacts with their former coworkers. It would be easy for them to feed Bishop information about where and when their buddies were going to raid. They could all be in on this. It all fits.”
“But it doesn’t,” she argued. “I know you’re looking at this puzzle and seeing how the pieces fit, but you don’t understand how the most important piece works. John Bishop would never hurt his country. He’s capable of some deeply ruthless shit. You want to tell me he’s sent an agent into situations he knew the agent could die in, I’ll believe that. I was that agent. He did it because I was his asset and he was the spy master. I signed on knowing that could happen, and I knew damn well Bishop might have to make a call that ended with me getting hurt or dying. It’s part of the risk we take when we take the job. You’ve done it, too.”