The time-date stamp on the video was from 5:24 am that morning.Trent assumed local Seattle time.
Trent hitpause.“I need something stiff in me before watching this.”
“Make it two, if ye please,” Badger said.
Minutes later, when they both had full glasses of scotch, Trent hitplayagain.
Dorland looked scared out of his mind.“I don’t know what the fuckin’ hell you want from me!”
The next voice, a man’s, spoke English with a thick Eastern European accent, most likely Russian, if Trent had to guess.“Your side ventures have cost us time and energy, in addition to drawing attention to us.Why did the Mexican contact you?He literally called you not long after I left your office.”
“I don’t fuckin’ know, mate!I’m tellin’ ya!I swear, I never even heard of the drongo before he called me lookin’ for Jake and Carl!And when he called I told him I couldn’t help him and blocked his number, I swear!”
“You are trying to make me believe that the man stepping into the shoes of the former head of the Segura drug cartel—a cartel his father started, and his brothers ran, and his nephew, who disappeared, inherited and ran for years—suddenly called you out of nowhere looking for your brother-in-law and nephew?”
“That’s exactly what I’m tellin’ ya, man!I don’t know!He said somethin’ about Carl worked fer him and disappeared.And then some story about Jake showin’ up pretendin’ to be a Russian and talkin’ to his daughter.Seriously, I don’t know what the hell!I thought Jake was dead—they told me he was dead!”
“They?”
“Yeah!The lab wonks.They were supposed to get him outta the way.I figured he was with Maya.”
“Who?”
“My sister.”
“You mean she’s dead?”
He scoffed.“Nah!That crazy corg—I mean Welsh bugger, Faegan.We’d struck a deal for him to marry her, but then she went off and got married, and?—”
Badger hit pause and sat back, taking several gulps of alcohol.“Those Russians don’t know about shifters,” he said.
“I don’t follow,” Trent said.“He talked about the lab in front of them.”
“Yeah, but he almost said ‘corgi’ and corrected himself and said Welsh.”He looked at Trent.“They might know about the lab, and mebbe even help procure people fer it, but they don’t know about shifters.”
“Fuuuck.”
Badger hitplay.
“—got pregnant.I mean, I’m a greedy bastard, not gonna lie.But as much as I didn’t want that kid around, even I’m not so cold to send her off like that.Besides, he didn’t want her pregnant.Lied and told him she was signed up for university.That, and I needed to figure out a way to get her away from Jake, didn’t I?Not that it mattered, because Faegan came back with an even better offer, more money, and he had a buyer for her.Offered to split it with me, and it woulda been even more than what he’d negotiated with me in the first place.”
“And how did you do that?”
“I staged an accident.Found a druggie, knocked her out, then put her in the car.Investigatin’ officer’s in my, eh, family, and signed off on it fer a little cash, and?—”
Trent reached out and hitpause.“Shit!Ken was right!”He stared at Badger.“She might be alive!”
Badger looked even more grim.“Yeah, but we don’t know what condition she might be in.”He grabbed his phone and called Dewi, putting it on speaker.
“Hey, what’s on the drive?”she asked by way of greeting.
“Listen to me,” Badger said.“Did ye tell Jake an’ Carl about Ray yet?”
“No, not yet.Why?”
“Hold off tellin’ ’em.”
She hesitated.“Badger, what’s on the drive?”
