“But.” He was perilously close to drawing his gun and shooting blindly. “I’m placing you under arrest.”
“On what charge?” Jade asked sweetly.
“Driving under the influence.” His chin rose defiantly.
I laughed. “And when we get to your jail, son, and explain to your sergeant, or lieutenant, that your name is on a certain list, well, I thinkyou’llbe in that jail cell.”
He gulped.
I glanced at his name tag. “J. Swanson. Jade, wasn’t there a Swanson on the ledger of those accepting Arnaud’s bribes?”
“Sure is. Kid, Arnaud is going down. You’ve heard of us. We have the evidence to put him in jail for a very long time. Drop this now, and we’ll tell the FBI how you cooperated with us. That you’re willing to have a chat with them. You are. Right?”
“Christ,” he moaned, turning away. “Man, I got a wife, kids. I only took his money because I had to. I needed it. He told me I wouldn’t have to do much for it. Just run certain errands now and then.”
“Smuggle arms?” I suggested. “Drugs?”
Swanson nodded miserably. “Then word came down. Arrest you two. Take you to him. I’d get a shit load of money. Enough to put away for my kids’ college. Only –”
“Only you heard about the guys who’d died,” I said softly. “If dragons could die, what would happen to you?”
He pinched his nose with his thumb and forefinger, and sniffed. “Yeah.”
“Go back to work,” I ordered. “You didn’t see us. We’ll put in a good word with you with the big kahunas. And if they contact you, tell the truth. He’s not worth losing your wife and kids for.”
Swanson nodded and sucked in a deep breath. He handed Jade her papers and tipped his cap. “Good luck.”
Only after he returned to his unit, then drove away, did Jade and I return to the Jeep. By habit, I drove, and Jade sat in the passenger seat. We didn’t say much as I drove the interstateeastbound, my thoughts on the trooper. I had no idea what Jade thought. Until she spoke.
“Arnaud’s organizationisfailing,” she said at last.
“How so?”
“That boy. Had he the might of Arnaud’s forces behind him, he’d have reported us and never made the stop.”
I frowned, confused. “I don’t get it.”
“He’s desperate for the reward,” Jade went on. “Catch us, claim it, put the money away for college. HeknewArnaud might not be around long enough for him to win the big bucks unless he acted right now. Before the end. So he took a chance that we’d be too scared to not resist arrest. Nor did he know we had all the goods on Arnaud.”
“Or his name in the ledgers.” I eyed her sidelong. “His nameisin there? Yes?”
“Shit if I know,” she answered with a grin. “I didn’t memorize them all.”
I laughed. “It must be. His reaction said everything.”
“Word must have spread,” Jade mused, gazing out the window. “Among his people. We escaped him. We killed his dragons. We took something from him that he desperately wants us killed over. Are his people panicking, running for cover?”
“We’ll know soon,” I replied, gazing over the bleak and brown terrain. “The feds will know more, I hope. But we have easily two days of driving to get to Washington. Anything can happen.”
***
Except nothing did.
Jade and I, laptop on the table, waited nervously in a conference room for a special agent in charge. In the offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation itself in Washington, D.C. Not just any old FBI agent would do. We’d made it. We’d insistedupon talkingonlyto a high-ranking agent directly involved with human trafficking into the United States.
A minor agent left us with bottles of water, promising a big and important personage would arrive soon. “Make yourselves comfortable,” he said, “if you need anything, I’m right outside.”
“Thanks.”
