Her eyes narrow at the foul-mouthed mercenary. “He doesn’t need his dick to talk.”
“What if you miss and hit his other head?” I’m half-serious, but it’s funny enough for her to snort and then giggle.
The barrel lowers, she flips on the safety, and after she returns my pistol, my held breath releases.
Picturing my boss reaming me a new asshole, I cringe. “We’ll need to get our stories straight.”
Her mouth drops open. “Why not tell the truth? The man threatened my daughter, and I shot him in the leg. Sounds reasonable to me. People get off scot-free for a whole lot more than that.”
I sigh. “The FBI doesn’t go around shooting unarmed people.”
“Seriously?” One skeptic brow raises. “How about we claim he had a weapon?”
“Forensics, babe.” As I roll my eyes, she purses her lips. “Okay, fine. Let’s drag him into the field, undo his bandages, and let the buzzards have at him.”
I don’t believe for one moment she’s serious. Conversely, Bourdeau loses his shit. “I swear I won’t say anything. Don’t kill me.”
“Don’t worry. You’re not worth dodging a murder charge.” Done with the nonsense, I open my laptop and feed the name into the FBI database.
The most likely candidate is Ledbetter, Thomas E., an infamous arms dealer, wanted by Interpol. His crimes span the globe and rival those of a Mexican drug cartel.
Sitting next to me, Gwen stiffens. “Oh shit.”
I couldn’t’ve said it better. “I should make a few calls. You okay keeping an eye on our friend.”
“If he tries to escape, can I kill him?”
“Sure, why not.” In case she’s serious, I remove the ammo when she’s not looking, and hand her my weapon.
Once I update my team, I call Lochlan. “Gwen is our leak.”
“Not bloody likely, mate.”
“Hold on, let me explain.” It takes me a while, but eventually I convince him that she and Henry cooked up an elaborate ruse to upload false data to the cloud.
“And they didn’t know who they were selling to?” Lucky sounds skeptical and I agree it sounds fishy.
“They had access to a database in the cloud which could’ve belonged to anyone, or so she says. We can discuss it more later. Right now, I need to drop off my prisoner.”
“Can she prove it, mate?” His question cuts right to the core of the matter.
“She believes she can, but I have my doubts.” I raise my eyes to where she paces outside the Volvo, and my chest constricts.
What if the DA convicts her of treason? Will I stand by and let them put her behind bars for life, knowing she had the best of intentions?
“Be careful, mate.”
“I always am.”Except when it comes to her.
“If you need help, you let me know.”
“I will. Just make sure the RF team and their families are safe. This Ledbetter is a butcher.”
“No worries. I’ll keep the fam-o’s safe. You concentrate on arresting those bastards. What about Gwen’s little roo?”
“She’s at her father’s house, and I’ve got an agent stationed outside her door twenty-four-seven.”
Done calling, I walk back to Gwen, and hug her to my chest. I wish we had more time, but we need to leave before the locals catch up and put us behind bars.
