“Except that I won’t be able to hold on to or squeeze those beautiful hips.” His smile gets bigger. “That’s one of the best parts of watching a woman on top.”
“Hm. I took you for a titty man rather than a hip man.”
“Oh, I like ‘em both, but there’s just something about holding and squeezing those hips when a woman’s riding me. Fuck, I’m gettin’ hard just thinking about it.” He turns serious and looks at me. “So? Why are you here?”
Shaking my head, I ignore his comment. “I think I may know who the mole is.”
His eyebrows climb up his forehead, and he steals my words. “You’re shittin me.”
“Not today, brother.” I tell him about Kinley and what happened when Sanders went to her house.
When I finish, he’s staring at the wall. “Motherfucker.”
“That’s what I said.”
“I’ve never seen him around Jessup’s place, so he has to be working with Ghost.”
Jessup is the head of the biggest heroin ring in the state, but getting charges to stick to him has been impossible because he always has someone doing his dirty work for him. He started his distribution ten years ago when he came up from Mexico. The state has been trying to break up his ring and get him locked up for years.
Conway had been working undercover with Jessup’s group for the past year and had earned enough trust to be able to work inside Jessup’s inner circle, but I’m pretty sure Sanders fucked that up. If he is the mole.
But Ghost is the guy who just came onto the scene a few years ago with the fentanyl distribution. We don’t even know what he looks like, all our efforts to get an ID on him have failed. So, we’ve just been calling him Ghost.
We’ve been able to pick out some of his runners and handlers, two of which got away the night I saved Kinley’s ass, but they seem to be more scared of facing him than going to jail.
“It would make sense, since every time we think we might be close to figuring out who he is, it’s a dead end.” I kick my legs out in front of me and cross my ankles as I lean back in my chair and lace my fingers behind my head.
“Yeah, I knew something was up when I went with Jessup to meet with Ghost. I just knew I was going to get an ID that day, but he didn’t show up. They jumped me in the middle of the night when I was heading back to my apartment.”
“Who did you tell about the meeting before it happened?”
“I sent an encrypted message to Dunn and Powers.”
Special Agent in Charge Powers is Conway’s boss and my counterpart for the team that’s keeping tabs on Jessup. We’ve been working together a lot more lately because of the many incidents of heroin/fentanyl deaths.
Most of the people who are buying it, and then dying, don’t know the heroin they’re using is laced.
“How do you feel about Powers? Do you think he’s a good guy?”
“To be honest, he’s not my favorite boss. I wouldn’t call him shady. Reserved would be the better word.”
Most of my contact with Powers has been over email. “I’ll have to figure out how we can bring our two teams together more often.”
While I’m thinking through how to fucking do that, Conway says, “So, uh, what’s the deal with this Kinley chick?”
My eyes snap to his. The protector in me wants to hide her, especially since she’s already in danger. “She’s a witness, and I’m her security for now.”
“Nah, man, I can see it in your eyes. She’s more than that.”
I stare at him, not sure I want to voice anything.
His eyes narrow, and he says, “I knew it. How serious is it?”
“This can’t go beyond us.”
“To the grave, man.”
“Serious.”
