Benny twisted his face into a grin. “Genius, that woman is a mad genius.”
“There must have been a chemical stench, though,” Dakota picked up a bill and sniffed it. “This doesn’t smell right. It’s actually pretty bad.” He coughed into his elbow. “Yeah, that’s really bad.” He sniffed hard and put the bill down.
“How did you figure it all out?” Jasper asked.
“She got into it with a local drug dealer who somehow figured out his client was trying to pay in counterfeit money. He used the client to track back to the gal. They had words. She said she was leaving the state and not coming back. But the cops picked up the dealer that night, and he needed something to trade with the DA.”
“Counterfeiter,” Dakota said.
“Counterfeiter,” Benny said. “It was a good trade.” Benny leaned forward, picked up one of the bills, and waved it in the air. “She’s teaching us her craft. Fascinating gal. Really dedicated to detail and out-of-the-box ways of getting things right so that all the normal warning bells never went off.”
“Out-of-the-box for us, but she’s learning all the tips and tricks in her undergrad.” Dakota put the bill back on the desk and dropped into a chair. “What did you trade for these lessons?”
“We tell the judge she cooperated,” Benny said.
Jasper leaned back in his chair with a grunt. “That’ll shave off some years in the clink.”
“Yeah,” Benny reached up and rubbed his shoulder, “she’ll get just enough to learn a new unlawful trade for when she gets out.”
“I don’t know, maybe she’ll go legit.” Dakota unbuttoned his jacket and leaned forward. “I mean, this is primo work. She’s a smart woman. She has to be tenacious as hell, creative, clever.”
“And she has a boyfriend who’s equal parts surprised and angry as hell, but also proud of how far she got because that’s, and I quote here, ‘just nuts, like something from a movie.’ It looks like he’s the keeper kind and will be sticking this out. Hey,” Benny focused on Dakota, “speaking of sticking it out, I hear you’re about to head out with a new partner.”
“Tank?” Dakota asked.
“How’d you come up with the idea of a counterfeit sniffing dog?” Benny asked.
“Chemical scent certified, you mean. Tank needed a job, and he has a stellar sniffer. Cerberus trained him to know what a minted U.S. bill smells like, and then he’s been trained to find what they’re using out of South America, the kinds of ink and finishing chemicals that we’ve collected from the raids and from the sample bills.”
“North Korea?” Benny asked.
“Tank can’t do that. I haven’t been given any specimens.” Dakota reached up to scratch his nail over his brow. “And I’m not sure where we’d look for them.”
“How close is he to finishing up?” Jasper asked.
Dakota turned. “All but done. Reaper Hamilton, the lead trainer over at Cerberus, wanted to observe Tank and me in the field. So far, he’s been doing simulations. Of course, a lot of those are trained on-site—banks, airports, shops. He’s had some hits, but those were planted for Tank to find. Reaper would like Tank out doing a real-world mission so that he can observe and correct.”
“All right,” Jasper said. “I’ll take a look around and see if I can’t get something lined up. But you know, these things spring out of nowhere. Timing might be an issue.”
Dakota wrinkled his brow as he peered over at Benny. “Hey, you feeling okay?”
“Yeah, why?” Benny panted.
“I don’t know.” Dakota shook his head. “You just—your face went gray. You don’t look your usual self.”
“Heartburn.” Benny pressed his knuckles into his sternum. “It’s been three days of this damned heartburn.”
“You think you should see a doctor?” Jasper asked. “I mean, your age and all,” he said it like a joke. He wasn’t pointing fingers or causing alarm, just planting a seed. “Dakota, you’re seeing that nurse around the corner. Maybe she could slip Benny here into her roster today.”
Benny lifted his hand to bat the idea away. “I’ve got my own doctor. If this doesn’t go away by tomorrow, I’ll give him a call. I’m a shit cook, and if I sent myself to the clinic every time I gave myself indigestion, I couldn’t afford to keep up with the co-pays.” He turned to Dakota. “A nurse, huh?”
“Rose. She’s great, she really is. The timing’s off on anything happening there.”
“Why’s that?” Jasper asked. “I mean, if nothing else, it’s convenient that she works about a ten-minute walk from here. You don’t have to fight traffic if you’re meeting up for lunch or whatever.”
Dakota checked his watch. “Speaking of which, I need to get out of here by noon. Rose and I are taking advantage of that convenience and grabbing a bite to eat.”
“See? Convenience in the city is half the battle,” Benny said.
