“There’s this guy. They call him Batman. He’s mean, enjoys his work. He’s De Santos’s top enforcer. He’ll be there tonight.”
Kate’s shoulders tensed. “What’s his name?”
“Emanuel Vargas.”
“I want him dead.”
“Easy, darlin’. You can’t just go in there and kill the guy,” Jase said.
“He murdered my sister. At the very least, he needs to spend the rest of his life in prison.”
Kingsley’s dark eyes pinned her. “Listen to me, Kate. This is FBI business. You need to leave justice to the law.”
“My sister is dead.”
“I know what that feels like.” Kingsley looked at Jason. “Hawk does, too. Let the FBI handle it.”
Kate made no comment.
“We have to show at the party tonight or De Santos might get suspicious,” Jase said. “He’s likely hoping to build a business relationship, probably looking for a way to expand into Atlanta. I told him we’d be there.”
“I don’t like it,” Kingsley said.
“Yeah, well, neither do I, but it’s too late now.”
Kingsley swore softly. Defeated, he blew out a deep breath. “All right, I guess that’s how it’s going to be.” He pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket and slid it over to Jason. “I’d appreciate if you’d pass any info to Agent Troy Wister. That’s his number.”
Calling Agent Kingsley while he was undercover would put his life in danger. Even so, Jase slid the paper back to him.
“No can do,” Jase said. “I guess I forgot to mention we got a dirty cop in Houston. I’m not sure how far it reaches. Now that I think about it, I also didn’t mention that whoever’s running Los Besos put a hit out on Kate and me.”
“Jesus.” Kingsley sat back in the booth. He rubbed a hand over his face, his gaze going from Jason to Kate. “So I guess we’d better end this before one of you gets hurt.”
“I’d appreciate it,” Jase said.
Kingsley reached for the folded slip of paper, turned it over and wrote another name and number on the back. “You know this guy. He’s heading up the investigation. He worked with one of the detectives in your office a while back when he was head of the terrorism task force. You got a problem, call him.”
Jase took the paper and showed it to Kate.Special Agent in Charge, Quinn Taggart. Jase nodded. “Taggart’s a good man.”
“That’s his private number.” Kingsley stood up. “Let’s see what happens tonight and I’ll call you tomorrow.” He tossed money down for their check and his own. “Be careful.”
“You, too,” Jase said.
Turning, the agent walked out of the café.
It was late afternoon when Kate heard the ring of Jase’s disposable.
“It’s Tabby.” He put the call on speaker. “What have you got, Tab?”
Kate hurried across the living room so she could hear.
“I got the name and location of the other two massage parlors in Houston. One’s in a building owned by Atrias Corp. The other property is leased from Winman. Both of those entities are connected in some form or another to Briton.”
Jase flashed a look at Kate. “What are the names?” he asked.
“One’s the Garden of Eden. The other is the Pleasure Dome...you know, like Mad Max?”
“Yeah, I get it,” Jase said. “Text me the addresses.”
