“We’d need it done as quickly as possible. A week would be good, ten days at most.”
“I’ll have to make some adjustments to my schedule, but I think I can make that work.”
“Great. When can we meet?”
“How about this afternoon?”
“All right, say two o’clock in my office?”
“I’ll be there.” Her hand trembled as she ended the call and made the next one. She still had the private number Special Agent in Charge Quinn Taggart had given her the night of Denny Reyburg’s arrest. She punched it into the phone and waited impatiently for him to pick up. “Come on...come on.”
“Taggart.”
“Agent Taggart, this is Kate Gallagher.”
“Kate. This is a surprise. I hope everything’s all right?”
“Everything’s fine. I’m calling because I may be able to help you get the information you’re looking for on Briton, Inc.”
“That’s FBI business, Kate. I told you that before.”
“Yes, you did. Are you any closer to bringing charges against them than you were then?”
Silence fell. “All right, I’m listening.”
“As you probably know, Schram and Wiedel are getting ready take the company public. Victor Markum just phoned my office. He wants to hire Gallagher and Company for a management consulting job. He wants us to write a report they can use in their prospectus. That gives us an in. It means I might be able to find information that will help you.”
“You’re getting yourself involved in what could be a dangerous situation, Kate.”
She thought of her sister and Emanuel Vargas, of Los Besos, and the sniper who’d shot Jason. She’d learned a lot about danger. “I’m well aware of the risks.”
“We need to talk, Kate.”
“Is that a yes?”
“The FBI can’t have any official involvement.”
“So it is a yes.”
“It’s an unofficial maybe.”
“I’m meeting Markum today at two.”
A sigh whispered over the phone. “I’m checking the location of your office on Google Maps as we speak. Looks like there’s a Starbucks just down the block. I can be there in twenty minutes.”
“I’ll see you there.” Kate hung up the phone. She had lost Jason, but she was a survivor. She had a different life ahead of her now.
Another week slid past. Jase had just taken a contract with A-1 Bail Bonds to locate a skip named Porter Emerson. The guy had dodged a hit-and-run charge. He was no hardened criminal, so it should be an easy retrieval—which was the reason he’d taken the job. He was still only 90 percent. Mostly he just needed something to do.
It was after four, getting close to the end of the day, at least for some of them. He was in his office tracking down leads on his laptop when Harper walked in. Chase was still there, but instead of heading for her husband’s office, she spotted Jason and started walking toward him.
He stood up to greet her. “Hey, Harper, what’s up?”
“I know Chase isn’t going to like me sticking my nose into your business, but I think this is something you should know.”
His chest tightened. “Is it Kate?” Harper sat down in the chair beside his desk, and Jase sat back down beside her.
“I have a hunch you’ve been dying to ask me about her. Maybe I’m crazy, but I think you’re in love with her.”
