Angus nodded. “Exactly. We have a lead on a group using a site on the dark web. They’re running drugs, and I’m telling you, I think there’s more.” He scrubbed a hand across his eyes. “In fact, I think I’ve found what.”
The dark web was nearly impossible to hack. “I can’t just find a site without knowing where it is,” Brigid said. “The key to bringing down somebody on the dark web is—”
“Getting them to meet you in person,” Raider said. “Guess that’s my part of this op.”
“Partially,” Angus said, eyeing them both. “There’s something else.”
Warning ticked through Brigid. Why, she didn’t know. But her instincts rose instantly, and she stiffened. “What?”
“We think this might be one of the key players.” Angus turned and taped one more picture to the board.
Brigid stopped breathing. She stared at the picture. He had aged. His skin was leathery, his nose broken more than once, and his hair now all gray.
Raider glanced at her. “Who is that?”
“My father,” she whispered. The man she only spoke to out of duty these days. She coughed. “You’re crazy. He’s a farmer. Always has been.”
Angus winced. “No. He was involved with the Irish mob, more specifically the Coonan family, for years. Formative ones. Then he supposedly got out, but now we think he’s back in, and he’s part of what’s happening now.”
That couldn’t be true. No way. “That’s why you sent us to Boston? Those guys in the corner were mobsters?” Brigid gasped.
“Yep. Just wanted to see if you’d be recognized, and I also needed Raider to leave his new calling card,” Angus said.
“Damn it,” Raider muttered. “You could’ve given me a heads-up.”
Brigid tried to rein in her temper. “Of course nobody recognized me. You’re wrong about my father.”
“Prove it,” Angus said mildly. “You and Raider go talk to him and prove I’m wrong. But be prepared to be incorrect about this.”
Brigid shook her head. “You want me to take an obvious government agent to my father’s farm and what? Just ask him if he’s involved in cybercrime?” No way. “Believe me. My dad wouldn’t talk to a Fed if he was dying.”
Angus’s smile didn’t provide reassurance. “No. You’re going home to reconcile with your father because you’ve finally found your way in life with the man next to you—one with possible criminal ties that we’re still working out. The man you want to introduce to your father before you marry.”
“Marry?” Brigid blurted, her mind spinning wildly. “Are you nuts?” She turned to the straitlaced hottie next to her. “Tell him this won’t work.”
Raider hadn’t moved. “This is important, Force?”
“Crucial,” Angus affirmed. “There’s more going on here than drugs. I just know it.”
Raider turned and studied her with those deep, dark eyes. “Well, Irish. Looks like we’re engaged.” His smile sent butterflies winging through her abdomen. “This is going to be interesting. Now that you’re mine, I will finally figure you out.”
Chapter Two
Anticipation rushed through Raider’s veins, yet he sat still in his seat, schooling his expression into mild interest.
Force smiled at Brigid. “I need you to reach out to Wolfe’s new friend Dana. The journalist? Supposedly she’s been working on a story about the Irish mob and credit card fraud.”
Supposedly? There was no such thing with Angus Force. “How did you tip her off?” Raider lifted his head.
Force shrugged. “It wasn’t hard. She’s a good investigator, and I planted a few crumbs. She picked them up easily, which is good, because we need her sources.”
“We’ve only been back a week. Now Dana is Wolfe’s friend?” They’d met the woman the week before in Kentucky on another assignment, and he hadn’t thought the two had hit it off. Clarence Wolfe was the muscle for the unit, and dollars to donuts, he was insane. Or else he had a really weird sense of humor. Raider hadn’t pinned him down yet. “He’s not going to like you messing with her life.”
Force tugged his T-shirt free of his neck. “He’s a good soldier and he’ll understand the mission. Well, probably. Brigid? After you call Dana, I need one more thing from you today. There was a new possible sighting of Henry Wayne Lassiter in Malibu the other day. Would you mind dodging into your computer room and running it down?”
“Sure.” Brigid stood, her gaze flicking to Raider and back. The woman’s green eyes had captivated him from the first second, followed closely by that slight Irish brogue with a hint of Boston in it. The brogue was strong, but the eyes vulnerable. She tried to hide it, but he was a master at figuring people out. What scared her? She was all wrong for him, but the flashes of fear she let slip drew him. If she needed protection, he could provide that. It was his job, after all.
She bit her lip before continuing. “You know we haven’t found any proof that Lassiter is alive, right?” Her voice was tentative and her glance sympathetic as she focused back on Force.
