“I don’t mind using the horses as a cover, but it would draw too much attention doing all of our business that way.” Like the old saying goes, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
“Then let’s not add insurance fraud to our list of extracurricular activities.” Vade passes me the cylindrical pipe bomb to examine. Impressive.
“Speaking of eggs in a basket, I need to pay a visit to the farm. The horse I went to look at earlier in the week will be delivered to my barn in the next few days. That’ll be a good time to make a personal check up on the girl.” As much as I don’t want to admit it, I’d like to see her—not just check on her.
“Oh yeah? How are you planning on hiding her in plain sight for this undercover operation? Her face is all over the news, anyone could recognize her.”
“First, we plant a body and fake her death.” I run my hands through my hair, I should’ve thought about that before.
“Second, it’s an old high school pic. I’m banking on her filling out on the farm and being unrecognizable in a healthier state. If that fails, there’s always makeup, hair dye, and colored contacts.” Even though it can be easily done, the thought of making her look like someone other than herself unsettles me.
Something about her unsettles me. Not in a bad way though. If anything I find her intriguing. I want—no—need to know her entire story, what makes her tick, what her limits are. Because I am about to push every one she has to make her stronger than she ever thought possible. I will not have a weakling working for me.
“After what happened to Charlie, I’m not crazy about sending a woman in to bust a trafficking ring, even if she’s fromthe slums.” Vade crosses his arms, notably uncomfortable with that memory being brought up.
“It’s going to be hard for anyone associated with either one of us to penetrate that operation when it’s well known that we’ve taken down trafficking rings in the past. This town is too small.”
“How do you know you can trust her?”
“I don’t. She has nothing else to lose and everything to gain. If she’s smart, she will cooperate. We’ll make sure she doesn’t go in until we’ve exhausted all our options. There are other ways we can put her to work if this doesn’t work out.”
She will work to earn her keep and to make sure my effort in saving her isn’t wasted. Two things I don’t tolerate are lazy and sloppy. If she proves to be either, she will unfortunately have to be disposed of. However, I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen. She still has some fight in her, she showed me that this morning.
“Fine. But let her stay at the farm until she’s mentally and physically ready to train, don’t bring her back a minute before.”
“You got it.” I pat Vade on the back.
She will be safer there, away from prying eyes. The explosion chatter needs time to die down and the public move on to other breaking news events.
Ethan can use that time to gain her trust so she knows nobody else is out to get her. If my suspicions are correct, her feeling like she’s being held hostage by three men won’t do anything but hinder her progress. Ethan is the easiest going of us all.
Vade and I head to my office where we can call Dr. Bennett in private. I’m going to need his help and cooperation with this. I pick up the phone and dial the number.
“You sure are going through a lot of trouble for a waste of space from Whiskey Rivers.” Vade leans back in his chair, propping his feet on my desk.
Part of me wants to tip his ass over for his comment. Wasn’t he just worried about sending her undercover? Neither one of us know the girl, but before it’s all said and done, she will be unstoppable. Waste of space will be the furthest from anyone’s mind when they come across her.
Dr. Bennett picks up after a few rings and I explain the situation and the plan for the girl. “You’re in luck. I picked up a body of a hooker this week. She’s almost a dead ringer for the river girl. No pun intended.”
“Great, when will it be ready?” I ask, placing the phone on speaker so Vade can hear, too. Thank fuck, our office is soundproof. We don’t need anyone else knowing what we are up to.
“After I procure her body from the morgue, we’ll place it in the swamp and let it decompose for a few weeks before calling it in. I’ll make sure I’m around when it comes time to identify the body. I might need a hair sample from your girl, but I doubt the state takes it that far.”
My girl. The way he says it sounds so odd.
After hanging up with Dr. Bennett, I turn to Vade. “I’m going to head to the office, I’ve got to work out a plan for this girl, should she have to go undercover, before I head to the farm.” To say I am stressed to the max is an understatement, Icould use a few days away, but my schedule will only allow for one.
This whole situation is getting way too deep. I could smoke a cigarette a mile long, but I made a promise to Mom before she got too sick that I would quit.
Vade stays to oversee that our shipments go as planned while I head back to my office. Luckily, I don’t have any big cases I’m working on right now.
Back at my office, Sasha struts in as I’m running my hands over my face and through my hair. “What’s wrong, Nick?” She walks around behind me and starts massaging my shoulders.
I have so much built-up frustration, it’s going to take a while to work its way out, but this isn’t how I want to go about it. I remove her hands and pull her away from me the best I can from my seated position.
“I have a lot on my mind and no, I don’t want to talk about it.” I don’t look at her, so she sits on my desk next to me.
“There’s other things we can do besides talk.” She runs her hand over mine and I pull away.
