I let out a shaky laugh. “That’s comforting.”
“We reached out,” he continued. “Through old unit contacts. Someone federal is listening now.”
I closed my eyes.
“Listening,” I repeated.
“Yes.”
I straightened slowly and turned to face him. “Listening how?”
“We pass what we find,” he said. “They decide if it’s enough to open something formal. Right now, it’s not.”
“Who is ‘they’?”
He hesitated just long enough for me to notice.
“Justice,” he said finally. “Department of Justice. But this isn’t some task force situation. It’s early. They don’t even have eyes on Redd Valley yet.”
I swallowed hard.
“So let me get this straight,” I said, forcing myself to breathe evenly. “You’re actually a veteran.”
“Yes.”
“And you and your biker club are funneling information up the chain about a sex trafficking ring.”
“We’re gathering intel,” he corrected calmly. “They build cases. We don’t.”
“And you think my firm is tied to it.”
“Knows about it at the very least,” he said. “More likely involved.”
My stomach flipped.
“But you don’t know how.”
“Not yet.”
“And until you figure that out,” I continued, heat creeping back into my voice, “you put cameras in my apartment and drag me into the middle of it?”
His jaw tightened.
“Until we figure it out,” he said evenly, “we make sure you don’t end up being the one they hang it on.”
That hit harder than I expected.
“They’re positioning you,” he continued. “Low enough to blame. High enough to know things. That’s not accidental.”
The room felt smaller.
“You’re saying they’d make me the fall girl.”
“I’m saying if this blows and there’s no paper trail leading up the ladder, you’re the easiest sacrifice.”
Silence stretched between us.
“And Justice doesn’t know that yet,” I said quietly.
