She gave a long, frustrated sigh. “Then please say you’ll go feed him and let him out.”
“Of course. Glad to.” He smiled in earnest at the thought of seeing Bear after the time they’d spent apart.
Harris glanced at Mack. “We believe the person behind the video is Bruno Razo or is connected to him. Razo is a major local drug dealer turned gunrunner, and he’s the target of Operation Crossfire. He’s in bed with the drug cartels, and rumor has it he’s moving five miniguns from Mexico to the U.S. in five days. We don’t have details on the shipment, but we need to find it and stop it before Americans are slaughtered with this weapon. Are you familiar with the minigun?”
Was he familiar? Boy howdy. “I was an Army Night Stalker, so I’m well aware of the weapon’s destructive power. It’s a descendant of the Gatling gun and is legally classified as a machine gun.”
“That’s right.” Harris sounded impressed.
“And he’s working out of Oregon to import guns from Mexico? Seems odd to me.”
“First, you should know Razo is a U.S. citizen born and raised in Hillsboro, one of Portland’s western suburbs. He took overthe local drug trade and is the top dog now. So it’s a no-brainer for him to operate in an area where he has contacts. And even more important, the I-5 corridor runs through Portland and is a main artery from Mexico to Canada. Huge numbers of drugs are moved on this route every day, and Razo takes full advantage of the high traffic volumes. He uses nondescript vehicles to hide the drugs. Cars like a soccer mom might drive, and they make sure to stay under the speed limit and blend in. He could be doing the same thing for the guns.”
Mack let out a low whistle. “The way I see it, we have two issues here. Not only the sale of the weapons, but civilians can’t legally own these guns in our country. Means he’s on the wrong side of the law in several ways.”
Harris frowned. “That’s almost right. Unlike assault rifles—which are perfectly legal, by the way—machine guns are banned for civilian ownership without an FFL.”
“Federal Firearms License,” Mack muttered. “You just have to have a license to own something this deadly.”
“That’s right,” Harris said. “Razo doesn’t have a license, but someone with an FFL working with him might, and the guns couldn’t be confiscated from them.”
Addy cringed. “So we could be looking for someone with an FFL who could be holding these guns for him when they arrive.”
Harris shifted her focus to Addy. “You were looking into that but hadn’t run down all the possibilities yet.”
Mack’s pulse started thundering in his ears over news that was far worse than he could imagine. A weapon like this one trained on Addy would instantly end her life, and Mack could do nothing about it. He needed to find Razo and find him ASAP. He would have Cam search for FFL holders who fit the bill, but first ... “I need to see that video of the abduction. Now!”
Harris looked at Addy. “It was emailed to you. You should have it on your computer.”
“Let me pull it up.” She dug the phone from the case and started tapping the screen.
“FYI, I’m having Fitz try to track the email and enhance the video.” Harris looked at Mack. “He’s our tech person.”
Mack nodded, though he knew his team would do a much better job of both tracking and enhancing the video than this local tech might do, and he wanted to ask to take over. But he’d just met Harris and didn’t want to come on too strong and ruin any chance of being involved in the investigation. Instead, he’d wait until the right time to broach the subject.
Addy fired up her laptop and used her phone as a network hotspot for security. The computer hummed through the expectant silence. The lights flashed on the screen, highlighting the planes of her face. Her forehead was still swollen and all kinds of eggplant purple. The lighter red highlights in her hair shone in the light, and he wanted to brush it away from her wound and gently kiss away the pain that still had to be plaguing her.
She frowned at the screen and turned the computer so that Mack could see it too. Still, he stepped closer. He would relish a reason to be near her, but he’d never use her mother in danger for an excuse.
The video played, her mother’s eyes wide and terrified. The man stepped behind her and lifted the knife to her throat. Addy gasped and grabbed Mack’s arm. He’d been hands off until now, yet he wasn’t going to let her watch this terrible video without support. He pressed his hand over hers. She didn’t move it, so he settled on the bed next to her and took a solid hold of her hand.
While touching her felt so right, the horrific video usurped any joy of the connection. The man warned Addy to back off or else, and his adamant tone declared he would follow through. Mack wanted to find this guy and make him pay before the creep could inflict more harm.
Mack looked at Addy. “He means business.”
“Maybe when I took off from the office yesterday, I’d actually figured out what was he was up to, was tracking it down, and Razo tailed me. When he saw where I went, he got spooked.”
“Could be,” Harris said, her eyes fixed on their hands.
Addy must have noticed, as she pulled her hand free. Mack got the not-so-subtle hint and stood again but continued to look at Addy. “If you were on your computer before you took off, your tech should be able to figure out which files you had open at the time. That could tell us where you might have gone.”
“Good idea,” Harris said, sounding impressed. “I’ll have our guy check it out.”
“I don’t like the sound of this Razo guy and the threat. That’s not something we can take lightly.” He kept his tone calm, but his gut was swimming with acid. This Razo dude was clearly bad news, and the thought of him in Addy’s house—of holding a knife to her mother’s throat—sent Mack’s head spinning.
“Agreed.” Harris widened her stance. “And there’s no way I’ll let a local detective run an investigation into an attempted murder of one of my agents. Especially when it’s looking like it’s tied to one of our top investigations.”
Harris had Addy’s back in the investigation. That was clear. Addy also needed someone to look out for her health, to make sure she rested and didn’t exacerbate the head injury.
