“She’s always one step ahead of us. Sure, she wants more info to see if the threat is credible. But this investigation has the potential to be a press-worthy bust, meaning she also wants to gather enough details so if something does happen to you, she can carry on your work.”
“When you say it that way, it sounds pretty heartless.”
He snapped his chair forward and planted his feet on the worn tile floor. “She isn’t called Cruella for nothing.”
Addy wanted to argue. To defend a fellow woman in the workplace. To point out that Harris had a softer side, but ifthat side existed, Addy hadn’t seen it since the woman had taken over their small office six months ago. She was a little heartless at times, exactly what Warren was alluding to. Yet she was also very good at her job, and Addy respected that, so she would never call HarrisCruellaor any name. And she shouldn’t stand here gossiping either.
Her still-crisp white blouse was suddenly feeling restrictive, and she tugged on the collar. “Only Harris knows her own intentions, and I need to get to work.”
Warren raised an eyebrow, deep grooves on his forehead melding together in a single line. “You are the most diplomatic agent I have ever met. You should go into politics.”
“Now, that would be the worst thing I could think of doing for a living.” Addy faked a shudder and continued down the aisle toward her cubicle.
She dropped into the black mesh chair and glanced around her desktop, which held little more than a wide computer monitor and a keyboard. The only personal item she’d brought to her work was an Echo speaker. Nothing else. Not even a plant or a solitary knickknack. After what happened with Mack, she didn’t believe in mixing work with her home life anymore. It just got too complicated. If she hadn’t met and fallen in love with him while part of the RED team in D.C., she would still be on the super team, working important cutting-edge investigations instead of her usual immigration cases here in Portland.
She opened the Operation Crossfire folder stored on the network server. A subfolder labeled Research contained all the articles she’d downloaded and saved for their records. She needed to go through them one by one and determine which ones to print for the update meeting.
She clicked on the first PDF about the implementation of X-ray security systems in the front lines of some border towns. Customs and Border Patrol had recently moved the nonintrusivescanning technology to the front lines. Much like an E-Z pass system, the scanners allowed traffic to keep moving as they generated a detailed image of the inside of every vehicle before it reached the official checkpoint, giving the officers a head start on suspicious cargo.
The document had been downloaded into a PDF file along with other articles for that date listed on the side. She tried her best not to get distracted by the extras and quickly backtracked through the PDFs until she had three of them open. Each screenshot had similar related headlines posted on the side.
On the last PDF, her investigator’s sixth sense started tingling, and she could hardly sit still to finish reading it. “Yes! Yes! This is it. This will break the investigation wide open. Give me what I need to arrest the creep.”
“You say something?” Warren called out.
“Never mind.” She closed the file, stood, and grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair. She needed more information, and she knew just the person who could give it to her. She pressed her hand on her sidearm for comfort. Despite playing down the threat with her boss, Addy was very concerned for her own safety. She bolted for the door.
“In a hurry much?” Warren asked when she reached his cubicle.
She slowed for a moment. “Got a new lead.”
His eyes narrowed. “What about your update with Harris?”
“I’ll be back in plenty of time.”
“Are you sure?” He gave her a father-knows-best look. “Are you ready for the meeting?”
She waved a hand at him. “I have time. Don’t worry.”
She raced for the door.
“It’s your funeral,” he called after her.
Maybe he was right, but finally figuring out how Razo wasgetting this weapon into the U.S. could be a game changer in apprehending him. The threat would no longer be an issue once she slapped cuffs on the creep and put him behind bars.
Mack burst through the door, Kiley and then Sean behind him in their normal stacking order. The room was as trashy as the exterior of the house, and even the bright sunshine beaming through the front door didn’t make it seem any less so. A strong odor of stale fish mixed with the musky smell of marijuana permeated the space.
“Police!” Mack called out instead of shouting the acronym ICE. Every suspect understood the wordpoliceand knew how to react to it. “Hands. Hands. Hands. Where I can see them.”
The skinny guy in a recliner flung his arms in the air. A woman on the couch lifted hers.
Mack fixed his rifle on the guy. “I’ve got Williams.”
“I’m on the woman,” Kiley said.
“Moving on.” Sean passed Mack, heading into a hallway to clear the rest of the house.
Mack glared at Williams. “On the floor. Slowly. Hands where I can see them at all times.”
