Page 89 of Honor ’N’ Duty

Taking another deep breath, she deleted the message, then popped out the battery. Next she emptied her bag of purchases on the seat. The ledger. Several blue and black pens. Whiteout. And three small flashlights. Tucked away as she was and shielded from what remained of the light of day, she’d soon need them.

Part one of her plan was to retrieve what she assumed was Fernando Colon’s stolen cash. Creating a phony ledger—one good enough to pass muster, at least long enough to get to Rosa—was the second part.

With her knowledge of banking, plus whatever she could remember of the entries in Josh’s ledger, she could do this. Not knowing what those two-letter codes were could be a problem. The main thing was that her version had to be an original, not a photocopy. Assuming, as Kade had said, the prosecutor would demand the original to press charges, then Colon would want the original, too.

Eventually, Colon would figure out everything in the book was phony. The only part of her plan yet to be written was that teensy-weensy part about how to get her and Rosa out of there safely.

Wherever there turned out to be.

…

Kade assumed the last message he’d left for Laia would go unanswered. Even if she did turn on her phone, he doubted she’d call him back.

Man, I messed up with her.

He might as well be wearing his ass on the top of his neck instead of his head, because that’s what he’d been. An ass. But he could—and would—fix this.

Smoke whined, so as soon as he pulled into the DHS parking lot, he popped the rear door for Smoke to stretch his legs and relieve himself.

Most of the lot was empty. He recognized Manny Dominguez’s G-ride, along with several other fed cars. Jamie pulled up next to him and rolled down the window. “At the risk of being a nag, are you sure this is the right course of action?”

“No, but right now it’s the only course of action.” And he was done waiting around for one of his or Manny’s informants, or the FBI to call him with any concrete news.

“Okay then.” Jamie shut off the engine and joined him outside.

Kade shook his head. “This is my fuck-up to un-fuck. I need to do this alone.” He gave Jamie a meaningful look. He hadn’t exactly lied to his friend, but the real reason he didn’t want Jamie with him was because it would make him an accessory.

He went to the back of his vehicle, then flipped up the door and grabbed a dark-green backpack. After closing the door, he motioned for Smoke to follow him inside. He took the stairs two at a time. Smoke loped behind him, his nails clicking and echoing on the concrete. They hadn’t even gone into the office yet, and already Kade was sweating. He was about to break every rule in the law enforcement handbook. Plus a few in the penal code.

Outside the agents’ door, he paused, then swiped into the office. While it was late in the evening, seven thirty, there would always be someone working late on a big case.

Like Manny.

Somehow, he had to sneak in, grab what he came for, then haul ass before anyone got wind of what he’d done.

The heavy metal door clicked shut behind him and Smoke. After trekking up the stairs, his dog was panting.

He leaned down and held his finger in front of his mouth. “Shhh.” Instantly, Smoke snapped his jaws closed. Atta boy.

Voices came from the end of the corridor in the vicinity of Manny’s cubicle. He and the forensic accountants were probably still poring over Josh’s ledger. He was counting on them having made a working copy and securing the original in the evidence room.

Moving as quietly as possible, he and Smoke continued down the corridor. Halfway there, he stopped and stared at the tag on the door.

Evidence/Tech Room.

Getting in was a longshot. Since this wasn’t his official duty station, he wouldn’t normally have access. But as recently as a month ago, he’d been assigned TDY—temporary duty—to a narcotics squad operating from this location. He and Smoke had been seizing so much narcotics, he’d been given access to log in all the seizures. He prayed it hadn’t been rescinded yet.

He held his card up to the reader, wincing when the box beeped. His heart raced as he stole a glance down the corridor, but no one popped their head out.

Slowly, he twisted the knob and pushed open the door. He indicated for Smoke to go in first, then he followed and nudged the door shut behind them.

Rows and rows of metal shelving stared back at him. About two-thirds of the shelves were jam-packed with evidence, mostly cardboard boxes containing documents, or drugs, or…Josh’s ledger. The other third contained tech equipment that was valuable enough to be locked up and also required a signature to sign out.

Kade pointed to a spot directly in front of the door, whispering, “Guard.”

Smoke sat next to the door. If anyone so much as twitched on the other side, Smoke was trained to notify Kade with a soft huffing sound.

The evidence log sat ominously on a desk just inside the door. Agency policy required anyone entering the evidence room to sign in, regardless of whether they actually removed anything.