AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“They don’t seem to have complaints about you.”
“Don’t sound so surprised.”
“You look good. Happy.”
“Working for the feds is much better than sitting in a safe house for a year twiddling my thumbs and binge-watching Netflix. But now that we have a trial date, this is almost over.”
“The trial is still three months away. It’s too dangerous for you to be on the streets of Los Angeles.”
“My condo hasn’t been compromised.”
“Not to my knowledge, but it’s risky to stay there.”
“The feds got a hotel somewhere around here.” She waved her hand to indicate the downtown area. “But I want to go by, check things out myself. I miss my place.” It wasn’t much—a tiny one-bedroom condo in Santa Monica. But it was on the beach, and it had been her eight-hundred-square-foot sanctuary for years.
“Not alone.”
“Not alone,” she repeated, exasperated. “Damn, Lex, I don’t have a death wish. You of all people should know that.”
“I don’t like that Dyson couldn’t get this motion quashed without you having to come back.”
“Yesterday I was on a video call with Dyson going over my previous statement, the evidence, everything a thousand different ways. We’re meeting before the hearing to cover all our bases.”
“Court—I should have figured that’s why you’re all dolled up.”
She grimaced. “Dolled up?”
“Slacks, blazer, blouse, makeup.” He grinned. “Court attire.”
“Yeah, well, anything to help our case. The case is tight, we have evidence to back up my testimony. These...” she waved her hand in the air “...theatrics are Chen’s attorney blowing smoke. I’d put my money on Dyson any day of the week.”
Kara took down an illegal sweatshop eight months ago, rescuing hundreds of Chinese nationals who were forced to work in horrific conditions for long hours. She’d been undercover as a clothing buyer for a big-box chain and was proud of her work until Chen killed her informant. Sunny’s death still haunted her, and Kara would never forgive herself for not pulling the young woman earlier.
You tried. She wanted justice for her family and friends.
Chen, the owner of the sweatshop, filed charges of civil rights abuses against Kara after she killed his bodyguard in self-defense. Though it was a justified shooting, Kara was investigated by the LA FBI, instigated by Bryce Thornton, who she’d butted heads with the first time they met.
Thornton had his hand slapped by the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility for opening the investigation into her actions and jeopardizing the case against Chen, but a reprimand only made assholes like Thornton more dangerous.
Chen was out of jail on a too-modest bail and had even put a hit out on Kara. Though it couldn’t be proven, Lex and other authorities knew it was him. To avoid being stuck at a desk or in protective custody, Kara had joined the FBI’s Mobile Response Team.
“Who’s the new guy, and do I get my old desk back after the trial?”
“Rob Becker.”
“He looks twelve.”
“You’re one to talk.”
“He’s the new Kara Quinn?”
“No one can replace you, Kara.”
“Damn straight.”
“He’s taken some of the cases you would have taken,” Lex acknowledged. “He went undercover with Pete at UCLA at the beginning of the school year, took down a group manufacturing date rape drugs in a campus chem lab. Just came off that case last week, lots of paperwork. And he doesn’t complain about it.”
“Me? Complain about paperwork?” She smiled. “As long as he knows that’s my desk.”
