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He pulled the chair around to her side of the desk and sat down. “Why did you come here?”
“Because I couldn’t sit in that damned office any longer, useless and out of the loop. When I saw the wiretap order on your place, it was too much.”
She’d known someone was falsifying something to push that through but even if she’d stayed in Baltimore, they never would have let her look at the intel. Coming here had been the only way to protect him, and now it looked like she’d done more harm than good.
“Whatever they used to justify the wiretap has to be some kind of set up that has a good chance of working. You’re all alone out here.”
“So you rode to my rescue.”
Hardly. She’d raced to her own salvation as much as anything else. “They wanted to move me. I didn’t have a choice.” But she couldn’t look at him when she said it.
“You did the right thing.”
He tipped up her chin and she saw the amusement in his eyes that lightened the admiration she’d heard in his voice.
“Don’t look at me like that.” She didn’t deserve his admiration. Her selfish stubbornness had spelled the death of an important witness. “We’re back at square one, with two more bodies on the pile. The cartel has their product, no evidence against them, and every foreseeable advantage.”
“You make it sound pretty hopeless.”
“It’s looking pretty hopeless.” She threw up her hands in surrender. “You need to face it. I got sucked in and blew the best chance of slowing the cartel’s advance.”
“The way I see it, Krystal was personal, Tim was insurance, and Mary Lou was business.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“It would make my life a little easier if you felt better,” he grumbled.
The bald admission, so typically male, brought a smile to her face despite her frustration. But she thought about his words, reviewed them and recognized the inherent logic. “You’re right. How do we get in front of this again?”
He shrugged. “I wish there was an option beyond waiting for the next truck. They have every reason to believe it’s still safe to come through here.”
“We don’t have any lead on names or faces,” she said.
“That doesn’t matter. The cartel can hire any number of people who need a few bucks to plant and retrieve the kits or components or the whole damn truck. The only consistency would be the rigs they chose for their private freight.”
“Agreed. With Tim’s notes and your fleet log, I’ve narrowed that down to an old produce truck and one license plate showing up on two different civilian vehicles. The exchange must happen during a routine fill up. So what do you suggest?”
“They’ve managed to exploit both of us, to watch us, and to operate right under my nose for too long. Now that we know what to look for it’s time to return the favor.”
A daring thrill raised those goosebumps on her arms again. She didn’t rub them away this time. “Go on the offensive.”
“Yes.”
A dark thought suddenly occurred to her. “Both of us?” He wouldn’t dare pull out the ‘protect-the-little-lady’ routine.
His lips twitched on one side, and the devilish grin she loved started to break free. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Good. First we should get out of here for a bit.”
“Why?”
“I need some fresh air and sunshine.”
“All right.” He gave her an odd look that quickly shifted into a smile. “I know just the spot.”
“Thanks.” At least she’d been able to do something right for Maria, she thought as he left her to finish things up in the office.
Chapter 13
