Uncovering a dirty CO looks great on my career record, but does nothing to help Dove’s situation. All my pleas fell on deaf ears as I tried to argue that a key player in the drug cartel game is at risk of being killed. And if that happens, we will lose valuable inside information, so we need to get her out of harm's way. Meaning get her out of jail, but no one wanted to hear that.
So here I am, taking matters into my own hands. Again.
I wait in the shadows of the parking garage. Watching as high-level individuals come and go. Exercising patience until the high-level official I’m here for appears.
When the lights to Judge Morales’s Mercedes blink, and he’s an ear shot away, I step into the dim light.
“Judge.”
The expression on his face tells me he isn’t happy to see me.
“Agent Collins.” He speaks to me like I’m an adolescent and he’s a perturbed adult. “I saw you in my courtroom the other day.”
“Part of a case I’ve been working.”
“What do you want?” He looks around the parking garage uncomfortably. He doesn't want anyone to see us talking. He’s right.
“We should get in.” I pull open the back door.
“Fine.” He slides into the driver's seat.
Once comfortably hidden by tinted windows, I get down to business. I don't want to be with the judge any longer than I have to be.
“The girl you reprimanded without bail. I need her out.”
“Out?”
“Out of jail. She’s on a cartel’s hit list, and she’s in danger.”
Morales watches me through the rearview mirror.
“How do you suggest I do that?”
“I don’t know. You’re the judge. Figure it out.”
“I don’t like to get my nose dirty, Collins.”
His response makes me irate. I pull myself closer to him. “I kept your son out of jail. I swept my arrest under the rug.Ikept your nose clean. Now I am cashing in my favor. How is Terrence, by the way?” I taunt. “Keeping out of trouble?”
Last I heard he was in rehab, again.
Morales groans low and irritated deep in his throat. The judge is a fair and well-respected man, even by me. But desperate times call for desperate measures.
“Give me twenty-four hours,” he concedes.
“Twenty-four hours,” I agree, hoping Dove can last that long. Who knows how many more assassination attempts Raffi has lined up. The only thing that brings me any comfort is knowing how fucking tough she is. If anyone can fend off a pack of wolves, it’s myTiburona.
“Thank you.” I place my hand on his shoulder, relieved.
“Collins,” Morales calls before I get out of the car.
“Yeah?”
“The most dangerous thing in our business is a bleeding heart. You’d be smart to remember that.”
Spoken by a man who knows all too well.
“For her . . . I’d bleed to death.”
