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“Diaz! You scared the hell out of me!” she said, breathless.
“Where have you been? I’ve been trying to call you,” he said, eyeing her carefully.
“My phone is in the warehouse. I was sitting in the woods, watching the FBI. Someone gave them very good information, Diaz. They found the bodies in the barrels too.”
His stony expression was unreadable. “I know... I was watching them myself. I know who told them: it was Alex. He’s at Warehouse Three. I need you to come with me—I want us united, and I want everyone to see what happens to people who betray me.”
She looked into his hard, black eyes. They were the eyes of a man with no soul. No conscience. No fear of anyone.
Anna knew what would happen to Alex, just like Alex would’ve known what would happen to him if he was caught.
Just like she knew what would happen to her if Diaz knew the real reason she put on this performance every day.
“How do you know it’s Alex?” she asked.
Anna really didn’t want to witness this torture tonight. She wanted a cup of hot chocolate, fluffy socks, and to snuggle into her warm bed and watch a movie. But that was not her life, not anymore, and it hadn’t been for the past three years.
“I received a tip-off, so I ‘slipped up’ a few days ago, leaking him intel. The shipment they took tonight is mostly flour. The agent is going to be fuming when he realizes that...”
Anna wanted to know more about this tip-off. She studied him a moment but knew better than to ask more questions. She couldn’t afford to seem too eager—she had to walk the delicate line of being interested, but not too interested.
“Okay,” she said with a sly smile to match his. “Let’s go.” Her stomach growled in protest as she stepped away from her house, falling into step with Diaz.
She ignored it.
Anyway, it was probably better that she didn’t have anything in her stomach while she witnessed Alex’s punishment.
JACKSON
“Jackson, these are Diaz Smith’s known associates,” Will said, passing him a stack of profile sheets with photographs.
He shuffled them through his hands. They were mostly of men, but there were a few women—none of which was her.
“She’s not any of these women,” he said, shaking his head.
“You said she fired a shot?” Will asked.
Jackson nodded. “She was shooting at his men, not ours.”
Will pressed his lips together. “Describe her to me again. Diaz doesn’t keep female company—other than his girlfriend, Anna White, but she’s been loyal to him for years. She wouldn’t be shooting at his men. These women,” he said, nodding to the photographs in Jackson’s hands, “come and go. Anna’s the only constant.”
“Have you seen that movieThe Batman? The woman who played Selina... that’s what she looked like, but with longer hair,” Jackson said.And equally as fierce.
Will’s eyes widened as he seemed to digest that. Then, the corner of his lips turned up. “Catwoman?”
Jackson grinned, shaking his head. “No, I wasn’t imagining it. And she wasn’t dressed in a black cat suit... but her face... that’s what she looked like. I want to know who she is.”
“That description fits Anna, but... I’ve spent a lot of years working this case. I’ve never seen anything but loyalty toward him.”
People can change, Jackson thought, but he didn’t have time to voice it before his phone rang. “Jackson speaking,” he answered.
“Jackson, bad news. The entire shipment is flour excluding two bricks. This was a setup.”
Jackson blew out a long breath. “Hang on one sec,” he said, then looked to Will. “Have you heard from Alex?”
“We can’t reach him. He was supposed to leave the warehouse ten minutes before the raid, but he never emerged and I couldn’t find him during the raid. I don’t know if he even made it to the warehouse tonight. We have three teams looking for him.”
Jackson nodded, his stomach churning again as he returned his attention to the phone. “Agreed, I think he was testing Alex. Why bother putting any cocaine in the bricks, if he was expecting a raid?”
