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Her phone on the table vibrates, grabbing her attention. Turning it up, she reads whatever is on the screen before putting it back face down again.
“Can we get back to Decker and why he's being investigated by your task force?” I ask, getting frustrated at myself more than anything. I'm missing something—something big—but I can't seem to put my finger on it.
“We know he's got millions in offshore accounts.”
“That’s not necessarily a crime, or illegal,” I counter. “Suspicious, yes. But it could easily be a tax thing.”
“Agree. But how Decker got all his money is of interest.” She reaches over and steals a fry from my plate, her lips starting to curve into a cheeky grin before she catches herself and schools her expression. “Decker has been on our radar for about six months, and the FBI's for longer than that.” She puts the stolen food into her mouth and I fight not to be distracted by it. I fail.
“Let me guess,” I say, tapping my chin and getting my thoughts back on track. “Drugs, sex trafficking, money laundering… which one?”
“Maybe all of the above, maybe none. But we know it started with him becoming the Vegas underworld’s go-to guy to get things done.”
“A fixer.”
“Yes, but the fixer. Even with everything he’s suspected of doing, there’s no record. It’s all rumor and conjecture. He’s so good that there’s nothing to pin on him. He’s hired by people who want to stay clean and have nothing to connect it back to them. And by guaranteeing he can do that, he charges a premium for the privilege. You’ve met him. Would you expect him to be a criminal mastermind?” she asks.
“Would I pick him as a man who can get anything and anyone he wants with the click of his fingers and the flash of his black card? Definitely. A cold, heartless man who can organize someone's death and destruction for a price? I'm starting to think so. He's not dumb, Marls. He’s pretty fucking smart, actually. You said he worked his way up to the top. You've got to be motivated and focused to do that.” She nods. “And if that club is the center of everything for him, then I need to get in deeper and take a few more risks to find out exactly what's going on.”
“You have to be careful, Aiden. There are cameras everywhere and probably some that you don’t even know about. I can’t even wear a wire inside the club because everyone is scanned, remember?”
“And yet I still managed to get you into a closet unnoticed, didn’t I?” I say with a smirk, unable to resist. A thud from behind the mirror has Marlee turning pale. I arch a brow when she turns back to me with a guilty expression.
“He was suspicious that night. I thought we were made,” she says quietly. “That’s why I let him kiss me.”
A tight ring strangling my chest eases now that I know why she did it. That doesn't mean I still don't want to make sure it never happens again.
I shake my head, trying to get back on track as a huge yawn takes hold of me. “What caused you to go undercover and get close to Decker?”
“A lot of things, but mainly it was the new DA wanting a clean slate and a big case to close to start his tenure.”
“All this for politics? You know Decker will have big men in high places in his pocket, don’t you?”
“Of course we know that,” she snaps. “But we can’t have a man like him get a stronger stranglehold on this city. The plan is to cut the snake off at the head—”
“And hope that the rest of them fall or go away quietly? Don't you get it? There's always someone waiting in the wings to take over. Besides, if Decker's just another middleman, then—”
She shakes her head. “That's what you don't get, Aiden. Decker isn't a middleman. He's the new boss.”
“Boss of what?”
“Of everything illegal in Vegas.”
“What? No. He can’t be. He’s far too public, too flashy, too—”
“Obvious? Yeah, that's the whole point. He just doesn't care. He's the power maker and breaker. He brokers deals, covers asses, and takes care of the business that others don't want to. He was biding his time, working his way up, gaining people's trust, and doing what he had to in order to get dirt on those who stood in his way. Then suddenly he's front and center, the face of the hottest club on the Strip, the man with a different woman on his arm, who people want to be or be seen with. The man with all the money and all the power.”
“On the surface, he's a clean, upstanding citizen just living the American dream,” I say, finishing the picture that she's painted. “But he’s still ‘The Fixer’ while also running the Vegas underworld and doing it with his smiling face being on the side of Marquis.”
She nods. “You’ve got it.”
“So where does the FBI come in?”
“Money. And now bodies. At least ten of them. Missing persons with some sort of connection to the club, or Decker's past.”
“Wait… You said Mary was from Cody, Wyoming?”
She looks down at the file. “Yep. Population less than a thousand. Why's that?”
