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“Is this what I think it is?” she finally said.
“If you’re thinking that it’s evidence, as in, the evidence you need to find in the MC’s clubhouse, then you’re thinking right,” Harris said.
“There’s… there’s no way,” Piper said. “There’s no way that you can expect….”
“Expect?” Harris said. “Expect what? Actual results? Of which you’ve supplied zero? Time to grow up, Piper. This is how the big boys play. If you want to go toe to toe with Navarro, if you want to stand up to that kind of evil, this is the kind of move you have to be prepared to make.”
“But…” Piper began to protest.
Harris decided it was time to shift gears, really lay into the good soldier angle. That might be something Piper could wrap her head around, the ends justifying the means in a righteous cause.
“Maybe I was wrong,” Harris said. “I thought you were ready to step up and be a part of the solution. I thought you were ready to play hardball with these cartel assholes, but maybe you’re not. Maybe you just wanted to play at it, play at being Naughty Little Piper in her motorcycle outfit, pretending to be making a difference when all you’re doing is wasting the Bureau’s time.”
“That is not fair,” Piper said.
“Fair?” Harris said. “Fuck fair. I’m sick of hearing about fair. You think Navarro plays fair? You think he played fair with those kids he killed in Juarez, that preschool he bombed? That’s the level of evil that we’re dealing with here, Piper. That’s the kind of monster we’re hunting. And if you’re not ready to do whatever it takes to win, that monster is going to eat you alive.”
Now Piper was staring at the bag, and Harris let her. He let it all sink in. The hook was in, the line was playing out. He needed to tire this fish, exhaust it before he could hope to reel it all the way in.
Piper was no idiot. She was smart, clever, strong-willed. But he had to do this, had to get her to comply with Navarro’s wishes, or he was a dead man.
“This can’t be the way that it works,” she finally said.
Time to shift gears again, Harris decided. Go back to being the supportive father figure.
“I’m sorry, but it is,” he said. “This is the real world. The real world, Piper, not some game where you get to go to war with the worst and most dangerous criminals in the world and somehow not get dirty yourself.”
“But there aren’t any indications that the MC is involved with Navarro,” Piper said. “Or anything else that would warrant… this.”
“Oh, this again. You and your white knight MC theory. Except, of course, we know they are somehow involved with Navarro, because the bomb that went off and killed The Warlords was C4 tracked from Mexico. So how do you explain that?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s time to get on board, Piper,” he said. “All the way.”
She was quiet again, staring at the bag. Harris forced himself to stay quiet as well. He had to let her talk herself into it. It wouldn’t work any other way.
“I can’t do this,” she finally said, dropping the paper bag on the floor between them. “This isn’t what I signed up for.”
It hadn’t worked. It hadn’t worked at all. He’d thrown everything he had at her, every manipulation, every lie and trick he could think of, and she’d stood firm to her ideals.
Harris snapped. Everything was riding on this, everything, and now this little upstart thought she was going to say no to him?
“All right,” he said, his voice nearly cracking with his anger. “All right, you know what? I’m done fucking around with you.”
Piper blinked, clearly shocked. “What?”
“You heard me. I have been playing soft pitch with you for too long. I can see that now. So now it’s hardball.”
“What are you talking about?” Piper said.
“Youaregoing to do this,” he said. “You are going to put that evidence someplace in the MC clubhouse where those bikers won’t find it. Because if you don’t, you’re getting left out in the cold. You understand me?”
“You can’t force me to do this,” Piper said. “I’ll resign first.”
“No. No, you won’t get a chance to resign,” Harris said. “You don’t get it. I told you that you were on the outs with the brass. All they know about you, and what you’re doing, is what I tell them. So you will make this happen. You will plant this evidence where it can be found off of an anonymous tip. And if you don’t, I will tell my bosses you’ve gone off the reservation. That you’ve been committing crimes on behalf of the MC.”
“That’s not true,” Piper said.
