by LK Shaw
"Jesus. I think if anyone could be given a pass for being selfish, it's you." He brought my knuckles to his mouth and kissed each one. "Thank you for telling me. And for what it's worth, I don't think you were being selfish at all."
I smothered the yawn that appeared out of nowhere. The stress from the night was finally catching up with me. My entire body was heavy with fatigue, and I could barely move. I was enjoying his touch, though, and I didn't want it to stop. But we had a lot of plans to make tomorrow.
And despite Preston’s reassurances that it was just a minor flesh wound, the truth was he’d been shot, and he surely had to be feeling the effects of it.
I cradled his cheek and gave him a final kiss before pulling back. “I love you, but we both need to get some rest.”
He nodded in understanding. “I need to check in with Brody too. Let him know we’re okay.”
“Come to bed when you’re done.”
I trailed my finger down his arm and gave his hand a squeeze before heading into the bedroom to wait for him. Looking around the room, it seemed different. Preston had been in my room, my bed before, but that was before we were in love. I wasn’t fighting against him or my feelings. I was fully embracing them. Feeling like a new woman, I couldn’t help but smile and spin around in circle, my arms raised out to my side. This happiness was a heady feeling.
But the corners of my mouth fell as I thought about what had brought us here. Preston had been shot. He could have died tonight. That bullet could have taken him away from me. I shook my head. I couldn’t think about that. He was here, and he was fine. We were going to do what we could to find out who was responsibility for supplying Rapture, and we were going to stop them.
“Hey, I thought you were going to bed,” Preston said as he stepped into my room.
Forcing another smile to my face, I started changing into my sleep shirt and shorts. “I was just thinking.”
He joined me in bed and pulled me into his uninjured side, brushing a kiss across my forehead. “I’m not sure what you were thinking about, but if the expression on your face when I walked in was anything to go by, it wasn’t good.”
“I’m just worried.”
Preston sighed. “Me too. But we’re going to get the information we need from Felipe one way or another. I promise.”
I believed him. He’d been enraged yesterday after what happened to that boy Owen. There was no doubt in my mind that he’d get the information we needed. I only hoped he didn’t get killed in the process.
Chapter 26
A stabbing pain woke me. I twisted, trying to alleviate it, and the events of the last two days came rushing back. Who knew getting shot would hurt so damn bad? All of that went away though, because more memories of last night filtered in, and they all revolved around Landon, her secret, and finally our confession of love.
At one point in the middle of the night her mewling woke me. She’d been sweating and tangled in the sheets, moaning, tears seeping from her eyes. Her cries of pain broke my heart. Thankfully, she’d calmed at my touch and whispered words. I’d pulled her more tightly against me and although a few more whimpers escaped her, she finally quieted down. She’d remained restless the remainder of the night, and I’d barely gotten any sleep trying to soothe her.
My head tilted down, and my eyes drank in the sight of her. She wasn’t a figment of my imagination. She was still here, lying in my arms. No running away this time. Her blonde hair fanned out along the pillow behind her while a chunk of it draped across her forehead and down her cheek. Careful not to disturb her, I brushed it back, because I didn’t want anything to stop me from seeing her face in the morning light.
If this was what love felt like, no wonder people were scared of it. It was terrifying knowing that this tiny woman had so much power over me. That I wanted nothing more than her happiness and the desperate urge to not disappoint her. I watched as her eyelids fluttered and then slowly opened. She’d said she loved me, but in the light of day, would she pull away? It happened every time I felt like we were moving forward. I braced myself.
“Good morning,” she murmured with a sleepy smile.
“Morning,” I replied a little guarded.
Her smile faded. “How are you feeling today? Is your side okay? You didn’t tear open the stitches, did you?”
She quickly sat up and checked my wound over, her entire body sagging in relief to see that there was no blood seeping through the bandage. Her fingers lightly brushed my skin around it, worry etched on her face. I reached out for her hand and brought it to my lips.
“I’m okay, remember?”
Her nod was shaky as was her inhalation. “I had so many nightmares last night. I dreamed you were dead.”
“Aw, Jesus. Babe, I have no intention of going anywhere. You’re stuck with me.”
Her bright blue eyes shimmered with wetness. “Promise?”
“I promise.”
“Okay.”
“Why don’t you hop in the shower? I’m going to check in with the guys. See where we stand and where we’re going from here.”
She hesitated, as though reluctant to leave my side, but she nodded and climbed out of the bed. I crawled out of my side and headed into the living room where I’d left my phone after talking to Brody last night. I settled on the couch and dialed Victor’s number.
“Hey, man, how're you feeling?"
"My side hurts like a bitch, but otherwise, I'm good. What’s going on with Felipe? And what about the other three?"
"Cruz and one of the bodyguards are dead. The other one is in serious condition. A bullet nicked his liver. He made it through surgery just fine. Only problem is, he's not talking. He says he doesn't know anything about the drugs. He was just hired for muscle."
Shit. "Do you think he's telling the truth?"
"No idea. Felipe, on the other hand had some interesting things to say."
"Oh, yeah? What's that?"
"Well, after what went down last night, Brody, Pablo, and I got to talking. Your brother showed us all the surveillance footage he's managed to acquire on Elliott King and the guys you’ve ID'ed as Silas and Eli. So, early this morning, we took Felipe to the interrogation room and questioned him. Showed him the photos."
"And?" I asked after Victor paused.
"So impatient."
I ground my teeth. "Spit it out."
"I was about to tell you until you interrupted me."
"Victor," I bit out.
"As I was saying. It would appear that your assertation that there was no way King doesn't know what's going on in his nasty little club was correct."
I knew it. "So, how are we going to stop him?"
"That's what we've all been trying to figure out. Your brother wants us all to head to your office this afternoon so we can try and come up with a plan. Felipe is behind bars for the moment, but he lawyered up real quick when we showed him those photos. We offered a plea bargain. Right now, he has an attempted murder charge against him, in addition to the narcotics we confiscated from him last night. In exchange for more information on King, he's accepting a lesser drug charge. We're going to try and get as much out of him as we can. Names and locations."
"All right. Landon and I will meet you guys at the office. What time?"
"Brody wants everyone there at six. Pablo has also talked to his supervisor. Filled him in on everything that we've been doing. He’s working on getting a warrant once we figure out where the drugs are being store and processed. He also got his ass chewed for going out on the deal last night and not getting proper back up."
I winced. "Sorry about that."
"He knew what he was getting into. In this case, he said it was worth it."
"Well, I'll have to thank him later."
"See you later tonight then."
"You got it."
I hung up and went to talk to Landon who was just stepping out of the shower.
"Did you talk to your brother?"
"No, Victor. It looks l
ike Felipe is willing to give us King and his two guys, Silas and Eli, in exchange for them dropping the attempted murder charge. He said Brody wants to meet us at the office tonight at six so we can come up with a way to flush King out. I'm also curious to find out what other information Pablo can get out of Felipe. We still have no idea where King is storing the drugs or who he's getting them from."
"I might be able to help with that." She started getting dressed. “I'm going to head into the office and go through the data. For the last year I've been doing a lot of research on the influx of narcotics into the United States. I might be able to pinpoint a source. I can't promise any answers, but I have access to a lot of intel that might be able to help us."
I nodded. "That would be great."
Landon finished dressing and I closed the distance between us before pulling her into my arms. "I love you."
Her arms tightened around me and her lips tipped up. "Good, because I love you too."
“I couldn’t have done any of this without you. I think we make a good team.”
“I think we do too. I can’t wait to bring these bastards down."
Chapter 27
I hurried through the hallways of the agency, shouldering my way past several people until I reached my office. While I waited for my computer to boot up, I tried calling Crawford, but it went straight to voicemail. A chirp alerted me to a new email. I scanned it quickly and then closed the program before pulling up another one. My fingers flew across the keys as I filtered through all the date the organization had been collecting over the last few months.
We had several reports from our agents in Mexico about shipments making their way to the States, but we hadn't been able to track down any of them and stop them, so they’d slipped through the cracks. A name caught my eye. Holy shit. I ran several more programs, siphoning information from every report. Each one pointed to a single name: María Luisa Velasquez.
Jesus. This was huge. I needed to get this info to Brody. I hit the print button on several pages and hurried to the office printer. Snatching the sheets out of the bin, I turned and nearly collided with a body.
"Director Gibson, I'm so sorry."
“What’s the rush, Roberts?”
"I'm following up on another lead on Rapture, sir."
"What do you have for me?”
No way was I mentioning Brody’s name.
“Last night, the local narcotics unit made an arrest. The dealer in custody gave up several names, including the man behind the entire sale of the narcotic: Elliott King. The prosecuting attorney is currently working on getting other names and locations of storage units.” I gestured to the papers in my hand. “You already know about my confrontation with Mr. King. In the meantime, Crawford and Brickman started doing some digging into his financials as well as tracking purported shipments of massive quantities of cocaine that we've been unable to locate. Each shipment coincides with a withdrawal from Mr. King's bank account. And those shipments of narcotics have been linked back to a single person. María Luisa Velasquez."
Gibson's eyes bulged. "Is this the same woman who took over the supply business for the Juarez Cartel after she'd killed their former supplier, Raúl Escobar? Emilio Salazar's younger half-sister?"
I nodded emphatically. "Yes, sir, one and the same."
"Jesus." He ran a hand through his hair.
“Once I locate where King is storing and cutting the cocaine, we'll need to assemble a team to prepare for seizure."
“I’ll talk to one of the Federal judges and get him on standby for a warrant the minute you can give me probable cause. Keep me appraised of the situation, Roberts."
"Yes, sir."
He continued on his way down the hall toward his office. Excitement buzzed through my veins. This is what I'd missed being stuck behind a computer for the last year. I hustled back to my office, grabbed my stuff, and raced out the door. I'd try and reach Crawford on my way to Preston and Brody's office. I couldn't wait to tell the guys what I'd found.
"So, I did some digging today and you guys aren't going to believe what I came up with.” My leg bounced with the rush of adrenaline. I'd finally gotten a hold of Crawford. He was going to talk to Brickman, and they'd be ready for whatever the plan was. Now we just had to come up with it.
Brody and Preston exchanged glances of anticipation. “Tell us what you got.”
“María Luisa Velasquez is most likely the one supplying Mr. King with his cocaine. There have been reports of missing drug shipments coming in from Mexico. It's as though they've just disappeared. Somehow they're managing to sneak them into the country. Oh,” I held up the data I’d printed off. “I also discovered that Mr. King has been making extremely large withdrawals around the same time those cocaine shipments have gone missing. And, I finally got the chemical analysis of what is being used to cut Rapture. Normally, only one cutting agent is used, but it would seem that King is using a combination of two. Laundry detergent and Levamisole. Both of those are common cutting agents in and of themselves, but you start mixing them, and…”
Brody held up his hand. "Are you sure? About Velasquez, I mean.”
“Almost one hundred percent, why?"
He didn't answer. Instead, he began digging through the files and papers strewn about his desk. Preston and I watched him with bated breath. "Ah, here." He yanked a piece of paper out of the stack. "Do you have the dates of those missing shipments?"
I scanned my paperwork. "The first one was September 24, the second November 13, and it looks like the most recent one was--"
"January 8?" Brody interrupted.
My head jerked up, and I met his eyes. "Yes."
"That coincides with incoming shipments of beer and alcohol to the local delivery company that King owns."
"Wait a minute," I told him trying to wrap my head around this. "Are you thinking that the cocaine is getting smuggled into the country with the beer and alcohol shipments and then transported to King's delivery service warehouse?"
"It would make it easy. He has a large warehouse where the delivery trucks are housed at night. He can have the drugs taken off the supply trucks and put somewhere else so no one misses them."
"But that means he'd have to have people on the inside of his warehouse taking those specific crates off the trucks and moving them elsewhere,” I stated.
Preston spoke up. "My bet is on Silas and Eli. They could be the inside men. They'd have knowledge of the drug arrivals. King could make sure that they were scheduled to work the day those particular shipments arrived. If they’re the ones unloading the truck and taking inventory of the stock, they could easily remove those crates and hide them elsewhere. It’s also not a stretch that they would be the ones in charge of the cutting operation and then distributing it to Felipe and Cruz. ”
What he said made a lot of sense, but that meant King was taking a huge risk. "Do we really think that a man as smart as King is going to have a whole drug cutting process right in his own warehouse?"
"I think a man who believes no one can touch him would have his entire business in his own warehouse.” Brody pointed out. “Besides, I’ve taken a look at his businesses. The building is huge. The deliveries are made at night. The trucks are unloaded and placed in refrigeration units. The next morning, the delivery trucks are loaded with the beer and alcohol and delivered to King’s various clubs and restaurants. Then, the drivers park their trucks at night and go home. No one wanders around inside. It’s in and out. Which means it’s the perfect place to house a cutting lab. I honestly think it's worth checking out."
“When I talked to Victor earlier, he said that according to Felipe, he meets with Silas and Eli at the warehouse every time to make their exchange. Their supply stock up is supposed to be two days from now.” Preston explained.
I looked at Brody. "I talked to Gibson. He’s ready to get us the team we need to raid King’s facility, but we have to have the confirmation that the drugs are there. He’s going to contact a judge for a warran
t as soon as we call.”
His expression was serious. "After all this, I think we definitely have enough even circumstantial evidence to prove probable cause. Give him a call and see if you can get that warrant.
Despite the tension in the room, Preston smirked. “I guess now we get to go on that field trip?”
Chapter 28
"You're kidding, right? Did the judge seriously deny the warrant?" I stared at Landon in disbelief. Brody paced the room with a disgusted grumble.
She shook her head, her anger nearly palpable. "It's such bullshit. Apparently he said there wasn't enough evidence to indicate that the amount of cocaine in question justified sending in an entire team of DEA agents. Said it was better left up to Chicago PD and their narcotics unit.”
"Son of a bitch." Brody slammed his palms down on his desktop.
My anger was just as fierce as my brother’s, but his was quicker to fire. I tapped my pen on my desk. There had to be something. I jerked upright and the pen fell out of my fingers. "Wait a minute. Victor said that Pablo had already given his supervisor a heads up, and that they could get us a warrant as soon as we got a hit on where the drugs were being stored." I spread my hands out. "Well, now we have a location."
Brody wagged his finger. "You're right. Shit, let me call him and see if he can work some magic. It'll take a lot less time to get a warrant through the District Attorney's office than through Federal channels anyway."
While he made his phone call, I moved to where Landon was sitting. I pulled over the other office chair and sat next to her. I cradled her hands in mine. "How are you doing? You haven't gotten much sleep over the past couple nights."
"I should be asking you that question. Is your side okay?"
I waved off her concern. "I promise I'll let you know if it's bothering me. How's that?"
She tilted her chin in that stubborn way of hers, but finally she relented. "You better."