by Carsen Taite
“Is she home?” Helen asked.
Peyton shook her head. “No, but I hear someone else coming up the drive. If it’s not her, I’m going to head out.”
“Maybe they just lost track of time,” Dale offered. She flicked a glance at Helen, and Peyton introduced them. “Mom, this is Dale Nelson, the lead agent on the task force.”
Helen shook Dale’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Dale. Any chance you could help Peyton here keep a cool head? She’s been pacing the porch for the last hour.”
Peyton shook her head. “I should’ve gone with her.”
The sound of the car engine was closer, and Dale raised a hand to shield against the sunlight, but she could only make out that the vehicle was big. While the three of them stood still, watching and hoping for the best, Dale listened as Helen offered words of advice to her daughter.
“The girl needed to be with her mother without you looking over her shoulder. There’ll be plenty of time for you to get to know Sophia.” Helen put her hand on Peyton’s arm. “Lily’s a tough one. She had to get that from someone, and it sure wasn’t Cyrus. I bet Sophia can handle any trouble that comes along. You can’t protect her from everything.”
Dale nodded at the wisdom of Helen’s words, but she sincerely hoped Peyton would never have to learn that last truth the hard way.
A second later, an SUV burst out of a cloud of dust and pulled to a stop right in front of the porch. Dale watched Peyton vault over the railing, run down the walk, and yank Lily’s door open. She couldn’t hear their exchange, but she imagined their words were laced with comfort and affection. She was happy for them, but couldn’t help but feel a trace of pain as she witnessed the relief of their reunion.
Peyton looped her arm through Lily’s as they walked toward the house and Lily called out a greeting. “Hello, Agent Nelson. Good to see you again. Mrs. Davis, I’m sorry I’m late, but there was a wreck on the highway and traffic was crawling. My phone was in the backseat, and I didn’t want to risk a wreck trying to get it. I didn’t mean to worry you.”
Before Dale could say anything, Helen pulled Lily into a fierce hug and said, “Don’t you Mrs. Davis me, young lady. I’m just glad you’re home. Now, I imagine these gals have a bit of business to discuss, so come inside and have some iced-tea with me.”
“Wait,” Dale said.
“What’s up?” Peyton asked.
“Maybe all three of you should hear this.”
“Out with it,” Peyton said.
“We got a tip on Sergio Vargas earlier today, and we conducted a raid at a farm over in Denton this morning.”
“Let me guess,” Peyton said. “He got away.”
“He wasn’t there. At least not when we arrived. But he’d been there and left us a present.” Dale shifted in place, unsure how her news would be received. “Your brother Neil was in the barn, tied up and left behind.”
“What the hell?”
“I’m not sure what to make of it, but the minute we found him, he clammed up, asking for a lawyer. I thought maybe he might talk to you. I can give you a ride in.”
Dale watched Peyton struggle to process the news that her brother, who’d disappeared after she’d caught him manipulating the family business, had turned up under even more nefarious circumstances. Peyton’s expression quickly changed from disbelief to anger.
“You should go,” Lily said, placing an arm around Peyton’s waist. “He might talk to you, and answers are what you need. Family’s complicated.”
Lily’s words and touch seemed to have a calming effect on Peyton who agreed to accompany Dale to the DEA office where Neil was being detained. As they drove into town, Dale couldn’t help but wonder what Peyton would have done if Lily weren’t around and, as she once again relived the pain of her own loss, she hoped she would never have to find out.
Dale waited until they were on the highway before attempting to engage Peyton in conversation. “I think he just got in over his head.”
“Neil’s always had big dreams, but he doesn’t understand having to work to make them come true. He’s the perfect pawn for a get-rich-quick scheme, but he’s also culpable for his actions. He has no one else to blame for the mess he’s made.”
“Like Lily said, family’s complicated.”
“Understatement of the year. What about you? You have much family?”
Dale winced at the question. She realized Peyton was asking about extended family, brothers and sisters, mom and dad, but the question nagged at the sore spot she feared would never go away. Maria Escobar, her wife and the prosecutor who’d held Peyton’s job before her, had been her family, her most precious treasure. Time had numbed the pain, but she didn’t think she could ever think family without feeling the enormous void Maria’s death had left in her life. She’d watched the way Peyton ran to Lily’s side at the ranch—eager to see her, desperate to know she was safe, affectionate no matter who was watching. She’d had that once, and now it was gone.
“Sorry, that was insensitive.”
Dale shook her head. “It was a fair question. I have an older brother and a younger sister. They both live near our parents in Austin. Law enforcement, through and through. Guess it only made sense I married a prosecutor.”
“I hear she was as tough as they come.”
Tough. Not a word she would have used to describe Maria, but it was true. Tough when it came to her job, but gentle in every way Dale needed when she came home after a day of watching ugliness try to take over the world. Maria had convinced her they could be safe in the home they’d built for themselves. That it would be the one place where viciousness of the world could not penetrate.
She’d been wrong. Their home had offered no protection when Maria walked out the front door into a haze of gunfire. The medical examiner told her Maria had died in seconds, but Dale knew when she was being pacified. No one knew what Maria had suffered, what she’d thought in those final seconds, how she’d felt. All Dale knew was her own feelings—anger, sadness, guilt, but most of all, loneliness. What Peyton had found in Lily, she’d had all that and more. When it was ripped from her, she’d known she’d never have it again. The job was all she had, and she’d vowed to spend every waking moment until her dying breath finding justice for Maria and for all the other innocent victims of the vicious Cartels.
“Are you okay?”
Dale looked over at Peyton whose eyes reflected concern. “Yeah, I’m good.” Peyton’s expression didn’t change, but she nodded and didn’t ask anything else. Good thing since she didn’t plan to answer any more questions. Maria wasn’t a topic for casual conversation. She’d grown to respect Peyton since she’d shown up to take over the task force, but they weren’t at the point where they swapped sad stories. Just to make sure, she took the lead and changed the subject. “Let’s talk about Neil. What are you going to say to him?”
“I wish I knew. Have you got enough to charge him with anything?”
“Not yet.”
“Good. I think we need to make sure he knows he’s free to leave and then go from there. I’m pretty sure I can rile him enough to get him to talk to me. He likes to brag, especially to me.”
“You really want to let him go?”
“No, but making him think we do is probably the only way we can use anything he says. If he’s not free to go, we’re going to have to read him his rights, which pretty much kills any chance of him mistaking this conversation for a simple brother sister conversation.”
Dale heard the rumble of anger in Peyton’s voice. “You’re really pissed at him.”
“He had everything he could ever want and squandered it. I walked away from the ranch, the horse breeding, all of it, mostly because I knew I could be happy doing something else, but running the Circle Six was the only future he could see, and then he wasted the opportunity with his schemes. We’re in real danger of losing the ranch if we don’t honor some of the agreements he made, but if we do, we risk losing everything we wanted the ranch to be. I neve
r should have left, and I never should have given away my birthright, especially to someone who wasn’t worthy of it.”
Dale reached over and placed a hand on Peyton’s shoulder. She got it. The passion, the anger, the purpose. Being on the job came with all of those, and she couldn’t help but feel she’d let her love for Maria distract her from the danger of their work. Part of her purpose was to protect, but the most precious person in her life had died on her watch because she’d been distracted by the desire to bring home a bigger prize. If she had things to do over, she would have… Hell, she’d been over it a thousand times, but she’d never come up with anything plausible except it should have been her on the lawn that day. Riddled with bullets, bleeding out, dying in the line of duty.
But she hadn’t died, and every day she lived, she could either regret her choices or make them worth something. She’d never bring Maria back, but she could make sure the work they’d done together continued so others could be spared. She wouldn’t let anything get in the way of running to ground every last drug dealer and anyone who helped them, which led her to bring up a subject she’d been dreading. “Peyton, I get the whole thing with your brother, and I know it was my idea that you come down and talk to him, but at some point we should talk about how you’re going to handle Cyrus Gantry. If you’re prosecuting his case, then folks are going to call the entire prosecution into question based on your relationship with his daughter.”
Peyton didn’t respond at first, but Dale waited out the silence, determined to get some answers. Maybe Peyton would think she’d overstepped, but she wasn’t about to let the AUSA’s love life muck up the investigation she’d dedicated her every waking moment to.
“You’re right, and the Vargas connection is a problem too,” Peyton said. “I’ve got to steer clear of the cases against all of them, and I will.”
“Good. Who’s taking your place?”
“Well, I’m not quitting the task force entirely. I’ll work on some tangential cases, but I’m going to recommend that Bianca take the lead on the case against Cyrus and the Vargas brothers.”
“She’s a little green, don’t you think?” Dale asked, unsure if replacing a conflicted prosecutor with an inexperienced one was the best solution.
“There’s only one way she’s going to learn. I get how important this is, and I promise, if I didn’t think she was ready, I would be the first to say so. Trust me on this just like I’m trusting you to make sure this case remains the number one priority for the task force.”
“You don’t have to worry about me.” Dale pulled into the parking lot of the Dallas division of the DEA where Neil was being held. “I don’t plan on letting anything get in the way.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Lindsey pointed at the nondescript building to the right. “That’s the address.”
Jed Larabee, the sound engineer she’d chosen for the team, made a sharp turn into the parking lot, and Lindsey consulted her notes one last time before they arrived at the field office for the Dallas DEA. Larry hadn’t provided much in the way of guidance for what the network wanted for the story, and she had only two bullet points as a guide: the DEA’s drug Take-Back Initiative and the recent shakedown of synthetic drug suppliers. Yawn. Based on her research of crime stats in the area, this stuff was fluff and she’d said as much to Elaina on the flight from New York.
Elaina’s response was pure company line: “People aren’t just interested in hearing about violent crimes. They want to know about things that affect everyday situations. Prescription drugs and what their kids are buying at the local smoke shops may not be interesting to you, but they are important topics to our viewers.”
Her question and Elaina’s answer had been the sum total of conversation they’d shared on the trip down, and she’d been relieved to drop Elaina at the hotel with Alice while she and Jed did some reconnaissance for the filming they’d start in a couple of days.
“This building’s beyond boring,” Jed said. “I’ll let Elaina know so she can start looking for some other landmark to film for the opening shots.”
Lindsey nodded. He was right. The brick facade signaled office building rather than the home of a bunch of badass cops hunting down drug lords. Even if the subject matter for this piece was dry, they’d need something exciting for the ad clips if they wanted to get anyone to tune in. She made a note and then closed her notebook. “I have a feeling this entire assignment is going to be boring. Thanks for agreeing to come along.”
“Thanks for picking me. I’ll go along with dull every once in a while because you’ll be more likely to grab me for the next juicy one, which I’m hoping is vintage Ryan. Cool?”
Lindsey smiled. “Cool.” Her reputation for digging deep to get the meaty stories was legend, and it felt good to have most of her crew on board for more significant work. With the exception of Elaina. Once upon a time, Elaina had worried less about pacifying everyone and been more interested in real news. They never would have gotten together if that hadn’t been the case, but nowadays, Elaina was a network lackey, hesitant to buck the system, which was likely why Larry had handpicked her for this assignment.
Well, she’d been handpicked too, and Larry and everyone else at the network should know by now what they were getting when they put her in charge of a project. She’d do this piece because she owed Larry one, but after that, she was going to find something substantial to wrap her brain around. She put her hand on the door handle. “Let’s go get this over with.”
A few minutes later, she and Jed were sitting in a conference room with Special Agent in Charge Hector Diego. The DEA had rolled out the red carpet, complete with an array of sandwiches, miniature desserts, and a large selection of soft drinks, and she was disappointed they’d eaten before they’d arrived. Lindsey had conducted dozens of police station interviews in her career, and she’d never been greeted by catered food. The happenstance raised her antennae, and she stayed on guard as she introduced Jed and discussed what they hoped to learn on this visit.
“Jed will need to check out the areas where we will be conducting interviews to determine what kind of equipment we need. For my purposes today, I just want to get a feel for the office and meet a few of the people I’ll be interviewing so I can formulate a schedule. I anticipate we’ll start filming interviews tomorrow or the next day if that works for you.”
“Of course, of course. Whatever you need.” Diego shoved a binder with an official DEA seal on the front, across his desk to her. “The network sent a list of topics you plan to cover while you are here, and we have no issues with providing you full access regarding the specified areas. You’ll want to interview some of the local agencies that assist with the program as well. Here’s some background information to help you focus your questions.”
Lindsey bristled at his conclusory tone, but tried not to let her reaction show. Clearly, Diego was intent on directing her efforts and making sure she stayed within the agreed upon bounds. She’d expected as much, but now that she was here, close to where many other more significant investigations were being conducted, her promise to curtail her natural curiosity was stifling. If she didn’t find something to pique her interest, how could she expect to keep viewers interested?
An idea popped into her head, and she shot a look at Jed, trusting he wouldn’t rat her out for going off script. “Thanks, Agent Diego.” She tapped her fingers on the binder. “I’ve reviewed a lot of the material already, but I’m sure this will be helpful as well. You know what else would be particularly helpful?”
He cocked his head. “What?”
“A liaison.” Lindsey leaned forward in her chair and assumed her best I’m just a silly woman and I could use help from a big, strong man like yourself posture. “I know your entire agency is probably overburdened by all of the organized crime activity in the area, but if there was any way you could spare an agent who could, I don’t know, kind of oversee this project and guide us through the interviews, I think we could have a much mo
re polished final product. What do you think?” Batting her eyes would be too much, so she punctuated her question with what she hoped was a pleasant, yet hopeful, smile.
Diego shifted in his seat. “Well, I guess that’s a good idea. I had one of our secretaries lined up to help with coordinating interviews, but an agent might be more help to you. In fact, I have an idea of someone we could use, and I think she’s here right now. Hang on. I’ll be right back.”
Jed barely waited until Diego left the room before he burst into laughter. “Thanks for the bonus. I had no idea I was going to get a glimpse of Lindsey Ryan, distressed reporter in search of a savior. Pretty smooth.”
She smacked him on the arm. “Shut up.” She pointed at the ceiling and whispered. “Someone’s probably listening. I just figured he’d assign us some rookie who might accidentally tell us something way more interesting than the stats we can read on DEA.gov.”
“Good plan. I’ll cross my fingers.”
They didn’t have to wait long. Within ten minutes, Diego was back. At first it appeared as though he was alone, but when he cleared the threshold, another figure filled the doorway. She was tall and rangy, dressed in skin-hugging Levi’s, a tight black T-shirt, and black leather boots. The stranger tugged off her sunglasses, and Lindsey sucked in a breath at the sight of her stormy blue eyes. Fiercely dark, they telegraphed depth and danger.
“Ms. Ryan, Mr. Larabee, I’d like to introduce Special Agent Dale Nelson. She’s been with the agency for a number of years and knows everyone here. Agent Nelson will be at your disposal during the term of your stay. I’m sure you’ll let me know if you need anything else.”
Without another word, he was gone, leaving them with Agent Dark and Handsome. Lindsey tried not to stare, instead launching into the first question that came to mind. “He just surprised you with this, didn’t he? I mean, you must’ve just walked in seeing as how you still had your sunglasses on when…” Lindsey stopped talking, certain she was rambling and sure she was making a horrible first impression.