Discovering the truth about Barry had led Jake to take up a similar mission of his own to right the wrongs in the world, only these days Jake was doing it through more established channels.
With the backing of a special agent named Walt Graham he had met during that crisis at the university, Jake had joined the FBI, graduating at the top of his training class at Quantico.
So far, it had been the best decision of his life. He enjoyed the work, liked the idea of taking down lowlife scum in all walks of life.
The politics in the upper echelons of the bureau sometimes bothered him, but he ignored that aspect as much as he could and focused on catching the bad guys.
He was good at catching them, too. He could have risen in the bureau’s hierarchy—if he had wanted to. But that would have meant playing those political games, and Jake was having no part of that.
He had stayed in touch with Barry, though, and even helped him out now and then, when he could without straying too far from FBI protocols. He was a straight arrow, to use an old-fashioned, out of fashion term. He knew it. Couldn’t help it.
So he hadn’t been surprised when Barry had contacted him through the usual back channels and requested a meet in that cantina on the other side of the border.
Jake, who was working out of the Dallas field office these days, had been able to take a few personal days to make the trip down here. Barry had told Jake to pretend not to know him, at least until Barry gave him a sign that it was all right, so that was what Jake had done.
“You could have gotten us killed, you know,” he said now, not caring for how irritable he sounded but unable to do anything about that, either. “Those cartel guys aren’t known for their tender mercy. That fat one wanted to cut your head off.”
“Nah, I don’t think he really did. He was just fooling, showing off for his amigos.”
“Are you crazy? After that he tried to shoot us.”
“Believe me, Jake,” Barry said, “if Pancho really wanted to shoot us, we’d be dead now.”
“You can’t know—” Jake stopped abruptly. He looked over at his uncle. The light from the motel’s neon sign painted Barry’s lean face in greed, red, and yellow shades.
“You do know, don’t you?” Jake went on. “You know what kind of shot that cartel enforcer is.”
“Pancho gets top marks on the range,” Barry said. “He’s one of the best shots in the DEA.”
William W. Johnstone is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over 300 books, including the series THE MOUNTAIN MAN, PREACHER, , MACCALLISTER: , LUKE JENSEN, BOUNTY HUNTER, FLINTLOCK , THOSE JENSEN BOYS, SAVAGE TEXAS, MATT JENSEN, THE LAST MOUNTAIN MAN; and THE FAMILY JENSEN. His thrillers include Tyranny, Black Friday, The Doomsday Bunker, and Trigger Warning.
Visit the website at www.williamjohnstone.net.
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