The Man I Thought I Trusted - E. L. Todd Page 0,78

anything in the first place, as a gesture of his implicit trust. I know things turned shitty, but he is a good guy. I think it might be a mistake to walk away.”

“But what about my job?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know what to say about that.”

“I already made the sacrifice once, then he bulldozed me.”

“I know.”

I turned back to him.

“If he just didn’t like your job, I would agree with him. But he is right…it’s really dangerous. And he even said he would put up with it until you have kids. His head is in the right place if that’s where he puts his foot down, over your kids. It shows he would be a good father. That’s what a parent does—protects their kids.”

“Yeah…”

Charlie turned silent and just stared at me.

But I didn’t say anything.

“I know he’s been a lot of work since you met, but I think he’s worth it, Carson. You’re so close to the finish line, you know?”

I ran my fingers through my hair and looked at the sandwich he’d brought for me. “I need to think about it.”

“Don’t take long. He seemed pretty angry the other night, and anger makes people do stupid things.” He grabbed his sandwich then left my cubicle.

At the end of the workday, I took a cab across town and stepped into a busy bar where I would meet my source, who had agreed to talk on condition of anonymity.

I was going to try to change his mind.

I found him sitting alone in the booth with a beer in front of him, glancing out the window over and over as if he were afraid he’d been followed.

I got my glass of wine from the bar then joined him.

He immediately stiffened when I sat down, letting out a deep breath like he’d been spooked by a ghost.

“We’re perfectly safe. Relax.”

He stared down at his hands, visibly distressed by this clandestine meeting. “Let’s just get this over with.”

I pulled out my recorder and set it on the table before I turned it on. I didn’t take notes because I actually wanted to listen. “Tell me what you know.”

He scanned the bar again to make sure no one was paying attention to us in the corner before he spoke. “I worked there for ten years. I was the chief lab scientist, and I was responsible for quality control and testing.”

“How much fentanyl was cut into the drugs?”

“Triple the amount. Far exceeding the FDA guidelines.”

“And there was no third-party scientist to verify your products for the FDA? They just take your word for it?”

“No, they do verify everything every quarter to make sure we’re compliant.”

I narrowed my eyes. “So, this goes up higher than just Kerosene?”

He nodded. “Why do you think I’m sweating like a pig right now?”

“Jesus… Can you give me names?”

“I can, but I shouldn’t. My identity will be obvious.”

I nodded. “But you do realize we can link Kerosene and the FDA in one of the biggest drug conspiracies in our nation’s history? Jim, this is a really big deal. The government will write you a check, and you and your family can disappear—”

“I can’t risk it. They’ll get to me first. This is all the information I’m willing to tell you. You’ll have to use this data and go digging yourself. That way, they know it wasn’t me.”

It was a lot to ask someone to risk their life, and judging from his disturbed countenance, I wouldn’t get more than this out of him. I just had to be grateful. “Keep talking. I’m listening.”

When I was finished with Jim, he left first.

I stayed to finish my glass of wine, to think about everything I’d learned about the biggest drug bust in history.

Now I understood why Simon Prescott had come on so strong.

I should be scared.

But all I could think about was Dax.

What was he doing at that moment? Was he home alone? Had he already moved on? If I came back to him, would he even want me?

I was used to independence and having full control over my life. And once I tried to share it with another person, I lost that control…and it terrified me. But that was how it had to be—no other way around it. Maybe I had to accept the chaos, the amount of work this relationship would take—because it was worth it.

I finished my wine before I left the bar and walked onto the sidewalk. There were a few people on the sidewalk but very limited cabs. But one