Endangered Species Endangered Species (Time Served #1) - Onley James Page 0,62
conference room door, drawing both their attention.
Two men stood just outside, both the same height, dressed in dark suits. The one on the left was pale with red hair, green eyes, and freckles. The other was his antithesis, olive skin, thick black hair, and brown eyes. Webster clocked them as Feds right away. Unfortunately, Charlie did not. Or maybe she did. It was hard to say with her. She gave them her most dazzling smile. “Hey, boys. You’re new.”
The men both grinned at Charlie. “Hi,” the ginger said. “I’m Special Agent Fields. This is Special Agent Watts with the Department of Justice. We were told our meeting would take place in here.”
Charlie grinned. “Lucky me.”
“Charlie,” Webster warned.
Fields squinted at her. “You look so familiar. Have I seen you in something?”
Charlie slid her gaze to Webster before asking, “I don’t know. Do you watch a lot of porn?”
“Charlie!” Webster snapped, exasperated.
“What?” Charlie asked, her voice full of mock innocence. She picked up her expensive handbag and gave them both a hard once over. “Do you have a card? You know, just in case I ever need anything investigated?”
Watts eyed his partner with a smirk before asking Charlie, “Whose card do you want?”
She glanced pointedly at their left hands, raising a brow when she saw no rings. “Do I have to choose?”
Webster rolled his eyes as both agents dove their hands into their pockets, handing Charlie their cards like they were handing her a rose on The Bachelor. She looked at both their cards, biting her lower lip and smiling, before wiggling between the two of them. “Thanks, boys.”
Linc stopped just outside the conference room door, giving a strange look to Charlie and the two agents. He held out his hand, shaking with each of them in turn. “I’m Lincoln Hudson, I manage Elite’s LA office. That’s Nicholas Webster, our IT guy who started this whole mess.” Webster gave a two-fingered salute. “We were hoping to show you the case we’ve built so far and see what more you need to start an official investigation.”
Before Linc could say anything more, Charlie passed with Wyatt in tow. He hooked an arm around Linc’s neck, standing on tiptoe to smack a loud kiss on his cheek. “We’re taking the Mercedes. See ya, Daddy. We’ll Uber if we get too drunk.”
The two agents gaped at Linc, who just sighed and shook his head, gesturing for them all to sit, probably so he could close the door to keep them from seeing any more of the Elite back office circus.
Special Agent Watts stared after Wyatt. “That’s your…son?”
Webster sucked his lips in, biting down on them hard to hold back the laugh bubbling to get out. It was an honest mistake. Linc was in his forties and very attractive, if you were into that former Special Forces, built like a tank look. Wyatt was barely twenty-five and very delicate with pale skin, blond ringlets, red lips, and huge blue eyes. He looked like a pre-Raphaelite angel. There was no way he and Linc shared DNA. At least, not in the way the agent implied.
“That’s my husband,” Linc grumbled, like he’d had this conversation a thousand times before.
Agent Watts looked scandalized, but Agent Fields seemed intrigued. “Oh.”
“Can we show you what we have, gentleman?” Webster asked.
“Of course,” Fields said. Webster’s heart sank at the man’s tone. It told both of them that this was a courtesy visit, most likely brought about by Linc calling in a favor with a former military buddy.
Once seated, laying out their case took a solid two hours. They rolled out their information systematically. They showed the overlap Webster’s program had found, laid out their theories for how the scheme worked, detailed the inconsistent sentencing and even the miscellaneous monetary transactions going to and from the nine people they knew for sure to be involved. Neither Fields or Watts interjected during Webster’s presentation, their expressions just shy of bored indifference.
When Webster finished, Watts sat back, fingers steepled. “This is all good work. Truly. But it proves nothing.”
Webster blinked at him. “What?”
Fields interjected, like he didn’t want Linc to call his superiors. “What my partner is trying to say is that this is all circumstantial. There’s only the implication of a conspiracy. There’s no solid proof. It’s not that we don’t believe you but to go after judges and attorneys, not just for judicial misconduct but criminal conspiracy charges? We need an airtight case. Understand?”
Webster’s nostrils flared, rage arcing through him as he slammed his