In A Fix - Mary Calmes Page 0,46

of that, she went to Mexico to check on her friends. She figured she’d be safe because she was an FBI informant.”

“Until the DEA grabbed her.”

He nodded.

“All right,” Brig said, trying to get his bearings. “I get the rest of this, but why would Lane talk about Eston on tape? I don’t understand any of that.”

“Suárez has had Lane for a couple months now, and because she has to seem like a radical environmentalist, our undercover guy—I told you we had an agent in there—told her to tell him that she killed Travers to make herself seem hardcore into her cover. Having her show her commitment to the cause diverted everyone from thinking there was even the remotest possibility she was working with the FBI or the DEA. If anyone had found out, or does find out, they’d put a bullet in her head.”

“I see,” Brig said, sighing deeply.

“It’s a lot,” Dallas explained, moving away from me, extricating himself, like he was uncomfortable, uneasy, standing, tipping his head back and forth, as though he was trying to get his blood moving.

It had to be me. Clearly, my closeness was distracting him, lulling him, when instead his instincts should have been on high alert. It was so unprofessional, how I’d sat there, too close, like it was normal. I should have left. I was jeopardizing his safety, which in turn put everyone else at risk, but the Catch-22 of it was that I was there to protect Brig. Me being there was bad for Dallas. Me leaving was bad for Brig. There was no way to win.

Standing, I carried my coffee cup to the window to gaze down at the Strip, which looked gray and barren in the cold early morning light.

“What is the real story here?” Eric asked Dallas. “What’s going to happen?”

“The real story,” Dallas said, coming up beside me, “from what we’ve put together, is that Suárez is going to use Lane to get to Brig. Period.”

“Does he know that Eston’s not dead? Or that they have a child?”

“We don’t know for certain,” Dallas admitted, and I heard the resignation in his voice.

“Are Eston and Annie safe?”

“Yes. Lane doesn’t even know where they are, and won’t until this is over.”

“Eston must be climbing the walls,” Eric told Dallas. “I would if it were my wife.”

“Thankfully, the DEA agents in Mexico have a lot of experience with the drug cartels and how they operate, so they alerted the marshals, who took Eston and Annie into protective custody. This way, even if Suárez finds out about them, he won’t be able to use them as leverage against her. Or you,” he directed at Brig.

“So what’s happening as of right now?”

“We’re going to make it clear to him, when he contacts you, that there’s no deal to be made unless he hands Lane over.”

“Okay, good,” Brig agreed.

“We suspect he’ll be ready for that contingency and will ransom her back to you in exchange for a long-term commitment to moving his drugs.”

“But why would I agree to long-term anything once I have my sister back?”

“Because to get her, you’ll have to agree to terms, and Suárez will be sure to let you know that if you go back on the deal, he can get to you, or her, or someone else you love,” he said pointedly, “at any time.”

I looked at them over my shoulder as Brig stood and started to pace, the nervous energy, I was sure, like a live wire under his skin.

“This is a nightmare,” he told Dallas, shaking his head. “I could lay hands on my father, right now, and not regret the damage I’d do.”

“I understand,” Dallas replied, the slight softness in his voice letting me know that he wasn’t so jaded that he didn’t feel bad for Brig. “You’re embroiled in a mess not of your own making, a not uncomplicated one, and frankly, a dangerous one. You got good and fucked.”

I turned so I could see all three men.

“The good news is that, hopefully, you won’t be placed in any further danger.”

“I’m sorry?” Brig asked sharply.

“Well, unlike your friends, you’ll be guarded by the FBI.”

“Please explain yourself, Agent Bauer.”

“Your friends were all sent home this morning.”

“They…what?”

“They’re all gone,” Dallas continued, perfunctory, his by-the-book voice coming out loud and clear. “You, unfortunately, cannot go home and will remain here, in Vegas, in this suite, along with Mr. Foster, for the duration of the op. They have to know that you’re here, see that you’re here, partying,