hotel they'd reserved for her, the names of local DEA agents she'd be working with for the next few days, and a few pieces of intelligence that had come in during her flight. The only surprise was the fact that Sonny's trip to Miami had been delayed by four days. He'd leave the militia compound the same day Savendra was scheduled to return. Maybe they didn't like too many people to be off the compound at the same time.
“So, what's the plan?” Ty asked when he finished giving her the details.
“I'll go to the regional office, meet the agents, and then scout the area. Savendra doesn't come in until this time tomorrow, so I have plenty of time to check things out.”
“Go to Mamarita's for dinner, if you have a chance,” Ty suggested. “It's the best Mexican in town.”
As far as Dani was concerned, good Mexican food was the best thing Southern California had to offer.
“What's the address?”
“It's in your email already,” he answered. “Marmie told me how much you like Mexican food—figured we'd toss it in the reports we sent.”
“I have high standards, so don't get offended if I don't like it.” She was only partly teasing. After spending a couple of months in Mexico on three separate occasions, her standards were high. But, outside of Mexico, she was pretty easy to please.
“Well then, when this is all over, I'll take you to a little place near my parents' place in Taos. You'll love it.”
Dani almost drove off the road.
“Ty,” she half-warned.
“Gotta go, Drew's giving me the stink eye. I think I blew my chance to give you any more updates. I'll talk to you later.” Ty ended the call. Dani pulled the phone from her ear, looked at like it might bite her, sighed, and tossed it onto the empty seat.
* * *
An hour and a half later, most of which was spent in traffic, Dani was sitting across from Agent Alicia Gordon in the San Diego field office of the DEA. Both women were watching the figure of Agent Jeffery Diamond disappear down the hallway in a huff.
“Whose puppy did you kick to get him for a partner?” Dani asked.
“Just another day on the life of a pregnant DEA agent,” Agent Gordon replied with good-humored resignation—which was more than Dani would have been able to muster.
Dani turned her attention back to the woman sitting at the table. Agent Gordon was a few years older than her, and about six months pregnant. True, Dani wouldn't want her on a high-risk stake out or other physically demanding assignment, but Agent Gordon's attractive face held eyes that were intelligent and sharp. Dani would bet, hands down, that even six months pregnant, Alicia Gordon was the better agent.
“I'm not sure about the wisdom of partnering up a misogynistic SOB with a pregnant woman. What did they think that would accomplish?” Dani asked. Agent Diamond had done nothing but insult her intelligence and ogle her breasts for the past thirty minutes. Well, to be fair, he also ogled her legs. She wished Ty was there. It would be funny to watch Ty do his he-man thing.
“Yeah well, I have to stick to desk work or—” she added with a nod to the Savendra file, “low risk surveillance. Diamond is already skating on thin ice, that's why we're assigned together; they needed to get him off the streets for a while. He has no idea what a bad move it is to go complain to the captain right now.”
As if on cue, Dani and Agent Gordon heard the captain yelling, a short scuffle that sounded like a chair being knocked over, and then a door slamming. Dani cast Alicia a look and they both burst out laughing.
“So what'd he do? Do I need to worry about him?” Dani asked, before Diamond made it back to the room.
“Nah, not like that. He's good at surveillance. He's not a loose cannon or anything like that—he won't go cowboy on you. In fact, it's more like the opposite. He's a bit terrified of guns, so try not to get in his line of fire if it ever comes to that.”
“Did I miss any makeup secrets?” The man in question sneered as he walked into the room. Dani glanced at Alicia who shrugged.
“No, but I have a report I'd like you to run,” Dani replied, off the cuff. She didn't want to spend a second more with this man than she had to.