Raiden (The Kent Brothers #2) - A.M. Hargrove Page 0,1

the gauntlet of red tape, the request was approved and our first meeting took place. I didn’t expect the contact to be a woman. Gemini Wolfe, co-owner with her husband, Drex, showed up as the company rep. Her knowledge blew everyone away, and we hired WI on the spot. Gemini and I worked together for three months until we apprehended our guys. Turned out there were several and they were elderly men—ones we never suspected. They were currently in jail, awaiting trial.

A couple of weeks later, I got a call from Gemini asking if she and her husband could come down to visit. Why not? She and I got along so well, I figured it was a social call.

It wasn’t. They came down to offer me a job with Wolfe Investigations. Gemini’s throaty chuckle hit me when Drex posed the question.

“Would you be interested in working for WI? We’re prepared to offer you a very lucrative package.”

“It’s obvious we’ve shocked you. Your eyes look like they’re about to hit the floor.” Gemini patted my back.

“Well, uh, yeah.” I cleared my throat and asked, “Why me?”

Drex answered, “I’ll let Gem handle this.”

She scooted forward in her chair and propped her elbows on the table. “It’s pretty simple. You’re a damn good agent. You’re better than any of the guys you work with. You have a nose for sniffing things out and your superiors stifle you. Had it been up to you, you would’ve had this case closed months ago. Am I right?”

“Maybe, but—”

She stopped me. “We know. Red tape. We don’t have red tape at WI. We let our employees function with autonomy. If you’d like, come visit our headquarters, in Denver, where we’re based. We’ll show you around and let you have a look for yourself. Then you can decide.”

Drex added, “Our turnover rate is practically nil. I’ve only had to fire one employee and only because she was a mole, working for a terrorist.”

“Wow.”

Gemini knocked Drex in the arm. “Why’d you mention that? It was ages ago. You’ll scare her off.”

He shrugged. “Full disclosure. Add to that, many of us at Wolfe Investigations are former Black Ops, including myself. Some of us served in the military together. If we weren’t Black Ops, I make sure to hire the best of the best. I search for ex-law enforcement and ex-military people.”

“First off, the terrorist thing doesn’t scare me. I prefer to know those things ahead of time. Second, I’m impressed with your experience.”

“Let me interrupt you.”

Gemini raised a finger. “Let me interrupt you. We haven’t had any terrorist incidents since then,”

Drex eyed her. “Yes, we have. Besides, she has to be willing to work in that kind of environment, just in case.”

“Hey, I’m good with that. We deal with bombs all the time.”

Drex stared at Gemini. “See?”

“Point taken. So, what do you think?”

“I’d like to see your headquarters first and meet some of your employees.”

I flew back with them in their corporate jet, and it was a slam dunk. The place was magnificent. It had a room that held satellite images—which I wondered how they managed. They were to everything we had as a government agency, which I also wondered about.

“Is this legal?” I smirked, knowing it most likely wasn’t.

“We operate above board on most things,” Drex said. “Huff is our computer expert, along with a few others, and there may be occasions when he goes under the radar to grab information, but that’s all I’ll say right now.”

“I understand.”

That day, I signed an employment contract with them, to begin work in one month. My pay was astronomical, considering what I was making at the DEA. I’d get a moving bonus, which included all expenses paid, plus I’d get help in selling my house. If it didn’t sell, they’d buy it so I could purchase something in Denver. It was a Godfather offer—I couldn’t refuse it.

That was how I landed here, being WI’s newest employee. My first case had been locating a kid who was missing. His parents suspected he was involved in a drug ring. It only took me eight days to find him, using Huff to hack into some bank accounts I suspected of being part of the ring. The leader was laundering money, so as they say, I followed the money and located the kid. He was only seventeen, and they were using him as a delivery guy for the laundry service they ran. How punny. In the delivery truck, there were boxes where the folded shirts