“You don’t think he’s shipping this stuff out?” Agent Bennett asked.
“Check out the plates on the vehicles that have arrived so far.”
“One California, one Arizona,” an agent supplied. A second later, he added, “Texas just showed up.”
“Pick up the drugs from Mexico from those states and drive them up here to Montana. Let’s get those plates to highway patrol and get them tracking the vehicles on their return trips and see if we can’t cut off the supply chain from making yet another return run up here. Maybe they’ll lead us to where the drugs are coming into the country in those states.” Their little operation just expanded to three more states.
Agent Bennett was probably scrambling to coordinate everything as the guys from the last truck closed up the trailer and took off.
Flash checked his watch. “Under twenty-five minutes.”
“Any sign of Tandy?” Agent Bennett asked.
“Not yet, but I suspect she’s got the timing down right and will pop her head out any minute.”
“Team One, follow the rig. Team Two, we’re on Tandy.”
Flash couldn’t wait to see Tandy’s face when they took her down. They’d get all the information on the operation out of her. She wasn’t significant enough of a bust. They wanted Iceman. If she agreed to give them information, they’d cut her a deal.
Flash didn’t like it, but that’s how they did things. He wanted Tandy to pay for deceiving Cara and lying to her face day after day.
“She’s on the move.” Flash stayed in the shadows.
Tandy climbed down from the truck, sent one more smile up to the driver, slammed the door, and sauntered back across the lot to the truck stop diner. She went to the guy who came into the coffee shop all the time, dropped her purse on the table, leaned in, and said something to him as he discreetly stuffed a fat wad of bills into her purse. And just like that, she waved goodbye, picked up her purse, and walked right out of the diner and headed across the street and back to her place.
“Daryl and Tom, take Iceman’s man on his way out of the diner,” Agent Bennett ordered two guys from Team Two. Flash, Agent Bennett, and Agent Alvarado, who Flash had worked with many times, followed Tandy back to her place. They’d quietly take her down there.
Agents Bennett and Alvarado met him at the bottom of Tandy’s stairs.
“Take this.” Agent Bennett handed him a DEA jacket.
Flash pulled it on, leaving it open in front so Tandy would see his badge. He pulled his gun and held it at his side as he made his way up the stairs. The other two agents followed. At the door, he pulled the mask over his face to protect his identity in case they didn’t get Iceman tonight and he needed to remain undercover with Cara.
He pounded on the door with the side of his fist and shouted, “DEA, search warrant. Open up!”
Agent Bennett was ready behind him with the warrant.
A glass thumped on the floor a few seconds before Tandy opened the door a couple of inches to peek out at them.
Flash shoved the door open with his shoulder, planted his hand on Tandy’s chest, and shoved her backward into the small apartment and right into the thin wall separating the living room from her tiny kitchen. She gasped when her head hit the wall with a thunk. He grabbed her shoulder and turned her around to face the wall, then cuffed her.
“What the hell is going on?”
“You’re under arrest for possession with intent to sell.” Agent Alvarado held up the wad of cash and ten or so bags of drugs from her purse. “We’ve got you for selling in the lot across the street, prostitution, and drug trafficking.”
“No.” Tandy shook her head. “No. I’m not trafficking. I was just having a bit of fun. Someone must have put that money and drugs in my purse.” Tears streaked down Tandy’s cheeks, no more real or true than the words coming out her mouth. “This can’t be happening. He’s supposed to watch my back, not set me up.”
“The guy hanging out in the diner, hitting on the new waitress, and downing beers like they’re water?” Agent Bennett laughed. “The only back he’s watching is hers. He wasn’t watching you, but we were. You’ve got quite the scheme going. I bet that driver has no idea his empty trailer is now full to the brim with crates of drugs.”
Flash took Tandy by the arm and led her to the leather sofa. Too nice for someone who lived on tips. Her designer bag sat upended on the coffee table. Little things in the house showed how Tandy was living beyond her means if she wanted anyone to believe she was nothing more than a waitress. Someone might dismiss the expensive furniture and blow it off as another sign of Cara’s generosity. The name-brand purses that weren’t knockoffs, the expensive computer on the desk in the corner, and the tablet lying on the back of the sofa showed that Tandy liked nice things. While she dressed provocatively, many of the labels in her closet came from top-end designers.
Flash gave her a nudge to get her to sit. “Wipe the fake tears, stop the bullshit, and start talking.”
She stared up at him, trying to look past the mask and recognize what little she could of his face. “Do I know you?”
He purposely dropped his voice an octave when he spoke to her. He didn’t answer, but went to the open door, put his back to it, kept her pinned in his gaze, and let Agent Bennett take the lead.
“How long have you been working the truck stop for Iceman and his crew?”
“I’m not. It’s just a means to supplement my income.”
“Are you selling in the coffee shop, too?”
Flash wanted to throttle Agent Bennett for trying to make a case against Cara, but he understood Agent Bennett had to be thorough.
“No. I’m forbidden from selling in the coffee shop. If he found out—” Tandy slapped her hand over her mouth.
Flash had enough. “We know you work for Iceman. His guy comes into the coffee shop, you leave out the back, pick up the drugs for him and the information for which truck to hit. Right?”
Agent Bennett gave him a look to let him handle it before he blew his cover.
Tandy sighed. “It started off with just selling the drugs. I was already working the truckers. It seemed an easy way to make some extra cash.”
Flash didn’t want to know, but had to ask. “You started tricking over there day one when you went to work for Cara.”
Her eyes softened and filled with sadness. “The perfect setup, really. She gave me a second chance, but really it gave me the means for a steady income and a safe place to work. The cops hardly ever come out to the truck stop unless there’s trouble. But fights are few and far between. People come and go, but I’ve got some really nice regulars. Lonely guys who just want a friendly face and a little fun. It’s not like working the street. I meet a lot of the guys in the coffee shop. They see me over there at night and one thing leads to another and they’re happy and I’ve made some extra cash. No one gets hurt.”
“What about Cara?” Flash asked, anger in his every word.
“Is she in on it?” Agent Bennett quickly asked when Tandy refocused on him.
Tandy shook her head. “No. She’d kill me and kick me out on my ass. Please, you can’t tell her. She’s a friend. I don’t want to lose my place here.”
“You’re going to jail for a long time.” Agent Bennett leaned down. “Unless you help us out. Then maybe we can see about helping you out.”
“He’ll kill me.”
“Help us put him behind bars and he won’t get the chance.”
Tandy’s eyes filled with incredulity. “You really think you can get close to him. No way. He’s gotten out of worse and killed others who seemed out of reach.”
“Do yourself a favor, talk now, or you’ll never see the light of day outside of a cell again.” Flash hoped he could coax her out of her fear of Iceman with her fear of losing what she considered a damn good life here with Cara and her little enterprises.
“Where is the driver taking those drugs?”
“How should I know?”
“Is the driver in on the operation?”
“No. Teddy doesn’t know anything. Don’t you hurt him. He’s a good man. He’s got a wife and kids to support and he works hard.”
Flash couldn’t believe Tandy praised the man who paid her to fuck him in the back of his rig all the while telling her about his loving wife and kids. “So you distract the driver, the men load up the truck, then he drives it to where he’s supposed to deliver the empty trailer and pick up a loaded one?”
“I guess so.” Tandy shrugged. She wasn’t interested in anything more than her small part in things and getting paid.
Agent Bennett looked up at him. “Once the driver delivers to the warehouse, he’ll take the loaded trailer on his next run, and someone from Iceman’s crew will pick up their loaded trailer and take it to wherever they’re stashing their supply.”
“That would be my guess. I bet the other team will see the whole exchange and contact us soon with a location.”
Agent Bennett nodded.
Tandy leaned forward, a hopeful look in her eyes, despite the fact her hands were handcuffed behind her. “So you’ll let me go. I’m not part of all that.”
Agent Bennett shook his head in dismay that Tandy just didn’t get it. “Agent Alvarado will take you in.”
“What about my deal?”
“We know what’s going on based on what we witnessed tonight. Our team will pick up the driver and follow the trailer wherever Iceman’s crew takes it. We’ll get him there. Unless you have information on Iceman or Cara, you’re of no use to us.”
“Little-miss-do-gooder doesn’t know anything. She’s too busy passing judgment on all of us just trying to get by and get better. She works day in and day out for shit money. Her father could use that place and make her rich, but she turns her back on her own flesh and blood and scorns him when all he wants to do is help her have a better life than selling donuts and coffee to truckers and soccer moms with book clubs. She could make a fortune. We all could, but she’s content to wake up at the crack of dawn and break her back and thinks that food on the table and a roof over your head is enough to call it a good life.”
“It’s an honest life,” Flash pointed out, because that’s what he loved most about Cara. The money and power didn’t tempt her. She liked living a simple life and found satisfaction in a job well done and helping others by giving them a hand up when they fell on hard times.
“It’s a fucked life filled with hard work and nothing to show for it. I’ve got money saved. I’m not going to wither and die here alone like her.”
Something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He glanced down the stairs and locked eyes with Cara, standing there, stock-still, tears running down her cheeks, recognition in her sad eyes. He hadn’t heard her arrive, but she’d been there long enough to hear the disdain and disregard for all she’d done to help Tandy and give her a decent life. One Tandy threw in her face.
He turned to go to her, realizing at the last second that he wore the mask and a jacket with DEA emblazoned across his chest.
She held up a hand to stop him from coming closer, backed down the stairs, the tears falling in a cascade down her too-pale cheeks, made even more sallow by the yellow porch light. “Don’t,” she choked out. “You lied.” Her feet hit the pavement; she spun around and ran for the truck idling in the lot.
Her uncle’s truck. The man who wrote the threatening letters to him and others.
Flash ran down the stairs desperate to get to Cara before she got in that truck. She jumped into the passenger seat.
Her uncle came out on the other side and pointed a gun right at Flash’s head. “Stop right there, son.”
Flash stopped in his tracks with his hands held out to his sides.
Cara’s face stared back at him from inside the truck, her eyes wide and filled with fear.
Agent Bennett stood at the top of the stairs behind him probably with his gun drawn on Cara’s uncle. “DEA. Drop it.”
Cara’s uncle shook his head. The gun in his hand never wavered. “Stay away from her. You’ve done enough damage. It’s over. After tonight, no one will ever hurt her again.” He slid back into the front seat, slammed the door, and drove off in the blink of an eye.
Flash spun around to Agent Bennett. “Don’t shoot. You might hit her.”
Agent Bennett lowered his weapon and walked down the stairs to join him. “If they tip off Iceman, we could lose him or walk right into a trap.”
“We need to go after them. We have to get her back.”
I can’t lose her.
That was his last thought before a wall of heat and a blast of pain picked him up off his feet and tossed him several yards and dumped him in a heap on the pavement and everything went black.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Cara turned in the seat and stared at Flash holding his hands up to the other DEA agent, yelling at him not to shoot her uncle.
“That bitch Tandy has been selling drugs and helping your father from day one. No respect for decent people.” Her uncle pulled a cell phone from his pocket. “Damn fucking government agents mucking up people’s lives. I told you he was up to no good. He lied to you. He used you.” Her uncle hit a few buttons on the phone. “Well, he won’t get away with it.”
And just like that her uncle’s words came to pass. The coffee shop exploded in a ball of flames and flying debris.
“Flash!” She screamed so loud her throat burned.
Her uncle pushed her shoulder, making her spin back around and fall against the door and the back of her seat. “He lied to you. He’s DEA. Do you get that? All he wanted from you is a means to an end and your father as a notch on his arrest belt.”
She shook her head. “No.” She didn’t want to believe it. Because even though he didn’t tell her he worked for the DEA he didn’t lie about how he felt about her.
I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life . . .
No matter what else happens, when it’s you and me like this, for better or worse, there is only stark truth between us. I can promise you that much.
What they shared in bed . . . He didn’t lie with his body either. He made love to her like . . . it was the first and last time. Like it had to last forever. Like it mattered more than he could say.
I’m not staying. As soon as I finish what I came here to do, I’m leaving. That hasn’t changed. It won’t change.
Because he knew it would end when she found out who and what he was and why he had come here. He’d really committed to the part faking his arrest, spending time in jail getting close to Scott so he had a legitimate recommendation she and her father would believe and not question other than to verify Scott believed him on the level.
And the whole time he’d been getting close to her so he could take her father down.
Her head spun with all the thoughts and feelings swirling in her mind. She covered her face with both hands and let the silent tears fall. She didn’t want to believe the worst about him. He’d helped Tim escape his father that first day and made sure Tim wasn’t driving that truck full of drugs. Why? Because he was a good guy or to get close to Iceman?
He’d diligently worked in the coffee shop day in and day out. He’d set up her new computer system and revamped her finance and inventory programs. To make sure she wasn’t laundering money through her shop? Probably. But it still helped her. He could have just gone over her books and been done with it when he didn’t find anything. He didn’t have to go through all the trouble and hours of work setting up the new system. Of course, he probably liked doing that more than the tedious work of serving coffee and donuts.
God, he was a trained DEA agent. Smart, skilled, educated. He must have hated working for her. She knew he didn’t belong there. He was capable of so much more. She just never expected to find out he had another job. Another purpose.
And getting his life back on track wasn’t his goal. No, he had a very specific target in mind.
“This is
your father’s fault.”
She dropped her hands and turned and stared at her uncle, a man she’d known her whole life, had lived with in some respect for the better part of the last twenty-something years. She thought him strange at times, but she never thought him capable of hurting anyone. Not the way he did tonight.
“You killed them. F-Flash.” His name stuck in her throat. Was that even his name? Didn’t matter now. He was dead. Gone. They were all gone. “T-Tandy. She’s dead.”
“She’s not worth your tears. She got what she deserved. They all did. And your father will, too.” Uncle Otis shook his head and slammed his palm against the steering wheel. “No more. No more. He won’t get away with what he’s done to you. I will burn him and the whole damn business down.”
“They’ll come after you.”
“When I’m done, there will be nothing left.”
Her heart stuttered with the fear coursing through her. “What does that mean?”
“You’ll see. Just like the coffee shop, it’s all set up. He will answer for all he’s done. They all will.”
“I just want to go home.”
“No one is going home tonight.” The finality in his voice chilled her to the bone.
“Please, Uncle Otis, where are we going?” They flew by other cars on the road, speeding to a destination she feared would only end in more death.
King woke up with his ears ringing and his head throbbing so bad he thought it might split clean open. He lay on the pavement on his stomach and reached one hand back to his wet and sticky head, feeling the blood and goose-egg-shaped swelling on the back of his skull.
Agent Bennett sat ten feet away, blood running down his face from a cut on his forehead, staring at the fire consuming what was left of Cara’s place. “You alive, King?”
Memories flooded his mind, one after another like a slideshow of the last hour, landing on one image: Cara staring up at him, tears streaking down her pale cheeks. Sorrow and betrayal like he’d never seen filled the depths of her sky-blue eyes and shadowed them with a storm of misery and disbelief that would soon turn to truth when she had time to process all that happened and what it all meant.
True to You Page 20
