Page 147 of Exposed

Goldie presses into my side and says nothing.

Cole shrugs and continues to do what he does best—command the center of attention. “I know who everyone is. Marigold Carter, the half-sister of notorious cartel leader, Dex Carter. We’ve known who you are for years, but you didn’t jumponto anyone’s radar until you moved to Miami. Don’t worry. It took about two minutes for everyone to figure out you are not in business with your older brother.”

“What the hell, Carson? I explained yesterday that she was already pissed at me. I fixed that last night, and now you’re trying to fuck me over by freaking her out all over again.”

“Kingston Jennings, bitten by the love bug. I am smitten just seeing the two of you standing there together.” Cole stuffs his hands in his pockets and focuses his attention on the woman at my side. “Rest easy, Goldie. The CIA makes sure I know everyone and everything. And when pushing the boundaries is out of the question for me, I’ve got my wife’s co-worker here. Like I explained to your lover yesterday when he was freaking the fuck out that you ran away forever, my man Ozzy has no rules or boundaries. If there’s shit to find on anyone, he’s your man. He doesn’t know what a law is.”

“I know what the law is, asshole.” Ozzy looks from Cole to us. “But my boss, Crew, bought an entire satellite system so I can…” He pauses and chooses his words carefully. “Maneuver around it.”

Goldie fists my shirt. I have a feeling I know where her mind is racing. Before she can run away from me again, I move on to damage control since Carson isn’t doing me any favors. “Don’t worry. These are the good guys. They just don’t need warrants or judges or court orders, which means they can get shit done faster than I can.”

Goldie bites her lip and mulls that over. “I never break the rules. I’m the least rule-breaking person you’ll ever meet. But in this case, I’m all for fast and am ready for this to be over.”

“Carson doesn’t have a lot of friends, so when he asks for a favor, we get curious,” Ozzy says.

“I don’t need a lot of friends—just the right ones,” Carson quips. “But seriously, people only put up with me because of my wife. She’s the draw in our relationship.”

“His wife is the shit,” Ozzy says. “Let’s get to the control room. I’ll show you what I found.”

We follow them through the front door of the old farm house and walk past a dining room with tattered wallpaper and a kitchen that’s under renovation.

“Sorry for the mess,” Ozzy says. “Crew’s wife, Addy, has been on him for years to fix the place up. We started on the kitchen, but then shit got busy—you know, international emergencies. I don’t know when we’ll get back to it.”

We make our way to the back of the house.

“Whoa,” I mutter. “I didn’t know what to expect, but it wasn’t this.”

“Do you work here too?” Goldie asks Cole.

“No way. I work in Langley at CIA headquarters.” Cole holds out his arms low. “I’m more like a mascot around here.”

The room looks nothing like the rest of the house. It’s like something from a movie. The walls are covered with monitors surveilling so many different locations, I’m not sure where to look first.

Until my eyes stutter on a location that looks familiar. “The Pink.”

“Oh my gosh,” Goldie gasps. “How did you do that?”

“We don’t question the magic of Ozzy,” Cole says. “We just thank God for him every night in our prayers. Isn’t that right, Graves?”

Ozzy rolls his eyes but looks back to us. “Your brother has an impressive network. And it takes a lot to impress me. Remarkable, but not impenetrable. I found a crack in their system and tapped into their cameras.”

“I knew Anderson Marshall wasn’t an idiot,” I mutter. “I can’t lie, I’m jealous. You really can do what we can’t do.”

“I can’t even legally do this,” Cole adds. “At least not within the borders of our country.”

“Right after I tapped into their server last night, I started recording every live camera feed they have. I skimmed through when I got here this morning and found something I think you’ll find interesting.” Ozzy taps on a keyboard and goes through more screens of security than I can count. “Here we go.”

A video plays out on the big monitor that’s front and center. We all watch body after body file into Dex’s office and arrange themselves around a conference table like they’re a board of directors of a fucking cartel.

Goldie gives my hand a yank. “You didn’t tell me Rand was released.”

“Anderson Marshall too. We held them as long as we could. Tim texted me last night, but you and I were a little busy,” I say.

“I bet you were,” Cole pipes.

Ozzy ignores all of us and points to the seat next to Dex. “I’ve only been watching for a day, but I can tell that guy is important.”

“Anderson Marshall,” Goldie says. “Dex doesn’t do anything without him.”

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