Page 58 of Hidden Ascent

Isla suckedup the dregs of the vanilla milkshake she’d gotten before they’d arrived back at Peter’s. She was lounging on the couch in sweatpants and a baggy shirt, and Jay thought she couldn’t get any more adorable. If circumstances had been different, he wouldn’t be sitting in a chair across the room.

“Do you really have to do that?” he said after an extended slurp.

“I’m almost done.”

“Almost? From the sounds of it, there isn’t anything left in that cup. All you’re doing is removing any remnant of moisture from the cardboard.”

“I’m not wasting a drop. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had a milkshake?”

“That’s what you said when you bought it. I’m surprised you didn’t go for soft serve.”

“I haven’t had one since my dad.”

“So, the attorney general helped you escape from jail,” Peter said as he entered the living room. “Mission accomplished. Even if things didn’t turn out how you expected. You’ve at least gained Whitlock’s trust.”

“I sure hope so,” Isla said, setting her empty cup on the floor.

“I think we’ve moved past hope,” Jay said. “Whitlock isn’t a part of the conspiracy, and he’s on our side.”

“But it doesn’t bring us any closer to getting answers,” Isla said. “And I don’t want to risk contacting him until everything settles down. The last thing I want to do is get him in trouble. Or worse, get him killed. Baker will try to find out how I got set free from the police station.”

“I don’t think he’d make a move as big as killing him. That would draw too much attention. He’ll wait to see how things pan out.”

“Unfortunately, we don’t have time to do the same. If we’re going to bring these guys down, we need to find names and evidence now. My team was murdered to hide something. Now that I’m free, they’ll do what they need to in order to protect themselves.”

“One thing we know is there’s no one left in the DEA to get information from,” Jay said. “Tell me about the members of your team. How were they chosen?”

“The team itself was already put together. Hugo, the team leader, stumbled across some intel. When he brought it to Fogarty, Fogarty immediately brought Baker in. We were told it was a matter of national security, so we didn’t question his involvement. And we were told that keeping it confidential was of the utmost importance. So we spoke to no one else. That’s when Baker began putting together the operation. He set us up.” Isla’s shoulders slumped. “And Fogarty went along with it.”

“So Baker was sent in to fix it.”

Jay looked at her, but when they made eye contact, she looked at the fire.

“Isla, I hope you know I would never be a part of something like that. I know I said I get hired to fix things. But not things like that.”

“I know you wouldn’t do anything like that now.”

“Not now. Not ever. That’s not what I used to do. That’s not who I’ve ever been.”

She nodded but continued staring into the fire. “All we have is dead ends.”

“Not necessarily. We won’t get anywhere with Baker, but tell me more about this operation. Who was it you guys were after? What was the intel?”

“It doesn’t matter. Baker would have already destroyed the file.”

“I’m sure he has, but maybe we can come in from the other side.”

“What do you mean?”

“Whoever it was you were after, they’re connected to federal agents.”

“And you think they’ll tell us if we ask nicely?”

“I don’t know. You haven’t told me who they are yet.”

“Not that it makes any difference, but they’re a group working out of the docks. They’ve been known to police for years, but Hugo had an informant that told him they’d recently stepped up their game. That got our attention.”

“Why?”

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