Page 11 of Fast Kill

“Yes. Headquarters sent over some security footage from Baker’s party. I need you to look at it and see if you can match any faces here to the IDs you pulled from the bank account info.”

The unease faded away. “Sure.” She scooted her chair closer to his desk and he turned the monitor to face her.

“I’ve reviewed the files you compiled from the IDs, but it’s always good to have a second set of eyes to look with me. There are rumors of some of the higher-upVenenomembers being present.”

Taylor didn’t say anything as he loaded the video. The feed began from a camera overlooking a pool/patio area at Baker’s luxurious summer house in Sagaponack. Since Baker was dead, shot by his pilot, his property had been seized by the government, along with all his other assets.

The entire patio was filled with men in suits and tuxes, and women in classy cocktail dresses. Taylor spotted Baker right away, wearing a white tux so he stood out in the crowd, his dark blond hair carefully styled. On the outside, he looked like the rich, successful businessman he’d presented to the world. How many people at the party knew what he really was?

“There.” Chris stopped the video and touched a fingertip to a man standing off to the left side of the patio, near what looked like a bar area. “Does he look familiar?”

He opened a folder on his desk and began flipping through it, then pulled out a piece of paper and turned it toward her. “Headquarters lists this guy’s real name as Javier Quinta. Better known in the narco world asEl Jaguar, enforcer for one of theVenenobosses, and known for his sadistic methods when he kills.”

“Yeah, that’s him. I’ve got him listed on a different ID though, under another name. I’ll trace his accounts as soon as I get back to my desk.” She grabbed a pen and paper from his desk and jotted down notes. “And what about this guy right here?” She pointed to someone standing a few yards behind Quinta. “He looks familiar too.”

Chris flipped through more pages, then smirked. “Good eye. It’s him.” He held up another sheet, listing a lawyer suspected to work for the cartel.

Taylor made more notes, a wave of excitement racing through her. Her job wasn’t normally this exhilarating. Usually she just chased down money trails and talked to a lot of bankers while working on the case. This was way better and made for a nice change of pace. Who’d have ever thought that she would enjoy a break from normal routine?

They reviewed all the footage from that camera, then the feed switched to another one, capturing a view of some kind of garden courtyard just off the patio.

“There’s Charlie,” she said, pointing as her friend walked through the camera’s field of vision in the cocktail dress she had helped Charlie pick out that morning. Little had they known that Charlie and Jamie would both be fighting for their lives a few short hours later.

“This guy. He look familiar? He’s asicariofor one of theVenenolieutenants.”

She looked up, her heart seeming to freeze when she spotted the man beside the one her boss indicated. Even without having seen him for so many years, she recognized him instantly.

Dressed in a black tux with a drink in his hand, he appeared to be surveying everything going on in front of him. His sandy-brown hair was a little longer in front than the back than how he used to wear it, his jaw more angular. But the rest of him was all power and hard edges now and he radiated an authority that was impossible to miss.

She couldn’t answer, her gaze locked on him, stomach sinking.It doesn’t prove he’s involved with the cartel. Just because he’s there doesn’t automatically make him guilty.

She desperately wanted him to be innocent.

“Taylor?”

She glanced up at Chris, who was watching her intently. She was still in shock, hardly able to believe what she’d just seen.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, fine.” She put on a smile and forced her attention back to the man he’d pointed out, but her mind was now racing, the blood rushing in her ears.

Chris was way too perceptive, however. “Do you know him?”

“No.” Not the man he meant, and she wasn’t going to volunteer anything more about the other. Not yet.

You just lied to a DEA agent. Yourboss.

She shoved aside the guilt and worry about what future repercussions might come from this, refusing to say anything. The reaction to shield the man on screen was instinctive and automatic, something she couldn’t control. She didn’t understand it, she only knew that her immediate reaction was to protect him, out of an ingrained sense of loyalty.

Dillon Wainright. The boy she’d always thought of as her knight in shining armor…before he’d allowed himself to be poisoned by the darkness surrounding him. Now here she was, faced with irrefutable proof that he was at least socially linked to Dean Baker, and aVenenoenforcer.

Her stomach gathered into a tight ball of dread at the possible implications. Because she’d promised to meet him in only a few hours from now.

Chapter Four

This was a fucking disaster.

Dillon had been up all night dealing with the aftermath from the disaster in the Bahamas and hadn’t gone to bed yet, so he deserved a damn drink. Or five.

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