Page 9 of Fast Kill

Her computer screen showed various financial statements and offshore bank account transactions for several shell corporations thought to belong to members of theVenenoscartel. Unlike many of the previous cases she’d worked on, this time they ranged from banks in Dubai, the UAE, Caymans and of course Switzerland. A lot of ground to cover, but she was making steady progress along with the two other analysts working under her.

Movement in her peripheral vision had her glancing across the office floor. A big grin split her face when she saw Charlie coming toward her. “Hey, what brings you to this side of the compound?” Normally Charlie was busy in the next building over with her Computer Forensic Examiner colleagues.

Charlie walked through the center aisle and stopped at Taylor’s cubicle. “Wanted to thank you again for all your help yesterday. Couldn’t have done it without you, even with Piper there.”

“No problem.” She cast a glance around to make sure no one was listening in and lowered her voice just in case. “Everything all right with Jamie?”

“Yes, he texted me just after midnight to say he and the others were on their way back. Well, to Florida. They’re due home early tonight.”

“Glad to hear it.” She reached for the bottle of water on her desk.

“Apparently Logan was injured though.”

Taylor’s hand froze around the bottle, her gaze shooting to Charlie’s. “Is he okay?” He hadn’t been shot, had he?

“Hurt his knee pretty bad.”

“Oh no…” If the injury was serious enough to put him on disability, it would kill him to lose his place on the team. He’d only been on it a short time. “Did Jamie say what happened?”

“No, but I’ll find out tonight. I’m sure he’ll be fine. And anyway, I came over to bring you this in person.” She held out a thick file marked Top Secret.

“What is it?” Taylor asked as she took it, intrigued.

“What you’ve been waiting for. Just came back from the cryptologists.”

She blinked at her in surprise. “They cracked it?”

“Apparently.”

Not wasting any time, Taylor set it down and flipped it open. Sure enough, there were the files Charlie had managed to transmit to her during the op to exposeVenenocartel money launderer Dean Baker in The Hamptons.

Charlie’s team only had a few files to work with. Except instead of gibberish, the pages now contained what appeared to be bank names, account numbers, fund transfers and names. Odd names.

“Yesss,” she murmured under her breath. This was the biggest break she’d had in the case yet.

Charlie chuckled. “Thought you’d like that.”

“Oh, I really do.” The strange names listed were likely either code or aliases—cartels had a thing for using weird monikers—and probably set up using fake IDs. Still, at least it was something substantial for her to dig her teeth into, compared to what she’d been working with up to this point. “I’ll get started on this right away.”

“I’d expect nothing less of you,” Charlie said, her voice teasing.

Taylor couldn’t help but grin. Charlie was one of the few people she’d met since moving to D.C. who really seemed to get her, and didn’t mind her idiosyncrasies. It was probably why they’d bonded so quickly, because Taylor didn’t have many friends—never had—and none of them as close as Charlie. Relationships were complicated, and given the chaos she’d come from, she liked all aspects of her life to be orderly and safe.

Okay, she liked it boring. But she had her reasons.

“We’re going to have a low key dinner at our place tonight, if the guys get home at a decent hour. You wanna come?” Charlie asked.

It was so early on in Charlie and Jamie’s relationship, Taylor would feel like a fifth wheel. “Nah, y’all should have the place to yourselves for the night. It’s technically your first full night in your new place together.”

Charlie sighed. “That’s not gonna happen. Easton will be over for sure, and probably my middle brother. Maybe Logan too, if he’s feeling up to it.”

The possibility of Logan being there only made Taylor not want to go more. She’d be seeing him soon enough anyway—assuming he actually did want to meet up for dinner after he got back. “No. Thanks for the invite, but I’ll probably be working late tonight anyway.”

Charlie set her hand on her hip and frowned at Taylor. “Oh, come on. If Easton comes then Piper will too, and if my middle brother comes then he might bring his girlfriend—and she’s even more of an introvert than you, even around us still. We drag her out of her shell as much as we can, so she’s slowly getting used to us all.”

Yes, the Colebrooks were a force to be reckoned with when they were all together. Overwhelming, actually, especially for someone as introverted as her. Taylor liked them all, but not enough to sit through an evening with a bunch of people she didn’t know, feeling totally out of place and wishing she was home with a cup of tea and her cat. “We’ll see.”

Her friend’s eyes narrowed. “When you say that, it always means no.”

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