Page 41 of Strike Fast

“My night sounds more fun.”

“Depends on your point of view. Been a busy week, and I’m cool with curling up by myself for the night.”

“Been flying a lot?”

“Not as much as I’d like. Mostly meetings due to some reorganization in our department. And paperwork, which I hate.”

“Don’t we all.”

“What about you, any updates on the Ruiz case?”

“Still no lock on him. They think he’s back in Mexico now, and down there because of his money, connections and reputation, he’s pretty much untouchable.”

She grunted. “It’s so damn frustrating that we can’t operate down there.”

“Tell me about it.” Although the time was coming where the Mexican government was going to have to relax its policy on that and allow them in.

Nothing the Mexican officials had done so far had been the least bit effective in curtailing, let alone destroying, narcotic production or smuggling down there. The cartels pretty much owned and ran everything, and so much of the country outside their control was corrupt anyway, the only solution Reid could see was to bring an outside force down to help clean the country out.

“The analysis of the dope we seized came back a few days ago.” He had no problem sharing this information with her because she was a fellow agent involved with the case and had the same security clearance he did.

“And? Anything interesting?”

“The lab identified it as coming from a region about a hundred miles southeast of where the agency previously thought theVenenosoperated. So their territory is expanding instead of shrinking.”

She sighed. “Figures. What about that reporter? How is she doing?”

“Still in the hospital, last I heard. Hamilton’s been in to talk to her a couple times. She’s been giving the agency valuable information about Ruiz and his crew.”

“I’m glad she’s getting better. I can only imagine how badly she wants Ruiz captured.”

Wasn’t that the truth. He climbed to his feet, picturing Tess curled up on a couch with her golden-blond hair down loose around her shoulders. “I miss you.” It amazed him how much. He thought about her constantly.

A tiny pause followed the announcement. “I miss you too.” He could hear the pleasure in her voice.

He blew out a breath, aware of an aching pressure blooming in the center of his chest. “So, what are you going to watch while you eat your cheesecake?”

“The first Harry Potter movie, I think. Autumn would like that.”

He smiled. “Yeah, she would.” They talked about movies and favorite shows for a while, and when he heard her yawn for the third time, he took pity on her. “You go curl up and relax. I’ve gotta finish this up and grab something to eat before I starve to death.”

“Okay. Have fun tomorrow. Say hi to Autumn for me.”

“I’ll do you one better. We’ll call you from the car when we leave the park, and you guys can talk about the movie.”

“Deal.”

Reid smiled, determined to get down there and surprise her. Maybe Autumn could help him come up with a unique way to do it. “G’night, darlin’.”

“G’night, handsome.”

He slipped the phone back into his pocket and picked up the first quart of oil sitting on the foldable workbench, that damn ache between his ribs growing sharper.

****

Twilight was Carlos’s favorite time of night. The air was soft and warm, filled with the hum of insects, and the breeze was cool. Here on this little piece of paradise that he’d carved out of his portion of the cartel’s massive territory, he was free.

And completely alone.

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