Page 132 of Bossy Hero

Tomer’s irritation swells like a mushroom cloud over his head. “Look, I know I’m not the best people reader, and I don’t have Big Al’s or Leo’s legendary gut instincts. Nonetheless, I’m telling you that something is up with her. Maybe she didn’t tell everyone on the list, but she must have told those two in particular. Examine the facts. She was sleeping with ViktorandNikolai Lenkov, one of whom is the father of her unborn baby. And we know she was directing activities regarding the trafficking operation on Viktor’s behalf. An innocent bystander doesn’t do shit like that.”

Klein and Mia have no comebacks for that. Nor do I.

That’s shady as fuck.

Picking the pen back up, Klein resumes the incessant tapping.

“Oh, and another thing,” Tomer starts, his volume spiking. “The fucking jump drive Katia gave us used to have cargo ship routes on it. One of the names on said list is a director from the Miami Port Authority—Huxley Bowen. The one who always gets the virgins. If you ask me, it’s a red flag for her to have any connection to him. Given all this shit, I don’t trust Katia.”

“The drive didn’t necessarily come from the Port Authority, though,” Mia counters. “There are many reasons for someone in the bratva to have cargo ship routes. And we know Katia is stuck with Lenkov. She might have just grabbed the first available jump drive she found to copy the list before giving it to us. For all we know, she’s sneaking onto Lenkov’s computer when he’s asleep to get this type of information for us. That might have been his jump drive. Why are you so dead set on thinking the worst of her?”

Tomer fires back, “Why are you so dead set on defending her?”

“Because she’s been Lenkov’s prisoner since she was a child. I think she’s doing what she can to save herself, especially now that her brother has vanished from WITSEC, thus abandoning her and the rest of their littlefamily. It’s brave of her to work with us. She’s risking her life and the life of her baby to help take Lenkov down. To me, she’s earned some trust.”

“She was also strategizing with Skidmark about setting up new trafficking houses on the night I captured him. Helping them hurt more girls like Lettie. To me, that removes all the trust you think she’s earned.”

Mia puffs out her chest. “I don’t like that either, Tomer. But it doesn’t negate the other facts.”

This is getting out of control.

I flap my hands in a shushing gesture. “All right. Calm down. You both make solid arguments. Fact is, we’ve got lots of questions at this stage and very few answers. Only one way to fix that. Where are we on setting up surveillance on Katia?”

Since still-fuming Mia and Tomer don’t jump in with an answer, Klein steps up. “As far as we know, she lives inside Nikolai’s mansion and rarely leaves. We know he’s always scanning for surveillance, and as good as we are, I doubt we can breeze past all his security to plant bugs. Personally, I have no clue how to tag her phone or belongings unless we park someone down the street from Lenkov’s twenty-four seven and hope she leaves on her own. However, I don’t count on her leaving very often. I imagine it wasn’t easy for her to get out by herself to make the drop the other night.”

Tomer interjects, calmer this time. “She didn’t do it by herself. Someone had to drive that delivery truck that picked her up and almost ran over Sawyer in the process. And she was also out alone on the night she met Skidmark at that bar.”

“That’s true. We have reason to believe she’s got some measure of freedom.” I shake out the tension in my shoulders, then scroll through my tablet to view the lineup. “IfI can spare someone to camp out in the vicinity of Lenkov’s place, is there a safe spot for them to surveil? I don’t want one of our people to be a sitting duck. And I doubt I’ll be able to find more than one person for backup.”

“I can send a drone around there to look around after we finish here,” Klein offers.

“Be careful it’s not detected,” I caution him.

“They’ll probably suspect it’s the government if they see it,” Mia suggests, her head bobbing from side to side. “Then again, they know we’re out to get them.”

Not finding many options on the schedule, I turn to Tomer. “Do you know when Lettie’s friend plans to return to Georgia? I could really use Jonesy and Aaron back.”

He reopens his laptop while keeping his eyes on me. “Stella will go back eventually, but I don’t know when. Even if she leaves, we’ve got Lettie’s roommate, Freya, to worry about.”

“Damn,” I grumble, my finger rapidly scrolling through the lineup and turning up a whole lot of nothing. “I’ll come back to this later. It’s like a fucking chess match to move everyone around. And I hate chess. We need to find a better way to get eyes and ears on Katia.”

Mia cuts in, “I’ll take that, Boss. Let me think about it. Dust off my old CIA toolkit.”

“Please do.” I close the schedule app on my tablet. “Let’s move on. Back to the mayor and undersheriff connection. I need answers there.”

“What do you suggest?” Klein asks.

I alternate my vision between Tomer and Klein, my pointer finger following the same track. “You two, identify their immediate family members and anyone close to them. Split it up so you can work faster. Then, partner to look for connections between the two lists. See if they have anyone in common, and if they do, dig deep into those links. However, if you don’t see any commonalities, look at the people in their immediate circle—jobs, financial, criminal background, and so on. Maybe something will come up to inform our next steps.”

“Wilco,” Klein responds with a sharp nod.

I turn to Mia. “You’re gonna follow the money. Pull together a list of the mayor’s political backers and campaign donors. I want a deep dive into his financial holdings. Same for the undersheriff. Let’s find out what they’ve got going on, both in and out of the office. Perhaps they have some interests that align or intersect.”

Leaning back in my seat, I address them as a trio. “At the end of this, you should have a hefty list of names, among other notable data. Cross-reference it to the list of seventy-two. Let’s see if we find something of value.”

“Got it,” Mia answers. “That works well with what I’m doing regarding Lenkov’s financial interests anyhow. Good call.”

“I’m more than just a pretty face,” I deadpan.

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