Page 146 of Bossy Hero

“I programmed a speed dial button on that phone for this room, Lettie,” Klein hollers after her.

“Thank you,” she tosses right before closing the door.

“Those manners,” Tomer mumbles to himself, a grin creeping up his cheek.

Why the hell is he always commenting on her manners?

Scratch that. I don’t want to know.

The phone rings a few seconds later.

I tap the button, putting her on speaker. “What’s up, Salgado?”

“Oops. Still me.” Lettie giggles nervously. “I’ll hit the transfer button thing now. My bad.”

Tomer tries to hide his grin with his palm.

I don’t bother hiding mine. “You’re good, kid.”

Two beeps from the speaker signal the transfer. “Salgado, you there?”

“Yep. Sounds like I’m on speaker. Who’s with you?”

Gotta admire her directness.

“With me, I’ve got Tomer, Klein, and Mia, who you already know. And another one of my top guys, Shepherd Collins. We call him Shep.”

“Inner circle?” she asks, a hint of amusement in her tone.

“You can speak freely,” Tomer answers. “Shep’s read into everything.”

“Right. I still can’t believe I’m calling you for this, but here it goes.” She pauses for a drawn-out breath. “What do you know about my partner?”

I glance around the table, met with gaping jaws and wide eyes.

“Patterson?” Klein asks, one eye blinking rapidly.

Devoid of all traces of humor, she teases, “He’s my partner, isn’t he?”

Tomer leans closer to the speakerphone. “I know some about him, but please elaborate.”

“This is regarding the information you’ve been funneling to us.” The line silences for an even longer pause before she continues. “Normally, I perform my due diligence and then pass it off to him. As lead on the case, he’s the one who floats it up the chain and disburses it as needed.”

We already know this.

Rather than Redleg sending our evidence, findings, and intel straight to the FBI or related parties for official action, we’ve been providing it to Patterson and Salgado. They do whatever they need to do with it before pushing it through appropriate channels. In some instances, they make the arrests themselves. In others, our intel is added to a growing state or federal case against Lenkov and his associates. Keeps Redleg out of it to a certain extent and allows the law enforcement branches to partner as they’re supposed to do.

“We follow you so far, Salgado,” Mia encourages gently.

“Patterson missed a few days of work last week unexpectedly, which is odd for him. While he was gone, I attempted to take over to keep the ship afloat.”

Growing irritated with her slower-than-molasses pace, I try to hurry her along. “And then?”

“Well, I reviewed what he forwarded to the FBI in our last batch so I didn’t duplicate what was already sent. And, um...”

Her frequent pauses aren’t typical. She’s either being incredibly careful with her word choice or is conflicted about what she’s sharing with us.

My intuition twitches faintly in my gut. Is it because I don’t believe her or because what she tells us could put her in danger?

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