Page 85 of The Hacker
She glanced down to see a splotch of red on the turquoise fabric over her chest and shoulder. “Don’t worry. It’s all yours.”
Her Work It Out shirt reminded her of something she needed to know. She turned to Tully. “Is Ramón involved in the arms dealing?”
Tully shrugged. “It’s hard to get any sense out of Vicky right now, so I don’t know. She’s batshit crazy. Pardon my language.”
“We’ll find out when we question her,” Agent Wertz said, his voice hard and confident. “I’ll make sure to pass the information along to Mr. Gibson.”
“May I talk to her about Ramón before you take her away?” Dawn was afraid she would regret it but she couldn’t bear thinking the worst of her mentor.
The agent hesitated a moment before he nodded. “I think we owe you that.”
“No!” Leland snapped. “I don’t want you anywhere near those two.”
“They’re in handcuffs.” She laid her palm against his good arm. “I need to know for sure about Ramón.” Even if it broke her heart.
He held her gaze for a long moment before he pivoted toward Tully. “You go with her.”
“You got it, partner,” Tully agreed. “But I’ll be checking in with the EMTs before they leave. So you won’t be able to feed me any bullshit that you’re all right if you’re not.”
There was a flurry of movement by the door and two paramedics came striding into the pool area. Tully waved them over.
Dawn stretched up on her toes to kiss Leland on the cheek. “Don’t be stubborn. Let them do whatever they need to.” She pulled her soggy shirt away from her skin and tugged it down over her hips, like she was putting on armor for her encounter with Vicky. “Okay, let’s do this.”
“Mr. Gibson and I will be right beside you, ma’am,” the agent said, walking on one side of her while Tully took the other. “Just don’t expect a rational answer.”
“She might not tell me the truth but I need to ask.” With everything Ramón had done for her, maybe she could do something for him in return. If he was innocent.
If he wasn’t, then she would seriously question her judgment of people.
“What do you want, bitch?” Vicky snarled as Dawn walked up to where the woman stood handcuffed between two agents—one male, one female.
Dawn took a deep breath and gestured toward Chad. “Does Ramón know about any of this?”
“Ray? Oh, right, you’re his little pet,” Vicky sneered. “You don’t want your sugar daddy to be a bad guy.”
“He’s not my sugar daddy and you know it.” Dawn kept her voice steady even as fury roared through her.
Vicky flicked her glittering talons at Dawn dismissively. “You know how Ray feels about guns. What do you think?”
Hope flickered in Dawn’s belly. “He says he hates violence of all kinds, but he has a monogrammed gun safe in his desk drawer. And he stayed home sick today.” She needed a definitive answer.
“The gun safe was a joke between him and me. He uses it to keep excess cash,” Vicky said before a shadow crossed her face. “I feel bad about him being sick. I put some nasty stuff in his dinner last night to make sure he didn’t come to the gym today. I didn’t want him to catch Chad moving the merchandise. Kept poor Ray up all night vomiting.” Her face crumpled. “I love him. This is gonna kill him.”
“Why would you do this to him?” Dawn asked, her heart hurting for her boss over the truth of Vicky’s statement.
Vicky’s face went hard as nails. “It takes a shitload of money to keep this place going. We weren’t exactly getting rich. That Griselda woman forced Chad to bring his product to the New York metro area so she could inspect it. He offered me a cut of the sale if I’d let him store his inventory in the basement for a couple of weeks. It was a lot of money.” She shrugged. “I have nothing to do with Chad’s shit. First time I’ve seen him since high school.” She rounded on Chad, making the agents grab her arms. “You hear that, you asshole? I got nothing to do with you anymore.”
“Good luck convincing the cartel of that when they come looking for revenge,” Chad sneered, but he looked pale himself.
“I’ll just tell them it was this bitch and her fancy consultant boyfriend.”
“They’re not going to have a nice chat before they kill you, you moron,” Chad said, clearly goaded beyond all self-control.
“Okay, it’s time to get them to headquarters,” Agent Wertz snapped. “Take them out of here.”
Tully held up his index finger to signal he needed a minute before he said to Dawn, “Do you want to ask her anything else?”
Dawn shook her head. “I’ll go see how Leland’s doing. You do what you need to do.”
