Page 23 of Olivia

“Diaz is either really rattled, or he legitimately doesn’t trust her. Given the raid, I would say he’s rattled, considering she’s been running with his group for years. But, even though he keeps her fairly well protected, he just pulled a gun on her. So...” Jackson turned his empty hands over. “Maybe Diaz is cracking a little. One FBI raid wouldn’t spook him like this, though. He’s been raided before and not much came of it. But he’s spooked this time... and I’m going to find out why. What do you know aboutRyley?”

“Ryley is one of the smarter ones on the team. He’s Diaz’s information guy, but other than that, he’s not involved with the group. He talks to Diaz and Anna only. He doesn’t mix with the rest, he’s not at the weekly catch-ups, nor does he spend time with the guys. Ryley doesn’t hang out at Sloan’s. If he’s there, there’s a reason,” Will said as they slid into the car, Will behind the wheel. “The office is working on a file for him now.”

“She said he called her, but he didn’t—not while she was at the bar. Did the bartender talk to her when I walked out and Diaz followed?” Jackson asked.

“No,” Will said. “But, she was looking at her phone as she walked into Sloan’s. I didn’t think anything of it, but I wonder now if he’d messaged her as she’d arrived, possibly changing the plan. Either way, Ryley likely would’ve waited five minutes while Diaz punched your face in at Sloan’s. Anna diverted his attention and your nose should thank her,” he said with a sly smile.

Jackson wasn’t sure. What gave him the most confidence was that she hadn’t outed him at the bar, and she’d used Ryley’s name. She’d helped him twice tonight. He could justify that she hadn’t intended to, but that thought didn’t sit well in his mind. When infiltrating a gang, no one survived long by being that careless.

An agent’s voice came through the car speaker.“I can’t stay with target two without him identifying me.”

Jackson swore under his breath. “Drop back. We have good surveillance images on him; we’ll work off that and wait for another opportunity.”

Jackson’s gut instincts told him Ryley was important, and if they chased him down now with nothing to go on, they could hardly arrest him for speaking to Diaz in the woods. He’d say they were talking about the weather and Jackson wouldn’t be able to prove otherwise. He needed to be patient.

The pressure of this case sucked the air from his lungs and his chest felt tight.

“Be patient,” Will said with understanding, as he diverted his eyes from the road to Jackson briefly. “When you play against guys like Diaz, you play the long game. That was the right call.”

Jackson exhaled a long sigh, nodding. “I’m from Redwater. I should be used to things moving slowly,” he joked. “Seriously, though, it’s not just patience. It’s doubt and second-guessing myself. This is my first big case and if I mess it up, I might be sent back to sleepy Redwater.” Jackson was only half-joking—he didn’t think he’d lose his job unless he really made a mess of things, but he certainly wouldn’t get promoted and he wouldn’t get justice for Jacob. This case was important for so many reasons, and he wanted to do a good job.

Will chuckled. “The thing about Diaz is he’s cunning. Always assume he’s up to something. If he looks idle, look harder. Watch those around him. You have good instincts, Jackson, I’ve seen it already. Trusting yourself on these cases will come with more experience.”

Jackson smiled, looking at his colleague. “Thank you.”

Will nodded. “Anytime. God knows I’ve needed a pep talk more than once.”

Jackson whistled under his breath, shaking his head. “I don’t know how you do it... you’re in the field every day. Watching your back. That’s tough.”

“Some days are tougher than others, but I wouldn’t want any other role. It’s more dangerous, for sure, but it wasn’t a decision I made lightly. I spent a lot of time in prayer before accepting this position,” he said, his eyes dropping to his watch. “Speaking of, are you coming to church tonight?”

Jackson’s eyes dropped to his wrist. “Yeah,” he answered. Something about sitting in church gave Jackson peace. It wasn’t just hearing the sermon... in fact, sometimes he preferred to sit quietly in the pew in an empty church, talking with no one but God.

He reminded himself that God never gave anyone a challenge they couldn’t rise to. Jackson thought most people, including himself sometimes, wanted God to fix things in their lives: fix a failing marriage, turn around a failing business, heal a bad health diagnosis. But the more Jackson leaned into his faith, the more he realized God was never going to remove the challenges from someone’s life, but promised to walk through the challenges beside them. Jackson reminded himself of that now, and silently prayed like he always prayed, friend to friend.

Walk with me, God. Guide my decisions, give me patience when I need to be patient, and the wisdom to know when to act. Help me see things hidden to others, open doors for me that only you can open.

And when you open them, give me the courage to act.

“Everything is going to be okay,” Will said with a confidence Jackson admired.

Jackson smiled through his worry. He appreciated having Will as his partner.

He sat quietly in the car, running through the events of the night and plotting his way into Anna’s life, when an agent’s voice came through the radio.

“Target has pulled into his driveway. He didn’t make any stops.”

“Thank you. Stay on surveillance tonight,” Jackson said to the responding officers, although he doubted Diaz would leave again.

It was no secret where Diaz lived. The house was worthy of an architectural magazine feature, and he had as much security as the FBI office. That would provide comfort to a stressed-out Diaz. He’d stay home tonight, and he’d keep Anna close.

But Jackson wasn’t going home. He was going to the office for a strong cup of coffee and get to know his new friend before he went to church.

Who are you, Ryley?

Jackson replayed the events of the evening on repeat in his mind all the way to the office. He said goodbye to Will, telling him he’d see him at church in a few hours, then strode toward the back entrance. He swiped his security pass to enter the building and went to the kitchen, made a coffee, grabbed a bottle of water, and went to his desk.

He knew getting Anna to turn on Diaz and work with him was next to impossible, but he’d seen something in her eyes that night at the warehouse.

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