Page 131 of Tapped

“One of your assets?” Tim asks.

“No.” Cole smiles. “Well, sort of. But only in the way Brax was. King is one of yours. At least he was for a short time. I nabbed him when he was a new agent working on the border in Texas. He was only there for a year when one of his cases graced my desk. He had no idea the potential that he uncovered—”

“I don’t know how many times we have to go over this,” the man named Kingston bites. “I fucking did—I knew it from the get-go. My case is that epic.”

Brax barks a laugh.

King narrows his eyes.

Fuck. The egos in this room might blow the roof off the building.

“New agent?” I ask. “No offense, but you don’t look new.”

“I’m hardly new,” King states.

Of course, Cole takes over. “King might be new, but he isn’t green. Let’s just say the DEA is his second career—something of a retirement job.”

“And what was your first job?” Tim demands.

King shrugs like it’s no big deal. “Special ops. Blew my knee out when I was about to re-up. I couldn’t pass the PT after that. Decided to take retirement and pursue something else. The DEA fitness test was playground material in comparison, so here I am.”

“He barely squeaked under the age cutoff to get hired,” Cole adds. “He was experienced but unknown. I swiped him up.”

I think about Evie and Chase waiting for me in the next room. I need to move this party along.

“Look, this is a shitload of fun,” I lie and focus on King. “But I’ve got a kid in the next room who could burn through his meds at any moment. We need to get him home. Shutting down that cash house was not my idea. In fact, it fucked up my case. So don’t come in here blaming me for shit when I had no idea you or your case existed until two minutes ago. Brax and I talked on the way here. We’re ready to round up, and it’s going to happen tomorrow. We need to get this shit done. I’m drawing up the op plan when I get home and Brax will gather the troops.”

“Can we just take a minute—” Cole tries.

“No. We do not have a minute,” I stop him. “We just identified the cartel’s number one guy in Miami. We’re ready. Doors are being kicked in at six tomorrow morning.” I motion to King. “They’ll find another way to funnel your money to Panama. They always do.”

King shakes his head in disgust. “I know that, but now we’re starting from scratch. If you’re kicking in doors tomorrow morning, I want in on that. The closer I can be to my case, the better.”

I look at Tim. “That’s your call.”

“Let me just add, when King said he was Special Ops, that was an understatement. He was a mastermind. You could say he was the king.” Cole hikes a brow. “I wish I could take credit for his greatness, but I just found him after the fact.”

“If Cole vouches for him, I’m good.” Tim sighs. “I want that op plan on my desk yesterday. I’m going to have to push it through. This shit should be done before breakfast tomorrow. Let’s just hope no one has a baby before then.”

Cole puts a hand over his heart and turns to Brax. “Man, I heard. Congratulations. A daughter will fuck you up. Welcome to the edge of your seat where you’ll sit for the rest of your life. You’ll never be the same.”

“That’s the truth,” Tim mutters.

Brax frowns, and I mirror it. They might as well be speaking Latin.

It’s time to put an end to this.

“I’ve got to go. Check your email for the op plan, and be here at four in the morning to brief. It’s time to wrap this shit up.”

On my way out, I hear Cole say, “Rocco, I saw you on the news. It’s like you grew up before my eyes.”

“Yeah.” Rocco rubs his chest triumphantly. “I saved the fucking day. If I were already active on SWAT, I could help out tomorrow.” He turns to Tim. “Can I come anyway?”

“No. No fucking way. Go home, Roc.”

“Maybe I’ll drag my ass out of bed and meet you gents for breakfast when it’s all said and done.”

That’s the last thing I hear before I’m out of the conference room door.

---