Lexie tried to glare at him, but his humor was infectious, especially after what she had been through. It felt good to laugh and joke around, helped make the repulsive memory more bearable.

“Fine! What do you want to know?”

“Ah, that’s better, hotshot. Now we’re getting to the crux of the issue. You did it with whom? Tell me it was that hot brassy Isabella and I will curl up and die from over- stimulation.”

Lexie shook her head.

“You are incorrigible. And, yes. It was Isabella and she was great!” She winked at him. “If I was into that sort of thing, I might have…”

Brady threw up his hands in mock dismay. “Don’t even say it! I won’t be able to drive home.”

He added with a salacious grin. “Any chance you girls are up for a repeat? You know, just so I can make my report as accurate as possible.”

Lexie punched his arm, hard.

“Don’t you dare, Brady. This isn’t going in any report. But, seriously, we need to make sure Jake is at the house. I have a lot to tell him.”

She heard Brady mutter under his breath, “Yeah, honey. You sure do.”

~~~

“Bella insists that Sergio and the gangs are not involved. She also insisted that she doesn’t know who the mastermind is. The only one she knows is the guy she introduced me to tonight.”

Jake sat across from her at the kitchen table. Brady and Clint were at either end. He nodded thoughtfully.

“Do you believe her?”

“I’m not sure. I want to believe her, I like her. She is smart, Jake. Savvy. Street smart. She told me flat out that she and the other girls are dealing. There’s no reason for her to tell me the gangs aren’t involved if they are. She was adamant. Said both Sergio and the gangs are making more hands off than they could running it.”

“Okay. Let’s assume she’s being straight with you. Tell me about the ‘man.’ What’s his role?”

“From what she said, he is the conduit to the mastermind. His job is to recruit the girls and set up parties to introduce their marks to both the girls and the drugs. Their primary target is all the guys coming through her on their short term training missions. She said more than a million people pass through this little town every year.”

“Yeah, I know that. She’s right. No question, there are plenty of opportunities to target potential users.”

“She also said the drugs are the purest shit she’s ever dealt.” Lexie shrugged. “She knows her stuff, Jake. She rattled off more statistics about heroin that I’ve ever heard.”

“Hmm. That’s interesting. You need to get some samples, Lexie. If it isn’t coming from Mexico like we’ve all assumed, we need to find out the source, could be the turning point in this investigation.”

Lexie grinned at him and reached in her jeans pocket and pulled out a baggie filled with white powder. Smacking it on the table, she said, “Your wish is my command.”

Jake whistled and shook his head, admiration written all over his face.

Brady guffawed. “Damn, hotshot, you had that in your pocket when we drove on base? I don’t know how else to put this. Girl, you’ve got balls!”

All three men laughed.

Jake handed the baggie to Clint.

“Take this over to the lab. Don’t talk to anyone except Dr. Chang. I’ll call and tell him you are coming. Reinforce that this is for his eyes only. I don’t want anyone to know that he is running this.”

Lexie was surprised and from the quizzical glance Brady and Clint exchanged, she wasn’t the only one.

Seeming to see their surprise, Jake was non-committal. “This stays among the four of us. That includes anyone on the base except Dr. Chang, as well as anyone in the YPD, including Chief Burton.”

Jake took a sip of his beer.

“Tell me about the guy.”

Lexie took a deep breath. She knew this was going to be hard. Her stomach hurt just thinking about him.

“He…He’s disgusting, Jake. Bella introduced me as a potential dealer. I guess his task was to see if I make the grade.”

“Did you?”

“I think so. At least Bella was pleased.”

“Go on”

“I gave Brady a full description. From what Bella said, he is there almost every night. The girls call him the Watcher. He’s creepy, Jake. And he doesn’t ‘match’.”

“What do you mean ‘match’?”

“His appearance. His skin is wrinkled. He’s at least fifty years old and he’s got all the markings of a hard drinker. And he was a weird color. Orangey. When he mopped off his face, I saw flecks of orangey color, like he was wiping off his tan. And for a guy his age, his hair was too glossy, too black. And his moustache is just not real.”

“So he’s wearing a disguise?’

“I’m sure of it, a bad one at that.”

“Interesting. Covering his real identity.”

Jake nodded to Clint. “Run it down. Talk to Chief Burton. See if Anthony mentioned a guy with his description.”

Lexie frowned.

“It was strange, Jake. He was drunk. Could barely focus. Bella said he’s that way every night. If he’s that important, why would the ‘mastermind’ hire an over the hill drunk to be his middleman?”

“Good observation, Lexie. He doesn’t seem like a trustworthy interface. Gotta be a reason.” He turned to Clint. “It’s more important than ever we find out who he really is.”

Brady leaned back in his chair and crossed his hands behind his head. He shot Lexie a lazy glance.

“Aren’t you gonna tell Jake how you got close enough to figure out he doesn’t ‘match’?”

Lexie gasped then glared in disbelief.

“Thanks, partner.”

Jake looked from Brady to her and frowned.

“What’s Brady talking about, Lexie?”

Lexie glanced away from his perceptive gaze, then tipped up her chin and shrugged.

“The guy is the recruiter and he wanted to interview me. It’s just that he has a rather unusual interview process.” She shrugged. “And that’s it.”

Jakes voice was soft but with a razor sharp edge. “What do you mean, ‘that’s it’?”

When Brady shook his head at her and chortled, Jake pinned her with a hard stare. His tone was deceptively mild.

“What is the process, Lexie?”

She glanced down, not willing to meet his penetrating eyes.

“Well, first of all he asks lots of questions. He seemed suspicious when I gave him my fake name. I told him I use different names because I never know who’s after me. He wanted to know if I was wanted by the cops. I said yes. Implied that I turned tricks and did drugs.”

At his reproving frown, she added, “Damnit, Jake. I wanted him to hire me. I had to make him think I did those things.”

“Then what?”

Lexie huffed glaring at Brady. “Fine. He...he... makes all the girls he interviews do a lap dance.”

Jake’s eyes widened, then flashed dangerously.

Lexie stammered, “Not on him. He’s a freak, Jake. The girls call him the Watcher. He…he…makes you…Okay, dammit. He gets off on girl on girl stuff.”’ She tossed her head. “So Bella and I gave him what he wanted.”

“You danced for him?” His voice was icy cold. His gaze held her as tightly as if he had clutched her arm.

Lexie felt her cheeks heat. This wasn’t fair. Damn Brady! But seeing Jake’s cold implacable anger she felt her own anger rise.

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