Sam put his lips close to her ear. “That’s our cue.”
They split up, Sam ducking out of the ballroom to reenter near the stage—and near Karen Fisher. Jolene crept along the back wall, returning to the AV center. As Derek handed her a mic, she slipped behind a green curtain.
She watched through a slit in the curtain as Derek clicked on the drone video. She licked her lips and flicked on the mic as the video displayed on screens around the ballroom.
The crowd oohed and aahed at the majestic aerial shot of the desert landscape in all its glory. As the pink-and-orange streaks of a desert sunset faded from the screen, replaced by footage of the ridge along the border, Jolene began to speak.
“The Desert Sun Casino may come to fruition one day, but that land was used for something else before this project—something sinister. Buried in the sand are secrets, evidence of Yaqui land being used to move drugs and murder the mules in the know.”
Shouts went up. Demands to hit the lights and stop the video echoed over the hushed silence of the ballroom. Jolene continued her narrative. When the video displayed Ted Jessup with Karen Fisher directing the relocation of people’s remains to the border area, the room erupted.
Jolene took a deep breath, ready to identify the people on the screen, but before she could, shots rang out. People screamed and there was a stampede for the doors.
Jolene dropped behind the curtain, reaching out and tugging on Derek’s pant leg. “Get down.”
She squeezed her eyes closed and silently prayed that Sam hadn’t been hit by any of those bullets. Seconds later, bright lights flooded the ballroom, and Jolene blinked as strong arms lifted her from the floor.
Sam folded her against his chest. “You’re all right?”
She peered around his large frame at the stage. One man was down, and Karen Fisher, blood on her sleek dress, had her hands behind her back and Nash was cuffing her.
Jolene swayed as she grabbed on to Sam’s arm. “We did it. Who’s the guy on the ground?”
“Karen’s security. When she saw her face on that video, her guy tried to hustle her out of the room. Nash stopped him, and the man pulled a gun. The three of us were on him before he even had a chance to aim, so his bullets went into the ceiling and Clay shot him. He’s not dead, but Karen Fisher and Ted Jessup are finished.”
Jolene rested her forehead against his shoulder. “How’d I do?”
“You killed it.”
“And Wade?”
He stroked her hair. “He looked shocked. He may have to answer for some questionable business practices, but I don’t think he knew how they’d been using that land and why they were so anxious to have a hand in its development.”
“I’m glad. I am.” She disentangled herself from his arms and tipped back her head to look into his face. “And I got justice for my father and all the others. That casino, if it goes up, won’t be built on lies and secrets.”
Sam cupped her face with one hand. “Nothing worth having should be built on lies and secrets.”
Epilogue
“How much longer until you move back to Arizona, Sam?” Nash looked up from flipping burgers on the grill.
Sam dragged his attention away from Jolene sitting on the steps of Nash’s pool with Jess on her lap. “Rob’s gotta be processed out first. Hey, Rob, when are you leaving Paradiso, already?”
Rob Valdez, the youngest agent who’d barely been on the job two years answered without looking up from rubbing suntan lotion on his girlfriend Libby’s back. “My transfer to LA should have final approval in a few months. Anxious to get rid of me?”
“Anxious to get back to Paradiso. You’re going to be a different kind of busy out there in LA, but that’s probably what your career needs right now.”
“Yeah, most of my family is in LA, and I’d like to be closer to them.”
Libby rolled over and sat up. “Thanks to you and Jolene, I don’t have to worry about Ted Jessup coming after me for IDing him anymore, so we’re free to go wherever.”
Nash’s fiancée, Emily, sauntered onto the patio from the house, balancing their son, Wyatt, on her hip. “I wish I’d been at that gala. The look on Karen’s face must’ve been priceless when she saw her mug on that screen. I never liked her, anyway.”
Emily took a seat next to Jolene in the pool, and Jess started pinching the baby’s toes and squealing.
Clay and his wife, April, jogged across the lawn with their dog, Denali, and Chip at their heels.
April pushed a lock of blond hair from her face. “Are we talking about EGV again? I’d rather forget him. He killed my father and was responsible for the deaths of Libby’s mother and Jolene’s father. He was a one-man wrecking crew.”
Clay told the dogs to Stay and grabbed a beer from Nash’s outdoor mini-fridge. “His gal pal Karen sure turned on him fast once the FBI had her in custody.”
“I wish I’d been there when they busted down his door.” April huffed out a breath and reached for a bottle of water. “Hey, Sam, you want some water?”
He held up a hand and she tossed him a bottle.
Libby sat on the edge of the pool, dangling her feet in the water. “The casino project is going forward, isn’t it, Jolene?”
“It is. My cousin was able to provide some evidence about the financials that helped the DEA, so they’re going easy on him. I think he lost the confidence of the tribe, though. They’re looking for some new leadership.”
“How about you, Jolene?” Nash raised a plate of burgers. “Food’s on.”
“Yeah, how about you?” Dropping his bottle by the side of the
