With one hand, Brian waved away the speculation. “I took an unnecessary risk when I tried to pick up Leila on the same day your coworkers were taking down Emilio’s whorehouse. When you told me that the lead investigator for that case was a twenty-nine-year-old woman, I underestimated her.”
Taking in a deep drink of the rum and coke, Joseph suppressed a chuckle. “We both did.” And that was the moment she’d pinged on his radar. That woman was as cunning and resourceful as she was alluring. A frustrating conundrum, which made the chase all that much more fun.
And dangerous…which turned him on.
When Amelia Storm had disguised herself as Leila Jackson to catch Brian Kolthoff—referred to in the criminal underworld as The Shark, presumably because his preferred method of corpse disposal was to dump the body in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean—Joseph had been dumbfounded.
The SAC of the Chicago field office had confiscated all potential communications devices before the surprise raid, and Joseph had no way to warn Brian that his meet-up to acquire Leila Jackson was a trap.
After the near-miss that had almost landed Brian in prison, Joseph had vowed to himself that he’d never underestimate Amelia Storm again.
Brian’s friend and Joseph’s frequent employer, Illinois Senator Stan Young, had made the mistake of underestimating another Storm, and that mess had taken Stan years to clean.
“It’s a shame, though. I had plans for Leila. Emilio treated that girl like a rabid dog, and she turned on him like one when it came time for his day in court.” Brian’s voice pulled Joseph back to the present before his thoughts could wander too close to Amelia.
“She was sixteen.” Joseph’s tone was so flat, it might as well have been steamrolled.
A half-smile crept to Brian’s face as he turned toward Joseph. “Oh, I know.” He adjusted the crotch of his shorts. “And you know that I only like the experienced ones that look young. Emilio had already had her out there working the street. She might’ve only been sixteen, but she had the looks and mentality of a twenty-year-old. Besides, most of the younger girls don’t have nearly as much fight in them. They don’t have that fire in their eyes.”
Brian’s point was valid enough. As much as Joseph loathed the men who preyed on children, Leila Jackson hadn’t been a child. Not at sixteen. Not with a body like that.
No. She’d been well past the age of innocence, in his opinion. Just like all the other women who’d crossed Brian’s path over the last decade and a half. Kolthoff’s tastes were…peculiar, but they were a far cry from someone like Alton Dalessio, who had preferred the truly innocent children.
Anyone preying on a child under the age of twelve pissed Joseph off. Anything older was fair game.
Midway through a pull from his gin and tonic, Brian barked out a laugh. “Hey, how’s that little cock-tease agent you’ve been toying with back at your field office? Any progress with her?”
“Amelia Storm.” Joseph chuckled as the name rolled off his tongue.
The good humor drained from Brian’s face as his eyes met Joseph’s. “Special Agent Amelia Storm is trouble. Mark my words. What’s her count now against the Leónes? She killed Joe Dalessio’s younger cousin and threw Emilio Leóne in prison for five years. Then there was that unfortunate business on the farm.” Brian took another pull from his drink. “I don’t think our Leóne friends are all that keen on Agent Storm right about now.”
Joseph couldn’t disagree, which only added to the fun. “The Leónes have been playing with fire lately. I haven’t been in touch with them at all since Emilio got put away. They should have laid low and waited for the heat to die down, but they did the opposite. Word has it they’re picking fights with the San Luis Cartel. They’re all over the Bureau’s radar now, and I don’t even think they realize it. Well, maybe they finally do now that Alton took a twelve-gauge slug to the chest.”
Brian’s lips pursed as he swirled his drink, making the ice clink softly against the glass. “They should have laid low, that’s true.”
“The Bureau suspected someone in the office was feeding them information during the Leila Jackson case, so I cut off contact. I’m not willing to risk my freedom and my life for a bunch of pedophiles.” Joseph spat the last word like it was venom on his tongue.
Brian lifted a finger. “Joe Dalessio didn’t know about Alton’s kiddie porn ring. I talked to him the other day, and he said he’d have put a stop to it if he’d known what they were doing out on that farm.”
Joseph opened his mouth to offer a cynical rebuttal, but Brian cut him off.
“I still agree with you. The Leónes haven’t been playing smart lately, and I’m not willing to risk my ass for them any more than you are. If they keep throwing themselves in the Feds’ line of fire like this, then they’ll get whatever’s coming to them, and I’m not going to lift a damn finger to stop it. But…” Brian’s hard stare settled on Joseph, “they are a valuable ally, and it’s in our best interests that they get their shit together.”
Though he knew Brian was right, Joseph still scoffed. “They can start by forgetting about Amelia Storm. Alton deserved worse than what he got, and if I’d have gotten to him first, I would have killed him too. Besides, Storm shot him in self-defense.”
One of Brian’s eyebrows quirked up. “She did? I thought you said she wasn’t sure if she’d been justified.”
“As far as the FBI and any official legal reports are concerned, she shot Alton after he made a threatening movement. That pedophile coward committed suicide by cop. If the Leónes want to avenge that, then…” He left the remark unfinished and gritted his teeth.
Over his years in Chicago, Joseph had
