Fatal Secrets

was saddened by the reality of her life. She didn’t have the time or desire to get close to anyone. She had her family and her job and barely enough time to manage both well. Where did a boyfriend fit in? A husband? Besides, most of the good men wanted kids of their own, something Sonia couldn’t provide.

A car passed them and Sonia jumped back, startled. Where had her mind wandered? Why was she even thinking about “FBI agent Dean Hooper” and “boyfriend” in the same thought?

“I’ll meet you at the hospital,” she mumbled and slid into her car before he could respond, before he could touch her again. That was it, he’d touched her. He was exactly her type: tall, lean, muscular, smart, with a GQ face and strong square jaw. One touch and she was getting sloppy.

She drove off, mumbling, “Just wait, Sonia. Go to bed with him, get him out of your system, and he’ll be gone. He’s safe. He lives three thousand miles away. No long-term commitment.”

It seemed unwise to be waxing at length over the long-term potential of a one-night stand. The realization that Dean would be leaving as soon as this case was over left Sonia feeling even emptier than when she’d pulled back from his embrace.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

When his people reported that federal agents had been to Jones’s house early that morning, Noel snapped the ballpoint pen he was holding in half.

“How do they already know Jones is dead?” he asked no one in particular. Ling and Ignacio were with him in his suite. “Mr. Ling, what do you think happened?”

“The dr-”

“The driver,” Noel said before Ling finished. “Who the fuck is this bastard Chuck Angelo? Where did he come from? Where is he now? What does he drive and why don’t I know him? Why is it that every fucking person I’ll spoken with in the last three hours has never heard of Chuck Angelo!”

He didn’t like surprises, and because he took incredible precautions, he rarely had them. The few that had arisen over the years had been the direct result of a certain ICE agent messing up his plans. What particularly irked him was that Sonia Knight screwed up his life without intending to. She had no idea who she had pissed off.

She would find out.

“I think,” he continued, “that no one knows this Chuck Angelo because he’s a cop. An agent working with Sonia Knight. What I want to know is how this female agent managed to infiltrate Jones’s operation with both an undercover cop and an informant? Jones was clearly an idiot. I’d love to kill him again.”

“I have the report on Knight,” Mr. Ling said quietly.

“And?”

“She’s single. Her adopted parents live in Sacramento.”

“I hope you have more than that.”

“Her adopted brother was the cop Johan stabbed yesterday.”

“He’s not dead, is he?” Noel hoped. A dead “brother” would force her to take time off.

“He’ll be released tomorrow, according to my source at the hospital.”

“Find out where the parents live, where the brother lives, where Sonia lives. I want to know her best friend, her worst enemy, where she eats, the make and model of her car, and where she’ll be every fucking minute of the day. I’m going to kill her, I swear, and when I find this Chuck Angelo I’m going to slowly pull out his intestines and strangle him with them!”

Noel was livid. When he looked at his face in one of the numerous hotel mirrors this ridiculous suite had, it was beet red.

“Mr. Ling, send a team to check on the merchandise and make sure it’s being delivered from storage exactly when it’s supposed to be. If they’re five minutes late, kill them all. I’m not in a forgiving mood. I want our best people-except you-sitting on the whores. I want a patrol. I want no surprises. When the buyers arrive, I want a nice, clean transaction, and then we’re out of this fucking country.

“We’ll have our money, a permanent new distribution channel, and ICE agent Sonia Knight will be dead. Then I’ll put a headstone with her name in my backyard and bury another whore in it and dance on her fucking grave. If I had known that bitch would have been such a problem, I would have put a bullet in her head when I had the chance.”

Ann was still in surgery, so Sonia slipped into Riley’s room. He was awake, sitting up in his hospital bed, looking both in pain and antsy.

“Hey, sis. It’s about time.”

“I was here last night.”

“They had me on so many painkillers I didn’t know my own name. John Black said the guy who stabbed me isn’t talking, but they I.D.’d him as Johan Krueger, a German national with a work visa for Omega Shipping.”

“Omega?” The shipping company Jones contracted with to bring illegal immigrants into the country to sell to his “clients.” Once again, their name surfaced. “Black didn’t call me.”

“I’m sure he plans to. He’s been waiting for word on Ann’s surgery.”

“She’s still in there. Dean’s observing now.”

“Dean?”

“Dean Hooper, the FBI agent I mentioned yesterday.”

“Dean?”

“Excuse me?”

“Not Agent Hooper?”

It took Sonia a moment to realize that Riley was teasing her. “Oh, leave it alone, it means nothing.”

“I’m just joshing you. Not much else I can do. Did Mom tell you I’m stuck on leave for two whole weeks?”

“Yeah. I’ll make you cookies.”

“Please don’t. You’ll burn down your house. Or worse.”

“It’s the thought that counts.”

“Then think up some chocolate cupcakes from Free-port Bakery …”

Dean stepped into the room. “Sonia, I’ve just spoken with Detective Black. They have an I.D. on the man who tried to kill Ann. Johan Krueger. He’s-”

“From Germany and works for Omega Shipping.”

“You heard.”

Sonia pointed at Riley and made quick introductions.

Dean continued. “Omega is one of Jones’s-”

“Clients?”

“At his lobbying firm.”

“Omega is also the shipping company that Greg Vega confirmed is responsible for transporting Jones’s human cargo.”

“This is our first solid connection,” Dean said. “I don’t want to pull you away, but …”

Riley waved them off with a frown. “Go catch the bad guys without me. I’ll live vicariously through your stories for years to come.”

Sonia kissed him on the forehead. “I love you, Riley. Take it easy, okay?”

“Be careful, Sonia. I don’t have to tell you how ruthless these people are.”

“You don’t,” she said, “and I’m always careful.”

Riley didn’t look one hundred percent convinced.

Dean spoke up, “I’ll keep an eye on her, especially after last night.”

“What happened last night?” Riley said.

“Thanks, Dean,” Sonia muttered.