“Are you second-guessing yourself?”
“No, sir. I did what I thought best. I was protecting Acer. Had I not done that, he might be dead right now.” I handed Art my phone with all the pictures on it.
After he scrolled through them all, he said, “They sure did a number on his place.”
“Acer is worried about him and he brought up a good point.”
“Which is?”
“He needs protection.”
Art laughed. “I see where this is going. You’re volunteering, aren’t you?”
“Well, yeah.”
He scowled. “Chambers, have you slept with him?”
“No!”
“Hmm. I need to talk with him.”
This wasn’t going well at all. Much worse than I thought.
Acer returned with a huge bag of fast food. We sat together in the conference room and scarfed it down.
About the time we were finishing up, Art joined us. “Acer, after you’re finished, I’d like to talk with you. Privately.”
Acer cast a glance my way, which I caught out of the corner of my eye. I didn’t return it, but swallowed my bite, which had turned to sawdust. I knew he wanted to know what was going on, but I couldn’t tell him. Then Art’s phone rang. I heard whoever it was yelling, even though it wasn’t on speaker.
“If you give me a chance to speak, sir, I can explain.”
Oh, no. It had already gone up the line. My head was beginning to pound.
“Yes, sir, I realize it’s not my jurisdiction.” Then more yelling. Whoever it was, was not happy.
“Paul McCutcheon is a friend of Mr. Kent’s.”
Acer perked up at that.
“Sir, Mr. Kent had a key to his home.”
The shouting had quieted down. Art stood there and I waited for him to leave, but he didn’t. He didn’t usually take these calls with an audience.
“I understand.” The hand holding the phone slowly straightened as he looked at the ceiling. I was waiting for a conversation with Jesus, but it didn’t happen. Instead, he turned to both of us.
“You will be happy to hear our director is coming here tomorrow to talk to you two. Mr. McCutcheon has been under surveillance for several months. He is suspected of having ties to the underworld. Apparently, you have completely destroyed their investigation and their men were made when you went inside. The footsteps you heard were those of the agents coming in to warn you. They wanted you to get out because they knew you were in danger. After you left, two agents were killed.”
“Oh, shit.”
“Oh, shit doesn’t begin to sum it up, Chambers. You and Mr. Kent have opened Pandora’s Box.”
I slammed my hands down. “Why didn’t they tell us when you asked for a search warrant?”
“It’s been undercover. The locals didn’t know about it.”
Acer coughed and then asked, “What exactly is this underworld you’re talking about?”
“Organized crime. Basically the mob. We don’t know which one because there are so many. But at least we know who orchestrated the trafficking,” Art said.
“Oh, God. Paulie, what the hell did you get yourself involved in?” Acer asked.
Art scoffed. “Only Paulie can answer that and I have a very bad feeling about where he is.”
Acer raised his brows. “Meaning?”
“I suspect Mr. McCutcheon is no longer walking this earth.”
Chapter Eight
ACER
I was livid. What the hell had Paulie been thinking? Maybe he’d been a little shady, but I never suspected this. “Was I that blind and ignorant?”
“No, it’s not you. People like him do what they do for various reasons, but mostly the money. You weren’t blind, Acer. They’re very good at fooling others and maintaining a facade.” Art was the one who explained this.
“That’s why he was so insistent on me not looking inside the trailer. And that’s the very reason I did.”
Isla grabbed my hand. “Wait. Let’s go back to that. You never told us that.”
“Yes, I did.”
“Not in the way you just did,” Art added.
“Well, yeah. He told me not to look when I threatened to, but it bothered me so much with how sketchy that guy was at the shipyard, I just had to.”
“That makes sense.” Art left the conference room and came back within minutes. He carried a file with him and I was sure it was mine. As he rifled through the papers, he found what he was looking for. “Your statement didn’t reflect anything about what Paulie said. All you told us was how he gave you the instructions on where to go, what time, and then where to take the trailer. You mention here that you called him, but left the other part out.”
“Honestly, I was checking to see if there were computer parts because a side of me figured maybe I’d take one for collateral if I didn’t receive payment for the delivery.”
Art closed the file and said, “You need a security detail. I’m ordering one for your brother’s place too. I think they’ll be fine, but it’ll be a precaution.”
“They live in a neighborhood with security,” Acer said. “And their alarm system is pretty tight.”
“Which means nothing to criminals like these. I’m only making you aware, Acer.” I took him seriously. When Brax found out about this, he was going to strangle me.
“My brother is going to kill me. I’m sure he’ll hire a team of bodyguards for his wife.”
“Not a bad idea, but we’ll also provide protection since you lived there.”
“Lived?”
“You can’t go back. You’ve been tagged. You too, Chambers. Both of you are going to a safe house.”
“Boss, I can handle myself.”
“Isla, you’re one of the best agents I have. I’d put you against anyone. However, if you get hit by six guys, you don’t stand a chance without backup. I won’t put you at risk. Yes, you brought this down on yourself, but you’re not going to die for your mistakes. Tonight you both will stay in a hotel with protection. After tomorrow, you’ll be moved to a safe house until this is over.”
“Safe house. What exactly does that mean other than what I’ve seen on TV?”
Isla groaned. “Come on, Art. Can’t you just let us stay at my place and give me a full complement of agents?”
“No. And don’t even try to finagle out of this. I’ve made up my mind. Make a list of what you need from your house and I’ll send someone to get everything.”
Isla wasn’t happy. “Ruffles.”
“Excuse me?” Art asked.
“My dog, Ruffles.” His stern features broke into a grin. “How did I not know you had a dog named Ruffles?”
She shrugged. “No idea. I need her with me. If anything happens to Ruffles, I’ll personally take out those assholes.”
“Fine. What about letting her stay with someone?”
“Pfft. Mom’s allergic and I wouldn’t trust Lenox to feed her. She’d probably starve to death living with him.”
“We’ll pick up Ruffles. Anything else?”