She stared at me, then grabbed my face and kissed me. It was so quick and unexpected I didn’t have time to kiss her back, unfortunately.
“Thank you. I think we made a good team,” she said.
I cleared my throat. “Um, yeah. Actually there’s something I’d like to talk to you about. This human trafficking thing derailed me and I’ve decided to go back and finish my degree so I can go into law enforcement. The FBI is one agency I’ve checked into but do you have any suggestions or recommendations for me?”
She hit me with a stunning smile. I swore it lit up the entire plane. “That’s brilliant. My suggestion would be to get your degree in criminal justice. That puts your resume ahead of others who don’t have that. Homeland Security also has a human trafficking division, so you could look at more than one agency.”
“That’s a great suggestion.”
“How much school do you have left?”
“About two years, I think.” I explained my situation and gave her all the details of my stupid escapades.
“The way I see it, Acer, is don’t live your life in the past. You can’t change it. You can only affect the future and seems to me that’s what you’re doing. I think it’s great.”
“For once in my life, I’m truly excited about something.”
“It shows.”
“So, about tonight. What do you think happened to Paulie?”
“It’s anybody’s guess. But one thing is certain. Someone is after him.”
Those words set off a warning signal. “I’m not sure what he was up to. Like I said, I haven’t seen him in a while though I’ve talked to him a fair amount. From the looks of things and from what happened to me, it appears he got himself mixed up with the wrong people.”
“Acer, could he possibly be involved with drugs?”
“After tonight, I won’t rule anything out. But now it pisses me off because he got me involved in his mess.”
“Or…”
“Or what?”
“Maybe when the goods were never delivered as expected, whoever controlled the operation, went to him to find out what happened.”
That sent out another warning. “That’s not good. If they got any information out of him, then finding me won’t be a problem.”
“Maybe it’s time to set you up with some security.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. I had a very bad feeling about all of this.
Chapter Seven
ISLA
The plane landed around eleven. I napped a little on the flight home. When we got to the car, I released an exhausted sigh.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, just tired. After something like that, everything just sort of decompresses. Art is going to be all over my shit for allowing you to fire my weapon.”
“Why? It was us or them and I didn’t want a bullet in my head.”
“True, but we were out of state.”
“I’ll take the blame. Tell him I grabbed it because you were driving and couldn’t do it.”
“Nah, I’m going with what really happened. If they bring in the inquisitors, then so be it.”
“The inquisitors?”
“There’s an internal investigations board that might review this since it happened in New York.”
“I’ll answer any questions too, if that will help.”
“Hey, thanks. I appreciate it.”
We were both quiet as we drove back. Then I picked up the phone and called Art. I had it on Bluetooth so Acer heard it.
“Chambers. Where are you?”
“On the way back from the airport.”
“And?”
“I have a cell phone we picked up at his place but he wasn’t there. His place was being watched and it had been thoroughly hit. Everything in there was a mess. Someone is looking for him, or something he may have.”
“Hmm. Anything else?”
“Uh, yeah. We were chased.”
“Chased?”
“High-speed with gunfire.”
“Aww shit. Are you okay?”
“We are. Not sure about the other guys. They backed off when Acer fired back.”
“Come again?”
“I was driving so he had to take the shots, Art, or we would’ve been dead right now.”
“I’ll meet you at the office.” I heard his groan before he ended the call.
Acer said, “He didn’t sound happy.”
“No, but he wasn’t pissed off either. Art is very easy to read, so that was good. He just hates all the red tape we’ll be facing.”
Acer rubbed my shoulder. “Hey, we’re alive.”
“And that’s another thing I need to discuss with him. Keeping you safe.”
Art’s car was already in the lot when we arrived.
“I’m starving,” Acer said.
“So am I. Hopefully this won’t take long.”
As we walked in, Art met us at the door. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”
I handed him the bagged phone. “I don’t know whose this is.”
“No problem. At least it’s something.”
“Oh, and we haven’t eaten so do you know how long this will take?”
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“Kent, go and get some food for the two of you. We can get started while you’re gone.”
Acer left with my order and Art and I began. I explained everything from start to finish, giving him the meticulous details.
As I spoke, he paced, which was the norm for him. When I was finished, he was quiet, processing. Then he exploded. “Dammit. One, I’m glad neither of you were injured. But, and this is a big but. You should’ve left. You were out of your jurisdiction, and when you saw the place was being watched, you never should’ve entered.”
“Acer had a key.”
“Doesn’t matter. They had eyes on the place and even you admitted they probably know what the two of you look like. You placed yourself and Kent in unreasonable danger.”
“Art, had I not gone with him, he’d be dead now.”
“Chambers, if you had told him the situation was too dangerous, what do you think he would’ve done?”
His question nailed me. Acer was very concerned about his friend. But having the information that we did as far as the eyes on the place, I wasn’t sure. “I don’t know, and that’s the honest to God’s truth.”
“Then I’ll ask him myself. And him firing your weapon is another situation.”
“Right. About that. I never would’ve allowed it had there been another option, but our backs were against the wall.”
“I get it, Chambers. You’d better hope the higher-ups do and it doesn’t go to the inspections division.”
“If it does, I can only speak to defending our lives.”
“You disobeyed an order. I said to get out if it was too dangerous, which it clearly was.”
He was right, but at the time, I didn’t see it as such. Maybe I did, but was thinking we could get in and out without a problem.