Page 53 of Complicated Past

“For a job with the police?” Bri asked wide-eyed.

“No. I’ll explain later,” Linc said with a shake of his head.

“I was stupid to go to Mexico with a drug smuggler I thought was my friend. Will this affect my custody?” Tears brimmed in Bri’s eyes, and she hugged Jalen tighter to her side.

“No. You haven’t been my client for well over a year now. I don’t need to report any of this. Besides, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Kendra assured Bri.

“She’s right. They took advantage of you,” Clara chimed in. “We have reason to believe they’ve run the same scenario outof different cities, and they know who to target and what works to convince you. There’s a third partner who’s down in Mexico right now. Authorities there are keeping an eye on him and hoping to discover their supplier to take down that arm of the organization.”

“I can’t believe they’d pay for airfare and a week at a luxury hotel just to smuggle a few pounds of drugs into the States.”

“There’s a pretty steep profit margin,” Clara stated. “Depending on the type of drugs, they can cover that cost ten to twenty times over. If someone doesn’t know they’re carrying, there’s a much higher probability of getting through because they won’t act suspicious and draw HSI’s attention. Plus, they’re not paying the carrier a fee, so it’s a trade-off.”

Bri shivered. “I don’t even want to think about what happened if someone else figured it out or got caught. Tawnya kept threatening to turn me over to some woman, Inez, who, um . . .” She cut her gaze to Jalen and didn’t finish.

“We know. That’s why we made the video and let Tawnya think they had Jalen, to get you to agree. We alerted authorities there so they’d let you through security,” Clara explained.

“Didn’t you see Kendra wearing my necklace in the video?” Linc pulled out the cord with his half-heart.

“No. As soon as I saw Jalen, I started crying. Everything was blurry.”

“I thought you’d see the necklace and know I was here. Kendra was trying to tell you that we knew, and you’d be okay.”

Bri shook her head. “I missed that. When I thought they had Jalen, agreeing to smuggle the suitcase was my only option. Don’t tell Grams I wouldn’t agree when I knew they had her.”

“I’m sure she would understand, but mums the word.” He gave her a reassuring squeeze.

“Do you want to ride back to Fayetteville with me?” Clara asked Kendra. “If they go to the hospital, they’ll probably take Mrs. Feldman home.”

“Good idea.” Kendra made eye contact with Linc as she placed his car keys in his hand.

“I’ll touch base with you later.” He refrained from kissing her in front of his sister for now. He didn’t want to get into details about a romantic relationship developing while trying to find and rescue both her and Regina.

“Bye, Jalen. I’ll see you again soon.” Kendra touched Jalen’s back, her fingers lingering there.

“Let’s take your mommy home, J-man.” Linc took Jalen from Bri’s arms.

By the end of the night, the people behind this smuggling operation could be under arrest, and Bri could put this nightmare behind her.

TWENTY

“Is it safe for me to go home now?” Kendra asked Clara as they exited the airport area.

“Should be. There’s no upside to them coming after you now.”

That’s what she’d hoped to hear. “What about Bri?”

Clara sighed. “That depends on whether they arrest Tawnya and whoever she works for. Both Tawnya and Malloy face charges related to kidnapping as well as smuggling. Those are pretty hefty charges. We only need one to flip and agree to testify to take Bri out of the equation. If neither do, I can’t rule out the possibility of her being targeted or facing retaliation.”

“Damn,” Kendra muttered.

“I know. She’s not in trouble with us, but she’s not home-free yet.”

“Linc mentioned the possibility of her having to go into Witness Protection.”

“It would have to be a pretty major case with someone way higher in the organization than Tawnya and Malloy to warrant putting them in Witness Protection.”

Kendra breathed a bit easier hearing Clara’s assessment. Not only would having a new identity be confusing for Jalen, but she couldn’t imagine the toll it would have on Bri to lose Linc’s support and for him to lose his only blood family.

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