Page 16 of Second Chance Savior

“You’ll always be Charlie to me.”

Her face pinched with anger. “I didn’t hear from you in years. Then you hack my computer, follow me around town and spy on me and my friend, and you have the nerve to act like you and I are close?”

Charlie’s voice was smoky. Low with indignation. It raked across my skin the way I imagined her fingernails might.

I blinked away that momentary image. “I told you it’s urgent. Your life is in danger, and I couldn’t take that lightly.”

“So you claim, but there’s something called consent.”

I shrugged. I had probably worked for the government for too long, where consent wasn’t a top consideration when it came to intelligence work.

“Can I come in, and we’ll talk about this inside?” As I asked the question, I was already walking up the stairs and in the door. Charlie took a few steps back. Brynn tried to bar her arm in front of me, but that wasn’t going to do a thing to stop me. “At least let me explain.”

The two women exchanged silent words through their eyes. “We should find out what he knows,” Brynn said. “Hear him out at least.”

I decided I liked her.

Charlie sighed and pointed at the living room, which was through an archway. “You have five minutes.”

She picked a seat in the corner, the farthest chair from the others. Which left me on the couch, while Brynn perched on a nearby recliner like she might have to tackle me at a moment’s notice.

“Go ahead,” Charlie said with a wave. “Explain.”

“Any chance we could talk privately?” I asked. “No offense to you, Agent Somerton, but this is highly sensitive.”

Brynn looked ready to agree, but Charlie shook her head. “No. I trust Brynn completely, and she knows everything else so far. Whatever you want to say to me, you can say in front of her.”

So that was how it would be. I’d done a quick check on Agent Somerton already, and her name hadn’t pinged any of my databases. I had to make a quick decision. If Charlie trusted her, then I would too.

I rested my elbows on my knees. “I told you this is about Stillwater.”

“Yes.”

“What do you know about them?”

Charlie blinked. “I read the article that Genevieve Blake published on them a couple of months ago. It created a big stir, especially around here given the claims that Stillwater operates in Colorado and the wider Southwest region. They have links to human trafficking, which has been a top concern of mine for a while, but that article spurred me to pursue funding for a new initiative.”

I’d read about the program Charlie’s office had just spearheaded. It would unite several state agencies and work with the federal government to root out traffickers working within Colorado.

“Ms. Blake is a close friend of mine,” I explained. “I’ve been investigating Stillwater myself, along with Genevieveand some confidential sources, for months now. We’ve been monitoring their activity on the dark web. We have evidence Stillwater is paying off a public official with ties to Hart County. We’ve been trying to find out who.”

“That’s why you’ve been in Hartley?”

“Not exactly, no. I was already in Hartley. For other reasons.”

She looked confused, so I kept going. This was a long, twisty story already.

“As part of our investigation, we’ve kept an eye on Stillwater’s online chatter. Yesterday, your name popped up.” That was why Cerberus had contacted me. “Stillwater issued an order to their lieutenants. It’s bare bones, written using internal code words. But it roughly translates to a kill order. A deadline of four days from now. And your name. With a bounty to whichever lieutenant is successful upon confirmation that the job is done.”

In other words, that Charlotte McKinley was dead.

“Shit,” Charlie said hoarsely.

“You’re certain?” Brynn asked. “Why would they pit their lieutenants against one another? That could cause chaos.”

“I don’t know. But it suggests this is urgent from Stillwater’s perspective. For whatever reason, their higher-ups want her gone, and they don’t care how it’s done.”

Charlie wrapped her arms around her middle. “But whyme? Is this about the initiative? I’m hardly the only person trying to fight human trafficking.”

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