Page 114 of Call it Reckless

The pot began to steam, and I divided the hot chocolate between two mugs and brought them to the table. I took a sip, enjoying the warm, tasty creaminess with just a touch of cinnamon from the Rumchata I added.

Reid took a sip and closed his eyes. Almost instantly, his shoulders seemed to fall from around his neck.

“I thought I knew him so well,” he said softly, eyes still closed. “We’d fallen out of touch, but we were close back in college. I don’t know if I’ll ever understand what made him choose that path, but I’m guessing it’s greed.”

“Probably.”

Reid sighed. “From what Agent Wilson told me, the FBI and other law enforcement in both Georgia and Tennessee have been watching Nick for a while.”

“For what’s it’s worth, I think his motivation to see you was genuine. Agent Wilson says I’d be surprised at who gets busted in dogfighting—teachers, childcare providers, business professionals…not just the obvious bad guys.”

As it turned out, Nick was moving trained fighting dogs to Jack’s farm where the females would be forced to reproduce while the males would be put on “display” in a scaled-down fight to show off their abilities. The small magazine I’d found in the back of Nick’s van was a publication that was passed around in dogfighting circles to advertise winning dogs and upcoming events. I nearly threw up the more I learned about what those poor animals had been put through.

“Nick’s a dick,” Sterling piped up, making Reid chuckle and shake his head.

“Crazy bird, but you’re right.”

“Actually, he’s part of the reason Bristol figured out what was going on.”

Reid’s eyes opened as Agent Wilson joined us.

“What do you mean?”

“Sterling must have overheard Nick and Griff talking. He mentioned the wordsplace your bet,and I put it together with what I found in Nick’s van.”

“So, I wasn’t wrong about Griff,” Reid said.

I looked to Agent Wilson. “You didn’t tell him?”

“Tell me what?” Reid demanded.

Agent Wilson grinned. “No, I kind of thought you might like thatI told you somoment.”

I felt my face flush. Shep Wilson had heard me mumble many times throughout the evening while we waited at my house for everything to go down, mostly severalI told hims.

Reid leaned his arms on the table. “What’s he talking about, Bristol?”

“You were right about Griff, at least in some ways. He’s not really a mechanic, and that’s not his real name. I was about to call you and tell you I’d found something suspicious in Nick’s van, but Griff overheard me and stopped me from telling you.”

Reid frowned. “We arrested a dirty agent?”

I hesitated, glancing at Agent Wilson, who nodded in return. “Not quite,” I continued. “You arrested an agent, but an undercover one.”

“Griff’s an undercover agent?”

“I don’t know his real name, and we can’t know. He’s been working for months to bring down a crime organization, part of which is the dogfighting ring. He’s the one who stopped me from calling you. He didn’t know what you were up to and was hoping to keep his secret safe. He brought me back here and questioned me about what I knew, and I told him you thought you were on the verge of breaking a case. That’s when he called in his team. I wanted to call and warn you, but they wouldn’t let me.” I glared for the umpteenth time at Agent Wilson.

Agent Wilson didn’t seem perturbed. “We thought we were going to have our own bust tonight,” he explained to Reid. “You basically did the work for us. We decided to let it play out that way, letting Griff go down with it as part of his cover.”

Reid dropped his head into his hands. “So, I messed up a bigger sting.”

“Nobody faults you, Deputy Braxton. It was unraveling anyway. It just happened sooner than we expected, thanks to your uncanny hunch about Griff Herzog. Whoever is at the top pulled the plug here. It was better that you saved those animals. And who knows, maybe Jack or Nick will talk, and we’ll get more intel. Regardless, we still have other leads. What’s important now is maintaining Griff’s cover if possible. Right now, he has afriendbailing him out, and no charges will stick.”

“You have my word that I’ll say nothing.”

“Not even to anyone in your department,” Agent Wilson warned. “The only reason you know this much is because Griff had to take Bristol into his confidence so she didn’t inadvertently tip you or anyone else off and get herself or anyone else hurt. It’s imperative now that this doesn’t leave this room.”

“Done.”

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