Page 100 of Forged in Peril

“He was. But even for the best and brightest, connections help. I had sway with a lot of people in the legal world, of course, but due to the sensitivity of the situation I had to look to lower-level firms. They were less glamorous, with less money for ‘the lifestyle’.

“My son was smart, but he was still barely old enough to drink. Certain temptations pulled him in a direction I didn’t want him to go. When Albert offered to help him get in with one of the other firms who worked with the cartel–for a lot more money–that was what he chose.”

Jaclyn’s face had gone pale and hollow once more.

“And yes, despite all of that, I still love Albert very much. He’ll regret that decision for the rest of his life. My hatred is unnecessary. His guilt is punishment enough.”

Cameron only nodded, his face grim.

“Anyway, he was working as an intern at this firm in El Paso during his second year. They trusted him more than the average law student, thanks to his father’s connections, and often allowed him to tag along on client meetings.”

Bristol sucked in a breath, and she saw Cameron flinch slightly as the words sunk in.

“Yes,” Jaclyn said, nodding. “On the day that FBS was planning to jump into the fray, one of the big dogs in the cartel decided that he wanted to oversee the product delivery for himself and get some contracts looked over a final time. He decided that he didn’t trust his lawyers in Juarez or his other lackeys to get the job done. So he dragged his American counsel right to the drop location, and my son was with him.”

Jaclyn paused, and for a long time, the room was silent.

Bristol dared to risk a glance out the window, but she could see nothing.

Somewhere on the street below, the employees of FBS would be walking briskly toward safety, leaving them in a soon-to-be empty building with the bomb.

At last, Jaclyn went on.

“You know the details, Cameron, and Bristol doesn’t need to know. Reilly tried to shoot El Pez, and one of his bullets hit Chase. He bled out for a while, and then he died.”

Bristol already knew the ending, but Jaclyn’s words, and the emptiness in her eyes, still made her chest ache. She could only imagine the guilt that Reilly felt.

“I’m sorry about what happened,” Cameron said, leaning forward and reaching a hand toward Jaclyn’s own, ignoring the gun that rested mere inches away. “Reilly is too. If he’d known who you were, he would have told you as much himself.”

Jaclyn let out a bitter laugh.

“I’m a criminal,” she said. “I know how you squeaky-clean security types feel about people like me. And people like Chase.”

“Just because Chase was involved in something shady doesn’t mean he deserved to die,” Bristol heard herself saying, hugging herself as she sat back in her chair, away from Jaclyn and the loaded gun. “I’m sorry, too. I truly am.”

“It’s regrettable that you got dragged into all of this,” Jaclyn said. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

Bristol wasn’t sure how to respond.

“So why is she here, Jaclyn? And why was she being harassed and attacked in the first place?” Cameron asked the same questions that were racing through her mind.

“Hard as it may be to believe, much of it was a coincidence,” Jaclyn said, frowning. “You guys have been messing up D&P’s plans–and their bank accounts–for years. The big bust, and the resulting loss of business with one of their most lucrative manufacturing partners, was the final straw. The Iron Prophets and the cartel felt the same way.”

“So where do you fit in? And me?” Bristol asked, eyeing the gun.

For the moment, she would take the risk of trying to sate her curiosity. She had to know.

“D&P wanted to play the long game, and that meant they needed intel, especially on the legal end. I was the obvious choice to go undercover. I don’t have a record–not a criminal one, anyway–and Albert Dorling himself trusts me entirely.”

Bristol caught Cameron glancing down at his wrist again.

Surely, whatever plan he had in place had to have been ready by now, even if it involved gathering police officers and security operatives from across the city.

But perhaps he still hoped that he could resolve the situation using nothing more than words.

As she looked at Jaclyn’s drawn, sad face, she couldn’t help but to hope that was the case, gun or no gun.

“Anyway,” Jaclyn continued, “I was more interested in the cartel’s plan, namely the bombing that I assume, by now, has been thwarted. I knew where Reilly’s office was, and I made sure they’d send their explosives in right next to it. I knew he wouldn’t suffer, not like Chase did, but he would certainly die. An eye for an eye. That was all I wanted.”

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