Page 131 of Maddox

“It’s more complicated than that, but yes, your level of expertise was required as evidenced by your success.”

Anything involving Yuri Provincal in the middle of a war wasn’t just complicated. It was deadly. He owned the police in New York, had corrupted politicians, and had taken over the drug trade market years before. He’d also made headway in the Fentanyl drug trade long before it had become popular.

I kept up with the news. I’d thought the Raptor had gone crawling home to Daddy after his expulsion from the Navy.

I guess I’d underestimated the kid.

He’d grown into a dangerous man by utilizing the specialized training he’d received in the military. This was nothing but two drug lords fighting for control of the drug trade industry, sprinkling in human trafficking as so many cartel and mafia organizations had done through the years.

Greed was the driving factor.

And the desire for the ultimate power.

Drug wars weren’t new. Neither were turf wars between opposing crime syndicates, but in my mind, this was World War Three given the incredible power both men carried.

I stood outside the van, the blood boiling in my veins. I didn’t like being used. Or being lied to. Kage was leaning against the driver’s door, eyeing me intently as snow continued to fall. The limited outside lighting did little to mask his concern and confusion.

“More complicated? I’m curious, Gray. Are you working to achieve indictments or doing your best to continue a cover-up?”

“How fucking dare you! You know exactly what Misha Provincal is capable of.”

“I call it like I see it. Whatever you’re doing, you’ve continually placed Charmaine in danger. That pisses me off. All over a turf war.”

“That’s a primitive way of putting it. I also wasn’t the person responsible for encouraging her to head to El Salvador.”

“But you didn’t mind using her when you realized who she was.”

He sighed, hesitating for a few seconds. “Is Charmaine safe?”

I laughed. “For now. How long do you honestly think that’s going to last? Why did you really ask me to help you?”

“I meant what I said,” Gray insisted. “You’re one of the few people I can trust.”

“You knew about the Raptor all along. Months ago. Maybe years.”

“We suspected. He left clues, tags of his identity, but nothing could be proven and trust me, experts in law enforcement have tried. He remained in the shadows.”

“We? Who the fuck is we? Certainly not the Navy. Certainly not the Feds. They were as confused as I was.”

He hesitated.

Or had the agent played fair in all of this?

“This is over unless you tell me who the fuck you’re working with,” I gritted out.

“You learned more than you let on back in DC,” he suggested. “You have additional information in your possession. I sensed it before but didn’t press.”

“Because you wanted certain details kept safe and out of the public eye until the time was right. Very clever.”

“It wasn’t about being clever, Maddox. It was about determining how deep the corruption went. Yuri has played games for years, but nothing with such a wide sweeping grasp. As you mightimagine, Alfaro was none too pleased when Yuri stepped on his toes.”

“The only reason Charmaine is still alive is because Alfaro is aware she’s been holding additional information.”

“He’s been hunting for her. But so has Yuri.”

“Yet I had to fight with you to get her into witness protection.”

His sigh brought another wave of anger. “We’d already talked about it.”

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