Page 73 of The Hacker
“Tully, you’ve got your guys everywhere. Let them keep an eye on things,” Leland said. “You’re going to draw attention to yourself if you keep driving by.”
“Don’t worry. I have very clear instructions not to be seen.” He sounded grouchy about that. “They want to follow Rodriguez back to wherever she came from, try to round up more of her top lieutenants. There are a couple of bad dudes they really want to nab.”
“What’s wrong with that plan?” Leland asked.
“She’s slipped through their fingers before. We know where she is right now. I say grab her. A bird in hand and all that. But it’s not my call.”
“Thank God,” Leland said under his breath.
“I heard that,” the other man said. “I’d say Rodriguez’s presence confirms that the weapons are being stored in the gym. So at least we’ll be able to keep those out of the cartel’s hands.”
He turned onto the street where he’d originally been parked and slid into the same spot. “Don’t worry, Rockwell, I’m staying near this car. I don’t argue with the DEA. Much.” The image shifted as he climbed out and walked into the recessed entrance of an empty storefront. When he turned, Dawn could once again see the alley. However, only the back of one SUV was visible from Tully’s vantage point.
Leland muted their mic before he said, “Tully may be worried about losing Griselda Rodriguez, but it’s better for everyone at the gym this way.”
She thought about that for a moment. “Because Griselda won’t know that it was someone at the gym who tipped off the DEA?”
“Drug lords have a long reach, even from prison. I’d hate to have you in the crosshairs.” She could see fear in the set of his mouth and the tightness in his jaw. His caring reached deep inside her. “Even Chad and whoever he’s working with are better off this way.”
“I guess I’m glad about that.” Especially if one of Chad’s collaborators turned out to be Ramón. Even if he was selling guns, she didn’t want her boss to be murdered by drug dealers. “I sure don’t want anyone innocent getting hurt because of Griselda’s capture.”
“I don’t wantyouhurt.” Leland brushed a finger down her cheek, making her feel a curl of comfort in her chest. He unmuted the mic. “Tully, you need to make sure Work It Out is not mentioned anywhere in any report about Griselda Rodriguez’s capture.”
“It’s not my call. It’s the DEA’s but I’ll do what I can.”
“I want to talk to your connection there.”
“You don’t need to talk to my connection.”
“Then I’ll trust you to get it done.” Dawn had never heard that tone in Leland’s voice before. It was like hardened steel sharpened to a point. Not a trace of southern honey in it.
“I heard you, buddy, and I know why you’re asking. I’m on it.” Tully surprised her by sounding sympathetic and reassuring rather than insulted.
“Good.” Leland sat back on the stool and rolled the well-defined muscles of his shoulders. “Thanks.”
He sat for a moment, his long legs encased in that sexy black denim and stretched out to brace on the floor despite the height of the stool. The short sleeves of his black T-shirt pulled tight over his biceps but left the chiseled ridges in his forearms exposed. She wanted to run her finger down one. The sculpted planes and angles of his face caught the illumination from the computer screens, painting them with light and shadow.
But the heat that raced through her was fanned as much by his confrontation with Tully as by his lust-inducing body. Leland had pressured hispartner, a man he considered more than a brother, to protect her. That stirred her in a way she didn’t want to analyze because it went far beyond sex.
“Are you and Tully okay?” She preferred not to have a wedge driven between them on her account.
He glanced away from the screens, his expression still hard. “If he keeps his promise.”
“Thank you,” she said. “For asking him.”
“The DEA will owe you as much as Tully, so that’s the least they can do. I just hope he can convince them of that.”
He still looked tense and unsettled, so she decided to drop the subject and let him work.
For another half hour, Leland monitored all the cameras, but nothing changed until Tully said, “The DEA is here.” He turned so the camera was pointed across the street. “There’s one of their agents.”
Dawn could just barely make out the shape of a man in black clothing working his way toward the alley.
“Guess my job is over,” Tully muttered, his voice laced with disappointment.
“Get out of there, partner.”
“Don’t worry. I was one of them once, and I didn’t want civilians around to gum up my operation. I’m pulling my guys out too.”
