“Seems like you’ll have time to work on this, and since there is a tie to Layla, I know you’ll want to get to the bottom of things.” Mason paused. “I may be overstepping my bounds here, but were the two of you a thing?”

Hunter sighed. “We used to be together years ago. It ended badly. Very badly.”

“And now?” Mason raised an eyebrow.

“We’re just trying to get through this mess, but we’re on good terms. At least I feel like we are. Who knows where things could go after all this is over. Assuming it’s ever over.”

Mason patted him on the shoulder. “It’s going to be. We’re going to take down the Mejía cartel. I can feel it. We’ve been close before, but they’re getting sloppy because Diego is acting emotionally, not as a shrewd leader. That will be their downfall.”

“I hope so. I’ll do my part.”

Mason slid a USB drive across the table. “This has everything that has been accumulated so far on both investigations, including bank records and a possible suspects list within the DEA. You’re not bound by anything on here, but use it as you see fit.”

“Thanks. I’ll start reviewing this right away and then let you know what else I might need access to.” Hunter could only hope that he wouldn’t find a traitor in their midst.

CHAPTER
NINE

The next morning at Hunter’s office, Layla sat at the large oak table, staring at the piles of paper in front of them. “I’m telling you right now, I don’t think anyone on the team is the mole.” She’d been giving it a lot of thought and couldn’t bring herself to suspect any of them.

“I tend to believe that, too, but the heat is on everyone except you.”

“That’s because I haven’t done enough DEA-related work to cultivate the types of relationships needed to pull this off.” She thought for a moment. “But the rest of the team has.”

“That’s where we need to begin. If we can clear people, then we can move on to the next person and at least narrow down the pool of possibilities. I’ve printed out everything from the file that Mason gave me.”

“You’ve worked with Zane and Mason before. You don’t think it could be them, do you?”

Hunter shook his head. “No, but I told Mason I wouldn’t cut any corners. So I still need to review their files and look for any red flags. But before all of that, I wanted to see if you’d be interested in helping out with interviews of other DEA personnel.”