“Well,” Sasha said impatiently, “can you please get these cuffs off me and save me the trouble of having to pick them?”

I removed the handcuffs, and she rubbed her wrists in annoyance.

“This is called a joint task force for a reason,” Greer noted, a bit abrasively. “We weren’t notified that the DEA was running a side op on this.”

“Why do you think Blake is always one step ahead of us? In the past he’s compromised two people from the FBI—two that we know of.” She laid a heavy emphasis on those last four words.

It was true that Blake had gotten to an FBI SWAT member and one of the lawyers from our Office of Professional Responsibility. However, now she was dead and the SWAT guy was in prison.

She informed us that her last name wasn’t Daye after all, but MacIntyre. Her first name actually was Sasha, a technique undercover agents sometimes use so they respond instinctively when their name is spoken rather than hesitating as they evaluate whether or not the person is addressing them. That momentary hesitation can sometimes be the difference between being made and staying alive.

Sasha went on. “My supervisor decided we couldn’t wait around and let Blake continue to import drugs and expand his human trafficking network while he got all the information he needed from inside sources.”

“Alright,” I said. “I hear you. Tell us what you know.”

“He’s smuggling in a new synthetic. It’s a drug similar to cocaine in the way it affects the brain. It’s even more addictive, though, and can cause a person to be less inhibited and more aggressive. Like cocaine, it’s a benzoic acid ester. The chemical structure is similar to cocaine but has an extra carboxyl group on the tropane ring and they’re adding to the fluoride—”

“Hang on,” Greer said. “In English?”

“Basically, it’s found as a white powder just like cocaine. You can snort it or shoot it up. But it can be synthesized and molded into different shapes that hold their form until they’re powdered once again.”

“Selzucaine?” I asked.

“You know about it?”

“It was found in Jon Murray’s system.”

“Interesting. I didn’t know that.”

“Sasha,” I said, “why’d you run from me at the cemetery?”

“In case they were watching—especially after you identified yourself to me as a federal agent. You didn’t leave me any choice.”

“And why were you there in the first place?”

“Looking for Reese.”

“Reese?”

“A chemist from Phoenix. Works for a pharmaceutical firm down there. I don’t know exactly how he’s connected to Blake, but we think it has to do with synthesizing or distributing the Selzucaine. Blake has someone named Ibrahim who’s working with Reese. I’m not certain what they have planned, but from what I was able to overhear, it’s going down this week.”