Chapters (54)
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 11
- Chapter 12
- Chapter 13
- Chapter 14
- Chapter 15
- Chapter 16
- Chapter 17
- Chapter 18
- Chapter 19
- Chapter 20
- Chapter 21
- Chapter 22
- Chapter 23
- Chapter 24
- Chapter 25
- Chapter 26
- Chapter 27
- Chapter 28
- Chapter 29
- Chapter 30
- Chapter 31
- Chapter 32
- Chapter 33
- Chapter 34
- Chapter 35
- Chapter 36
- Chapter 37
- Chapter 38
- Chapter 39
- Chapter 40
- Chapter 41
- Chapter 42
- Chapter 43
- Chapter 44
- Chapter 45
- Chapter 46
- Chapter 47
- Acknowledgments
- Also by Chelsea Cain
- About the Author
Archie lifted his finger and they waited as the jogger passed, although he couldn’t have overheard anything with the ruckus Ginger was making. He was wearing lightweight shorts and a “Life is Good” T-shirt with the sleeves cut off. Every inch of his bare flesh glowed bright pink from exertion. His face looked pained. He didn’t give them a second look as he went past. Ginger, disappointed, quieted and began snuffling in the grass.
When the jogger was thirty feet south of them, Archie asked, “How many people know Leo is the source?”
Sanchez scratched the back of his neck. “Besides me and you and”—he looked at Archie questioningly—“I’m guessing Henry? That’s it.”
“Henry’s my partner,” Archie said. “I don’t keep him in the dark.” That hadn’t always been true, but Archie didn’t mention that.
“Anyone else come to mind?” Sanchez asked.
In fact there was another person who knew Leo was DEA, a person Sanchez had not mentioned. Archie knew that Leo had told Susan his secret a few months ago. Protocol required Leo to report that to his superiors. Clearly, he hadn’t.
“I wouldn’t know,” Archie said.
A barge loaded with construction equipment cleared the Steel Bridge, nudged along by an old tugboat. Men with construction hats stood on board, gazing at the shore.
“This operation is new to me,” Sanchez said. “I was the safeguard. Carl briefed me years ago, so that if anything happened to him, I could step in and Leo wouldn’t get left in the wind.”
“You mean like if Carl got his head blown off in the john, for instance?” Archie said.
“That would fit the criteria,” Sanchez said. “In the meantime, I’m trying to coordinate the search for a dangerous escaped serial killer.”
“I think I read something about that,” Archie said.
Sanchez caught himself. “Sorry,” he said with a grimace. “I’ve just got a lot on my plate. I can’t get Leo out without revealing his identity. But if I reveal his identity it could get him killed before I can get him out.”
Archie wasn’t buying it. This had been an important operation for the feds. A lot was riding on it. It was a career-maker. “You don’t want him out until he has the names,” Archie said.
Sanchez rubbed the side of his nose. “Okay, no bullshit,” he said. “This operation has taken ten years. If Leo can get us the names of Jack Reynolds’s partners, then yeah, I think that’s worth not rushing into anything. I have bosses whose names are on that list. So do you. That’s why we have to keep this close.”
The Burnside Bridge yawned open to let the barge through.
“Someone else knows,” Archie said.
“The girlfriend,” Sanchez said with a heavy sigh.