everywhere Sanchez went. If Sanchez were going into hiding at the cartel’s headquarters, the dogs would accompany him.
“Sanchez is waiting to complete one more shipment,” Barry continued. “It should go down within the next two or three weeks. He’s got at least ten wome n ready to move. And get this: A t least two of them are under eighteen. Unfortunately, he’s got them well hidden. He’s already nervous -- if we put the squeeze on him t o o soon, he’ll take off like a skyrocket. And we could lose the girls. We’ve got to let this deal go down as planned.”
Dallas frowned, scanning the streets. Barry had a point. There were other considerations besides freeing Tess. The cartel had to be stopped before one more innocent young woman was snatched.
This wasn’t what Dallas had originally signed on for -- not that he’d have backed down. What was supposed to have been a routine FBI undercover drug operation for Dallas and his partner had quickly expanded once they learned Bogen had connections with Sanchez. Hector Sanchez’s elusive association to the cartel’s white slavery operation had been a bane to international authorities who wanted Sanchez’s boss. The head honcho : Quito Ramon .
Dallas ’ connection to Sanchez through Bogen was the first time anyone had ever gotten s o close. Consequently , the scope and duration of Dallas ’ assignment changed drastically. He’d been undercover almost two years on a job that had initially been expected to last about three months. And they were too close to turn back now. No matter how tired of it he was.
“I don’t want to take unnecessary risks with the Marsh woman’s life,” Dallas reiterated.
“Agreed. But we don’t want to put both of you at risk by acting at the wrong time.” Barry sighed. “Let me check on a few things. Like making sure we can squelch any news stories that surface if she’s reported missing. I’ll leave word with Michaels -- as soon as I catch the bastard. He was taking a day off to go fly fishing , and I haven’t heard from him yet.”
Matt Michaels was another undercover FBI agent posing as a local mechanic in the nearby town of Jordan . He was Dallas ’ partner and intermediary. Dallas had worked with Matt on several other cases. The men worked well together.
“In the meantime,” Barry continued, “k eep the woman as close to you as possible. And stay in touch.”
After hanging up, Dallas punched in a seventeen-digit code. The cellular phone was one Bogen furnished to all his men. An additional computer chip in Dallas ’ phone scrambled his transmissions and allowed only the Bureau to eavesdrop on his conversations.
The code changed the billing records to show Dallas had indeed placed a call -- to his bookie. The same bookie Bogen occasionally used. In fact, while Dallas spoke with Barry, someone masquerading as Dallas made a simultaneous call of the same duration to the bookie.
Climbing out of the truck, Dallas hurried into the drug store. He’d grab a few things for Tess , then pick up Eddie and get back to camp. He didn’t want to leave her alone any longer than necessary.
* * *
Tess stared at the ceiling, blinking back tears, disoriented. Count to ten. She’d once been told that you couldn’t count in your dreams. One, two, three...
And that’s all it had been: a bad dream. She stared at the clock. Two hours had passed. She must have dozed off only to awaken back in the nightmare that had become her life: being chained to Dallas ’ bed.
She shivered, unable to shake the final remnants of the grisly dream in which Snake had dumped her concrete-weighted body into Lake Summer . She’d floated downward in slow motion, sinking in terror to land amidst a watery graveyard of
“Sanchez is waiting to complete one more shipment,” Barry continued. “It should go down within the next two or three weeks. He’s got at least ten wome n ready to move. And get this: A t least two of them are under eighteen. Unfortunately, he’s got them well hidden. He’s already nervous -- if we put the squeeze on him t o o soon, he’ll take off like a skyrocket. And we could lose the girls. We’ve got to let this deal go down as planned.”
Dallas frowned, scanning the streets. Barry had a point. There were other considerations besides freeing Tess. The cartel had to be stopped before one more innocent young woman was snatched.
This wasn’t what Dallas had originally signed on for -- not that he’d have backed down. What was supposed to have been a routine FBI undercover drug operation for Dallas and his partner had quickly expanded once they learned Bogen had connections with Sanchez. Hector Sanchez’s elusive association to the cartel’s white slavery operation had been a bane to international authorities who wanted Sanchez’s boss. The head honcho : Quito Ramon .
Dallas ’ connection to Sanchez through Bogen was the first time anyone had ever gotten s o close. Consequently , the scope and duration of Dallas ’ assignment changed drastically. He’d been undercover almost two years on a job that had initially been expected to last about three months. And they were too close to turn back now. No matter how tired of it he was.
“I don’t want to take unnecessary risks with the Marsh woman’s life,” Dallas reiterated.
“Agreed. But we don’t want to put both of you at risk by acting at the wrong time.” Barry sighed. “Let me check on a few things. Like making sure we can squelch any news stories that surface if she’s reported missing. I’ll leave word with Michaels -- as soon as I catch the bastard. He was taking a day off to go fly fishing , and I haven’t heard from him yet.”
Matt Michaels was another undercover FBI agent posing as a local mechanic in the nearby town of Jordan . He was Dallas ’ partner and intermediary. Dallas had worked with Matt on several other cases. The men worked well together.
“In the meantime,” Barry continued, “k eep the woman as close to you as possible. And stay in touch.”
After hanging up, Dallas punched in a seventeen-digit code. The cellular phone was one Bogen furnished to all his men. An additional computer chip in Dallas ’ phone scrambled his transmissions and allowed only the Bureau to eavesdrop on his conversations.
The code changed the billing records to show Dallas had indeed placed a call -- to his bookie. The same bookie Bogen occasionally used. In fact, while Dallas spoke with Barry, someone masquerading as Dallas made a simultaneous call of the same duration to the bookie.
Climbing out of the truck, Dallas hurried into the drug store. He’d grab a few things for Tess , then pick up Eddie and get back to camp. He didn’t want to leave her alone any longer than necessary.
* * *
Tess stared at the ceiling, blinking back tears, disoriented. Count to ten. She’d once been told that you couldn’t count in your dreams. One, two, three...
And that’s all it had been: a bad dream. She stared at the clock. Two hours had passed. She must have dozed off only to awaken back in the nightmare that had become her life: being chained to Dallas ’ bed.
She shivered, unable to shake the final remnants of the grisly dream in which Snake had dumped her concrete-weighted body into Lake Summer . She’d floated downward in slow motion, sinking in terror to land amidst a watery graveyard of
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