Chapter One
It could be worse; she surmised peeking over the narrow ledge to the expensive granite paved walk several feet below. From the adjacent window she could hear Enrique Cortez and Alexi “The Bull” Habalov in a heated discussion. It was the ir loud voices which first alerted her to their approach, and forced Tiffany to take the only escape route available out the third story window of Alexi’s Bel Air mansion.
“I told you ther e was something fishy about the guy when you wanted to bring him on board,” Enrique practically yelled, his heavy Cuban accent reminding her of Ricky Ricardo. Yet, unlike Ricky this man was completely dangerous.
“Now you want to insul t my intelligence by telling me all of our rece nt bad luck is just coincidence? He’s got to be a Fed.”
“You’re wrong; I’ve known him since before my immigration to this country. His connections extend to the highest levels of government back home which is why I wanted to cut him in on the action. He’s brought some major deals to the table and I know there’s more in our future. As for our unfortunate transactions lately I agree there must be a leak somewhere. Trust me I’ll find out who and deal with the problem swiftly.”
A knot formed in Tiffany’s throat at the venom in her employer ’s voice. She didn’t doubt he would make good on his threat. Her journalistic and survivalist instincts warred briefly before the potential threat to her safe ty won out. She’d suspected their recent illegal activities went far above the two men’s capabilities, but it wasn’t confirmed until that moment . If only they’d mentioned a name. A name would put an end to the dual life she’d led these past five months posing as one of The Bull’s housekeepers.
It hadn’t been easy getting the job. Hell, the man had a more thorough background check than the Pentagon. Thank fully, she was prepared and had put all her ducks in a row by developing an iron clad cover as a down on her luck woman just looking to make her mother’s final days in an Alzheimer’s community as comfortable as possible. She knew the assignment would be a dangerous one, but had taken it on with all the enthusiasm of on investigative reporter committed to getting her story and exposing some dangerous criminals. Tiffany just praye d it wasn’t her obituary that would get her notoriety. The more she learned about Alexi’s activities the more on edge she was becoming about the potential danger or her assignment . She’d learned that drug trafficking and money laundering were but a few of his in volvements and was certain illegal arms’ trafficking wasn’t a far reach.
Escape , her brain urgently reminded her.
She could only hope the surveillance device picked up on the men’s conversation from its haphazard placement between two books on a shelf. If luck we re on her side she’d be out of T he Bull’s house by the end of the week with enough information to topple his and Cortez’s entire empire. The men were a cancer on the city, and although she knew this wouldn’t stop the flow of drugs she hoped it would put some key players out of circulation . Most of the drugs peddled in Los Angeles could be linked back to one of the two mobsters. While the police and local officials chose to take the war on drugs to the streets by target ing corner pushers she knew only attack s at the source s would begin to make a difference. For every small time drug dealer locked away two more popped up in their place more ruthless than the last. Turf wars were a direct result of the newbies exerting dominance of their recently acquired territory.
In the end junkies, their families , and innocent people caught in the crossfire of drug disputes were made to suffer. She’d seen enough lives destroyed in her day to be fed up and willing to do her part . Some might say it was a fruitless crusade, and they were probably right, but as her old grampy would say ‘if you weren’t part of
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