Taken by the Con by C.J. Miller Page A

her former team, lifted his head and knocked back the hood of his sweatshirt.
    “Why are you following me? Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Lucia asked.
    Jonathan shook out his arms. “No, but I almost crapped myself. I was told to follow you and keep an eye out for whoever might be stalking you.”
    “The Bureau sent you to stalk my stalker?” Lucia asked, not amused by the FBI’s plan and why she was left out of it. “Why didn’t Benjamin tell me?”
    Jonathan rolled his shoulders. “You weren’t supposed to know. The section chief’s assembled a task force. We’re trying to trace the bombing to someone and we don’t have any decent leads. From what was left of the bomb, we know it was triggered remotely. We suspect someone was watching and waiting to trigger it.”
    To hear her remote bombing theory confirmed did not make her feel better.
    “Benjamin didn’t want you to change your routine, which you would if you knew we were watching you.”
    “You were stuck with me, then?” she asked.
    “I wouldn’t call it stuck with you. We all want this guy found. If we let someone attack one agent and get away with it, it sets an ugly precedent.”
    Cash extended his hand and introduced himself to Jonathan.
    “Don’t tell Benjamin you made me. I’m supposed to be good at this. It’s been a long time since I had to follow someone on the street,” Jonathan said.
    “You’re good at this. I’m better,” Lucia said. She turned to pick up her groceries.
    “Hey, Luc,” Jonathan said. Something in his voice had her turning slowly and meeting his stare.
    “I think it was crappy what happened to you.”
    Meaning her promotion to white collar to push her off the team. “Thanks.”
    “I wasn’t part of that decision.”
    His words made her feel a little better. She had more to say, but not in front of Cash. What had happened was embarrassing and the past, no matter how rotten, was over.
    * * *
    “How’d it go with Dr. Granger?” Benjamin asked from three desks away. He strode to Lucia’s desk and leaned against it.
    Lucia was eager for some normalcy, like checking her email and catching up on any case notes that had been added. “He was thorough.” She’d had pelvic exams that had been more comfortable. “I told him about my concerns about Preston Hammer. He said he would follow up.”
    “Then you’re cleared for work?” Benjamin asked.
    “I’m here, aren’t I?” Lucia asked, typing her password into her computer. Her words were sharp, but she didn’t want to sit through another interrogation.
    “While you were gone, we drew straws. You drew the short one,” Benjamin said.
    Lucia rolled her eyes. “Shocking. What do we have? An overnight stakeout?” Copies of files to be made? Paperwork from the seventies to be sorted?
    Cash was watching her and hadn’t said anything. Her senses tingled. Something big had happened.
    “What did I miss?” she asked.
    “We got a hot lead on Clifton Anderson. He wasn’t working one con job in the city. He had two going. The one at Holmes and White may be over, but he’s running an underground gambling ring in the city.”
    Excitement coursed through her. It was the lead they’d been waiting for. “That’s the short straw? Going to one of his underground casinos?” She considered that great luck. She needed to be in the action. The closer she got to Anderson, the closer she was to finding the stolen money.
    Benjamin laughed. Cash rubbed his jaw.
    “The casino Anderson is running is invitation-only. He’s lying low, but he’s definitely still involved in it. We hear it’s too much money to walk away from.”
    Something didn’t sit well with what Benjamin said. “He stole hundreds of millions from Holmes and White. How much does he want?”
    Cash tapped a pen against his palm. “He’s greedy, so it could be that he’s looking for his final big score and then he’ll slip away.”
    Slip away out of their reach and take the money with him.