The Defender by Lindsay McKenna

Author:Lindsay McKenna [McKenna, Lindsay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HQN
Published: 2012-01-25T13:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“AT LEAST WE KNOW Katie Bergstrom wasn’t working for her mother before this,” Hager told Joe.

Joe stood at the picture window in the living room. The sun was still below the eastern horizon. “My gut was telling me as soon as I met her that she wasn’t hooked up with Janet.”

“You were right. Now, Katie is being drawn into Janet’s fold.”

Rubbing his brow, Joe felt his heart squeeze in fear for her. “I don’t know if she’s going to work for her or not. Janet’s supposed to call her in a week.”

“No other contact with her that you know of?”

Joe shrugged. “Katie’s world revolves around her raptors. She feels safe with them.”

“Not surprising that she’s found an anchor after being tossed around like a billiard ball on a pool table. She went through a lot of foster homes.”

“Right,” Joe agreed. He stopped pacing and felt his nerves tighten. He shouldn’t have kissed Katie. And his boss would never know about it. Above all, Joe had to keep his eye on the prize: connecting Janet Bergstrom to the Los Lobos cartel.

“The Garcia cartel from Mexico is starting to create a beachhead in Jackson Hole,” Hagar went on, “and now, we know Los Lobos wants to do the same thing. That’s a serious problem because sooner or later, these two cartels are going to have bullets flying at one another. I need you to go over to the sheriff’s office and let the commander know what’s happening. We need to make them aware of this escalating situation.”

Joe glanced at his watch; it was 6:00 a.m. “I’ll get over there before I have to go to work.”

“There’s a deputy sheriff by the name of Cade Garner who is the head of the drug task force for Teton County. He’s the one you want to make contact with.”

“Okay,” Joe said. He saw a raven fly nearby, cawing into the dawn light.

“Tell Garner to contact my office and we’ll send him everything we’ve got. From now on, we coordinate. You’ll be the field agent on this, Joe. You’re doing a good job.”

Joe halted, staring blankly at the rose-colored sunrise. “Mr. Hagar, I wonder if we need to shield Katie Bergstrom in all of this? She’s walking into this crossfire and hasn’t a clue about what’s going on. Don’t we morally owe her a warning about her mother and what she’s up to?”

Hagar sighed heavily. “Sometimes people get used as pawns. Katie can’t help that she was born to this woman. And it’s certainly not her fault her mother turned to drugs and gunrunning. I’m sorry, Joe, but you can’t say anything to Katie.”

Fear rose in him. “At some point, we have to tell her. I mean, I can’t let her walk blindly into the situation. She could easily get killed if there’s an attack on Los Lobos by Garcia.” His hand painfully tight around the cell phone, he waited to hear what Hager would say.

Sighing, Hager said, “Maybe. Maybe not. We’re going to have to monitor this one step at a time.

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