Page 6 of Hazard
“Yes, it was horrifying, and distasteful.”
“Distasteful? Betsy Marlowe, the former US attorney was murdered along with our whole task force. They deserve justice.”
“You and justice. What a crock. You belong in the family business where it’s safe.”
“Safe? Do you think that happens on its own? We are the machine that generates that safety. That’s why you can keep your money and make as much, legally, as you want without someone taking it from you. We put the worst offenders out of business. What I do ensures the safety for everyone in my district, as do all the US attorneys in all the states. Do you think DC wouldn’t fall to crime and violence if it wasn’t for our judicial system?”
“Let someone else do it, Leigh Ann,” her mother said.
“No. Betsy deserves justice and I’m going to see this case through until the end. Nothing is going to deter me. Not even your machinations.”
“Leigh Ann!” her mother called, chasing after her, but when Leigh got to the door, she didn’t hesitate, the potential of that lead burning all the way through her.
“David, what is this I see that you’re cutting me out of the investigation?” Leigh asked after storming into her boss’s office the next day. She’d emailed him with a request to be part of the team in Colombia who were on the ground there. She needed to be part of it, right at its heart.
“Leigh don’t be so dramatic. I’m not cutting you out.”
“You refused my request to go to Colombia.”
“I need you in San Diego, and it’s going to be very dangerous down there.”
“I don’t care about that, David, and you know it. Betsy deserves my expertise and experience on this case, not some judicial attaché who doesn’t know what they’re doing.”
His mouth tightened and his eyes went glassy. He left his chair and walked to the window. “I’m pulling out all the stops to bring these animals to ground.” He turned around. “I can’t risk losing you, too, Leigh.”
“It’s my job, David. Let me do it. Let me send a clear message to Angel Alzate that we will stop at nothing to bring him and his corrupt, violent organization to its knees. That we will protect the national security of the United States and the safety and health of the American people. They murdered my colleagues to protect a shipment of cocaine, and I want justice for them all. I can’t do that from San Diego. Send me to Colombia as your Special Judicial Attaché. I won’t let you down, David. I promise you that.”
“Dammit, Leigh. I should have known I couldn’t debate with one of the most silver-tongued prosecutors on my team.” He sighed. “You win, but I’m going to assign you a personal detail while you’re down there. I want your promise that you will listen to every word they say and follow their recommendations to the letter.”
“I promise, David. Give me protection, but that’s not going to change how hard I go at the cartel. I have a plan.”
“I understand that. Just take precautions. Once we begin dismantling that cartel, they’re going to hit back hard.”
She nodded. “I know.” There was some part of her that feared for her life. She wasn’t stupid or naive. They would come after her, but they couldn’t back down from this kind of fight whether in the street or in the courtroom. Leigh was determined to stand for the people who couldn’t stand for themselves. Her heart wouldn’t let her.
“What plan?” he asked, his mouth kicking up at the corner. “I’m not at all surprised.”
“It’s more mathematical than planning, but I think it will work.” She laid out her thoughts, and David was completely hooked into the course of action. He even gave her the budget to bring her expert aboard.She was thrilled.
Hours later after deplaning at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia, Leigh slipped into the limo that would take her to a briefing at the embassy. She looked out the window as the city flowed past. Drugs, guns, money laundering, rampant smuggling, and every form of vice and corruption between—Bogotá seethed with them all. No street was safe. Millions of dollars of illegal trade took place in its markets and warehouses every day, billions of dollars a year. It was a haven for criminals, from displaced rebels to cartel heavyweights. These days, terrorists from Hezbollah and ISIS, and the resurgence of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army or FARC-EP joining with the very active National Liberation Army or ELN. And she’d insisted on being the Special Judicial Attaché in the US Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia seemingly to handle extraditions, operational guidance and training, and be the DOJ’s representative, but she was really here to find and apprehend Angel Alzate.
Hazard watched the woman from his position on the centralized stairs leading up to the second level of the embassy and the place where the briefing was going to take place. She was standing in the lobby with her luggage as if she’d only arrived in Bogotá. She looked so damned familiar, but the hair threw him, a cascade of bright blonde flowing over her shoulders and cascading down her back.
His attention should be on the upcoming meeting. The CIA was going hard on Enzo Russo, and he and Skull had been licking their wounds from the beat down by the CIA Shadowguard women, Strekoza which meant dragonfly in Russian, a name that fit the tall, willowy, and lethal brunette, and Hummingbird. Small-but-deadly had fooled and bested two Navy SEALs, and Skull had been unusually broody about it. He always had this glower about him, but now it was downright a purple aura.
The woman turned around, and his heart skipped a couple of beats. He was riveted to her every movement, and the sight of her ass wrapped in a leather pencil skirt—an incredible ass and her legs heartbreaking—and the power heels she was wearing were nothing short of…dangerous.
But that sleeveless white blouse unbuttoned just enough to see the soft curve of her pale ivory breasts was much more the hot zone…the torture zone. He hoped the woman was leaving. He really did because he didn’t want to get his head fucked by panting after that beauty. He didn’t get distracted on missions, and this one was as serious as fuck.
But, hell, she was goddamned gorgeous.
And filled with fluid, female grace as she reached for a short black jacket hanging off one of the cases, slipped into it, and did something that held him mesmerized. She slid one beautifully manicured hand to her nape and dislodged her hair from the collar of the jacket, then tossed her head to settle all that blonde mass back into place.
Then she did something that made his whole body freeze in place, something only one of his personal detail females did: she touched the fine chain around her neck, in more of a nervous way, something Leigh Waterford had done when he was protecting her.
Fuck no! Anyone but her. Yet he could see now that it was her. She had changed her hair color, which had been what had thrown him.
Her next move, and he was so blindsided by it, was to look toward the stairs, and when she saw him, she smiled. It was a professional smile, not a personal smile. But it didn’t matter, it knocked him for a loop.