Free Deceive Her With Desire by Nina Pierce

shipment of heroin on Sunday night and that he’d be happy to have him in on the action, Ayden had felt another piece of the puzzle drop into place.
    Though the debonair business man had been purposefully vague about the how or where, Ayden was sure it wasn’t because Jameson didn’t know the information. No way in hell the asshole was being manipulated by someone higher up. He was the squeaky clean man with the financial backing and power to be pulling the strings. The guy that in the past—had always gotten away.
    Well, not this time. Jameson was their guy all right. The way Ayden was popping antacids to cool the fire in his gut told him he was right on track and to trust his instincts.
    But DEA stings didn’t operate on gut feelings. They required cold, hard facts, backed up by more credible facts and solidified by even more substantial facts. Only facts turned a conviction into jail time. And getting drug-dealing swine off the streets was Ayden’s primary mission.
    The keys on the computers behind him clicked as recording equipment whirred. Harriman and Jones were the only two left and they’d be here until the men relieving them showed up in six hours for the midnight shift. Both men were intently listening in on the phone and wire taps at Jameson’s estate.
    Everything there was still working and that just sent Ayden’s ulcer into overdrive. Seemed stupid to think he wanted them to find the sensitive equipment, but something about it just wasn’t sitting right with him. Ayden flipped two more antacids into his mouth from the pack he kept in his pocket and studied the surveillance photos again.
    Grainy photos of guys making deals on the street littered the board. He knew a high number of the two-bit players, but the only one Ayden cared about was the man at the heart of the operation pumping heroin into the streets of Maine and right into the hands of the teenagers. Drug addiction on the Maine coast was rampant. Shutting down the street thugs wouldn’t stop everything, but apprehending Jameson, the greedy asshole looking to expand his drug cartel, would certainly staunch the flow.
    Until Jameson gave them more information on the how and where, Ayden had set up contingency plans. He had teams ready to go at a small airstrip in Wesley, just outside Cutler. But Ayden didn’t think they were going to fly the drugs in, not with the mansion sitting pretty right next to the ocean. More likely, they’d route the heroin shipment from South America, through Canada and bring it into Maine by boat. He was banking on that.
    Ayden had no idea how big a haul they were making, Jameson hadn’t been willing to discuss that detail either. They were still parrying, like two fencers with swords, dodging and striking, neither willing to give up too much information.
    Ayden had marked Jameson as their guy and he was putting all his eggs in that basket. Reluctantly, the guys in Boston agreed to the plan as he’d laid it out.
    “Hey, Scott,” Harriman yelled from the bank of computers. “We’ve got a situation in Cutler. It’s coming across on the police scanner.”
    * * * *
     
    Glenn Lafflin , the Cutler chief of police, ushered Ayden in the backdoor of the small precinct and straight to his office. It was imperative none of the other officers see Ayden here. There was a high probability at least one of them on the small force was on Jameson’s payroll. The guys in Boston had done a thorough background check on Lafflin before they decided to bring him in, so only he was aware the DEA was in town. Sometimes it was good to have the cooperation of the local police.
    Ayden hoped he didn’t end up regretting the decision.
    In hindsight, he probably should have sent over one of the other guys so there was no chance of blowing his cover. But after Harriman heard the Cutler officers touting the arrest over the scanner, he needed to find out for himself who else was in the game. Ayden would be pissed if this arrest turned up