Free Cold Snap by Allison Brennan

lied?”
    “Bluffed.”
    “There wasn’t a warrant? Then why was he so worried? How did you know his name?”
    “There’s definitely a warrant. I took his picture, and the others’, when we were at the teen center and had RCK run their faces. ID’d four of the six, all with records, all under eighteen except for Ringo. He’s twenty. I’ll let the locals know where he can be found. Right now I just wanted to get us out of a sticky situation without having to pull my gun.”
    Elle took several deep breaths. “You were right.”
    “About?”
    “She went to TK. She’s planning to break in, but her friend didn’t know why.”
    “But you do.”
    Elle was angry and upset and she didn’t know if she was to blame for everything. “Doreen did the same thing, and got killed. Kami knows that! Why is she doing this? Why would she risk her life?”
    “Why are you?” Patrick asked quietly.
    “Why am I what?”
    “You’re doing the same thing. Risking your life to find Kami before something happens to her.”
    “You are, too,” she said, averting the question.
    “I’m trained for this. You’re taking risks without even realizing it.”
    “If not me, then who? This world is fucked up enough because people pass the buck or turn their back. Not me, not on Kami.”
    Not when it’s my fault she’s in trouble in the first place.
    Patrick took her hand and squeezed it. She stared at him, wanting to let him do everything because she was scared. But she also knew what she was getting into. She knew the people and the players.
    Patrick said, “If Kami is there, we’ll find her.”
    Elle voiced her real fear. “What if she’s already dead?”

 
    CHAPTER 6
     
    Patrick told Elle not to drive directly to TK. He wanted to make sure that Ringo and his goon didn’t follow them. His phone vibrated and he answered.
    “Kincaid.”
    It was Jaye. “Christopher Lee is squeaky-clean on the surface. Too clean. I dug into his financials—”
    “Jaye—”
    “All legal, pinky swear. What he really needs is a good audit, because it feels fishy to me.”
    “That’s not going to get anyone to look at him.”
    “Hey, my word should be good enough.”
    “It is with me, but I need something solid. Or did you call just to chat?”
    “Solid. He does a lot of business with another squeaky-clean company in Stockton, which works with a shipping company that isn’t so squeaky-clean. Peeling back the layers and that not-so-squeaky-clean shipping company is actually owned by one of Lee’s holdings, but he buried it well.”
    “Not well enough, if you uncovered it in an hour.”
    “I can’t take credit for it. Chi Sun Shipping is on the RCK watch list.”
    “What watch list?”
    “Oh—right, you don’t do international. The human trafficking watch list.”
    Patrick’s blood ran cold. “Are you sure?”
    “Of course,” she said, sounding offended. “I wouldn’t have said it if I weren’t.”
    “Can you do one more thing?”
    “You know it’s after midnight, right?”
    “Are you going to bed?”
    “No.”
    “Then please? Pretty please? Pretty please with a triple espresso on top?”
    She giggled. “God, Patrick, you owe me big-time.”
    “We all do.”
    “What else do you want?”
    “Our contact with DEA, can you find out if Lee or Chi Sun Shipping is under watch for drug smuggling?”
    “Not until the morning—it’s three A.M. in Washington.”
    “Right. Sorry. Thanks again.”
    “Be careful. Jack said if you need help, call him.”
    “I’m okay for now.”
    “And JT wants an update if you uncover anything connected to Chi Sun Shipping.”
    JT Caruso was the C in RCK. “You told him before me?”
    “He pays me. But just so you know, I e-mailed him while we were talking, and he just responded. So technically, I told you first.”
    “You’re a gem.”
    “A diamond. I want to be a diamond.”
    He laughed and hung up.
    “You’re laughing,” Elle said.
    Patrick sighed and rubbed his eyes.