Free Bait by Leslie Jones

she was going to humiliate herself, she would do it her way and in her time. “The largest launderer of illegal birds is a company called Exotic Fauna Exports of Baghdad. It was run by two brothers, Yuri and Fedyenka Osinov, Ukrainian immigrants.”
    She stopped walking, turning to admire the statue of a maiden pouring liquid from an urn on her shoulder. Water splashed from the urn, across her carved slippers, and into a shallow basin. Christina perched on the lip of the basin and trailed her fingers through the water. Gabe did not sit. She felt him, solid and imposing, at her left shoulder.
    â€œBirds?” Disbelief laced Gabe’s voice. “Your mission was birds ?”
    â€œExotic birds aren’t the only thing they handle,” she said. Her shoulders hunched as she looked anywhere but at him. “They also smuggle exotic animals for illegal—­and extremely expensive—­fur coats. Ermine and mink. Chinchilla.”
    Gabe exhaled an unamused laugh. “Birds. Christ Almighty.”
    He infiltrated hostile countries to fight terrorists, rescue hostages, train locals to defend themselves. Small wonder her mission seemed silly to him. She slapped the surface of the water, spraying droplets onto her expensive pantsuit. “Trafficking in illegal wildlife is a fifteen billion dollar a year business, second only to the drug trade. This is not a joke. Psittacines are highly profitable commodities.”
    He moved into view. The several feet between them might have been miles. “Go on, then. Tell me about your birds.”
    Instinct told her Gabe wanted as many details as possible. “This was information gathering only. Once we found what we were looking for, local law enforcement would go in for the takedown. We needed to find the holding area. The conditions in these places are awful. Rampant disease that then moves into the United States.” She glanced into his face, saw no encouragement, and sighed.
    Gabe propped a foot on the lip of the fountain. “Exactly what happened?”
    â€œBobby Roberts and I arranged to meet with the Osinovs. Bobby was in charge of the whole operation.”
    Incredulity colored Gabe’s tone. “No way. Robert Roberts? What, did his parents hate him?”
    Christina wiped her fingers dry. “Probably. Everyone else did, too. He believed in volume leadership. If he could say it the loudest, it must be true. He never admitted he was wrong, even when it was brutally obvious he was. Frankly, he was a bully. I think Customs assigned him this case just to get rid of him for a while.”
    â€œLet me guess. He threw you under the bus.” A hard look crept into his eyes.
    She cleared her throat and didn’t answer. In fact, Bobby had vilified her. He’d blamed her for every aspect of the mission’s failure. The others followed suit to save their own asses, leaving Christina holding the bag of stink. Ugly rumors spread through agency grapevines and shredded her reputation.
    â€œOkay. Take me through it,” he said after a moment.
    â€œThe initial meeting with the Osinovs was productive. We agreed on price and delivery. The next day, we were blindfolded and taken to the holding area,” she said. “Yuri showed us samples of the merchandise. Everything seemed fine.”
    A grin tugged at his mouth. “Samples of birds?”
    Her eyes twinkled. “Two Amazons, an African grey, and a cockatoo.”
    â€œSo what went wrong? You said they made you.”
    Christina thought for a moment. “I don’t know what went wrong. Shay contacted the local police. They were supposed to be standing by to arrest the Osinovs at the warehouse during the transfer, catching them in the act. And liberating the inhabitants of those cages. They never had the chance to move in. Yuri and his men drew on us. Bobby . . . well, he escaped out the back way. I used Yuri as a human shield. They started shooting anyway. I