Rising Hope by Edie James
33
Enzo juttedhis chin at the screen and braced himself. “Go on.”
Whatever the cyber-specialists had uncovered couldn’t be any worse than learning that his fellow aviator was most likely dead.
Ethan hit a few keys on his laptop and the huge screen behind Jack came alive. Photos of a clean-cut man, hair just beginning to gray, filled the screen.
Enzo’s mouth dropped open. “That’s my CO, Commander Paulson.”
Ethan nodded as he typed, papering over the photos with shots of a much younger Panetta in Coast Guard blues. “Commander Michael Paulson was Panetta’s Master Sergeant during Panetta’s brief time with the Coast Guard. The guy only lasted two years. Got himself an early discharge. The details are murky, but reading between the lines, I’m guessing he agreed to leave quietly rather than get stuck with a dishonorable discharge.”
Sarah pressed a hand to her heart. “Which was how he was able to make his way into the FBI somehow.”
“Yup,” Jack agreed.
Enzo shook his head. “This is all circumstantial. Besides, what kind of info would a Coast Guard commander have to sell a cartel?”
“I don’t know,” Ethan answered. “But I do know the commander’s hurting for cash. We had to dig deep to find this, but based on the pattern of withdrawals from his personal credit union account, my guess is Paulson’s got a gambling problem.”
Enzo wanted to argue, but stopped himself, settling for a skeptical look.
Angie spoke up. “What about interdiction information? He’d have access to the Guard’s patrol schedule, things like that.”
“But B3yond is manufactured right here, in the States,” Sarah argued. “That’s the beauty of it. No border crossings.”
The room fell silent as the team digested the new info.
Star had been focusing on her own screen while the discussion went on around her. She pulled back from her computer and eyed the group, her face a mask of concern. “I think this is way more serious than helping a Russian cartel smuggle drugs. Five informants planning to testify against Tambov Roka members have been killed in the past eight months What if someone on this interagency team’s giving up info on confidential informants?”
Awful, but the info relieved Enzo somehow. “Commander Paulson might be on the task force, but he wouldn’t have access to info on FBI or DEA informants, would he?”
Tamra shook her head before he was finished. “No way. That info gets the highest security. All need-to-know. I don’t care if he was running the task force, he wouldn’t have access to the DEA or FBI databases. Not at that level.”
Austin sat up straighter. “What if we have this backwards? Maybe Panetta is the mastermind. Or Munson was. Enzo’s CO might be a minor player. He sends in pilots he can keep an eye on to make sure the jewels aren’t discovered.”
“Guys he can dispose of and blame, if needed.” Jack riffed off his friend’s thought. “Paulson might not have access to info on informants, but as a task force member, he’d attend the higher-level meetings. He’d know if the task force got wind of anything.”
All eyes went to Enzo, who nodded reluctantly. “I could see that. Truthfully, though? I don’t buy this.” He shrugged. “Maybe I just don’t want to. I don’t know the man well, but I’ve always respected him. Trusted him, I guess.”
“He was Wenmark’s CO for two years before he took over Station Piedras Blancas,” Star added, her tone hesitant, as if she was reluctant to pile on.
Enzo couldn’t stop staring at the official photo, looking for… he didn’t know what, exactly. Evidence of a soul gone wrong?
Jack turned to Sarah, pinning her to her seat with a dark, hard stare. “There’s something else we need to discuss,” he announced.
Enzo readied himself for a fight. If they tried to blame any of this on her…
Sarah shot him a look so bleak it turned him inside out. He wanted to comfort her, to assure her whatever these people had uncovered about her past, he didn’t care. This Sarah, the woman who braved death, literally, to get drugs off the streets had captured his heart. He didn’t care about her past. He only wished he’d let her know that before her secrets got dragged into the light in front of everyone.
Sarah raised her hand. “I’ll start. Enzo deserves to hear it from me.”
She took a long, deep breath, her gaze not quite meeting his. “My background isn’t exactly stellar. I come from a long line of criminals. I’m a criminal, too.”
The coffeepot gurgled. The only sound in the vast space.
Sarah stared into her mug. “I was brought up to lie and cheat and steal. Anything that added to the family fortunes was fair game. Five years ago, it caught up with me. I got caught in a DEA sting. I should have gone to prison, but one of the agents must have seen something in me.”
The memory drew a soft smile, which quickly died under the stony looks from Jack and his teammates.
She cleared her throat. “The DEA offered me a deal: a few years of service and they’d bury my arrest record. The charges would go away. That was five years ago. I’ve been on the straight and narrow ever since.”