Chapter 1 #4
Or maybe she was more like a giant spider, waiting for the slightest vibration on the elaborate web she’d spun.
It wasn’t pretty, inhabiting the same places as the lawbreakers she was trying to expose.
Sometimes she felt as if no endless shower of hot water would scald the taint from her skin after a particularly long research mission in those lightless corners.
She wriggled on the hard seat.
You’re doing what’s necessary for Aaron and all the other people whom you’ve helped.
Each tiny quiver of information pointed her to this region, this town, and hours of research and inquiries had led her to her source. Lorraine would confirm if she was correct or not. In a best-case scenario, she would also answer Mackenzie’s crucial second question. What is Bullseye’s real name?
Or maybe Lorraine would give her something else to narrow the field, point her to someone who could help. But one way or another, Bullseye would be exposed.
Mackenzie had gained a following on her podcast, Boots on the Ground, thanks to the modern fascination with true crime and the cases she’d been able to help solve.
Every time she launched a new case, tips flooded in, but the majority never panned out.
She garnered her share of haters too—mostly men who objected to her message, her words, her presentation, her clothes, her age, and her very existence.
The same type of hatred she’d seen in the eyes of the bearded guy driving the white truck.
Just an unfriendly local? Or one of Bullseye’s people who had somehow tracked her?
She’d abstained from posting updates since she hit town, but Bullseye might be every bit as adept at tracking as she was.
She’d made no secret of the fact that Aaron Bardine was her brother.
And Bullseye was a filthy drug lord who was going to pay for his death.
Her body still tingled from the strip search.
Hot shame licked her cheeks. Though she’d been treated respectfully, there was no way to avoid feeling humiliated and exposed while standing naked in front of a rubber-gloved stranger.
It pained her to be deceiving the police.
Part of her identity would always be law enforcement, even though she hadn’t finished the academy.
Down the road she’d have to come clean with the cops and FBI about what she learned and how she’d collected the information, but that wasn’t important now.
Aaron often said, “Use your powers for good, Zee.”
And she intended to.
An image of her parents swam through her mind, how they’d react when they heard what she’d done, their daughter, arrested for robbery.
Her parents did not have the will to fight.
Instead they comforted themselves with a future reckoning.
“No one escapes God’s justice,” her father said. “He wins in the end.”
But God put her here on this planet to act, and act she would.
Her mission was not a quest for attention, as Gideon believed.
His expression when she’d taken his wallet was not something she’d ever forget.
Shock, anger, and the worst emotion, disappointment, cascaded over his face.
He had no idea what she was doing, and she wasn’t sure why it mattered anyway.
Gideon wouldn’t want to even try to understand someone who reminded him of how he’d failed.
She experienced agony whenever she recalled how she had done the same.
Her mom and dad would understand someday that it was the only way, the best chance she had to get enough information to help her prove that Bullseye was responsible for employing the dealer who’d murdered Aaron.
He had a network of people who sold for him, transporting the drugs on small planes from Canada into the US.
She knew it, from a thousand different bytes of information, but she couldn’t prove it.
Not yet, anyway.
“Hungry?”
She snapped out of her reverie to find a cop talking through a slot in the cell door.
“Oh. Yes, actually.”
“There’s a light snack in the dining hall. I’ll need to shackle your ankles.”
Mortifying, but her chance had come. She stood.
“Okay.”
He started to unlock the door. “We’re working on your arraignment details, but the—”
Another cop hustled up before the door swung open. “We gotta evac the prisoners to county,” he said to the first cop. “Two trips. I’ll drive the women out first, Dan will follow to back me up. We’ll get the males out next.”
Evacuation? Mackenzie’s chest tightened. No, no, no. Once they reached the larger county jail, she might never have her chance to talk to Lorraine.
“Wait,” she started, but the officers weren’t listening.
It was clear the unit was in “handle it” mode.
In a matter of moments, she was handcuffed and escorted to a covered garage and loaded into a small van, where her cuffs were fastened to the welded O-rings on the side of the vehicle.
There were no windows save for the front, where she could get a partial look.
She strained to see as two other women were ushered in, one with a frizz of gray hair and the other younger with braids tight to her head and . . . Mackenzie stared . . . a broken front tooth, the only physical descriptor she had for her informant.
“Lorraine?” Mackenzie said to the woman across from her, as loudly as she dared.
The woman’s freckled brow creased. She nodded, chewing her lip. “Yes.”
Mackenzie’s heart soared. Thank you, God. “I’ve been hoping to talk to you.”
Her eyes flew wide, the little freckles on her brow dancing. “You’re Mackenzie?”
“Yes.”
Lorraine gaped. “What are you doing here?”
“Trying to find you.”
“I thought for sure it was all off when I got arrested.”
Mackenzie waited impatiently while the officer rechecked their seating arrangement and restraints.
He let himself through a cage and locked it behind him before he strapped in and turned on the engine.
Through the caging, she watched him ease the van into the storm.
The deluge was instant, the front wipers barely able to keep up.
“What’d they get you for?” Lorraine asked.
“Robbery. After I heard you were in here, I figured it was the best way I might be able to see you.”
Lorraine’s complexion paled. “You got yourself arrested to talk to me?” She grimaced. “Wasted effort. It’s all out of control now.”
Mackenzie tried to break into the woman’s tirade, but Lorraine continued, chewing on her dry lower lip. “He’s not done punishing me. I know it. He’s got people everywhere. If I talk to you, it’ll get even worse. He’ll end me.”
“No one will know.”
“He will. He already does.” She yanked on her cuffs. “That’s why I’m in here, don’t you see?” Tears collected on her lashes.
“Tell me what happened.”
“I was arrested at my job. I work in the front office for a delivery company downtown that Bullseye owns. Somebody reported me for stealing, and they found the money in my company locker. It was so humiliating. But I didn’t do it.
” Her voice raised in pitch. “Don’t you get it?
They found out I was communicating with you.
Jail is the price now, but if I talk to you, it’ll get worse.
” Her voice broke on the last word. “How am I ever going to get another job now with an arrest on my record?”
Mackenzie’s stomach churned. Lorraine was suffering because Mackenzie had reached out to her. Why hadn’t she anticipated such a thing? She’d been arrogant enough to think she was hidden from Bullseye.
“I’m sorry. I never meant to cause you trouble.” She so badly wanted to take the woman’s hand.
Lorraine sniffed. “I should have known better. I thought I could help you and maybe you could shut him down and he wouldn’t find out. What was I thinking?”
“It’s not over. The only way through this is to send him to prison, and we can still do that.” She leaned forward, wrists cinched tight against the restraints. “His headquarters is here? In this area?” Lorraine nodded and Mackenzie’s excitement flamed. Question one answered. “Do you know his name?”
Lorraine went still, and the hunted look in her eyes told Mackenzie the answer was yes. The moment had come. “I need to know.”
“I can’t tell you. He’ll have me killed for sure.”
“I promise I will never reveal to anyone that we spoke.” She had to talk loudly enough to be heard over the rain.
“They might be following us right now.” Lorraine looked around, jutting her chin at the other prisoner. “What about her?”
But the woman with the silver hair stared out the front.
“She’s not listening. Please tell me what you know. This will be our only chance, Lorraine. You know that.” Her throat clogged. “He can’t go on ending people’s lives. Help me shut him down. Please.”
Lorraine cocked her head. “Aren’t you afraid of what he’ll do to you?”
“My brother’s dead.” She felt such a rush of white-hot anger, it took her a moment to finish. “He’s not taking anything else.”
Lorraine was silent for a beat before she swallowed hard. She was going to talk. Her bravery was breathtaking, and Mackenzie would see to it that she used every mote of information to its full advantage.
“You need to do something for me,” Lorraine said.
“I will if I can.”
“My mom is hoping to move to Jamaica next month to live with her sister. You need to help her, make sure she gets there. She’ll be safe then.”
“I’ll try.”
“No,” Lorraine snapped, tone steely. “You’ll do better than try. Even if you have to put her on the plane yourself, you’re going to make it happen. Promise, or I don’t tell you a thing.” Her fingers were twisted together, jaw tight.
Mackenzie looked at her. “Lorraine, I promise I will make sure your mother gets to Jamaica.”
“How do I know you’ll do it?”
What could she say to vouch for her integrity? “My brother’s gone. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I got myself arrested. There is nothing else in this world I want more than to bury Bullseye in a prison cell and shut down his drug dealing permanently.”
Lorraine went still, thinking.
Mackenzie’s whole mission hung on Lorraine’s decision. What if she was right about Bullseye’s reach? That even now the drug lord might know exactly where they were. How would he choose to deal with his two betrayers?
She held her breath and waited as the police van rolled on through the pummeling rain.