Chapter EIGHTEEN
“I have some things I need to take care of. Would you mind if Dominic took you home?” Jagger said.
“Of course not.” While she wanted to know exactly what he had to ‘take care of’, this was her perfect way out of his line of sight. Now she would be able to sneak off to the FBI to talk to David.
“Thank you so much.” He bent down to kiss her, taking her shoulders in his hands.
“Do I get to stay awake this time?”
“I can allow that.” He winked at her, and her stomach tingled.
She said her goodbyes to everyone and hopped in the car with her brother. They took off down the road as Britton looked back at the warehouse. They traveled for a while, simply making small talk, catching up on life. Britton curved her stories, the same way she had done for Jagger. She still didn’t know where they were, but she memorized every turn they took.
“So who is David?” Dom asked her out of nowhere.
“Jagger told you about him?”
“He’s not that good at hiding his jealousy.”
“Believe me, I know that all too well.” She thought of revealing her bruises to him, but decided against it. She didn’t want to seem like she was a girl who couldn’t stick up for herself. She also didn't want him picking a fight with Jagger, no matter how close they were. “He was just a boyfriend, but it’s over now.”
“Probably better that way.”
“Yeah.” She wanted to get out of this conversation. They had finally come to a stretch of road that looked familiar to her. Britton was sure she could find the way back to the warehouse if deemed necessary. She still needed more information though. “It’s quite an operation going on over there.”
Dominic hesitated, unsure of her understanding of their dealings. “How much do you know?”
“Enough.”
“And you’re okay with it all?”
“I don’t know, Dom. Doesn’t it worry you that this is all illegal? What happens when you get caught and thrown in jail?” She prodded, hoping that he wouldn’t be suspicious.
“It hasn’t happened yet.”
“But you’re just running out the clock. It will happen eventually, right?”
“What, are you going to turn us in?”
Britton tried to hide her nervous laughter. “Of course not, but I’m sure they have files and evidence against you.”
“Jagger is really careful.”
“Dom, is there nothing else you could do?”
“There’s nothing else I want to do. I’m good at this.”
“What is ‘this’?”
“I’m Jagger’s second in command. I’m important to the Harbingers. I see to the day to day operations while he takes care of the big picture.”
She didn’t want to hear that. How could he be the second in command? He was so young. Then again, they were all young. Every person in that room couldn’t have been any older than their mid twenties. It was just a bunch of kids playing house.
Dominic continued. “Brit, I just work in the office. I don’t actually do anything you might be thinking I do.”
Her tension eased with that knowledge. It would make it easier to keep him from jail time if he simply worked in the office, and there was no blood on his hands, metaphoric or literal.
“I just wish…”
“What do you wish? I had a different life? Our parents didn’t abandon us? You didn’t abandon us? I wasn’t forced into a life of crime so our ten-year-old sister didn’t starve to death?” He was getting agitated. “Brit, I’ve been doing things my way for eight years. You can’t come in here now and pretend you have any say in what I do with my life.”
She had lost the battle. “You’re right. I’m so sorry.”
Dominic pulled into her driveway, and Britton quickly hopped out.
“Do you want me to stay with you?”
“No. I have some errands to run. Thank you for driving me home.”
“Anytime.” He paused. “Hey… it’s good to have you back sis.”
“You too, Dom.”
She waved at him as he left, and quickly hopped into her car. She sped out of her driveway and headed directly for the FBI. She wasn’t sure what she was going to say to David, but she knew she needed to talk to him. She needed to work things out, and let him know she was making progress. She would leave out that she knew the exact location of the warehouse and that her brother was involved. Maybe she would warn him of the operation that Harry was heading up, and promise to uncover the details. That would at least throw him off Jagger’s direct trail for a little bit.
She pulled up to the building and took a deep breath before turning off the engine. Britton had decided to let David know that she would have to go dark for a time, allowing her to fall deeper into Jagger’s crime syndicate. She knew that would also give her more time to decide how to proceed with her case, and who should be targeted.
She stepped out of the elevator and only acknowledged a few agents as she made her way into David’s office. She ran in, just as he was hanging up the phone.
“Britton, you’re okay.” David sighed as he saw her.
“Hi.” She was winded; she hadn’t realized that she'd been holding her breath.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
“This doesn’t look like nothing.”
She caught her breath. “No, everything is fine, I just wanted to tell you that I was at their warehouse today.”
“You’re a genius. I’ll put in a request for a warrant. Where is it?”
She stopped, weighing the options. “I don’t know. I was knocked out.”
“He hurt you?” David was angry.
“No, I mean I was blindfolded.” She needed to get her stories straight.
“Well, which was it?”
“He sedated me on the way there and blindfolded me on the way back.” She needed to stop talking. She was going to end up getting herself in trouble.
“How far away was it?”
“I don’t know, I was still woozy from being sedated.”
“Britton, what is going on?” He knew she was hiding something. What could it be?
“I wanted to tell you that I’m in. I’m totally in. He trusts me. But I need to go dark for a bit. I was able to steal away today, but I don’t think the opportunity will come up again.”
David hated this proposal. He didn’t like the idea of her going silent for a few hours, let alone however much time she was requesting now.
“You promise you’re all right?”
“Yes.”
“You can handle this on your own?”
“Absolutely.”
“Okay, I’ll allow it, but I think we can end this sooner than you think. I just got off the phone with the DEA. ”
“What?” Her body tensed up. Were they coming in from a different angle?
“They intercepted a shipment of cocaine that they are pretty sure belongs to the Harbingers of Sorrow. It’s on its way here now. One of their agents is here to talk to us. Let’s go.”
Britton rose out of her chair and followed closely behind David. Another agent was leading a man with a DEA jacket into the conference room. He was balding and a little on the bigger side. He turned to shake hands with the agent, and Britton got a glimpse of his face. It was Hank, the man she had met at Jagger’s warehouse. He was DEA.