For seventy-one days, Julia had worked undercover as a dealer and bartender in El Lobo, a bar ninety miles east of Richmond in Virginia Beach. As she slung drinks, the wire embedded in a necklace had video recorded Benny and his crew as they made deal after deal. She’d blended well into the rough culture, easily losing herself in the role of Jules Glover. She’d been so close to finding out who supplied Santiago with his drugs.
And then, the last night of the operation, someone had told Benny a police takedown was in the works. Benny had gone wild with rage and turned his anger toward a familiar target, his young girlfriend, Lana Ortega, a full-figured blonde with dark-brown eyes. He’d pinned Lana up against the wall and, always careful not to harm her face, drove his fist into her belly. He’d cocked his fist and hit her again as he demanded to know who had betrayed him. She’d crumpled and whimpered, begged him to stop as a bar full of Benny’s boys watched. He’d pulled her up by her hair and raised a gun to her temple.
Julia hurried around the bar. “Shit, Benny. Leave her. If what they’re saying is true, you need to get out of here now.”
“Who the fuck are you to talk to me?”
“The only one here who has the guts to give you good advice.”
Benny turned on her in a blind rage, grabbed her wrist, and twisted. The pain made her drop to her knees. “I’ve seen you talking to Lana.”
Before she could speak, he hit her with a bone-rattling punch to the jaw. She landed hard on the floor. He grabbed the necklace and ripped it off. “What the hell were you two bitches talking about?”
He rolled her on her back as a crowd gathered. He drove a fist into her ribs. The pain overwhelmed her, and she struggled to reach the small service weapon strapped to her ankle.
Lana stumbled to her feet, her hand pressed to her gut, and watched as Benny reached for the snap on Julia’s pants. “Benny, she wears a gun in her boot.”
Benny’s fingernails scraped along her leg and pulled the gun from its strap.
“Nobody gets in my business, bitch,” Lana spat.
The judge’s gavel brought Julia back to the present. The attorneys returned to their seats as the courtroom doors opened.
As Julia tried to relax against the hard bench, a plump blonde wearing a tight red skirt and a form-fitting white sweater made her way to the front of the courtroom. A thick trail of perfume followed her.
Lana took a seat behind Benny. “Hey, baby.”
As Benny turned to smile at Lana, his gaze swept the room and, for an instant, hitched onto Julia. A small smile tipped the edge of his full lips. Without a word spoken, she understood he considered her unfinished business.
Julia didn’t budge or allow her line of sight to waver.
Lana’s gaze trailed her boyfriend’s, and when it settled on Julia, her lips rose into a snarl. She wore her hatred as plainly as the fresh heart tattoo above her right ankle.
Julia remained as still as stone. She could hide her thoughts and feelings better than Benny. He was an amateur.
Judge Bischoff’s gavel drew Lana’s attention to the front of the court. Benny winked at Julia before he slowly turned to face the front of the courtroom.
The female attorney, Elizabeth Monroe, was on retainer for many of the drug dealers in the area, and Julia knew exactly how Benny had been able to hire her. Monroe beckoned Benny to stand. The commonwealth’s attorney and his assistant also stood and faced the judge.
“The defense has petitioned the court for a one-month delay in sentencing,” the judge said. “It states Mr. Santiago is still recovering from wounds sustained in an attack against him in the city jail.”
Julia had heard about Benny’s beating, which had taken place in the common area near the phones. Benny knew the gangs on the floor ran the phones and that he needed their permission to make a call. He’d not asked for approval as he reached for the receiver. Three men had beaten the hell out of him. She’d bet money he’d orchestrated it all as a way to delay sentencing.
“However,” the judge continued, “I don’t concur. Mr. Santiago, you have been tried and convicted.” The judge listed each of the charges, pausing before he slowly cited Julia’s assault. “Therefore, I sentence you to the maximum prison term of twenty years. Your sentence begins immediately.”
Julia tipped her head back until it touched the wall. She waited for a sense of relief to wash over her, but none came. There was only emptiness.
As Lana groaned over the loss, Julia rose, slipping her purse on her shoulder. She didn’t bother to glance back toward Benny or his girl, refusing to give either one the idea she cared. That was the trick to undercover work. Dump the true emotions in a bottomless hole.
She automatically fished in her purse for a cigarette. Her fingers brushed the pack, and she pulled it out, but she couldn’t locate her lighter. She’d been serious about quitting yesterday but now could think of nothing else.
Out of the courtroom, she moved toward the stairs, her head bowed. She wanted fresh air. Needed to decompress before any reporter—or worse, attorney—approached her.
“Running for your life, Vargas?” The deep, gravelly voice of her sometime partner and favorite smoker had her turning to face Agent Dakota Sharp.
“Sharp.”
“I thought you kicked the habit again.”
A sly smile tipped the edge of her lips as she kept walking toward the stairs. “Nobody likes quitters. Now tell me you have a light.”
He held up empty hands, his head slowly shaking. “Three weeks since I’ve had a smoke.”
“Damn it. If there was anyone I thought I could count on, it was you, Sharp.”
“Blame it on Tessa. She’s not a fan of the smokes.”
“Since when did Agent Sharp let anyone tell him what to do?”
He laughed. “Happy wife, happy life—isn’t that right?”
She rolled her head from side to side. “Maybe you’re smarter than you look.”
As they paused at the stairs, he nodded toward the open courtroom doors as people filed out. “How did the Santiago case go?”
A shrug. “Sentenced to twenty years.”
“So Benny’s not too injured to be sentenced.”
“Apparently not.”
“That must feel good.”
“Almost as good as the cigarette I’m not having right now.”
Sharp looked as if he’d say more when his gaze settled on a point behind her shoulder. “There’s a woman headed toward you.”
She didn’t turn around. “Don’t tell me. Big blond hair, tight skirt, and an attitude?”
“Yep.”
“That would be Lana Ortega. Benny’s girlfriend.”
Sharp’s fingers slid subtly to his waist, inches from his weapon.
Julia turned to face the approaching woman. She didn’t speak as the woman’s four-inch heels clip-clopped on the tile floor.
With the thick scent of perfume circling her, Lana walked up to Julia, stopping short of entering her personal space. “You think you’re so smart. But my Benny is smarter than any cop. He’s going to appeal this bullshit conviction.”
“That so?”
“He’s a good man,” she said. “He’s innocent. You entrapped him with your lies.”