Atonement (The Protectors #6)(14)

       
         
       
        

"They were using people," I interjected.

Magnus nodded. "By the time we realized that was what was happening, there was no way to know how many people had crossed or how big an operation it really was." Magnus paused long enough to take another drink. "We probably wouldn't have even known if it hadn't been for the girl."

"Is she the one who died?" I asked.

Another nod. "She came through in a vehicle with a few other people … all teenagers, all Americans. It was one of the smaller crossings, so it wasn't heavily populated. The kids made it across, but their car hadn't even gone a quarter of a mile before it suddenly accelerated and ran off the road and into a ditch. Jeff and I were working that crossing. The three other kids in the car besides the girl panicked and took off and Jeff went after them. I stayed with the girl who'd been driving. She was doubled-over in the seat, vomiting."

"One of the baggies burst inside her," I murmured.

"Yeah. I managed to get her out of the car and on the ground. She started crying and shaking and she was begging me not to let her die. She kept saying she didn't want to do it, but that he'd made her." Magnus glanced at me, his mouth drawn tight. "Turns out she was the daughter of the housekeeper who worked for the guy the Feds were trying to build their case against. The junior senator from the great state of Texas," he added.

I stilled as what he was saying registered. "That's the case you're testifying in?" The story had been all over the news for the past year. A sitting US senator named Lachlan Trent had been indicted for murder in the death of the daughter of a woman who worked for him. I hadn't read any of the details of the story, but I'd garnered enough to know the man, who'd only been in office for a year, was worth millions and was no stranger when it came to breaking the law … or escaping it, rather. "He was being investigated for corruption charges right after he won the seat, right?"

"Yep. But there wasn't enough evidence to indict him. The Feds found a connection between him and a drug lord in Mexico, but they couldn't make it stick. They were hoping the raid would be the proof they needed."

"Sounds like it was," I said. "I mean, you got the connection, right?"

"Not quite. I asked the girl who she was talking about. She was able to tell me his name, but she died before she could tell me anything else. And I was the only one with her when she made the admission … "

"Fuck," I whispered. "So, it's your word against his."

Magnus nodded. "We don't know how he forced the girl to carry the drugs or why. Her mother was an illegal alien so it's possible he was blackmailing the girl with threats of having her mother deported. But it doesn't answer the question of why. The value of the drugs she and the other kids were bringing back was chump change compared to what Trent makes. It's possible he had some other motive that wasn't about money … maybe the drug lord he was working with had something on him or had something he wanted … doubt we'll ever know for sure." 

"What about the kids who were with the girl? Or her mother?"

"Two of the kids got away and the IDs they'd used to get into the country were fake so we never found them. Jeff caught the third kid, but he was murdered in the hospital after the balloons were removed from his stomach. Feds never even had a chance to question him and couldn't find any proof to link his death to Trent. The girl's mother disappeared too … Trent says she went back to Mexico. 'Course, there's no record of that anywhere."

My nerves kicked up a notch as I thought about the danger Magnus was actually in.

"Hey," Magnus said as he nudged my arm with his beer bottle. "Trent's an arrogant SOB who thinks his money's going to protect him. He's going to make his stand in the courtroom."

I nodded, though I wasn't so sure. The bastard was faced with spending the rest of his life behind bars and had apparently already gotten rid of two witnesses. No amount of money was a guarantee that he would walk out of that courtroom a free man. But eliminating the one person who could put him there was.

"I can't believe the Feds didn't put you in protective custody."

"They wanted to," Magnus responded. "I refused. And once they discovered I'd be spending the rest of the year in Seattle, they relented. No one besides my captain knew what city I was in. Jeff and the rest of the people at work only knew I was in the Pacific Northwest."

"What about now? The Feds must know you're back in town … why didn't they offer you a protective detail or something?"

"They did," Magnus answered as he took another long draw of his beer, emptying it. "I declined."

"Why?" I asked, incredulous.

He studied me for a long time before quietly saying, "Because I already have a bodyguard."

I figured there wasn't much he could say to render me speechless, but that was exactly what he did. His piercing eyes held mine and I searched their cool depths for anything that said he was being sarcastic. But I didn't see even a sliver of deception.

"I'm going in to get another," Magnus finally said as he motioned to his empty bottle. "You still good?"

Since I'd barely taken more than two sips of my beer, I merely nodded.

Because I was too fucking confused to do anything else. I heard footsteps and the door opening and closing, but I remained lost in my own little haze of emotion.

What the fuck just happened?





Chapter Eight




Magnus



The bottle of beer I was pulling from the fridge barely cleared the door before it was violently slammed closed.

"What the fuck did you mean by that?" Dante asked, his voice sharp.

His anger caught me off guard and I automatically took a couple steps backwards to put some space between us before I caught myself. Despite all my years of training and the fact I was more than capable of defending myself, I still tended to physically prepare myself for a fight when confronted with anger, especially when it was coming from someone I knew … and trusted. I was still, in many ways, a product of my less than ideal childhood.




       
         
       
        
But I managed to marginally relax when Dante made no move to close the small amount of space between us and I realized he didn't actually seem angry … well, not entirely anyway.

"I don't know what you're talking about-" I began cautiously.

"Out there!" he snapped as he pointed towards the front door.

When he didn't continue, I said, "What? Do you mean what I said about already having a bodyguard?"

Dante's eyes flared with some unnamed emotion. "You know what, Magnus? You may think I'm a joke, but I'm damn good at my job. So, fuck you!" he snarled and then he was suddenly turning away from me. I instinctively reached out to grab his arm.

"Dante-"

"Don't fucking touch me," Dante snapped and he tried to jerk his arm free. He came at me then, though not with his fists. His hand hit me square in the chest as he attempted to shove me away. My self-preservation instincts kicked in and I dropped the bottle of beer. Ignoring the sound of shattering glass as well as the sensation of cold liquid dampening my pants leg, I grabbed Dante by the arms and used my greater weight to force him backwards until his back hit the wall next to the fridge. He wasn't happy that I was restraining him, but he held back from going full force on me like I suspected he could have.

"Get off!" he bit out. His hair was hanging in his face from the struggle and since I was still holding on to him, he had to jerk his head to try to get it out of his eyes. I was half tempted to release one of his arms long enough so I could push the dark curls back myself, just to see what they felt like.

"Calm the fuck down," I ordered coolly, willing myself to remain in control even as Dante's lithe body brushed mine as he tried to pull free of my hold. I waited to see if he'd go for my lower body with his legs like I would have done if someone had been restraining me in a similar manner, but he didn't, for which I was grateful.

"Fuck you," Dante responded, his breath coming in and out in heavy pants, though I didn't understand why since our tangle had lasted mere seconds.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I bit out. His level of fury made no sense to me. One second we'd been talking like two adults and the next second he was coming at me like some kid throwing a temper tantrum.

"Let. Me. Go."

I didn't, of course, but since he'd calmed down somewhat, I took a moment to try to figure out what had set him off, since I doubted he was going to tell me himself if the firm set of his jaw was anything to go by. I ignored the heat that was running up my arms from where my palms were wrapped around Dante's forearms. He'd taken off his jacket at some point and had pushed up the sleeves of his long-sleeved shirt, so I was actually in contact with his skin for the first time. 

And it felt so fucking soft and warm that I just wanted more.

"I don't think you're a joke," I began as I thought back to what Dante had said to me. "And I meant what I said outside."