Shattered Edge(71)

The lines were finally secured and I went to work. I poured through everything the DEA handed over to me until my eyes were blurry from lack of sleep. I lived on caffeine...coffee, espresso, lattes, Coke Zero, anything to keep me awake. Everything they had pointed to the cartel’s own holdings. They had sources all over the world, from poppy fields in Afghanistan to coca crops in the Andes, Bolivia and other places in South America. They even had marijuana crops grown here, in mountains in California by illegal aliens. It was a massive operation set up with precision and operated with pure cash flow in mind.

Preston’s prison term had come when he’d been busted for selling coke to a DEA agent. Of course, it had all been a contrived thing. He wanted to get into prison so he could get close to one of the cartel members who was serving a prison term. That was the beginning of his relationship with them. When he was released, he made his connection and things started to move. Unfortunately, the cartel wanted to track him to his home. They somehow found he had Charleston connections and decided it was his family. That’s when my “death” became imminent.

Looking at all this information, I felt my heart move because it was now so clear to me. I knew Preston wouldn’t lie. Once I’d realized he hadn’t been a drug addict, I knew he was telling me the truth. But the enormity of how horrific these people were collided with my brain and it seemed to suck all the softness out of me. These bastards would have ruined my family...yes, I considered Justin’s family to be my family. They would’ve tortured them and killed them in gruesome ways. Even though this ordeal had all but destroyed me, I knew Preston had done right by Justin.

My life changed this day. My mission was to destroy them in return. They’d killed me once and took away the only thing that I ever cared about...would ever care about for the rest of this pointless life of mine. They wouldn’t do it again.



********



My mom looked at me and said, “What’s changed? Your eyes have a fire in them that I haven’t seen in...well I really can’t remember when.”

“I have a new mission. Preston has agreed to let me help them look for these bastards...find the connection here on this end.”

My mother looked like she’d been hit with a baseball bat right on her kneecaps. “No! You can’t do that.”

“Mom, calm down. I’m not going anywhere. I’m only doing it online...you know, researching. Looking for clues, links, anything to find out how they’re getting their stuff into this country. It’s got to be big and I’m gonna try to uncover it.”

“Oh Ter...”

“Mom!”

“Caroline. Damn!”

“Don’t worry. If I find anything, the line will be cut and no one will be the wiser.”

She shook her head, not liking it one bit.

“Let’s go to lunch.”

“Really?” I hadn’t gone out to lunch with her in months...well, since I was Terri.

“Yeah, really.”

We were living near Quantico, Virginia in a small two bedroom condo. It worked fine for us. Mom was working as a receptionist at a doctor’s office. That worked great because I had the house to myself during the day with no interruptions. The condo had a small study where the computer was set up. I actually had two now that I did my work on.

There was a great little cafe not too far from the house that we both liked, so that’s where we ended up.

“You look better Caroline.”

“Thanks Mom. I wish I felt better. But I do have a purpose now.”

“Yeah. I can see it in everything about you.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” she smiled. She looked really great. That facelift made her look more like my older sister than my mom. I was hoping she could find someone that made her happy. They’d manufactured a whole life for us...she was a widow. Her first husband, my Dad, had died suddenly of a heart attack five years ago. She had no other children but me. Lucky her! We were originally from Indiana, but she had an elderly aunt who lived here and we came out here to take care of her, but shortly after we arrived, she’d passed away too. How sad for us. I’d worked as an administrative assistant to a realtor but was sort of hunting for a new career.

“Mom, do you ever think about getting married again?”

“Oh no Caroline. I don’t think I’d ever want to. Too many demands on a person.”

I felt my face fall. I’d wanted, no prayed for those demands. And they’d been torn out of my grasp before I’d ever even had the chance. I blinked hard and fast, doing my best to keep the tears at bay. They were never very far away.