THIRTY-THREE
Jade
Logan left before we reached my apartment building. I went inside alone, sending Laura a text message on my way up to the eleventh floor.
“Come over. Need to talk.”
The feds were likely listening, but I didn’t care. I had been using the neighbor’s WiFi, so hopefully they didn’t know about my research.
As I found out more about the players involved in the smuggling operation, everything made more sense. Following the money trail had paid off. That is, if they let me get the story out.
A story this big wouldn’t be accepted by many traditional news outlets and most of the bloggers like Huffington Post.
By the time Laura arrived, I had myself worked up, ready to take on the world. She walked in my apartment, glanced at the printed sheets of paper strewn everywhere and whistled.
“You got some serious Erin Brockovich activity going on in here.”
“Close the door. You haven’t been with Max, have you?”
“No…Why?
“You can’t see him again.”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” she said, stopping by me as I stared down at the stacks of paper neatly arranged on my glass coffee table.
“Good. He’s a bad man.”
“He’s bad in bed too.”
She laughed, still clueless.
“You don’t understand. He’s a criminal, and there’s no telling what he’s capable of doing.”
“This is Max, the guy you set me up with, right?”
I furrowed my brow, frowning.
“I’m so sorry. If I had known, I would never have recommended it. Do you forgive me?”
“I guess. Honestly, I’m still confused.”
“It’s easy. Max, and maybe Cooper, were involved in a smuggling operation out of Afghanistan.”
“Cooper was involved too?”
“I’m pretty sure. From what the FBI said, they’re ready to pardon him.”
“The FBI?” She tilted her head back and stared at me. “You’re putting me on, right?”
“No, Jen. I’m serious. I’ve been freaking out. They told me not to get in contact with Cooper, but…”
“Let me guess,” she interrupted. “You talked to him anyway.”
“He came to me, to check on me. He loves me.”
Her eyes widened.
“Already?”
“I know, right? This is the real thing. I’ve never felt this way about someone before. We connect.”
“But now the FBI is saying you can’t see him.”
“Exactly. Unless I can unravel the mystery of who is behind this smuggling operation and where all the money is going.”
“Oh!” she exclaimed.
“You have an idea to help?”
“No! I almost forgot to tell you. I’ve met a new guy.”
I resisted rolling my eyes.
“That’s nice, but…”
“No, really. He’s great, a rock star.”
My eyes rolled on their own.
“I’m serious, Jade. We’ve been getting along well so far, and we haven’t even slept together.”
“That’s great. I’m glad for you, but I’m kind of in middle of an emergency right now.”
“Have you called your dad?”
“Um, no. Why would I call him?”
“Because he’s a spy...” her voice trailed off.
“I’ve told you, he’s not a spy.”
“And I’m telling you he’s definitely some sort of spy. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“You back on drugs?”
“No. I can’t believe you don’t believe me after all of this time. There’s something off there, and it’s because he’s a secret-keeping spy.”
“I’m a journalist, Jen. If my mother were alive and said she loved me, I would look into it.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard that line before. I’m going. All this talk of the FBI and spies has me spooked.” She giggled. “Spooked. Get it?”
Many people might hate Jen for being so goofy and seemingly unconcerned with helping me, but I understood she would only get in the way. I had a hell of a lot of work to do if I would bring down the people smuggling precious minerals out of Afghanistan on a massive scale.
Clearing Cooper’s name as well as my own was my first priority. I saw Laura out of the apartment then returned to my laptop. Running the Tor browser made it more difficult for them to watch where I went on the Dark Web, a real source of information that flew fast and free.
As I worked on the story of my career, I realized if Cooper was going to be a part of it, he’d have to go on record. My first instinct was to protect his identity, but having his name attached would give the story even more credibility when it broke online. If I ever finished.