Pursuit of a Kiss Read Online Free PDF

the hell is he thinking?
His wife is about to give birth. He can’t hang around here worrying about me.”
    “I told him the same thing, but you know Aaron.
He has to see you for himself.”
    “Jake, you know if he hears I’m in any danger
whatsoever it will be impossible to get him to leave.”
    Jake paused, considering. “Okay, fine. I’ll just
tell you. In all likelihood,
Martinez
and his gang will try to, um, silence you before you can testify.”
    “Silence me?”
    “Permanently.”
    Juliet couldn’t speak. Her one good hand
clutched at the blanket while her eyes scanned the room as if the bogeyman
would leap out of the shadows. Jake reached over and enveloped her hand within
his own.
    “Stop fidgeting.”
    “I don’t fidget.”
    His hand felt so good on hers, big and warm and
safe. She couldn’t resist turning her own hand over to entwine her fingers with
his.
    “Tell me the rest of it.”
    “What rest?”
    “You got all edgy when Harris told you who I’d
picked out of the photos. Who is he?”
    “You don’t need to worry about those details.”
    “Jake, I want to know. Everything. It’s my life
on the line, right? So I should be fully informed.
    Jake sighed, seeming to accept the truth of
that.
    “Miguel Martinez is a key player in a gang
called the V Street 13. I first heard about him when I worked on a joint task
force with the DEA and some other agencies investigating the local gangs’
connections with the Mexican Mafia prison gang and some of the Mexican drug
cartels. They’re all linked in one big narcotics and firearms trafficking
ring.”
    “Did you catch any of them?”
    “We got about twenty indictments, but the actual
drug distribution just moved to an affiliated gang and kept going.” Jake ran
his hand through his hair. She could feel his frustration like a blast of hot
air emanating from him. “What’s worse is these guys have huge influence inside
prison. Hell, it’s where they do a lot of their recruiting. Most of the Mexican
Mafia’s leadership lives behind bars.”
    “How, with people smuggling cell phones and
stuff like that to them?” Juliet thought she’d seen an episode on another cop
show she watched that depicted something like that. Who knew watching all those
shows would give her knowledge she’d need in her own life?
      “Yeah,
that’s part of it. It lets them arrange business deals with the outside world.
Local gangs are also required to pay these so-called ‘taxes’ to the gang
leaders in prison, which gives the inmates a lot of authority.”
    Juliet found herself growing calmer the more
Jake talked. Yes, he painted a bleak picture of the men who probably wanted her
dead, but he spoke with such conviction she felt he could protect her from
anyone. When she’d been tempted to laugh earlier at his transformation into
“FBI mode” she hadn’t understood. It was always part of him, just more
imperceptible at times. He carried that power and responsibility with him in
everything he did.
    “Okay, so tell me how this
Martinez
fits in with all this.”
    “His cousin Luis Hernandez, also known as
Peligroso, serves as one of the main contacts to the cartel from his cell in
Pelican Bay State Prison.
Martinez
brings information from his cousin back to the V Street 13 so they can meet
with the suppliers and sell the drugs on the street, then smuggle money and
information back to the cartel.”
    The words “drug cartels” echoed in her ears like
a panicked scream on a silent night. It sounded far more deadly than
Los Angeles street
gangs or thugs recruiting while locked behind bars. Cartels went beyond the cop
shows – entire movies centered on the drug cartels. Movies filled with
shoot-outs, cops dying in the line of duty, executions, and kidnappings. Juliet
let out a deep breath. She needed to hold on to the confidence she had so
recently felt in Jake or her fear would paralyze her.
     
    ****
    Jake studied Juliet, watching for any sign of
the terror he knew