Slow Summer Burn: A Loveswept Contemporary Romance Read Online Free PDF Page A

with. Good thing they were on the same side. “I assume you mean you’ve taken a look at my file,” Val said. “Well, don’t believe everything you read, sir.” He glanced at Colin, who was standing next to Lawler. “Or everything you hear.”
    Lawler chuckled. “Modesty. A good trait. Well, regardless of what you think, you come highly recommended. And call me Jack.”
    “Jack,” Val agreed. Colin gave him a small nod, looking like a proud father. He turned back to Lawler, who looked no less pleased. Val had read Lawler’s file—what was available to him, anyway—and had liked what he’d seen. Top of his class at West Point, five years of active service as a decorated army officer, agent recruit at twenty-seven, career FBI ever since. Lawler was known for his integrity and his unwavering ability to complete missions.
    “Shall we get started?” With a beefy hand, Colin waved the two men to the large, wooden table in the center of the room around which five other people were already seated.
    “Absolutely,” Lawler responded, offering Colin the seat at the head of the table and taking the one immediately to Colin’s right. When Val first heard that the DOJ had asked the FBI to assist his agency, he hadn’t been thrilled. The DEA had enough resources to get the job done, and more federal agents would just get in the way. But Lawler’s deference to Colin might signal that the FBI was trying to work together with the DEA instead of stomping all over their operation.
    Once the men were seated, Lawler spoke again. “Let’s get the intros out of the way. You all know who I am. The other members of my team with me today are Agents Carter, Ulrich, and Treat.” Each agent raised his hand as his name was called.
    Colin spoke up, his compact body filling out the seat. “Here with me are Agents Grayson, Young, and Rivera.” Val raised his hand when his name was called, then watched as his colleagues Ellen and Thalia greeted the others. Ellen was a blond stunner whose beauty was only surpassed by her intelligence. You’d never know from looking at her that she’d once been one of the foremost teenage hackers in the country before she decided to use her powers for good instead of evil. She’d cleaned up her act, graduated from MIT in three-and-a-half years, and gone straight to work for the government. Regardless of her agent status, Ellen still lived by a hacker’s creed. Needless to say, Val appreciated having her on his team.
    Lawler cleared his throat. “Now we’ve all read the files, so I think we can dispense with a lot of the administrative back story. The main drug corridor on the Eastern Seaboard follows Interstate 95, beginning in Miami and ending in Maine. Over the past six months, we’ve seen a lot more exotic stuff being transported, most notably mephedrone laced with prescription drugs, particularly OxyContin. It’s noteworthy that mephedrone—or bath salts—was labeled a Schedule I drug by the DEA’s Office of Diversion Control a couple of years ago and is now heavily controlled. We couldn’t figure out why so much of this stuff had been passing through Boston, and we finally realized it’s because it’s originating from somewhere nearby. The people conducting this sophisticated operation have many tools at their disposal, including the ability to branch off the corridor to less-detectible areas. Specifically, we’ve noted multiple pockets in rural areas. Star Harbor, for one.” Lawler paused to nod at Val.
    Val nodded back.
    Lawler continued. “We’ll use Star Harbor as an example, since we have a native in our midst. Not only is this small town well off the beaten path and not readily accessible to the highway, but the modest infrastructure and low off-season activity doesn’t seem to lend itself to heavy drug trafficking. This implies that the people using that town are intimately familiar with it.”
    Colin cut in, his baritone voice resonating throughout the conference room.