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“Did he know I was responsible?”
The gleam in Turner’s eyes was hard to stomach, but Jules held back her revulsion. “I doubt it. He was dead before he hit the pavement.”
“Ah, well, can’t have everything.” She pushed the phone back to Jules’s side of the table and took out her own phone. Her finger clicked a couple of keys, and then she said, “Your money is in your account. That should end our business transaction.”
“Not so fast. I have a proposition for you.”
“Yes, so you said. However, I’m not interested in doing more business with you, Ms. Diamond.”
“Then you don’t care that Xavier Quinn has taken over OZ and has vowed to keep the investigation on you going?”
“Quinn? Hell, he wasn’t even there that day. Why should he care?”
Warmth ran up Jules’s spine. It wasn’t exactly a confession, but hearing Turner indicate she knew something about the incident was definitely progress.
Jules didn’t bother to respond to the question, allowing Turner to adjust to the new threat. Had she really believed that taking out Asher Drake would be the end of her troubles?
“Very well, Ms. Diamond. Tell me what you know.”
“Quinn and Drake were close…apparently like brothers. At the op meeting after Drake’s death, Quinn and the others vowed to continue the investigation. They won’t stop until you go down.”
Turner’s eyes narrowed speculatively. “What do you know about Drake’s vendetta?”
“Enough.”
“If you want to continue doing business with me, Ms. Diamond, I suggest you be a little more forthcoming in your answers. What do you know?”
Thoroughly enjoying herself, Jules drawled, “I know that you were in a meeting with some people in Colombia. A drug cartel attacked the building. You and your meeting attendees escaped by helicopter. Drake and several others were left behind to die. Drake was the only survivor. He’s been working for years trying to find out why you were meeting and the names of the other attendees.”
Jules waited for the denials. Waited for Turner to come up with lies or accusations against Ash.
Instead, Turner waved her hand as if the events Jules had just described were nothing more than a bothersome gnat. “It wasn’t my fault. How was I to know a cartel had taken over that area? I was the one who called for more security. How is it my fault that they failed to protect themselves?”
“What was the meeting for?”
“Careful, Ms. Diamond. I would hate to give you intel that would get you killed.”
Jules shrugged. “That’s okay. I don’t have any skin in this game. But if you don’t take care of Quinn and his friends, you’ll never be able to relax.”
“You can’t just kill them off. As much as I would like to see that happen and as good as your skills are, you won’t be able to get away with killing all of them.”
“I could if they all died in the same explosion.”
The doubt disappeared, and a gleam appeared in Turner’s eyes. “And just how do you propose to do that?”
“Simple. Remember, I have infiltrated the organization. I know where the rats sleep.”
“So they have a barracks or some such?”
How much did Turner know about OZ? Since the woman had proved she knew more than the average citizen, Jules could take no chances.
“Not barracks, but when they’ve got a big case, they stay in one place. It’d be easy to arrange a bit of a gas leak during the night. Take out the entire organization in one fell swoop.”
“When?”
Jules wagged her finger at Turner. “Uh-uh. Not till we talk terms.”
“All right. I’ll pay you the same amount I paid for Drake times four.”