Page 89 of Dark Desires

“It’s so,” I say. “But for that, we need his son.”

The government office is sterile, the fluorescent lights casting a cold glow over everything. Agent Patterson is waiting for me in the lobby, her arms crossed and her expression as pleasant as a shark’s.

“You’re late.”

“Traffic,” I reply smoothly, brushing past her.

She doesn’t rise to the bait, but I catch the slight tightening of her jaw. Good. I like her off-balance.

We step into the conference room, and she closes the door behind us. “You wanted to talk. Make it quick.”

“I need to see Omar.”

Her eyes narrow. “Why?”

“Because he’s the key to stopping Christian.”

She lets out a humorless laugh. “And you think I’m just going to hand him over to you?”

“No,” I say, sitting back in the chair and giving her a slow smile. “But I think you’ll listen when I tell you that this benefits you, too. You want Christian, right? Well, Omar is the best way to get to him.”

“Explain.”

“This whole thing, the war, the kidnapping, it’s about Christian bringing his son back into the fold. If I marry Stephania, Domenico’s niece, then Omar has no reason to work with his father again. But if Christian has the leverage of Isabella, we can dangle Omar in front of his face, entice him to give her back.”

She shifts her weight from one foot to the other. “So, you want to talk to Omar, see if you can’t get him on your side first.”

“That’s right. And think about how much easier this makes things for you. We get Omar to turn on his father, give us hard info to go after the cartel. We can even get Christian in the process. Then you get the impressive claim of taking down a cartel without the entire criminal underbelly of the city falling into a bloody war.”

She studies me for a long moment, weighing her options. Finally, she sighs.“Fine. But you get five minutes. And if you so much as breathe wrong, I’ll have you hauled out of here in cuffs.”

“Deal. But one thing.”

“What’s that?” she asks.

“I want a room that’s not surveilled. No cameras, no other officers listening in. Totally off the record.”

She laughs. “Not a chance.”

“Then good luck solving the cartel war on your own.”

That gets her. She sighs, shaking her head. “Not alone. You can meet with Omar away from other prying eyes, but I’m going to be there.”

“Fine,” I say with a grin. “Lead the way.”

She makes a quick call on her phone, telling the person on the other end to bring Omar to one of the maintenance rooms. That done, we head down the hallway.

“Is it possible that we could get some coffee?” I ask. “I haven’t been sleeping since they took Isabella.”

She laughs disbelievingly. “Coffee? Whatever, fine—there’s a machine on the way there.”

“That’ll do just fine.”

We make our way down the hall, stopping at the coffeemaker. I pour myself a cup, then glance over my shoulder.

“Something for you, Agent Patterson?”

“You know what? Sure. Black.”