Agent Justice pulled out another file, this one much smaller, and handed it to me. “We know they are.”
Braxton watched closely for my reaction as I opened up the next file, and I swore I felt my heart bottom out. It was a picture of Mia Huntington. Sweet little Mia came from an upper-class family, and was the kind of girl who didn’t usually go missing. Mia, who should’ve been coming home from ballet class on her blue bike right then, just like she was on the day she went missing. I had dedicated her toothless smile to memory. But she wasn’t smiling in this picture.
White dress. Pink lips. Mascara. Makeup meant to hide the exhaustion in her eyes. She had clearly been crying. She was only ten, and I felt like I was going to throw up. I didn’t even need to flip to the next page. I knew then Mia wasn’t coming home. A hot, burning rage filled my gut as my heart shattered for a family that’ll never be the same.
I looked up at Braxton, whose eyes had never left me. “What the fuck is this?” I threw the file back at Justice, who caught it, and I stepped toward Braxton. “The DiAngelos did this?”
Braxton nodded. “Them, or one of their cronies.”
My hands shook, and I shoved them into my jacket pocket. “What did you mean by handler?”
Braxton exchanged a look with his team, and they came to some sort of silent agreement. He handed me yet another file and I took it gingerly, like this one could burn.
“Meet Nicole Moore. She’s not muchdifferent from you—just throw in some tight leather and a bad attitude.”
I shrugged. “Haven’t heard of her.”
“That’s ‘cos she doesn’t exist. Yet.”
“You’ve lost me.”
“We need someone to go undercover. Deep undercover. It’s the only way we have a shot of taking the DiAngelos down. We want that someone to be you.”
I blinked at him and had to make a conscious effort to pick my jaw up from the floor.
“I’m not UC-trained. Closest thing to UC I’ve done is a buy.” I looked at Hartwell, who had finally sat down, and back at Braxton. “I am nowhere near ready to infiltrate a high-level group like this.”
Williams rolled her eyes again. “Trust me, we know.” I debated throwing Hartwell’s glass paperweight at her head, as Braxton gave her a hard look.
Justice grunted. “Read the file, detective. We’re not asking you to get down and dirty with the DiAngelos. Just one of their buyers, a motorcycle club that has somehow worked its way up into the DiAngelos’ web. Their president is tight with them, and that’s our way in.”
As he spoke, I quickly read the file, and the pieces started to come together. I looked up at the assembled group. “Tell me how this would work.”
Bridges whipped a computer from seemingly out of nowhere and pulled up a Facebook profile. “The background is done. We’ve already taken care of the cake. All you’ve got to worry about is the icing. Nicole might as well be real. She’s got socials, ex-boyfriends, and an apartment in Georgia, where she was born and raised. Hell, she even has a favorite coffee shop.” I leaned closer to the laptop as he took me through her life. “We train you and prep you for a couple weeks—a month,max. Then Kaitlyn McGrady disappears, and Nicole becomes flesh and blood.”
I glanced around the room again, chewing on my bottom lip. “I don’t get it. Why me? Okay, yeah. I’m like Nicole, whatever that means. And yes, I am familiar with the case. But any cop worth their salt can be briefed on a case and get familiar with it, whether it started out as theirs or not. And you’re going to trust a rookie with something this important?”
Braxton nodded like he appreciated the question. “As I said earlier, you and Nicole are already very similar. She’s just less…” He seemed to struggle to find the words he was looking for, probably trying not to offend me. We all watched him for a moment, until Hartwell stepped in and said, “She’s you without a filter.”
Braxton nodded his thanks. “Between that, your familiarity with every aspect of the case, and Jason’s personal recommendation, I think you’re our best bet. Also, the DiAngelos are a group we’ve been trying to take down for a while. You won’t be the first cop to go undercover, and it has to be someone they don’t recognize. What do you think?”
In a truly rare occurrence, I found myself at a loss for words. I gaped at each of them like a fish out of water. “I… I, well. I have no idea. This is a lot to throw at a person.”
Williams sighed, and I found myself wondering what would happen if I throat-punched her. “She can’t do it. She said it herself, she doesn’t have the training. She’s not ready for this. And we don’t have the time. She’ll blow this whole op.”
I felt my face flush in anger, and went to tell her exactly where she could shove her opinions, when Hartwell stood up to intervene.
“Now you listen, Agent Williams, Katie here is one of my best. Yes, she’s young, but she’s eager and quick to learn. She’s smart as a whip and would throw herself before a bullet for her partner. If we were to place bets on which cop would havethe best shot, Detective McGrady would have my money.”
I blinked at him and then blinked some more. He ignored me, of course, but I was floored. Speechless twice in less than ten minutes. For me, that had to be some kind of record.
A knock on the door broke the awkward silence, and a lab tech walked in. She handed a paper to Hartwell and left as quickly as she had come. He looked it over and then handed it to me. It was the lab results from the damn bag, and I stared at it. Negative. No match. Another useless lead. I cursed and felt like setting the report on fire, but instead I crumpled the useless thing in my hand.
I thought of all those little girls, taken from loving families and thrust into their own personal hell. I wondered how long it’d take Shelly and me to bring them the justice they deserve. Everyone else, including Williams’ mouthy ass, was silent, watching me struggle. Watching me weigh the pros and cons. Was this something I would die for? I glanced at the report I was holding again. Finally, I looked up at Braxton.
“Okay,” I decided, heart pounding. “Whatever it takes. I’m in.”
He nodded. “You’ve got twenty-four hours to make arrangements. Bridges and Justice will help. Then Kaitlyn McGrady is no more, until we bring these bastards to their knees.”
