Summer Pain by Destiny Blaine Page B

Why wouldn’t I be?”
    “We’ll show her around.” Logan gave Tigger another verbal nudge.
    Tigger kissed Summer’s cheek. “Thanks for understanding.”
    No problem. She wanted to punch a duck…or Logan Marcs.
    A second later, Tigger was gone. And Cara looked as happy as a little elf on a shelf as he strolled toward her.
    “This meeting will help you out more than you could possibly know. A man likes a woman with confidence, and you just proved you trust him. Tigger never had that kind of trust with Cara.”
    “We’ve been together three days. I have no claims on Tigger, besides trust isn’t an issue here.”
    “Trust is always an issue,” Logan said, placing his hand on her back and guiding her down a long hallway.
    A few seconds later, they were behind closed doors. Sassy Road, Damsel’s stepdaughter, was present, too. Summer was taken aback by Sassy’s confidence. She’d read the file on Miss Road and knew what she’d endured as a child. If she had internal scars from Damsel’s abuse, she concealed them well.
    “We don’t have much time,” Logan said, motioning Sassy to stand by the door. “What do you have?”
    Summer went into agent mode. “Gaylord threatened me. He wanted me to finger you for going rogue.” Her fingers brushed her bottom split lip, and she quickly added, “You might say he went out of his way to convince me it would be the only choice.”
    “How’d he find you?”
    “Sampson.” She took a deep breath. “Logan, I was careful. I watched my back. Only two people knew where I was staying, Mark Sampson and Tigger. I didn’t put two and two together until it was almost too late. Sampson knows I’m aware of his dirty dealings, and I don’t know what to do now.”
    Logan stroked his chin. “It’s hard for me to imagine Sampson turning on the Feds. He’s been a critical member of several teams that were responsible for bringing down large, organized crime operations. Why would he switch sides now?”
    “I can’t worry about the why. What I care about is doing my job to the best of my ability. Sampson may try to stop me. Only one of us can leave this operation with our reputations intact, and that’s what scares me.”
    “Summer, we have to use our heads here. Remember, Gaylord has been in place for nearly twenty years. I’m the only other undercover who has made it past the five year mark, and Gaylord still has me by more than a decade. More than ten other agents were made, and most were found in the Holston River.
    “The few guys that were pulled out were never heard from again.” Logan paused. He looked deeply troubled. “Here’s what never made sense to me. About three years into this job, a few old guys were talking at the garage. Someone mentioned the Feds who were planted here. This group of old timers—every last one of them—claimed they didn’t even know the guys were cops until their bodies turned up at the dumpsites with evidence on them to prove who they were.”
    “Gaylord?” Summer suggested.
    “My thoughts, too, once I realized what extremes Gaylord would go to in order to cast a light of suspicion on me.” He thinned his lips. “So, Mark definitely knows you’re on to him?”
    “Oh yeah, he knows.” Summer went to the window and peered outside. Under a streetlight, she could see two people and clearly made out the forms. Tigger and Cara were as close as two bodies could be without touching. A shot of disappointment spread throughout her body as she considered the likelihood of a reunion between the two.
    Logan snapped his fingers. “Are you still with me?”
    She turned away from the window. “Sampson and I discussed the threat, and, in a matter of minutes, it became crystal clear what he expected me to do. He needs me to point my finger at you.”
    Logan released a heavy breath. “Damn it. I knew something wasn’t quite right when all this shit with Gaylord came down. Two Feds deep undercover are rarely if ever, brought