Chapter 19

Mason strodeinto Bridger’s mansion, two small cardboard boxes tucked under his arm.

Avery followed on his heels, her footsteps echoing on the polished marble floor.

“You know, when I said we needed evidence, I didn’t mean for you to go all Ocean’s Eleven.”

Mason let out a short, sarcastic laugh. “Oh, come on. It was more like Ocean’s One. I didn’t need a whole team to pull off a little heist.”

“Little heist? Mason, you just stole packages from peoples’ doorsteps!”

“Borrowed. I borrowed packages. Meds that are probably fake. And dangerous.”

Avery sighed, rubbing her temple. “That’s not the point. This whole breaking the law thing is new to me.”

Mason stopped and turned to face her, holding out the boxes. “You want me to put these back? It’s no problem, but there goes your investigation. Either we move ahead, or I get Paul out of here. You choose.”

Avery’s cheeks flushed with anger.

“Don’t forget you agreed to this,” he added.

“I know I did. But … there has to be a better way than this.”

“Well, unless you’ve got a magic wand hidden in that FBI-issued pantsuit of yours, this is the best option we’ve got.”

Avery’s jaw clenched, her eyes flashing with frustration. For a moment, he thought she might actually stomp her foot. But then she took a deep breath and nodded.

“Fine. But if this blows up in our faces, I’m blaming you.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

He turned and continued down the hallway, the weight of the boxes feeling lighter with each step. She could have stopped him at any moment, but she’d let him swipe those packages. Okay, so maybe he was pushing his luck with this one. But something told him that Avery was the kind of woman who appreciated a man who took risks. And if that risk just happened to involve a little bit of law breaking, well, that was just icing on the cake.

Paul looked up from his seat on the leather couch, a grin spreading across his face. “Look who’s a felon now. Never thought I’d see the day.”

Mason shot him a warning look, his jaw clenching tight. “Enough.”

He wasn’t in the mood for Paul’s jokes, not with Avery standing there, her face pale and drawn with worry.

The unspoken feelings made his stomach ache.

Setting the boxes down on the glass and chrome coffee table, he turned to face his brother, his expression stern. “Grabbing the deliveries wasn’t ideal, but we need the intel. And to be clear,” he added, his gaze locking with Paul’s, “I did it. Avery had nothing to do with this.”

Paul’s smile faded, replaced by a look of concern. He glanced over at Avery, taking in her stiff posture and the way she was worrying her lower lip between her teeth. “Hey,” he said softly, his tone apologetic. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be running my mouth.”

Mason grunted. “That’s one thing we can agree on.”

Avery gave Mason a tight smile, but the worry in her eyes didn’t fade. He could see the gears turning in her head, the way she was no doubt weighing the risks and consequences of what they’d just done.

“Whether this helps or not,” he said, “no way I want you taking the fall for my actions.”

Avery looked up at him, her eyes wide and vulnerable. “Mason, I––”

He cut her off with a shake of his head, his expression softening. “I’ll put the packages back as soon as I take a couple pills out of each to sample. We can test them alongside the sample Paul grabbed.”

Mason waited for the scolding, but to his surprise, all he saw was trust in her eyes. She was putting her faith in him despite the risks. It made him ache in a way he didn’t quite understand.

Turning his attention back to the boxes, he pulled his folding knife out of his pocket and slit the packing tape, revealing the pill bottles inside. He snapped a few quick photos with his phone, taking note of the same online pharmacy listed on all of the labels. The pills inside looked exactly like the samples Paul had gotten from the warehouse, small and white and innocuous. The labels on each individual container looked legit, containing the name of the patient, the prescribing doctor, the dosage, etc. A lot to research.

He fingered one amber bottle. “We need to bring my team in on this.”

Avery hesitated, pushing a hank of dark curls out of her eyes. He could see the conflict in her expression, the way she was torn between her desire to do things by the book and her need to get to the truth.

He lifted one of the containers, turning the label so she could read it. “We don’t have the time or the resources to trace all the leads here on our own. Even if you could use Bureau resources, my people are faster.”

Avery sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. “You’re right,” she said, her voice soft and tired. “Let’s call them.”

Good. Excellent.

Within minutes, they had the team on a video chat, their faces filling the large screen on the far wall of Bridger’s living room. Bridger, Tai, Kate, Fenn, Paige, and Graham all looked serious and focused, their eyes sharp and alert as they listened to Mason and Avery’s report.

“We’re here to offer logistical support,” Bridger said, his deep voice calm and reassuring. “Until the Bureau jumps onboard, of course. We won’t proceed with anything without your say so, Agent Ellis.”

Avery looked touched by their deference, her eyes shining with gratitude. “Thank you,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. “And thank you, Mason, for making this all possible.”

He caught her eye, his lips quirking up in a small smile. “Anytime.”

Together, the group quickly hashed out a plan. Paige had found a discreet lab where they could have the samples tested without raising any red flags.

Tai, ever the practical one, asked the question on everyone’s mind. “What are these meds for, exactly?”

“They’re long-release statins,” Avery explained. “At least they’re supposed to be. For people who don’t respond to regular statins.”

Fenn pulled a face. “Cholesterol drugs. Gee, Ortiz, could you have found a more boring smuggling ring to crack?”

Kate smacked him in the belly so hard the guy doubled over. Then she winked at Mason over the video feed. “You’re welcome.”

“Copy that. I owe you one.”

The gorgeous pilot grinned back. “Not to worry. It was my pleasure.”

“These meds are super expensive,” Mason added. “As in thousands of dollars a month.”

He thought about the modest homes they’d grabbed the packages from. If these drugs turned out to be fakes, not only were lives at risk: but these guys were stealing from people who could little afford it.

Oh the counterfeiters were going to pay. As if he wasn’t made enough already.

Graham’s eyes narrowed. “It would be hard to tell if a person was taking fake pills. You’re taking a drug that’s supposed to help prevent the buildup of cholesterol,” he mused. “So it’s unlikely anyone’s going to notice it’s not working until they see their physician every six months or so. And maybe not even then, right?”

“No kidding,” Paige added. She swept a hank of pink hair out of her eyes and frowned at her computer screen. “Hang on a sec, guys.” Everyone quieted while she typed. When she looked up, she shook her head. “This pharmacy is fake.”

Avery inched closer to the computer. “Are you sure?”

“One hundred percent.” Paige looked straight at the camera now. At Avery. “There are sites people can check out to see if the online pharmacy they plan to use is legit or not. SpeedCo Pharmacy,” she pointed at the box in Mason’s hand, “isn’t registered on any of them. Not one.”

“Why would a fake pharmacy dispense real drugs? That makes no sense at all,” Avery said, her voice hard and unwavering. “The drugs must be phony, too.”

“It gets stranger,” Paige added. “I can’t find a physical location for the pharmacy. No warehouse. No distribution center. Nada.”

Mason grunted. “Surprise, surprise.”

Bridger’s normal grin disappeared. “It’s a good thing you called us in, Mace.”

Kate eyed Avery stonily. “Agent Ellis? How concerned do we need to be about your fellow agents? It seems strange you got called off such a promising case.”

“She says her people are good,” Mason interjected. He didn’t blame Kate for considering all the options, but Avery had already told him she wasn’t concerned about her colleagues, or her superiors.

“Cases get back-burnered all the time,” Avery explained, in a much softer voice. “I can see why you’d ask. We’re probably looking at tens of millions in profits here. But I can vouch for my boss, and my other superiors in the Seattle office, anyway.”

Tai nodded quickly. “Good enough.”

But Mason knew the team––Paige especially––would dive deep into each agent’s background. The owners of Rain Bay Trucking, too. If there were any common threads, she’d find them.

In the meantime, no sense in antagonizing Avery.

Mason nodded in agreement, his mind racing with the implications. He thought about how close Paul had come to being in even deeper trouble, how grateful he was that his brother had reached out. Maybe he’d even tell him that sometime, when all this was over.

Paige’s face filled the screen again, her expression grim. “Heads up, guys,” she said, her voice tight with tension. “More trouble.”

Mason felt his stomach drop, a cold sense of dread washing over him. He glanced over at Avery, saw the fear in her eyes.

Paige looked uncharacteristically guilty. She spoke directly to Avery. “So, after Mason first read us in on the case, I tagged, uh, people at your office.”

Avery tensed next to him. “Tagged them how?”

“Internet notifications,” Paige explained. “In case someone else at your agency is looking into things. Make sense?”

“Not exactly,” Avery admitted. “But go on.”

Paige swallowed and nodded hard enough to make her colorful bangs sway. “I can totally explain my procedures later, but right now, you guys need to know that someone in Avery’s office accessed traffic cam footage from the North Seattle neighborhood you two just left.” Paige’s words came out in a rush. “Mason, you were caught on camera taking those two packages. And in one set of footage, Avery can be seen in the vehicle across the street.”

Mason closed his eyes. Oh man. Not good. He’d looked for cameras before swiping the packages, and had spotted them. But he’d thought they were far enough away. He could protect Avery from knives and bullets. Information, not so much.

He looked over at her, saw the panic written all over her face. “It’s okay,” he said softly, reaching out to take her hand in his. “We’ll figure this out.”

But even as he spoke the words, Mason couldn’t shake the feeling that things were about to get a whole lot worse before they got better.