Read Jacked Up (Bowen Boys #4) for Free Online

was never a good move. Especially if you wanted to sway his decisions.
    Mullen shrugged. “It was probably unplanned. Strong winds yesterday. Maybe they miscalculated and thought the body would fall into the sea, never to be found again. You know Maldonado’s got a temper.”
    Even though Elle was asleep, Jack could see the reflex movement under her lids. She looked exhausted, but jumpy too. With her hands under her face, she snuggled into the chair as if she were cold. Of course she’d get arrested wearing nothing but a tight dress just slightly bigger than a fucking bandage and smelling like a distillery.
    Hensen stopped next to them, his greedy gaze on the two-way mirror. “She’s out of options. I say we use her as bait to draw Maldonado out. Fine piece of ass like that, she wouldn’t have problems—”
    Jack turned to him, blocking Hensen’s view of Elle and crossing his arms over his chest, then stared straight into the guy’s eye.
    “You don’t talk to her. You don’t look at her, and you sure as fuck don’t use her for anything, especially not bait.”
    “Who put you in charge?” the asshole demanded.
    Jack smiled predatorily. “Way above your paygrade. And clearance. When it comes to Maldonado, you do as I say.”
    “Or?”
    “You’ll be the next one skydiving from a plane.”
    “Jack, for fuck’s sake,” Mullen growled, stepping in between the two men.
    That was the good part of not being under the direct command of the FBI, DEA, CIA, or NSA. Jack didn’t have to obey anyone there. And they knew it.
    “Hensen, leave us,” Mullen ordered, then turned to Jack after the detective walked away. “And you, calm the fuck down, will you?”
    Jack didn’t look at the special agent, his gaze back on Elle. “I’m calm.”
    “You know that under the National Defense Authorization Act we can keep her for as long as we want? And Hensen’s idea of using her as bait has its merit. We spread rumors about a witness, drop her name, and we just sit back and wait for Maldonado’s goons to appear. Or better yet, we put a microphone on her, make her contact Maldonado to blackmail him, and get him to admit his involvement in the killings. Risky, but she would have to go along with it, seeing as she’s facing major jail time for the airport stunt.”
    “No fucking way.”
    He knew what happened to bait. Bait was expendable, and they never came to good ends. At best, Elle would have to enter the witness protection program. If she was refusing protective custody, he didn’t want to think how she would react to that. “You owe me a lot of favors, and I’m calling this one in. You find a way of arresting Maldonado that doesn’t involve her life going down the drain.”
    The detective’s lips thinned. “Jack, you, more than anyone, know how difficult it is to pin anything on this guy. Maldonado is extremely dangerous. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—”
    “Not up for discussion. You won’t use her as bait. You keep her name under wraps. I don’t want anyone outside the investigation to know about her existence. Use her info to build your case. She didn’t have to tell you squat about Aalto boarding her plane, yet she did, even knowing it was going to mean trouble for her. You cut her some slack.” He’d wanted to get Maldonado for years; more now that the scumbag had relocated to Florida, but all the witnesses had the nasty habit of ending up dead. He wasn’t risking it.
    “Let’s start with finding a link between Maldonado and Aalto.” Maldonado was a well-known narco and Aalto an old-school Republican obsessed with kicking out illegal aliens and cutting back on immigration and foreign import of goods. Why would Aalto agree to a meeting?
    “So far we haven’t found one. His secretary knew nothing about the trip and there wasn’t a single reference on his agenda.”
    No shit. Trips to Cuba for a cigar were off the record, which explained why Aalto had been sneaking around at the