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industry how things are going to go. He ultimately wants his US empire to mirror those of his mentor and rivals. He doesn’t want to wait for old man Guzman to bequeath power to him; Salazar wants to set his own terms and seize it now while he’s a relatively young man.”
    “Pretty bold move and a good way to get himself wiped off the face of the map, if Guzman finds out,” Anthony replied, staring at Sage. He hadn’t meant his tone to sound like a challenge of her knowledge of the situation, but as soon as he’d finished the statement, he could tell from her body language that’s how she’d processed it.
    “I know this man well, ” she retorted, drawing herself up to stand taller. “He’s gonna do the deal.”
    She allowed the simple reply to hang in the air, leaving no doubt that her insider knowledge as Salazar’s lover went deeper than any surveillance could ever convey. Why that grated on him, he wasn’t sure. But it did. And it made him temporarily stand down.
    This much he knew: Men only talked about their dreams to a trusted female source, men disclosed to that woman what they would never disclose to another man, and only if that woman had become more than a body in bed. He’d been there and also knew how it cut to the bone to be betrayed, which was why he’d personally vowed to never go there again.
    If Salazar had let Sage in that close, past all his criminal instinct and street smarts, Special Agent Sage Wagner was walking on a tightrope with no net. A betrayal of that level of trust for a man like Salazar was a death sentence for the woman who’d played him. Sage Wagner had to know that. Looking into her eyes, he could tell that she did.
    Maybe it was sheer hubris or courage or a combination of both, but her steely grit told him that she didn’t care. A nervous man was a dangerous man … but a fearless woman was lethal.
    “So,” Sage said, after waiting a beat to be sure there were no more challenges to her leadership on the case, “that means all of Salazar’s drug capital will ultimately get converted into lucrative, legitimate holdings. I’m talking stocks, bonds, real estate, and manufacturing concerns, you name it … with sweetheart government contracts attached wherever he can get them for all his institutional-type business tentacles. The man has more accounts offshore than you can imagine, Captain, and even has his money in prison uniform manufacturing, institutional food processing plants, waste management, construction—he’s no fool, not by a long shot. Dude is smooth; does the local Chamber of Commerce events in black tie and makes significant anonymous donations to the candidates of his choice. We are talking about someone who is positioning himself for greatness.”
    “He’s come a long way from being a wild street punk doing drive-bys and turf wars. But this guy was smart—even as a kid. We could never directly pin anything on him or his brother. Anyone who might have talked always clammed up or wound up dead before we could get a statement.” Hank Wilson glanced at the other agents, his gaze lingering on Sage for a moment before he resumed.
    Anthony took a careful sip of his coffee, observing the DEA team. Hank Wilson was the boss, but obviously worried out of his mind for Sage—while at the same time trying not to treat her like a daughter or usurp her rank in front of an outsider. The kid, Dan, had a wide-open crush on his mentor agent that she seemed oblivious to. Regardless of the interdepartmental politics, he had a job to do and the information they were providing was invaluable.
    “That’s how they rose so fast in Guzman’s army. We’ve been tracking his deals through Special Agent Wagner,” Hank added with a nod toward Anthony, taking a loud slurp of his coffee. “Her work has been phenomenal. Knowing exactly where all of his holdings are will allow us to seize it all once we drop the hammer. Then this whole Assad wrinkle came on our radar and we held