lowlife took a deep breath and expelled it slowly. “Yes, Luke and me worked together. My next job was to pick up a package here in Denver and wait for instruction where to take it.”
So this was the reason Saunders wanted to be here in Denver. Was the package he was picking up a baby? Or information about the organization? Colton pushed off the counter and approached the man, hovering over him. “It? What are you picking up?”
Disdain flittered across Saunders’s face. “A baby, of course. Haven’t you been listening?”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“From who?”
“I don’t know.”
Colton got down in his face. “What do you know?”
* * *
Lisette relaxed back in her chair, enjoying the exchange between the two men. One thing the FBI agent from Miami had said about Colton Phillips was that he was a good interrogator, usually getting what he wanted from his witness.
Saunders smirked. “What’s this? Bad cop, badder cop?”
Colton pulled back and crossed his arms over his chest, his expression chilling, the blue of his eyes arctic cold. “This isn’t working. I’ll be reporting to my supervisor that you haven’t given us any useful information, which means you’re in violation of your agreement with the government.”
Saunders’s sneer fell. He blinked rapidly and turned his regard to Lisette, as if she would rescue him. Fixing a stare on him, she wanted him to squirm for a little bit. “We aren’t going to keep spending thousands of dollars to keep you safe if you aren’t going to fulfill your part of the bargain. Would you, if you were in our shoes?”
Saunders’s cackles resonated through the cabin. “Never in a thousand years would I be a cop.”
“We know this is about child smuggling. Tell us something we don’t know. Who is your boss in St. Louis?”
“I don’t know his name. All I have is a burner phone I use to get my instructions, which you have now.”
“Then what use are you to us? Marshal Phillips, make your call to your supervisor. This is a dead end.” She narrowed her eyes, boring into the man across from her. Silence fell. Colton towered over the witness but didn’t say a word.
“Okay. Okay. Right before I was apprehended, this was all set up. I’m supposed to meet my contact in a few days at a masquerade ball for charity. If I check out, then he’ll give me the information where to pick up the baby.”
“Where are you supposed to take the baby once you have it?”
“My boss will call me with instructions once the handoff is successful.” He looked back and forth between Colton and Lisette. “You have my burner phone. Maybe that can help you.”
She bent forward. “You know it doesn’t help. Is this all you have? Where’s the information about who might be behind this baby-smuggling ring that you insinuated you had in St. Louis?”
“I—I can’t...”
“You can’t or you won’t?” She raised her voice.
Saunders snapped his mouth closed and pinched his lips together.
Colton kicked the legs of the table nearest Saunders. “That’s it. The deal is off. You’re going back to St. Louis. You’ve been playing us for fools.”
THREE
“You can’t do that!” Saunders shot to his feet, color draining from his face. “You promised to protect me. I’m putting my life on the line because of you.”
“Mr. Saunders, please take a seat.” Lisette forced a calmness into her voice while she worked to keep her emotions—anger, frustration, impatience—from showing in her expression. “Marshal Phillips has been dealing with you longer than I have and is no doubt tired of these games you’re playing. Give me a reason not to go along with him.” The stab of Colton’s razor-sharp look sliced through her, but she ignored him. However, his warning that he was in charge kept blaring in her mind.
Saunders eased back into his chair, drawing in a deep breath. “I can’t tell you who the bosses of the smuggling ring are because I don’t know who they are, but I do know there are several running it. A person only knows who they directly work for. I’ve worked with a middleman for this part of the country a lot lately. I’m supposed to get the baby and deliver it to him. So until I meet my contact at the party and find out where to pick up the baby, I can’t tell you who the middleman is.” He paused, probably for dramatic effect, then continued, “Except he goes by Jackson. I don’t know if that’s a first or last name. We’ve been working together for over a year so I’ll have to be there. In fact, I have to call him the day of the party to make sure everything is still set up.”
Lisette frowned. “So this Jackson is the middleman?”
“He has a lot more knowledge about the operation than I do. I deliver the babies, and he takes over from there. I don’t know what he does with them after that.”
“How are you going to make contact with the courier at the party? I imagine there will be hundreds in attendance.” Colton leaned back against the counter again. “It’s a big charity event for children.” Her partner choked out the last word, a frown descending on his face.
Lisette didn’t blame him. The irony of this whole situation struck her.
“I’m not to wear a mask. He’ll recognize me and approach me. Jackson has given the contact a picture of me.”
“How interesting―you have made yourself indispensable if we want to catch a higher-up in the ring.” Sarcasm dripped from Colton’s voice.
While Lisette felt the same as Colton, her brief look conveying that to the marshal, she had to be the “good” cop in this scenario. “So you’ll be turning over this middleman you report to in exchange for the deal?”
Saunders nodded. “And don’t forget the baby who won’t become part of the smuggling operation. You didn’t really know what was going on until I decided to talk in St. Louis. All that has to be worth something. Even the fact that the organization has several levels. I’m at the bottom of the rung. It’s a start you didn’t have before me.”
Colton pulled back the chair and sat between her and Saunders at the kitchen table. “Tell you what. We’ll go along for the time being. But if you don’t deliver at least the middleman and the baby, then the bargain is off.”
Lisette wasn’t sure Colton had that kind of authority, but by his no-nonsense tone and fierce, determined stare, it would be foolish on Saunders’s part not to snatch up the deal.
“Sure. Sure. You’ll be the hero getting this information. Jackson has dealings with the higher-ups.” Saunders put his hands on the top of the table and began to push up, saying, “Well, if you two don’t need me, I’m taking a nap.”
Colton clasped Saunders’s lower arm. “Don’t play me. You don’t want to
