Page 46 of Deep Cover

She clicked to the next image—a body sprawled on the sidewalk, cordoned off with tape holding bystanders away from the scene. “Murdered in the street, in broad daylight, with people around. No defensive wounds either. There wasn’t a struggle. Whoever did it walked up, did it fast and walked away before anyone processed what they saw.”

“Cause of death?” Rome asked.

“Single gunshot, close range.” She let that sit a beat. “Professional. Not a robbery gone wrong. His wallet was still on him, nothing taken. The shooter vanished into the crowd, and medics were on the scene within three minutes. Whoever wanted him dead did it so fast that even the witnesses were too rattled to be useful.”

Rivers leaned forward, forearms on the table. “Somebody made sure he couldn’t talk. Cameras?”

Her hazel eyes landed on him for a blink before she turned back to the screen. Several camera angles popped onto the screen but all they revealed were the corners of other streets.

“Funny thing is there are no witnesses and the cameras ‘happened’ to go down at that moment. Bill Kohler knew something worth killing for. So let’s talk about who he actually was.”

Rivers studied her more than the screen. He’d known from the very first day he met her that she was sharp. But watching her work a case in front of a room full of special operators who weren’t easily impressed was something else entirely.

She had them all leaning in within seconds. More photos popped up of a younger Bill Kohler.

“He grew up in New York and got in with the mafia in his late teens. He wasn’t Italian, which meant there was a ceiling on how far he would ever climb in the ranks. But he was smart. He paid attention. And that is how he discovered the morally gray areas of a legitimate contract.”

She pulled up a split image of the trucking company’s public information on one side and mess of shell entities on the other.

“This is where he split and started skimming from Blackout shipments. On paper, he was running a legitimate business. But the two laptops we recovered tell a different story. He was running an illegal supply chain parallel to the real one.”

Cannon stood off to the side, studying the information, arms crossed. “He was stealing from our shipments and selling the goods.”

She gave a brief nod and pulled up a new image of photographed pages from a paper calendar. “These were sent over by the NYC field team. His wife kept a family calendar and logged every trip he told her about. We know where he was going, when and for how long. His business calendar is missing some of these trips. Also, his executive assistant booked his official travel for the company. I cross-referenced the two.”

She showed them two timelines stacked on top of each other. There were glaring gaps where they didn’t line up.

“There’s a whole set of trips his wife knew about that don’t show up on any official itinerary. Those are the ones we’re focusing on. They’re off-the-books runs—deliveries and pickups he wasn’t supposed to be making. Moving things nobody was supposed to track.”

Rivers sat back, genuinely impressed. Pride swelled in his chest. He remembered this woman, sharp and relentless, three steps ahead of everyone else in the room. Only now, years had honed her skills to a lethal edge.

He was damn sorry he’d missed the evolution.

O cut in from the corner, attention still fixed on his screen. “The PO box you found a key to. I located it. It’s registered under one of the shell names on that second machine.”

Caryssa straightened. “I need to get to that PO box.”

“What are you expecting to find?” Cannon asked.

“Anything that didn’t pass through Bill’s computer. Instructions. Payments. A name.” Her pulse picked up. “Bill’s dead, but whoever was directing him had to communicate somehow. That box might be the first place we’ve found where the trail runs the other direction.”

Rivers didn’t realize he’d pushed to his feet until everyone stared at him. “I’m going with her.”

“Nope.” Cannon’s tone was final.

He pushed. “I’m going.”

“You’re the medic. Are you worried she’s gonna get a papercut opening an envelope?”

Laughter rippled around the room.

Rivers leveled his commanding officer in his gaze. “Cannon.”

His tone must have been more severe than he guessed because Cannon studied him a beat longer. As if he saw a battle he wasn’t up to fighting today, he issued a sigh.

“Fine. Go. O will drop you the coordinates.” He walked over to where O sat and leaned in to scan the screen.

Victory hit him first, followed fast by a hard twist of dread. The last time he’d been tasked with keeping someone safe, he’d failed Jolie and Stina.