Thursday, August 22, 2013

Thriller Thursday - Excerpt from Deadly Storm - A Kelli Storm Novel

Thursday April 13th – 10:52 A.M. – Manhattan
10th Avenue – DEA Offices


  Greg paced from one end of the conference room to the other, his hands folded behind his back as Kelli took another sip of her coffee. “He said that it goes deeper? What do you think he meant by that,” he said and stopped next to her.
  She looked up at him and shrugged. “He wouldn’t tell me anything else, not until you guys promise to protect him,” she said as she set the cup down. “So what’s the problem? You didn’t hesitate to make a deal with Rostov, why are you dragging your feet on this one?”
  “It’s not that simple. Rostov came to us with this information, and we acted on that information. We got Buryakov, several of his men and a warehouse full of drugs. And yes, I know that we missed getting Andropov, but we did shut down this part of his operation, and that’s going to hurt him.”
  “And what the fuck do you think he’s going to do when he gets back to Russia? You think he’s just going to retire, sit back and lick his wounds? No, he going to get together with Martinez and plan a new operation, maybe run it straight out of Mexico, or one of the islands. But then, I suppose that’s not your problem,” she said, feeling her face get hot.
  Greg stepped back, waving his hands in front of him. “I didn’t say we weren’t going after him, it’s just a little more complicated than that, okay? Since he has diplomatic immunity, we’re going to have to get the State Department involved, and they’re going to want a lot more than what we have on him, which right now is nothing. We need something tying Andropov to the drugs, to the murders.”
  Kelli took a deep breath, relaxed her fist and slowly nodded. “You’re right, everything we’ve got points to Buryakov,” she said, shaking her head. “Well, you’ve got to give Andropov credit, he covers his tracks well. But I still think we can use Buryakov, all you have to do is get your boss to sign off on it.”
  “I don’t know; it’s not going to be easy. You really think he’s telling the truth, that maybe this really is just the surface?”
  “Only one way to find out, ask him.”