About That Night

BRIGHT AND EARLY the following Monday, Ryla

Qui

As well he should.

Before taking a seat at her table, she introduced herself to Qui

“Michael Cha

“Of course. I can even give you two moments,” she said with a pleasant smile. She’d been litigating against guys like this her entire career—lawyers who seemingly confused brashness with being tough. Good thing she’d stopped being u

She went over to the prosecution table and set her briefcase off to the side. Shortly thereafter, the clerk called the case, and they were off and ru

At the conclusion of the hearing, Michael Cha

“The law in the Seventh Circuit is clear, Mr. Cha

“I know what the Seventh Circuit says,” he said with a glare. “But this whole thing was just a fight between two inmates gone wrong. Show me what you’ve got that proves anything other than that.”

Ryla

He looked down at the file in surprise, obviously not having expected to walk out with the FBI reports today. “Yes, well. I’ll…be taking a look at these right away.”

“One other thing I should mention. For security reasons, Manuel Gutierrez has been transferred out of MCC and moved downstate to Pekin.” Given the inmate’s concerns about his safety, Ryla

Cha

From his blank expression, Ryla

Not surprisingly, Cha

UNFORTUNATELY, THE SWEET taste of victory did not linger long.

“I’m striking out with the other inmates,” Agent Wilkins said over the phone later that afternoon when Ryla

To further bolster her case against Qui

Wilkins snorted. “They’re not afraid—they all want deals. They know that Gutierrez was taken out of MCC after meeting with us. Apparently, the rumor floating around is that he’s playing golf at a minimum-security facility in Miami.”

“Of course that’s the rumor. One day I have to find this elusive federal prison where everyone runs around free, plays golf, and eats five-course meals.”

“Frankly, I don’t think most of these guys know anything about any special treatment Qui

“What about going directly to Jones and Romano? Are they willing to talk?” Ryla

“Not a chance. As soon as I mentioned Qui

Ryla

“Too bad Manuel Gutierrez didn’t know anything. Since he’s already agreed to testify, that would’ve been perfect,” Wilkins said. “What about Kyle Rhodes? I take it the same goes for him?”

“Not sure. I’ve been in court so much recently, I haven’t had the chance to circle back to him yet,” Ryla

“I could do the follow-up interview if you like,” Wilkins offered politely. “It’s just that you’ve been the contact person with him thus far…”

“Nope, I’ve got it covered. I’m adding it to my to-do list for the day as we speak.” As Ryla

“You sure?” Wilkins said with a chuckle. “You sound awfully busy right now.”

Sure, she was a little inundated right then. But since she was the one who’d established the relationship with Kyle Rhodes, it would be odd to suddenly send in the FBI to talk to him. Besides, there was no way that Meth Lab Ryla

Ryla

Do Kyle Rhodes.

Clearly, she and her subconscious needed to have a talk about that one.

Seventeen

KYLE ALMOST HAD a heart attack when he peered down at the Post-it note his sister had given him.

“This is your password? Clearly, that’s the next thing we need to fix,” he said as he logged on to her laptop. Jordan had asked him to stop by her store to see if he could figure out why her Internet co

Standing next to the desk, Jordan gave him a quizzical look. “Mom’s maiden name and the years Grandma and Grandpa Evers were born. Why would anyone ever think of that combination?”

“Or you could just make the password one-two-three-four,” he offered. “Since you’re obviously trying to have your identity stolen.” He pointed, lecturing. “Listen and learn: you need fourteen characters, minimum. Use random letters, not words. Here’s a tip: think of a sentence, and use the first letter in each of those words. Mix it up between upper and lower case. Then pick two numbers that mean something to you—not dates—and stick them somewhere between the letters. Put a punctuation mark at the begi

“Yes, sir.” Jordan grabbed a pen and another Post-it note. “Um, could you repeat everything that came after mixing up the upper and lower case?”