Read Online Body Heat by Brenda Novak - Free Book Online Page B

unintelligible, she grabbed her companion’s hand and scurried away.
    The coyote whirled around to confront Sophia. “Hey, you’re costing me money!”
    â€œTwelve people are dead,” she said. “Twelve of your countrymen and -women. If anyone gives a damn, it should be you.”
    The man who spoke the best English was openly scornful. “Why should we care? They’re just wetbacks.”
    â€œYou make your living off those wetbacks!”
    He shrugged. “So?”
    â€œIf this killer keeps going, people will be too frightened to cross. Even with a reliable coyote.”
    Flexing, he looked pointedly from one bulging bicep to the other, showing off for her. “I can get anyone across. For the right price.”
    Since the U.S. had strengthened security along the Naco border, coyotes had a much more difficult job. They hadto avoid the stadium lights that were spaced every three miles and equipped with cameras and infrared sensors monitored by agents at central command. They had to figure out ways to circumvent or slip through the Virtual Presence and Extended Defense System, which included the feared ground sensors. And they had to escape the notice of an additional two hundred agents posted at various lookouts. The services of a knowledgeable guide had gone from three hundred dollars to eight hundred dollars. Smuggling undocumented aliens was becoming so lucrative that the Mexican Mafia was beginning to traffic in humans, as well as drugs.
    â€œMoney is all that matters to you?” she challenged.
    â€œThat and a good fuck,” he said, and everyone burst out laughing.
    Sophia refused to flinch at his crude language. She was hardly impressed with his attempt to shock her; thanks to Starkey and his friends, and her job, she’d heard much worse. “Good luck finding a woman who’s willing.”
    â€œOooh…” his friends moaned, mocking him.
    Eyes glinting with a dangerous light, he swept his gaze from her head to her toes. “Maybe I won’t bother getting permission.”
    â€œYou’re not worth my time.” Jerking the pictures out of his hand, she turned away as if he didn’t scare her in the least.
    She’d taken only two steps when a man from the same group hailed her. “I’ll see what I can find, señorita, ” he said, and nodded respectfully when she gave him the pictures.
    â€œPuta,” the other man spat.
    Sophia felt like drawing her gun. The cocky, sexist pig deserved to have a woman get the better of him. Butshe wasn’t in Mexico to start trouble. She was here to get answers.
    She ignored him.
    â€œTwo hundred U.S.?” The one who was taking the assignment asked. Short and stocky, with a jagged scar on his cheek and an elaborate snake tattoo on his arm, he appeared to be much older than the others, probably in his late forties.
    â€œIf the information is accurate,” she clarified, and with another nod, he strode off.

5
    I t wasn’t a cheap system. What with all his money going to support his wife and kids—two households now—Leonard Taylor had had to sell his riding lawn mower and all his saws and power tools. That was the only way he could get enough to purchase the listening devices he’d found on the Internet. He’d spent nearly two thousand dollars at that spy site. But he was extremely happy with the quality of what he’d been sent. The UHF transmitter camouflaged as an outlet adapter looked just like the real thing. No way would Sophia or anyone else be able to tell it from any other adapter. And the two pens looked every bit as genuine. Even better, the receiver he’d bought, together with the transmitters, wasn’t very big. He’d easily be able to carry it in his pocket or his truck, where he could hide it under the seat if he had to. By the time he finished placing the transmitters, he’d be able to pick up anything Sophia did or said, as long