Irish Throwdown (What Happens In Vegas Book 4) by Matt Lincoln (short books for teens .TXT) 📕

crazy and attack him like that. I thought he was exaggerating to get me to stop.”

“You’re lucky,” I remarked. “Most of the other people who took this drug to the point of becoming violent are dead now.”

“What?” she blustered. “No way. A lot of my friends take it. Wouldn’t they have all dropped dead by now?”

“Are you saying this stuff is still in circulation?” I asked.

“Not really,” Penny shrugged. “It was all over the place a few months ago, but then it seemed like all the suppliers were running out. It’s hard to come by these days, so it’s gotten expensive. You can still find it if you know where to look, though.”

“And where would that be?” Naomi prompted.

“I’m no snitch,” Penny snapped. “I’m not just going to rat out my friends.”

“Don’t be stupid,” I snarled at her. “Do you really want what happened to Robbie to happen to someone else? Do you want all your friends to start dropping dead? Because that is going to happen. Sooner or later, they’re going to go too far trying to reach the same high, and they won’t be able to come back down.”

“Of course I don’t,” Penny argued.

“Then tell us who your supplier is,” Naomi urged. “The sooner we can trace where this is coming from, the sooner we can get it off the street and ensure that this doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

Penny looked between Naomi and me as she wrung her hands nervously.

“Fine,” she finally answered. “His name is Anthony. I don’t know his last name. He hangs out at this bar on the strip called the Silver Horseshoe. Whenever I want drugs, I go there, and he’s usually hanging around.”

“Thank you, Penny,” I put my hand on her shoulder. “You’re doing the right thing.”

“Narcing on my friends to the feds?” she huffed. “Doesn’t feel like it.”

“Well, it is,” Naomi replied sourly. “At least your friends will remain alive long enough to hold a grudge. Let’s go, Miranda. We should call in and give a report about this.”

“Yeah,” I nodded in agreement. We now had confirmation that the drug wasn’t only being circulated via the cough syrup but also through the streets as a designer drug. We needed to regroup and re-strategize with this new information.

My phone buzzed in my pocket just as I was getting into the car.

“It’s Fiona,” I informed Naomi as she climbed into the driver’s seat. I tapped the answer button and put the phone up to my ear. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Miranda,” Fiona’s panicked voice yelled over the phone. I could hear a dull pounding and what sounded like screaming in the background. “I need help. Something’s really wrong. Come back to the office fast!”

16

Fiona

I sighed in frustration at my computer screen. It was stressful not being able to do more, but I wasn’t a field agent, and if I was being frank with myself, I didn’t have the investigative prowess that the other agents did. Sure, I could dig up pretty much any piece of digital information anyone could ask for, but when it came to actually interacting with people and working with suspects the way everyone else did, I was miles behind. I knew that I was an essential part of this team and that my technical skills were often what gave us big leads, but it was hard not to feel useless sitting there on my butt while everyone else was out hitting the pavement and getting real answers.

I got up from my chair and took a walk over to the break room. The office was mostly empty again, save for me, Howard, and Nelson. Since we each had our own office, the bullpen was completely silent as I passed through on my way to the break room. Something about the stillness put me on edge, like the quiet before a storm. I tried not to dwell on it and focused on brewing a fresh pot of coffee instead.

I was just about to add the beans to the machine when I froze. Maybe this would be a good opportunity to get out of the office and go for a walk instead. There was a coffee place just a few blocks away that served pretty good pastries. Some fresh air might help me clear my head.

I nodded to myself as I made my decision and put the coffee beans back into the cupboard above the machine. As I left the break room and passed by Howard’s office, I wondered if I should invite him to come with me. I’d been dwelling on the conversation I’d had with my fellow agents a few days prior about how Howard was always so solitary and never joined us in doing anything social. It made me a little sad. I knew that I would have loved for someone to invite me to something back when I still hadn’t learned to make friends.

I approached Howard’s office and tentatively knocked on the door. Miranda had told me how upset he’d been that she came in without knocking, and I didn’t want to aggravate him. However, I got no response. I knocked again, a little harder this time, but was still met with silence. I wondered if he was even in there. Maybe he’d had the same idea and had gone out to get a bite to eat.

“Agent Howard?” I called uneasily. I didn’t want to disturb him if he was very busy, but now that I’d committed to this, I didn’t want to back down either. A moment later, the door opened just a crack.

“What is it?” Howard cleared his throat.

“Oh, I thought you might not be in there,” I smiled sheepishly. “I hope I’m not bothering you. I was about to go get some coffee, and I thought you might want to join. Maybe get some fresh air and sunlight?”

Howard sighed. He sounded frustrated, almost angry.

“No, thank you,” he snapped. I could see that there was a thin sheen of sweat over his face. “I’m busy right