"Not just human trafficking," Hendricks interrupts. "They move everything. Cattle and feed, lumber, freight, drugs, weapons, you name it. Turner's building infrastructure for a multi-state operation, and the Reyes family is bankrolling it through Clearwater."
Mason swears under his breath.
I glance at Jake, thinking about Emma and the Circle H sitting right in the middle of Turner's acquisition map. Jake's pregnant wife is the final obstacle between Turner and complete territorial control.
"Is Reyes behind the push to force Emma to sell?" Jake asks.
Shrugging, Hendricks leans back in his chair. "Hard to say. Turner's the one making the moves on the ground. Whether he's acting on orders or taking initiative, I don't know yet. But the Reyes family owns the company buying the land, so they're definitely invested in the outcome."
Jake's jaw tightens. "Then we're not just dealing with Turner."
"Yeah." Hendricks doesn't sugarcoat it. "The Reyes family makes this a hell of a lot more complicated."
I lean forward, resting my hands on the desk. "What else?"
"Turner's looking for someone," Hendricks says. "A woman. He's had men searching Texas for the past two months. San Antonio, Austin, Houston. They grabbed Jenna Morales by mistake, thinking she was the target."
"Who's the target?" Mason asks.
"Don't know yet." Hendricks pulls up another file—surveillance photos, grainy and distant. A woman in a baseball cap, face obscured. "Whoever she is, she's good. She's been systematically eliminating Turner's buyers. Three dead in the past two months. All of them looked like accidents or random violence, but the pattern's there if you know what to look for."
I study the photos. The woman's posture is controlled and tactical, like she has training. "You think she's hunting them?”
"Yeah." Hendricks nods. "And she's damn good at it. I've been trying to track her down, but she's a ghost. No digital footprint. No credit cards. No phone records. She's operating completely off-grid."
“Careful, Hendricks.” I can't help the grin that tugs at my mouth. "You keep talking about her like that and we’ll think you have a crush.”
He gives me a flat look. "You done?"
“Never,” I say, balancing on the back two legs of my chair.
Mason snorts. Jake shakes his head.
"I'm working on pinning her down," Hendricks continues, ignoring my chuckle. "But she's careful. Professional. Whoever trained her knew what they were doing."
"Is the Reyes family hunting her too?" Jake asks. "If she's taking out Turner's buyers, she's costing them money."
Hendricks shakes his head. "That's the weird part. As far as I can tell, no one in the Reyes organization is looking for her."
I exchange a glance with Mason. "That doesn't make sense."
"No," Hendricks agrees. "It doesn't. If she's disrupting Turner's operation, Reyes should want her eliminated. But there's no chatter, no bounty, and no resources being deployed to find her."
"Maybe they don't know about her yet," Mason suggests.
"Maybe." Hendricks doesn't sound convinced. "Or maybe they don't care. The Reyes family runs drugs and weapons. That's their bread and butter. Trafficking is new for them. It's possible they're letting Turner handle the problems on that front."
"Or," I say slowly, "they're letting her do their work for them."
Jake looks at me. "What do you mean?"
"Think about it." I gesture to the screen. "She's taking out Turner's buyers. That weakens his operation without them having to lift a finger. If Turner's becoming a liability, maybe they're happy to let someone else clean up the mess."
Hendricks considers that. "It's possible. Mateo Reyes, the heir apparent, is smart. They don't make moves unless they have to. If this woman is solving a problem for them, they might just sit back and watch."
"Which means Turner's on his own," Mason concludes.
"Yeah." I prop my legs on the table, processing. "And that makes him dangerous. He's operating without backup, trying to hold together an operation that's falling apart. Men like that get desperate."