“Eva, I appreciate the enthusiasm,” Ned continued. “But this is really not the time to talk about this. I’m very stressed. I have bigger fish to fry right now. We have a big project we are ramping up for, or haven’t you checked your email this morning?”
My blood boiled at Ned’s classic topic bait-and-switch which somehow tried to make me look bad.
Any other day, I might have just backed down and called it quits. He did look stressed. And it was early on a Monday. But I had asked about things before, and it was never the right time. It was always too early or too late to have this conversation.
I stood tall and channeled my inner Alexa.
Maybe the old Eva would put up with this shit.
But Alexa wouldn’t.
Since Ned continued to ignore me, I simply closed his laptop. He slid his hands out of the laptop just before his fingers got crushed. “Hey!” he protested.
“You’re not hearing me. You know I’m qualified. I’m overqualified. The last guy you put in the field couldn’t even report back to us because he couldn’t pass high school Spanish II. He didn’t even know cómo te llamas. Guess who speaks fluent Spanish, Ned? Me. Yet I’m stuck in the office being your one-trick analyst pony.”
“Oh come on. Don’t be ridiculous,” Ned huffed, opening his laptop back up and pressing the power button. “This isn’t your concern.”
“Actually, it is my concern. It’s bullshit I’m not getting the position I deserve just because I don’t check that one special box everyone around here needs to get a promotion.”
“Oh? And what box would that be? Please, enlighten me, your royal highness,” Ned said, leaning back, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He reached to one side of his desk for a cup and took a big gulp of water.
“The special box I don’t check,” I began, “Is that I don’t have a cock and balls,” I belted firmly, looking Ned square in the eye. Ned half coughed, half choked on the liquid in his throat. “You okay there?” I reached across the desk and patted him on the back.
“Wrong pipe,” Ned croaked. After a few moments he recovered. “Eva, please sit, Sweetie Pie. And seriously, don’t be so ornery. Try to smile a little.”
My stomach curled a little bit at hearing Ned say that stupid word. I wasn’t his Sweetie Pie. I wasn’t his anything anymore. And yeah, I felt guilty about how and why we ended. But it was over and he had to realize that.
“Ned, don’t tell me to fucking smile. This is exactly what I’m talking about. It’s inappropriate for you to speak like that now that we’ve—”
“—stopped dating,” Ned interrupted. “I know. Sorry for saying that. It’s just a reflex,” Ned said. “I got used to it after two years. I didn’t mean to make things awkward.”
I sighed. Ned might be a bumbling boss, as well as a horrible boyfriend, but he was a nice guy.
A nice guy blocking me from getting what I wanted.
“Well you better get unused to it,” I quipped.
“Right,” Ned folded his arms. “Let’s not get into our past right now. You obviously haven’t read your emails today because you’d know that we’re about to pull the trigger on Operation Reyes Down—operation D for short. In fact, the wheels are already in motion.”
My jaw fell open. “You mean you actually found someone to risk his life undercover who the Reyes family trusts? And who we trust?” I shook my head, thinking about the last man they had sent undercover across the border to infiltrate the Reyes headquarters. It didn’t end well for him. He didn’t make it back and no one ever heard from him again.
“I’m skeptical, Ned. The Reyes family is going to vet the hell out of this guy, whoever we send. Are you sure he has the balls? The connections? And the competence? That’s a tall order.”
Ned rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand. “We have a guy. We’ve actually had a guy on the books for a full month. This project has been kept top secret though, which is why you didn’t know about it. And his résumé is perfect—well, as perfect as we’re going to get for this job. A little rough around the edges, but—if we can trust him to stay on our side—he’s our guy.”
“Who on earth would the Reyes cousins trust? Word on the street is they don’t even trust each other.”
“The man who we have chosen has earned Reyes’s cousin’s trust first hand—in prison and outside of prison. We cut eighteen years off of our guy’s sentence with a presidential pardon. So he owes us. Big time. And if he doesn’t help us, he’s going right back to prison.”
“A presidential pardon?” I quirked an eyebrow. “What was he in for?”
“Eighteen counts of cocaine possession, a few of manslaughter,” Ned said, handing me a manila folder. “Although his lawyer claimed it was self defense.”
“Was it?” I gripped the file in my hand. It was quite heavy.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Ned said, shaking his head. “Like I said Eva, he’s a loose cannon, but he’s the kind of guy we need if we are actually going to go across the border, find Luis Reyes’ base of operations, and extradite the little shit back to the U.S. But we need to be two-hundred fucking percent sure our guy is going to play ball for the DEA and not revert to the dark side. Hence why I brought you in. And if you would have checked your email today, you’d know.”
“I don’t understand. Why didn’t you let me know about this operation earlier? You want me to go into an interview cold? I usually prepare for weeks for these things.”
“I know, but we’ve got to get the ball rolling now. We received some intel today that lead us to believe Luis Reyes might be going into extended hiding very soon, and if we don’t find him soon we could be looking at another decade of searching in vain.”
Beads of sweat rolled down Ned’s forehead. He was understandably stressed. He’d been trying to take down Reyes for almost two years. If this undercover operation didn’t work, Ned was looking at a demotion.
“Eva, I need your expertise here. I need you to interview our undercover guy and find out if he can be trusted. What his motivations are. No one is better at this than you. Do this, and we’ll maybe see about getting you into the field at some point in the future I think.”
I crossed my arms and shifted my weight back onto my heels. I didn’t like all those maybes and probablys. “If I do this, you will find a spot for me in the field.” My intonation didn’t waver. I had given Ned a statement, not asked a question.
“I’ll start looking for a spot for you, yes. Something simple to start out. Now I suggest you take the next few hours to review Corbin Young’s file. He’ll be back here at two p.m. for the interview.”
A brick materialized instantaneously in my gut. I cleared my throat. “Did you just say…Corbin Young?”
Ned nodded. “Yep. Heard of him before? The goddamn son of a bitch went to Mexico on his second night out of jail. Can you believe that? My sources told me he left with some broad, possibly a prostitute. What a fucking regular James Dean.”
The blood ran out of my face. I opened the manila file and saw Corbin Young’s unmistakable mugshot.
“Everything okay?” Ned asked, noticing my silence.
“Okay?” I looked up like a deer in headlights.
He got up from his chair. “With the file, I mean? I just printed that out.”
“Oh yes,” I said with a forced smile. “Looks great. See you at two.”
I stood up quickly and headed for the door. I felt like I might throw up.
“Oh and Eva,” he said before I was outside.
“Yes?”
“If you want to move up, knock this one out of the park. Headquarters is going to be observing your skills through the double mirror.”
6
Corbin
The noise of my motorcycle drew dirty looks from a few passersby, but I didn’t care in the slightest.
It’s hard to give a shit what people think when you’re a free man.
I rolled up to one of the first parking spaces and killed my engi
ne in front of the drab red brick office building that housed the DEA.
I got off the motorcycle and removed my sunglasses. The grass surrounding the building was bright green. I’d be damned if San Diego wasn’t the best city on the face of the Earth. Seventy degrees and sunny, and I could still taste the delicious turkey, bacon, and avocado sandwich I’d had for lunch when I’d met up with my brother Casey.
Freedom.
A young happy couple walked by on the sidewalk holding hands. I felt so damn good, I gave them a wave. They waved back. I had been on cloud nine all morning replaying that night weeks ago in my mind. I could see Alexa’s beautiful brown eyes staring back at me, hear her moans, feel her beneath me. It made no sense. I wasn’t the kind of guy who got caught up on a particular girl. It just wasn’t my thing. Yet here I was, daydreaming like a middle-schooler.
I entered through the main door of the DEA building and passed through the security check, waving at the secretary who I’d already befriended that morning on my way out. I walked down the hall to Ned’s office, and before I could even knock on the door, Ned opened it. I grinned as I walked in.
“Corbin, it’s two-fifteen. You’re la—”
“It’s a touch hot out today, Ned.” I breezed past him while he remained standing next to the doorframe. “Do you mind if I grab some water?”
“Sure,” Ned answered futilely, pursing his lips as if restraining himself from adding another comment. I opened the mini fridge, took a bottle out and unscrewed the top.
“You guys really keep the beverages stocked around here, don’t you?” I took a seat on the small couch in Ned’s office and spread out my arms behind me. “So. Analyze me! I’m ready! Do your thing! Where’s your psychology girl?”
Ned shook his head and walked back behind his desk. “Please take this seriously, Corbin.” He pressed his thumb into his intercom. “Dr. Napleton, Mr. Young is here.”
“Coming,” said the voice on the other end.
“Corbin,” Ned continued, straightening his tie. “Dr. Napleton is the best at what she does, and I want you to treat her with the utmost respect. None of this bullshit cocky attitude that you’ve had today, getting on tangents about cream in your coffee. Remember, we’re getting you out of prison, doing you a big favor.”
“You may be doing me a favor,” I said. “But the only reason I’m helping you with Reyes is because I think he’s a sick fuck.”
It’s true. I might have been an asshole and a criminal, but even I had standards of honor. Marco Reyes was a sick motherfucker, and the word on the street was that his cousin Luis was even worse. He didn’t just go after his enemies, he went after their children.
And yeah, there was the matter of the conditional presidential pardon extended to me. Slicing eighteen years off a twenty year sentence was a new lease on life.
The door swung open and a blond woman came in with a blue and white pinstriped pantsuit and an authoritative walk. It was hard to tell because her clothes were so damn businesslike, but my assessment was that she had some nice curves underneath her professional veneer.
She got closer, and I decided I was right. Hell, she almost looked as good as Alexa. Although she had blonde hair instead of dark brown, she had the same light coffee colored skin, and these gorgeous brown eyes. She was hot yet proper and—
Holy shit. Were my eyes deceiving me, or was this my goddamn one-night stand in the flesh?
With recently dyed blonde hair. Which was a shame since I loved the way she looked as a brunette. Still, I wasn’t complaining about the new do.
Fuck it, I decided. I might as well just come right out and find out.
“Well, fancy seeing you here, Alexa!” I blurted out.
She raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“Do you two know each other?” Ned interjected, furrowing his brow.
Alexa shot me a look that said don’t you fucking dare. Like the good poker player I was, I stared back into her big brown eyes and smiled.
I considered my options. I took a guess that a DEA agent sleeping with a convict was probably against their handbook or protocol. She could probably get in a lot of trouble for doing what she did with me if I pressed the issue.
Lucky for her, I decided it would be best for me to simply do what I did best: fuck with her. Plus, if the DEA tried to send me back to prison, now I had an ace up my sleeve. A DEA agent sleeping with the criminal she interviewed? That certainly made the results suspect.
“Yeah, I’ve definitely seen you before.” I squinted, like I was at the eye doctor trying to read the smallest letters of the eye chart.
“I’m sorry, you must have me confused with someone else.” The words rolled off her tongue so convincingly; I began to wonder if maybe Alexa had an identical twin. Except that there was no mistaking how present her scent was in the room.
“Hmmm. It’s just that you look…strikingly similar to someone I know.” I inhaled through my nose deeply, breathing her in.
She took a seat across from me and dropped her notebook onto the table with a thud.
“That’s weird. Must be a coincidence. Anyway Mr. Young, my name is Eva Napleton. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She extended a slender arm toward me as if she was shaking my hand for the first time, and I couldn’t help but smile as I returned her handshake.
She’d somehow transformed herself from the hottest piece of ass at the club to a businesswoman with an aura around her that said do not fuck with me or I will fuck you up.
I had to admit, I kind of liked it.
She’d make a new challenge now, as a conquest.
I glanced at Ned, who had seemingly taken my ‘looks similar to someone I know’ explanation to heart, had moved on, and was jotting something down on a notepad with a blank expression. He had the same nervous, stressed expression that he’d had all day.
“What a weird coincidence. Must be a doppelganger. What a pleasure to meet you. You said your name is Eva?”
“My first name doesn’t really matter, does it? I’m Agent Napleton. Dr. Napleton to you.”
So the hot piece of ass was a doctor. That explained a lot. I’d always thought the best lays were intellectual types.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I responded, my tone dripping with sarcasm. “It’s just that I’ve been in prison for so long, I’ve forgotten when to be formal and when to keep it casual. Will this be our only meeting, Dr. Napleton?” I locked eyes with her as I let the syllables roll slowly off my tongue. She brushed her hair behind her ears and diverted her eyes from my gaze. I recognized that tender look in her eyes from earlier. “Or will this become a regular thing? Like weekly, or maybe even daily?”
As her eyes fell on me, my memory flashed to that night when she screamed with my cock so deep inside her I could feel her every movement. In my mind’s eye I heard her voice screaming at the top of her lungs as she did that night—the voice that was now speaking so coolly and professionally, it sounded to me like she was faking it, playing a role.
Which half was the real her?
She was a total mindfuck.
And I kind of liked it.
Alexa, Eva—whatever the fuck her name was—sat back in her chair, crossed her legs, and spoke in a professional tone. “It is likely that we will only require one meeting, Corbin. I am the investigative psychologist whom headquarters has assigned to approve you for the operation to take Luis Reyes down. I’ll be conducting your psychological evaluation here to make sure you are a suitable candidate for the undercover work you’ll be doing with the agency. You look ready. Let’s get started, shall we?”
Eva was a doctor who fucked, apparently, like a stripper. It was always easier to put people in boxes, but clearly Eva wasn’t someone who was easily nailed down.
Nailed down. Heh.
I pictured nailing Eva again. This time from behind, pressing her body down as I pulled her hair and she screamed my name...
Fuck, I really need to do something about this dirty mind of mine. Thank God this
wasn’t a mind reader test.
I managed to focus my eyes on Eva’s beautiful face. “I think you’ll find that I’m a very direct and honest person. I know what I want, and I go get it. Let’s start this thing so I can tell you what you want to hear,” I took a drink of water and adjusted myself. Surprisingly to many people, honesty was one of my best qualities. I might have been a criminal, but I wasn’t a bullshitter.
“Corbin, I’m going to start the digital recorder now,” Eva nodded toward Ned and pressed a button on the phone on the table. “The purpose of this interview, as you probably know, is to get everything out in the open. All of the secrets, Corbin. The agency realizes you’ve had a checkered past and we need to get everything on record.”
“That’s true,” I smirked. “I tend to get into trouble, especially late at night. A few weeks ago, for example, I got into something. I met this girl—a great lay, by the way—but she was a total liar. She didn’t even give me her real—”
“Let’s stay on topic,” Eva interrupted, raising a hand. “There are people who think you’re the right man for the job. But we need to know everything about you. Which is why we’ll be hooking you up to a lie detector.”
“Go ahead.” I made a fist and flexed my arm to see how the thing felt. She also hooked up a part that strapped across my chest, and put a little thingy on my finger. I didn’t like any kind of contraption connected to my body. It reminded me of the first time I got a lie detector test hooked up to me when I was sixteen, in juvenile jail. I squirmed a little as she hooked it onto me.
“Is your name Corbin Young?” Eva began.
“Yes.” I raised my eyebrow, giving her the are you serious look.
“How long were you in prison?”
“Twenty-four months, three days, 7 hours.”
“You kept track, huh?”
“Not much else to do in prison but count the hours.”
“Looks like the detector is working,” Eva said, her eyes on the monitor. She scribbled something down on a notepad in front of her. “Moving on to the standard background questions. Growing up, did you torture small animals?”
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