“Lydia, you can’t be living like that. So once again you hid the fact you were getting ill to your detriment.”
Lydia looked down, unable to face the recrimination in the doctor’s eyes.
“In some ways, staying at the hospital has been a Godsend.”
“Fine, I’ll have you stay longer.”
“It’s too much to ask of my mother. I need to go back. I can see the toll it has taken on her. I need to get back to her.”
“Stress isn’t good for you. You need rest.”
“Doctor, you told me that my recovery has been remarkable.”
“That’s because you’ve had so much rest. Some of the visitors you’ve had didn’t hurt either.” Dr. Wood’s eyes sparkled. Lydia laughed and the two women were definitely on the same page.
“Clint is back in California. He won’t be back.”
“Oh, I think you’re reading that wrong. He’ll be back.”
“He’s taken all the time off he can,” Lydia assured her doctor. “It doesn’t matter anyway, there’s not a future for us. I asked him to leave for good.”
The door opened, and Beth walked in with a man Lydia didn’t recognize.
“Where’s Ed?” Lydia asked, referring to Edward Lasson, the US Marshall who was guarding Lydia while she had been in the hospital.
“His wife is sick. This is Nelson Barber,” Beth grinned. “Ed called and told me he was okay, also he has all of the correct identification.”
“Oh, I hope Ed’s wife is okay.” Lydia heard about Carmella and really liked everything she had heard about her. Beth bit her lip.
“What?”
“Ed didn’t sound like himself. He sounded really upset. I think she’s really sick.”
“He has plenty of vacation to take care of his wife,” Nelson said easily. “I just wanted to let you know that I would be guarding your door for the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours.” He let himself out of the room.
“Lydia, I’ll check on you tomorrow, but I think I should be able to release you the day after that.”
Lydia smiled.
“That’s really good news. I’ve missed her,” Beth said. Lydia looked at her sister, and realized her mother wasn’t the only one who had been feeling the strain. She held out her hand to Beth.
“I’ll let you two visit. Remember, this time if you feel any of your symptoms coming back, you have to tell us immediately.”
“I promise.”
“I’ll be dragging her into your office. This won’t happen again.” Beth gave Lydia a dark look. Her little sister looked fierce.
“I promise both of you. I won’t backslide again.” Beth wrapped her in a tight hug. For the first time Lydia realized how much she scared her. Dammit, she should never have let it get this far, it was like she was squeezed between a rock and a hard place.
She heard the door close behind the doctor, and then she pushed Beth back so she could look into her face.
“Okay, I want to hear everything. Tell me what’s been going on.”
“It’s been fine.”
“Sit your butt in that chair and tell me everything. If you leave anything out, I’ll know, and you will be in big trouble.”
Beth sat down and Lydia listened.
****
Lydia slammed down her e-reader. She’d thought it would be a breeze to comprehend the textbook in English. She was wrong. Dammit, getting her Master’s degree in the United States would take her twice as long. She was fluent in English, she was a 4.0 student at the University in Mexico, but the course work was just different enough that her degree was slipping away.
Then she had to figure out what she would do with it when she obtained it. Hell, she didn’t even know where she would be, or who she would be. She heard horror stories about the Witness Protection Program where they wouldn’t let you work in the field you had studied for. She hated this.
“Damn you, Papa!”
She clapped her hand over her mouth. Had she really said that? She thought about what Beth said. Her little sister was so worried about her parents, that she was making herself ill when she should really be trying to heal. She wouldn’t have to heal if her father hadn’t started working for the cartel.
All the time Lydia had been studying to fight the corruption in her country her father had been helping them to launder money. Fine, she’d been killing herself to graduate early and getting a double major, but how could she have been so blind? She wasn’t sure what made her sicker, her father’s actions or her own stupidity. He might have eventually done the right thing and went to the authorities, but that he had even done it for a day, ruined every ideal she had ever held about her father.
Everything Beth had told her sounded like Papa was finally convinced to testify. That meant Witness Protection. Lydia thought about Clint. Then her heart melted. Actually melted. The idea of not seeing Clint Anthony Archer again was not to be born.
She traced the back of her e-reader. What was the point of even studying? She took a deep breath and then another. Her lungs were doing much better. She was feeling so much stronger. She eyed the closet holding the clothes Beth brought for her to wear home. Wouldn’t it be great to just walk out of here? Just leave?
Maybe then she could have the life she wanted. Nope, the government would never allow it. Clint would never stop serving his country. Her head was in the clouds. There had to be a way. Life would never be this unfair!
“Sell it somewhere else, Hidalgo.” Great, now she was talking to herself.
She more than anyone on Earth knew life wasn’t fair and she had the scars to prove it. She picked up her e-reader. Dammit. But she was going to figure a way out of this mess.
She looked over at the nightstand and considered getting out her computer. Maybe she could do a little more hacking, a little more probing into the life of one Alfonso Guzman. Her father might be reconsidering testifying, but there was no way in hell she was going to let those bastards win. But she knew her brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders and she couldn’t afford to be caught. There were too many firewalls that she needed to breach. She’d need to stick with studying right now. Tomorrow would be a better day for hacking.
She settled in to read more about the Trends in Computer Networks and Security, if nothing else it would help her get the rest that the doctor was always saying she needed.
Chapter Five
She barely heard him as Nelson came to her bedside. But she saw the syringe he was pocketing. Every sense in her body went on high alert.
Oh God!
She looked at her IV and realized she probably had only a few moments. If she screamed he might kill her outright. She needed him to leave the room. Lydia turned her hand and pinched the tube so it stopped the flow of liquid. She watched him leave through her lashes. Maybe she was wrong, but she knew she wasn’t.
Reaching for the call button for the nurse, she found it cut. Dammit, this was real! Yanking the IV out of the back of her hand, Lydia screamed at the top of her lungs.
****
This time Clint wasn’t alone when he arrived in Dallas. He was surrounded by his team.
“You have point on this mission, Clint. You know the situation,” Mason whispered to him.
Clint looked over at Mason and gave him a tight smile. They had commandeered one of the conference rooms at the hospital. Peter Grogan, the man who ran the Dallas office of the US Marshall Service, was in the room with them. He had a file in front of him.
“I’m not happy about this. This is something that we should take care of, you should not be involved.” Grogan was sitting at the head of the table, it was clear that he was used to being in charge.
Mason didn’t say anything, he just stared at the man. It was a good tactic, he shifted in his seat and finally continued to talk.
“I haven’t been given a choice. Lieutenant, you and your team have now been given total control of the Hidalgos’ safety. ” He sighed.
“The first thing we need is to bett
er understand what happened. How were your people compromised?” Mason was relaxed and spoke quietly, while Clint wanted to take the man outside and beat the hell out of him for his incompetence.
“Nelson Barber has worked for us for over three years. When he applied everything checked out. He went through a rocky divorce a year ago and we found out he became a financial risk.”
“Don’t you monitor for that type of thing?” Mason asked calmly.
“We do.”
Again, Mason didn’t say anything.
“Obviously, it slipped through the cracks. Barber hasn’t been found.” Grogan pushed one of the files over to Mason. “Here is everything we have on Barber. Apparently we missed a lot. His brother was in on this too. He owns a janitorial company and has ex-cons and drug dealers on his payroll, which we’re sure Barber was using to do some of his dirty work. They’re actually paying these people and taking out taxes!”
He slapped his hand against the table.
This was going downhill fast. They still needed more information and cooperation, and having Grogan all upset wasn’t going to help matters.
“How’s Ed doing?” Clint asked, trying to help calm the man down.
“He’s going to be fine. Barber was using one of his old snitches to keep Ed locked up so he could take the call from Beth. The snitch, who was on his brother’s payroll by the way, got nervous and left Ed in the motel room. We found him from his phone’s GPS. He’s going to make a full recovery. If Lydia hadn’t foiled this bastard’s murder attempt, she and Ed would both be dead.”
Clint’s gut clenched. Yeah, it was great Ed was okay, but he didn’t want to even think about Lydia not waking up when she did.
“So at this point you haven’t told the parents anything, correct?” Clint asked.
“That’s correct. Unfortunately the sisters talked before we could stop them, so Beth knows what happened. But we asked them to keep it from their parents.”
“That’s probably going to be for the best anyway,” Clint said thinking out loud.
“Why, what do you have in mind?” Grogan asked.
“Actually Sir, we don’t have to tell you anything more. You’ve provided us with all of the information we need,” Mason said. He stood and opened the door of the conference room. “We’re going to discuss our next steps, and when we need your cooperation we’ll contact you.”
Grogan looked at all of the men in the room. “I deeply regret what happened on my watch. I’m doing a full investigation of my team. Barber’s immediate supervisor is on suspension. Going forward I won’t be delegating a damn thing regarding this case. You can reach me day or night. You need it, it’s yours.”
“I appreciate that.” Mason shook the hand offered to him. After the door closed he turned back to his men.
“Clint’s closest to this whole situation, it’s his woman who was almost killed. I’m putting him in charge of this op. Does anyone have any problems with that?”
“As long as the operation entails bringing her pretty ass back to San Diego where we can keep her under lock and key, I don’t have any problems.” Drake’s Southern drawl soothed Clint as much as his words did.
“Trust me, it was definitely my first inclination.” Clint grinned over at his friend.
“Great. We’re done here. Let’s get us some Texas Barbeque.” Drake started to get up from his seat.
“Sit down, Avery,” Mason said to his second-in-command. “This is the reason you’re not in charge when a woman’s life is on the line, you go all caveman and then the bad guys win.”
“That’s corn fed bullshit, Mason. You went all sorts of caveman when Sophia was in trouble and it was a damn good thing you did. You kept her safe dude, and it’s the same thing we need to do this time.”
Clint unclenched his fists and brought his palms to the table. “Drake, we have multiple priorities. Make no mistake keeping Lydia unharmed is priority number one.”
“I never doubted it, Clint,” Drake said with a wink. “I’m thinking Dickey’s. I hear their barbeque sauce is the best.”
“We’re not leaving to get barbeque. This is going to be a complicated op,” Clint said, beginning to get frustrated with his friend.
“So we take the brisket to go, pick up Lydia and fly back to Cali.”
“Be fucking serious for a minute!” Clint pointed at Drake. “Put your ass back down in your seat.”
“Are you sure you want him running this op, Mason? It seems to me he doesn’t have the people skills,” Drake said as he plopped down into the leather seat.
“Look, we have an opportunity to flush out who was pulling Barber’s strings. This is a chance for us to take down the cartel and hopefully Alfonso Guzman.” Clint tried to sound reasonable but Drake made it difficult.
“Grogan said Barber is gone. So if I’m reading this right the only way this works if use Lydia as bait. Are you out of your fucking mind?” Drake yelled incredulously. “Mason, are you good with this shit, because if you are I want to know when the fucking pod people came and took over the two of you.”
“Fuck you, Drake!” Clint hit his fist on the conference room table. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Finn and Darius were watching him closely. He knew that they agreed with Drake, but were letting him take the lead…for now. “I already told you Lydia’s safety was priority number one.”
“You go fuck yourself, Archer. Lydia is a non-combatant. What’s more, that woman has gone through more than anyone should ever have to live through. She’s paid her dues and now is the time to get out the cotton wool. I won’t have it. She is not going to be used by anyone, especially not by the man who I thought loved her.”
“You’re out of line,” Mason said quietly.
“Mason, you can’t seriously condone this shit.”
“I said, you need to hear what the man has to say.” Drake looked from Mason to Clint, who just stared at him.
“Fine. Talk.”
“Drake, you know me. At least hear me out like Finn and Dare are willing to do.” Clint looked at the four men seated around the table. Drake might have been the one who was talking, but he knew Finn and Darius felt the same way. As it should be. No man with a heart should want to use Lydia Hidalgo as bait.
“So can you explain it to all of us now? I know you’ve talked to Lydia, and you’ve come away with a potential plan, but I really haven’t liked it either. Can you lay it out for us?” Mason asked.
Clint rested his arms against the granite table top and sighed.
“Lydia was getting her master’s degree in computer science. She already had a double major in computer science and criminal justice. She intended to go to work for the Federal Ministerial Police. She’s seen the devastation that the drug cartels wreaked on her country and she wanted to fight against them.”
“She’s a computer geek? Like you?” That was from Finn who was looking at him in amazement.
“She’s so much more than just a computer geek. She tried to explain to me how she has this boring degree, but it has a little extra emphasis on cyber-crimes. She’s so full of shit. When we really got to talking, I realized just how good she is. Then I saw what she could do on a computer—pure magic. Plus, she has a network of people that tells me she’s been at this for quite a long time. Long before college. She’s fucking amazing.”
“Been doing a little computer canoodling, have you?” Darius teased.
“She’s been sick. Our boy needed to figure out some kind of way to canoodle,” Finn said grinning broadly.
“Anyway,” Clint said raising his hands. “When this attempt on her life was made, even though it was made by a US Marshall, it still showed any and all Hidalgos are targets. We figured Lydia was the easiest to get to because she wasn’t at the safe house. She wanted to use that. She wants to use herself as bait so we can flush out the bad guys.”
“Again, I say no. Fuck, no!” Drake crossed his arms, leaned back in his chair and plopped his boots onto the table top.
&nb
sp; “You wouldn’t last two minutes with her. She’d hand you your dick, Drake.” Clint grinned to himself, imagining Drake trying to tell Lydia what to do.
“You’re pussy-whipped my friend.”
“Call me whatever you want. But you have to call her, brave, and right.”
“Doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.”
Finn chuckled. Clint couldn’t blame him. Drake was damn near pouting.
“Okay, now you understand why the woman is so adamant she participate in taking these bastards down. And of course I’m not going to allow her to use herself as bait. But, I am going to have her be a very active participant in finding a way to give her life back. We have to cut the head off this cartel and it’s Alfonso Guzman.”
“She must’ve been incensed when she found out her dad was working with the cartel,” Darius said as he perused the file Grogan had left.
“That’s another thing that’s so impressive. She is loyal to a fault. I’m positive she’s pissed, but she barely says a word against her father.” Clint caught glimpses of Lydia’s anger, but she almost always tamped it down. “It doesn’t really matter, does it? In the end, he tried to do the right thing.”
“I wonder how much of it was due to Lydia.” Darius turned over one of the papers in the file and started skimming the next.
“I don’t think she had any idea what he was into. But I think it was probably because of her he tried to make things right,” Clint agreed.
“Okay, she’s part of the team. Now what do we do to make sure that absolutely nothing fucking happens to harm one fucking hair on her fucking head?” Everybody stared at Drake.
“How do you really feel?” Finn finally asked.
“Step one is to split up the family. They are expecting we will be keeping them together, and that stops immediately.” Clint pressed a button on his computer, and his screen displayed on the wall. It showed a map of the US, in the middle of Texas was a star.
Her Loyal Seal Page 6