“Well, fuck me running. Now what the hell am I supposed to do?” Zane looked irritated he now owed Violet.
“Hell if I know. If someone saved one of my guy’s lives, they’d be family,” Wolf said, only adding to Zane’s frustration. Then added, “Tex said he has some new intel. He wants to video in.”
Dude pressed some buttons on his already open laptop and soon Tex appeared on the screen.
“We got problems,” Tex announced.
“Tell us something we don’t know,” Cookie said.
“The national security kind of problems.”
“Is Violet involved?” Zane asked, with a hopeful look on his face.
“Not unless she was in charge of putting the guidance chips out for contract to foreign companies,” Tex answered.
“How is that possible? All military hardware is made in the US,” Dude said.
“It’s supposed to be. All other parts of the mini drone, including the fabrication and assembly, were done in the US but some pencil pusher thought to save money and contract the electronics out, thinking the Chinese wouldn’t catch on,” Tex explained.
“Has no one looked at eBay lately? Those fuckers clone everything US companies produce there. Hell, most of the time the Chinese clone makes it to market before the real one does. So, what you’re saying is the Chinese manufactured proprietary hardware for the US government?” I asked.
“That’s what I’m saying. Without having the chip in front of me to test, I’d guess the Chinese bugged the chip. It’s what I would do. Anytime the drone is turned on, not only can the US track the device, the Chinese can too. One other thing, there has to be a virus embedded as well. That’s how Ortega was able to get classified intel on the team’s mission,” Tex informed us.
“I need to call the President.” Zane pulled the satellite phone out of his pack.
“Already done. I thought it was best to go to him directly. Given the situation with Violet, I’m not real trusting of anyone else at the moment. I don’t want to be one of those conspiracy theorists, but too many people are involved. I think the CIA has lost control of their agents.”
“Oh good, maybe I get to torture little Miss Lose Lips after all.” I didn’t like the smile that formed on Zane’s face when he talked about torturing information out of Violet, but now was not the time to voice my objections. “Jasmin ran into a problem at the hotel. I’ve got three stiffs I need you to run if you don’t mind. I’ll send their pictures to you when we’re done. Seems Manuel Ortega was impatient and tried to snatch Violet before she made contact.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Why would he take her before she verified she’d secured the chip? We’re missing something.” Tex looked away from the camera and to his left, his fingers pounding on the keyboard in front of him. “We have to go back to the beginning, forget what we know, and start over. Violet knows something. She may not realize it, but Manuel doesn’t want the chip. He just wants her.”
“That’s not gonna happen.” Before I could stop myself, I continued. “Over my dead body he’ll get his hands on her.”
“And another one bites the dust,” Zane chuckled. “Christ, you don’t make things easy on yourself, do you.”
“What the fuck does that mean? You know as well as I do what happens when a woman is trafficked. She’ll be drugged and raped within hours. They’ll break her as fast as they can. That is not going to happen to Violet. I don’t give a fuck what she’s done, but she doesn’t deserve that.”
Zane sighed, Jasmin shook her head, and Wolf’s eyebrows shot into his hairline as he looked over my shoulder.
Shit, Goddamn, I prayed Violet wasn’t standing behind me. When I turned to look, there she stood, her face paled, hands covering her mouth and her eyes closed.
“We won’t let anything happen to you,” I tried to assure her.
“Send me those pictures so I can get started.” I heard Tex’s voice but didn’t bother turning back to the screen. I only had eyes for the trembling woman in front of me.
“What do you mean trafficked?” she stammered.
The moment of truth was upon us. I watched as Zane explained to Violet that Manuel had put her out to bid. The trembling turned into a full body shake and she grabbed the seatback next to her to keep her balance. I wanted to go to her and comfort her, soothe her fears, but I couldn’t. We needed to see her reaction.
“Why?” she asked. The tears she was trying to hold back had begun to fall. “Do you think he knows what I did?”
“What did you do?” I didn’t have to look back at Zane to know he was grinding his teeth.
“That I left breadcrumbs in my hack so you could find Olivia, that I saved the conversations and call log from the prison I was supposed to delete, that I came to you with information about them.” Violet nodded toward Wolf. “How else was I supposed to get the fucking chip he wanted without help? I did everything he asked. I’m so stupid. I thought he’d give me the list back if I helped him. So goddamned stupid.”
“Yes, to all that. But that’s not why he wants you. He could care less about the conversations or how Olivia was found. At this point, I don’t believe he wanted the chip. It doesn’t make any sense. If I hadn’t been caught up in wanting to get to Wolf, I would’ve seen it. He doesn’t need the drone to get the guidance system. The Chinese have it and they’ll sell it, so there is no money to be made. One thing about the Chinese, they have no allegiance. That was the smoke screen. The real question is why he wants you,” Zane told her.
There was no faking her fear and confusion. She was scared to death, not that I could blame her. I hated to agree with her, but it was stupid thinking Manuel Ortega would keep his word. Anyone willing to stoop to blackmail was not someone you could trust. Unfortunately for her, she was learning the hard way.
She thought she’d sacrificed the few to save the many, but she had it backwards. The few were the undercover agents, the many were the American people.
She was fucked.
Her only hope was we could track Manuel and eliminate the threat.
Chapter Nine
Violet
After the bombshell I’d overheard, Jaxon escorted me back to my seat. Zane had dismissed me like an errant child and told me to think about the reasons Manuel would want to take me.
“Were you going to tell me Manuel was trying to kidnap me?” I hated that my voice was wobbly, but I had nothing left.
“No. Not right now anyway,” Jaxon answered.
His answer pissed me off, giving me the pick me up I needed. “Why not? I think I have a right to know if someone is planning on taking me against my will and trying to sell me. Sell me, Jaxon. You don’t think I should’ve known that?”
“No. You’re too unpredictable, and you’ve proven you’ll martyr yourself. You had no issue caving under demands when lives were threatened. Not once did you consider they wouldn’t hold up their end of the bargain. You blindly followed them, knowing you’d spend the rest of your life in prison when you were caught. You weren’t careful. You didn’t cover your tracks. You were still trying to help the good guys while working for the bad guys. I hate to say it, but you suck at this double agent spy shit. You have no sense of self preservation. So, that would be a fuck no, we weren’t going to tell you. My best guess is as soon as we told you, you’d try and run off, thinking you were doing the right thing, protecting us or something as equally stupid.”
I couldn’t argue with anything Jaxon had said. He was right, I would’ve tried to run away. It wasn’t fair to put anyone else’s life in danger.
“Well, tell me how you really feel,” I huffed.
“I think what you did was unbelievably fucking stupid. But I understand why you did it. I also think the reasons why you did it were selfless. However, I think it bears repeating – incredibly reckless and wrong. Don’t ever give in when someone is trying to blackmail you, and you never fucking turncoat on your country.”
I didn’t actually think he’d tell me
how he felt. It was more of a statement for lack of knowing what to say, but I’d hold on to his words. He understood. That was all I wanted. I didn’t need anyone to agree with me. I know what I did was wrong, but I desperately wanted someone to understand.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Trust me, Violet, there is nothing to thank me for.”
I shrugged and turned toward the small window, ending the conversation. The clouds raced by as we made our way across the ocean, each minute the aircraft ate up the miles bringing me closer to the US and closer to my incarceration.
“When we get home, I won’t be your problem anymore. Once I’m in federal custody, Manuel won’t be able to get his hands on me.”
“You don’t get it, do you? You’re still completely naïve to how this works.” The change in Jaxon’s voice had me turning my head to look at him.
“How what works?” I asked.
“Wake up, Violet. If you want to stay alive, drop the doe in the headlights act and look around. See the people in this plane? Right now, we’re the only people you can trust. We’re not handing you over to feds. We have no idea who Manuel has working for him. If you think you’re the only person Manuel has on his payroll, then you’re just plain dumb.”
“Enough! Don’t call me dumb. Since I’ve met you, you’ve called me stupid and naïve a dozen times, and now dumb. I am neither dumb nor stupid. I may be naïve how the blackmail, back stabbing, selling people into human trafficking works, but I can promise you I did not get to where I was in the CIA because I am dumb. I didn’t think you were going to walk me back into headquarters and announce that you’d caught me. I assumed being the badasses you all claim to be, you’d have some secure connection that would take me into custody and take me back out of the country to lock me in a dark hole somewhere no one would ever hear from me again.”
“While, that sounds like a good plan, I’m gonna need you close by for now,” Zane said and stopped in front of the row Jaxon and I were sitting in. “What do you know about Manuel Ortega?”
“Nothing,” I answered.
“Did you ever look into him, pull his record?” he questioned.
“No. I know nothing about him other than he confirmed he had the list,” I answered.
“Forget everything you think you know about the chip, the list, the Chinese, everything. I only want you to concentrate on Timothy Clark and Manuel Ortega. Tell me exactly how Timothy made contact,” Zane asked.
“Okay. I was at a coffee shop and Timothy sat down across from me…”
“Where?” Zane interrupted.
“Where?”
“Yes, where? A Starbucks? At the Pentagon City Mall? Where?” he clarified.
“A Dunkin Donuts off the GW and 5th Avenue.”
“Do you go there often?” Jaxon asked.
“Almost every morning.”
“Okay, so you were easy to track and follow. You had a routine. You were at the Dunkin Donuts, then what?”
“I was waiting for my order. I sat in the corner and was reading a newspaper someone had left on the table when he sat down across from me. He didn’t say anything, just placed a handwritten list of names in front of me. I was confused at first and was getting ready to push the paper away when Declan’s name caught my attention. I looked closer at the list and recognized more names. Timothy told me he had a job for me. I declined and folded the paper to take it with me to work. I was going to hand it over to the director. Timothy snatched the list away from me and told me I had twenty-four hours to comply or the list was going on the internet and he left.”
“What did he want you to do?” Zane looked up from the notepad he was writing on.
“That’s the thing. He didn’t tell me what job it was, all he said was a job.”
“But you said no, without knowing what he wanted?” Jaxon’s eyes narrowed. He was back to not believing me again.
“I know you all think I’m an idiot. God knows you’ve all called me it enough times. But I didn’t cave the first time Timothy approached.”
“Go on, what happened next?” Zane motioned for me to continue.
“I went to work and pulled the traffic cams outside of the coffee shop. I ran the man’s face through facial recognition. Looking back, it was too easy. He knew I was going to do it. Timothy looked right at the camera, giving me a clear image. His file was flagged as a rogue agent. Before I could alert my superior the CCTV footage I was looking at and Timothy’s file were gone. And I mean wiped clean off the system. A few minutes later I got a text message from a blocked number telling me he was watching me. The next morning, I went to get my coffee and Timothy was there waiting. He told me he had people watching everything I was doing, and he said he had eyes on Declan too. If I didn’t want something to happen to him, I’d look into the Attorney General and find dirt on him. If I did, he’d hand over the list and they’d all be safe.”
“If you told him no initially, what changed your mind?” Zane asked.
“Timothy showed me a video of Declan.”
“And?” Jaxon was back to looking at me like I was stupid.
“It was a recent video. He had someone watching him. When Timothy explained all they wanted was dirt on Peter Newton, I agreed.”
“How do you know it was recent?” Zane questioned.
“It was filmed in a bar and the news was on in the background. It was only days old when he showed me.”
“A bar?” Jaxon looked at me, “Do you know where?”
“No. I heard Spanish, but the news broadcast was in English.”
“When did Manuel Ortega come into play?” Zane continued to pepper me with questions.
“The day Timothy died.” I stopped and tried to regain my composure. “I was on the phone with Timothy when he was killed. After I heard the shot, Manuel told me I was dealing with him directly from then on. When I asked where Timothy was, he said gone. That was it.”
“And the chip? When was that brought up?” Zane tapped his pen on the pad. He didn’t look up from his notes while he waited.
“About the same time I started being followed, a little over a week ago. Manuel called me and told me he wanted to meet. I thought he was going to give me the list and I’d be free. But he said I’d done such a good job with Peter Newton he had one more thing he wanted me to do. He said there was a chip in a mini drone he wanted. I told him no, we had a deal. He laughed at me and said he would release one name a day until I agreed. I told him I’d look into the drone and he left. I haven’t heard from him again.”
“This MSS agent? Did he have ID on him? Anything?” Jaxon asked.
“No.”
“So you assumed he was MSS because…” he drew out his question.
“He was Chinese.” I told him.
“So, you profiled him as an agent. Okay, well, we can safely say MSS is not involved or following you. We’ll confirm when Garrett is done with his investigation,” Zane said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“The Chinese guy? Is just that - a Chinese guy working for Manuel. You’re creating things that are not really there. I told you, we need to forget what you think you know.” Zane looked up from his paper and nodded at Jaxon.
“Chaos theory,” Jaxon said.
“That’s what I’m thinking. Keep Violet paranoid and chasing her tail - she’d never figure out what he’s up to. As long as he can keep her focused on the list, she’d follow blindly.” Zane continued to look at Jaxon.
“Timothy was used to get the list, Violet was used to blackmail Peter Newton, Siles and Gomez were pawns. But what’s his end game? If wanting the chip was bullshit, which I assume it was, Wolf’s team was never in any real danger. Manuel simply exposed a security breach. That would make any hardware he wants to sell null. Timothy is dead. Siles is dead. Gomez is back to doing what Gomez does.” Jaxon and Zane continued to talk to each other as if I was no longer there. “That leaves Violet.”
They had a few things right. I was paran
oid, I had been chasing my tail, and now I was more confused than ever.
“But I don’t know anything about Manuel. There would be no reason he’d want me. I’m a nobody,” I told them.
“Not to someone you’re not,” Jaxon said.
“Huh? There’s no one who cares about me, trust me. My birth parents died when I was three. My adoptive parents have both passed. I have no siblings.”
“But you do. You have a brother. And he’s the end game,” Zane concluded.
“That doesn’t make sense. Timothy and Manuel knew where he was. They don’t need me to find him.”
The look that passed between Jaxon and Zane scared me to death. I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to muster what was left of my courage and asked, “Why does Manuel want me?”
Chapter Ten
Jaxon
There were a multitude of reasons why I didn’t want to answer Violet’s question, the biggest one was, I’d already been an asshole to her earlier when I told her she was being stupid. My intention was not to call her names, and I took no pleasure in providing her with an education on the seedier side of Clandestine Services. I liked that she worked for the CIA; yet amazingly she still held on to some innocence. Only her naïveté was what was going to get her killed if she didn’t open her eyes.
Like now, she couldn’t understand the value of Manuel taking her. There are things far worse than death and knowing your sister had been sold into the sex trade would be one of those things. Nothing would drive a man like Declan crazier than knowing his sister was being raped and there’d be nothing he could do about it. Then again, it was a risk on Manuel’s part. There was no predicting what Declan would do; I doubted he would roll and give in to Manuel’s demands. A man like Declan would more than likely go ballistic and paint the town red with his enemy’s blood.
“You should get some rest,” I told her.
“Why would he want me?” she asked again.
“To use you against Declan,” Zane told her.
I had to hand it to her, she was trying her hardest to stay strong, but the weight of day had finally knocked her on her ass. She slumped back in her seat and lowered her head in defeat.
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