by Misty Evans
Sophie had never responded well to threats, or anyone calling her curves fat. This time was no exception. “Don’t forget, I know a few of your secrets too. If I go down, you go down with me, Agent Blue, or whatever your name is.”
He opened the door and shook a finger at her, but before he could say anything, a young girl’s voice interrupted.
“Maria-Sophia? Are you up there? We came back early!”
Lexie.
“Shit,” Agent Blue said. “Tell me that isn’t who I think it is.”
“It is.” She shooed at him with her hands and lowered her voice. “You have to get out of here. Now. Rodrigo can’t find you here.”
“No problem. Let me just blink my eyes and turn invisible a second, ’cuz now instead of a seven guards to avoid, there are twice that many if Morales is back.”
Sophie wanted to punch him. Her brain spun in chaotic circles. “Go out my window, shimmy down the trellis and make a run for it. I’ll draw the guards to the front.”
He warmed to the idea almost immediately “Maybe I should rough you up, first. Make it look like I was here to kill you.”
Bastard. That would get Nelson in trouble for sure. “Try it, and you’ll be the one who gets roughed up.”
He bared his teeth, reached for her as if her challenge meant nothing.
“Maria-Sophia?” The girl’s footsteps echoed on the stairs. “Are you home?”
“Damn kid,” Blue swore under his breath.
Home. She didn’t have a home. Hadn’t in a very long time. Too bad this small space with Nelson had started to feel more like a home than a layover point.
She shoved Blue toward the window. “You’re on your own.”
He followed her, then whirled around at the last second. “Sorry, sweetheart. This is going to hurt.”
She saw it in his eyes—he wasn’t sorry at all as he struck her hard across the face. The force snapped her head back and she hit the edge of the couch.
“In case I get caught,” he said, shoving the screen off the window and swinging his leg over the ledge. “I need to make sure Morales believes I came to kill you.”
Reeling from the blow, she nevertheless flipped him the bird.
“See you tomorrow,” he said, swinging the other leg through and disappearing.
“Maria-Sophia?” Lexie appeared in the open doorway with her dog. “Who were you talking to? Is Nelson here? We came back early. I didn’t want to stay there any longer.”
Sophie heard yelling down in the yard. She started to rush out, to create the distraction she’d promised, but then she heard gunfire. Grabbing Lexie, she hustled her inside. “Hey, I’m so glad to see you.”
“What was that noise?” Lexie asked. “The sound was like firecrackers.”
“Just a truck backfiring.” Digging out her phone, Sophie pulled up Nelson’s number. She needed to warn him, hoping against hope he would check his phone before he headed back to Casa Morales.
No matter how she spun this, he was going to be knee-deep in shit.
Better for him if he stays away.
Sophie typed the message, hit send, her cheek stinging like a son-of-a-bitch. “How was the beach?”
“Wet. And cold.” Lexie stroked Harry’s head. “Harry got sand in his fur. I had to brush it out. It took forever.”
A second later, Rodrigo Morales burst through the door. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Lexie was safe.
Had his men caught Agent Blue?
Rodrigo’s gaze snapped to Sophie’s. His jaw tightened when he saw her red cheek. Blue had probably left a handprint there. “Where is your bodyguard?” Rodrigo demanded.
I’m on my own again, Sophie thought. Better make this good.
Nelson was ready to get out and head back to the Morales compound when Sara Rios returned.
“No luck,” she told Cooper. “One person I spoke with said to go by the bingo hall in Old Tijuana later today, though. Said she’s heard things about a women there who might have connections.”
Nelson’s throat suddenly felt tight. He cleared it. “What kind of connections?”
“Good to see you again, Agent Cruz.” She shrugged off her jacket and tossed it on a chair. “Connections to Morales and Chica Bonita.”
“You get a description of this woman?”
Both Harris and Rios shot him a suspicious look.
“What?” He shrugged. “I’ve been there with Sophie. I might have seen the gal.”
“Where is Agent Diaz?” Rios asked.
“Back at the compound.”
“Ah.”
There was a lot unspoken in that simple “ah.”
She’d brought coffee in Styrofoam cups up from the bar. She handed one to Harris, offered the second to Nelson.
He shook his head. He wanted the coffee, but Rios hadn’t known he was there. If he took her cup, she’d be without.
She took off the lid and blew on the liquid. “The description my informant gave sounds like ninety percent of the women in Tijuana. Mixed Hispanic, medium height, twenty pounds overweight, dark hair and eyes, lots of jewelry. But she’s apparently a regular at the hall and can be quite a…grumpy person. Everyone knows her, my contact said.”
Jewelry. “Like bracelets?”
Rios jiggled her arm where a set of three metal bracelets clanged together. “Every woman around here wears bracelets. I’ll go play bingo later today, and if she’s as popular as my informant claimed, I should be able to find her.”
“Did your source say anything about friendship bracelets? You know, the ones made of thread.”
Harris was studying his map. “You taking up a new hobby, Cruz?”
Rios smiled at the joke. “Is that something I should keep an eye out for?”
He wasn’t sure. “Nah, never mind.” He handed her the ledger. “Can you look at this? It’s a ledger Ciro Morales recorded a lot of important information in, but it’s in code. Dyer thought, with your background in analysis, you might be able to crack it and tell Sophie what it says.”
She thumbed through the pages. “Are you looking for something in particular?”
“Anything about the girls who came and went from Chica Bonita during the time period April to June of 2005.”
Harris looked up. “What’s so important about that?”
“Maybe nothing.” He did not want to tell them, but he didn’t really want to lie either. “It’s a lead on a separate case that Agent Diaz is following. I told her I’d help her out.”
Harris had just been preaching interagency cooperation, which seemed to work in Nelson’s favor. He grunted his approval and went back to his map.
“I read the jacket on Rodrigo Morales on the way down,” Rios said. “There’s something I wanted to bring to your attention.”
“What’s that?”
She pulled out her phone, tapped the screen a couple of times, and showed Nelson a picture.
“This man. Do you know him?”
Bald head, tear drop tattoos. “Guido Ruiz. Rival of Morales and the one who put out the hit on Sophie.”
“He’s CIA.”
Harris looked up. Nelson felt his insides crawl.
Rios showed the photo to Harris. “Did you know?”
Harris shook his head. “Hell, no. You sure?”
“I don’t know him personally, but my source inside the Agency confirmed it.” She tapped the screen again and brought up another photo, this one an official government one. “George Blue went undercover five years ago to try to recover advanced weapons technology the CIA believed had fallen into Ciro Morales’s hands. HUMIN is his specialty.”
Human Intelligence. The CIA had learned a hard lesson on 9/11 that drones and satellites couldn’t replace on-the-ground operatives going undercover and gathering intelligence in person.
Nelson stared at the second photo. While Blue was younger and clean-shaven, the eyes were the same as Guido’s.
Damn.
“He got in deep with Morales Senior
and the cartel,” Rios continued. “Even though he still hasn’t recovered the weapons technology he originally went under for, the Agency has left him there to see what else he can find. He’s been feeding credible intel back to the US since which has helped the Bureau, the Agency, and Homeland.”
“What kind of weapons technology?” Harris asked.
“Specs for highly specialized missiles that went missing. Specs that had to be rebuilt from scratch. The US fears the missing intel is now in the hands of China or North Korea, but it may well be that Ciro died before he passed them on. They may still be in his son’s possession.”
“I’ll be damned,” Nelson said. “We were told Rodrigo might be exchanging missiles tomorrow for diamonds, but I can’t find missiles on his property or at his warehouse.”
Rios sipped coffee. “My source claims the operative tracking this European buyer insists Rodrigo has physical missiles.”
“Well, if he does, I can’t find them. Why the hell would Agent Blue put out a hit on Sophie?”
“Doubtful he knows she’s an agent, and, well, he doesn’t play by the rules.”
Did anyone these days?
Harris blew out his lips and sat back. “What exactly are you saying?”
Rios set her phone on the table. “He’s brutal. A killer. Even if he does know Agent Diaz is FBI, he wouldn’t hesitate to get rid of her if his cover was in danger of being exposed or she got in his way.”
“The CIA condones this?” Nelson asked.
“That’s why he’s good at cozying up to cartel leaders, but unfortunately, his integrity has been in question for quite some time. The Agency wanted to pull him out back when I was still with them. Blue was uncooperative. I don’t know the details, but they decided to keep him under and use him best they could.”
Inside his vest pocket, Nelson’s phone vibrated. He drew it out, saw there was a text from Sophie, and turned his back on the others.
Morales is back early. I found your missiles.
Holy crap.
He paced to the window, hung an arm on the ledge, and stared out at the dusty parking lot. Morales coming back earlier was bad news. How was he going to explain his absence?
Rios sidled up next to him. “How are things working out with you and Agent Diaz?”
He shifted to be sure she couldn’t see the screen on his phone. “Fine.”
Subject closed.
Rios stared out the window. “She’s a lone wolf. Protecting her can’t be easy, since I’m sure she doesn’t think it’s necessary. From my own experience, I’d say she’s like the hurricane currently moving up the coastline…she leaves a lot of debris in her wake.”
He’d been part of that debris before. Maybe Rios knew that. Maybe she’d been left in the wake of Hurricane Sophie herself. Right now, he didn’t give a damn.
Pocketing his phone, he gave Harris a nod and headed for the door. “Got to get back. I’ll check in with you as soon as I can.”
“Watch out for this Agent Blue,” Harris said.
Nelson was more worried about Morales. “Send me that photo, will you?” he said to Rios. “The official version.”
She nodded and he gave a wave over his shoulder, jogging down the back stairs as fast as he could go. His phone buzzed again in his hand.
Morales is raging that you’re not here. I’ll cover for you but stay away. I’ve got this.
Walking, talking Jesus, what had he gotten himself into?
…she’s a lone wolf.
For half a second, he wondered if Morales was truly back and upset that his head of security was in absentia.
I’ve got this.
Was it possible that Sophie was trying to edge him out so she could take the credit for Morales’s arrest the next day?
Things are different between us now, he reminded himself. She wouldn’t screw me over.
As he hopped on the bike and gunned the motor, he prayed his trust in her was about to be rewarded.
“Rodrigo, please.” Sophie eased away from the ice pack Morales held to her cheek. “I’m fine.”
Still in her apartment, she sat on the sofa, Rodrigo across from her, using the coffee table as a chair. The cartel leader had seen his sister back to the main house and was now nearly breathing fire as he examined Sophie’s injuries, but his touch was gentle as he wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and held her so he could lay the ice bag against her swelling cheek and fat lip. “No one invades my home and hurts someone I care about without repercussions.”
She had to turn this around fast. Agent Blue had endangered them all. Bastard. “You care for me?”
She widened her eyes slightly and searched his face as if truly needing his confirmation.
His gaze dropped to her lips, rose slowly back up. “Lexie and I both have come to feel you are part of our family.”
Dangerous territory ahead, the old cliché rang in her head.
But if it kept Rodrigo focused on anything besides his anger at Blue and Nelson, she had to plunge forward. “I feel the same.”
His stare was long and dominating. Sophie forced herself to look down and away, her stomach revolting.
Rodrigo adjusted the bag. “I will kill Nico for leaving you alone. That was his main job, to keep you safe.”
Back to that. “He received a tip that someone was hanging around the warehouse. I insisted he check it out. He didn’t want to go, but… Rodrigo, we can’t lose that warehouse. It’s fifty percent of your income.”
A muscle in his jaw jumped. “The warehouse was a decoy to get Nico to leave you.”
“It was my call. I didn’t give him a choice, and I felt safe here with all the new security. Guido claimed he got in by bribing a guard. Besides, he didn’t come for me. You’re right; the warehouse was a decoy, but not in the way you’re thinking.”
Morales cocked a brow. “How so?”
Sophie was glad for an excuse to draw free of his hand. She crossed the room to the TV stand and shoved it out of the way. Dropping to her knees, she lifted the metal off a register that hadn’t forced air through it in ages. Dust particles floated in the air as she lifted the grating and set it aside. Plunging her hand into the dark cavern under the floor, she felt around until her fingers touched cool plastic.
She’d retrieved the disk Nelson had confiscated from the pit and dropped it in there in preparation for the story she was about to tell. “When Guido and I scuffled, he dropped this. I kicked it away and he dove after it, but it fell into this register on the floor under the TV stand and he couldn’t reach it.” She blew off dust and dirt from its surface, then got up and closed the distance to Rodrigo. “The alarm was raised and he knew he had to run or get caught. That’s what he hit me over—I ruined his plan.”
She held out the disk and Rodrigo’s body stiffened as he figured out what was in her hand. He dropped the ice bag. “How did he get that?”
She shrugged. “I have no idea. What’s on it?”
His long, thin fingers brushed hers as he took the disk. “Something everyone wants. The thing my father died for.”
“I thought your father died from a heart attack.”
Morales stared at the disk as if it were a snake that would bite him. “He was poisoned, which led to the heart attack. Over this.”
Now she was really confused. “Poisoned? By whom?”
Slowly, Rodrigo raised his face to look at her. “Guido Ruiz”
“What?”
“He took my father from me and now he wants the business too.” Rodrigo’s free hand balled into a fist. “I hate him. He can fucking have all of it. I don’t want this life anymore.”
He whipped the disk across the room, and smack, it hit the wall and dropped to the floor.
Sophie froze. She glanced at the disk, hoping against hope the impact with the wall hadn’t damaged it. The green plastic looked the same.
Rodrigo rose, whirled on her. “Did he have anything else? Books?”
The ledgers? “Nothing that I s
aw,” Sophie reassured him. “The only thing was that disk.”
He breathed a heavy sigh. “Tomorrow, after the buy, Lexie and I are leaving for Europe. Call it…an extended vacation.” He grabbed Sophie by the hand and pulled her to him. “Come with us.”
He was taking a vacation after tomorrow’s exchange all right. One to the federal penitentiary. “Lexie will be thrilled. She’s told me many times that she wishes the two of you could spend more time together.”
The urge to jerk her hand away and step back warred with the knowledge she had to play this out. “You don’t need me tagging along. I can handle the money transactions from here, keep an eye on the business for you. You don’t want to make a hasty decision about giving up everything your father worked so hard to build, do you?”
He took her other hand, successfully trapping her. “I don’t want the business. I never did. I know what I want now. I’m taking Alexa away from all of this and we’re never looking back. A new life waits for us in Europe. Have you ever been?”
Sophie shook her head.
“I want to take you, there. Show you everything. And not as my accountant, Maria-Sophia.”
God, he was going to kiss her. She tried to prep herself, to stay still and let him, but…
“Sophie?” Nelson burst into the room, stopping abruptly when he saw her standing there with her hands in Rodrigo’s. The corners of his eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly as he noticed her cut lip and swollen cheek. “What happened?”
Morales dropped her hands, straightened to his full height. “Fucking Guido Ruiz happened. Explain yourself. You defied direct orders and Maria-Sophia was injured.”
Nelson’s massive chest seemed to grow even wider. He strode toward them. “Yeah, about that…”
Oh boy. One pissing match coming right up.
Sophie braced for a punch. Nelson certainly looked like he wanted to hit something.
Instead, he held out his phone with a picture of a man on it. “I have some news you’re going to want to sit down for, sir. Maybe we should go to your office.”
Rodrigo didn’t look at the phone, kept his angry gaze focused on Nelson’s face. “Tell me here, and make it good, or you’ll be visiting my friends at the pit.”