by Sara Schoen
I was about to pressure him for more, but I knew he wouldn’t give it to me. I wanted to know more about her, at least what she looked like so I would know her when I saw her, but Demon liked to keep me in the dark. Something else he said caught my interest, and it didn’t ease my mind. He said hopefully no one would die this time. It had been a few months since the raid, but Jax had died, along with a few others, including Ash Crest a few days later. Could she be connected to Ash’s death?
“The Sandtown raid, was that her mission? I was told one of the agents was killed.”
Demon didn’t say anything. Instead, he offered a smile, and I knew it was true. It seemed odd to have a rookie go in for that particular mission, after they’d taken out agents who had been training for years. Someone must have seen a lot of potential in her. I guess they hadn’t anticipated her running off.
“Don’t worry, none of our agents died.” He smiled, as if that was supposed to make me feel better.
“What made her go rogue?” I asked. “What happened that made you put her under house arrest?”
Demon shrugged, but didn’t answer directly. “You’ll have to ask her about that. She loves to tell people the story, ecstatic that no one can look at her like she isn’t good enough anymore, but you’ll want to hear it from her. You would be proud of her,” he said, surprising me. Why would I be proud of her? She put everyone else in danger by running off, and in this case, it would put my sister and me in danger. “Or you’ll be furious,” Demon added, noticing where my thoughts were going when a scowl creased my lips. “Either way, I will let you ask her after the mission is done. I can’t have her getting distracted. She gets sidetracked easily.”
I rolled my eyes at his comment. Rookies caused nothing but trouble. “What about the other one?” I asked, referring to Camo. She was supposedly the one who had caught me looking for files in the office. If I had been aware other agents had come in to do my job, I wouldn’t have run into her. It insulted me that they thought rookies could do a better job. Then again, it had been almost two years, and I’d gotten nowhere. Maybe it would do me some good to have another agent around, as long as she didn’t get caught.
“Camo? Night Stripe picked her up on her last mission,” Demon said.
He spoke of these people as if I knew them. I didn’t know their skills, who they were, and in a mission like this I needed to know if I could trust them. Knowing their names wouldn’t change it, but at least he had dropped the other agent’s name. Maybe I could find out more about Night Stripe if I found Camo again. She kept herself well hidden, and I didn’t know what she looked like. Now I had to worry about two rookies, one who had a habit of disobeying and wreaking havoc, and the other who made me feel as if I was trying to keep track of a shadow. That could be disastrous when all I wanted was to make sure my sister and I got out of this unscathed.
“How is it knowing your sister is dating a cartel member, the heir no less?” Demon asked, pulling me from my thoughts. I was taken aback. I knew he kept a watchful eye over me, but he wouldn’t normally know anything about what Camden did when we were separate. He had to watch me to make sure no one was going to put a gun to my head. He laughed off my quizzical expression before explaining. “Those agents you’re so worried about have been following her for the last few days, and they overheard her talking about it with one of her friends.”
“They’re following her?” I asked in disbelief. I knew Danielle wouldn’t notice, but Camden’s men might, and they’d have something to say about unknown women following Camden’s new girlfriend. Suddenly I had a nagging suspicion on how Night Stripe might have made an entrance for the mission. “Did they set her up with him?”
“Actually, no, they overheard your sister while in a pizza place for lunch. Luckily, Night Stripe is always willing to eat or we may not have gotten that information soon enough to form a new plan. Night Stripe took an interest in the conversation mostly because, according to Spit Fire, Camo wasn’t letting Night Stripe forget about a file she shredded. Now we can work with the time we have to get her into Danielle’s good graces, and ultimately cause a lot of havoc that gets Night Stripe in place for the final take down of this cartel.”
“How is she getting in?”
“The less you know, the better.” Demon chuckled lightly, as if laughing at an inside joke. “But she’ll have a rather painful entry. I call it payback for her not finishing her house arrest and for running off after the Sandtown raid. You’ll be able to figure out who she is pretty quickly, but remember she can’t know who you are. Play your part, even in front of her. As I said, she can’t get sidetracked. If she’s worried about you, it’ll cause problems for you both. She looks at every agent in this agency as a member of her family, and she’ll defend her family to the end. So make sure you keep her on track somehow.”
I took a deep breath, easing my nerves once I knew she would protect Danielle as she would any agent in CIRA. It just meant she couldn’t figure out who I was, and I had to keep her focused. “What should I do while I wait for this girl to show up? Camden has me looking for information on myself so he can keep talking to Danielle.”
“Why are you looking it up? I thought you had someone doing that for you,” Demon said.
“We do, but I volunteered because André is busy trying to find a girl from Virginia, and I don’t want him tracking me down. He can dig up anything, no matter how hard people try to cover it up.”
“Who’s the girl from Virginia?” Demon asked curiously.
I shrugged. “Someone with the last name Night, I think. Her family is looking for her, and he’s running into nothing but dead ends, so it could take a while to find her, if he ever does. She’s probably dead if they haven’t been able to find—”
“Destroy the file on her,” Demon commanded, interrupting me before I could follow that thought any further.
“What? I can’t get rid of it,” I snapped, confused. “They would want to know why, and I don’t have an explanation for it. What does it matter if they’re looking for her? Who is she?”
“They can’t know,” Demon muttered, pacing back and forth in distress. “They can’t know it was her. We made sure to cover everything. She should be impossible to find.”
“Demon, who is she?”
“Don’t worry about it,” he finally answered, after muttering about how he would have to fix someone’s cover story so André wouldn’t be able to find her. “I have another mission to finish before you see me again. I will try to have another meeting with you before Night Stripe is sent in. Don’t give away anything unless you have to, and when she comes, you’d better be ready to finish this because we have other missions to do. This one has taken more time than we thought it would, but until it’s over, keep your head low, and make sure André doesn’t start looking into you as well.” With that, he sped off and disappeared as he rounded the tree he had been hiding behind.
I watched him leave, and silently prayed that whatever plan they had would work. I wasn’t sure how long I’d be able to hold my tongue with Camden dating my sister, and I didn’t want to find my breaking point. Hopefully, Night Stripe wouldn’t be as reckless as Demon made her sound. I was ready for a little down time, even if it was just a short period of time, and I was ready to figure out if Demon would hold up his end of the deal.
Chapter 8
Camden wasn’t on the move a lot during the day anymore, which was a blessing and a curse. It meant I didn’t have to do much except stay with him, but on the other hand I was bored out of my mind because he had so much busy work from his father. Occasionally he would make a phone call, or tell me to go pick something up from another cartel member. The plus side of Camden having busy work: I got to relax in his office, taking short naps as long as no one else caught me. I had grown accustomed to not sleeping a full night since I’d joined the military. I didn’t usually need much rest, but I hadn’t slept well the last few days. This was nothing compared to waking up early for training. Knowi
ng there was another agent in the warehouse made me more cautious than usual, and I was constantly overthinking every detail of my day.
I didn’t want to see the other agent, or be seen around them, and I wanted to make sure we weren’t connected in case this mission went south. But, at the same time, I wanted to find out who it was. I wanted to meet them, figure out what they knew, and what it was like outside this mission. I had been cut off from everyone since I joined, and tried to keep my cover perfect. I just wanted to know someone I didn’t have to fake around. There had to be someone to talk to, especially once I finished this mission.
I hoped it would wrap up quickly when Night Stripe arrived. If she was as skilled as Camo, this mission would be over in less than a few months. If she behaved and focused on the mission. Demon claimed she wouldn’t know who I was, but I would be able to figure out who she was. That worried me, because if she thought I was getting in her way, I would be in the crosshairs without realizing it. When I put myself in danger with the cartel, I knew anyone would pull a weapon on me. It was that simple. Maybe a few would torture for information or beat the crap out of me, but either way I knew their final solution was to kill me. With her, I wasn’t certain she’d kill me, or compromise my position so someone else would.
I forced down a groan as I turned my attention back to Camden, who was busy on the phone talking to his father. They were discussing a trade with one of their rivals, the Son Reyes Cartel, which Camden was against after the leader held a gun to his head in their last exchange. He deserved it, but no one enjoyed being held at gunpoint. Other than his father, Camden had contacted Danielle, who had called him back a short time later. She’d been blinded by a lie, hoping to find me, unable to see who Camden really was. Someone had to know what the Cardozas were really like.
I lifted my eyebrow curiously. Maybe I could track down someone who had come in contact with the Cardozas and lived to tell their side of the story. I had thought about passing that to Demon before, but I couldn’t find the information and gave up on the thought. There were more pressing matters at hand, which included not having the barrel of a gun shoved into my temple because I’d gotten caught. I knew they were looking for information like that, not the low level stuff I had been sending back with Demon. To get that information, I would have needed someone closer to the top than as I was, someone who knew their way around.
That would explain why they sent in the other agent. Demon said she’d been in the cartel previously. If she could find out who had survived, or who the cartel was tracking down, they would have enough evidence to put away the leaders, and Camden. They would cripple the cartel, and make sure their leaders were behind bars. Once they were out of the picture, taking out the members would be easy. They would have no one to guide them, and tracking them down would take no time at all. They would be destroyed, and wouldn’t be able to recover.
I glanced at Camden as he let out a low groan and rubbed his temple in annoyance to whatever his father was instructing. I bit back a laugh and gestured back to the phone so he could return to jotting down notes before Miguel asked if he was still listening. A glowering expression took over my features once his stare wasn’t on me anymore. I always got along with my family, and it shocked me as I grew up at how many people didn’t get along with their parents. Bringing my friends over was embarrassing because they would talk about how much they hated their own parents. I liked mine, but just like my friends, Camden wanted to be out of his father’s shadow, to be on his own. He took it to a new level by wanting to be better than his father, and it bothered me.
It wasn’t a competition over who could kill the most people, or make the most profit, but Camden didn’t see it that way. He only wanted to take over the cartel so his father would see his abilities. Then Camden would pass it off to his own son as soon as possible, and leave without a thought. It was childish, and a lot of work to go through just to prove something. I could be wrong. Camden did have an interest in running the cartel, but he didn’t like the work. He might change when the time came, but I doubted it.
I also had doubts about the two rookies Demon sent in to help me complete the mission. Camo had already stepped on my toes when she snuck up on me in the old office, and it was only a matter of time before she or Night Stripe found a way to get us all killed. I would just have to find a way to keep myself off their kill list. I couldn’t let them see me as a threat.
I fully blocked out Camden’s conversation with his father as they discussed the deal, and focused on Demon’s comments during our brief meeting. He’d told me more information than he usually intended to, possibly because he understood the risks. Deniability wouldn’t help much if someone suspected me of being a traitor, especially so high up in the cartel and as Camden’s right hand man. I would have to be dealt with swiftly, and permanently, before either of the other agents could react. I knew it, but Demon didn’t need to think about it. That part was up to me. His job was to keep me out of the loop, like when he didn’t answer all my questions about the Sandtown mission directly, or about why he needed the Night file destroyed.
A small smile curved at the edges of my lips. It had to be her. She was the girl who’d disappeared in Virginia, vanished because she’d been recruited by CIRA. That would explain why he was proud of her for passing her first mission. He must have recruited her specifically for that mission. Which meant he was the dark haired guy the members claimed to have seen, and the Night girl must have been the agent who went rogue. There were a few stray claims that some had seen her rush out of the compound, and her basic description matched the one in André’s file.
I began to wish I had pushed him for more information. I could have figured out what made her go alone, or maybe how she separated herself from Demon. Reading people was easy, and he made it clear the girl was someone he cared for, so he wouldn’t have willingly let her out of his sight for such a dangerous mission. Something had happened in Sandtown, and she had managed to escape in the chaos, but why? Where did she go, and what had been so important?
The longer I thought about it, the more I needed to know exactly what happened in Sandtown, and not the story Jax’s men had fed to members. There were files, reports, and a few photos from the Sandtown raid hidden away in storage because Miguel tried to record what happened that night. He hoped to prevent a similar attack on other compounds by learning from that raid. He wanted to know if the attackers had been the same agents as before, but the descriptions didn’t match. He had to move the base, and he knew that after the first attack, the second attack meant that base could never be operational again.
I had heard Camden repeat a conversation with his father, about how many deserted, a few were killed, and the chaos caused the ones remaining to get arrested. She had ended that base, and now she was coming for their headquarters. If he knew, they would pack up and move to a different location. At least, he and his father would. She seemed to be out for blood, and I didn’t need someone distracted by anger during this critical point in the mission. There were too many lives on the line, and I wasn’t going to risk my life for her actions.
Maybe I was being too harsh. She could have gotten lost during the chaos, but the way Demon reacted told me there was a lot more to her story. Especially the reason behind her pride for the mission. I was supposed to be pleased with her too, and I couldn’t figure out why. Was it because the cartel had been harmed, and that I could get out soon? Had she somehow done me a favor? I wanted to know, but I would have to wait, at least until she got here.
The phone rang, bringing me out of my thoughts. I hadn’t realized Camden’s call with his father had ended, and that he had been watching me, as if waiting for me to answer a question. I just hoped he assumed my lack of focus resulted from exhaustion. He picked up the phone, and a moment later his eyebrows lifted in shock, and I knew I would be asked to leave. Camden typically dismissed me from his office under matters of extreme importance. I wasn’t sure why, but I didn’t care because now I cou
ld go look for the files on the Sandtown raid.
Sure enough, Camden waved his hand to dismiss me, and I got up without having to be told twice. Although before I could make it to the door, he stopped me. “Marco,” he whispered, not wanting whoever was on the other end of the line to hear. “Take the rest of the day off. You need to catch up on some sleep. I’ll have one of the other guys take your spot.”
I nodded in response and left without a word. When I shut the door behind me, I glanced down the halls to see if I had enough of an opening to make it to the files I wanted. The hallway was empty, and it would take a few minutes for the replacement to come. Perfect timing to look for the files I needed. Still, it would be a scavenger hunt since Miguel had moved the files to sporadic rooms, without any organization or reason for putting them there, and they had all gotten mixed together.
Luckily, they were relatively recent, and that meant they could be in this building. If they weren’t, they would be near Miguel’s office, and that was a bigger risk to take. I had an excuse to be here, but if someone caught me near his office, there would be a lot of questions. None of which I would have an answer for. If I needed to go over there, maybe I could peek into André’s file on that girl he was looking into. Demon seemed more worried about that than he should be, which meant she had to be someone in the agency.