Covert Operations

by Sara Schoen

  I told you, Demon. I told you I would figure out how to read you one day. Now all I needed were those files, and I would be able to read those new agents too. Hopefully I wouldn’t run into the rookie while searching, because that was one thing I couldn’t prepare for.

  Chapter 9

  “Marco, we have a problem,” Camden said once he shut the door behind us. A shiver ran down my spine at his words. He must have been sitting on this for the last few days because he had sent me to run errands for him and his father while they were busy. I wasn’t sure what they were up to, but I could guess. He was trying to get another date with my sister, trying to run the compound, wondering who was sabotaging shipments, and considering what to do about those who had tried to escape the Sandtown base.

  I heard he’d been running into trouble determining who’d been killed and who’d run away, which was giving Miguel another reason to hold the leadership over Camden’s head. Camden was sick of waiting, and I wasn’t sure what would come from it. I had a feeling it wouldn’t be good.

  “What kind of problem would that be?” I asked curiously, handing him the files that had been passed to me on my way over here by one of Miguel’s men. I assumed they were status reports from the Sandtown base move, which had been successful so far, and the shipments and trades we had going on. I hadn’t taken the time to look in them to know for sure, but when I saw Camden grimace I wish I had. It only added to the foreboding sense of doom in the pit of my stomach.

  “There’s been an issue with the police lately,” he said tentatively, waving his hand in a gesture that I should sit down. Following the order, I took my usual seat across from him, and waited for him to continue. “They’ve been getting a lot of calls on us, and our meetings. Dad had someone walking into the weapons trade today, and a few deals have been interrupted prior to this incident. I’m worried it’s going to keep happening, and I want to know who’s doing it.”

  My body went rigid. The muscles in my shoulders tensed, and my hands tightened around the arm of the chair as I tried to fight the nerves that had started to eat away at me. Normally, I had to feign shock or surprise, but this time, when Camden pointed out clear sabotage, I was surprised because it wasn’t me who had done it. When he mentioned shipments getting destroyed, or a few things being out of place during important trades, I knew it was me, but I wasn’t aware police were being called. It was rare that the police caught on to our plans, and we were always able to intervene in some way. It was so rare that I knew exactly where Camden’s thoughts were going. He knew someone was behind it, and he was worried there was a rat among us.

  I wondered if Camo had something to do with it. The number of close calls with the police screamed a rookie mistake. I tried to suppress my anger as my teeth clenched together and my hands balled into a tight fist. Camden didn’t seem to notice, and carried on as if I had been unaffected by the news.

  “Luckily, it wasn’t an important meeting,” he said, meaning there was no product there while Miguel and a business associate talked over the deal.

  Pity, this could have ended the mission before the rogue agent showed up. I would have preferred to meet her after the mission, with less risk involved. I wasn’t sure who she would hurt, maybe even herself, and then we’d be in deep shit. I had to play it safe. I wouldn’t have time to worry about either of them because I would have to start a man hunt to coax out the rat. The best choice here was to act as if it was nothing and then distract him. That would give me enough time to figure out a plan, ending this before it got out of hand.

  “It could have been a coincidence,” I offered. “They could have changed routes or times. You know the police get anxious when they know there’s a trade happening. If someone had called it in once, they would remain on alert for a while.” Camden nodded, realizing I had a valid point. Though it didn’t explain the recent calls to the police.

  One shipment had already been snatched after an exchange a few weeks ago. By that time, it was out of our hands, and they couldn’t track it back to us, but it meant the police were on high alert. It wasn’t as if I didn’t want the cartel to be caught, but Demon had stressed them getting caught at the right time or they would all slip through our fingers, and almost five years of undercover work would go down the tubes. “Maybe it was nothing.”

  Camden sighed, rubbing his temples lightly. “That’s what I thought at first, but there’s been too much tampering with things in the warehouse lately. Stuff has gone missing, been misplaced, or destroyed. I think one of the new recruits is a rat.” Camden focused on me, seeming to assess how I took the news, but I didn’t react. I held my emotions in check, and kept my face stoic as I waited for him to continue. “We need to find out who it is and end them before they become a problem. I don’t want to have to tell my father that I let a rat in. I’ll never hear the end of it, and I’d never be allowed to take over.”

  A wave of relief washed over me once he said Miguel didn’t know Camden’s suspicions. This had just gotten easier. Convincing Miguel he was being paranoid would be impossible, but convincing Camden…

  All I would need is a pretty girl, and I knew just the one to take his mind off things.

  “Maybe you’re just stressed because you’ve been so focused on Danielle. You’ve been out with her a lot recently,” I said, referring to the late night dates and phone calls. “What has you so worried there’s a rat? Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary.”

  “Shipments are missing some product, entire boxes disappear, some are destroyed…and I know we’ve talked about it before, but it’s just gotten worse.”

  “I’ll say the same thing I said last time. Mistakes happen. These people are new, so give them a little while longer. Focus on this girl and then you can worry about whipping them into shape later.” I let out a soft chuckle, hoping the statement came across as a joke so he wouldn’t see the deception. I wasn’t certain what Camden would do to his people if they didn’t straighten up. Maybe fire or kill them. It would depend on his mood, but I knew exactly what would happen if one of them got caught.

  Miguel once said, ‘The best rat is a dead rat.’ It would be fast, and a permanent solution.

  Camden was about to respond when his phone started ringing. “Hello?” he answered, casting a curious glance to the desk phone. I hadn’t noticed his personal phone rang, not the desk phone. It was rare for him to receive calls on his cell, especially since he usually kept it off when he was in the office.

  I relaxed slightly once I knew it wasn’t business, and I could take a moment to gather my thoughts about the rat, if there was one. It was possible it had been the rookie, that she’d made a simple mistake. I knew Demon hadn’t sent her in to cause trouble because I had done enough of that already, and I certainly wouldn’t have called the police, especially with nothing incriminating at the scene. She had messed up, and now I’d have to find a way to keep Camden off her tail, and mine.

  “Danielle,” Camden said, pulling me from my thoughts. “My personal phone is for personal reasons. Any business related inquiries should be directed to my work number.”

  I gazed at Camden as a smile curled at the edges of his lips. A smirk of my own spread across my face as I saw the nervous gleam in his eyes. He glanced around the room, as if in search of a way to buy time or answer her questions. It was fun to watch him squirm. He always appeared in control when it came to the women he went out with, but now it appeared as if Danielle had the upper hand. She wanted information about me, Camden wanted her around, and in order to do that he had to give her information. He couldn’t stall forever, because she wouldn’t wait. Which meant it would be easier to pass off whatever information I gave him, even if it was a lie, and he wouldn’t hesitate for a moment.

  I knew André was trying to take over because his case had gone south. The girl he was tracking had been found dead on the Appalachian Trail, a weekend hiking trip the family had forgotten about. I shook my head at the thought. How could they forget she had gone on a
hiking trip, regardless of how far in advance the plans had been made? Either way, André had found who he was looking for, just not in the way Miguel had hoped. I had overheard André say Miguel was pretty upset by the turn of events, but didn’t say why. He offered to take over my case for Camden, and I had to think of a way to keep it with me. I didn’t want André going into my past and discovering my identity, or who I had become.

  “I have my people looking for your brother, so don’t worry,” Camden said. “We just haven’t found anything to report to you yet, but I will keep you updated when I find something.” He paused as Danielle answered. He let out a nervous chuckle as they continued to speak. I wanted to know what she was saying, and specifically what made him nervous. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hear both sides. I could only hear him telling Danielle he had to get back to work and would see her again soon. He also said he would start checking in more so she would be kept up to date on the case, but I knew he just wanted to keep in touch with her.

  My tongue raced across my teeth, letting the dull pain calm me. He was just using me, someone who had supposedly died overseas, to be with my sister. It was low, even for him.

  “Yes, I will let you know when someone finds anything on your brother. I will see you next week for lunch after your classes.” He hung up, groaning as he slumped into his chair. “She is very intent on finding him. I don’t think this will be as easy as I hoped to have the search swept under the rug.”

  “She’s still looking for him? Even though it’s been almost five years with nothing turning up?” I asked, surprising myself at how convincing I sounded. I knew Danielle wouldn’t stop looking for me, I just wish she would see past Camden’s charade and get out before she put herself in danger. She was smart enough to figure out when she was being lied to, so why couldn’t she see it now?

  “Oh yes. I don’t think she’ll stop looking for him, but that means I need to look into his case more. I don’t want to drag her along too much, or she’ll stop believing that I’m actually looking for him. Then I’m out of luck, and out of a girl to marry so I can take over.”

  “If you really want her to forget about Jackson, and just be with you, then tell her he’s dead. She won’t have any reason to go looking for him then, and it will be all over.”

  “I would, but that would mean losing her. I need to find something on him, because if I say he’s dead right away then she leaves and I never see her again. I actually like this one, and I don’t want her to go through everything again. She’s already been through a lot.” For a moment, I liked Camden. It was nice to hear he cared enough about my sister to not crush her heart again, and make her suffer losing her family a second time. That is, until he added, “Much later on, I will tell her he’s been found dead, and by then she’ll be so attached to me she sticks around. I just need a little more time.”

  You selfish bastard. I shrugged, trying to play off my annoyance as friendly disagreement. Camden just laughed, and told me it wouldn’t take that long. Then we could go back to running the business. I was good at that, getting rid of everyone who stepped in his way. I may not like it, but I enjoyed it more than watching him attempt to win over Danielle so he could take over the cartel. Maybe if he cared more about her than the cartel, it would be different, but I doubted it. I would prefer my sister marry someone who wasn’t in a cartel.

  “How about I start tonight?” I suggested. “I already started so I’ve scratched the surface. There’s no need for you to go over what I’ve already done.” Also, it would ensure Camden wouldn’t find something to connect me to my undercover alias.

  “That would be great,” Camden said, hopping out of his chair and racing toward the door. “It means I can spend more time trying to figure out how to win her over so she stops focusing on him. I have a plan.”

  I lightly patted him on the shoulder as he left the room, a fake smile taking over my features when he gave me a thumbs-up. The second his back turned, I glared daggers, tempted to remove the blade I kept concealed at all times and end it all right now. I couldn’t, though, because I had to wait and suffer through it. I couldn’t believe I was helping him lie to my sister, but what other choice did I have? I could turn myself in, tell him to search for the rat, and probably find Camo, or I could help him win over my sister. So far, only one of those options kept everyone alive. I just hoped it stayed that way.

  Chapter 10

  I had spent the last few nights looking through my old social media accounts in an attempt to find something useful, but failed. I never used them much, even while I had been in school, and hadn’t touched them since I left, but it was all I had because I didn’t want to use recent photos. I didn’t want to have them be too recent or they could make a connection to me and the deal where I killed the original Marco. Of course, I put it off as long as possible because it wasn’t an easy task to find a photo Danielle wouldn’t know because she had been searching for me for years. I had seen the photos of me spread across her social media, even ones I didn’t remember being taken. She probably spent a lot of time looking through my social media early on and memorized the photos.

  I couldn’t think of anything to work with so I wouldn’t be accidentally giving out sensitive information. Luckily, Camden needed a lot of stuff done around the compound, and I made sure to be a part of it as much as possible so I could put off handing him information on my past. Today, I had to help get rid of the deserters while determining if they had told anyone about us. This involved standing in a small warehouse extension interrogating a cartel member. Interrogation was one of my least favorite activities, but it had to be done. André had managed to track down most of the people who’d deserted the Sandtown compound, and now began the process of grabbing them and killing them. Camden felt they deserved it, because they couldn’t take any chances that someone might spread word about the cartel. It would only lead to more unnecessary risk, and Camden had already been on edge with the other agent messing up trades and meetings. I didn’t agree, but I kept my mouth shut as the members were led to their final meeting.

  So far, André had tracked down most of the members who ran away and brought them back. They were interrogating them in multiple areas of the compound, and I would go in when I was called for, like now. I tried to make sure I wasn’t the one murdering them in cold blood, but it wasn’t always possible. I could never look away, as it would show a personal weakness, so instead I tried to focus on how to find a photo to pass off to Danielle, and then find some way to get her out of this. I didn’t want her to be a part of this life.

  Saying I had died was the easiest way to get her out, but Camden wouldn’t do that until he was sure he had her reeled in for good. Luckily, I had a friend in high school who was a little too camera happy when she got her digital camera. She would snap photos of her friends at a distance, and then post them online and tag the person in it. It was strange to know that at any moment she could be taking a photo of you, doing whatever, and wherever. She rarely deleted them, even the worst ones, and almost all of them wound up on her page.

  I shook my head. To those around me, it looked as if I wasn’t buying the deserter’s story. Honestly, I hadn’t heard a word of it. Even if I had, it wouldn’t matter. All of them would be tracked down and killed eventually; this one would be no different. First they were questioned in various buildings, as to minimize panic when the gunshot went off, and that took hours so we could be sure to have all of the information. We wanted to know as much as we could before we silenced them. Which gave me enough time to figure out how I could use those photos to my advantage. Maybe if I did it right, I could keep him off the hunt for the rat a little longer, at least until I found Camo and got her out of here before she was caught.

  One of the other men with me, Tyler, had nudged me slightly, noticing I was distracted. I nodded in his direction and muttered something about not having enough sleep. He seemed to understand as I turned my focus back to the runaway. From the way he was shaking, I had missed a c
ouple of steps in the elimination process: questioning, intimidation, and a last chance to explain. Now it was time for the verdict, and it never changed. They were always found guilty, and then killed before they had a chance to speak. Sometimes they didn’t even go through the elimination process, in which case they were shot between the eyes and left to grow cold, or we’d dump them somewhere as a message.

  Usually the message was received loud and clear by whomever we sent it to, and they kept out of our business.

  “I didn’t run away,” the man claimed, realizing how close to death he was. “I came back!”

  Tyler rolled his eyes before he turned to me. “I’m bored with hearing his excuses. Just kill him. I want to go home.” He had his hand on the gun he kept at the waistband of his jeans. If I didn’t shoot the deserter, then he would.

  I was torn. I had wanted to waste a little more time before heading home again to find usable photos Danielle wouldn’t recognize, but at the same time I wanted to leave and get it over with. There were a lot of issues associated with logging in to my old accounts, starting with the possibility of being noticed. A lot of the sites I had used in my high school years had updated drastically. Some had changed so much I barely recognized a site I had visited weekly years before. Now most of them had features that allowed others to see when you were online, and for someone who supposedly died years ago, that was a risk I couldn’t take. If someone saw me online, and I couldn’t appear offline quick enough, then they could inform Danielle. She may brush it off as a glitch, or it could snowball and André would get involved to help Camden locate me. Which would only lead them straight to Camden’s loft, and to me.

  “Marco,” Tyler said, snapping my attention back to the matter at hand.