Agent Undone

by Cassidy Reyne

  “That’s it, DK. We’ve wound up the whole network, uncovered a few ‘upstanding citizens’ of Seattle with some particularly nasty sexual tastes who are now awaiting indictment, and all the victims are being taken care of. Those with family have been sent back home and the others are getting help to settle wherever they want.”

  “Outstanding work, Hollis. I had a call from the Assistant Director of the FBI who said some real nice things about you. I told him he had to be talking about some other stupid fucker because it sure as hell couldn’t be you!” Don Kampeche’s deep guffaw burst across the phone line. Carter grimaced as he took the phone from his ear.

  “Thanks boss, it’s nice to know you think so highly of me. Can I leave this shithole now? Pretty, please, with a fucking cherry on top?”

  “What the hell are you still doing in Seattle? I needed you back here yesterday. I have an assignment for you.”

  “What? Please, tell me it’s not another undercover job? I need some downtime, boss. It’s Christmas.” Carter squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the outburst he was sure was coming. His boss didn’t disappoint.

  “Who the fuck do you think you are, Hollis? You work for me, you asshole. You do as I say and go where I tell you. Your flights are booked, and I expect to see you in my office at 7.30 am sharp. You got me?” The line went dead. All Carter could do was glare at his cell and shut it down. Kampeche was right. He did work for him and the DEA and had to follow orders. This mission had to be damn important for him to be sent out straight away. Normally, you’d have a couple of weeks of desk time after an undercover op, so this had to be something big or sensitive. Shit! Would he have time to sleep in his own bed for even a single night before disappearing again? He’d have to get in touch with his parents on the way back to the East Coast to check in on them and his brother and sister, too. Well, that’s what hanging around in airports was for, he grumbled to himself.

  With a quick swipe on his cell he opened the email app and checked his inbox. Sure enough, a new email with tickets for a flight to Norfolk popped up, and he drew a sigh of relief. He was finally getting away from the rain and clouds of that miserable state. If he was really honest with himself, it was Madison he wanted to get away from. He’d left it to one of the Feds to debrief her as he knew she wouldn’t tell him anything no matter how detached and official he tried to be. Carter’s shoulders sagged at the memory of when he last saw her. It had been a couple of weeks after the bust and she’d only been awake for a little over a week. They’d had their exchange of words only two days previously but despite what he’d said, he couldn’t seem to stay away.

  He’d stood near the door to her hospital room as an FBI agent told her she was being investigated for helping Peeters locate and abduct women to be trafficked or prostituted at his clubs. They obviously had enough evidence to caution her. Where did that leave him? He’d started to think she was innocent in all this, but he must have had it all wrong as the Feds were getting close to charging her. No matter what the truth was, it was no longer anything to do with him, and he had to trust that the system would determine whether she was innocent or guilty. He’d never forget the look of utter disbelief and despair on her face. It had felt like a knife slicing through his chest, made worse when she looked up and caught his gaze with hers. After a few seconds, she’d looked away and seemed to shrink in on herself. Carter had felt sick to his stomach and stomped away immediately. He couldn’t stand to see her so scared and helpless, but there was nothing he could do. Still, he felt really shitty about it since he wasn’t convinced of her guilt. In his mind, he had to reduce her to a woman he’d had the hots for but never got the chance to get out of his system. It was the only way he’d be able to get her out of his head. A quick fuck for an hour or two would soon have sorted that out but as that was never going to happen, he’d just have to get over it with someone else.

  The nights were the worst. That was when the demons came crawling out of the shadows and hooked their claws in her. Every night, she struggled for breath as image after image burned through her mind. The screams, the whimpers, the crying. Her own and those of the other women. The voice in her head telling her it was all her fault for being abandoned as a baby, for needing to be disciplined by her boyfriend, for the girls being used and abused, for being injected with drugs. It was all her fault, the voice whispered accusingly. She didn’t deserve to be recovering in a hospital bed — she should have died in that warehouse. She could hear it in the voices of the FBI agents that were standing outside her door. She’d seen it on Carter’s face. The look of disgust clear in his eyes, revulsion pouring out of his every word. She deserved it all. If only she’d stayed with Konrad, he might never have become so violent and aggressive. Maybe she could have prevented at least some of those women being degraded, humiliated and injured. Maybe she could have stopped the trafficking. Now, God only knew where some of them had ended up and what they had to endure.

  Madison lay still, night after night, not to attract any attention from the medical staff or the police officers by her door. She suffered through the panic attacks, the chest pains, the breathing difficulties, because she knew she’d brought it all on herself. There was no redemption for her, and all she could do was to await her punishment. She’d been given a reprieve when Carter had come into her life — twice. How he’d found her in Seattle, she had no idea. Could it be just a coincidence? At least she now understood the comments he’d made about his team and needing to get back to work. He had an important job to do and her actions had made that harder for him. Without her, he could have just got on with everything and not worried about her getting in the way. She knew she’d been yet another obstacle for him to overcome to get to Konrad.

  Carter. Every time his face filled her mind, sadness overwhelmed her and tears pricked at her chest. If things had been different, if she’d met him in another lifetime, she could have fallen head over heels for the tall, gorgeous man with his chiseled features and muscles that bunched and flexed under his sun-kissed skin. Just thinking about his twinkling eyes and lopsided grin made the tears fall down her cheeks and her heart squeeze painfully. It was no use feeling sorry for herself. She would most likely pay for her mistakes in a federal jail for many years to come. The day before, one of the agents had informed her she was being investigated for being implicit in Konrad’s sex trafficking and drug selling. She’d been expecting it and would tell them everything she knew.

  She barely slept during the dark hours and only stole a few minutes here and there during the day. Doctors and nurses came and went all through the day to check her vitals and the equipment she was hooked up to. Moving anything other than her eyes was painful, so most of the time she just stared out the window where she could just about glimpse the tops of some trees and the sky. Her life was over, and all she could do was accept it and face the consequences.

  “Madison, are you feeling ok? Are you in any pain?”

  The voice by her side startled her and she drew in a quiet gasp. She hadn’t noticed Dr Raj enter the room, let alone approach her bedside.

  “Yes, I’m fine, thank you.”

  “There’s no need to try to be brave. If you need some pain medication, please let the nurses know. There are no awards for suffering in silence, you know?” The woman smiled at her.

  She had a beautiful smile with pearly white teeth and dimples in her cheeks. Her brown eyes were full of warmth and concern and made Madison want to plead for help and forgiveness, but she pressed her lips together, knowing she could never be forgiven for what she’d done.

  “Thanks, but I’m fine.”

  “If you say so, just remember we’re here to look after you. Speaking of which, your wound is healing nicely and there are no signs of infection. You should be on your feet in another couple of days or so.” The doctor gave her hand a quick squeeze before returning to her rounds and leaving Madison alone with her thoughts once more.

  Madison still had no memory of what had happened at t
he warehouse, or how she’d ended up in the hospital. Nearly three weeks had passed since that evening. She didn’t remember the ride in the ambulance or being wheeled in for surgery. It was all a blank and she’d only been told after waking up from the anesthesia. All she really knew was that Carter’s team had raided the club and arrested Konrad and the men working for him. She hadn’t spoken with Carter since the day she told him to go away. He was just like the others, unwilling to listen and with his mind made up. She was desperate to tell him that what he’d seen in Florida was the real her, Madison. Not Vanessa, the criminal. She wanted him to know it hadn’t all been a lie. Her job with the magazines, the time they spent together — that had all been real, at least to her. Carter never came back to the hospital, though. Not that it surprised her after telling him to get lost, but it hurt just the same. A couple of times, she thought she could hear his voice in the corridor outside her room, but whoever it was never walked past her door.

  “Vanessa, is it ok if I come in?” Gary, the bartender from Overdrive stood in the doorway. Madison knitted her eyebrows. Why would he want to talk to her?

  “Of course, come on in.”

  “First things first, my name is not Gary. I’m Jackson Reeves and I work for the ATF. I’ve been on an undercover assignment for several years which is what led me to Seattle and Konrad. I have a few questions for you, if you don’t mind?”

  Madison shrank under his gaze. Yet another person who knew of her guilt without being guilty themselves. Was she the only one involved with Konrad against her will who was facing jail time?

  “I guess that explains why you helped me get away that first time.” She shrugged her shoulders.

  “How do you mean?” Jackson looked puzzled.

  “My friend, Lily, asked you to leave the backdoor open so I could escape.”

  “Is that how you left? I had no idea. I figured she wanted to get away from some creep in the club. Shit, that clears a few things up. I’d just finished my shift, so I went straight home after that and didn’t know anything about you being gone until the next day.” Jackson scratched his stubbled jaw. “Before we get started, I wanted to tell you not to worry about what happened with Hugo. Hollis and I both saw what he was doing to you. Stabbing him was a clear act of self-defense and I’ve already been assured you won’t be held accountable for it in any way.”

  “I did what? No… that — that can’t be true.” Her brows pulled together as she frowned, trying to recall what had happened. Her eyes slammed shut as memories of a hand around her throat, squeezing tightly, resurfaced. She swallowed hard. Before her eyes, images appeared of the knife sticking out of his chest with blood soaking his shirt and dripping onto the floor. A coppery scent filled her mouth and nose and made her gag.

  “Vane— sorry, Madison. Are you ok?” Gary quickly grabbed a bowl from a small table and held it while her stomach tried to turn itself inside out. After a few minutes, the vomiting stopped and she leaned back against the pillows.

  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have just blurted it out like that. I thought you might have remembered by now, but clearly, I was wrong. I can be such an idiot sometimes.” He gave her an embarrassed grimace, and then filled her in on what had happened, including the events in the warehouse that ended with her killing Hugo Tanz. She could barely wrap her head around it, and all the what ifs started forming in her head. If only she hadn’t run, if only she’d been stronger, if only she’d said something, maybe none of this would have happened. It was her fault, and she should be the one lying in a morgue. Hugo’s knife should have been thrust into her body instead of his, it was what she deserved.

  “Hey bro, how’s it going? I’m finally back from Texas. How’s the leg? I hope you’re back to work because I could have done with your lazy ass on that mission. It was boring as hell but, we got the fuckers in the end and hit the motherload of all drugs hauls this year.”

  “Hi man. Yep, fighting fit and back at it for a few weeks now. I’ve run Comms for a couple shorter ops while waiting for the doc to give me a clean bill of health. All good now, though.”

  Carter dumped his duffel bag in the trunk of his jeep and got in behind the wheel, transferring the call to the car’s built in phone system. He was glad to get away from the dust and heat of El Paso where he’d spent the last three months doing surveillance and mapping out drug routes from Mexico. They’d been lucky and received some intel on a large shipment of narcotics that was on its way to the border just outside the city limits. They caught fifteen men with three hundred fifty pounds of cocaine, nearly two hundred pounds each of heroin and methamphetamine, thousands of fentanyl pills, a large number of firearms and $120,000 in cash.

  It was the biggest drug bust Carter had ever seen and made the months of boring stakeouts, junk food and gallons of crappy coffee worth the effort. They’d set a trap for just inside the US border and had rounded everyone up without a single shot being fired. It had been a highly successful mission on all accounts. Now, he was yet again hoping for some downtime, but if the cryptic texts from the boss were anything to go by, he’d soon find himself in some other godforsaken border town with nothing but a rundown bar serving warm beer. If they were lucky it would have a dusty diner with watery milkshakes and overcooked burgers as their excuse for a nightlife. He’d had enough of that for a while. All he wanted was to spend more than just a night or two in his own bed, in his own house and spend some time with his family. He’d barely seen his parents or siblings in over seven months — he’d even missed Christmas. He’d called a couple of times, but it didn’t replace actually spending some time with them. His two nieces were growing bigger by the second and he’d missed so much already, even though his sister Emma regularly sent photos of them.

  “Where are you now?” Nathan’s voice pulled him back from his thoughts.

  “I just landed at Norfolk and I’m in the car heading home.”

  “Wanna drop by here later for a couple of beers?”

  “Sure, around seven? I need to shower, change and throw some laundry in the machine. My clothes are going on strike soon and will be walking out on me if I don’t get them washed. The safehouse we were in had an ancient old relic you almost had to hand crank. It was a total shithole, but we weren’t discovered which was the main thing.”

  “Awww, were you inconvenienced and couldn’t keep your shirts starched? You’re getting soft in your old age, buddy.” The deep rumble of Nate’s laughter flooded the line and Carter couldn’t help smiling. He’d missed his best friend and didn’t like to go on ops without his right-hand man by his side. They trusted each other implicitly and could always rely on the other to know instinctively what to do without being told.

  “Shut up, asshole! You would have grumbled just as much if you’d had to spend three months in that dust bucket of a town. The bars were shit and no nice-looking chicks anywhere to have some fun with.”

  “Good thing you’re back, then. I’ve been wanting to go out, get shitfaced and spend some quality time with a gorgeous woman — or two — in a bed somewhere. I need to get laid, and from the sound of it, so do you. How long has it been? Since Seattle? Please, tell me you found some hot babes in Seattle after I left?”

  “Fuck off, it hasn’t been that long. You really think I’d go nearly a year without a good fuck? You’ve gone insane, brother. Sounds like you’re the one who’s gone without for too long.” Carter was glad Nate couldn’t see him as he would have known immediately that he was lying through his teeth. He hadn’t fucked a woman since shortly after he got shot in the leg almost a year ago. He’d never gone that long before, but no woman had caught his interest no matter how beautiful or sexy they were. He’d almost started to worry there was something wrong with him, but he was still dreaming of Madison. He had way too many of those dreams and with each one, his cock seemed more than capable of being up to the job. It was just that no other woman had any effect on him, and it was frustrating as hell. He was sick to death of having to use his hand a
fter every dream, or his body wouldn’t calm down, and feel nothing for a single woman even when they practically threw themselves at him. He’d even gone as far as taking a woman back to her place for some fun, thinking his dick would sit up and take notice once she was all naked next to him, but it hadn’t even twitched. To avoid embarrassment, he’d given her several orgasms using his fingers and tongue and lucky for him, it had worn her out so much she’d fallen asleep, giving him the opportunity to slip out and return home. He hadn’t even tried again since then.

  “Whatever, bro. I’ll see you around seven and we can decide whether we want to go out and get drunk or stay at my house and get drunk. Either way, I’ve got some phone numbers for whenever we want some female company. And trust me, they’re hot, sexy and more than willing. See ya’ buddy!”

  Carter shook his head at Nate’s quip about phone numbers, knowing full well the man had the proverbial little black book full of numbers for almost every single woman in Virginia Beach, and some that were not so single.