Enticed by the Operative (Doctors in Danger, Book 1)

by Lara Lacombe

A movement across the street caught his eye, interrupting his musings. He focused the camera on Olivia as she stood and smoothed the front of her blouse. He hadn’t told her he was watching from across the way—he didn’t want to make her feel self-conscious. She was nervous enough already.

  “You can do this,” he muttered, knowing she couldn’t hear him but wanting to say the words nonetheless. She was holding up remarkably well under the circumstances, but he held his breath as her office door opened and Carlos stepped inside. If she could just get through these next few minutes...

  “Dr. Sandoval, so good to see you again.”

  Logan adjusted the volume of the microphone, tuning it slightly to improve the signal as he did so. Then he double-checked that it was recording. So far, so good.

  He could tell by Olivia’s body language that she wasn’t happy. Still, she nodded in reply, the gesture only a little stiff. “Good afternoon.”

  She sat behind her desk and Carlos unbuttoned his suit jacket before taking one of the chairs across from her. “I am so glad we could meet to discuss the details of our business together,” he said smoothly. “But first, if you will permit me?”

  He reached into his jacket, and Logan’s gut twisted in warning. Was Carlos going for a weapon? Had he somehow guessed the DEA was watching?

  Apparently, Olivia had the same fear. She leaned back in her chair and lifted her hands as if to defend herself. But she was a sitting duck behind her desk, totally at the mercy of the man in her office.

  Logan’s heart shot into his throat and he opened his mouth to give Keith the signal to go. But just as the words formed on his tongue, Carlos withdrew his hand to reveal not a gun, but a small black object that he placed on the desk.

  Olivia swallowed hard, regaining her composure quickly. “What is that?”

  “A simple jamming device to ensure our conversation remains private. One can never be too careful,” Carlos said. Then he pressed a button on the device, and Logan’s audio feed went dead.

  Damn!

  CHAPTER 5

  Olivia couldn’t take her eyes off the small black device on her desk. Breathe, she told herself, trying to keep the alarm off her face.

  “Why did you bring that?” Her voice shook a little, but hopefully not enough to arouse Carlos’s suspicions.

  He tilted his head to the side, his gaze sharpening as he studied her. “This bothers you?” He leaned back, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “Why? Do you have something to hide?”

  The question hit a little too close to home, but Olivia held back an instinctive flinch. What does he know? she wondered. He must suspect someone was listening, which meant he had to think she’d gone to the authorities. But if he had any proof she had talked to the DEA, surely he wouldn’t bother with the facade of this meeting. From everything Logan and his men had told her, the cartel wasted no time meting out retribution. And Carlos didn’t seem like the type to get his hands dirty, so it was unlikely he was planning on killing her in her own office. He was probably just fishing for information, wanting to see how she responded.

  His question hung in the air between them, and Olivia realized the danger of this moment. If her denial was too strident, he would suspect she was hiding something. Too casual, and it would seem like she had lost her fear of him. Given the way he’d reacted the last time she’d shown any kind of attitude, he likely wouldn’t hesitate to punish her again. She had to walk a very fine line to make sure she didn’t trip his radar or trigger his temper.

  It was enough to make her palms sweat and her mouth go dry. But then Logan’s voice echoed in her head. Find your anger.

  Olivia met Carlos’s gaze. “I have nothing to hide. But I’m curious—why did you bring this now? You had no problem speaking freely in my office before. Are you afraid of something?”

  The subtle taunt hit its mark. Carlos narrowed his eyes and straightened in the chair. “Be careful, Dr. Sandoval. Do not forget who you are dealing with here.”

  She nodded at the device. “I don’t appreciate the implications of that. I told you I wouldn’t contact the police, and I haven’t.” It was the truth, and it showed on her face. Logan had come to her, and he was DEA, not a cop. “You didn’t use that in my office the other day or in my home later that night. What changed?”

  “Today, we discuss the details of our business. There can be no chance of eavesdropping.”

  So he didn’t know anything—he was just being paranoid. Olivia let out a silent sigh, the tension leaving her body along with her breath.

  “Let’s get this over with,” she said, reaching for a notepad and pen.

  Carlos held up a hand and she jerked back, her heart leaping into her throat.

  He smirked at her reaction, but merely placed his hand on the notepad, sliding it away from her. “No records,” he said. “Nothing gets written down.”

  “How am I supposed to remember the details?” she protested. “It’s not like I have experience doing this.”

  He lifted one brow. “You’re an intelligent woman, Doctor,” he said softly. “I’m sure you can handle it. And if not...” He waved his hand in a dismissive gesture that suggested the alternative was just as acceptable. The message was clear: either she memorized his instructions, or she died.

  Anxiety was a tight band around her chest, making it hard to breathe. The blood rushed through her ears, and she struggled to focus on what Carlos was saying. She had to get this right so she could tell Logan and his men exactly what was going to happen and when. If she left out even the smallest detail, it could compromise the entire mission.

  The men she was to meet worked in a processing station deep in the jungle, turning raw coca extract into cocaine. She would be told when and where to meet them once she was in Colombia, but he gave her basic information regarding the approximate location of the meet.

  Carlos was surprisingly patient with her, repeating his instructions several times and asking her to say them back to him. Only after she had parroted his words verbatim several times did he seem satisfied.

  “Do they know you are sending me?”

  He nodded. “Of course. This is not a surprise to them.”

  Olivia shook her head. “No, I mean do they know you are sending a woman?” Her mother had told her stories of how hard she’d fought to be taken seriously by the men in Colombia. While things had improved, there was still a distinct possibility the male members of the cartel would either refuse to deal with her, or perhaps even shortchange her because they thought she didn’t know better.

  Which was the truth.

  “You needn’t concern yourself,” Carlos said, sounding confident. “The suppliers know better than to question our processes.”

  One less thing to worry about, assuming he was right. Still, it was one thing for him to promise compliance from a cushy urban setting thousands of miles away. The jungle was a wilder place, not subject to the laws of men.

  She added the issue to her growing list of concerns, but there was nothing to be done about it now.

  Carlos stood, signaling an end to their conversation. “Safe travels, Dr. Sandoval. We will meet again upon your return.”

  Olivia rose and gathered her courage. She had to tell him now, before he walked out. There wouldn’t be another chance. “There’s just one more thing.”

  He paused in the act of buttoning his suit jacket. “Yes?”

  “I have a guest coming on this trip.”

  “A guest?” he repeated.

  She nodded. “A potential investor has asked to accompany me so he can see firsthand what our needs are and the people we are helping.” It was the cover story they’d concocted to explain Logan’s presence on the trip. It was a pretty good one, as far as lies went. Now she just had to sell it.

  “Unacceptable.” Carlos shook his head. “You must tell him he cannot come.”

  “I can’t do that,” Olivia said. “We made the arrangements months ago. If I tell him he can’t come, it will be hig
hly suspicious.”

  “I do not care if this man wonders why you have canceled. He cannot go.”

  “You don’t understand.” Olivia spread her hands in a placating gesture. “He has ties to a major pharmaceutical company. His company is donating most of the supplies, and one of the conditions of this donation was that he come with me. If I tell him he can’t join us, he will pull the supplies and I will have to cancel my trip.” She leaned forward slightly, resting her hands on the desk. “I’m sure you don’t want that to happen.”

  Carlos clenched his jaw and was silent for a moment. “What is this man’s name?”

  “Logan Marshall.” They had decided to keep his first name the same, so Olivia wouldn’t accidentally trip up and blow his cover in Colombia. According to Logan, it had taken the men in the tech department a matter of hours to create a plausible identity for “Logan Marshall,” complete with credit history, employment records and even a few parking tickets to boot. If Carlos decided to check him out, he would find exactly what they wanted him to see: an upper management pharmaceutical employee tasked with improving the PR image of his company by participating in charitable works.

  “Very well.” Carlos sounded like he was speaking around a mouthful of broken glass. “Make sure he sees nothing, is that clear? Because if he does, his death will be your fault.”

  Even though she knew Logan was already involved, a chill raced through her at the threat. “I will be careful.”

  Carlos gave her a cruel smile. “I know you will. Because I will be watching you the whole time.”

  “What?” How was that possible? Was he going to plant cameras in the money? On the heels of that thought came another more horrifying question: Had he already bugged her home and office? Did she have any privacy, or was she constantly being monitored now? And if so, how was she going to speak to Logan and his men without giving everything away?

  He shook his head. “Do you honestly think we would trust you with two million dollars? Surely even you are not that naive.”

  “I don’t understand.” The thought that her every move was under observation triggered a cloying sense of claustrophobia, and her heart began to pound against her breastbone.

  “We have eyes everywhere,” Carlos said, his voice soft. “I will know when you sleep, when you wake. What you have for breakfast. Even the number of sweat drops on your forehead. Nothing will be hidden from me.”

  Olivia felt her eyes widen as the implications of his words sank in. How many spies did the cartel employ? Was there any way to know who was a true friend and who had the cartel on speed dial, ready to betray her at the first opportunity?

  “Remember what we discussed,” Carlos said, gathering up his jamming device. “We will meet again upon your return.”

  Olivia waited until the door clicked shut behind him before lowering herself into the chair. She opened her desk drawer and fished out the antacids, then choked down a couple of the chalky tablets in the hopes of calming her roiling stomach. Things were worse than she’d originally thought.

  Logan had made it sound like he and his men had the situation under control and that he would keep her safe. But now that Olivia knew how extensive the cartel’s influence was, did they even stand a chance?

  * * *

  “If you could just sign here, Dr. Sandoval.” Logan made a show of pointing to a spot on the clipboard, then winked at her. “This authorizes us to spray your property. You said you were seeing a lot of ants in your home?”

  “Uh, yes,” Olivia replied, shooting him a puzzled look. He held up a finger to stall her questions, and after a moment Alan spoke from the other room.

  “All clear.”

  Logan tossed the clipboard on the sofa and gestured for Olivia to follow him into the dining room. She eyed his hat as they sat down.

  “Capital City Pest Control?” she asked dubiously.

  He shrugged. “Gets the job done. And if anyone is watching they won’t question why we’re here.”

  “Are you sure it’s safe for us to talk?” Her eyes darted around the room, as if she expected cartel enforcers to pop out from behind the curtains at any moment.

  “We’re fine,” he assured her. “We swept for bugs, and the house came up clean. No one is listening in on our conversation.”

  She leaned back in her chair, her shoulders relaxing a bit. “That’s good. It feels like I’ve been living under a microscope ever since Carlos came to my office.” She reached for a stray pen on the table and spun it this way and that, her fingers betraying her nervousness.

  Logan reached out and placed his hand over hers, stalling her movements. She glanced up at him with wide eyes and he offered her a smile. After a few heartbeats, her hand relaxed under his and she smiled back at him. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” he said. “This can’t be easy on you.”

  “I’ve had better days, that’s for sure.” She rotated her hand until their fingers were entwined, then squeezed. His heart did a funny little flip at the contact, and for a moment he felt like they were the only two people in the world.

  Alan pulled out a chair and sat, and Logan tugged his hand free. Something flashed in Olivia’s eyes—was it disappointment?—but it was gone in an instant and she nodded a greeting at his teammate.

  Logan wiped his hand against the leg of his pants, feeling the ghost of her touch on his skin. It would have been nice to keep holding her hand, but he couldn’t afford the distraction. Especially not in front of his guys.

  Keith pulled a small recorder from his pocket and placed it on the table. Olivia glanced from it to him, and Logan nodded. “We need to record your story so we can enter it into the official case files. Plus, it allows us to go back and relisten to key points.”

  “Do you just want me to talk, or do you have specific questions for me?”

  “Why don’t you just tell us what happened first? We can ask our questions once you’ve gone over everything first.”

  Olivia nodded. “Okay.” She took a deep breath and started speaking.

  Logan kept his mouth shut while she told them about Carlos’s visit to her office. She recited her instructions, and Logan could tell from the language she used that she had memorized exactly what the other man had said. That was good, as it meant she wasn’t inadvertently leaving out any details.

  The exchange itself would be simple. She was to take the money to a campsite in the Amazon jungle. These were fairly common setups, where cocaine was isolated, purified and sometimes packaged for export. Once she arrived, she was to exchange the money for a few kilos of the drug, which she was to hand over to Carlos once she’d made it back to the States.

  “Did he tell you the location of the site?” Keith asked.

  Olivia shook her head. “He said I would be told that once I was in Colombia.”

  Logan bit his lip to keep from frowning. Olivia didn’t seem to realize it, but the instructions Carlos had given her basically guaranteed she would be terminated upon her return to the US. After all, she would know the exact location of the prep site, a piece of information that was a closely guarded secret. The cartel couldn’t risk that she might tell someone where to find the camp after this was all over. Logan didn’t want to be the one to let her know, but if Carlos and his men had meant for Olivia to survive, they would have set up an exchange at a neutral location. By sending her to the production site, they were essentially signing her death warrant.

  “What is it?” He looked up to find Olivia’s eyes on him, her expression worried.

  He shook his head. “Nothing,” he replied automatically. “Everything’s fine.”

  She merely stared at him, her expression making it clear she wasn’t buying it. “You’re lying.”

  Logan cast a quick, pleading glance at Alan and Keith, but the other men shrugged slightly as if to say “It’s all on you.”

  Traitors.

  “I’m just curious as to why they’re sending you to the production site, rather than setting up a mee
t elsewhere.”

  “Is that a problem?”

  “No,” he assured her. “It’s actually better for us. If we know the exact location, we can go in later and shut it down.” Or rather, the Colombians could, if there was a police unit left standing that hadn’t been bought by the cartels. Corruption of government officials was better compared to the bad old days, when Pablo Escobar and his cronies had reigned supreme, but it was still an issue of concern.

  “They can’t be too worried about you finding it if they’re telling me exactly where it is,” she remarked. “So either they’ve paid off everyone, or they’re just going to kill me.” Her tone was matter-of-fact, reminding him of their earlier car ride when she’d seen through his vague platitudes. His respect for her went up another notch, and he realized that from now on it would be best for him to be totally honest. Olivia was a smart woman, and if they were going to work together on this operation, he had to trust her with the truth.

  “I told you, I’m not going to let you die.” He wanted to grab her hand again to reassure her with his touch as well as his words, but he settled for holding her gaze instead.

  Olivia’s big brown eyes searched his and after a moment she nodded slightly. “There’s more,” she said, worry creeping back into her voice.

  “What is it?” Alan sat forward, his pen poised to take notes.

  “Carlos said they have eyes everywhere. That my every move will be watched and reported to him.” She started fiddling with the pen again, glancing at him and then Alan. “Is he exaggerating, or do they really have spies everywhere?”

  “It might be a little of both,” Logan replied. “The cartel certainly has people on the payroll, but I don’t think everyone you’ll meet is in their pocket. Still, it’s best to be careful.”

  “How are we going to do that?” She worried her bottom lip with her teeth. “You and I are supposed to stay close to each other—won’t it seem strange for me to spend all my time with you?”

  “Not necessarily,” Alan said, a speculative gleam in his eyes. “What if Logan poses as more than just a corporate sponsor?”