“I thought we weren’t going to involve anyone else in intelligence.”
“We aren’t, but we can pull in the rest of SEAL Team Eight to back us up.”
“As long as Vanessa’s identity remains need-to-know,” Seth said in a commanding tone. “I don’t want anyone else to know she’s our source.”
Kel’s eyebrows shot up in response to Seth’s tone, but his voice was mild when he spoke. “Don’t worry, Seth. We’ll keep her safe.”
* * *
For the past few days Vanessa had been trying to bring her new reality into focus. The news that Devin Granger had suffered a stroke had been a big surprise, especially since he was barely fifty years old. And finding out that her new contact was the man she had been in love with for half of her life had completely altered her reality.
As she updated the reservations for the week, Vanessa let her mind wander back to the last time she had seen Seth. They had attended different colleges that were located over an hour apart. Still, they had remained close throughout their college years and had continued to date. She had just moved into a new apartment as she prepared to start her graduate work when her family had decided to surprise Seth and attend his graduation.
He had been so touched that her parents and grandparents had made such an effort. Her father had taken them all out to dinner afterward, bringing home the fact that Seth didn’t have any family of his own to attend his graduation. After dinner, Seth had pulled her dad aside and made Vanessa wonder if perhaps he was finally planning to take their relationship to a new level.
Throughout college, she and Seth had talked about getting married after they graduated from college. Vanessa had accepted it as inevitable, both that they would get married and that her love for Seth would prevent her from being able to marry in the temple. Despite Seth’s exposure to the gospel during their courtship, he had always insisted that religion wasn’t for him.
As she watched Seth with her father, Vanessa had felt more fully than ever the gravity of the choice she would have to make. One possibility was to settle for a marriage outside the temple. The other option was to walk away from Seth and hope that someday she would find someone to marry within the Church.
After a moment, Seth had sat down beside her at the table, but Vanessa had focused on her parents. Seeing what they had, and seeing all of the blessings that had come into their lives because they had chosen a temple marriage had finally forced her to see what she had been avoiding for the past six years with Seth. She didn’t want to settle for anything less than what her parents had. And her heart had been broken ever since. Now, with all of the years that had passed, she wondered if perhaps it was time to rethink what was really important to her.
Letting out a sigh, she knew it was probably too late to repair the damage to her relationship with Seth. She also knew that she couldn’t consider her personal needs right now. She had a job to do, and she couldn’t afford to let herself get distracted.
As she shifted the paper on her desk to look at the next reservation, her hand froze. The name glared up at her as if highlighted. Everyone at La Playa knew of Morenta. And everyone feared him. He had long been the most influential member of the drug cartel in Colombia, but he rarely left his villa there. If he was coming to La Playa and Akil Ramir was expected soon, Vanessa was afraid to imagine what horror they had planned for the United States.
* * *
Amy stepped into the suite of offices used by the Central Intelligence Agency’s local field office. She was immediately spotted by the pretty young woman behind the large desk in front of her. “Can I help you?”
From the personnel file she had read, Amy recognized the woman as Gina Morgan, the chief’s secretary. Offering a smile, she introduced herself. “I’m Amy Miller.”
“Oh, the new employee.” She stood up and motioned down the hall. “Come on, and I’ll introduce you to the chief of station.” She glanced back and added, “By the way, I’m Gina.”
“Nice to meet you,” Amy said as she followed Gina to the office at the end of the hall.
Gina rapped on the door twice before pushing it open and poking her head inside. “I have your new employee here to meet you.”
“Thank you, Gina.” The chief of station stood up and offered his hand, a look of surprise crossing his tanned face as he realized that Amy was six feet tall, an inch or so taller than he was. “Amy, I’m Carl Dowdy.”
“Nice to meet you.” Amy shook his hand and then sat in the chair he indicated.
“I have to admit I was surprised when I received the cable telling me that I was getting another employee.” Carl’s dark eyes looked at her with curiosity as he tapped a finger on his desk. “Last year the director of operations was threatening to take away one of my operatives.”
“That’s what I heard,” Amy told him. “I guess they decided to shut down the office in Puerto Rico instead, since that’s where I thought I was going until last week.”
“It seems like we’re always the last to hear the news out here.” He shrugged. “Anyway, we don’t really have an office set up for you yet, but you can use Al’s desk for the time being. He’s on vacation until next week.”
“Really, where did he go?” Amy asked, skipping over whose desk she was using and zeroing in on the whereabouts of her coworker.
“He’s on home leave visiting his family,” he told her. “Florida, I think.”
A knock on the door interrupted the conversation, and Gina poked her head into the room. “Excuse me, Carl, but you have a call from Washington.”
Carl nodded as he reached for the phone. “Can you introduce Amy around and show her Al’s desk?”
“Sure.” She motioned for Amy to follow her.
As soon as Amy exited Carl’s office, Gina closed the door behind them and started down a short hallway. “So how long have you been working for the Agency?”
“Three years,” Amy told her. “How about you?”
“About the same,” she said. “I took a job at headquarters and then was lucky enough to get this assignment.” She paused long enough to knock on a door before pushing it open. “Hey, Cindy, this is Amy Miller. She just transferred in.”
“Welcome.” Cindy smiled and stood up. “After Gina finishes showing you around, come on back to my office. I have a project I can have you start on.”
Amy nodded as Gina ushered her out of the office, calling out, “She’ll be back.”
As soon as the door closed, she added, “Be careful. Since the day she arrived, she always has a new project to hand off. I think she spends her spare time dreaming of things to have us do so we won’t be idle.”
“I gather she has you working on something too?”
“Always.” Gina nodded. “Today it’s tracking down a money transfer she thought looked suspicious. Yesterday I got to alphabetize the list of people Customs currently has on their watch list. It’s never ending.”
“Sounds like I won’t get bored in this job,” Amy commented.
“Not a chance,” she agreed.
11
Seth waited ten minutes, his concern growing with each passing second. Vanessa had managed to sneak out every night over the past week, and he had been impressed with how punctual she was. He had also grown increasingly worried that his feelings for her hadn’t dimmed in the slightest over the past six years since he had seen her last.
In many ways she hadn’t changed much over the years. She was still independent, and her need to prove that she could stand on her own two feet was still an essential part of her personality. Her vulnerability was still there as well, and she was still trying to hide it like she had in high school. He didn’t know why that had always attracted him, the way she could stand up to the biggest bully one minute and then the moment they were alone confide in him with her deepest fears as well as her hopes and her dreams.
Of course, back then her hopes and dreams had never included becoming a spy. He wanted to ask her what had possessed her to get int
o the world of espionage, but their time together so far had been extremely limited. Each night, Vanessa arrived on time, stayed just long enough to pass along any new information, and then she was gone. Now, for the first time since his arrival, he was waiting and she was late.
Logically he knew that Vanessa might not be able to slip out each night to meet him, but since finding out exactly how risky it was for her to sneak out at all, he had become more and more paranoid that something would happen to her. When he heard footsteps, his concern heightened.
He wasn’t hearing quiet, barely audible footsteps like he had the night before. Rather, he heard what sounded like two people making their way down the alley, their voices muffled. Seth drew his weapon and ducked into a dark doorway.
“No one’s here,” one man said in Spanish.
“Of course not,” the other responded. “I told you it was your imagination.”
“I’m telling you, she was here.” The footsteps drew closer, close enough to cause Seth to grip the handle of his gun tighter.
“And I think you’re seeing things,” came the response. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. It smells.”
Seth listened to the retreating footsteps and played the conversation over again in his head. If these men were from La Playa, Vanessa’s cover could be in greater jeopardy than he’d thought. Perhaps she had come tonight but hadn’t been able to lose the men tailing her. Whatever the reason, Seth wasn’t going to wait another day to make sure she was safe.
* * *
Vanessa ducked under the leaves of a palm tree and then took a sharp left to avoid the motion sensor in front of her. This weaving obstacle course to get past the many layers of security at La Playa had become second nature to her over the past year, but tonight she had encountered something new. A flat tire. She couldn’t believe she had managed to get all the way off of the compound only to find that the car she kept hidden couldn’t take her the rest of the way.
She had changed the tire, but by the time she was done it was too late for her to make the rendezvous point and get back without being missed. She had managed to get most of the grease off of her hands using a towel she kept in the car for just such an emergency, but she was anxious to get back to her casita and shower off the rest of the dirt and grease the experience had left on her.
Stepping into the darkness behind a nearby building, she waited for the sound of footsteps to indicate that the night patrol on this side of the resort was passing by. She had to wait for nearly fifteen minutes before she heard the patrol approaching the far side of the building. She circled opposite of them, finally reaching the path that led to her casita.
As always, she ducked behind a thick palm tree next to the side entrance of her casita and listened for a moment before opening the door and slipping inside. She closed the door behind her and started for the kitchen. It was then that she noticed that the curtains had been closed. Every night when she left, she made sure several lights were on to give the appearance that she was still at home. She also left the curtains open so that it wouldn’t look like she was trying to hide anything, but rather that she was simply in the back part of her house.
Quietly, she stepped back to the entryway and reached into the pottery urn filled with decorative silk flowers—and her pistol. With both hands on the gun, she kept her arms straight so that the gun barrel was pointed at the ground as she began searching her house.
Not sensing any movement in the living area, she moved forward, keeping her back against the wall. As soon as she determined that there wasn’t anyone in the living room or kitchen, she started for the bedroom. Holding the gun in her right hand, she reached out to push the door with her left. Her heart skipped a beat when the door opened without any effort on her part.
The gun came up at the same time someone grabbed her wrist to force her hand back down and wrestle the gun away from her.
Vanessa’s eyes stayed on her gun, panic flashing through her before she lifted her eyes to identify the intruder. Then she heard the familiar voice.
“Stop, it’s just me.” Seth held her hand and the gun firmly as he waited for her to register the fact that he was standing in the doorway to her bedroom. He then turned the gun so that the handle was facing Vanessa and handed it back to her.
“Do you have any idea how lucky you are I didn’t shoot you?” Vanessa took the gun from him and moved back down the hall to put it away. She looked over her shoulder as he followed her into the living room. “How did you get in here? And how did you get past security?”
“You’re full of questions tonight,” Seth mumbled. Then, shaking his head, he looked down into her eyes. “I told you I would come to you if you didn’t show up. I wanted to make sure you were okay, especially when I saw two guys come into the alley tonight looking for you.”
“What?” Vanessa’s eyes whipped up to meet his. “Who?”
“Sorry, but I haven’t been here long enough to know all of the players,” Seth reminded her. His voice grew serious as he added, “They were speaking in Spanish, and both of them sounded like they were in their early twenties.”
“I have no idea who that could have been.” Vanessa’s stomach tightened as she considered the possible implications of someone knowing the meeting place.
“We can’t meet there anymore,” Seth insisted. “I’ll come to you from now on.”
“That’s too risky for you.”
Seth’s eyebrows winged up, half in amusement, half in challenge. “What do you suggest then?”
“There’s an old boathouse on the beach that isn’t used anymore. The patrols check it each night around midnight, but then they don’t go back over there until after two,” Vanessa said. “If you can get all the way to my house without being spotted, getting there should be a piece of cake.”
“Okay, I’ll meet you there every night at one,” Seth agreed. “So what happened to you tonight?”
“I had a flat tire.” Vanessa moved to the kitchen sink and squirted some liquid soap on her hands before turning on the water. Looking up at him, she added, “I still don’t understand how you managed to get past all the security.”
“Very carefully.” Seth smirked at her, reminding her of the man she had dated so many years before. “Have there been any new developments today?”
“Yeah, a big one.” Vanessa shut off the faucet and grabbed a hand towel. Leaning back against the kitchen counter, she dried her hands and looked up at him. She still couldn’t quite believe he was here. Her heart ached a little as she thought of what could have been, but she pushed the past aside to focus on the present. “Morenta is due to arrive next week.”
“The drug lord?”
She nodded. “I’ve only met him once, and believe me, his reputation of being ruthless is well deserved. He is one scary man.”
“I’ve heard plenty of stories, including the one about how he killed two of his rival drug lords in one day when they tried to hone in on his territory.” Seth shook his head. “You said you met him once before. When was that?”
“Almost a year ago,” Vanessa told him. “I was still managing the restaurant here at the time, so I couldn’t pass on the information that he was here until after he had left.”
“Do you have any idea why he was here?”
“I figured he was here to buy weapons, just like most people who come to this place. Now I’m not so sure. He showed up less than a week after his nephew was arrested in the U.S. for smuggling.” Vanessa tossed the hand towel aside and shook her head. “Akil is supposed to be coming soon, and I doubt it’s a coincidence that they’re both showing up about the same time.”
“What are you thinking?”
Her chest ached as she considered the possibilities. “I think the drug cartel may be giving financial backing to Akil Ramir. If that’s the case, we have a bigger problem on our hands than I thought.”
“Think for a minute.” Seth slid onto a stool next to the counter. “What are they trying to accomplish?”
“But suffer how?” Seth posed the question before suggesting some possibilities. “Do they want to kill Americans, cripple us economically? Are they trying to keep us out of their business, or do they want a full-scale war with the U.S.?”
“I don’t know.” Vanessa shook her head, having wondered the same thing countless times. “If the drug cartel is involved, I have to think that weakening our borders would be a major objective, especially with the new surveillance grids that are being set up along the Mexican border.”
“What surveillance grids?”
Vanessa looked at him a little sheepishly. “I know I can trust you, but you have to understand that what I’m telling you is top secret.” She took a breath and forced herself to continue. “In response to all of the problems with illegal immigrants coming over the Mexican border, a team of scientists came up with a new solution, a series of motion detectors along the border between the southwestern U.S. and Mexico. They’re supposed to sense both ground movements and also be equipped with a radar system that will pick up low-flying aircraft. The last I heard, the first stage of this new electronic surveillance system was supposed to become active around now.”
“Do you think Akil found out about the new security system?”
“I don’t know. None of this makes any sense.” Vanessa shook her head. “The increased security of our borders is going to have a huge impact on the drug trade, but I don’t know how Morenta or Akil could know about the surveillance grids. I also don’t know how any of this would play in with these training camps and the helicopters I heard them talking about.”
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