Beneath the Fire (A Guardians Novella)

by Victoria Paige

  “We’re not certain he’s not involved with the Braga Cartel. Right now, Leo Cortez is a ghost. His last known entry into the US was last September.”

  “Right before school started,” Nathan surmised. Lucy was close to her brother then. Was she protecting him?

  He noticed Tim frowning and asked, “What?”

  “The digital trail on these money withdrawals is legit,” Tim said slowly. “Damn. I was pretty sure I could find something. The paperwork checks out on the apartment in Brooklyn and has been filed properly. The only way to fully verify this is to actually have a warm body physically check out the property itself.”

  “Are you saying she really bought a place in Brooklyn?”

  “Either that or she hired an expert to make it look like she did.”

  “This just gets better and better,” Nathan muttered.

  “No fucking shit, man.”

  Nathan paced the length of the datacenter, one hand on his hip, another rubbing his chin in deep contemplation.

  “And nothing on the phone records?”

  “Clean.”

  Damn it. Everything reeked, yet everything was clean. What the fuck was going on?

  “How about her friend... Eva's?”

  “Clean as well, credit card, phone bills and bank accounts. They’re both flying in to California this Monday.”

  “Spring break,” Nathan said. So Eva was going with her. Makes sense. It did bug him that she had not even invited him. Maybe she felt it was too soon for him to meet her mom.

  Fuck, he wouldn’t see her for a week. Maybe he could suggest meeting her there for a few days. He didn’t even have to stay with her, he could book himself into a hotel to give her space.

  Now he was sounding pathetic.

  How could the great Nathan Stark, who had girls throwing themselves at him since high school, be reduced to begging for crumbs of attention from a girl? He realized Tim was speaking to him.

  “What?”

  “I was saying, should I forward this information to Pierce?”

  “Yes.”

  “You know what happened to that chatroom trace, right?”

  “Yes.” The chatroom fucking disappeared. It’s as if it never existed. Pierce was not too happy about it and had told him she was going to delve deeper into it.

  “You know it’s not unusual.”

  “What’s not unusual?”

  “Some of the best hackers in the world are college kids.”

  “Are you suggesting Lucy is involved in some kind of online fraud or money laundering?”

  Tim shrugged. “Not that I can tell right now.”

  “We’re going around in circles about this,” Nathan muttered tersely. “Send what you have to Agent Pierce. I’m heading back to campus.”

  ***

  Nathan watched Lucy’s lips curve in a sexy smile as her lids fluttered to half-mast before he shoved into her one last time as he came long and hard. He buried his face in the intoxicating scent of her hair and squeezed her tightly to him, shuddering in the waning ripples of his climax.

  He could stay buried inside her forever if she would let him. They finally went bareback tonight, and it felt fucking incredible, shooting his cum inside and marking her as his. They had been tiptoeing around each other the past few days and Nathan hated it. He had not pressed her about that night, waiting for her to willingly confide in him, but she never did. Tomorrow she was leaving for a week and he was on edge.

  He lifted his head and looked down at her. “Don’t leave, Lucy, stay with me.”

  “You know I can’t, Nathan, I haven’t seen Mama since December,” Lucy whispered sadly.

  “What if I follow in a few days.”

  “What?”

  “I can fly out on Tuesday and book a hotel close by. You can still spend time with your mom,” he said quickly.

  “Oh Nathan,” Lucy said. “That’s really sweet. But knowing Mama, she’s going to push me to spend time with you and I would end up not spending any time with her at all.”

  “Eva is going with you,” Nathan argued stubbornly, starting to get annoyed. His past girlfriends couldn’t wait to take him home to meet their parents and he was the one who was always leery of doing so because it smacked of permanency, which he had not felt ready to offer to any of his women then. But with Lucy it was different. He was sure she was the one for him even with all the secrets between them. Fuck. They were pretty big secrets, at least on his part. That’s why he hated to be apart from her, he wanted to get his hooks into her so deep, that even when he revealed his deceit, and it was deceit no matter how one looked at it, she would forgive him and they could move past this. He hated lying to her. Hated the AGS for making him wait to move on with her cleanly. But this started as an assignment, it was still an assignment and he was fucked.

  “Eva has been family since we were five,” Lucy told him. “Mama treats her like a daughter. It’s only a week, honey. We’ll miss each other like crazy. Think of the anticipation.”

  Nathan leaned in and nuzzled her jawline. “I hate being away from you,” he whispered. “Call me everyday to check in, OK?”

  Lucy froze beneath him and then slowly relaxed. “That might not be possible, but I’ll try.”

  Nathan noted the subtext of evasion. “Why won’t it be possible?” Shit. He was pushing her. The last thing he wanted to do while he was still buried inside her.

  “Because... we’ll be doing road trips and reception may not always be available.”

  “That’s a lame excuse, Lucy.” He finally pulled out of her to lie on his back, his forearm across his forehead. Yeah, he was the epitome of male petulance. Very mature, Stark.

  She propped up on both her forearms and stared down at him indulgently. “Someone is sulking.”

  “Not funny, Lucy,” he huffed.

  She leaned in to brush his lips with hers. “Mama likes to chat late into the night. I’m not kidding about not being able to call.”

  “You’d find a way if you wanted to,” he shot back.

  Lucy sighed and planted her cheek on his chest. And that was the end of the conversation.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  It was a sunny day in San Diego, a warm breeze teasing tendrils of Lucy’s hair loose from her ponytail. She was standing outside the airport terminal with Eva, anxiously awaiting their ride that would take them from San Diego into Tijuana.

  After about fifteen minutes, Eva's uncle drove up in a beat-up ford pickup truck. He had the sun-beaten face of a farmer, wearing a worn Stetson hat and a towel slung across his neck. He smiled at them, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

  “Eva, mi hija!” he called out.

  “Tio Rene!” Eva squealed as she leaned over to yank the door open. They spoke in rapid-fire Spanish, which Lucy more or less understood. “You remember, Lucy don’t you?”

  “Of course, I remember Lucia,” Tio Rene said, his grin widening even more. Lucy remembered Eva’s uncle from Carlos Rodriguez’s funeral. It was such a tragic time for everyone, but despite the rumor of her father’s role in that drive-by shooting, not once did Eva's family blame her. Sometimes Lucy felt that they actually pitied her for having such a heinous man for a father.

  “It’s gonna be a tight squeeze, girl,” Eva said as she got in beside her uncle, tossing her duffle bag in the backseat. Lucy climbed in after her and did the same with her bag, mentally thanking her common sense about packing light.

  Eva and her uncle were catching up with family news so Lucy let her mind wander. Nathan had taken them to Reagan National Airport for their flight out to San Diego. They had not exactly parted on good terms. Lucy could feel the burning resentment within him. She wasn’t convinced it was about barring him from coming to San Diego, she suspected his resentment went back to her unexplained whereabouts the night Felipe had brought her home. In a weird way, it bothered her that he had not pressed her for the truth. Not that she was going to tell him. But it was so unlike Nathan to let that night slide by when
he was so controlling and possessive. She actually expected him to demand an explanation... and then came nothing.

  She was getting uncomfortable with her double-life. After this operation, Lucy was going to convince Leo to quit and come home to the US. There was nothing they could do to save their father’s soul. And they couldn’t continue to pay for their father’s greed and twisted sense of business. They had argued about leaving an anonymous tip with the FBI, but Leo wanted to give their father another chance to abandon the pleasure slave business. Poor Leo. She guessed because he was the son, the oldest, he felt some responsibility, and that their father was not yet beyond redemption.

  Eva nudged her. “Be ready with your passport, the San Ysidro border is not too far away.”

  “Why are you girls not staying with your Tio for a few days?” Tio Rene asked in accented English.

  “We can’t, Tio Rene,” Lucy answered. “We already made plans with my brother.”

  Tio Rene uttered a disgruntled sound. “Hmph. No drag racing, chiquita.”

  Eva giggled while Lucy grinned. Whenever Leo came in to visit San Diego, he and Lucy would frequently cross the border into Mexico to have a little fun with the underground racing circuit.

  “Can’t promise that, Tio,” Lucy replied honestly.

  Eva's uncle started muttering about crazy kids and their reckless ways to which Eva laughed harder.

  “You know, you don’t have to come with me, Eva,” Lucy whispered to her friend. “You could stay with your family.”

  Her friend speared her with a glare. “We’re in this together, Lucy.”

  Lucy nodded. She and Eva... friends for life.

  ***

  Nathan frowned at the 911 text he got from Maia. He had never, in his entire year with the AGS, gotten one. He was presently doing surveillance with Manning. They were staking out an apartment in the Cloverleaf district occupied by some German immigrants rumored to be smuggling illegal firearms into the US.

  “Maia needs me back at HQ,” Nathan said. “You got this?”

  Manning shrugged. “Nothing moving all day. I reckon, we won’t be seeing anything anytime soon. Go ahead.”

  Nathan left the dilapidated room they had set their surveillance equipment up in and made his way down the creaking stairs and prayed that his Triumph bike was still where he had left it. He should have just come with Manning in the company van, but he had needed to clear his head before he got to work. And riding his bike was one way to do it.

  He felt a part of him had ripped away when Lucy walked through the security area of the airport. He had not wanted to let her go. He was so hurt when she had not wanted him in San Diego that all he gave her was a kiss on her forehead when she left. He was such a dumbass.

  He checked his watch. They should be in San Diego by now. He would call her after his meeting with Maia.

  Twenty minutes later, Nathan was making his way to the data center. Tim hurried over to him, a grim look on his face. An anvil dropped in his gut. Did something happen to one of the agents? He knew there was a big ops going down right now in Eastern Europe.

  “Shit just hit the fan,” Tim said tersely and signaled Nathan to follow him into one of the briefing rooms.

  “What are you saying?”

  “We totally called it wrong,” Tim said, sounding angry at Nathan.

  “What the fuck, Tim?” he growled. “Stop talking in riddles.”

  When they entered the room, Maia was glaring at another person who looked oddly familiar. The man was sitting stiffly, tight-lipped, and looking very stubborn.

  “Don’t even bother denying it, Brett,” Maia said angrily. “Your handiwork is written all over this whole damned mess. I didn’t figure it out at first, but this is the same digital footprint you left when you got into trouble with Vergara. Tim verified it.”

  “I’ve back traced the information on the chatroom,” Tim smirked. “Slick, but it’s definitely your brand of encryption.”

  “Is this about Lucy?” Nathan asked hoarsely. The unsettling feeling in his gut just morphed into full blown panic.

  “Well, Brett?” Maia pressed.

  “You have nothing on me,” Brett replied stonily.

  Nathan was more inclined to get physical than Maia. He had Brett off the chair and slammed against the wall in seconds.

  “Stark!” Maia yelled.

  “Talk, goddamn it!” Nathan roared into Brett’s astonished face. “Or I swear, I’m going to beat the truth out of you!”

  Maia immediately insinuated herself between Brett and Nathan, firmly pushing him off.

  “You beat him up, Jack is not going to be too pleased,” Maia said calmly. “Stand down, Stark.”

  “This is Brett McCord, the hacker?” Nathan asked, bewildered. He remembered the case now. Brett McCord was Jack’s younger brother who had found himself entangled with the local drug lord Raul Vergara, and was instrumental in putting the narcotic kingpin away for a very long time. He was a living legend in the world of hackers.

  “Yes. And I’m 99% certain he is ryker569.”

  “Fuck,” Brett muttered in resignation and collapsed back into his chair.

  “Start talking!” Maia snapped.

  “Leo is going to kill me,” Brett whispered wearily. “Damn it.”

  “Lucy’s brother?” Nathan frowned.

  Brett surveyed the room. “You all have to back off. Their plan is solidly in place. If you guys get involved, it would only complicate matters and get somebody hurt, or worse, killed.”

  “What are you protecting?” Maia asked quietly.

  He looked at Maia for a beat before he sighed and started talking: “Francisco Cortez has kidnapped eight women. They are being held in a mansion in Tampico.”

  “What does that have to do with his kids?” Maia asked.

  “They’re breaking the women out,” Brett stated flatly.

  Stunned silence met his announcement.

  Nathan burst out laughing. “Good one, McCord. You had me there for a moment.”

  Maia was not laughing though, and asked, “And how are they planning to accomplish such feat?”

  Nathan immediately turned serious. Was Pierce buying this crap?

  Brett signaled Tim to hand him his laptop which was confiscated earlier when they picked him up. He turned it on and after a couple of keystrokes, swiveled it around so the screen faced them.

  “That’s the satellite image of the location,” Brett said. He hit a couple more keys. “These are the pictures and identities of the girls in captivity and where they are being trained to be pleasure slaves. They are scheduled to be flown out of the country this week into Saudi Arabia where they will be auctioned off. Leo Cortez is a cat burglar. He works with a couple of ex-military types who have the same fucked-up ideology that he has.”

  “How is Lucy involved in this?” Nathan asked, still having a difficult time processing this new information.

  “She and her friend Eva did the intelligence gathering and logistics. Lucy also funneled some of her trust fund money to finance the operation.”

  “What are they, some kind of 21 Jump Street?” Tim said incredulously. “They’re barely twenty-one!”

  “Didn’t you say Lucy was in San Diego?” Maia asked Nathan.

  “To visit her mother,” Nathan said slowly before his eyes widened. He cut a furious glance at Brett. “Tell me she isn’t doing what I think she is going to do?”

  Brett sighed. “She is not in San Diego.”

  “You better tell us everything or I swear—” Nathan growled. He was reeling from the turn of events. How could he have missed the signs?

  “Calm down! Look, I tried to stop them,” Brett said quickly, raising his hands placatingly. Nathan figured he must look ready to explode right now, and Brett was right, he was a hair trigger away from losing it. “I booked a flight for Lucy and Eva from Tijuana to Monterrey. Her brother doesn’t know.”

  “Doesn’t know what?” Maia asked warily.

  �
��That his sister plans to drive the getaway car.”

  ***

  “You are loca!” Lucy’s brother yelled at her. Those were pretty much the words out of his mouth for the past ten minutes when she and Eva showed up on his doorstep. He prowled back and forth in the living room, alternately muttering and yelling in Spanish and English.

  “I will drive you back to the airport and you will take the first flight back to the US,” Leo said darkly.

  “No. You need an extra person,” Lucy shot back. “You need someone who can run interference just in case they come after you.”

  Her brother glared at her. “This is not a game, Lucy! These men have guns. This is not a showdown of who can burn their tires better. Go home, chiquita. You’ve done all you can.” His voice gentled. “Wait for the girls back in the US. I’ll bring them to you. I promise.”

  Lucy stared at her brother stubbornly without saying another word. Leo turned away from her and cursed. He looked up at the ceiling as if praying for divine intervention before lowering his head in defeat. He muttered, “You and Eva can stay in the second bedroom on the right.” Leo turned back and faced her. “Go get settled in. We’re having an all-hands briefing in a few minutes.”

  “That was simple enough,” Eva said as she opened the window to their bedroom to let the stale air out. The house was a typical one-story bungalow constructed of cinder blocks and finished off with stucco and red clay roof tiles. Because of rampant theft in the area, all of the windows had bars. The house itself was surrounded by a high concrete fence with broken glass on top to deter climbers.

  “I can be as stubborn as he is,” Lucy said smugly. She took her phone out of from her messenger bag. She had not turned it on since she left DC and was curious to see if Nathan had called her. Not even a full day without him and she already missed him.

  There were no messages from him. Not voice or text.