Hidden Agenda

by Lisa Harris

  “No.”

  “The fact that I’ve been doing the exact thing to Ivan that you’ve been doing to me. I’ve protected him because I thought I was keeping a promise I made to my mother.”

  “It’s easy to do, isn’t it?” He ran his fingers down her arm, then laced their fingers together. “I was just so scared, thinking of what might happen if you went to see your father. But it has nothing to do with not trusting you. It’s my not being sure I can keep you safe.”

  “Would that matter to you?”

  He matched her smile. Liking the way she looked at him. Liking the way she flirted with him. “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you or your brother, you know that.”

  “So this is just about our safety?”

  “Hardly. It’s about these crazy feelings I have for you.”

  A part of him feared he was going to regret giving in to his heart, but maybe Avery was right. Maybe it was time he stopped running. Living two lives had become unbearable.

  “This is personal,” he continued. “Very personal. In the short time we’ve known each other, I’ve seen so many sides of you. The way you care for your brother. The way you seek out truth no matter what the cost. I don’t want to lose you, Olivia, because …”

  “Because what?”

  She was close enough that he could read the question in her eyes.

  “Because I can see the two of us together when all of this is over.”

  She reached up and played with the lapel of his bomber jacket, then looked up at him with those wide, brown, questioning eyes. “We’ve been through a lot together these past few days. I know how easily emotions can spiral out of control and make you feel things you wouldn’t necessarily feel if there wasn’t a crisis happening. But when you kissed me on that hotel balcony … was that as real to you as it was to me?”

  “Are you asking me how I feel about you?”

  She nodded.

  “I wasn’t expecting someone like you to walk into my life. So yes, when this is over, I’d like to spend a lot of time with you and find out.”

  She smiled up at him, causing his heart to trip again. “I was hoping you’d say that. But first, I need to do this. I need to know the truth. I need to have this part of my life closed, and that will never happen unless I confront my father.”

  “Then we do this right. You go and see your father, while Mason, Avery, and I provide security.”

  She shook her head. “You can’t be there. My father knows you. Besides, I can’t do anything that might risk Ivan’s life.”

  The elevator dinged. Michael looked down the hall as the doors opened. Two men, dressed in black, stepped into the hallway carrying rifles. Michael felt his adrenaline surge.

  They’d found them.

  31

  Olivia saw the two men the moment Michael hauled her up beside him onto her feet. Her mind struggled to decipher what was happening. Tattooed necks … heavy boots … assault rifles …

  How in the world had they slipped past the added security Avery had insisted on?

  The panic that had been simmering in her gut all day exploded. She glanced down the adjoining hallway. There were only two ways off this floor. The elevator, and the stairwell twenty feet ahead of them. With two armed men standing in the middle of the hallway, the elevator wasn’t an option.

  Michael pulled her toward the stairwell as the first bullet hit the wall behind them. She ran beside him down the narrow hallway, past a blur of room numbers and a maid’s cart. Michael shoved the cart behind them down the hallway as the men rounded the corner. He fired two rounds from his weapon, then threw open the heavy metal door that led to the stairs.

  He grabbed his phone from his pocket and thrust it into her hand, then pulled her in front of him toward the stairs. “Call Avery. Tell her we need backup. Now.”

  Olivia fumbled with the phone as Michael followed her down the stairs to the next floor, his gun aimed at the top of the stairs.

  “Michael?” Avery answered on the first ring.

  “It’s Olivia. They’re on our floor and they’re after us.” She fought to catch her breath as she continued down the staircase beside Michael. “Two armed men.”

  “We’re already in the hallway. Where are you?”

  The stairwell door opened above them. Footsteps pounded on the landing.

  “In the east stairwell headed downstairs.”

  The phone slipped out of her hand, tumbling to the floor as she turned to head down another flight of stairs.

  She started to grab for it. “Michael—”

  “Leave it!”

  Steps reverberated in the stairwell above them as the men gained on them. Another shot fired, hitting the stair rail.

  Michael tugged at her hand. “Keep moving.”

  Olivia rounded the next flight of stairs, her lungs burning for oxygen. The door above them slammed open again, followed by Avery’s voice. “Police.”

  Someone else was shouting. Footsteps pounded above them. More shots fired—

  Michael moved her against the wall, pressing against her like a shield.

  The stairwell fell quiet.

  “Michael?” Avery’s voice called down the stairwell. “We’re clear.”

  Still holding Olivia’s hand, Michael steadied her for a minute. Then he tilted up her chin and caught her gaze. “It’s over.”

  Her eyes filled with tears. “It’s never going to be over.”

  Her shoulders dropped as he led her back up the stairs, the terror settling like the aftermath of a fire. Avery and Mason were handcuffing the men.

  “Do you recognize either of them?” he asked after they’d hauled them up the stairs.

  Olivia shook her head.

  “I don’t either.”

  Olivia started back up the stairs, her heart still hammering. “It’s time for me to go see my father and try to put an end to this.”

  Michael felt his blood pressure rise as Olivia stepped out of the hotel bedroom. She looked beautiful bundled up in the jeans and heavy coat Emily had loaned her, but he knew this wasn’t about his growing feelings toward her, or even his fears of losing her. This was about confronting her father, and putting an end to everything that had happened over the past couple of days. Which was why he’d thrown out every objection he could think of to deter her from meeting him, but he knew she wouldn’t listen. She was determined to go through with this.

  She stepped in front of him, her eyes full of questions. “You okay?”

  “Just wishing I was the one taking you out somewhere tonight.” He bit back the word of warning poised on the tip of his tongue, swapping it for a compliment. “You look beautiful.”

  “Thank you, but I know that’s not all you’re thinking. I can’t back out of this for the same reason that you couldn’t stop working for my father.”

  “I know.”

  “I’m not walking into this blindly, Michael, but I need to do what’s right—whatever the cost.”

  He smiled down at her. “You’re a brave woman, Olivia Hamilton.”

  “Not really.” She took his hand in both of hers and squeezed it tightly. “I’m terrified, but you keep reminding me of what’s important and what’s really at stake here. I just wish it didn’t include having to consult with the enemy.”

  Which was exactly what had him scared.

  “When this is over,” he said, wrapping his other hand around hers, “how about doing something boring together, like an afternoon at some stodgy museum, or maybe a really dull poetry reading.”

  She laughed. “I’d like that. Spending a normal, boring day with you.”

  Avery walked into the room, reminding him that there would be no normal, boring days ahead for the two of them if they didn’t end this tonight.

  “You two about ready?”

  Olivia nodded.

  “As soon as you’re done talking with your father, we’re moving you to that safe house,” Avery said.

  “What about Felipe’s list?” />
  “We’re closing in on the uniforms involved. Four arrests have already been made tonight, and the captain is expecting at least a dozen more to follow.”

  “I’m glad, but the evidence …” She turned to Avery. “Will it stick?”

  “I think the DA should be able to make a strong case against them.”

  “I hope so.”

  Michael studied his sister’s somber expression. He might not have been around the past few months, but he still knew her well enough to tell when something was wrong.

  “Avery?”

  “I have good news and bad news.”

  Michael glanced at Olivia. “Okay.”

  “The good news is we were able to confirm from the hotel video footage that the two men who grabbed Ivan were the same guys we just arrested in the stairwell.”

  “And the bad news?”

  “We know how they got in. Two of the security guards were found dead.”

  Olivia’s grip tightened on his hand. “Are they talking?”

  “So far all we know is they work for Salazar, and that they were ordered to find you and Ivan.” Michael’s frown deepened.

  “So we are being used as leverage. What else?”

  “I’m sorry, Michael, but they found Jinx. They murdered him too.”

  “No …” Michael’s voice caught as a wave of nausea pooled in his gut. This was the kind of guilt he’d never be able to shake.

  “They apparently found out from his parole officer that you were going to talk to him. They were waiting for him when he eventually returned to his house.”

  “He paid the price for my decisions.”

  “You can’t blame yourself,” Avery said.

  “I can and I do. They killed him because I went to him for information.” Michael’s jaw tensed. “The bottom line is that these people don’t play games, Olivia. And now you and Ivan are being used to draw your father out—”

  “That’s why we have to stop this before more people are killed.”

  He took her hand and laced their fingers together. All he knew to do was keep praying that they could get through the next few hours without anyone else getting hurt. “You know the plan for tonight?”

  “Yeah.”

  Her father’s directions had been simple. He’d chosen the busy food court of a nearby mall, and given her specific instructions. Come alone. No cops. She was to sit down at a table and he’d find her. They’d worked on a plan with the captain to get around the no-cops condition by using handpicked, plainclothes officers to secure the area, but the mall would be crowded, with multiple exits, something Valez was no doubt counting on. Michael could only pray their plan was enough to keep Olivia safe.

  “Avery will meet you there when you’re done talking with him and escort you out of the mall. We’ll be able to hear everything you say.”

  “And then they’ll arrest him.” She reached for the button on the front of her coat jacket that would catch both audio and video. “Is it wrong for me to still want to believe that my father’s somehow innocent in all of this?”

  “No. I’d say it’s completely normal.”

  She moved away from him until she was standing in front of the window overlooking the lit-up city. “I’ve always seen life as black and white, with a few areas of gray, but part of me wants to try and justify everything that my father did. I want to tell the DA that it’s not my father’s fault that there are drugs in the world. He never forced anyone to use them, he was simply doing business like any other businessman would have done … meeting the demand.”

  She turned away from the window to face him. “I want to blame what’s happened on the millions who demand what he sells. Is that crazy?”

  He waited for her to continue.

  “The other thing I want to tell him is that you can arrest my father, Salazar, Felipe, every lieutenant, hitman, and local drug dealer under them, along with every single person on the Canary List, and there will be others who will rise up to take their places. Maybe the problem will move down the street or into another neighborhood, but it’s not over. It’s never going to be over. Not as long as people keep demanding the drugs.”

  “Maybe, but in the end, your father is responsible for his actions, just like every other dealer and user out there,” Michael said. “And what we do today will make a difference.”

  Avery walked into the room, adjusting her earpiece. “Are you ready?”

  Olivia drew in a deep breath. “Yeah, let’s go.”

  Forty-five minutes later, Olivia crossed the crowded food court, with its loud music playing in the background, praying that after tonight all of this would be over. Praying that Avery and her team would find Ivan. And that maybe … just maybe … she’d get a chance to get to know Michael without the threat of someone trying to kill them.

  People lined up in front of the dozens of food venders still decorated for the holidays, buying everything from pizza, to burgers, to Chinese fare. Families with young children, teens, and couples filled the tables and chairs across the open space. She couldn’t see them, but she knew that the team Avery had put together was out there as well, ensuring her safety. But even that wasn’t enough to settle her nerves.

  The calmness she’d tried to emulate on the drive over had been nothing more than a false front, because inside, she was still terrified. She’d take sitting in front of her computer, miles away from any real conflict, to chasing down the bad guys like an adrenaline junkie any day.

  But she could—she would—do this for Ivan.

  She found one of the few empty tables with two chairs and sat down as she’d been instructed, sipping the milkshake she’d bought while trying to look as if she were simply taking a break from shopping. A moment later, she saw him walk toward her, carrying a shopping bag. He looked older than she remembered. His hair was grayer than it had been a year ago, his hairline had receded, and there were creases across his face from the hard life he’d led. He didn’t look anything like a drug lord or money launderer. He looked like someone’s husband—or someone’s father—birthday shopping after a day’s work at the office.

  He slid in across from her and set his shopping bag on the floor beside his chair.

  The smile he gave her was tempered with an edge of caution. “I wasn’t sure you’d show up.”

  “You told me this had to do with Ivan. What choice did I have?”

  “There are so many things you don’t know. But as much as you probably hate me right now, I want you to know that I never regretted loving your mother. Never regretted you and Ivan.”

  Olivia’s jaw tensed. It was too late to start over. Too late to erase the damage from the past. And she was tired of his excuses.

  “What I know,” she said, “is that I’ve spent my entire life living a lie. Surrounded by secrets that no one would tell me. Maybe you and my mother were only trying to protect me, but Ivan could lose his life because of those secrets. It has to end. Now.”

  “Can I assume that Michael filled you in on some of those secrets, mi princesa?”

  Olivia flinched at the pet name. “Does it matter? And maybe we should skip the pleasantries and just focus on where Ivan is.”

  “Salazar has him.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  “For the past few years he’s been setting up a place to operate out of northern Mexico, supplying heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and meth that he plans to flood the region with. He’s in the process of centralizing the shipping, warehousing, and distribution of the drugs, then the collection and transport of the money back to Mexico. He’s setting himself up to take over Cártel de Rey.”

  The pieces were beginning to snap into place. She knew some of the answers, but wanted to hear them from him. “How do Ivan and I fit into all of this?”

  “He’s using you to get to me.”

  “What are they asking for?”

  Her father tapped his fingers against the table, clearly taking in everything that was going on around him while he spoke. “Th
ere’s a list of names some call the Canary List. It’s a record of cartel informants within the government and police department. He needs that list in order to ensure loyalties.”

  Olivia felt her stomach clench. “That’s what they’re asking for?”

  “If they don’t get that list, they’ve said they’ll kill your brother.” Her father reached out and grasped her hands. “No matter what kind of father you think I’ve been, I don’t want to be responsible for my son’s death. But I swear, I don’t have the list.”

  The panic was back. Did her father have any idea that with the Canary List in the hands of the police, it had become worthless to Salazar? Olivia felt her head pound, not knowing how much to tell him, or how much she could trust him. But the bottom line was that their leverage to save Ivan’s life had just vanished.

  “How much time do we have?”

  “I don’t know yet.” Her father glanced at his watch. “I’m waiting for Salazar to call me back and tell me where to meet him, but there are rumors that Felipe gave you the list. Is that true?”

  Olivia ignored his question. “And without the list? How do we save him?”

  Her father’s gaze darkened. “Why? What do you know, Olivia?”

  “I know it’s too late.” Olivia felt the darkness of the room close in on her. They’d torture and kill him. “The police already have that list.”

  “Making the list completely worthless to Salazar.” Her father raked his hands through his hair.

  “What do we do?”

  “I don’t know, but what I do know, mi princesa, is that all those years I kept my distance from you, it was never because I didn’t care. It was because I was afraid of this very thing happening.”

  “Then what do we do now? There has to be a way to get Ivan back alive.” The panic was rising again. The noise from the crowd and the music pressed in around her, making her want to bolt. “They’ve already made a number of arrests. It won’t be long before Salazar knows that list is worthless, if he doesn’t already know.”

  Her father reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his phone to check his messages.

  Olivia leaned forward. “What is it?”