Chapter 2 Nicole #5
Chili held up his phone as he stood next to me. “Eighty-six thousand people are currently watching your every move, Agent Colin.” I could have hugged him for playing along, even if I still wasn’t sure what his own motives were. At least Chili wasn’t trying to separate Chase and me.
Agent Colin rubbed his lips as he thought. “Christ.” He huffed. “I wasn’t looking for a war here, Ms. Winter, I just want to make sure the boy gets into the right hands.”
“And that’s all I’m doing as well, sir.” I kept my on-air voice.
“At least let me drive you somewhere safe.”
“She’s good,” Chili said before I could. “I’ve got my orders, too.”
So many orders and so many lies.
Colin slid his card across the table. “In case you change your mind.”
“I won’t, but I’ll still take it.”
He got up and began to walk back toward their vehicles.
I saw him say something to one of the men before he slammed the door and disappeared behind a blacked-out window.
I tucked the card away. I planned on discussing that little encounter with Paul and Cole.
FBI Agent Colin gave off the same kind of darkness Bruno did.
“We should go.” Chili grabbed my bag, but I held up a hand to stop him.
“I’m putting my trust in you. I’m not sure why, but I am. Please, don’t make me regret it.”
“He said you were a good judge of character.” He gave a quick smile then turned and began to walk toward his rig, and I rushed to follow.
“Who?”
“The guy who hired me to get you to safety.” I rolled my eyes, and his brows raised at my reaction. “You don’t believe me?” He put a hand on his hip.
“I’ll believe it when I see it.” I walked past him. “Also, I’ll take the front seat now.” It wasn’t easy, but I finally managed to get up into the cab while I held on to Chase for dear life.
Chili rounded the front and hopped inside the truck like it was a tiny Ford Focus. He eyed Chase and seemed to think for a moment. “I can rig something for the boy to sit in.”
“He’s fine on my lap,” I assured him as I looked down at the little guy. His eyes were closed again, and I prayed the Tylenol was working. “Let’s get moving before the FBI realizes I just lied to them, and they come after me again.”
He started the beast of an engine and checked his mirrors. “They won’t leave. They’ll be following us until our next stop.”
“Next stop?”
“Mmhm.” He changed gears, and we were off.
I swallowed hard and hoped the next stop would be somewhere safe.
Another night came around, and I started to imagine he was just taking me on some crazy road trip.
At least being in the front, I had a sense of where we were in New Mexico, but over time, we entered Texas.
I desperately wanted to ask why we jumped states, but I didn’t want him to realize how much I was watching.
So, I steered our little conversations away from anything location-wise.
Chili opened up a little, and he made a bit of small talk, but for the most part, I was left alone with my thoughts. Occasionally, I comforted Chase and even sang to him when he got restless as the miles went by.
“You a Tyler Childers fan?” He glanced over at me when I ended the song Nose on the Grindstone.
“I wasn’t until…” I felt emotion get stuck in my throat when I thought of my old team and knew at some point I’d need to deal with their deaths, “until some friends of mine introduced me.” Friends. I smiled at that word. I didn’t have many, and they’d all been so kind.
“Country, huh?”
“It’s a great genre.”
His hand covered his mouth as he smiled. “You would fit in.”
“Fit in?” I hated how cryptic he was. “Care to elaborate?” He kept his eyes on the road. “Okay, so, we’re going back to the silence again.” I rolled my eyes. “Got it.”
He chuckled but didn’t elaborate.
I had so many questions about the girls and why they’d been taken then ended up going back over the border.
I wondered who the masked men were who had come for them once we got back into the US.
Why had they ignored me so completely? Was Chili really in the human trafficking business? Was he really a monster?
“I’m not.” Chili’s voice found me, and I rewound my thoughts and wondered what I had said out loud.
“What?”
“I’m not what you think I am. I’m not a monster.”
I stared out the windshield and thought about my words. “No offense, Chili, but so far, things are not leaning in your favor. I mean, those girls, are they really okay? They told me about what they’d been through. They were so terrified by the whole ordeal.”
“That’s the idea.” He didn’t miss a beat as he rubbed his face. I could see he wanted to say more but maybe couldn’t. “They’re fine, though.”
“Oh, well, if you say so,” I scoffed, and he shook his head in amusement, and it pissed me off further.
“They are.”
“You sure about that? Because those men, whoever they are, wouldn’t give me a second glance, and I had a baby strapped to me.”
“They were under orders not to engage with you.”
I tossed my hands in the air with an exasperated sigh. “Orders from who?” Once again, he gave me nothing. “You obviously want to tell me what you know, so why don’t you?”
“I will,” he nodded, “but not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because,” he huffed. “If we get stopped, I need you to still be scared of me.”
“Just so it’s said, none of this is comforting in any way.” I shook my head.
His cell phone rang, and he hit the button that pushed the call through to his earpiece. I thought about what he’d said and tuned out his one-word answers he gave to someone else.
“Fuck, all right. Yeah, I got it.” He nearly slammed his fist into the phone to hang it up.
I felt the anger that poured off him. Shit, I hoped I’d never get Chili mad.
Not that he’d been easygoing, but I didn’t plan to let my guard down.
He squeezed the steering wheel, and he cleared his throat several times.
I couldn’t take the angry silence anymore.
“Anyone ever tell you that you look exactly like Rip from Yellowstone in that outfit?” I tried to lighten his mood. To my surprise, the stress seemed to fade from his face, and I watched his mouth morph into a small smile. My guess would be yes, he had.
“My buddy Eric used to say that all the time.”
My stomach plummeted as icy sweat broke out on the back of my neck. “You don’t mean Eric Noah?”
He removed his glasses and stared straight into my eyes, and I felt like I was under some kind of hold. “Eric was a good man.”
Great, this is the cherry on top of the shit cake I’ve been served.
“No, Eric was a monster,” I shot back, and he pushed his sunglasses back on.
“No worries, though, Chili. Your concern about me not acting scared if we run into anyone shouldn’t be a concern.
Sharing that you and Eric Noah were friends is enough to keep the fear at a level ten. ” I hugged Chase a little tighter.
“Funny you’re scared of a monster, but you love his child like he’s your own.”
I felt anger replace my fear. “How could you make such a comparison? He’s just a baby.”
“So, you believe in nature versus nurture?”
He was really trying to push my buttons.
“Of course, I don’t. When I look at him, I see a scared, sick baby who only wants to be loved.
You don’t come out of the womb corrupt. That’s something you’re taught.
He might carry the blood of a monster, but this little guy is as innocent as they come.
” I kissed his head. “And I’m determined to make sure he gets into the right hands so he’s nurtured to be a sweet boy so he can get the life he deserves. ”
I caught his smile as I watched him out of the corner of my eye. God, he was a hard man to figure out. He went silent again. Good, stay that way.
I settled back and drifted in and out of sleep. If Chase moved, I’d wake with a jump. Holy shit, I was tired. No, I was way past tired. I was bone-deep exhausted. I bounced awake as I felt the engine pull back and we made a quick turn, and I hit the door with my shoulder. “Ouch.”
“Sorry,” he grunted as I rubbed the sting from my muscle, “but we’re here, and I don’t need a tail coming in behind me.”
“Behind you where?” I tried to fight the fog from my head, but it was proving to be a task. “Where are we?” I blinked and read the giant sign as we drove under it.
Fort Echo United States Military Base. That removed the fog like a jet engine clearing a runway.
I leaned forward and scanned area. “Are we? Are you? Do you know?”
We pulled up to a gate, and a man stepped out as Chili lowered his window. “ID.” He reached for the small folder Chili handed him. I couldn’t see it and was more than curious to know what his full name was and what he really did for a living. “You alone?”
“No, we got company, but they’re staying out of view.”
“Suits or rifles?”
“Suits.”
“Copy that.” The man stepped back, lowered his head, and said something quietly into his radio. “You’re clear to enter the hangar.”
“Copy that.” Chili used the same lingo as the soldiers, and it sent my head into another tailspin as we continued through the massive base.
“So, you’re a soldier?” There’s a lot more to this man than I imagined.
He gave a little shrug. “Look, Chili, you clearly saved me from a bad situation at the border, and for that, I’m grateful.
You said someone hired you to get me to safety, but you won’t tell me who.
You didn’t let the FBI take him.” I tilted my head to indicate Chase.
“Now you’ve taken me to a base and gotten past the security check point and used military language.
I think it’s only fair that you tell me who you really are and what we’re doing here. Don’t I at least get that?”
He refused to answer me, and I saw we were headed inside an airplane hangar. The big rig slowed as we entered, and the hairs on my arms stood straight up as I became hyperaware that something big was about to happen. Once inside, the doors shut behind us, and I lost it.
“I have money.” I jumped into panic mode. “Holy shit, what’s happening?” My breathing picked up, and my head went light. I grabbed the handle above the seat and contemplated how I was going to escape.
“Nicole.” His voice held a warning.
“Please, Chili, you don’t have to do this.
Please, take me instead. Trust me, Bruno will pay good money to have my life destroyed.
Use me as a bargaining chip. Or better, let me tell you what I know, and you can go after him.
He’s evil. Trust me, I’ve seen things that would make a grown man fall to his knees.
” Tears burned paths down my cheeks and my heartbeat thumped wildly against my throat.
“There’s something bigger happening within their family, something I think I’m close to discovering.
” My mouth ran away with me. “If I just had another few weeks of digging, I could—” Everything started to hit me at once.
“I’ve gone through so much just to make sure this little one had what I didn’t. A family and hope. Please,” I repeated.
He turned off the engine and shifted in his seat to look at me. “Nicole, stop,” he shouted. “Damn it, I’m not here to hurt you two. I’ll tell you everything, but you have to turn off your camera first.”
I hesitated and forced my breathing back to normal. “Sorry, I don’t know why I panicked. I mean, I don’t usually…” I reached over and turned off the GoPro.
“Thank you. Now let’s get out of this truck and we’ll talk.”
“Okay.” I took a deep breath and gathered my things. The door opened, and Chili helped me down then shut the heavy door. Chase didn’t react, but I sure did. My body shook so hard that my vision was blurry.
“All right,” Chili smiled, “I was under orders to keep my identity from you in case we ran into trouble. Which we did. I needed you to fear me so my own position wasn’t compromised, but now that we’re safe, I can tell you this.
My name is Chili, and I work with a military group that helps those human trafficked to Mexico get back home.
The men who took the girls from the truck are part of the same organization, but they were instructed not to engage with you in case we were being followed. ”
“Why?” I tried to follow along, but my ears were ringing.
“Because I merged two missions together in order to get you out.”
Something clicked. “Is that who you told the girls you were waiting for? Was it me?”
“Yes,” he glanced at the door we just came through, “I got word that you were in trouble and might need some help to get across since your ride was compromised at the border.”
“The car in the parking lot?” He nodded as I tried to make sense of everything. “But who gave you those orders?”
His mouth pulled up on one side. “Him.” He nodded over my shoulder, and I turned to see both John and Cole walking toward me. My heartbeat drained from my ears as relief spread through me. I’d never been happier to see anyone in my life. He smiled. “Go ahead.”
I turned to run but stopped myself. “Sorry if I was hard on you. It’s just…”
“You played your part well. Never be sorry for protecting a child. You’re a good person, Nicole. Feisty as hell, but a good person.”
“Thanks.” I reached under Chase and hefted him a little higher on my chest and reached out to shake his hand then decided on a side hug and was rewarded with a grin.
I turned and hurried toward the guys while tears flowed freely down my face.