Charlie
“Ihave an operation I need help with,” Mac said.
“My help?”
“Yours and Shepherd’s.”
“I can answer for me, but not for him. When do you plan to approach Shepherd?”
“That would be the second part of the help I need from you. I need you as overwatch during the Op, but I also need your help in approaching Shepherd. This one could get him in trouble with his superiors,” he said.
“Well, first off, there is no one superior to Shepherd. You know that.”
“I mean in the loose command structure that even Shepherd has to adhere to. This one could get messy. Someone is protecting a really bad guy for reasons I can’t figure out.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know that I have primarily been working on locating and arresting those on the Red List as a contractor with Interpol,” he said.
“Yes.”
“And you know what the Red List is?”
“Yes, those on the Red List have had notices go out to law enforcement worldwide to locate and arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action. A Red Notice is not actually an international arrest warrant, but it is a request for law enforcement worldwide to locate and arrest a person.”
“Yes. I’m concentrating on the twelve who remain on it specifically for human trafficking.
They’re the worst of the worst. So far, I’ve tracked down and helped to apprehend seven others with no problems. But this guy, someone’s protecting him.
Someone high-ranking at Interpol. That’s why it could get dicey for Shepherd.
He’ll more than likely receive a stand-down order, just as I did.
Then he’ll have to decide if he’s going to keep going or standdown, which could land him in a lot of trouble. ”
“And what about you? By continuing, aren’t you in a lot of trouble?”
“Yes. I’m burning bridges I probably won’t be able to repair. I’m sure once they know I’m proceeding, my status as a contractor with Interpol will be void.”
“Is this guy worth it?” Yvette asked.
“Yes. The sheer number of victims and the young ages of them make it worth it. He has to be stopped. He’s responsible for hundreds of deaths in those he’s trafficked.”
“Are we talking sex trafficking?”
“Mostly, but he also supplies people who are forced into drug production and trafficking as well as in weapons trafficking. There was a mass gravesite discovered in Mexico with sixty bodies, children as young as twelve years old who were killed in an accident during the packaging of fentanyl.” He paused and swept a hand through his hair, pushing it back from his face.
“Twelve years old and forced to work in a dangerous environment packaging drugs,” he repeated.
“Where is he now?”
“A luxury resort just north of Cancun. I believe he is going to conduct meetings there with several cartel heads, his customers. We could net more than him if we move fast enough. That’s why I came to you and why I want Shepherd’s help. He can move fast.”
“And you were told to stand down by Interpol when you told them what you’ve told me. You were told not to arrest him even though you have this guy’s location?”
“And a request for surveillance and authorization to intercept anyone he meets with there was also turned down. I was told to leave the area and not to engage.”
“Could there have been another operation already at play?”
“No, there is not. I have confirmation of that from other very reliable sources,” he said.
That was when Yvette decided Shepherd should not be presented with this case.
She knew him well enough to know that he’d join forces with Mac and most likely harm his standing with the intelligence community.
“Is it possible this guy is working with our CIA or DEA? That would explain why he’s untouchable. ”
Mac sighed loudly. “The thought had crossed my mind, but I quickly decided that even if he is, and his crimes are being given a free pass right now, it doesn’t matter. He still has to be brought to justice.”
Yvette was impressed by how determined his voice sounded.
But that was Mac, dedicated and impartial to his core.
“I have some time off coming and will help. I know of several men we can get to back you up. They’re good, ex-spooks who now work for the agency as hired muscle.
This isn’t a mission for Shepherd,” she stated plainly.
“Shepherd will know where you are, your tracker.”
“I know how to work around it,” she said. “I assume you need boots on the ground ASAP.”
“I need to get back down there tomorrow,” Mac said.
“Okay. I’ll either go with you or meet you within a few days. I’ll contact the team I’m thinking of and get the ball rolling. What is the price you’re offering for the job?”
“Enough to engage them,” Mac said. “I have an errand of my own to run this afternoon. Meet you back here for dinner? I’ll bring a pizza.”
“Sounds good.”
She went to see the one person who could help her.
Michaela Karras Johnson. Michaela was still at home on maternity leave.
This would be the sixth time Yvette had seen baby Stephanie.
She didn’t arrive empty-handed. She never did.
She always stopped at a store on the way and picked up a small gift.
Today she bought a package of headbands with bows on them in various colors.
The last time she was over, a week earlier, Michaela had one around the baby’s head and mentioned she needed to get a few more in different colors as she really liked putting them on the baby.
After visiting with Michaela, and hearing that she and the baby were doing well, Yvette brought up the true reason for her visit.
Michaela had her back to her as she was at the sink, rinsing the few dishes that were there, and Yvette held little Stephanie, drinking in the incredible feeling of holding the tiny being close to her chest.
“I need a favor,” Yvette said.
Michaela stopped what she was doing and turned to face Yvette. There was something in her voice that conveyed urgency, seriousness. “What is it?”
“Last year you tricked the tracker system with a battery-powered bypass. I need access to that, and I need you to help me pull it off. I have to slip away for a little while, and Shepherd can’t know where I am or what I’m doing. An old friend asked me for a favor.”
“If someone is asking you to deceive Shepherd and lie to him, they’re no friend,” Michaela said.
A grin that Michaela couldn’t decipher curved over Yvette’s face. “Please?”
“You don’t want to do that, Yvette. Trust me. I was really stupid for doing it, and it almost cost me my life. Whatever it is, you can trust Shepherd,” Michaela said.
“I know I can trust him, and I know he’ll help. That’s the problem. His helping could put him in danger and expose the agency. If I do it my way instead, neither him nor the agency is exposed.”
“Here’s how I’ll help,” Michaela said. She pulled her phone from the back pocket of her shorts and hit dial.
Yvette didn’t know who she had called until three sentences into the call.
“Yvette needs a favor. She’ll be there in about ten minutes. Are you in the penthouse?”
Yvette groaned. Shepherd. She’d called Shepherd. There was silence as Michaela listened.
“Yes. I’ll tell her. Thank you.” Michaela replaced the phone in her back pocket. “He’ll be waiting in his penthouse for you as he and Diana are just finishing dinner.”
“I wish you hadn’t done that,” Yvette said, rising from the table. As Michaela approached, she held Stephanie out for Michaela to take.
Michaela embraced her rather than taking the baby back. “You are one of my best friends. I did what’s best for you. And Shepherd deserves better. I wronged him once by doing exactly what you’re asking me to help you do. I promised him I’d never do that again.”
“Well, I’d never ask you to break a promise to Shepherd,” Yvette squeaked out, choking down her emotions. She was an expert at that.
***
Yvette thought about what she’d say to Shepherd on the short drive back to HQ and as she rode the elevator to the tenth floor, which was Shepherd’s penthouse.
She was one of the few people who had access to it.
That fact was not lost on her. She was trusted by him, and Yvette was right.
What she’d originally planned in her ask of Michaela would be a crappy thing to do to Shepherd. He did deserve better.
She knocked at the door to Shepherd’s penthouse. She was a little surprised when his wife, Diana, opened it. “Hi, come in. Sam is in his office,” she said, pointing to the hallway that Yvette knew led to his home office.
“Thank you, Diana. I’m sorry to interrupt your evening,” Yvette said. She knew their time alone and uninterrupted was precious as they rarely had uninterrupted moments.
“If it weren’t you, it would be something else,” Diana said with a smile.
She wasn’t bitter about it. She was quite accepting of Shepherd’s demanding job.
She was a chiropractor with her own demanding practice, so she understood that career often had to come before personal time.
“Charlie Team expects fireworks during their Op this evening. I know Sam is keeping an eye on their situation.”
Yvette nodded uncomfortably. She truly liked Diana and didn’t think anyone else could have been as understanding that the agency and its business would always come first with Shepherd, but her thoughts were still on the impending conversation with Shepherd.
“Thanks, Diana,” she said, stepping towards the hallway.
Her gaze penetrated the open doorway and into Shepherd’s office before she entered.
Shepherd looked up from the papers on his desk at the same moment.
Their eyes locked momentarily stunning her.
Or perhaps that was her own guilt stopping her in her tracks.
She forced a pleasant grin, knowing Shepherd would know it was forced.
“Thank you for seeing me this evening,” she said.
“It probably could have waited until tomorrow.”
“My question is why was it Michaela asking and not you?”
Yvette stepped into the room and took a seat in the chair beside the desk. “Because I asked her for a favor she would not grant.”
Shepherd’s eyebrow arched up with that statement, but he didn’t speak.
Yvette told Shepherd the entire story, leaving out the part about having sex with Mac, of course. “I know that if you help Mac, it would put this agency and you personally in a compromising position.”
“Damn it, Yvette, that’s my decision to make. Not yours.”
“Regardless of your decision about agency involvement, I want to help him. I owe him that,” she said.
“Why didn’t Mac contact me directly? Certainly, he knew coming to you to draft this agency,” he paused. “But you were going to go it alone at first, would have if Michaela hadn’t said no and contacted me on your behalf.”
“He asked me to help convince you to help him, fearing you would say no,” Yvette said. “I agreed with him you would decline. Then I convinced him I could recruit a few Operatives I knew outside of this agency to help and assured him I would run an Operations Center to cover them.”
“Why, Yvette?”
“Shep, this has the potential to blow up in his face. Interpol turned him down. Someone’s protecting Ruiz. The question is who? And why?”
“We’ll get those answers when we apprehend him and interrogate him at the Silo.”
A brick settled in the pit of Yvette’s stomach. Shepherd was going to do this, the consequences be damned.
“I’ll clear time on my calendar tomorrow morning for a meeting with Mac. I’ll let you both know what time. You can bring him in through the sub-basement entrance.”
Yvette stood, knowing she’d just been dismissed, even though it was an informal meeting. “Thank you, Shep.”
“I also expect you to schedule some time with Lassiter to discuss why pulling out your tracker and going behind my back was your plan.”
A sudden wave of nausea hit Yvette. “Yes, sir,” she said before slipping out of the room.
Thankfully, she didn’t run into Diana on her way out of the penthouse.
She took the stairs. The exercise would do her good plus, running down twelve flights of stairs was a form of a self-ordered punishment.
She hated the thought that she had disappointed Shepherd.