Chapter Indigo
Indigo
Ruiz took an afternoon nap, as Yvette had predicted. The Digital Team still worked on finding names to go along with the photos the team had taken of Ruiz’s visitors. Yvette knew that the longer they worked on it, the less likely they were to identify them.
A DEA Team flew a drone over the structure northwest of Cancun that Mac had trailed Hector to.
There was no movement there. The camera on the drone showed several men milling around outside of it and no heat signatures inside.
They believed it was a stash house or, if it was a drug prep location; the workers were not working at that time.
They were going to keep observing the area and would go in after dark.
There was little for Yvette, Mac, Garcia, and Mother to do, so they took a cooling swim at the resort’s jungle pool, which was more private than either of the infinity pools.
She had her hair in a wide wrap to somewhat hide it and large sunglasses on to help conceal her identity, just in case the cartel members on the road who’d confronted Mac had passed her description onto anyone at the resort.
Lambchop took a shift in Mac’s room monitoring the feed that showed Ruiz sleeping in his bed.
Cooper and Madison took advantage of the downtime to relax in their room, available to watch Ruiz’s room from theirs when Lambchop notified them he was awake if monitoring was needed.
And Laura Lee took advantage of the time off and the cool of her room to take a nap, as did Roth and Briana, though they enjoyed a romantic encounter before the nap.
A lazy river wound itself through the jungle pool area from the actual pool, circling through the dense foliage and passing in front of each secluded cabana.
Yvette appreciated how peaceful it was as she lay on her back, floating in the cool water.
She lay with her eyes closed, confident that the three men were in the vicinity with their eyes open.
It was a vulnerability she otherwise would never indulge in.
She felt Mac’s presence as the water gently lapped against her with his approach.
She felt his familiar hand make contact with and caress her lower back as his cheek grazed hers.
Then his arms encircled her, and his body floated up from below her to spoon her with her body just below the surface of the water.
She sighed a response to the pleasurable sensations his close proximity gave her. “This is heaven, isn’t it?” she whispered. She felt his strong chest beneath her head and back, gently cradling her.
“Heaven would be inside you, but this is a close second,” he whispered, his lips at her ear.
“In the future, we should meet for vacations here,” she said. Over the years they had met a handful of times when they’d taken vacation or time off at the same time. “Why don’t we do that more often?”
He emitted a contented moan, his hot breath blowing over her ear. “I’d like that. I just never thought you’d be open to it.”
“It would require we stay in touch more than we do,” she said.
Or rather, it would require his staying in touch with her more than he did.
He always knew how and where to find her.
But he often disappeared from her life for months at a time, gone off the grid, gone dark, whatever he wanted to call it.
She knew he was still deep in the game, often under as a deep cover operative for long periods of time.
But she knew he always answered Shepherd’s calls and probably the calls from a host of other leaders of various intelligence agencies he’d worked for as a contractor from time to time after leaving the CIA.
She tucked away the negative feelings that bubbled to the surface with that thought. They had no commitment. He was not obligated to stay in touch with her, and she’d always been fine with how things were between them in the past.
“Are you suggesting regular meetups, Miss Spontaneity?”
“Would that be such a bad thing?” she asked.
“Not at all,” he said. “I just never thought you’d be open to more planned visits, and I know your job, as mine, doesn’t allow for it.”
She allowed that statement from him to wash through her for a moment, only then realizing that it actually was no longer that way for her.
She had a predictable schedule and knew when she would have time off.
For instance, she knew she’d have a week around Christmas as Shepherd rotated vacation time for all before and after Christmas through the first of the year.
She also had the ability to schedule other blocks of time off through the year at times of her choosing.
There were enough backups for her to work Ops.
She’d never really thought about it before, but with his statement, she realized that he was still on the same crazy hamster wheel.
“Not so much for me anymore. Working for Shepherd has brought a more predictable schedule, and I know in advance when I’ll be off or when I can take off. It’s actually very nice.”
“So when are you off next?” he asked.
“I’ll have a week off around Christmas. Everyone at the agency gets a week off before or after Christmas Day.
Not having plans, I’ve always let the others pick their weeks and I take whatever is left, but this year, if you’re available to meet, I could make my choice first. I do have the seniority. ”
“I can make myself available between Christmas and the New Year,” he said, much to her surprise.
“That would be nice. So, here, December twenty-sixth?”
“It’s a date,” he said, and then pressed a kiss against her cheek. “I’ll make the reservations before we leave, when this case is resolved.”
A peaceful feeling as well as a glimmer of excitement filled her with his words.
She rested her head more firmly against his chest and enjoyed the warmth of the sun beating down on her as well as the cool water that surrounded her as she floated for another ten minutes before the alarm she’d set on her watch chimed. The break was over.
***
Later that evening, Ruiz woke and dressed for dinner.
They knew he was preparing to leave his room as his security departed his own room first and met him at the bottom of the building, just outside of the elevator.
The night before, Roth had followed him to his room.
He was in a room in a non-club level building, which was less expensive.
Maybe Ruiz was having some cash flow problems.
Tonight, Ruiz dined at the Asian restaurant. Roth and Woods followed him in to find he sat alone at the sushi bar. They were sat at the far end of the bar from him.
Madison and Cooper were at the bar inside the Asian restaurant, watching him and waiting for him to depart.
Lambchop and Laura Lee had made plans to eat dinner with the New York couple.
They dined at the seafood restaurant. They pumped the couple for info on themselves, which Yvette and Garcia listened to through comms. Garcia then transmitted the info to Smith on the Digital Team to corroborate or find info that indicated something else.
They had to determine whether the man had been talking on the phone with Ruiz earlier that day.
They did learn that the couple was leaving the resort the next morning, stating plans to visit Chichén-Itzá.
“So, they’ll be out of the resort tomorrow,” Yvette said to Garcia. “At the same time, Ruiz discussed with his mystery caller a private exhibition of the product for the caller to make his selection.”
“Yeah, too coincidental for my liking,” Garcia agreed.
“They don’t fit the profile of someone Ruiz would be doing business with,” Mac said. “Lambchop, see what the reply is if you suggest going on the excursion too,” he transmitted through comms.
Lambchop did, and the couple eagerly gave them the info needed to book and go with them, insisting it would be so much fun if the four of them did the excursion together.
After Ruiz ate, he met with a middle-aged Hispanic couple at the round bar in the middle of the resort, settling into the comfortable outside seating.
Madison and Cooper followed but could not get a seat close enough to listen to the conversation.
The bar was too crowded. And the super mic had no direct line of sight to where he sat.
Madison and Cooper were able to snap pictures of the couple, which were sent to the Digital Team.
They were easily identified by the names of the registered guests at the resort that the Digital Team had already run.
Jim and Claudia Perez from San Antonio, Texas, both in their late forties, married ten years, no children.
They ran a transportation company that was located near the airport.
They were booked in a room on the first floor of the same building Cooper and Madison were in.
“While they’re at the bar. I’m going to go search their room,” Garcia said. “Mother, meet me down by their room.”
“Razor, we’ll keep an eye on them and delay them if they’re heading back that way,” Cooper transmitted.
“I knew you would,” he said.
“It’s extremely unlikely the New York couple is involved, Lambchop and Lah-lee.
Try to get them to join you for a drink in the round bar after dinner if Ruiz is still there,” Yvette said.
“Maybe you can get closer to him than Coop and Xena have. And being with the other couple will help you blend more into the background if Ruiz is taking note of who is near him night after night.”
“We just finished dinner at the sushi bar, Control. Where do you want us?” Roth asked.
“Come back to a cabana near the Preferred Club pool so you are close to the building again to watch this side of the resort.”