22. THE DRIVING LESSON #2
“You never told me.”
“I’m telling you now.”Her tears fell harder.“That’s worse.”
“I know.”Chris stepped closer.She didn’t back away this time.“Camila, I’m so sorry.”His voice lowered.“I swear to you, everything involving you became real.”
“Became?”He closed his eyes.Wrong word.“The first time I met you, you weren’t part of the operation.”
“But I became part of it?”
“No.”Chris shook his head.“You became part of me.”That silenced her.He came closer.“Let me protect you, I can protect you.”Camila looked up.“From who?”
“Mateo.”She flinched.“Diego.”Another.“The men who tried killing us.”Chris touched her arms carefully.“And from what’s coming.”Her eyes narrowed.“What is coming?”He hesitated.That was enough.“The raid.”Chris stared.“You heard that too.”
“Yes.”
“Fuck.”
“When?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“But soon.”
“Yes.”Camila looked toward the horizon.Her brother.Chris.Everything breaking at once.Chris stepped in front of her.“Listen to me.”She looked up.“Whatever happens, you stay with me.”
“Why should I trust you?”Chris had no answer that could fix this.So he gave her the only one he had.
“Because when those men came for you, I went back.”Her face changed.
“Because when Mateo’s men came to that hotel, I got you out.
”His voice broke.“Because even if you never forgive me, I will still protect you.”Camila stared at him. “You expect me to just go with you?”
“No.”Chris swallowed.“I’m asking.”She wiped her cheeks.“If I say yes, where are we going?”Chris looked down at the badge between them.Then back at her.“Well…”A faint, humorless smile touched his mouth.“I know a place.”
The FBI field office was not what Camila expected.No dramatic rows of agents.No flashing lights.No people running around shouting into telephones.Just security.A lot of security.Chris drove them into an underground entrance.Camila stared at the building.“You’re taking me to FBI headquarters.”
“Field office.”She looked at him.“Now you’re correcting me?”
“Bad timing?”
“Terrible.”
“Right.”Chris showed his credentials at the first checkpoint.Camila watched.The guard looked at the badge.Then at Chris.“Walker.”
“Welcome back Agent.”Hearing it aloud did something strange to her.Walker.Real.The barrier opened.Chris drove through.Inside the secured parking area, he killed the engine.Neither moved.Camila looked at him.“You look different.”Chris frowned.“What?”
“Here.”He glanced around.Federal building.His world.“I’m the same.”
“No.”She shook her head.“You’re not.”Maybe she was right.For the first time since meeting her, Chris wasn’t performing Roman.There was no need.He opened his door.
“Come on.”Sloan was waiting.Camila recognized the voice instantly.Her eyes narrowed.
“You.”Sloan looked at Chris.Chris closed his eyes. “Here we go.”
“You’re Sloan.”Rebecca Sloan extended her hand cautiously.“Rebecca Sloan.”
Camila stared at it.Then at Chris.“The woman from the phone.”
“She isn’t—”
“I didn’t ask you.”Chris shut his mouth.Sloan almost smiled.Smart woman.Camila finally shook her hand.“Camila Vargas.”
“I know.”Camila’s expression hardened.“Of course you do.”Sloan’s smile disappeared.“Fair.”Mercer entered behind her.Chris immediately straightened slightly.Camila noticed.“Camila, this is Daniel Mercer.”
“Your boss?”Chris grimaced.“Unfortunately.”Mercer looked at him.
Chris shrugged.Camila almost laughed.Almost.They entered a secure conference room.Camila sat.Chris took the seat beside her.Not across.Beside.Mercer noticed.
Sloan definitely noticed.A file sat in front of Mercer.Camila’s name printed across it.Chris’s jaw tightened.“No.”Mercer looked up.“I haven’t said anything yet.”
“I know what that is.”
“Chris.”
“She isn’t involved.”Camila looked between them.Mercer folded his hands.
“Ms. Vargas, we need to establish your level of knowledge and involvement.”
Chris immediately leaned forward.“None.”Mercer’s eyes went to him.“Walker.”
“She doesn’t know anything.”
“Chris.”
“I swear to you.”Mercer’s expression hardened.“We need her answers, not yours.”
Chris looked at Camila.She looked shaken.His protective instinct overrode everything else.“She is not part of this.”
“Walker—”
“I swear to you on my badge.”Silence.Camila stared at him.His badge.For once that phrase meant something.Chris continued.
“She didn’t know about the warehouse. She doesn’t know the routes.
She doesn’t know Salazar. She doesn’t know where Mateo’s money is going.
She doesn’t know the suppliers.”Mercer stared. “You’re certain?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because I’ve been with her every day.”That wasn’t the answer Mercer wanted.Sloan looked down.Mercer looked at Chris.Then Camila.
“Ms. Vargas?”Camila swallowed.“I knew Mateo did things.”Chris looked at her.She kept going.
“I knew enough not to ask.”Mercer listened.
“But drugs?”She shook her head.“I’ve never been in that warehouse.
I’ve never moved money. I’ve never carried anything for him.
I’ve never made deliveries.”Mercer nodded.
“If that’s truthful, and you continue cooperating, you are not the focus of our criminal investigation.
”Chris exhaled.Barely.Camila looked at Mercer. “Cooperating how?”
“Answer questions honestly. Don’t warn Mateo. Don’t interfere with the operation.”
Her face changed.“My brother.”Chris looked toward her.There it was.The part he’d dreaded.Mercer didn’t soften.“We have probable cause and active operational intelligence.”
“How bad?”Nobody immediately answered.Camila looked at Chris.“How bad?”Chris’s jaw tightened.“Bad.”She looked away.Mercer stood.“There’s more.”Chris looked at him.
Something in Mercer’s voice changed.“What?”
“We have confirmation.”Sloan immediately straightened.Chris’s pulse kicked.“Confirmation of what?”
“Warehouse activity.”Mercer moved toward the screen.An image appeared.Live surveillance.Warehouse.Vehicles.Men loading.Chris recognized the place instantly.
A white cargo van.Black Tahoe.Two additional trucks.Diego.Chris leaned forward.
Then another figure appeared.Mateo.Camila covered her mouth.“Oh my God.”Chris stared.Mercer pointed toward the image.“Product is physically present.”Wrapped packages.
Duffel bags.Men moving them.Clear as day.“Our surveillance team has visual confirmation Mateo Vargas and Diego Serrano are actively overseeing movement of narcotics from the warehouse.”Chris stood.“When was this taken?”
“Eleven minutes ago.”
“What changed?”
“They’re moving early.”Chris’s stomach dropped.Mateo knew.Or suspected enough.“The hotel.”
Sloan nodded.
“Diego’s leak investigation spooked them.”Chris paced toward the screen.“They’re emptying the warehouse.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Best estimate? A few hours.”Chris turned toward Mercer.“So move.”Mercer held his gaze.“We are.”Silence.Chris stopped.“What?”
“The raid package has been approved.”Camila looked between them.Chris’s entire body changed.Agent Walker.“Teams?”
“Mobilizing.”
“Warrants?”
“Signed.”
“Local?”
“Limited notification until we’re ready.”
“Tactical?”
“En route.”Chris looked at the live feed again.Mateo.Diego.Drugs.Vehicles.This was it.Not tomorrow.Not later.Now.Camila stood.“Wait.”Chris turned.Her face was pale.“You’re going.He didn’t answer.She knew.“You’re going back there.”
“Camila.”
“After they tried to kill you?”
“I have to.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Yeah.”His voice softened.“I do.”
“Why?”Chris looked toward the badge still in her hand.Then at her.“Because this is who I am.”That hurt.But for the first time—it was the truth.Chris took the badge from her hand.
Mercer’s phone rang.He answered.Listened.Then looked at Chris.“We have movement.”
Chris’s expression sharpened.“How much?”
“Two vehicles loaded. Third being packed now.”Mercer ended the call.Nobody spoke.“We’re moving.”Everything changed instantly.Sloan grabbed her jacket.The door opened.
Agents appeared in the hallway.Radios.Tactical equipment.Movement.Chris reached instinctively toward Camila.She caught his hand.“Don’t.”He froze.She wasn’t rejecting him.
She was scared.“Come back.”Chris stared at her.It was almost identical to the promise she’d once asked for in his apartment.You’ll be here when I wake up?You promise?He covered her hand with his.“I’ll come back.”
“You said that before.”
“And I did.”She looked into his eyes.“Chris Walker?”For the first time, she used his real name.His heart nearly stopped.“Yeah?”
“Come back.”Chris squeezed her hand.Then released it.He turned toward Mercer.The agent was already handing him body armor.Large yellow letters across the front.
FBI.Camila stared.The vest slid over Chris’s chest.His badge clipped at his waist.Weapon checked.Magazine.Radio.Everything suddenly made sense.Every movement she’d questioned.Every instinct.Every scar.Every silence.Chris Walker stood in front of her.
Not Roman.Not anymore.He looked back once.Camila stood beside Sloan.Watching him.
Chris wished he had time to explain everything.To apologize properly.To tell her about every scar.Every lie.Every moment that had been real.There wasn’t time.Mercer opened the secure door.
“Walker.”Chris looked forward.“We’re up.
”Chris took one breath.Then stepped into the hallway with the tactical team.Behind him, Camila whispered:“Please come back.”
And somewhere across the city, Mateo Vargas had no idea that the man he’d trusted with his sister was coming back to the warehouse—this time wearing a badge.