Ch. 14 – Rico
U nmitigated disaster. There was simply no other way to describe this entire day.
In the back seat of the news van, Rico silently fumed. What the hell was happening? As Jax chatted amenably with Chuck, he racked his brain for answers. He’d unleashed all his most successful moves on the beautiful Jacklyn. One by one, they’d fallen as flat as a drunk buffalo on ice skates. He’d flashed his irresistible smile all day, practically drowned the girl in a tidal wave of charm, and humbly displayed his wall of impressive rewards. He’d even deployed the biker gang story. The biker gang story!
Women’s clothes practically fell off when he told the biker gang story.
But Jax’s baggy clothing, tie included, had stayed firmly in place. In fact, instead of winning her over, every one of his patented moves seemed to push her further away. Over the course of the day, the edge of sarcasm in her voice had only grown sharper, while the amusement in her eyes stripped away his confidence like paint thinner.
The woman utterly flummoxed him.
Glumly, Rico glanced out the window. A sign off the highway grabbed his attention, and he shot up in his seat .
“Take the next exit,” he commanded Chuck.
*
“And we’re here because . . .” Jax shifted from foot to foot as Rico carefully studied the products on display.
“Feel free to wait in the van with your BFF, Chuck,” he offered.
“I’ve got to walk in your shoes, remember? Even if that leads us to . . .” She quirked a dark eyebrow. “Where are we?”
“Pets, Pets, and Pets!” answered a skinny, acne-prone teen as he restocked dog collars in the next aisle.
“Pets, Pets, and Pets!” Rico repeated to Jax. “Get that down for your profile.”
Okay, he was being an ass, but only because the beautiful Jacklyn was a hopeless mystery. One he seemed incapable of solving. So, maybe his wounded pride was leaking out just a little. He turned back to the shelf, scanning the various plastic tubes, wheels, and balls.
“Can I help you fine folks with anything?” the teenage employee asked, strutting over. Cody, as his name tag announced, wore his blond hair cut to military precision and gave off a distinct vibe of student council vice president. Possibly with a little glee club thrown in for good measure.
“As a matter of fact, I do need some assistance.” Rico bent closer to the shelf. “I’ve come into temporary possession of a pet rat, and he needs outlets for physical activity. What would you recommend?”
“I see.” Cody nodded with complete seriousness. He beckoned to the line of products. “So, a lot of these items are designed for hamsters, but if you check the labeling, many of them are also appropriate for rats.” He plucked a large plastic ball from the rack. “This might be a good option. What color does your rat prefer?”
“Great question, Cody.” Rico examined the different options. “I get a feeling that Sancho’s a green. ”
“Excellent choice!” Cody responded, quickly pulling a few of the balls off the hooks to access one in green. “Sancho sounds like a lucky guy.”
“Why thank you, Cody. That’s nice of you to say.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Rico noticed Jax tapping notes into her phone. He didn’t care, of course. His hands itched. Okay, so maybe he wanted to snatch Jax’s phone, read her notes, and, possibly, make a few thousand reasonable edits. Instead, he tuned back in to Cody as the teen cheerfully listed the features of a large exercise wheel he was pulling from another shelf.
Ten minutes later, Rico and Jax stood at the checkout counter, as Cody scanned a pile of plastic tubes, a large exercise wheel, and the green exercise ball.
“Sancho is going to love his new setup,” Cody said with a wink. Behind the enthusiastic teen, a procession of Employee of the Month photos marched across the wall, all of them featuring Cody’s grinning face. Someone was definitely angling for a ruthlessly cheerful takeover of the assistant manager position.
As they walked out of Pets, Pets, and Pets! Jax pulled a lollipop out of her pocket.
“So, temporary rat? Care to elaborate?” she asked.
“Maybe I’m a humanitarian,” he answered. “Or an animaltarian. You should write that down. Animaltarian. Need me to spell it for you?”
“Nope, I’ve got it.” She didn’t type anything into her phone. “But what’s the real story?”
Rico noted a spark of humor in her caramel eyes. Was she teasing him good-naturedly or laughing at him? He hated that he didn’t know .
“A friend guilted me into it,” he admitted as they approached the van. “Don’t ever have friends, Jacklyn. Friends are terrible. They ask for things.”
“Like favors?”
“Exactly.”
They reached the van, and Jax paused before opening the passenger-side door. A gentle wind pulled a wisp of dark hair across her face. He ached to reach out and brush the hair aside.
“I’m actually in possession of a temporary cat,” she admitted. An adorable line puckered between her brows.
“Really?” Rico grinned at her. This was interesting. “I never pegged you as a cat person.”
“I was . . . kind of guilted into it, too.” She gave him a self-effacing smile. “But cat people aren’t that bad, actually.”
The wind picked up and more tendrils of mahogany hair blew across her eyes. Without thinking, Rico reached for the errant tendrils. Jax watched his hand. The sunlight turned her eyes into pools of amber. Those eyes pulsed with need, but he sensed fear in them as well.
His fingers were centimeters from brushing the round apple of her cheek.
His phone rang.
For a moment, they lingered, frozen in time. Her eyes staring. His hand held out. The ring came again, and habit kicked in. Rico pulled the phone from his pocket, saw the number, and took the call, turning away from Jax.
“They know,” a breathy, fearful voice whispered on the other end of the line. “They know. They know! I’m gonna get fired!”
“What happened?” Rico asked as his pulse jacked. He didn’t use her name. Not with Jax standing so close.
“Someone called Jeff. Asked for a comment. Told him all about the story.” On the other end of the line, Rico’s source choked back a sob. “You said you’d warn me.”
“It wasn’t me,” Rico growled.
Fuck! Melissa. She must have called the sewage plant for comment. But why? She’d been practically gleeful to hand the story back over to him. Had Diane found out about their arrangement and pressured Melissa to file the story?
Rico started moving, his steps eating up the parking lot to put distance between himself and Jax. It didn’t matter why. All that mattered was that the endgame was in motion. Jeff Turnbill, the plant owner, and his entire management staff were probably already lawyering up as they spoke. Rico wouldn’t be surprised if they were sticking their hard drives into the break room microwave. They’d shred everything. Bring in a PR team. Disappear it all.
No fucking way!
“They’re going to fire me,” his source said again.
“First, they can’t legally fire you. You did nothing wrong,” he told her. “Second, they won’t know it’s you. Remember how we walked through all those encryption protocols? How we used an air gap computer off network? You’re talking on the burner phone I gave you, right?” God, if she was calling him from her work phone . . .
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Good. As soon as this call is done, I want you to pull out the phone’s SIM card and crush it. Throw the SIM card and the phone away, but not anywhere near your office or home. You don’t have that laptop in your car, do you?”
“No.”
“Good. Don’t bring anything onto company property or they can search it. ”
“Oh God.”
“Breathe,” Rico told her. “I know you put a lot on the line, but remember the reason why. You are NOT going to get caught. You are NOT going to get in trouble.”
“But what if they sue you? Your network?”
From the corner of his eye, Rico saw Jax moving closer, trying to overhear. He waved her back, then refocused on the call.
“I’ll go to jail before I reveal my source. You know that.” Rico was deadly serious. Nothing was more crucial to a reporter’s reputation, to the entire foundation of investigative journalism, than protecting sources. Men and women far more courageous than him had been imprisoned for not giving up sources. No way would he dishonor their sacrifices.
“I’m running the story tonight,” Rico told her. “We’ll get everything out in the open. Jeff Turnbill will have so many cops up his ass, he won’t have time to look for the leak. So, get rid of this phone. Keep your head down. And we’ll nail this bastard, okay?”
“Fuck Jeff Turnbill,” she whispered into the phone.
“Fuck Jeff Turnbill,” he agreed.
She hung up, and Rico let out a long, long breath. Then he squared his shoulders. He had to act. Now. Every second gave his quarry more time to cover up his crimes. Rico wasn’t going to let that happen. He practically crushed his phone in a vise grip as he stalked back to the van.
“What’s going on?” Jax asked as he approached. Her eyes were sharp, the lollipop nowhere to be seen.
“There’s something I’ve got to do,” he told her. He pulled open the passenger door of the van and swung into the seat. Jax slid into the back.
“We have another unscheduled stop,” Rico told Chuck .
The cameraman took one look at his face and frowned. “You’re not supposed to be on those stories anymore. Diane will have your ass.”
“It can’t be helped. I swear,” Rico insisted. “We go now or it’s going to get covered up.”
Chuck sighed. “There gonna be trouble?”
Rico grinned, but his lips felt tight. “Don’t know. That’s half the fun, right?”
“What’s going on?” Jax asked.
“Nothing at all. Rico’s just going to get us both canned,” Chuck answered dryly as he started the engine.
“Correction,” Rico said, adrenaline already punching through his veins. “We’re going to break some big news.”