6. DRIVE #2
Not fast anymore.That was important.Once you disappeared, speed became your enemy.
Speed attracted attention.Speed made people look.Chris slowed to twenty-five.Turned behind a warehouse.Stopped.Engine running.Lights off.Silence.Mateo started to speak.Chris lifted one finger.Not now.Mateo actually listened.Chris watched the side mirror.
Waited.Five seconds.Ten.Fifteen.Nothing.Twenty.A black SUV appeared at the far end of the cross street.Logan.Chris remained still.The SUV slowed.For one horrible second, Chris thought Logan had seen them.Then it continued.Passed.Disappeared.Chris waited another ten seconds.Then put the Charger in drive.Mateo finally spoke.
“You lost them.”Chris pulled onto the road.
“That was the idea.”Mateo looked back through the rear window.Nothing.
“Just like that.”
“Not just like that.”
“You make it look like just like that.”Chris glanced at him through the mirror.“That’s why you’re paying me.”They didn’t go directly to Mateo’s house.Chris wouldn’t allow it.
That part wasn’t planned either.He drove for another fifteen minutes.Three route changes.Two loops.One unnecessary stop at a traffic light while he watched reflections in a storefront window.Mateo noticed.“Checking?”
“Yeah.”
“For what?”
“If they picked us back up.”
“Did they?”
“No.”
“You sure?”Chris looked at him in the mirror.“Yes.”Mateo leaned back.For the first time since they’d left the club, he looked relaxed.Interesting.Chris had expected anger.Suspicion.
Questions.Instead Mateo looked almost entertained.“Now can I go home?” he asked.Chris smiled faintly.“If you behave.”Mateo laughed.“You’ve got balls, Roman.”
“I’ve been told.”
“Usually right before somebody punches you?”
“Frequently.”
“I’m starting to understand why.”Chris turned onto the road leading toward Mateo’s neighborhood.The houses changed.Larger.Gated.Set farther apart.Security cameras.
Private patrols.Money.The Vargas mansion sat behind high stone walls and wrought-iron gates.Chris had seen surveillance photographs.Seeing it in person was different.
Huge Mediterranean-style estate.Cream stone.Terracotta roof.Tall arched windows glowing against the night.Two armed security men at the gate.Chris’s eyes cataloged everything automatically.Cameras.Gate controls.Guard placement.Possible secondary entrance.He hated himself slightly for doing it.Then remembered why he was here.
The gate opened.Chris drove through.Long driveway.Fountain.Landscaping.More cameras.He stopped beneath the covered entrance.Put the Charger in park.Mateo didn’t get out.Chris looked at him through the mirror.“What?”Mateo stared.Chris waited.
Finally:“Where the hell did you learn to drive like that?”There it was.The question Chris knew would come.The answer had been rehearsed.Street racing.Private security.Years moving people who didn’t want to be followed.Easy.Believable.Instead Chris gave Mateo a slight smile.
“You really want to know?”Mateo studied him.Chris held the look.Then something changed in Mateo’s face.He laughed.For the first time, the sound wasn’t testing.
Wasn’t threatening.Wasn’t calculated.Just amused.“No.”Chris’s smile widened slightly.“Good.”Mateo opened the door.Then stopped.“Roman.”
“Yeah?”
“You working tomorrow?”
“Unless Rafael fires me.”
“He won’t.”Chris turned slightly.Mateo looked back into the car.“Be at my office at nine.”
Chris didn’t react.“Doing what?”Mateo smiled.
“Driving.”The door closed.Chris watched him enter the mansion.Only when Mateo disappeared did Chris let his shoulders loosen.Barely.The FBI’s plan had worked.Better than they’d expected.Chris Roman wasn’t the mechanic anymore.He wasn’t the occasional delivery driver.Mateo Vargas had just personally requested him.Need.Chris remembered Sloan’s words.We don’t need Vargas to like Roman.He put the Charger in reverse.What do you need?
Chris backed down the driveway.The mansion disappeared behind him.We need him to need you.The gate opened.
Chris drove out.He waited until he was six miles away before turning into an empty gas station.He parked beside an out-of-service pump.Killed the engine.Waited.Checked mirrors.
Nothing.He reached beneath the dashboard and pressed the concealed signal twice.Operation complete.No message returned.None needed.Chris sat back.He should have felt good.They’d accelerated the infiltration dramatically.Mateo trusted Roman’s driving.
He’d personally requested him.Chris was moving closer.Exactly what the FBI wanted.
So why did something bother him?He replayed the pursuit.Construction zone.Not planned.Fine.Mateo reaching for a possible weapon.Not ideal.But handled.
Then—the SUV pulling alongside.Chris frowned.That wasn’t part of the plan.Logan knew better.Chris started the Charger.Tomorrow he’d ask.Tonight he needed to remain Roman.
ANOTHER TEST
Mateo didn’t say anything for almost a full minute.Chris sat in the driver seat, hands loose at his sides, expression deliberately bored.He’d learned quickly that silence was one of Mateo Vargas’s favorite weapons.Most men tried to fill it.Explain themselves.Ask questions.
Get nervous.Chris didn’t.Finally, Mateo leaned back in his seat.“You drive like that often?”
Chris shrugged.“When I need to.”Mateo studied him.“You didn’t panic.”
“Was I supposed to?”A faint smile appeared.“No.”Chris waited.Mateo reached for the glass of whiskey in his cup holder.“You know what I like about you, Roman?”
“Can’t imagine.”
“You don’t ask many questions.”
If you only knew.Chris said, “Questions get people in trouble.”
“Exactly.”Mateo lifted his glass slightly.
“Smart man.”Chris didn’t respond.He knew better than to relax.The drive had been a test.Everything with Mateo was a fucking test.And judging by the way the man was still watching him, Chris had a feeling he wasn’t finished.He wasn’t.
“I have something else for you.”Chris raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
“My annual ball.”That wasn’t what Chris expected.“When?”
“Three weeks.”
“Every year, I throw a party here. Couple hundred people. Politicians. Businessmen. Attorneys. Friends.”Friends.Chris nearly smiled.He could only imagine what Mateo Vargas considered a friend.“I already have security,” Mateo continued. “A lot of it.”
“Then what do you need me for?”Mateo turned.“I want you inside.”That got Chris’s attention.Not visibly.But every instinct Christopher Walker possessed sharpened.“Inside where?”
“The house.”Mateo approached him.“Not standing outside checking invitations. I want you moving through the party. Watching people.”Chris’s pulse kicked once.That could be huge.An annual Vargas ball meant Mateo would be comfortable.His associates would be comfortable.People who would never allow themselves to be photographed walking into a warehouse might happily walk through Mateo’s front door wearing a ten-thousand-dollar tuxedo.Names.Faces.Relationships.Contacts.Potential targets.The FBI would kill for access to that room.And Mateo was about to hand it directly to him.Chris kept his expression indifferent. “You don’t trust your own security?”
“I trust them to keep people out.”Mateo stopped in front of him.“I want to know what you notice once they’re in.”There it was.Another test.Chris gave him a small nod.
“Okay.”Mateo’s eyes narrowed.“That’s it?”“What do you want me to say?”
“I want to know if you understand what I’m asking.”Chris stepped closer.
“You want me to watch everyone without making anyone realize they’re being watched.”
Something flickered in Mateo’s expression.Approval.“Exactly.”Chris shrugged.“Sounds easy.”Mateo laughed.“That’s what I like about you.”Chris turned toward the door.“Roman.”
He stopped.Mateo’s voice changed.“One more thing.”Chris looked back.“Wear a tux.”
Chris stared at him.“A tux.”
“It’s black tie.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”Mateo grinned.“You own one?”
“No.”
“Buy one.”Chris shook his head and reached for the door.Then Mateo added casually“Camila will be there.”Chris’s hand stopped on the handle.Son of a bitch.Behind him, Mateo laughed.Chris looked over his shoulder.“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re smiling.”
“I’ve noticed something.”Chris’s expression hardened.“Don’t.”Mateo’s grin only widened.“My sister likes you.”
“Your sister likes annoying me.”
“Same thing with Camila.”Chris opened the door.“Good night, Mateo.”
“Three weeks, Roman.”Chris stepped into the hallway.“And Chris?”He stopped again.
Mateo lifted his whiskey.“Don’t disappoint me.”Chris gave him one final look.
“I haven’t yet.”He walked away.But the second he was outside the mansion, his entire demeanor changed.Chris climbed into the Range Rover and shut the door.He didn’t start it.
Instead, he pulled out the burner phone hidden beneath the center console.One encrypted message.MERCER — Vargas annual ball.
Three weeks. Mansion. 200+ guests. Politicians, attorneys, business contacts.
Mateo assigned me interior security.The response came less than thirty seconds later.CALL ME. NOW.Chris almost smiled.Yeah.