24. Two Lines
Two Lines
Owen came back eleven minutes later.Camila knew because she counted every one of them.She sat on the closed toilet lid inside the private bathroom attached to the secured FBI conference room, elbows on her knees, hands pressed against her mouth.Outside, voices moved through the hallway.Radios.
Doors.Footsteps.Somewhere in the building, agents were coordinating the raid that could put her brother in federal custody before the night was over.Somewhere across the city, Chris was riding toward that warehouse.Wearing body armor.Carrying a gun.Going after Mateo.And Camila was sitting inside an FBI bathroom wondering if she was pregnant with his child.
“This cannot be my life.”Her voice sounded strange inside the tiled room.She looked at herself in the mirror.Still pale.Still flushed.
Still nauseated.Maybe it was stress.It had to be stress.Mateo.Chris.Finding the badge.The hotel attack.Learning the man she’d fallen in love with was an FBI agent.Watching him walk away toward an armed raid.That was enough to make anyone vomit.Her period could be late because of stress.Her breasts could be tender because her period was supposed to come.She could be tired because she hadn’t slept properly in days.Perfectly reasonable explanations.All of them.Then came the knock.
“Camila?”Owen.She stood quickly.Too quickly.The room tilted again. “Yeah.”
“I have…uh…”His voice lowered.“The things.”Despite herself, Camila almost laughed.“The things?”
“I didn’t exactly want to yell pregnancy tests inside an FBI field office.”
“Probably wise.”She unlocked the door.Owen stood there carrying a small pharmacy bag.His expression suggested he’d rather be involved in an armed tactical operation than this conversation.Camila took the bag.“Thank you.”
“Two.”
“I asked for two.”
“Yes.”
“I can count, Owen.”
“Right.”He nodded.Then held up another bag.“And water.”She took that too.
“Anything else?”Camila looked down at the pharmacy bag.“No.”
“Okay.”He started backing away.Then stopped.“Do you want someone here?”
Camila looked up.“What?”“Not here here.”His face reddened.“I meant outside.”
“I know what you meant.”
“Right.”Camila smiled faintly.“Stay close.”Owen nodded.“Absolutely.”She closed the door.Locked it.Then leaned against it.The smile disappeared.Her fingers trembled as she opened the bag.Two boxes.Two tests.Camila stared at them.
“Oh God.”She took the first one out.Read the instructions.Then read them again because not a single word had registered the first time.Three minutes.Three minutes had never sounded particularly long before.Now it sounded endless.
The first test sat on the counter.Camila refused to look.She turned it face down.
Then paced.Three steps toward the door.Turn.Four toward the sink. Turn.
The FBI probably had cameras everywhere outside this bathroom.What if Owen had told Sloan?
No.He promised.What if Chris called?What if the raid had started?
What if—Stop.Camila looked at the clock on her phone.Two minutes.Forty-three seconds.
“Close enough.”She grabbed the test.Turned it over.And stopped breathing.Two pink lines.Her brain refused to process them.She blinked.Looked again.Two.Very clearly two.
“No.”Camila picked up the box.Checked the diagram.One line.Not pregnant.Two lines.Pregnant.She looked at the test.Two.
“No.”Her voice cracked.“No, no, no.”She checked again as though one of the lines might disappear if she stared hard enough.It didn’t.Camila lowered herself onto the toilet lid.Her heart hammered.Pregnant.She was pregnant.Maybe.One test could be wrong.Tests could be defective.Could they?
She didn’t know.She’d never needed to know.Camila grabbed the second box.
“Okay.”Her hands shook as she opened it.
“One more.”This time she followed every instruction with ridiculous precision.Then placed the second test beside the first.She couldn’t watch.So she sat on the floor.Back against the sink countertop.Knees pulled toward her chest.And waited.Somewhere across the city—Chris was getting closer to the warehouse.She could picture him.FBI vest.Gun at his side.That focused expression.
The same man who had once told her he had two speeds.The same man who’d saved her life.The same man who had lied to her.The same man who had looked into her eyes less than an hour ago and finally told her something completely true.I love you too.Camila covered her mouth.
“Chris.”That was her first thought.Not herself.Not pregnancy.Not what she was going to do.Chris.She needed Chris.Then the second thought hit.Oh God, Mateo.Her brother.Her brother was inside the warehouse Chris was heading toward.The father of her possible baby was going into an armed raid to arrest her brother.Camila laughed once.It came out dangerously close to a sob.
“How the hell did this happen?”She knew how.That wasn’t the point.Her phone showed three minutes.She didn’t want to look.She made herself stand anyway.One step.Two.The second test sat beside the first.Camila turned it over.Two pink lines.Again.She stared.Her knees gave out.Camila slid to the bathroom floor.
“No.”She held one test in each hand.Two lines.Two lines.Four tiny pink lines that somehow managed to change everything.Her hand moved slowly toward her stomach.Nothing felt different.How could there already be a baby?
Chris’s baby.Tears filled her eyes.“Oh my God.”She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.So she did both.Her forehead rested against her knees.Chris didn’t know.He was out there risking his life and didn’t know he is going to be a father.Camila suddenly became furious with him.
“You better fucking come back.”Her voice broke.
“You hear me, Chris Walker?”Tears spilled.
“You do not get to tell me you love me and then go get yourself killed before I tell you this.”She looked at the tests.A baby.Maybe weeks along.She started mentally counting.Guesthouse.
His apartment.Hotel.There were options.She wasn’t doing math right now.
The bathroom door shook beneath a soft knock.“Camila?”Sloan.Camila froze.
She wiped her face.“One minute.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”Obviously not.She looked around.Where could she hide them?
Trash.No.Her purse was outside.She grabbed toilet paper and started wrapping the tests.Another knock.“Camila?”
“I said one minute.”Her voice cracked.Silence outside.Then Sloan:“I’m coming in if you don’t answer me.”
“FBI people are incredibly bossy.”
“That includes Walker.”Despite herself, Camila laughed.Bad move.It turned into another sob.Outside, Sloan went quiet.“Open the door.”Camila stared at it.“No.”
“Camila.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re crying.”
“I’m having a bad day.”
“Open the door.”Camila looked at the tests.Then reluctantly unlocked it.
Sloan opened the door slowly.She took one look at Camila sitting on the bathroom floor.Then at the toilet paper poorly concealing two long plastic objects in her hands.Then back at Camila.Sloan’s expression changed.
“Oh.”Camila quickly pulled the tests closer.
“Don’t.”Sloan closed the door behind herself.
“I’m not going to take them.”Camila looked away.Sloan crouched. “Camila.”Nothing.“How many?”
Camila swallowed.“Two.”
“And?”She didn’t answer.Sloan’s eyes dropped toward her hands.Then back to her face.“You’re pregnant.”That was it.Hearing someone else say it destroyed whatever control Camila had left.She started crying.Not pretty crying.Not quiet tears.
She broke.Sloan immediately sat on the bathroom floor beside her.Camila covered her face.“I don’t even know what I’m doing.”
“You don’t have to.”
“My brother…”
“I know.”
“And Chris…”Her voice disappeared.Sloan waited.Camila lowered her hands.
“I don’t even know if he’s coming back.”Sloan’s face softened.“He’s coming back.”
“You don’t know that.”Camila looked directly at her.“You can’t know that.”
Sloan didn’t lie.“No.”Camila’s face crumpled again.Sloan looked toward the wall as though she could somehow see through it to the operations room beyond.
“But Walker is very hard to kill.”Camila stared.Then laughed through her tears.
“That is possibly the worst comforting thing anyone has ever said to me.”
Sloan smiled faintly.“It’s also true.”
“He’s been shot multiple times.”
“And survived.”
“He got attacked.”
“Survived.”
“Hotel.”
“Survived.”
“He drives like a lunatic.”
“That one is actually the biggest threat.”Camila laughed again.For a few seconds, breathing became easier.Then she looked down.Two tests.Two lines.Sloan followed her gaze.“Does Chris know?”Camila shook her head.“No.”
“You suspected before he left?”
“No.”
“I felt sick after he left.”She wiped her cheeks.“I thought it was adrenaline.”
“It could still be contributing.”Camila held up the tests.“Apparently adrenaline produces babies now.”Sloan almost smiled.“Probably not.”Camila stared at the two lines.“How am I supposed to tell him?”
“When he comes back.”Not if.When.Camila noticed.Her throat tightened.
Sloan continued.“You don’t have to decide anything else today.”
“Everything is happening today.”
“I know.”
“My brother might be arrested.”
“Yes.”
“The entire life I knew was apparently built on things nobody bothered telling me.”Sloan didn’t argue.“The man I love lied about his name, his job, his entire life.”
Sloan winced.“Fair.”
“And I’m pregnant with his baby.”
“Yes.”Camila looked at her.“This feels like one of those situations where somebody says something wise.”Sloan considered it.“I’ve got nothing.”
Camila laughed weakly.“Thank God.”Sloan smiled.Then Camila’s expression changed.
“Will this affect anything?”
“What do you mean?”
“The FBI.”
“No.”
“Chris?”
“Professionally?”
“Yes.”Sloan hesitated.Camila noticed.“What?”
“He’s in the middle of an active tactical operation. I’m not telling him anything while he’s out there.”Camila nodded immediately.“No.”She held the tests tighter.“He needs his head there.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t tell him.”
“I won’t.”
“Anyone.”
“I won’t.”Camila looked down.“I want to tell him.”
“You should.”
“If he comes back.”Sloan touched her arm.
“When.”Camila looked at her.Sloan held her gaze.
“When he comes back.”Camila nodded.Tried to believe it.They stayed on the bathroom floor another minute.Then a muffled radio transmission sounded outside.Both women froze.Sloan stood immediately.Her entire demeanor changed. “What?”Camila scrambled up.
Sloan opened the door.Owen stood several feet away.His expression was serious now.
Not awkward.Not joking.Agent.“Sloan.”“What happened?”
“Teams are in position.”Camila’s heart jumped.“The raid?”Owen nodded.
“Command says they’re minutes out.”Sloan looked toward Camila.Camila went pale.
Chris.She pushed the pregnancy tests into the pocket of Chris’s sweatshirt she was still wearing.Sloan noticed the sweatshirt.Didn’t comment.“Come on.”
“Where?”
“Conference room.”
“I want to see.”
“You can’t be in command.”
“Why?”
“Operational security.”
“That’s my brother.”
“I know.”
“And Chris.”Sloan’s expression softened.“I know.”Camila followed anyway.The hallway had changed.Agents stood near monitors.Phones.Headsets.A large clock counted time.
Camila couldn’t see tactical details from where Sloan positioned her, but she could feel the energy.Everything was ready.Someone said:“Warehouse perimeter set.”Another voice:
“Vehicle teams ready.”Then:“Primary target confirmed inside.”Camila’s stomach turned.Mateo. Chris’s Voice saying this.She instinctively placed her hand against her abdomen.Sloan noticed.Camila immediately lowered it.Too late.Neither said anything.
A radio crackled.“Walker in position.”Camila froze.His name.Walker.Chris.Alive.
For now.Her eyes filled again.“Can he hear us?”
“No.”
“Good.”Sloan looked at her.“Why good?”Camila touched the pocket containing the tests.
“Because if I could talk to him right now, I’d probably tell him.”Sloan nodded.“And he needs to focus.”
“Yes.”Camila closed her eyes.She pictured him.Vest.Badge.Gun.Those blue-gray eyes changing when danger came.She could almost hear his voice.I’ve got you.Camila put both hands over her face.This time she prayed.Not for Mateo to escape.Not for the FBI to fail.She didn’t even know what justice was supposed to look like anymore.She prayed that everyone came out alive.Her brother.Chris.The agents.Everyone.Then she touched her stomach again.
And added one more silent prayer.Please.Let him come back so I can tell him.Across the city, Chris Walker sat inside an armored FBI vehicle less than half a mile from the Vargas warehouse.He had absolutely no idea that his entire life had changed again.No idea two pregnancy tests were hidden inside Camila’s pocket.No idea that while he checked his weapon and listened to Mercer give final instructions, Camila was already wondering what kind of father he’d be.Chris looked down at his watch.Then toward the warehouse.Logan sat opposite him. “You good?”Chris nodded.“Yeah.”
“You sure?”Chris looked at him.“Why does everyone keep asking me that?”
“Because you’re about to raid the warehouse belonging to the brother of the woman you’re in love with.”Chris stared.“Excellent summary.”
“Just saying.”Chris checked his magazine.“Don’t.”Logan nodded.“Got it.”Silence.
Then Chris looked toward the small photograph he’d tucked inside the inner pocket of his vest.Camila.Taken from one of the surveillance files.He’d hated that photograph when it was evidence.Now it was simply her.He touched the edge once.Then secured the vest.
He thought about their last kiss.I love you.His eyes closed.I love you too.He opened them.Focused.He had something to come back to.He just didn’t know yet—he had two people waiting for him.And back at FBI headquarters, Camila sat staring at two pink lines.Chris didn’t know.Not yet.