30. Diego Runs #2
“No.”Diego laughed bitterly.“He’s Walker.
”Like that explained everything.Maybe it did.Diego had spent weeks digging into Roman.Addresses that didn’t line up.Employers that existed too perfectly.Arrest records that led nowhere useful.Driving ability that didn’t match some washed-up street racer.Gun handling too clean.Situational awareness too sharp.Then he’d found the whisper.FBI.He hadn’t had proof.Not until tonight.Now Walker was behind him wearing a badge.Diego grabbed the radio.
“Split.”The driver of the trailing pickup answered. “What?”
“Take the next left.”
“We’re staying with you.”
“Not anymore.”Diego looked at the Charger.“He follows me.”
“How do you know?”Diego smiled.“Because he hates me.”The vehicles split.
Pickup left.Remaining SUV right.Suburban straight.Logan looked between them.
“Which one?”Chris didn’t hesitate.“Diego.”
“How sure?”
“Very.”
“Why?”
“He wants us divided.”The other FBI units peeled toward the decoys.Chris stayed straight.Suburban.Diego.Correct.The road curved sharply.Chris braked.Controlled.Turned.
Accelerated out.Logan watched him.“I take back everything I said.”Chris frowned.“What?”
“You’re really fucking good.”Chris smiled.“Thank you.”
“Still insane.”
“Can’t have everything.”The Suburban was only five car lengths ahead now.Diego looked back through the rear window.Chris saw his face.Recognition.Hatred.Chris smiled.Not friendly.“Got you.”Logan heard him.“Don’t get cocky.”
“I’m never cocky.”Logan stared.Chris glanced over.“Okay. Rarely.”
“You introduced yourself to a cartel boss by insulting him.”
“He liked me.”
“Apparently too much.”
“That became awkward.”Diego suddenly braked.Chris saw it immediately.“Hold.”
Logan braced.Chris slowed just enough.The Suburban swung sideways toward them.
Chris turned away.The Charger clipped gravel along the shoulder.Tires fought.
Chris corrected.Back onto pavement.Logan swore.“That was deliberate.”
“Yep.”
“You okay?”
“Yep.”Chris accelerated again.Now anger slipped underneath the calm.Diego wanted contact.Wanted Chris off the road.Fine.Chris wouldn’t give it to him.Another mile.
Then the road narrowed toward a bridge over a dry drainage canal.Diego accelerated.
Chris saw flashing lights approaching from the opposite direction.Containment.“Mercer, units ahead?”
“Yes.”
“Tell them hold.”
“Why?”Chris watched Diego.“He’s not stopping.”A beat.Mercer:“All units hold position.”
The roadblock pulled back enough to leave room.Diego blasted through.Chris followed.
Logan laughed in disbelief.“You just told a roadblock to move so you could keep chasing him.”
“It worked.”
“That does not make it sane.”Chris didn’t answer.He was too focused.The Suburban ahead began losing speed.“Something’s wrong.”Logan looked.“What?”
“Vehicle.”Chris listened.Engine note changing.Maybe damage from the earlier maneuver.
Maybe overheating.Maybe something else.Diego knew it too.The Suburban swerved.
Recovered.Chris eased off.“Don’t get too close.”Logan stared.“You’re telling me?”
“Shut up.”The Suburban’s rear tire blew.Violently.Rubber tore away.The SUV lurched.Diego fought it.Chris immediately backed off.“Target losing control!”
The Suburban swung across both lanes.Hit the shoulder.Corrected.Then rolled.Once.
Twice.Metal screamed.Glass exploded.The vehicle came to rest on its side in a cloud of dust.Chris braked hard.The Charger stopped well short.Silence.Then Logan breathed:“Holy shit.”Chris was already out.
“Call medical.”Logan grabbed the radio.“Walker!”Chris ran toward the wreck.Weapon drawn.
“FBI!”Movement inside.One man crawling from the rear.
Chris covered him.“Hands!”The man fell onto the pavement.Logan came up behind.
Agents were approaching now.Chris moved toward the front.“Diego!”Nothing.Then the rear passenger window shattered outward.Diego crawled through.Blood along his forehead.
Gun in his hand.Chris raised his weapon.“DROP IT!”Diego froze.There they were.Face-to-face again.No garage.No Mateo.No Camila between them.Diego laughed.“You.”Chris held his aim.“Drop the gun.”
“You really are FBI.”
“Not the discovery I’d focus on right now.”Diego looked at the badge.Then the vest.“All this time.”
“Drop it.”Diego smiled through blood.“Does Camila know?”Chris’s expression changed.Diego saw it.“Oh.”His smile widened.“She does.”
“Don’t say her name.”
“Sounds familiar.”Chris’s jaw tightened.“Gun. Ground. Now.”Diego looked at him.“You love her.”Chris didn’t answer.“That’s why you came after me.”
“No.”Chris’s voice was cold.“I came after you because you’re a drug trafficker who just fled a federal raid.”Diego smiled.“And because I know where she sleeps.”Everything inside Chris went still.Logan heard it.His weapon raised higher.Chris’s voice lowered.“What did you say?”Diego laughed.“Diego.”
“The FBI agent disappears the second someone mentions her.”Chris stared.“Put the gun down.”
“You think you can keep her safe forever?”
“Yes.”No hesitation.Diego tilted his head.“Everybody has a weakness.”Chris held steady.
“Maybe.”
“She’s yours.”Chris’s eyes hardened.“And that’s going to be yours.”Diego frowned.“What?”
“The mistake you made when you went near her.”Sirens approached.More FBI vehicles.Diego looked around.His escape route was gone.He lifted the gun slightly.
Chris’s finger tightened.“Don’t.”Diego smiled.For one second, Chris thought he was going to fire.Then the weapon fell.Hit pavement.“On your knees!”Diego lowered slowly.
Hands behind his head.Chris approached.Logan covered.Chris kicked the gun away.
Reached for Diego’s arm.Then Diego moved.Fast.He drove an elbow backward.
Chris blocked.The two men went down hard.Logan shouted.Chris rolled.Diego swung.
Chris caught the arm.Drove him against the pavement.Diego fought viciously.Chris held.
“Stop resisting!”
“Fuck you!”Chris forced one wrist behind Diego’s back.Cuff.Diego twisted.Chris drove him down again.Second wrist.Cuff.Click.Finished.Chris stood.Breathing hard.Diego remained on the pavement.Chris looked down.“You should’ve kept running.”Diego laughed.
“You’ll wish I did.”Chris’s expression hardened.“Why?”Diego turned his head enough to see him.“You think arresting me ends this?”Chris stared.“Ask Mateo how many men he’s forgotten about.”Chris’s jaw tightened.“Threatening a federal agent?”
“No.”Diego smiled.“Warning one.”Chris looked at Logan.Logan’s expression had changed too.This wasn’t over.Not remotely.An agent approached and took custody of Diego.Chris stepped away.His radio crackled.
“Command to Walker. Status?”Chris looked at the wrecked Suburban.Then Diego being hauled toward an FBI vehicle.
“Secondary in custody.”A burst of relief came across the channel.
“Copy.”Chris exhaled.For the first time since leaving headquarters, he let himself think about Camila.Really think.He touched the inside of his vest.Her photograph.Still there.Logan walked over. “You good?”Chris nodded.“Yeah.”
Then:“I need to get back.”
“To headquarters?”
“Yes.”Logan smiled.
“Missing someone?”Chris looked at him.“Don’t.”
“You’re adorable.”
“Get in the car.”Logan looked toward the Charger.Then back at Chris.“No.”
Chris frowned.“What?”
“I’ve had enough.”
“You’re an FBI agent.”
“I’ll ride with literally anyone else.”Chris laughed.“Coward.”
“Alive coward.”Chris started walking toward the Charger.Then stopped.
His phone vibrated.Secure FBI message.He checked it.CAMILA SAFE.
Chris’s shoulders dropped.Just slightly.Good.He put the phone away.
Then looked toward the city lights in the distance.The raid was over.
Mateo was in custody.Diego was in custody.The Vargas warehouse belonged to the FBI now.Chris Roman was gone.He should’ve felt victorious.Instead all he wanted was to get back to Camila.He didn’t know that she was sitting inside FBI headquarters wearing his sweatshirt.Didn’t know she had been listening to every radio update she could hear.
Didn’t know she’d almost stopped breathing when the pursuit began.And he definitely didn’t know that inside the pocket of that sweatshirt were two pregnancy tests—both positive.Chris opened the Charger’s door.Logan shouted from behind him:“Walker!”
Chris looked back.Logan pointed at another FBI SUV.“I’m serious. I’m riding with them.”
Chris grinned.“Suit yourself.”He climbed behind the wheel.For the first time all night, he wasn’t chasing anyone.He was going back to the woman he loved.And unknowingly—to the child he hadn’t even learned existed yet.