32. Diego’s Revenge
Diego’s Revenge
Diego Serrano wasn’t running anymore.Running implied fear.Panic.Desperation.
This was none of those things.This was retreat.And Diego knew the difference.
The Vargas organization had been ripped apart in less than an hour.Warehouse seized.
Product gone.Money gone.Vehicles confiscated.Men arrested.Mateo in federal custody.
Years of work destroyed because one man had walked through the front door wearing a fake name and made Mateo believe he belonged there.Chris Roman.Diego sat in the passenger seat of a stolen gray sedan parked inside an abandoned repair shop nearly forty miles from the warehouse.Blood had dried along his temple.His shirt was torn.His ribs hurt every time he breathed.But he was alive.And free.That was more than Mateo could say.
The driver looked over.“We need to leave the state.”Diego didn’t answer.“Tonight.”
Still nothing.“Diego.”He slowly looked over.“You want to leave?”
“The FBI knows our faces.”
“Then go.”The man hesitated.
“What?”
“You heard me.”Diego reached into the duffel bag at his feet.Cash.Phones.
Documents.Enough to disappear.He tossed a bundle of money onto the driver’s lap.“Take it.”The man stared.“And go.”
“What are you doing?”Diego looked through the dirty windshield.“Staying.”
“Why?”Diego smiled.“Because Walker is still here.”Chris stood inside the FBI conference room staring at a photograph of Diego Serrano.Same face he’d looked at for months.
Except everything had changed.Then, Diego had been an obstacle to getting closer to Mateo.Now he was a fugitive who knew exactly who Chris was.Mercer stood beside the screen.“We’ve confirmed the abandoned Suburban.”
“Prints?”
“Plenty.”
“Blood?”
“Testing.”
“Traffic cameras?”
“Working backward.”Chris shook his head.
“Wrong direction.”Mercer looked at him.“What?”
“Don’t work backward.”
“Walker—”
“Diego knew he was going to dump the vehicle.”Chris pointed toward the map.“He wants us chasing where he’s been.”Logan leaned against the conference table, looking exhausted.
“So where’s he going?”Chris stared at the map.“If I knew that, he’d already be in cuffs.”
Mercer folded his arms.“Then what do you know?”Chris didn’t answer immediately.He knew Diego was patient.Suspicious.Vindictive.He knew Diego had never completely trusted Roman.He knew Diego had been digging into him long before the raid.And he knew—Camila.Chris’s eyes lifted.
“He’s not leaving.”Mercer frowned.“Why?”
“Because this isn’t over for him.”
“His boss is in custody. His warehouse is gone.”
“Exactly.”Chris turned.“Diego doesn’t see Mateo as his boss anymore.”Logan straightened.“What makes you say that?”
“He ran.”Chris looked between them.“He took money. Product. Men. Left Mateo behind.”
Mercer nodded slowly.“He’s separating.”
“He’s rebuilding.”Silence.Chris looked at Diego’s photograph again.“And if he rebuilds, he needs the remaining Vargas people.”Diego placed a burner phone on the workbench.
Then another.And another.Seven phones.Seven numbers.Seven men who hadn’t been arrested.Some were drivers.Some security.Two managed distribution routes Mateo rarely visited personally.One handled cash.Another knew which businesses could clean money without asking questions.Mateo had always thought leadership came from loyalty.Diego knew better.Leadership came from being the man left standing.He dialed the first number.
“Yeah?”
“It’s me.”Silence.“Diego?”
“Where are you?”
“I’m not telling anybody that.”
“Smart.”
“What the fuck happened?”
“Mateo happened.”The man went quiet.“The warehouse is gone.”
“I know.”
“They got Mateo.”
“I know.”
“Then we’re finished.”
“No.”Diego smiled.“Mateo is finished.”Another silence.“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying Vargas got comfortable.”Diego looked down at the FBI photograph he’d managed to obtain weeks earlier.Not enough to prove anything then.Enough now.
Chris Walker.Federal Bureau of Investigation.“Mateo let a federal agent live inside his house.”
“What?”
Diego smiled.
“Roman.”
Silence.
“What about him?”
“Chris Roman doesn’t exist.”Diego let the words sit.Then:“His name is Special Agent Chris Walker.”The man swore.Diego continued.“FBI.”
“No fucking way.”
“I saw the vest myself.”Silence.Then realization.“The driver?”
“Yes.”
“The guy Mateo brought into security?”
“Yes.”
“Camila’s—”The man stopped.Diego smiled.There it was.Everybody knew.Maybe not officially.But people noticed things.“Exactly.”
“What the hell was Mateo thinking?”
“He wasn’t.”Diego’s voice hardened.“And that’s why he’s wearing federal handcuffs.”
Inside FBI headquarters, Chris’s secure phone rang.Sloan entered the conference room at the same time.“Mercer.”Something in her expression made everyone look up.“What?”
“We’ve got chatter.”Chris stood.“What kind?”
“Multiple known Vargas associates have started contacting one another.”
“How many?”
“At least six.”Chris looked at Mercer.“There.”Mercer’s expression hardened.
“Reorganization.”
“Yeah.”Sloan continued.“And they’re all talking about the same person.”Chris already knew.“Me.”Sloan looked at him.“Yes.”Logan muttered:“Shit.”Sloan placed a tablet on the table.“Your cover is blown beyond the Vargas inner circle now.”Chris stared at the screen.
Names.Known associates.Possible affiliates.People he’d met.People he’d never seen.His photograph.A surveillance image of Roman.Beside it—an FBI photograph.Same man.Two identities.Chris’s stomach tightened.Mercer looked at him.
“Effective immediately, Roman is burned.”Chris gave him a humorless look.
“Pretty sure the FBI vest handled that.”
“This is different.”Mercer tapped the screen.“You’re being circulated.”Chris stared.“By Diego?”“We believe so.”Logan moved closer.“What exactly is he telling them?”
Sloan answered.“That Chris Roman was Special Agent Chris Walker.”Silence.
Chris looked at his own photograph.There was something deeply unsettling about seeing your face distributed among people who had every reason to want you dead.
Mercer continued.“You’re a marked man now.”Chris barely reacted.“Been there before.”
“This isn’t something to joke about.”
“I wasn’t joking.”Mercer studied him.Chris had been undercover before.Been shot before.
Nearly died before.He knew what happened when an operation ended badly.But this was different.Because this time he wasn’t the only person who could pay for it.“Camila.”Sloan nodded.“We’re already increasing her protection.”Chris turned toward the door.“Where is she?”
“Secure room.”
“Alone?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“Owen.”Chris frowned.“Owen?”
“He’s armed.”
“That’s not what I asked.”Sloan folded her arms.“You want a résumé?”
“Yes.”
“Walker.”
“I want to know who’s standing between her and anyone who comes through that door.”Mercer cut in.“She’ll have a full protective detail.”Chris looked at him.“Starting when?”
“Now.”Camila sat on the edge of a couch in another secured room.She hated it.No windows.One door.Two agents outside.Owen inside.Her brother arrested.Her lover marked for death.Her pregnancy tests hidden in Chris’s sweatshirt pocket.Quite possibly the worst night of her life.Owen sat across from her.He’d learned not to make small talk.Smart man.
Camila looked toward the door.“How long?”
“For what?”
“Until Chris comes back.”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re FBI.”
“Yes.”
“Apparently nobody here knows anything.”Owen almost smiled.“That is surprisingly accurate.”Camila leaned back.Her hand slipped into the sweatshirt pocket.Test number one.
Test number two.Still there.She’d almost told Chris.Twice.She had actually formed the words.I’m pregnant.Then Diego had ruined the moment without even being in the building.She closed her eyes.“Asshole.”Owen looked up.“Me?”
“Diego.”
“Right.”Then his radio sounded.Owen immediately stood.Camila’s eyes opened.“What?”
“Stay here.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”She glared.“Don’t use Chris’s word.”Owen blinked.“What?”
“Never mind.”The door opened.Chris entered.Camila immediately stood.
He looked different again.Not physically.Something in his eyes.“What happened?”
Chris closed the door behind himself.“We need to talk.”Her stomach tightened.
“I really hate those words tonight.”
“I know.”
“Is Mateo okay?”
“Yes.”Relief.“Diego?”
“No.”Fear.Chris approached.“Diego is contacting people who weren’t caught in the raid.”
Camila stared.“What people?”
“Vargas associates.”
“My brother’s people.”
“Some.”
“What does he want?”Chris hesitated.Camila noticed.“Chris.”
“He’s rebuilding.”She sat slowly.“How?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“Then why do you look like that?”Chris crouched in front of her.His hands rested on her knees.“Because he’s telling them about me.”Her face changed.“What about you?”
“Everything.”Silence.“Roman?”
“Gone.”She stared.“Everybody knows?”
“Enough people.”
“That you’re FBI.”
“Yes.”
“That you were undercover.”
“Yes.”
“That you caused the raid.”Chris hesitated.“That’ll be how Diego tells it.”Camila’s eyes filled with fear.“They’ll come after you.”Chris didn’t answer.“Chris.”
“Maybe.”
“Don’t.”
“What?”
“Give me FBI answers.”He sighed.“Yes.”Camila’s throat tightened.“They’re going to come after you.”
“That’s why we’re changing some things.”
“We?”Chris looked at her.There it was.Camila understood before he said anything.“No.”
“Camila.”
“No.”
“You haven’t even heard me.”
“I know that face.”
“What face?”
“The one you use right before you tell me I’m doing something I don’t want to do because it’s for my safety.”Chris almost smiled.“That’s remarkably specific.”
“Because you’ve done it repeatedly.”
“Fair.”She stood.“I’m not hiding.”
“You are absolutely hiding.”
“Chris.”
“No.”He stood too.“Diego knows what you mean to me.”Silence.Camila’s anger disappeared.“What?”Chris looked away for half a second.“He knows.”
“How?”
“Because apparently I’m not nearly as subtle as I thought.”Despite everything:“You?”
Camila almost laughed.“Subtle?”
“Not helping.”She smiled faintly.Then the reality returned.“What exactly does he know?”