35. Found #2
Gunpowder.Dust.He listened.Movement near the kitchen.Outside the west wall.Rear entrance compromised.Front still intact.Chris keyed his radio quietly.
“Command, I’m interior east. Protectee secured rear reinforced room.
”Mercer:“Stay defensive. Backup ninety seconds.”Chris almost laughed.Ninety seconds was a lifetime when people were shooting at you.A shadow crossed the living room.Chris raised his weapon.
“FBI! Don’t move!”The man fired.Chris ducked back.Rounds tore into the wall.Chris returned fire.The attacker disappeared.Another window exploded behind him.Chris moved again.They were trying to split his attention.Good tactic.Bad target.He’d spent years in worse situations than this.Except he’d never had Camila behind him.Never had his unborn child behind him.That made every sound sharper.Every risk unacceptable.The radio crackled. “Thirty seconds.”
Chris breathed.Then a voice came from outside.“Walker!”Not FBI.Chris froze.Again.
“Walker!”He knew the voice.Ramirez.Vargas security.A man who had once stood beside him at Mateo’s mansion.Chris moved toward cover.“Bit late for a visit.”Ramirez laughed from outside.“You fucked us.”Chris’s eyes hardened.“No.”
“You brought the feds.”
“That’s generally what FBI agents do.”
“You think this is funny?”
“No.”
“Diego wants the girl.”Something inside Chris changed.Completely.Cold.Dead calm.“You tell Diego he can go fuck himself.”Ramirez laughed.“He said you’d say something like that.”Chris tightened his grip.“What else did he say?”
“That you’d do anything for her.”Silence.“He was right.”Chris’s voice lowered.“Yeah.”
Ramirez went quiet.Chris continued.“And that’s the mistake all of you made tonight.”
A burst of gunfire hit the house.Chris stayed behind cover.Then—sirens.Not distant anymore.Close.Very close.Ramirez swore.Chris smiled faintly.“There’s your problem.”
FBI vehicles tore into the property.Commands erupted outside.“FEDERAL AGENTS!”
“DROP YOUR WEAPONS!”
“GET ON THE GROUND!”The siege turned instantly.Men who’d spent twenty minutes trying to force their way inside now scattered into a perimeter full of federal agents.Chris moved toward the front.“Walker, hold interior!”Mercer.“I have movement rear.”
“Teams have it.”Chris forced himself to stop.Follow orders.For once.Gunfire outside.
Then shouting.Then quieter.Slowly.Minutes passed.Chris hated every one.
Finally:“Exterior secure.”He exhaled.“Status suspects?”
“Two detained. One injured. At least one fled into trees. Search active.”Chris’s face hardened.Not complete.But enough.He turned.Bathroom.Camila.Baby.He ran.“Camila.”
She was already at the door.“Say something.”Chris almost smiled despite everything.
“I really am devastatingly handsome.”The lock flew open.Camila threw herself into his arms.Chris caught her.Gun hanging safely away.His arms locked around her.“It’s okay.”
“Don’t say that unless you mean it.”
“I mean it.”
“Are they gone?”
“Most.”Her head snapped back.“Most?”
“Federal agents are outside.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“I know.”Chris touched her face.“They’re not getting to you.”Camila stared into his eyes.
This time she believed him without hesitation.She put both hands against his chest.
Then hit him.Not hard.Chris blinked.“What was that?”
“For leaving the bathroom.”
“I was defending the house.”She hit him again.“And that?”
“For getting cut.”
“This seems unfair.”Another slap against his chest.Chris caught her wrist.“What was that one?”
“For scaring me.”His humor disappeared.He released her hand.“I’m sorry.”Camila stared.
Chris meant it.She knew.Her fingers brushed the blood on his arm.“We’re okay?”
He looked at her stomach.Then back.“We’re okay.”She swallowed.“We.”Chris smiled softly.“Yeah.”We.He wrapped one arm around her and pulled her against him.For a second, the ruined house disappeared.The alarms.The gunfire.The cartel.The FBI.Everything.
Then Mercer’s voice came from the hallway.“Walker.”Chris closed his eyes.Camila laughed weakly against his chest.“Your timing is terrible.”Mercer appeared in the doorway.
He looked at the damaged bathroom.Then Chris.Then Camila.“You both intact?”Chris nodded.“Yes.”Mercer noticed Chris’s arm.“Medic.”
“It’s glass.”
“Medic.”Chris sighed.Camila pointed at Mercer.“I like him.”Chris looked offended.“No, you don’t.”
“I do now.”Mercer almost smiled.Then his face became serious again.“We have a bigger problem.”Chris stared.“Of course we do.”
“One of the men detained had a burner.”
“And?”
“Messages from Diego.”Chris’s jaw tightened.“Current?”
“Within the last hour.”Camila stepped closer to Chris.“What did they say?”Mercer hesitated.Chris noticed.“Tell me.”Mercer looked between them.“Diego knew exactly which safe house you were using.”Silence.Chris’s face went cold.“How?”
“We don’t know.”
“That location was compartmented.”
“I know.”
“How many people had it?”
“Limited.”Chris looked toward the shattered house.This wasn’t reconnaissance.This wasn’t Diego narrowing down possibilities.Someone had given him the location.Camila whispered:“Someone told him.”Chris looked at Mercer.Mercer didn’t deny it.
“We have a leak.”Chris’s arm tightened around Camila.Inside the FBI.Or close enough.
And suddenly the safest place they’d had—wasn’t safe at all.Camila touched her stomach.
Chris saw.This time he understood exactly why.His unborn child.His family.And somebody had just sold their location to Diego Serrano.Chris’s eyes hardened.
“Where are we going?”Mercer answered:“Somewhere even fewer people know.”
Chris looked at Camila.She looked exhausted.Pale.Terrified.But alive.That was all that mattered.For now.Chris kissed her forehead.“We move together.”Mercer nodded.“Agreed.”
Camila looked up at Chris.“No leaving me in another bathroom?”He almost smiled.“Not if I can help it.”
“You can’t.”
“What?”
“Leave me.”Her voice softened.“Period.”Chris stared at her.Then at the hand she had protectively placed over their child.His expression changed.“No.”He covered her hand with his.“Not anymore.”Outside, federal agents searched the dark woods for the last attacker.
Inside, the safe house alarms continued flashing against walls scarred by gunfire.
Chris had spent years believing danger was something he could outrun.Outshoot.
Outthink.Tonight he’d learned something else.Diego had found them.And if someone inside the investigation had helped him—there might not be a safe house anywhere.
Only Chris.Only the FBI agents he could truly trust.And one promise he intended to keep no matter what it cost.Nobody was taking Camila.Nobody was touching their child.Diego had made the worst possible mistake.He’d turned the case personal.And Special Agent Chris Walker was done running.