Deadly Intent Read online

  Sophie sucked in a breath.

  Nelson simply smiled and continued to hold out the phone. Sophie glanced at the face in the picture. The photo was a portrait of a man in front of an American flag. He looked familiar.

  Was that…?

  Rodrigo finally glanced at the picture. “What is the meaning of this?”

  “Your arch rival, Guido,” Nelson said. “He’s CIA, sir.”

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Get back to Sophie.

  It was all Nelson wanted to do.

  He’d done the unthinkable and outed an Agency operative to save his own skin, but it had worked to appease the cartel leader and take the heat off of him. Sophie’s operation was still intact. Nelson was still head of security.

  Better than being snake food.

  The downside was he’d had seven men to interrogate in order to find out which one had allowed Guido—Agent Blue—onto the grounds.

  They all denied any wrongdoing. Nelson had gone through the security tapes, and low and behold, discovered Guido had gotten in with help from the outside. Chavez.

  “He had the codes,” Nelson reported to Morales. “I change them daily, and no one knew this morning’s codes but me. I left to go check on the warehouse without sharing them. Chavez must have an electronic clone on the security system.”

  The man sat at his desk, scowling. His gun—the one Nelson had taught him to shoot accurately—sat on top of the desk. Morales stroked it. “Maybe you gave him the codes. Maybe you’re a liar and a thief.”

  He was both, but not this time. No way he was taking credit for something he didn’t do. “I would never do anything to harm Maria-Sophia. I shouldn’t have left her alone, granted, but I hate Guido as much as you do. I’d kill my mother before I helped him with anything.”

  “Did you not check for a clone?”

  “I did but didn’t find anything. It must be damn sophisticated technology, perhaps from the CIA?”

  Morales seemed agreeable to the idea. He rocked in his chair. “Find it. Then report back to me.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Nelson hustled down the stairs and outside. Get to Sophie.

  She must have seen him crossing the grounds to her apartment because she met him at the door a minute later. “What the hell, Nelson?”

  “Come here.” He pulled her to him, hugged her tight, and kicked the door shut behind them. “Tell me you landed a shot to Guido’s balls.”

  “Don’t worry.” Her tense body relaxed a smidgeon inside his arms. “I landed a few good shots. He’ll be sore tomorrow.”

  Nelson drew back and cupped her face with his hands, examining her bruised cheek and cut lip. “I’m still going to kill him.”

  “Be my guest. I hate the guy. But I think you already signed his death certificate by outing him to Morales. What were you thinking?”

  “I was saving my backside, and from all accounts, the guy is a douche bag. A very clever, heartless douche bag. Did you know?”

  She moved away, suddenly engrossed in watching something outside the window. Her fingers twisted strands of her hair with nervous, jerky movements.

  Nelson felt his insides dip. She’d known but hadn’t shared the information with him. Why did it surprise him? “Morales wanted to know why a CIA operative was after you,” he said quietly. “I told him the truth…I have no idea.”

  Eyes shuttered, she continued to keep her face half-turned away from him. “The CIA wants the ledgers. They believe there is top secret information in them, and terrorist contacts that Ciro Morales made over the years. I agreed to find the ledgers in exchange for Agent Blue helping me with a few things while I was undercover.”

  Sophie would never turn over the ledgers to the Agency, even if she got what she wanted out of them first.

  Unless she was getting something big in return.

  “I told Morales the CIA probably wanted to turn you into an asset for them in order to get something on him.” He took a couple steps toward her, watching her carefully. “What kind of things is Agent Blue helping you with?”

  Her face was sad as she stared out the window. Nelson wondered what she was seeing. Not the grounds, he would bet. Maybe her operation going up in smoke? All the lies she had told coming back to bite her in the ass?

  He wanted to call her on it…her duplicity. But she faced him again, hands on hips, once more in agent mode. “How did you find out about Blue?”

  “Agent Rios. She’s a former spook who’s now FBI. She saw his photo in a file my boss gave her and she filled me in. According to her, Blue would throw is grandmother under the bus in order to keep his cover intact. I’d like to know why the hell he took out a hit on you, knowing you’re FBI.”

  Her gaze cut away from him and she folded her arms under her breasts. “I told him Rodrigo is attracted to me. He was hoping to make him more protective so that he would open up and invite me to stay inside his house. Blue was convinced the ledgers were hidden there even though I told him I already searched the house.”

  “You sure Blue wasn’t simply trying to get you out of the way? He’s had a sweet gig down here for a long time. I don’t doubt he wants those ledgers, but I’m not sure he’s ready to give up the cartel life.”

  She ignored his questions and posed one of her own. “How did you convince Rodrigo that his arch rival was Agency? I’m sure he asked how you knew such top secret information.”

  The Alaskan tundra had nothing on Sophie Diaz at that moment. In her quest to keep his interrogation focused on everything but her, a cold determination had turned her eyes, tone, and body language into ice.

  “I told him the truth,” Nelson said. “That I knew a fugitive recovery agent in the area who happened to have crossed paths with Agent Blue and had first-hand knowledge of his association with the CIA.”

  Her laugh was devoid of humor. “I still don’t understand why you would do such a thing, even if the guy is a douche bag.”

  “He took a hit out on your life, Sophie.” He pointed to her red cheek. “He punched you in an effort to cover for himself.”

  “Blowing another agent’s cover…it’s the most unprofessional thing you could ever do.”

  “That’s rich coming from you.”

  She sucked in her cheeks. “I didn’t reveal your identity with the Chica Bonita operation. You blew that op the first time around all on your own.”

  Yeah, by sleeping with you.

  They’d had two days together. Two nights. Once she knew he was ICE and closing in on Chica Bonita, she’d panicked and tried to steal some files. The next thing he knew, his op was over. She’d barely made it out without getting caught and her risk-taking brought the whole house of cards down. The files were bogus; nothing could be proven on the human trafficking ring, and nothing led back to Ciro Morales or any other cartel. Ciro wasn’t stupid, however. He shut down CB in a matter of hours.

  Nelson didn’t want to talk about the past, and he didn’t want to fight. His arms ached to pull her close and hold her.

  But there was no getting past her icy armor. He needed to be all-business too. “You said in your text that you found the missiles.”

  “There are no physical missiles. The disk we found has the missile designs on it. I’m sure of it. That’s what everyone is actually after.”

  The specs Rios had told him about? Most likely. In one fell swoop, they could take out a drug cartel, wrap up Project Bliss, and recover those specs. “Where’s the disk now?”

  “I gave it back to Rodrigo. It was the only way I knew to explain why Guido was here but didn’t kill me. I told him Guido dropped the disk making his escape.” She waved that away. “What’s important now is that we get the ledgers back to their hiding place before Rodrigo retrieves his go bag.”

  That could be a problem. “You think he’s going to take off?”

  “Tomorrow after the exchange, he and Lexie are going on a”—she made air quotes—“vacation.”

  “You think it’s a permanent
one.”

  “Before you got here, he told me Guido can have the business. He’s fed up. He wants out.”

  Nelson scrubbed his eyes. “Yeah, but now he knows Guido is actually Agent Blue who is CIA and not interested in taking over the business. He’s switched gears and now has a boner for the feds. He wants to stick it to the U.S. and the Agency.”

  “Can you blame him?”

  He was exhausted from trying to work all of this out. “I don’t really give a fuck as long as our covers are still in place, but I need that disk.”

  Her lips thinned. “I’ll see if I can get it, but I bet Rodrigo is keeping a close eye on it if he’s changed his mind about staying here. Can you get the ledgers back to their hiding place?”

  “Sort of. I left one of them with Agent Rios to see if she could decipher the code. If Rodrigo discovers they’re gone, just tell him Guido stole them.”

  “No, no, no.” She paced two steps one way and then two back, her eyes snapping. “We have to get that ledger. Immediately. I told Rodrigo that Guido didn’t steal them.”

  Well, great. “I have the other two and I can get them back into that bag. I’ll contact Rios and have her bring the third one and slip it in somehow. Meantime, I have to figure out how Chavez, and in turn, Blue, got the code for the gate. A sophisticated CIA clone is my guess. Is Chavez Agency as well?”

  Sophie stiffened slightly. “Not that I know of.”

  Didn’t mean it wasn’t so. From her body language, he guessed she still wasn’t telling him everything. What’s new? “I’ll be back in a few minutes. Sit tight.”

  “I’m tired of sitting on my ass.” She blew by him and grabbed the door handle. “I’m going to see Lexie. It’s the last day I have with her.”

  “Cortana is going to visit her auntie,” Lexie said, feeling around inside the dollhouse with one hand as she balanced the doll on her legs with the other. “She needs to pack a suitcase of her favorite outfits and books.”

  “Oh, of course.” Sophie handed her a small, plastic case. “Where does her aunt live?”

  “San Antonio, in America.”

  “Texas, huh?”

  “Yes! Cortana wants to see the cowboys and buy a pair of red leather cowboy boots!”

  Sophie helped Lexie and Cortana, her doll, pick out several outfits and pack them. “Have you ever been to America?”

  “No, but when I grow up, I want to live there with my auntie. She’s just like Cortana’s.”

  Sophie paused in sorting clothes. “Your aunt?”

  “Aunt Margo. She lives in San Antonio. I only met her once when I was a baby, so I don’t really remember her, but my mother told me all about her. She was my father’s sister and she liked horses. She left the family, so they sort of forgot about her. She owns a dude ranch. When I’m older, I can work for her and ride horses every day.”

  Brain cells fired. Ciro Morales had three sisters. Two were still in Mexico. One had died. None of them were named Margo. “Why did she leave the family?”

  “She didn’t like it here anymore, Mama said. She argued a lot with her father, my grandpapa, I guess. Mama said it was business stuff.” Lexie shrugged, carefully running a brush through her doll’s hair and caressing the hair with her other hand. “My grandfather wanted her to go into the family business and she didn’t want to. She loved horses and wanted to have her own ranch. He told her to leave and never come back. Mama really liked her, she said.”

  “That’s sad.” Sophie’s pulse raced. “So she lives in Texas, now, huh?”

  “Si. She changed her name and everything. Mama said we would visit her someday, but we never did.”

  A ripple of excitement made Sophie’s fingers twitch. “What was her name when she lived here?”

  Lexie held up the doll, a huge smile on her face. “Cortana. I named my favorite doll after her.”

  Cortana Morales. The dead sister.

  Who wasn’t really dead, if Lexie was to be believed.

  Tears stung Sophie’s eyes. The girl was so precious, and she’d just given Sophie a means to save her. Leaning over, Sophie gave Lexie a hug. “What a beautiful name. I bet your aunt will be thrilled to see you when you make it to San Antonio. She’ll be honored to know you named your favorite doll after her.”

  Lexie giggled and reached for the dollhouse again, her short, chubby fingers searching for something once more. “How should we do her hair? Up or down?”

  Sophie handed her a miniature hair clip and wiped away the tears threatening to fall down her cheeks. Once more she was ever so grateful that Lexie couldn’t see her. “I think either way, she’s as beautiful as her name.”

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Morales was out for blood. Specifically Agent Blue’s.

  Nelson did as instructed with the gate. He took apart the electronic panel and went over it with a more critical eye.

  Sure as the Pope had a cross, the box hid a tiny, cloning Wi-Fi device no bigger than his thumbnail. Whoever had installed it had stuck it behind a tangle of rainbow colored wires.

  Why did he have the feeling, it wasn’t Chavez or Agent Blue who had stuck it there?

  But if Sophie had done it, why hadn’t she fessed up?

  Nelson removed the device and made a pit stop to see the snakes. No one was around. The caretaker had been their earlier and no one else seemed psyched to hang out with snakes. Not even Rodrigo himself.

  Imagine that.

  So even though it was the middle of the day, Nelson managed to return the two ledgers to their hiding place without an issue.

  Next, he took the clone to Morales. As he hit the top of the stairs heading to Morales’s study, he heard the sound of laughter coming from Lexie’s bedroom. While Sophie was surely dying inside over betraying the girl, she was making sure Lexie had one last good day.

  Morales kept Nelson waiting in the hall for twenty minutes. Pissed, Nelson leaned against the wall and tuned into what Sophie and Lexie were talking about, concentrating on the fact that this time tomorrow, he was out of there.

  The two females seemed to be playing with dolls. Lexie insisted on Sophie’s doll and hers being sisters—a game Sophie could probably enjoy.

  A text buzzed his phone. He pulled it out and saw it was Agent Rios. He’d texted her earlier about the ledger.

  Where do you want to meet?

  Damn. He needed that ledger but he was stuck here until he checked in with Morales. Change of plan. Hold tight. Will meet you as soon as able.

  A moment later, she confirmed.

  The study door opened and Morales’s bodyguard, Sanny, motioned him inside.

  “Nico, what have you brought me?” Morales said without looking up from his desk.

  Putting his phone away, he sauntered across the floor. Nelson grabbed the cloning device from his pocket and tossed the no longer functioning thing on the blotter. “This was inside the security gate’s main box. It’s probably been there since your father was in power.”

  “Is there anything else I should know about?”

  Nelson paused for half a second. “Sir?”

  Morales raised his gaze. “Is the warehouse in need of more security?”

  Oh, right. His excuse for leaving the compound. “A single chain-link fence is hardly a security measure. Your workers, and the product they’re making, isn’t safe.”

  “A good place to draw Guido into, then, si? To cut him down?”

  Morales had mentioned this idea of trapping Guido, aka Blue, and killing him, to Nelson at their earlier meeting. The cartel leader, regardless of what he’d told Sophie, was no longer making plans to leave Tijuana. Deception was always a strong motivator for revenge.

  Even with the sting looming on the horizon, it was important to stay in character. “He doesn’t know that we know he’s CIA, but he does know I’m working for you instead of him. That can’t set well with him. He probably wants my head on a plate. Why don’t we give it to him?”

  The green disk sat off to the side of the de
sk. Morales eyed it. “You want to be bait?”

  “Why not? I’ll head into town later and act drunk at one of the bars. Leave myself vulnerable. We’ll see what it nets us.”

  Morales tipped his chair back and steepled his fingers in thought. “You’ll kill him if he comes after you?”

  I’d love to. He deserved at least a sound beating for hitting Sophie. “Absolutely.”

  “Maria-Sophia and my sister will be safe here with you gone?”

  Nelson pointed at the clone. “No one’s getting in again. I’ve tightened security yet another level inside and out.”

  That was a partial lie. There wasn’t much more he could do with security unless he put Morales in a bunker.

  “I have business in town tonight. While I attend to that, you may go to the bar. We’ll see what happens.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “Meet me out front when night falls.”

  With that, Morales waved him out the door and went back to his work.

  When Sophie arrived at her apartment, her fingers itched to dial her friend in child services. She needed to do it quick before Nelson got back and overheard her.

  Why don’t you just tell him?

  Because he already thinks I’m a pushover for the girl.

  Why was that so bad? Sophie wasn’t sure, anymore. Nelson knew her weaknesses, knew she felt guilty betraying Lexie.

  Old habits died hard though, and she wasn’t sure this lead would pan out. She’d covertly pumped Lexie for more information while they played, and if Cortana Morales had changed her name, Lexie didn’t know what her last name was anymore.

  The woman had a 140-acre dude ranch in San Antonio. She had moved to America around the time Lexie turned five. It wasn’t much, but Sophie had found people with less. She hoped Wanda could do the same.

  Inside, she threw off her shawl. The soft sound of running water made her swear under her breath. Nelson was already there and in the shower.