Authors: Samantha Love
Nick follows behind me, hollering his apologies.
I walk ahead of him, and I don’t look behind me until I get to the hostel and inside my room.
Nick runs up the stairs behind me.
When he gets near, I slam the door in his face.
“Don’t follow me,” I yell through the door.
“Would you just listen to me? Let’s not do this out in the open.”
“Fine!” I yank open the door. The knob crashes into the wall. The security chain whips and rattles against the frame. “What do you want to say? I’m an emotional wreck, I need counseling, I have daddy issues? What?”
Nick doesn’t answer. He grabs me by the chin and kisses me.
No, no, no. The kiss is so wrong. It’s forced and tastes like desperation.
I push him away.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “I didn’t mean to. I—”
I look up at him.
There’s wreckage in his eyes.
“It’s okay, Nick. Just go.”
As he leaves, his face is pale and his mouth lingers open, shocked by his own impetuous actions.
My face hits the pillow.
I wish I could crawl into a hole and never come out.
I meant what I said to Nick. I don’t mind that he kissed me. I’ve been callous to him ever since we first met, while he’s been nothing but sweet. He’s the antithesis of everything women complain about. He’d make the perfect husband and a great father, but that’s not what my life is about.
It’s easier to keep running, reinventing myself in foreign places. I’m Caroline Davis and Kelly Simpson and Sarah Watts. I can be whoever is on a passport except Miranda Hill.
She’s the one girl I can’t stand to be.
7
Nick and I don’t speak much as we eat breakfast with José. He’s gotten word that the drug producers will be landing this morning. We eat quickly and drive out to the vantage points José has selected. While he takes a position that allows him to watch the road, Nick and I are given a spot overlooking the airport.
We set up a long pair of lenses that poke through the brush.
Nick doesn’t say a word about last night.
“I want to tell you something, Nick, but you have to promise you won’t reply.”
He stirs in the grass. “That’s a little unfair, but I’ll do my best.”
“You’re right, it’s not fair. I’m not a fair person. I’m selfish, and I’ve been a real bitch. But I want you to know that I do care for you. I just can’t think about that right now. If I did, it would compromise the entire mission. I know this isn’t easy for you. It isn’t easy for me, either. I need you to protect me as an agent, not as anything else.”
“I understand.”
He looks through the pair of lenses and doesn’t say another word.
I can only hope he really means what he says.
***
Several planes arrive carrying key players of the cocaine trade. Among them are Ivan Gómez and Carlos Fernandez. Ivan is an old-school dealer in his sixties with silver hair who looks more like a professor than he does a trafficker, while Carlos is flashy and loud and carries a face that has undergone too much plastic surgery, transforming his look to evade the authorities.
Diego stands by the runway and comes out to shake their hands. They pile into an SUV and leave in the direction of Diego’s compound.
“Something is definitely going on,” José says when we return to the car.
“I should call him to see if I can come over,” I say. “Imagine if we nabbed three dealers instead of one.”
“The entire market would collapse,” José says. “Those are the biggest producers on the planet. It would be the single biggest takedown ever.”
“It’s too dangerous,” Nick argues. “We can barely ensure your safety around Diego and now you want us to do it with three of them?”
“Nick, we have to take advantage of an opportunity like this,” I say.
“Won’t Diego think it’s odd if you call him five minutes after his associates land? That’s kind of a tip off that someone is watching him.”
“Well, obviously I plan on waiting a few hours, maybe even until tomorrow.”
“I don’t care what you plan. I’m leading this mission and what I say—”
My cell phone rings.
No one says a word.
I stare at the number.
“It’s Diego,” I say. “Should I answer it?”
José stops the car and nods.
“Hello?”
“Caroline, how are you?”
Caroline
. Just hearing his voice and that name and I’m transformed into her simple life: a cocktail waitress bumbling around without a care while a gorgeous, powerful man jockeys for my affection.
Making the transformation in front of Nick proves difficult, though. It’s like trying to fall asleep with someone banging pots and pans.
I turn away from him. “I’m fine. I thought you had forgotten about me.”
“Of course not. Listen, I want to see you this afternoon. I have a special surprise.”
I play along. “I don’t know, Diego. I’m kind of busy right now.”
“Then get unbusy.”
“Let me call you back, okay?”
“You’ve got five minutes and then I’m giving your spot to someone far less deserving.”
I end the call.
“He wants me to meet him right now.”
“Don’t go,” Nick says. “We’ll arrange something else on our terms.”
“I don’t think that’s going to work,” José says. “Diego doesn’t make plans on other people’s terms. If you turn him down, our mission is over.”
“This is a big case for Bailey too,” I say. “He’s going to have our asses if we don’t come through.”
“Who cares?” Nick says. “If your life is in danger, forget the job. This guy has something twisted planned. I can feel it. Isn’t it a little odd that he calls you as soon as a couple of drug distributors arrive?”
While Nick is right, his alternative is no better. If I admit the peril in front of me and quit the agency for good, then what? I can’t picture myself in the States doing domestic work for the rest of my life.
Besides, I don’t think Diego will harm me. He cares for me. I can see it in the way he looks at me. And if tries to do something, I can reason with him.
So he has a couple of odd sexual perversions. Who doesn’t?
As a picture of Diego spanking me crystallizes in my mind, I feel hot and breathless. I brace myself against the armrest.
I don’t know what’s happening to me. I only know that I must see Diego. I have to know what he’s about. If I quit now and return home in defeat, I’ll never be at peace.
“Can you guys get close enough to listen in to our conversation?”
“I think so,” José says. “It’s a hell of a hike, but there’s a spot west of the compound. We’ll follow you to make sure you’re going to Diego’s compound. We’ll be out of reach of you for a few hours.”
“And what happens if Diego decides to suddenly leave like the last time?” Nick asks.
“One of us will have to stay at the car,” José says. “That’s the only way it will work.”
“Fine,” I say. “Just make sure you put the wire in a place that’s well hidden.”
Nick shakes his head. “If you’re going, you should bring a weapon of some kind.”
He passes me a switchblade.
If it will shut him up, I’ll take it. I can always ditch it later.
I call Diego back and tell him that I’ll be waiting for him.
8
Outside of the Dragonfly, Diego hugs me when I get into the Escalade. Just being in his presence is intoxicating. I want to feel his lips against mine, to be kissed in that inexplicable manner that no one else has ever come close to capturing before.
He smiles and touches my hair.
“So cute,” he says.
We kiss briefly.
Sitting in the Dodge Dart a few cars behind us, Nick is probably fuming. I should feel sorry for him, but the tingle of Diego’s lips leaves me in a heady state.
He rubs my leg as I buckle my seatbelt.
I bite my lower lip and smile.
His associates grab my purse and search it. Other hands reach from the back seat and start feeling along my dress, passing my waist and breasts.
“Hey,” Diego shouts. “Let’s exert some decency, shall we? I’m sorry, Caroline. I’ve insured my guests the upmost security since we’re traveling.”
Traveling? My chest tightens.
“Oh, where are we traveling to?”
Diego smiles. “Just flying over some coffee fields. Relax, Caroline. You’re far too tense.”
A guard strapped with an ARX-160 over his shoulder pulls out my cell phone and the switchblade. He presses the release button and the blade shoots out. “
Encontre un arma y un teléfono celular, señor.”
Diego takes hold of the blade and twists it before the light. “A nasty little thing
.
This could do some serious damage.” He turns to me. “Caroline, why is a pretty girl like you carrying around such a vile weapon?”
I’m so pissed at Nick that I can barely think.
Look where your protection has gotten me now.
“It’s for my safety
.
A man tried to rob me my first night in Cusco.”
The story is lame,
and the knife is
n’t exactly the kind of the thing you see sold around the tourist district.
He retracts the blade and puts his arm around me. The blunt edge of the switchblade rests against my neck. “Caroline, there’s no reason for you to feel in danger. You’re in good hands now. No danger will come to you. I promise.”
I tremble and look around the vehicle. Ivan and Carlos are in the very back, nervously glancing around
, as well
. They both stare out of the window as if a motorcycle gang armed with machine guns will pull up beside us at any moment.
“Are we ready to go?” Ivan asks. “I want to see the problem.”
“Yes,” Diego says. “Let’s go.”
We ride away from the Dragonfly.
As we pull into the airport we don’t use the main entrance or even step foot into the terminal. A side gate opens for us
and
we
pass
through.
I look around for Nick and
José. I don’t see their vehicle. It doesn’t matter. There’s no sense in them trailing too close and putting me in more danger. They can’t get me out of this. Soon I’ll be in the air and far away from any communications capabilities.
A Gulfstream G650 is waiting for us on the runway. Our vehicle stops in front of it, and Diego tells me to get out.
He grabs me by the arm and leads me up the airstairs and into the luxury jetliner. We enter the cabin and take a seat on a plush leather sofa with a cherry-wood table. Ivan and Carlos sit across from us in individual seats.
The stairs lift and the plane moves down the taxi.
“I have a confession,” Diego says. “We are going to fly over the coffee fields. That much is true. However, I have another destination in mind, as well. Ivan and Carlos are flying back to Colombia after our business is over, and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for you to see my home country.”
No way. This wasn’t apart of the plan at all. Nick and José will never be able to track me to Colombia. They can’t even follow me to Machu Picchu.
“Diego, I have work.”
Diego scrunches up his face. “Work? What is it with you and work? Ivan, I’m offering this girl a getaway to Colombia at my beachfront palace and she tells me she has to work as a cocktail waitress instead. Help me make sense of this.”
“No man can make sense of women,” he says.
“Fine,” I say. “It’s just that I have priorities.”
“Is it money?” Diego asks. “Of course, it’s always money with women. Tell you what. I will take you to Cartagena, and we can do all the shopping you want. You have no clothes for the trip anyway. And if you need cash, I will give it to you. So there. Problem solved.”
I sigh and stare out of the window as the jet flies down the runway and lifts into the air.
The Dodge Dart races to the edge of the parking lot, stopping in the same spot as when I first arrived. I was so thankful to see Nick then. Ever since, I’ve done everything I can to push him away.
Now I’m riding on an airplane with three of the most dangerous men in the world with no hope of Nick and José being able to track me.
I’m alone and on my own.
I should feel terrified—absolutely petrified.
And I am.
Yet, there’s excitement too.
I don’t have to worry about my conversations being overheard or Nick’s judgment or resisting Diego’s romantic passes. Miranda Hill would be paralyzed with fear, but as the aircraft climbs, I’m no longer Miranda.
I’m Caroline Davis, and I watch her hand settle against Diego’s leg.
9
“You see!” Diego shouts, getting up from his seat. “It’s all burned to the ground.”
Ivan and Carlos nod. I stare out of the window myself. Acre after acre of smoldering earth stretches across the valley.
Black, charred earth.
“It’s the same thing that’s happening to my fields,” Carlos says.
“Mine too,” Ivan agrees. “And you think it is Peña?”
“It has to be,” Diego says. “It isn’t the military because it’s happening to fields in Peru, Colombia and Bolivia. If there were a coordinated, international effort, one of us would have gotten word about it. I don’t know about you two, but I pay quite a lot of money to keep the militaries and governments out of my business.”
“So do I,” Ivan says. “So what do we do about this? If Peña has truly come out of retirement like you suggest, we should hold a meeting with the major families to discuss it. That’s the proper thing to do.”