Violet

After the bombshell I’d overheard, Jaxon escorted me back to my seat. Zane had dismissed me like an errant child and told me to think about the reasons Manuel would want to take me.

“Were you going to tell me Manuel was trying to kidnap me?” I hated that my voice was wobbly, but I had nothing left. 

“No. Not right now anyway,” Jaxon answered.

His answer pissed me off, giving me the pick me up I needed. “Why not? I think I have a right to know if someone is planning on taking me against my will and trying to sell me. Sell me, Jaxon. You don’t think I should’ve known that?”

“No. You’re too unpredictable, and you’ve proven you’ll martyr yourself. You had no issue caving under demands when lives were threatened. Not once did you consider they wouldn’t hold up their end of the bargain. You blindly followed them, knowing you’d spend the rest of your life in prison when you were caught. You weren’t careful. You didn’t cover your tracks. You were still trying to help the good guys while working for the bad guys. I hate to say it, but you suck at this double agent spy shit. You have no sense of self preservation. So, that would be a fuck no, we weren’t going to tell you. My best guess is as soon as we told you, you’d try and run off, thinking you were doing the right thing, protecting us or something as equally stupid.”

I couldn’t argue with anything Jaxon had said. He was right, I would’ve tried to run away. It wasn’t fair to put anyone else’s life in danger.

“Well, tell me how you really feel,” I huffed.

“I think what you did was unbelievably fucking stupid. But I understand why you did it. I also think the reasons why you did it were selfless. However, I think it bears repeating – incredibly reckless and wrong. Don’t ever give in when someone is trying to blackmail you, and you never fucking turncoat on your country.”

I didn’t actually think he’d tell me how he felt. It was more of a statement for lack of knowing what to say, but I’d hold on to his words. He understood. That was all I wanted. I didn’t need anyone to agree with me. I know what I did was wrong, but I desperately wanted someone to understand.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“Trust me, Violet, there is nothing to thank me for.”

I shrugged and turned toward the small window, ending the conversation. The clouds raced by as we made our way across the ocean, each minute the aircraft ate up the miles bringing me closer to the US and closer to my incarceration.

“When we get home, I won’t be your problem anymore. Once I’m in federal custody, Manuel won’t be able to get his hands on me.”

“You don’t get it, do you? You’re still completely naïve to how this works.” The change in Jaxon’s voice had me turning my head to look at him.

“How what works?” I asked.

“Wake up, Violet. If you want to stay alive, drop the doe in the headlights act and look around. See the people in this plane? Right now, we’re the only people you can trust. We’re not handing you over to feds. We have no idea who Manuel has working for him. If you think you’re the only person Manuel has on his payroll, then you’re just plain dumb.”

“Enough! Don’t call me dumb. Since I’ve met you, you’ve called me stupid and naïve a dozen times, and now dumb. I am neither dumb nor stupid. I may be naïve how the blackmail, back stabbing, selling people into human trafficking works, but I can promise you I did not get to where I was in the CIA because I am dumb. I didn’t think you were going to walk me back into headquarters and announce that you’d caught me. I assumed being the badasses you all claim to be, you’d have some secure connection that would take me into custody and take me back out of the country to lock me in a dark hole somewhere no one would ever hear from me again.”

“While, that sounds like a good plan, I’m gonna need you close by for now,” Zane said and stopped in front of the row Jaxon and I were sitting in. “What do you know about Manuel Ortega?”

“Nothing,” I answered.

“Did you ever look into him, pull his record?” he questioned.

“No. I know nothing about him other than he confirmed he had the list,” I answered.

“Forget everything you think you know about the chip, the list, the Chinese, everything. I only want you to concentrate on Timothy Clark and Manuel Ortega. Tell me exactly how Timothy made contact,” Zane asked.

“Okay. I was at a coffee shop and Timothy sat down across from me…”

“Where?” Zane interrupted.

“Where?”

“Yes, where? A Starbucks? At the Pentagon City Mall? Where?” he clarified.

“A Dunkin Donuts off the GW and 5th Avenue.”

“Do you go there often?” Jaxon asked.

“Almost every morning.”

“Okay, so you were easy to track and follow. You had a routine. You were at the Dunkin Donuts, then what?”

“I was waiting for my order. I sat in the corner and was reading a newspaper someone had left on the table when he sat down across from me. He didn’t say anything, just placed a handwritten list of names in front of me. I was confused at first and was getting ready to push the paper away when Declan’s name caught my attention. I looked closer at the list and recognized more names. Timothy told me he had a job for me. I declined and folded the paper to take it with me to work. I was going to hand it over to the director. Timothy snatched the list away from me and told me I had twenty-four hours to comply or the list was going on the internet and he left.”

“What did he want you to do?” Zane looked up from the notepad he was writing on.

“That’s the thing. He didn’t tell me what job it was, all he said was a job.”

“But you said no, without knowing what he wanted?” Jaxon’s eyes narrowed. He was back to not believing me again.

“I know you all think I’m an idiot. God knows you’ve all called me it enough times. But I didn’t cave the first time Timothy approached.”

“Go on, what happened next?” Zane motioned for me to continue.

“I went to work and pulled the traffic cams outside of the coffee shop. I ran the man’s face through facial recognition. Looking back, it was too easy. He knew I was going to do it. Timothy looked right at the camera, giving me a clear image. His file was flagged as a rogue agent. Before I could alert my superior the CCTV footage I was looking at and Timothy’s file were gone. And I mean wiped clean off the system. A few minutes later I got a text message from a blocked number telling me he was watching me. The next morning, I went to get my coffee and Timothy was there waiting. He told me he had people watching everything I was doing, and he said he had eyes on Declan too. If I didn’t want something to happen to him, I’d look into the Attorney General and find dirt on him. If I did, he’d hand over the list and they’d all be safe.”

“If you told him no initially, what changed your mind?” Zane asked.

“Timothy showed me a video of Declan.”

“And?” Jaxon was back to looking at me like I was stupid.

“It was a recent video. He had someone watching him. When Timothy explained all they wanted was dirt on Peter Newton, I agreed.”

“How do you know it was recent?” Zane questioned.

“It was filmed in a bar and the news was on in the background. It was only days old when he showed me.”

“A bar?” Jaxon looked at me, “Do you know where?”

“No. I heard Spanish, but the news broadcast was in English.”

“When did Manuel Ortega come into play?” Zane continued to pepper me with questions.

“The day Timothy died.” I stopped and tried to regain my composure. “I was on the phone with Timothy when he was killed. After I heard the shot, Manuel told me I was dealing with him directly from then on. When I asked where Timothy was, he said gone. That was it.”

“And the chip? When was that brought up?” Zane tapped his pen on the pad. He didn’t look up from his notes while he waited.

“About the same time I started being followed, a little over a week ago. Manuel called me and told me he wanted to meet. I thought he was going to give me the list and I’d be free. But he said I’d done such a good job with Peter Newton he had one more thing he wanted me to do. He said there was a chip in a mini drone he wanted. I told him no, we had a deal. He laughed at me and said he would release one name a day until I agreed. I told him I’d look into the drone and he left. I haven’t heard from him again.”

“This MSS agent? Did he have ID on him? Anything?” Jaxon asked.

“No.”

“So you assumed he was MSS because…” he drew out his question.

“He was Chinese.” I told him.

“So, you profiled him as an agent. Okay, well, we can safely say MSS is not involved or following you. We’ll confirm when Garrett is done with his investigation,” Zane said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“The Chinese guy? Is just that - a Chinese guy working for Manuel. You’re creating things that are not really there. I told you, we need to forget what you think you know.” Zane looked up from his paper and nodded at Jaxon.

“Chaos theory,” Jaxon said.

“That’s what I’m thinking. Keep Violet paranoid and chasing her tail - she’d never figure out what he’s up to. As long as he can keep her focused on the list, she’d follow blindly.” Zane continued to look at Jaxon.

“Timothy was used to get the list, Violet was used to blackmail Peter Newton, Siles and Gomez were pawns. But what’s his end game? If wanting the chip was bullshit, which I assume it was, Wolf’s team was never in any real danger. Manuel simply exposed a security breach. That would make any hardware he wants to sell null. Timothy is dead. Siles is dead. Gomez is back to doing what Gomez does.” Jaxon and Zane continued to talk to each other as if I was no longer there. “That leaves Violet.”

They had a few things right. I was paranoid, I had been chasing my tail, and now I was more confused than ever.

“But I don’t know anything about Manuel. There would be no reason he’d want me. I’m a nobody,” I told them.

“Not to someone you’re not,” Jaxon said.

“Huh? There’s no one who cares about me, trust me. My birth parents died when I was three. My adoptive parents have both passed. I have no siblings.”

“But you do. You have a brother. And he’s the end game,” Zane concluded.

“That doesn’t make sense. Timothy and Manuel knew where he was. They don’t need me to find him.”

The look that passed between Jaxon and Zane scared me to death. I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to muster what was left of my courage and asked, “Why does Manuel want me?”