Chapter14
The office was dark, the door locked with a key. But Nina was prepared for that. After walking boldly into Alex’s room, which she was allowed to do anyway, she’d retrieved the key-ring she’d seen in his desk drawer when she’d surprised him with lunch in his suite one day while he was working. He’d managed to be nonchalant about shutting the drawer quickly, but not before she’d gotten a glimpse of most of what was in there. At the time, she’d thought he was protecting her from seeing the handgun that was mounted on the sidewall of the drawer, but now she wasn’t so sure.
There had been quite a few things in the drawer that could be sketchy now that she knew Alex was evading taxes. But she would worry about those things after she hit the downstairs office. She knew from her forensic accounting class that what she was looking for would be out of sight and not easily accessed, and the most logical place was the locked office.
She looked down the hall, thankful that the layout of the house provided her cover from the front doors and the main staircase. Someone would have to be coming down the hall to see her, and the dining room, which was at the end of the west hallway, was still filled with laughter and boisterous conversation that could be heard from the east hallway.
No one would be coming down this hall anytime soon, and the only access to the formal dining room was the west hallway, so staff coming and going wouldn’t be anywhere near where she was. And the rest of the staff would be patrolling the ground until they were relieved for their turn at dinner.
It took trying three keys before the lock finally turned, and she quickly slipped into the room, locking the door behind her just in case. She stood in the darkness for a moment, letting her eyes become accustomed to the low light. It was twilight outside, but this office had both heavy blinds and thick curtains that kept almost all the lights out.
Now that she knew that Alex was likely hiding some of his financial information, it made sense that the room would seem especially fortified. Even people who felt justified in skirting the law were paranoid about it.
When she could see well enough not to bump into anything, she made her way through the large room. The computer was on the desk, already on and running with the standard screen saver bouncing along the edges of the screen.
The heavy desk had several drawers, all of them locked with a key. She probably had the key on the keyring, but she didn’t really care about what was in the drawers right then. If she had time when she was done breaking into the computer, she would worry about the drawers.
She tapped the keyboard, and the password prompt appeared. She tried a few options that were similar to the passcodes from the properties, but nothing worked. She’d broken into the office for nothing, and now she had to figure out how to leave, still with nothing to show for her efforts. Angry, she glared at the computer, hitting enter one last time, even though she hadn’t typed anything yet.
A dialog box appeared, asking if she would like to retrieve the password by answering a security question. She almost clicked cancel, then decided to give it a try. The worst thing that would happen was she would find out that she knew nothing about Alex. Since discovering the tax evasion, she already knew that she didn’t know nearly enough, so it wouldn’t be a shock to find that she had no inkling of his most privileged information. Or the question could be something simple, like the make and model of Alex’s car, or the type of yacht he owned. Those were questions she could answer in her sleep.
“It couldn’t be that easy,” she mumbled, clicking OK and waiting for the question to appear.
She didn’t expect much, so when the question appeared, and it wasn’t completely foreign to her, she almost whooped with delight.
What color was the house on 23rd Street? the question read.
She stared at the screen, wracking her brain. She knew this, but her mind instantly drew a blank. Alex had told her this when he was talking about his childhood, and she had thought it was odd he’d even mentioned the color of his house.
But she’d brushed it off. People often remembered the most off-the-wall things from their childhood, so it made sense that his mind might hold onto such an inconsequential fact. She’d been in grade school when her grandmother passed away and had no recollection of the woman beyond the fact that she always wore purple shoes. The mind was a funny thing, but this childhood memory was one Alex had freely shared with her.
Maybe he wasn’t being as secretive with his life as she’d thought.
She ran through a few colors in her mind before it finally hit her.
“Peach!” she whispered excitedly, typing the answer, then taking a picture of the password with her phone’s camera when it appeared on the screen.
It was a series of random numbers and letters, and she never would have guessed the actual password in a million years. She used the right-click on the mouse to copy the password, then pasted it on the sign-on screen. Still afraid it wasn’t going to work, she held her breath as the computer finally loaded everything up.
She plugged the flash drive into the USB port, copying every folder on the desktop one at a time without looking at the contents. She would look at the files later, when she wasn’t pushing her luck by being in the office when she knew she wasn’t supposed to be.
When she’d copied all but the last folder, she heard someone in the hall and froze.
Keep walking, she urged silently, but the footsteps on the tile floors had already stopped, and she could see someone’s shadow pass in front of the light that seeped in through the gap in the door.
Shit! Nina thought, ejecting the flash drive as soon as the file was uploaded and shoving the thumb drive into the top of her shoe. She logged off the computer as the key slipped into the lock, looking for a place to hide, then deciding against it. She wasn’t going to get out of here if she was trapped behind a curtain like some ridiculous spy movie. She had one chance to pull it off, and she was going to own it.
She jumped onto the couch as the handle turned and threw her arm over her face, letting her body go limp like she was asleep.
The door opened and the light turned on, and Nina jumped as if she’d been startled out of a deep sleep, blinking at the doorway as if in confusion.
“What are you doing in here?” a familiar voice hissed from the doorway.
It was Jaime.
“I was coming down to dinner and I felt sick. I needed somewhere to lay down and I guess I dozed off.”
Had the screen saver popped up yet? Nina wondered frantically, glad the monitor was turned so its back was to the office door. Hopefully, it would engage before Jaime tired of talking to her, and he wouldn’t know she’d been on the computer at all.
“You’re not supposed to be in here,” he grumbled.
“It was the first door I came to. I thought it was a bathroom. This house is really big and maybe you know it like the back of your hand, but I still get turned around in the garden. The inside of the house feels like a giant maze sometimes.”
She glared at him, daring him to call her a liar. He might be the boss’s number one, but Nina was carrying Alex’s child. Jaime didn’t compare to her place in Alex’s life and they both knew it. Would he stand his ground long enough, or would his suspicious nature take over and call her bluff?
“I’m not buying it,” Jaime said, bluntly. “You’re up to something.”
“You’re paranoid,” she shot back. “I’m pregnant, I got lightheaded and a little dizzy, and I laid down. Stop trying to make a rivalry between us a thing. Alex is still your friend, and this is not a competition. We’re not even on the same level.”
Jaime scoffed and she knew she’d hit the nail on the head. He was threatened by her presence, and that was making him paranoid. That had to be it.
“Look, Jamie,” she said, purposefully mispronouncing his name.
“It’s Jaime.”
“Whatever. Is dinner ready? Do you think you can walk me to the dining room so I don’t pass out before I eat? I think my sugar was low and I need to eat.”
“No,” he said flatly. “If you can find your way into places that you aren’t welcome, you can make it to the dining room. How did you get in here without a key?”
“The door was ajar. I guess you didn’t lock it properly. It was pretty dark in the room with the blinds and these heavy curtains, and I saw a couch. I didn’t even turn on the light to look around, and I guess I didn’t realize that the door knob was locked when I kicked it closed. Good thing I didn’t need help from someone who might actually help me. They would have had to kick down the door.”
Jaime came closer, and Nina fought the urge to panic. If she looked guilty now, he would be even more suspicious. She couldn’t risk that.
“I don’t know what you’re up to,” he said, his voice low and menacing. “But you better not ruin this for me. Stay out of this office and watch yourself. You’re playing with fire, and Alex isn’t going to tolerate your shit just because you’re carrying his baby. He’s thrown trash out of this house for less.”
Nina nearly shot up, itching to slap the smug look off his face and make him sorry he ever called her trash, but she knew he was trying to trick her. She scowled instead, sitting up slowly and putting her hands on either side of her like she needed extra support when really, she need something to grab to keep her from scratching his eyes out for what he’d said.
“It’s obvious that you have some personal baggage,” she said. “I have to get something to eat, and I’m not going to sit here and take your shit. You need to get right with yourself before you go judging others.”
“I don’t care what you think of me. Keep your nose out of our business and stay out of this room, am I clear?”
His tone chaffed, but she smiled instead of scowling, which she could tell instantly got under his skin.
“Crystal clear,” she said, standing and walking right by him as if she had no fear.
The truth was, she was trembling, and the rigid drive in her shoe pinched her with each step. She was careful, walking so she didn’t risk breaking the drive. Jaime followed her to the door, locking it behind her loudly.
As soon as she was in the stairwell, she pulled the drive out of her shoe, shoved it in her pocket and all but ran up the stairs. She had no way of knowing if the screen saver had come on while they were talking, and if Jaime came after her, she wanted a head start locking herself in her room.
Jaime never came after her, but she locked the main door to her suite anyway, then took her laptop to the bedroom and locked that door, too. The office was the only room that didn’t have balcony access, and if she ended up trapped in this room with Jaime on the other side, she wanted some way of escaping.
This was between her and Alex, and even if Jaime was in on it, she wasn’t involving him. She needed to see what was on the flash drive and decide what she was going to do. She was either going to leave, or she was going to give him the chance to fly right. There was no other option.
She loaded the flash drive and sighed when it automatically started syncing with her accounting program. She should have turned the auto-sync off before she plugged the drive in, but she couldn’t stop it now.
Once it was loaded, synced and organized by her software, she started opening files and skimming the content. Some of them seemed innocent enough, but it was the last file that had waded into something much bigger than she realized.
The latest bank statements for business accounts at banks she didn’t recognize. It was a lot of money. An almost impossible amount.
She clicked through each file, the picture becoming clearer with each new piece of information. With a sinking heart, she realized that Alex wasn’t just evading taxes. Alex was using his business to launder money in outrageously large sums. Which is why he needed luxury hotels and not just a handful of little hotels like Mirada.
He was moving small enough amounts from each property’s account to these offshore accounts that the US banks wouldn’t bat an eye at the transfers without the whole picture. Just under ten thousand per business didn’t seem like much, but multiplied by twenty-two, meant that almost two hundred thousand a day was being moved.
Laundering that amount of money could only mean one thing.
Alex was part of a drug cartel, and he was using these businesses to launder money to hide it from the government.
Suddenly, it all made sense. The guards, the nice house that was secluded in the middle of the city. The hotel that required a password to book a room probably catered to businessmen who needed a safe place to party, which explained the insane price of the rooms. It was probably by the hour.
And the gas station? There were infinite possibilities, and being that close to a major highway, they weren’t good. Alex was in deep, and Nina realized in that moment that he wasn’t just part of a cartel. He had to be one of its leaders, or pretty high up. There was no way he had the amount of money he did without being someone very important in the cartel. A simple ultimatum wasn’t going to work.
She was going to have to come up with something much more compelling, and she was going to have to stand her ground. She didn’t know how Alex had gotten wrapped up in something like this, but she knew he was a good guy, and even more important, she knew that he loved her. He wasn’t going to let her walk away, and she definitely wasn’t going to raise a child in this kind of life.
*
Nina was still sitting on her bed, trying to figure out what to say, when a text from Alex came through her phone.
Your door is locked, it read. She shoved it in her pocket, steeling herself for a confrontation she knew would not be pretty.
She opened the bedroom door, then opened the suite door and let him in, stomach in knots, mind racing. She locked the door behind him and sat in the chair, gesturing for him to sit across from her.
“It must be serious,” he said, sitting down. “Are you okay? Is the baby okay?”
“The baby is fine, but I’m not okay, Alex. We need to talk.”
He took a slow, deep breath.
“Actually, that’s why I’m here right now. I have something I need to talk to you about, but I had to tie up a few loose ends first.”
“I need to go first,” she said. “If I don’t say it now, I’m going to lose my nerve.”
“Alright, what’s on your mind.”
He leaned forward and reached out to hold her hands in his, but she ignored the gesture and he just sat there, waiting for her to find the words.
“I know, Alex.”
“At the risk of sounding like an ass, what do you know?”
“Everything.”
“I don’t know how you could know everything, but I’ll bite. What is everything?”
“Stop playing with me. I updated your software, and the new system is more connected than in the past. I can check the points of sale in real time, retrieve cash office files directly from my computer without the properties knowing, and I can see every transaction that happens throughout the day, all from my laptop.”
He sucked in a quick breath.
“I didn’t know there were accounting programs that did that.”
“It’s a program my college professor created. I helped him work on it and I still had it on my laptop. It’s still in the testing stages, but it works exactly like it’s supposed to. And I found something.”
“What did you find?”
“I think you know.”
“We both know that I know,” he countered. “But what I need from you is to know what exactly you found so I know what to say.”
“I’m not going to let this go, Alex.”
“I don’t expect you to.”
“Then, why not just tell me everything?”
“Everything is a lot, Nina.”
“I gathered that.” She sighed, looking down at her hands for a moment and wishing that this day would come to an end. “This is more uncomfortable than I thought. Look, I know you’re a good guy, Alex. But good people do bad things for money. I know you’re laundering money for a drug cartel.”
When she looked at him, he didn’t look appalled. She knew that she was right, and her heart broke in that instant. She hadn’t wanted it to be true, but it obviously was.
“I’m not going to insult your intelligence by denying it,” he said after a brief silence. “I started working for the drug cartel when I was a teenager. My stepdad brought me into the family business.”
“Does the cartel own all those properties? The house? The cars?”
“No,” he said, almost chuckling. “Believe it or not, I saved my money and worked my ass off, and when I got the life insurance from my parents, I took that money and invested in my first property. Every dime I made, I reinvested until I had more than I knew what to do with.”
“That’s smart.”
“It is. My stepdad wanted out for years after he met my mom, but he never had enough money to buy his freedom. When he died, I picked up where he left off, but I did it knowing I wouldn’t do it forever. They took everything he had, but he showed me how to play the system.”
“The offshore accounts.”
This statement actually earned a look of surprise from Alex.
“You’ve got some nerve.” He laughed. “Man, this kid is going to be the death of me if he’s anything like you.”
“And if it’s a girl?”
“I’m in more trouble than I know how to handle.”
This time when he tried to take her hands, she didn’t pull away. She looked into his eyes, searching for the man she knew he was, and trying to reconcile that with the stereotypical cartel employee. She couldn’t see it.
“Do you run the cartel?”
“No. Not even close. I’m one of the higherups, but I still have to work for a living. When they saw how well my investments were doing, they saw an opportunity to use my good name and reputation for something more. It came with a pay raise, my own guards and the lifestyle I’d always wanted. I finally didn’t have to hide what I had, because they expected me to live like this. It’s part of my cover, and as long as they see the money they expect to see, there are no issues.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“It’s already done,” he said. “Carlos wasn’t happy, but he understood. A lot of men get out when they start a family. You can’t imagine what rival cartels do to families.”
Nina felt sick. She hadn’t considered that.
“I arranged to buy out tonight, and Carlos accepted my offer. I know you love this house, but I think it’s best if we move somewhere else.”
“Away from Miami?”
“No. Just not this house. You can keep the car, though. I bought that with clean money. And I still want you to manage accounting for my properties, but I’ll only have fifteen.”
“I can guess which ones you’re letting go of.”
“The ones they were using to launder money. I’ll transfer them to an umbrella corporation, so they still appear to be in my name and don’t draw attention, but as of tomorrow, everything will be done, and I’ve asked them to have Jaime take my place.”
“At least he’ll be happy about something.”
“Jaime is a good guy. If you give him a chance, you’ll see that.”
“He called me trash.”
“I’ll talk to him. That isn’t going to fly.”
“So, we’re just moving and getting a new place?”
“If you’ll come with me. I understand if that’s hard for you to do.”
“All I want is for you to give up this life so we can raise our child better than you were.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry, that came out wrong.”
“I know what you mean. It’s not that simple, but I’m taking steps to make sure we can walk away and I—”
The house shook and the lights flashed, then went off, the room pitch black in an instant.
“What was that?” Nina asked, but Alex already had her by the hand, dragging her toward the door that led to the balcony.
“DEA,” he hissed. “Follow me.”
She did as she was told, running onto the balcony just as gunfire erupted and men started shouting.
Alex vaulted over the railing, hung for a second, then dropped silently into the garden.
He stood beneath where she was, holding his hands out and motioning to her. She was shaking her head when there was another explosion, this time closer, and more gunfire. Men were shouting and running from the carriage house, and she didn’t have time to be afraid.
She climbed over the rail, lowered herself as far as she could, then jumped. Alex’s strong arms grabbed her, softening her fall so the landing wasn’t so jarring. Before she could catch her breath, they were on the move again, heading straight for the dock. Alex pushed her ahead of him, pulling a gun and returning fire when the bullets started flying their way. She heard Alex grunt, but he kept running.
A shadow appeared on their right, heading in the same direction. Nina prepared for the impact of bullets, but the figure wasn’t aiming in their direction. When he made it to the gate ahead of her and punched in the code, Nina almost cried out in relief when she recognized Jaime.
“Come on,” he urged, closing the gate behind Alex and running down the dock behind them.
Nina didn’t wait for Alex to help, leaping onto the yacht and running to the helm. Alex and Jaime had the ropes untied by the time Nina got the engine fired up, men shouting in Spanish already getting closer.
“Go, go, go!” Jaime yelled, and Nina gunned it, heading north as fast as she dared.
Alex sat down on the chair across from her, his breath coming in heavy gasps while Jaime rummaged around in a box that Nina quickly realized was a first aid kit.
“Are you shot?” Nina asked.
“It went through,” Alex said, his voice calm. “I’ll be fine, Jaime just needs to clean the wound.”
“Oh my god, Alex! You’ve been shot! Why wouldn’t they just arrest us instead?”
“That wasn’t the feds,” Jaime said, cleaning Alex’s wound while Alex gritted his teeth against the pain. “That was Mal Hombres. A rival cartel.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Alex corrected. “It was our people, Cienfuegos. I should have known it couldn’t be that easy.”
“What do you mean?”
“I bought them out.”
“You quit?”
“I had to. This isn’t a life, Jaime. At least, not one for a family. I told them you would be the best replacement.”
Jaime was speechless, still cleaning and dressing the wound.
“You’re one of my best men, Jaime. You are the best, and you’re like a brother to me. I knew you would be the right man for the job.”
“What do we do now?” Nina asked.
“I turn myself in and make a deal, I guess,” Alex said. “I need to talk to my lawyer and—”
The sound of a gun cocking stopped him midsentence.
“I’m not going to let you do that,” Jaime said, his voice cold. “I did not give up everything so you could turn yourself in.”
“If you want to work for them, then fine, Jaime. Go for it. Your name won’t cross my lips. But, if you think they’re going to welcome you with open arms after tonight, you’re wrong. Any of my men that got away will be looking over their shoulders for the rest of their lives. Carlos decides who lives and who dies, and it looks like he made his choice.”
“That’s not what this is about.”
“Then what is it about?”
“If you turn yourself in, everything I’ve done will be for nothing. I’m not willing to give this up without a fight. You’re as good as dead to me if you do that.”
“Jaime, you’re not making any sense.”
“Don’t you think it was a little too convenient that I hired on as a bouncer right before you bought the club? And what about growing up in your hood? Come on, Alex, don’t make me spell it out. I was the perfect man for the job because being the perfect man is my job.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Nina said, staring at Jaime. “You’re not making any sense.”
But Alex knew exactly what was going on, and he looked devastated.
“We were friends for five years, Jaime. You’ve been with me longer than anyone. How could you do this?”
“Do what?” Nina asked, frustrated.
But it was Alex, not Jaime, who answered.
“He’s undercover, Nina. Jaime is DEA.”
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Nina said. “All this time you were acting like I was sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong and we were practically on the same side?”
“I was worried you would blow my case.”
“Why didn’t you just say that?”
“Would you have kept that from Alex?”
“Probably not.”
“Then, that’s why I didn’t say anything. Men get killed for being suspected of being an agent. My life wasn’t worth telling you.”
“Put the gun away, Jaime.”
“No. You’re under arrest, and as soon as we get to land, I’m going to dispatch agents to clean up that mess at your house and gather evidence.” He turned and looked at Nina, who was still steering the boat north. “You don’t have to worry, you can testify against Alex and save yourself. They won’t try you, anyway. You’ve only been here a few weeks and only just found out, so you’re safe.”
“I won’t testify against him.”
Both men stared at her in shock, but Alex smiled.
“I have enough to nail you both for laundering and fraud. If you don’t testify, you’re screwed.”
“That’s a chance I’ll have to—”
There was another explosion, causing all three to jump. A fireball sailed into the air, then disappeared as another explosion rocked the neighborhood. Alex turned to Jaime and smiled.
“Looks like your evidence just went up in smoke. Put the gun away and we’ll figure this out. If you can keep me out of jail, I have no problem giving you all the credit for bringing me in.”
“Alex, what if he’s lying?”
“We don’t have many options, Nina, and it looks like Carlos was serious about getting rid of every trace of my existence.”
“You’re going to need protection,” Jaime added, holstering the gun and going back to work bandaging the wound.
“So, that’s it? You’re just going to forgive him for pulling a gun on you and lying to you for five years?”
“What choice do we have, Nina? I don’t want to go to jail, and I’ll be damned if you do. We have information that isn’t available anywhere else, and the DEA needs us to get to the bigger fish.”
“I don’t know about this, Alex.”
“It’s going to be okay. Trust me.”
“We need to get to shore and find a way to get to the office,” Jaime said.
“It’s not like we can call an Uber.” Alex laughed. “Maybe we can get close enough to walk from the docks?”
“It’s further inland. We’re going to need a car.”
“I think I can help with that,” Nina said, and both men watched her as she pulled out her phone, pushed a couple buttons and turned the screen toward them.
The map of the surrounding area popped up, and a cartoon car started moving slowly, turning onto Bayshore Lane and heading in their general direction.
“What the hell?” Jaime said.
“It’s grenade proof.” Nina shrugged. “The mechanic was telling me all about how it could withstand almost any explosion.”
“I didn’t know you could call it with your phone,” Alex said. “That’s fantastic.”
“I thought it was silly, but now, I’m kind of glad.”
“We need to get to shore and hide. We need to make sure it’s not being followed.”
Jaime stood, taking the helm from Nina and steering the yacht while Nina went to sit with Alex, still watching the car move along the map.
Alex leaned against her, hugging her close and kissing her cheek.
“Good thing you had your phone,” he said.
She turned her head until her lips were against his ear, watching Jaime out the side of her eye to make sure he wasn’t listening.
“That’s not all I have in my pocket,” she whispered. “Everything is going to be alright.”
They huddled together as Jaime guided the yacht to the shore, cutting the engine and setting the GPS anchor since there was nowhere to dock. They took the inflatable dingy to shore, leaving the yacht where it was and finding a place to hide close by.
Nina selected an address a block away, locking the position where the car was supposed to They watched from down the block, waiting for the car to appear, then watching for a while longer before they finally approached the car. Jaime covered the door as Alex opened it, but the car was empty.
Jaime went to get into the driver’s seat, but Nina stopped him, jumping in and using her thumb on the scanner to start the engine.
“This was money well-spent,” Alex said, getting into the passenger seat still favoring his arm. “And not a scratch on it.”
Jaime called out the address and Nina typed it into the navigation system, then pulled away from the curb and calmly drove through the streets while Jaime watched out the windows, his paranoia evident. When they arrived at their destination, Nina was surprised by all the cars in the well-lit parking lot.
“The DEA operates at odd hours,” Jaime explained. “I’m sorry to have to do this, but Alex, I’m going to have to cuff you.”
Alex held out his hands and Jaime pulled a pair of zip ties out of a zipper on the inside of his jacket. Nina killed the engine, parking near the building and getting out before Jaime could cuff her, too. Jaime shook his head, apparently amused.
“I wasn’t going to cuff you.”
“That’s good,” Nina said. “I’ve had to stop myself from whooping your ass twice tonight. If there’s a third time, you might not be so lucky.”