Chapter15
They were ushered into an interview room, but almost immediately, they attempted to separate Alex and Nina.
“She’s not involved in this,” Alex said. “We haven’t known each other long.”
The agent running the interview arched a brow at Nina’s slightly swollen belly, giving Jaime a look that spoke volumes. Nina wanted to melt into the floor, but she stood her ground. She wasn’t going to let them belittle her.
“I’m not a tart, ,” she said, glaring at the man. “Do you want to take down a cartel, or do you want to discuss how Alex Conrad is a better man than you in every way that counts?”
The man had the good sense to look embarrassed, turning to a new tactic.
“We need something to take to a judge if you want immunity. Your house is gone, and everything inside is destroyed. We might be able to salvage something, but there’s no guarantee.”
“I’ve worked for Cienfuegos for most of my life. I’m sure I have something you can use.”
The agent slid a notepad to Alex.
“Write down names. Every name you can think of, where they’re located, what they do and where they are in the hierarchy.”
“Not without a deal. I’m not going to give you everything I have and watch you go back on every promise that you make. If I go to jail, I’m dead.”
“You took that chance when you decided to run drugs.”
“He never decided to do anything,” Nina shot back, too angry to contain herself. “He was a kid. He’s one of the good guys.”
“Lady, where I’m from, the good guys don’t launder money for the bad guys.”
Nina sat back, her anger rising. She didn’t know what she expected, but it sure wasn’t this. They were acting like what Alex had wouldn’t buy him a sandwich, let alone keep him out of jail.
She leaned back, her phone pressing against her hip. She shifted uncomfortably, then took her phone out and furrowed her brow at the notification symbol on the lock screen that she didn’t recognize.
She looked up, but the agents were ignoring her, still trying to convince Alex to turn over names without any written agreements. Keeping her phone under the table, she used her fingerprint to open the screen and clicked on the icon. The prompt asked her if she would like to download emergency files to this device or sign in later. The header above said Emergency Flare, but Nina wasn’t sure what that was. Then, it hit her.
When she’d set up the software, she’d clicked the option to send what was on her laptop to her phone through the cloud. Everything that had been on her laptop, including the real time updates from the locations she’d updated that day, was in the cloud, waiting for her to access it. She clicked the option to sign in later, then looked up at the men and smiled.
“I have something y’all will want,” she said, letting the southern slang out before she could stop herself. “But if you want it, you’re going to have to have a judge sign off on a written deal. If he spends a day in jail, the deal is off.”
“You couldn’t possibly have anything that good,” the agent said, but Jaime had already perked up.
Alex looked at her, but she was afraid to get her hopes up. Would it be enough to keep him out of jail?
“Fine, what do you have?” the agent asked, his voice gruff.
“I have access to the financial accounts proving that Cienfuegos was laundering money through these properties.”
“Your laptop was destroyed in the explosion,” Jaime scoffed.
“It was, but you’re a fool if you think that’s the only access I had.”
“We’ll seize your phone and access it.”
“You can’t. It’s not on my phone, and it’s not written down anywhere. I have the proof, and I can produce hardcopies of the proof, but without this,” she tapped her head, “you’re not getting into the files.”
“Give us a minute,” the man said, motioning with his head to Jaime to go out into the hall.
When they left, Nina leaned close, whispering softly in his ear.
“That’s not the only computer I backed up.”
“I want to ask how, but maybe I don’t want to know.”
“You’re probably right.”
“Hold onto that, we may need it later.”
She nodded, rolling her chair back to where it had been before the men returned.
Jaime sat down across from her.
“What do you want?”
“Protection, and no jail time in exchange for testimony. And I don’t mean some safehouse for months while we wait for trial, then shipping us off to some other state when it’s all over. I mean real protection, and new identities so we can start fresh.” She looked to Alex. “Anything else?”
“You have about covered it.”
“We can’t put you into WitSec until after court, so you’ll have to stay in a safehouse for a few weeks.”
“Weeks? Can you be sure of that?” Alex asked.
“Maybe less if we can get the judge to fast track the case. I’ve been gathering evidence for years, and whatever you have is in one place. Since the case is going to hinge on the financial proof and testimony, we should have it before the judge quickly. This is a big deal.”
“What about at the court; how will you protect us there?”
“You probably won’t testify,” Jaime told her. “As cases go, your verbal testimony is almost useless. It’s the hardcopies that will win the case. As for Alex, we’ll do what we can, but nothing is one hundred percent, especially when the cartels are involved.”
“That’s as good as we can give you,” the other agent confirmed.
“Can we have a moment to talk about it?”
“Sure.”
They left, and Nina turned to Alex, searching his face for comfort.
“We’re going to be okay,” he said. “With your proof and the insurance, we’re valuable to them.”
She knew that “insurance” was the flash drive in her pocket, which she wasn’t going to give up unless she had to.
“What about court?”
“They have no control over that. Even with metal detectors and every other precaution, there’s still a chance that one of Carlos’s men can get through.”
“I don’t want to risk it.”
“In jail, I’ll be dead within the hour. This is the better deal.”
“I’m not giving them anything until I have something official.”
“I agree.”
“That would be best.”
“Alex, I’m scared.”
He smiled, leaning over so their foreheads were touching, his hands still cuffed together.
“You jumped off a balcony, drove a highspeed yacht away from danger, and found a way to get us here safely, all while managing to save the evidence we need to make sure we walk away from this free to start a new life together. There’s nothing they can say or do that you can’t handle. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re anything less than a bad ass.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank you. You probably saved my life.”
Jaime and the other agent came in then, and Nina nodded.
“When you have something in writing, we’ll talk.”
“We’ve already called the judge. An agent is headed there now to get his signature, then we’ll take you to the safehouse.” Jaime turned his attention to Alex. “If you run, or try to get away, all deals are off.”
Alex nodded, then held out his hands so Jaime could cut the plastic cuffs. The moment the cuff fell away, he had his arm around Nina, holding her tight. She melted into him, the weight of the last few hours heavy on her heart. Everything was going to be okay, but before that, it was going to be some of the hardest months of her life. She didn’t know if she was ready for it, but with Alex by her side, she was willing to give it a try.
Jaime was looking at her, but she couldn’t figure out why. When he finally spoke, his words shocked her.
“You were amazing tonight,” he said. “You fooled me in the office. I totally bought your little show.”
Alex looked at her, an amused smirk on his face, but she just shrugged.
“And I know you and Alex were on the second story when the first grenade went off. I know stronger women that would have crumbled under so much pressure, but you did what needed to be done and managed to stay calm. I know we’ve had our differences, but I was really impressed.”
“Thank you. I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“I’m sure you’re right. Undercover work is hard, and after working on this for five years, you shook things up. I was worried you were going to ruin everything.”
“I sorta did. Alex announced he was leaving Cienfuegos because of me, and that’s why the house is demolished.”
“If she hadn’t come into my life and made me see what I was risking, things would have stayed the same. She’s the reason I walked away, and that made Carlos mad. His men were sloppy.”
“If they had waited a few hours, most of us would have been asleep,” Jaime agreed. “They could have taken out the guards one at a time, then surprised you in bed.”
Nina felt ill at the thought. Jaime was right; they had survived because Carlos had taken Alex’s betrayal personally and reacted before he had a chance to think. His men didn’t have time to prepare, and because of that, the attack had been a complete disaster by Carlos’s standards.
She never thought she’d see the day when her survival was someone else’s failure.
She laid her head on Alex’s shoulder, trying to hold herself together in front of the agents. Having Jaime there was surreal, his badge clipped to his shirt as if he hadn’t just spent the better part of five years deep undercover with a drug cartel. But this was the real him, not the part he’d played to get what he needed from Alex.
She had to drag her thoughts away from all the people who’d died at Alex’s mansion today. For the most part, she’d been welcomed with open arms by Alex’s staff and now, most of those people were gone. If any survived. The only one she knew for sure had survived was Jaime, and he’d been an ass to her from day one.
Suddenly, his behavior made sense, at least in Nina’s mind.
“Were you trying to run me off?” she asked without preamble, picking her head up so she could meet Jaime’s gaze.
His expression said it all, but she wanted to hear it from him, so she pressed.
“Were you an ass to me because you were trying to run me off?”
Jaime looked like he was trying to come up with something to say, but in the end, he went with honesty.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“It was obvious that you didn’t know who he was; what he was. You’re fresh out of college with your entire life ahead of you. I didn’t want that to be ruined.”
“And you couldn’t just tell me and risk your cover.”
“Exactly. It’s complicated, but that about sums it up.”
“I thought you were jealous.”
She laughed at herself, thinking back to every encounter they’d had now that she knew who Jaime was. She felt a little foolish, but that only meant that he was good at his job. It had taken her until he revealed that he was DEA to realize that he wasn’t just some thug trying to stay close to the boss. He was that good.
“I was worried about how your presence would interfere with my access to Alex. He spent a lot of time with you, and I got shut out of things that I wouldn’t have before. When he went to that meeting with Carlos and he went without me, I was sure that he’d decided to groom you to be his second in command instead of me. I was angry about that. That’s why I was rough with you in Alex’s office, and I’m sorry.”
Nina fought the smirk that nearly spread across her face. It looks like Jaime isn’t the only good actor in this room, she thought. He probably didn’t even know she’d been in Alex’s computer, but she wasn’t going to tip her hand now. If Jaime knew that, then he might realize she had more information than she was willing to give up right now. It was better if he kept thinking she was just a pretty face.
This time, she did smile.
“I’m afraid to ask,” Jaime said, the gruffness that had been his thug persona’s trademark completely gone.
“It’s nothing,” she said. “I just never thought I’d see the day where Jaime Peña cared enough about me to try to run me off.”
“It’s Agent Garcia,” he said. “Miguel Garcia.”
“That’s going to take some getting used to,” Alex muttered.
Nina felt bad for Alex. He’d trusted Jaime with everything, and now he was finding out that Jaime wasn’t the person he’d thought he was. She could tell Alex was upset that he’d trusted a DEA agent more than the rest of his crew.
“It’s kind of like finding out the nice, rich man who made you feel like a princess is really working for a drug cartel,” Nina said, elbowing Alex playfully and ignoring the agents.
Alex laughed.
“I guess you’re right,” he said, still chuckling. “I never thought of it that way.”
She was about to say something more when there was a knock on the door and an agent burst in, rushing to where Jaime and the other agent were sitting with an official looking piece of paper in his hand.
The two agents read it over, then handed it to Alex and Nina to read. Nina read it over his shoulder as the weight of everything slowly pressed down on her.
“I won’t be able contact Jasmine ever again?” she asked, shocked by this more than anything laid out in the order.
“You can’t contact anyone from your past. Once you’re in WitSec, Nina Wilson will cease to exist,” Jaime said. “The alternative is leaving yourself open to retaliation. Even though we’re going to arrest dozens of these criminals thanks to you, we won’t get them all. You’ll have a bounty on your head for the rest of your life. Contacting old friends is the quickest way to open the door and leave yourself vulnerable.”
“Think of your baby,” the other agent said.
“I don’t need you to tell me to think of my child,” she shot back. “That’s all I’ve been doing since I found out.”
The agent held his hands up as if to surrender, and Nina sat back, trying to calm herself.
“I can’t believe the nerve,” she muttered, glaring daggers at the agent, then turning her attention back to the state’s offer.
When they’d finally read through the entire thing, Alex looked up at Nina.
“Are you okay with everything in here?”
“As long as we’re together, I’m fine with it,” she said. “I don’t want to die.”
“I won’t let that happen,” he said, pointing to the bandaged wound on his shoulder. “I took a bullet for you. That has to mean something.”
“I know that’s right,” she said, smiling. “I still can’t believe you got shot.”
He shrugged, then winced.
“It could have been much worse. I could have lost you.”
The agent sighed, but Jaime was grinning from ear to ear. Miguel, she corrected herself. She had to start thinking about him being Miguel and not Jaime. It was going to take some doing.
“If you’re done with the sappy stuff, we need to get this signed so we can get moving. There’s a short window of time, and without the information you have, arresting anyone tonight might be pointless. I don’t want to have to cut them loose tomorrow because the DA says we don’t have enough evidence.”
“I’ll need a laptop,” she said. “And internet access.”
Miguel took one out of a bag sitting on the floor beside him, logging on and sliding it across the table after Alex and Nina had both signed the order and kept a copy for themselves. Nina logged onto the virtual storage, downloading every file she had, but leaving a copy in the cloud for her own form of insurance. Miguel had no idea that she still had access to the originals, but that wasn’t her problem.
He wasn’t the only one who was good at keeping secrets.