Incriminating Evidence (14 page)

“I’ll still have to operate in the shadows and try to meet Markov in private locations. I’ll need your help to run down certain leads I uncover,” Luke said. “There’s no one I can trust in Miami PD or the FBI. Everyone either thinks I’m guilty or could possibly be in on it.”

“I know this won’t be a popular thing to say,” Zach put in. “But I’m still worried about the threats to Jessica in all of this. She isn’t a member of law enforcement. And we’re talking tactical operations here that shouldn’t involve a lawyer.”

“But I can handle it, Zach,” she told him. “I’m not afraid.” And that was true. She felt less fear than she had in years.

Zach walked over to her. “Jess, you’re a tough woman, but I can’t let you just walk back into an open area with multiple targets on your back yelling ‘come and get me.’ We have to be smart about this.”

“I can handle this, Zach. I know it’s your job to protect me, but we can’t just sit back while all of this implodes and try to clean up the mess after the fact.”

“I understand that. But if there’s ever a choice between any of this work and your safety, you know what my position is going to be. You will always come first.”

THIRTEEN

A
s Zach and Jessica settled into the FBI safe house they were originally assigned to, Zach realized that he would have to explain his brief absence of contact to his superiors.

So when Brodie showed up not long after Zach contacted him, Zach knew he was going to be in hot water. But he was more than ready to face whatever tongue-lashing was in store. He was going to be up front. He had felt it wasn’t safe and had done what he thought he had to do.

“What in the world happened to you?” Brodie asked. They sat at the kitchen table by themselves.

“After Jessica was attacked at the last safe house, I reacted on instinct. I know you said we had this secure location available, but seeing her afraid, and me being caught off guard like that... Brodie—the intruder was able to break in. He got into Jessica’s room and attacked her. I felt like the best thing to do—the only thing to do—was to take her somewhere no one knew about.”

“Then why did you come back?”

“Because I realized ultimately we are safer working within the FBI structure. There are other resources that we can use. If we go it alone, we wouldn’t have that.”

Brodie nodded. “Zach, you have a lot of potential as an agent. And I don’t want this one rash decision to cause you any problems. So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m not going to tell Ford about this. He has enough on his plate right now without worrying about you going rogue.”

“Thank you, Brodie.” Zach let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t need any more problems.

“But let me make sure you understand one thing very clearly. You can’t do what you did last night. We are a team and we work together for the goal we’re trying to accomplish. Including keeping Jessica safe. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir. I do.”

“Good. I trust I don’t have to stay here and babysit you and can get out of here and keep working on tracking down Luke Hernandez. Here’s a new FBI phone since I know you ditched your old one.”

A slight thread of guilt went through Zach as he sat and looked into his boss’s eyes. But he absolutely couldn’t take the risk of telling Brodie that they had actually seen Luke. That there was something much more sinister going on here. He would just have to wait and deal with the consequences later.

“Thanks for everything, Brodie.”

Brodie rose up from the kitchen table. “Make sure you stay in touch.”

When he was alone again Zach took a few breaths.
God, am I doing the right thing?
He took a moment and prayed for guidance. That he was placing his trust in the right people. Because what if Luke was playing him? What if he was putting Jessica in danger?

He pushed those doubts out of his mind—he needed to stay strong. They’d picked up burner phones that they would use to stay in touch with Luke. He was hoping that Luke was going to be able to meet up with Markov that afternoon—or at the latest by nighttime.

Jessica walked into the kitchen and took a seat beside him. “How’re you doing?” she asked.

“Isn’t that what I should be asking you?”

“We’re a team, remember?”

“I’m ready to put an end to this. To catch Ana in a situation where there’s no way out. And to find out who is behind this whole thing with Luke.” He couldn’t stop from reaching out and taking her hands. “Jess, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“When this is all over, where do you see us going?”

A slight frown pulled down at her lips. “I’m glad you brought that up because I’ve been thinking about it.”

He didn’t like the expression on her face. “I thought we were starting to build something here.” He let go of her hands.

“I feel like that’s partially my fault. I’ve been living in a fairy-tale world. Thinking I could just pick up and move on like a regular person without all the baggage of my past. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that I don’t know how that will be possible. And before you try to say otherwise, I know that you think I can push through all of this, and I held out hope that I could, too. But I feel like in the end, all I’d ever bring you is pain and the inability to give myself fully to you—to anyone. And I do care about you so very much. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Now he was totally regretting having started this conversation. He believed she was acting out of fear. But he wasn’t going to push it. They were both under a lot of stress. It was better to let it go and revisit it after they’d gotten through this ordeal. “Why don’t we talk about this later?”

She didn’t fight him and instead just nodded her head. “So what’s our next move?”

“We wait for Luke to contact us. Hopefully he will have info we can use against Ana.”

“Maybe in the meantime you can try to catch a nap. I know you didn’t get much sleep when we stopped at the hotel.”

She was right. He was exhausted even though he didn’t want to admit it. Although it was largely from the stress of everything. “If you’ll be okay, maybe I will lie down for a little bit. Maybe you should rest, too. Tonight could be a big night.”

“Let’s hope it is.”

* * *

Jessica had tried to take a nap and had gotten about two hours of pretty decent sleep. Zach had been out for about four hours. And she had let him rest. It had broken her heart to push Zach away. She didn’t think there was a feasible alternative. Because the last thing she wanted in the world was to hurt him, and inside she still felt so broken.

When her burner phone rang, her heart jumped. She picked it up, knowing that only one person could be calling.

“Hello,” she said.

“Hey, it’s Luke.”

“Are you all right?”

“Yes. And I have big news. Is Zach around?”

“Yes, he was just taking a nap. Do you want me to get him?”

“Yeah, this is important. And we need to act on this intel.”

“One second.” She walked up the stairs to get him just as Zach walked out of the room where he’d been resting. His dark hair was tousled, and he’d never looked more handsome than at that moment. But she couldn’t afford to be distracted right now.

“What’s happening?” Zach asked.

“I’ve got Luke on the line.” She put the phone on Speaker. They walked into the den and took a seat.

Zach’s eyes lit up. “Luke, what do you have?”

“Big news, guys. Big news.”

“What happened?” Jessica asked.

“So I had the meeting about an hour ago. I laid out the bait. Said that I wanted to take Ana out for him as a way to get back at my family. He was more than happy to have me do his dirty work. And I think that he believes I might actually kill my sister. But he also put on the table that if his intel was good, we could lead the cops right to her.”

“Where? And what intel?” Zach asked.

“Here’s the story. Ana is supposed to be receiving a huge shipment tonight. The drugs are going to be stored on her personal yacht. Markov’s people have heard that she has custom-built areas of the yacht to store the product. So in an ideal world, we’d be able to catch her as she was transporting the drugs onto her yacht. It’s her property and given the sensitivity of this operation, she is going to be there to oversee it.”

“And what does Markov think about all of this?” Jessica asked.

“He’s furious that she thinks she can invade his turf. For years, my family’s illegal endeavors included many different things, but they have never been major players in the drug distribution business. Markov sees this as a direct frontal attack by the Hernandez family against his empire. Frankly, I fear that if we don’t get to Ana first and get her into police custody, it’s only a matter of time before Markov’s men literally take her out. As much as I disagree with my sister’s life of crime, I certainly don’t want anything to happen to her. I believe there’s always a chance at redemption.”

“We need to think this through,” Zach said. He looked down at his watch. “It’s seven o’clock now. When do we think the shipment was going to happen?”

“Certainly after dark. But Markov could only tell me that it was happening tonight.”

“We need to be down there. How do we think this transfer is going to happen from the original shipment?”

“If I were going to do it, I’d hand over the product off the large freight ship into smaller boats and then have those go to the yacht.”

“We need to get to that yacht,” Jessica said. “Where does your sister keep it?”

“I can do even better. One of Markov’s people put a GPS tracking device on her boat when word of this first hit. And I’ve got it in my possession. We’ll be able to get right to her. But I think it makes sense for us to split up. You two go to the yacht. I’ll be at the original shipment drop off point at the pier. You should use my boat. It’s down at the harbor. Because we can’t assume that the transfer is going to happen while they are docked.”

“Good point,” Zach said.

“Okay, now that I’m thinking this through. Let’s meet at my boat. I will give you the keys. The only way this will work is if you’re in the water and are able to actually catch her in the act. Then I’ll station myself at the marina where the shipment is to come in. We’ll stay in contact each step of the way. I’ll bring some special night-vision equipment I have with me, too, so that you can try to document the transfer.”

“Sounds good,” Zach said. “Send me the location of your boat. We’ll meet you there in an hour.”

“See you then,” Luke said.

Jessica ended the call and looked at Zach. “How are we feeling about this?” she asked.

“This could be huge. But I’m a little concerned that we aren’t looping in the FBI. If we do, that would almost guarantee that we catch Ana and can arrest her.”

“Yeah, but if someone at the FBI is dirty, then the whole op could be blown. No, Zach. Between the three of us, we’ll be able to do this on our own.”

“Do you know how to handle a weapon?” Zach asked.

“I do. I took classes on firearms. For a while, I considered keeping one for protection. But then I decided not to. But I can use one.”

“Good, because we’re going to get you a gun for this. I’ll text Luke and ask him to bring something for you. I assume he is traveling fully loaded.”

“Don’t worry. I will use it if I need to.”

“Unfortunately, that might end up being the case.” He wanted to be able to wrap her up and protect her from all of this. But he had to be realistic. They were already going to be outnumbered on this mission. And given all the missing pieces, having her there to corroborate the evidence was vitally important. He couldn’t call Brodie and tell him what was going on as much as he wanted to.

“We can do this, Zach. I know we can.”

He prayed she was right.

* * *

About an hour and a half later, Zach, Jessica and Luke were sitting in Luke’s docked boat. Jessica was trying to keep her nerves in check, but her stomach rolled with anticipation.

“All right,” Luke said. “I’ve got supplies for you two, including the night-vision camera and video equipment to ensure we can catch them in the act.”

“Thanks for getting this,” Zach said. “If we can get photographic evidence, then that will definitely help to make a case against Ana.”

Luke nodded. “I’m going to go down to where the shipment is coming in. It’s about a mile from here. I’ll text you with updates as I have them. Once I’ve got eyes on that, then I’ll head back up this way and hold down things from here.”

“And if nothing happens?” Jessica asked. She wanted to plan for all contingencies.

“Then we regroup and decide how to move forward. But Markov was insistent that his intel was good. And that tonight is the night. Apparently, the operation had been postponed from an earlier date, but he didn’t have details on why.”

“Maybe that was the chatter we’d heard from Will at Miami PD,” Zach said.

“And you asked me to bring a weapon for Jessica,” Luke said, opening up his large black bag and pulling out a Glock. “Assuming you know how to use this?” he asked her.

“Yes, I do.”

“It’s fully loaded, and here’s an extra round.” He handed her the gun and ammo.

“Thank you.” She paused. “And, Luke, please be careful out there.”

“Same to the both of you. This will all be over soon.” Luke hopped off the back of the boat and headed up the dock to where he’d left his car.

Alone with Zach, Jessica turned to him. “I assume you can drive this boat?”

“Born and raised in Florida on the water. You don’t have to worry about that.”

She laughed. “Good, because there’s plenty of other things.”

He took her hand in his. “We’ll get through this, Jess. We’ve come this far.”

She nodded as Zach cranked the engine and took the boat out a little bit away from the dock. Jessica enjoyed the feel of the wind blowing against her face. Luke didn’t have any old boat. This was a speedboat that packed quite a punch. If they needed to kick it into high gear, at least they’d be able to do so. That gave her some level of comfort.

Jessica knew that the Lord was watching over them. Even as they were headed into the lion’s den. But that didn’t stop her from uttering another prayer for protection.

Zach slowed down and idled the boat a good ways out from the harbor as they waited to hear from Luke.

The minutes ticked by so slowly. Jessica kept checking her watch and hoping that Luke was okay.

Finally, when Zach’s phone started buzzing she jumped.

“It’s just Luke texting,” Zach said.

“What did he say?” she asked.

“It’s go time. The cargo freighter has docked. He says there’s a lot of activity at the marina.”

More buzzing. More texts.

“Just as Luke predicted,” Zach said. “They are unloading into a couple of commercial fishing boats.”

“We need to start moving toward Ana’s yacht. I’ve got the GPS tracker, thanks to Luke’s meeting with Markov. It looks like she’s also idling a couple of miles from here, off the shore.”

“Yes. And we have some lighting from the shore, but it’s still dark out here. And I don’t want to use our lights that much. But keep your eyes peeled for any other boats. We have to assume that Ana won’t be out there alone—she’ll have reinforcements. The question is just how many.”

Zach skillfully drove the boat toward the blinking GPS light on the tracker. But he made sure they didn’t get too close yet. They didn’t want to scare off the boats that were actually going to be delivering the product.