“Go to hell,” Rocco said, then turned to Fallon. “Tell me what you know. Jemma was always there for me. You don’t expect me to go back to San Juan and work like she doesn’t matter.” He paused to inhale a sharp breath, trying to calm down. He had to find out what they were hiding from him. “Please Fallon. I need her.”
“You … need … her?” Lenny asked, suspicion creeping into his tone.
Fallon said, “The tactical team that rescued you found Jemma’s burner phone at the construction site. We discovered that Jemma was hiding things from Proteus.”
“What kind of things? What was she doing?” Rocco demanded.
“While Jemma was your handler, she was also secretly engaged in surveillance of Eddie Baez. She installed a tracking app on his phone the night the two of you got it from him. She was using it to determine his whereabouts. GPS tracking of her phone’s location put her in the same place as Baez dozens of times over the past few weeks. Were you aware of this?”
“No, I wasn’t,” Rocco said, shaken by yet another thing Jemma was hiding from him. Eddie was a critical part of the investigation into El Sombro. Baez had connected the drug trafficker to Nomar Ortiz for the arms trafficking. A relationship El Sombro was eager to exploit to diversify his operations. It made sense that she’d want extra eyes on Eddie, but why hadn’t she told him or the Proteus team about it. Why would she keep this a secret?”
“I didn’t think you were. It was never in any of the reports that the two of you submitted to us. For some reason, she was tracking Eddie. Part of our strategy to find her relies on figuring out why.”
Rocco dragged a hand down his face. “Jemma was tailing Eddie but didn’t want any of us to know. The coordinates Proteus found on Eddie’s phone led us to the jungle in Samana. Eddie and Vance were there, talking to Nomar Ortiz, but I didn’t recognize or remember him at that time.”
“That was when Jemma was supposed to send us photos of the guy to run through the criminal databases, but she didn’t,” Lenny said, shifting in his seat.
“She never sent you the photos because she knew who the man was,” Rocco said, a theory forming in his mind. “When Jemma was undercover taking down the Ortiz Cartel, she was the nanny to Nomar’s child, right?”
Lenny nodded. “Yes. A boy named Eduardo.”
“Eduardo …” Rocco shook his head. “Eddie. He’s Nomar’s son. That’s why Jemma was following him. She was tracking him in hopes of finding his father.”
Fallon ran her hands through her hair. “You think Eddie Baez is Nomar Ortiz’s son?”
“Why else would she keep her tracking of Eddie a secret? It’s because she wasn’t tracking him for the op. She was following him to find Ortiz,” Rocco said, becoming more and more convinced that he was right.
“So, our best chance to find Jemma is to find Eddie Baez,” Lenny said what Rocco had concluded as well. He turned to Rocco. “When we find Jemma, we’ll make sure she knows how instrumental you were in helping us to put the pieces together. But we can’t allow you to be part of our rescue mission. Your time with Proteus is officially over. We’ll take it from here.”
Lenny opened the door to the SUV and stepped outside, followed by Fallon.
Rocco exited the vehicle but he had no plans of flying to San Juan. Knowing that Proteus was also looking for Jemma was arelief, but it wouldn’t stop him from looking for her himself. And he knew who to turn to for help.
“Thank you, Rocco,” Fallon said, then gave him a tight hug.
Rocco stood rigid until she released him. His decision was clear.
“I’m not going to San Juan,” Rocco announced.
“Why not?” Lenny asked, frowning.
“I’m resigning from the DEA.” He turned around and walked toward the airport lounge.
Fallon called after him. “Rocco, are you sure? There’s so much more good you can do as an agent even if you’re not working with Proteus.”
“I’ve never been surer of anything in my life,” Rocco said.
He grabbed his phone and typed in a quick text to Lachlan.
The answer back was immediate.
Stingray Security was on the way.
Chapter 50
“Jemma! Jemma! Jemma!”
Rocco’s voice was raw, filled with a panicked desperation that tugged at Jemma’s heart. She wanted to get back to him. Fight through the cloak of darkness to be reunited with the man who had tattooed himself across her heart. She struggled and fought against her limp, unresponsive body hoping for a chance to reach him. To let him know she was okay.
