Page 33 of Protecting Olivia

“Is this gonna be a problem?” Z pulled me from my thoughts.

“Come again?”

“Swear to Christ, you’ll find my boot up your ass if you screw this up and get yourself dead, or the girl,” Z commented.

“You know that makes zero sense, right?” I laughed.

“You wanna split cunt hairs, or you wanna focus on the op and stop making googly eyes at Olivia?”

“The fuck you talking about? I do not make googly eyes.”

Z had finally lost his mind. Too much pressure and lack of sleep were making him see things.

“Really? You want me to get you a mirror? You’re looking at Abe like you want to kill him for daring to talk to the girl. And when your eyes land on her I swear you think you’re on some fucking honeymoon instead of an op. I think Jaxon should sit on her and you can run back up.”

That got my attention. “The hell you will. Olivia is mine,” I growled.

“Is she now? And does she know?” Z smiled. Sneaky fucker made me give away more than I wanted.

“No.” I wasn’t going to elaborate or give Z any more information.

“Is it going to be a problem for you? I need you focused on this op. Gomez is in the United States. Facial recognition has him entering LAX under the alias Louis Smith three hours ago.”

“I’m good.”

Zane studied me for a minute before he picked up his tablet and continued, “He has a three-man team with him. Tex led him straight to you. Find, fix, track, and kill. Everything is in place for you to take him out. Gomez thinks we’re willing to make the trade.”

“How’d you pull that off? I thought Peter was being tight-lipped about the man he had in custody.”

“Blue team got the thumb drive out of Peter’s safe. I could’ve asked Tom for the name, but I didn’t want to put him in the position of divulging state secrets. This way Tom is a hundred percent clean and I still got the intel we needed. Tex and Garrett tracked Jose Siles. He was a lowly money launderer for the Gomez Cartel. Seems that Siles wanted out and contacted US officials. A low-level sweep was carried out, Siles got picked up and placed in protective custody providing he gave up everything he knew. Seems the man has more value than the cartel gave him credit for. He not only had voice recordings of meetings but his office was covered with cameras. Stills and video. Gomez doesn’t know Siles has turned and wanted his best money launderer back. Seems good men are hard to find in Bolivia.”

Well damn. Peter Newton would rather keep his witness than give him back to the cartel, who will most likely kill Siles, than save his daughter’s life. Good to know.

“Where is Siles now?” I asked.

“Rendition. On a small island off of Iceland,” Z answered pointing to the map on the table.

“How did you get Gomez to believe the US was willing to trade?”

“Garrett fixed travel documents for one Jose Siles to be transferred to a safe house in California. Those travel documents were leaked by Peter Newton to Gomez.”

“Then Olivia doesn't need to be here. If Gomez is coming to us, it’s an easy takedown, and we all go home.”

Relief washed over me. It was over. Zane could take Olivia back to DC, and I would stay and take out Gomez.

“Not so fast. She needs to stay. If shit goes sideways, we need Olivia as bait. There is the one small issue with the mole that was working with Clark. The CIA wants his name. Peter is willing to trade Olivia for the name.”

“Not fucking happening,” I roared. “I swear to God I will cut Peter’s throat before that happens.” The entire room fell silent, and all stares were on me. I didn’t give a fuck if they all thought I was crazy. “And you went along with this shit storm? I’ll take her and run before I let this plan go down. You’ll have my resignation, and we’ll walk out that door. I dare any of you fuckers to stop me.”

Olivia was across the room shrinking behind Abe, that only pissed me off further. Olivia had no reason to be scared of me. And hiding behind Abe, like he’d be able to stop me if I wanted to take her. She was mine, and no one was going to use her for anything. I was making all the decisions from here on out. I trusted Z, I promised Olivia she could too. I was wrong.

“Calm the hell down, Panther. Fuck no I didn’t. But you think I don’t know those spooks aren’t following us? I know how they work, fuck, I was one of them. It’s what I’d do. If we move her now, they’ll know we have no intention of following orders and setting up the trade. She stays put.”

“How and when did the CIA get involved? This was supposed to be off the record.” When did this turn into a cluster fuck?

“Day one, when Peter’s dumb ass made an unsecured call to me, and before I could shut him up the call was traced. I had no option but to play along,” Z explained.

“I’m gonna fucking kill him. So much for national security. And why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.