In A Fix - Mary Calmes Page 0,79
know there would be no more outbursts from him.
“That may be the most ridiculous story I’ve ever been forced to endure,” she said icily.
“No, it’s not,” I answered Ella, glancing around at the others in the room.
“Yes, it is. Blurting out various food items is a ridiculous exercise.”
“That’s why some students went with entirely insane dishes that would never even appear on a menu, like entrails and cornbread, or––”
“Or haggis with a side of slaw,” she gasped.
I turned to Dallas. “We’re done here.”
Instantly, he pulled his gun, roaring out the command, “Everyone down!”
“Move!” Lund yelled in my ear.
Agents came rushing in from various directions, and the men who had come in with Ella, even armed, had no chance to draw their weapons before they were surrounded.
“Ryder, hit the jammer and get anyone not actively detaining Suárez’s people outside!” Dallas barked out the order.
I stood as Maria Elena pulled a gun from her purse, but there was a female agent on her so fast she didn’t even have time to point it, let alone fire.
I leapt across the coffee table, and the second I dropped down on the other side, Ella was on me, arms around my neck, sobbing, shaking so hard that it was scary. It was like every drop of fear and tension was trying to escape from her body at the same time.
“Croy—tell me you’re not with the FBI,” she said when she could finally speak.
“I’m not, but my partner is.” She tried to tear free of my arms then, but I held tight. “Ella. Ella, look at me.”
I was holding on to her arms, and she was trying to pull free, but even then, as terrified as she was, her gaze met mine. “You don’t understand. The FBI is going to kill me! I can’t trust anyone and––”
“You can trust him,” I vowed, raising my voice. “He’s my partner.”
“You just said that he––”
“Not that kind of partner,” I told her.
She stopped trying to yank free, stopped struggling, and froze, her eyes wide.
“He’s the life kind of partner, not the work kind.”
And as soon as she understood what I was saying to her, that I was talking about someone I was in a relationship with, she let out a long, deep surrendering sigh right before she dissolved into relieved tears.
Ella Guzman was sitting beside me at the dining room table, holding my hand and sipping a calming cup of chamomile tea. Dallas, Ryder Lund, and Reina Montez, along with three DEA agents, had filled in the seats around us.
“Let me get this straight,” Montez began, “you’re telling us that Special Agent Andrew Murray is running a drug cartel in Sinaloa and is systematically killing DEA agents?”
“Yes,” Ella said, putting her cup down and taking a shaky breath. “He’s been deep undercover, as you know, for five years now, and during that time he became Ruben Suárez’s right hand.”
“So all the intel he’s sent us over the years has been bogus,” Dallas chimed in.
“Not bogus, just not incriminating to Suárez or anyone in his organization. He gave you the names of rivals, or those who’d double-crossed them, but no one important.”
“But now Suárez is dead?” Montez spoke again.
“Yes. Two months ago. When he kidnapped Lane Stanton, Murray wanted no part of that. He worried that her abduction would bring unwarranted attention.”
“Which it did,” Lund agreed.
“Which it did, yes,” she said, glancing at him before returning her focus to Montez. “So Murray executed a coup, relieved Suárez of his organization, and grabbed Lane and stashed her in a luxury villa in Puerto Vallarta for safekeeping. His plan was to show up, kill the men guarding her, and deliver her to you, making himself look like a hero in the process before returning to Mexico a decorated agent.”
“He would have killed his own men?” Montez asked Ella.
She nodded. “Yes. It would have been plausibly blamed on the FBI.”
“But the people back in…oh,” Lund said, understanding at once. “No one in Mexico has any idea he’s an FBI agent.”
“That’s right.”
“So to us, he’d look like a hero for saving Lane and killing Suárez and his henchmen, and to them, he’d have escaped the FBI’s clutches and saved the organization. He’d have been a hero to both sides,” I ventured.
“Exactly,” Ella confirmed. “Then, of course, he put out the hit on Suárez himself. His men finally found and assassinated him and his family, because Murray told them that Suárez had made a deal with the Guardia Nacional to become their informant in exchange