Chapter 23

Aaron drove Emersyn to work Monday morning, nodding at the security guards as he stopped at the gate. They let him through after he flashed his military ID and Emersyn showed her identification from DEA. He'd hated leaving her in his bed this morning as he'd hurried off to PT, but the fact of the matter was, she was safer at his place than her own. There was nothing in the classified DEA HR files linking Aaron to Emersyn, so the cartel didn't have his name. His address. It killed him that they not only had Emersyn's information, they even had a fucking photo of his girl. Anywhere she went on this island, she could be a target.

While the thug lurking around Em's apartment complex had seen his truck the other night, Aaron had been careful all weekend to make sure he wasn't followed. Could a Sinaloa Cartel member be watching the front gate now? Absolutely. There was extra security at the entrance, however, and her building had no shortage of armed DEA Special Agents, which alleviated his worry to some extent.

The stress was clear on Emersyn's face, and he hated that while she'd been weighed-down by her workload recently, now it was her very real fear for her life that had caused her distress. She looked around the parking lot as he pulled into a space, shutting off his truck's engine. "I'll walk you to the door. My CO knows I'm coming in later this morning."

"You were with your team for PT."

"Yep. But I wasn't going to roll into base and expect you to drive yourself over here alone."

She flashed him another worried look. Over the weekend, Aaron and Hudson had taken her back to her apartment to pack a suitcase. Their extra precautions hadn't been without warrant. One DEA Special Agent whose name had been leaked to the cartel confronted a man outside of his home early Sunday morning. While shots had been fired, the cartel member escaped. Just knowing DEA employees were being targeted made Aaron's blood run cold.

"There's Mathers," Emersyn said, looking toward a man striding across the parking lot. Aaron watched as the man headed for the entrance, his body slightly rigid. No doubt it had been a shitty weekend for all of the employees who worked here. Some of them no doubt had families. Kids. It was almost wild to imagine that a man thousands of miles away in Mexico had ordered retaliation for his cousin's arrest. No doubt Antonio would spend the rest of his life behind bars, but the men who'd worked for him were eager for vengeance.

"I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around any of this," she admitted.

"I was just thinking the same thing. It's bullshit," Aaron spat out. "DEA will be changing all of their security procedures after this. I'm sure they'll be an independent investigation into the clusterfuck of leaked intelligence and employee names. My CO told us that Wilder wasn't even hacking into the DEA systems. When he disappeared down in Mexico, DEA should have frozen his credentials. Locked him out. Once he got into the system, he logged on like normal. Given he was in IT, he had access to a mother lode of intel. Even that didn't get flagged in their systems."

"But when will this end?" she asked, worrying her lip. "Even if we track down the new leaders here in Oahu and arrest them, someone else will step up to take over. It's a never-ending cycle. Unless Alejandro Lopez pulls back on his orders for revenge, my colleagues and I will be in danger."

Aaron frowned. She wasn't wrong. The drug bust would cost the cartel millions in the long run, and he could see why Lopez would be eager to reign terror on all those involved. "We'll have to see how it plays out," he murmured quietly.

"I was watching the news this morning when you were with your SEAL team. Eric Wilder's name was finally leaked to the press," she told him.

"Really?" Aaron asked, his eyes widening. While the rest of the country knew about the missing contractor, this was the first time a name had gone along with the story.

"Yeah," she said, brushing back some of her hair. "I don't know who leaked it. Maybe after the weekend someone pissed about the situation finally had enough. When he was secretly being investigated, keeping his name out of the public made sense. But now that the cartel is targeting DEA employees? Showing up at people's homes? Someone got pissed off enough to tell the world his name."

"It wouldn't surprise me," Aaron admitted. "Although with Eric Wilder's name and photo blasted everywhere, he'll be less valuable to Alejandro. He can't keep selling the cartel information or even moving drugs if he's publicly visible and locked out of DEA classified servers. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up dead himself."

She shuddered, and Aaron reached over, giving her shoulder a squeeze. "Hey. This won't go on forever. Some other idiot will piss off the cartel, and they'll move on to focus their attention on him. There will be other arrests. New recruits. They're going to be busy rebuilding their drug trade here on the island and won't have time to chase down DEA employees forever. Besides, Alejandro Lopez is already a wanted man by U.S. authorities. It's not like he'll be a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico forever. If anything, the cartel will want to lie low since more eyes are on them now."

"You're right, and we're not going to stop investigating them or bringing those men to justice. That's why I came here on TDY." She shook her head, frustrated. "I just can't believe the reason for this entire leak was a fellow employee. What the hell is wrong with him?"

"I'm sure a psychologist could come up with a whole laundry list of reasons. He's greedy. Power-hungry. Wasn't loved enough as a child. Never played well with others." Her lips quirked slightly as she looked over at him.

"I'm pissed that he even put my colleagues and me in this position."

"It won't be forever, Em. The cartel has numerous enemies." He glanced at his watch and then met her gaze. "I'll walk you in and then come by this evening to pick you up."

"Okay. I want to see if there are any new updates."

Aaron shook his head. "I've dealt with all sorts of evil in my line of work. Terrorists. Men who'd think nothing of harming women and children. Cities that have been bombed. Hostage rescues. It guts me that you're the one I need to protect right now."

Tears shone in her eyes, and Aaron gave her a brief kiss. He walked her to the door then said goodbye, his gaze sweeping the parking lot as he headed back to his truck. While he knew her building was secure, the property guarded, he still had the feeling that something terrible was going to happen.