Marcello looked at Candy. “Tail’s gone. And what can it hurt, Captain Sorensen? He’s going to be with you and an armed cadre of agents.”
The captain stared daggers at my friend and was quiet for several moments before he finally turned to me. “If I let you come with me, will you promise not to get in the way, Mr. Adams?”
I felt my heart racing as I nodded vigorously. “Yes, Captain! Gracias.” I reached for his hand. “Thank you!” My voice broke then. The captain stared at me and squeezed my hands just as the truck slowed and we made a turn. He looked up as he let go of my hands.
“We’re here.” He walked to the front, opening the partition window. “Marcello said the tail’s gone?”
“They dropped back about a mile or so ago, Cap. They must ‘ave worked out where we were ‘eading.”
“Okay, good to know. The last thing we need is a firefight right here in the parking lot.” He slid the partition window closed.
I sat back, thinking about Rex and how he may—even now—be dying as we drove into an underground garage. I was fucking terrified. All I knew was I needed to see Rex.
It took ten long minutes for the captain to get my family situated in the office before he, the driver—whose name was Mars—and Marcello, got into a black SUV with me. It had limousine tint on the windows, so even if the cartel was looking for us, there was no way for them to identify the passengers in the car. The captain sat up front with the driver, leaving me in the back alone with Marcello. As soon as we’d driven out of the underground lot, I turned to my friend. Before I could ask the million questions in my mind, he spoke.
“I’m sorry, Cachi. I know you think I should’ve told you about being with the FBI a long time ago, but I was in an undercover assignment, so it was impossible. I only hope you can forgive me.”
I stared at him, feeling how he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders as he apologized. “Is not your fault, Marcello,” I said quietly. “I understand you cannot say.”
“If I could’ve, I would’ve. I only feel bad that the constraints of my assignment didn’t allow me to tell you what was happening. I feel terrible now that I asked you to be a valet.”
I nodded slowly. “Why you ask me, Marcello? If you know these people are cartel, why you ask me?”
He looked pained. “It’s a long story. I don’t even know how to explain it to you.”
I didn’t understand. When I didn’t say anything, the captain turned around to look at us. “I spoke with SAC Bradley, Mr. Adams. That’s my boss. From my understanding, the store your uncle owns has been under surveillance for a while now.”
I frowned then glanced at Marcello before looking back at the captain. “Surveillance…what does it mean?”
“It means that while we were watching the cartel members, we noticed that one of them goes into the store a lot,” Marcello said. He pulled something out of his pocket and I realized it was a paper. He unfolded it before handing it to me. It was a photograph of my tio’s store in downtown. In the picture, I was standing behind the counter smiling at a Hispanic man as I handed him a bag. It must have been one of the days I’d been filling in for Tia or Tio when they were out at lunch. Otherwise, the time stamp on the photo didn’t make sense for me to be there by the register. I looked up at Marcello.
“Marcello, when you see this bad man, you think I am part of cartel?”
He shook his head, frowning deeply. “No, Cachi. I never thought that. Never. I know you couldn’t possibly have been involved with them, but my boss didn’t have the same faith in you that I did because the man came back to the store again and again on a Sunday when you work.”
“I remember him now you show me picture.” I pointed to the photo. “He come in for gum and soda. Sometimes he buy little toys my tio and tia sell, but he not friend. I do not know his name.”
“From what I understand, Special Agent Biagi argued vociferously in your defense, Mr. Adams,” the captain said. “He never believed you were a part of it, but his boss insisted that heoffer you the job to see how you would react to the men going to the party.”
I nodded at the captain then looked at Marcello. “So, you trap me, Marcello?”
“I never wanted you involved, Cachi. Believe me, I never thought you had the heart to be a drug trafficker. I’ve known you for five years and I told that to my boss. And to top it all off, when Special Agent Wallace also agreed that you should be pressed in the interview you did, he went into it with preconceived notions.”
My eyes widened. “What that means?”
“It means he had an idea about you that wasn’t true but believed it anyway.”
“That’s why Agent Wallace hate me?”
Marcello looked pained. “I don’t think he hates you, Cachi. I just think he was doing his job by pushing you in the interview. I told him you’d never knowingly be involved with drug traffickers. All he had to do was look at you to tell you were innocent.”
I felt my eyes burning. “I hate drugs and the traficantes, Marcello, and now—” I glanced at the captain. “Now, because the FBI think I am traficante, Rex, he is hurt.”
The captain looked fierce. Even with the long, fiery beard, I could tell by the set of his jaw, he wanted to chew nails. I knew Rex liked him very much. I could tell all the men who worked with the captain respected him, and I really didn’t think he’d put Rex in danger intentionally. The only reason he was at the club in harm’s way, was because he’d gone there to pick me up.
Maybe it was as the captain and Marcello said. Maybe the decision to hire me as a valet had been calculated but theoutcome had been out of their hands. I was fuming inside but at the moment, all I could think of was my sweet, dear Rex, who was hurt.
“All of the blame belongs to the FBI, Mr. Adams. We’re very, very sorry,” the captain said.