Surrender (2 page)

Chapter Two

Brett found his way to the kitchen.
It’s going to be a long night
, he thought. He started a pot of coffee and went to his car to grab his briefcase. He decided to work even though there were several bedrooms in the mansion to grab a bed for the night. Exhausted from the drive from Washington which preceded the redeye from Mexico, he could have easily taken one of those beds, but his work ethic took over. There was no time for rest and he wasn’t a guest. He hadn’t even been invited to the funeral, though he had known John in college. He remained on the outskirts where no one noticed him. No invitation told Brett that John hadn’t mentioned his name to his new family.
Why would he?
Brett thought. The two hadn’t kept in touch. After college, they went their separate ways. They both had goals to achieve.

Brett camped at the kitchen table with his coffee and files. He’d been investigating the drug cartel for three years since he joined the narcotics department at the FBI, his goal after college. He spent four years in Washington with the Secret Service until the opportunity arrived with the narcotics department: an undercover position in Mexico to bring down the drug cartel operations that filled the streets of New York. His investigations led him to John.

The discovery shocked him. John had been the most decent guy he met at college. Brett couldn’t save John but he felt obligated to protect his wife. He wanted to tell Lauren, when she first opened her door, about his friendship with John in college, but he knew he couldn’t let it get personal. He hadn’t told his superior of his connection to John Reynolds. The case was too important to risk it. The FBI knew his parents had been at the wrong place at the wrong time when a drug deal went down. They’d been caught in the middle of a bad deal that took their lives. Brett remained cold-hearted when questioned about his parents’ deaths. He led the FBI interviewer to believe he wasn’t close to his parents since he chose his career path in criminology instead of his father’s wish to join him in the family business. For generations, the family had been Real Estate Investors. Brett convinced the FBI he was the man for an undercover operation because he had no family and could fade into thin air without any questions to his whereabouts. His credentials for the past four years confirmed his eligibility for the job. His superior warned him not to let it get personal.

He set his coffee cup down and ran his hands through his messed hair and across his face. He’d shaved before he left Washington but the stubble had already grown back. He wasn’t used to the thought of a shave and shower. For the past three years, his undercover position didn’t require a clean shave. He lived in some crummy places while undercover. Before his post in Mexico, there wasn’t a day that Brett Donovan wasn’t dressed to perfection. His parents would have been shocked by his appearance the past few years. Then again, they were the reason he was there. He was determined to bring down the operation that took his parents’ lives.

“Do you ever sleep Agent Donovan?” A sleepy soft voice startled him away from his thoughts.

He looked up from his files. Lauren stood at the kitchen doorway. Her neatly-kept soft tresses had been let loose into a wave of fiery-red curls beyond her shoulders that enhanced her hazel eyes and dark lashes. Her eyes were sharp. They took in everything in her surroundings. She was a beautiful woman any man, in his right mind would notice. He could tell she came from money. Not just by her polished appearance. She moved with confidence. Her speech and mannerisms cried out a sophisticated education. Silk wrapped her every curve and barely covered her thighs. He saw her follow his eyes down to them and back up to her chest. Her wrap, tied loosely, allowed part of her breasts to peak out from the silk that barely covered them. She smiled. He knew she saw his eyes travel, but he ignored being caught.

“Call me Brett please,” he said in a tired raspy voice. He watched her move elegantly across the room.

“Already on a first-name basis, are we?” She said and helped herself to a coffee. She turned and took a sip. “You may call me Lauren.”

“Can’t sleep?” He tried to keep their conversation general. He wanted to change the subject and take his mind away from the thoughts that raced through it. He knew he shouldn’t be thinking of her that way. She was an assignment and had been the wife of the man who had been like a brother to him in college. A man they just buried hours before.

She shook her head and then joined him at the table. “I tried to sleep.” She looked around.

“John and I bought this house two weeks before our wedding. Our first night here was our wedding night and the last night he made love to me in this house. He became distant after our honeymoon in Mexico.”

Brett sat quietly and listened. The sadness he seen in her eyes and her recent words made him question if it had been a loveless marriage. Then he wondered if John had confronted Nick Mendez in Mexico and told him he wanted out of their business deal.

Lauren suddenly rose from the table and began to walk out of the kitchen. She turned to him.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get personal.” She smiled politely.

“That’s okay, Lauren. I’m a good listener.”

Brett pulled out the chair beside him and motioned for her to sit. She hesitated for a moment and then joined him. He began to pick up the papers and put them back in the folder.

Lauren picked up a picture. “Who’s this?”

“Nobody” He quickly grabbed the picture and placed it in the folder. She didn’t question his hasty response when she noticed John’s picture. He saw tears form in her eyes. Brett didn’t grab the picture this time. His heart went out to her. She remained quiet as she looked at the picture of her recently-deceased husband.

“Do you recognize the man with John?” Brett quickly changed his focus back to the case.

Lauren shook her head. Her eyes hadn’t left the picture.

“The man in the picture with John is Nick Mendez. He is known to run the drug cartel operation out of New York from Mexico. I’ve tracked him for three years. This is the man who would have assigned a hit for your husband and you,” Brett told her point-blank. He didn’t know how else to tell her. There wasn’t time to gently break the news. He could tell his words frightened her by the look in her eyes.

“This can’t be true. John is…was a decent man.” She began to speak but the tears took over.

Brett reached out and covered her hand. It killed him to admit that the man who’d been like a brother to him had been caught up in this tangled mess. He hadn’t accepted it in the beginning either until he dug a little deeper into John’s financial records. He remembered John’s determination in college. John spoke of building his own successful business. Brett knew John’s brilliant mind first-hand. That’s how they met. Brett needed a tutor and John saved his ass from being expelled from college. Brett’s determination to stay in college and not live off his trust fund forced him to go to John. Then they became friends. John, on the other hand, didn’t have that choice. He grew up in foster homes.

“I’m not saying your husband wasn’t a decent man. His financial records show a fall about two years ago. The Mendez family are known to prey on opportunities like this. They probably approached your husband.” Brett tried to comfort her. He imagined it to be a lot to digest at a most difficult time.

“I thought I knew my husband. I was wrong. Guess you never really know someone,” Lauren sadly remarked.

The expression in her eyes grabbed his heart. He didn’t know how to respond. He wanted to tell her he personally knew John had been a decent man when he knew him, but he couldn’t.

“You know,” Lauren said and looked into Brett’s eyes. “My father didn’t approve of John in the beginning. He said six months wasn’t long enough to really know someone before you marry them. My father said this only because John didn’t come from old money. Maybe I should have listened to him but I thought I fell in love and listened to my heart.” Lauren sighed and took a deep breath.

Brett knew exactly what she meant. Her father sounded like his. He chuckled silently as he heard his father’s words in his mind.
Old money does not mix well with new money. We need to remain in our own circle.

“You were only married a few months?” Brett inquired.

“Yes. We married six months after we met. I thought I knew everything about John I needed to know,” Lauren responded.

“John tried to get out of his contract with the Mendez family for that exact length of time. I believe he wanted to be a decent husband but one can’t walk away from the Mendez family without consequences.” Brett knew this information would not comfort her but he felt she had a right to know about John’s intent. He just made the wrong choice to get involved with the drug cartel to save his business.

“That’s why they killed him?” Lauren asked.

“I hoped my husband loved me more than his business. My father never did. His company always came before my mother and me.”

Brett nodded. Her words saddened him. He remembered how his father’s wishes mattered more than what Brett wanted.

Lauren picked up the picture again of John and that man outside John’s warehouse. She turned to Brett with a horrified look.

“I remember when we were on our honeymoon in Mexico, John left me for a day. He said he had business in a nearby town. Maybe he met with this man.”

Lauren waved the picture in her hand.

“Maybe that’s why he became distant. I thought it might be me or the fact that he’d become so pre-occupied accepting my father’s partnership offer and selling the warehouse.”

Lauren placed the picture on top of Brett’s folder, “It doesn’t matter now”.

“Why me” she asked. “Why do you believe they want to kill me?”

“They’re only concerned that you may know about them. That’s all. To them it’s just business.”

Lauren seemed to swallow those words hard. She stood and walked toward the patio doors then stared into the darkened sky for a few moments. Brett sat quietly and watched her until he noticed a reflection outside. He quickly sprang up from the table. His chair knocked over as he leaped for Lauren. The bullet pierced through the glass door and just missed her. Brett had taken her down hard and covered her body with his. Silence remained in the room for a few moments before Brett spoke.

“Are you hurt?” He asked. She shook uncontrollably in silence, “No.”

“Stay low and move slowly around the corner between the cabinets.” Brett sat with his back against the cabinets and reached for his gun. He peeked around the corner slowly. He saw nothing but darkness beyond the patio doors. He moved suddenly toward the table and stayed behind it. There wasn’t a sound and nothing but darkness outside. He reached up to flip the light switch off and hoped for a better look through the glass doors into the backyard. Still, he saw nothing. Brett moved along the back wall until he reached the patio doors. He slowly drew the blinds to cover the open glass and went to Lauren. She shook behind the cabinets with a look of terror in her eyes. He reached out for her hand. “It’s safe now. Come with me.”

She took his hand. “Where are we going?”

“It isn’t safe to stay here. Trust me. I will keep you alive.” His voice remained calm. She nodded.

  ****

Lauren didn’t say a word and drifted to sleep in the car. When she awoke, it was still dark outside. Brett never said where they were headed. It appeared he drove toward the coast and south. For some odd reason she trusted this man she’d just met. She looked over at him. He looked exhausted.

Why is this man going out of his way to protect me?
She thought.

“Are you not tired? Where are we going?” she finally asked.

“I am and where you will be safe. We’ll stop soon and get some rest,” he answered without taking his eyes off the road. A few miles later, he pulled into a rundown motel next to the road.

“Why are we stopping here?” Lauren asked him.

He put the car in Park and turned off the ignition, then turned to her. “I just told you we need to rest.” He sounded beyond exhaustion.

“But why here?” She asked him. Lauren Reynolds had never stayed at a motel in her life. She had been used to luxury her entire life. He had been in her house. He had probably searched her financial records as well as her husband’s. She figured he must know she deserved better than this.

“Sorry, it’s not the Ritz, but it will have to do.” He laughed.

His laugh only infuriated her more. She slammed the car door shut and stormed toward the motel entrance.
Why do I trust this man?
She wondered.

Brett locked the car. He looked around before he entered the motel. She figured he was checking to see if they’d been followed. Irritated with him, Lauren folded her arms and waited for him to check in. He took the key and thanked the frail old man who sat at the front desk.

“Follow me,” Brett told her.

She felt frustrated that he had completely ignored her attitude about his decision to stay at a motel.

“Fix this air conditioner,” she demanded.

He turned the switch for the air conditioner and it came off in his hand. He laughed and handed it to her. “Guess you will have to open a window.”

“Do you know what the humidity factor is out there?” Lauren screamed. The past week had been unusually humid for late September. The weather called for a warmer October than usual as well.

Brett shrugged. “Hot?”

His sarcasm only ignited her temper. She stormed past him and slammed the bathroom door.

“Hot-tempered snob,” Brett announced. He knocked on the door. “I’m sorry this place is a dive. I need a shower and a few hours of sleep. I promise the next place will be better.”

Lauren opened the door. “And where is that Agent Donovan?” She asked.

“Ocean City”

“What the hell is in Ocean City?”

“My place”

“Bathroom is all yours.” Exhausted and hot, she didn’t care to argue with him anymore. She hoped his place wasn’t a one-room bachelor apartment that required a torch rather than a cleaning, or she’d call her father.

Lauren looked at the motel bed and wondered if it would be clean enough to sleep on. She broke down and tears streamed down her cheeks. She wasn’t sure if the tears were for John, the supposed hit or both. Beyond exhaustion, she’d cried for days and hadn’t slept well. Then Agent Donovan knocked on her door and now she was stuck in a hot, dingy motel. She heard the shower stop and regained her composure. Her mother taught her to cry in private.

She felt shocked when he opened the door naked. The steam from the bathroom poured out around him and into the room. “Have you no decency?” She snapped at him. It didn’t seem to bother him to be naked in front of her.

He smiled. “Forgot my bag” He walked past her.

She knew she should turn around, but she swallowed hard as she watched his bare ass when he walked across the room. He definitely kept his body toned. As quickly as that thought crossed her mind, she tried to block it. Minutes before, she’d been in tears for her husband.
Why do I keep thinking of him this way? This man infuriates me.