Page 36 of The Billionaire's Wife

“I believe the information she has would be instrumental in helping disrupt their operation in the United States on a fairly large scale. But I also believe it would be easily traced back to her. So we need some assurances.”

Silence stretched across the room. It was miserable. I wanted to say something. Crack a joke. Anything to ease the tension. But it was the wrong move. I would have known that even without Tristan’s pointed side-eye.

Finally, Special Agent Orbison nodded. “The Ortegas are a considerable concern for us. We’ve been trying to infiltrate their operation for several years, but our agents are inevitably identified.”

“I don’t think—”

I cut Tristan off. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

“Faith.” Tristan turned, his knees bumping mine. “There’s no way they’ll believe it. Not now. They know we came here.”

“Do they?” I forced my voice to stay steady though it wanted to shake. “You said yourself you lost the tail on the highway. There are a lot of places we could have ended up.”

Special Agent Orbison straightened. “You were followed this morning?”

“They’ve had someone watching me—us—Faith—for a little over a week.”

“What?” I swung my head to stare at Tristan. “No. That’s not possible. Manny found me on Tuesday, but before that they had no idea I was here.”

“Manny Ortega is in town?” Special Agent Orbison lifted a finger before he turned to his computer. The keyboard clicked noisily as he typed rapidly. “Where did you run into him?”

“Old Town Alexandria. He’s probably on cameras in the main shopping area—I know he followed her to my friend’s bookstore.”

My jaw dropped. I scowled at Tristan. “How do you know that?”

“We’ll talk about it later.” Tristan’s voice was a whisper.

“Yeah, we will.” I hissed the words under my breath.

“Did you have any altercations with Manny?” The special agent’s gaze traveled between Tristan and me.

I sighed. “He tried to grab me a few streets over when I was running for my car. Tristan bought me enough time to get away.”

“Hmm. So he’ll recognize you?”

Tristan winced. “Afraid so.”

“It’s fine. They probably have a whole file on you if she came to you and they found that out.” Special Agent Orbison drummed his fingers on his desk. “If they didn’t follow you into the parking lot, I have to agree that they may not know where you came today. There are plenty of choices between here and the highway that would make just as much sense. It’s a calculated risk, but not overly more dangerous than any other.”

“I don’t think Faith trying to get in with the Ortegas is a good idea. She ran and tried to disappear. Now, what? She gives up and says ‘just kidding’?” Tristan leaned forward. “How does that do anything other than put her right into their hands where they can get rid of her?”

“If they wanted to get rid of me, they would have.” I crossed my arms. “I’m still useful to them. They want my skills.”

“I’m afraid I have to agree with Faith on this one. Sorry.” The look he shot Tristan suggested that he was, in fact, apologetic. “I understand your hesitation. It’s the same one I’ve had every time we’ve authorized another attempt at a mole.”

“With her information, wouldn’t you no longer need someone undercover?” Tristan leaned down and grabbed his briefcase. He clicked the clasps open. “She really knows quite a lot about their operations.”

“I don’t doubt that. The problem isn’t information. We have lots of information on a generic level. What we don’t have is proof.”

“You have an eyewitness.” Tristan gestured to Faith. “That’s not enough?”

Special Agent Orbison turned his steady gaze on me. “Who did you interface with?”

“Manny, mostly.” I grimaced. “He was introduced through a different client who I didn’t realize had connections to the Ortegas.”

The special agent nodded. “That’s pretty typical. We could probably use your information to get Manny off the street, but I doubt it would make much of a dent in their operations in the long run. And honestly? They’re so used to Manny getting nabbed, they get him back out within a week.”

I frowned. “They have people everywhere.”

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