Page 62 of Fast Fury

“Why would you need protection if Manny’s your father?”

She lowered her gaze, swallowed. “Because it’s not safe for us at home now. It’s not safe for us anywhere.”

Taggart stared at her. “Is that right.”

A flash of anger crossed her face. “Would I have fled to the States, risked coming here to your headquarters otherwise? Given who my father is?”

Taggart crossed his arms over his chest, his expression hard. “Keep talking.”

Oceane flicked a glance at Rowan before facing him again. “He can’t protect us now.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know. I…” She cleared her throat, drew a deep breath. “I was unaware of the full extent of my father’s true business until a week ago.”

Taggart’s expression said he didn’t believe a single word of that. “Uh huh.”

“Ididn’t,” she insisted. “My parents made sure to keep me removed from all of that my whole life. I lived with my mother near Veracruz, rarely even saw my father. As far as I knew he was a businessman involved with a few shady dealings, but never anything on this scale. Never with that kind of violent criminal association.” She shifted in her seat, swallowed. “Then last week, everything changed. My mother came to me in the middle of the night, terrified. Your agency arrested someone within the…organization a few weeks ago, a lieutenant named—”

“Ruiz,” Taggart said.

“Yes. It created a power vacuum, and my family was sucked into it. I didn’t know what was happening until it was too late. Our personal security barely got us out of our house alive. A rival member attacked. There were…” She swallowed, drew in a breath. “People were killed. My mother finally told me everything while we were on the run, and we decided to escape here.”

“So your father doesn’t know where you are?”

“He will by now. We flew to Dallas and then connected here to Virginia late last night.” She looked at Rowan. “I found a lawyer and came here to ask for your help.”

“As Commander Taggart said, that will depend on a number of things,” Rowan told her.

“Wait,” Malcolm said, bringing everyone’s eyes to him. He stared at Oceane, his expression full of suspicion. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-four.”

“You’re twenty-four, and yet you claim to know nothing about his involvement with the cartel your whole life?”

Oceane huffed out an irritated breath, her cheeks flushing. “I realize how that must sound to you, but it’s the truth. I’d heard stories when I was younger. Then rumors, back when I was at college. But I never believed them. Never believed my father was capable of those things. Not the man I knew. My father is…he’s a complicated man, and so was our relationship. I never lived with him. I didn’t see him much or spend a lot of time with him over the years because he was always traveling.”

“You mean living with his wife and moving around from place to place to avoid any assassination attempts,” Taggart put in.

She dropped her gaze again. “Most likely.” She seemed to gather her strength a moment, then raised her chin and squared her shoulders, meeting Taggart’s gaze head on, and Rowan had to give her points, because his stare was intimidating as hell. “In light of everything that’s happened, I can’t go home, and I can no longer afford to be ignorant. My mother and I have no involvement with my father’s business. We want to start a new life away from all of that. So I’m willing to give you whatever information I have in exchange for protection.”

Rowan glanced at Taggart in astonishment. That was a hell of an offer, tossed right in their laps. Oceane seemed really damn naïve for someone in her mid-twenties. Did she realize what she was doing? Her so-called lawyer had been useless so far.

Taggart studied Oceane in silence for a long moment, then sat up straight. “You got any ID on you, Miss Nieto? Passport? Driver’s license?”

She flushed, shook her head. “Not legal ones,” she admitted.

“Figured not,” he murmured, his tone dripping sarcasm. “This meeting is over until I can verify who you are.”

Oceane’s brave front faltered. A sheen of tears filled her eyes, but she blinked them back and answered. “Go ahead and check.”

“Oh, I will,” he said, getting to his feet and pulling out his phone. “I’m going outside to make a call,” he said to Malcolm. “Keep her in that chair and don’t let her out of your sight until I get back.”

****

For over thirty minutes Malcolm stayed silent in his seat, listening carefully as Rowan talked with Ms. Nieto and her lawyer.

This was crazy.

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