But he relaxed when he saw the woman in front of him. “Cass, you ought to be glad I didn’t flatten you.”
“I need to talk to you,” Cass said with a shaky voice.
“What’s wrong?”
“Let’s get into your car.”
“All right.” He unlocked his vehicle with the key fob, and Cass jumped into the passenger seat. He’d worked with Cass for about four years, and he’d never seen her act like this. She was always so level-headed. Cool as a cucumber, regardless of the mission or danger they faced in the field.
For a split second, the unthinkable occurred to him. What if Cass was strung out on something? It wouldn’t be the first time something like that had happened to even celebrated agents. But he quickly pushed that thought out of his mind and turned his attention back to her.
“Talk to me, Cass.”
“Drive.”
He did as she instructed.
“The cartel is out to kill our team.”
“I know you’re still shaken up about the break-in at your house, but we need to take things one step at a time and not jump to any conclusions.” Cass had told him about the tattoos she’d identified on her attacker, but it had been dark, and she’d been fighting the man off, so he wasn’t a hundred percent sure this was linked just yet.
“There’s no jumping to conclusions. I’m sure you heard about the bombing in Old Town yesterday. Layla was there.”
His stomach clenched. “She was? Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. I spoke to her a few minutes ago. She has some minor injuries but will be okay. She goes to that restaurant every Saturday for lunch. This was planned.”
“You think this is a coordinated effort to take out our team?” Zane’s mind went into overdrive.
“I do, because I’m not done updating you. Layla also talked to Scarlett Bell.”
“What did she say?” Scarlett always had the best intel.
“Get this. Her contacts are telling her that the word on the street is that Roberto Mejía was killed during our operation.”
Zane’s grip tightened on the wheel. “Are you sure? Could it be the cartel feeding our sources misinformation?”
“Scarlett thinks it’s solid intel, and it would explain the major backlash we’re getting.”
“Okay, I get the motive, but how would Diego know who to come after? We were extremely careful with cutting any video surveillance.”
Cass shrugged. “I’m not sure. That’s one of the many unknowns.”
“We should go see Diaz and brief him on the latest developments.” John Diaz was a seasoned DEA agent and the fourth member of their team.
“Glad we’re on the same page. I’ll punch his address into my GPS.” Cass pulled her phone out of her jacket.
“He’s in Arlington, right?” Zane asked.
“Yeah. Since it’s Sunday, the traffic shouldn’t be too bad. We can do it in fifteen minutes from here.”
“How did you know where to find me?” Zane asked.
“You love that sub shop. I swung by your place first, and when you weren’t there, I figured hitting up your favorite restaurant was a good plan. The coffee shop down the block was my next option.”
“You know me pretty well, don’t you, Cass?”
She gave him a little smile. “We’ve worked together for quite a while.”
“We have, and we’ve done a lot of dangerous ops in multiple countries. What went south here?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. Do you really think we can trust anyone at the DEA or at Langley right now?”
He turned his attention back to the road. They couldn’t take any chances at this point. “Based on what you’re telling me, the only people we can trust are the four of us. How could the cartel have found out our team’s identity? As long as that’s an open question, we have to keep this circle tight.”
“I called Mason and told him what happened to me, but he doesn’t know about anything else, I don’t think.”
Mason Gray was their boss at the DEA. “We should let him know about Layla. If it was just one of us being targeted, we could envision some other explanation, but with both of you attacked within such a short time period, we have to operate under the assumption that it’s all tied together.”
“But you still don’t trust Mason?”
“I don’t want to think we can’t, but we have to be cautious. Right now, though, we can’t keep him iced out on the basic facts because we need his help. Did Layla think you were on the right track?”
“Yes, she was concerned. But it seemed like there was more going on that she didn’t want to talk about.”
Zane huffed. “Well, that’s typical CIA. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Agency messed this up somehow.”
Cass was silent for a moment, clearly thinking. “Layla’s not even a field officer—not by design anyway. She’s an analyst who has done some limited fieldwork.”
“Yeah, but she did well on the op.” Zane glanced at her, wondering where she was going with this. “We had no issues with her performance.”
“I’m not questioning her skill. I’m thinking that it’s even more disturbing that someone could have found her out, given her lack of fieldwork. You and I are out there all the time. So is Diaz. That isn’t the case with Layla.” She turned and looked over her shoulder.
“You see anything?” he asked.
“All clear so far.”
They rode in silence the rest of the way to Diaz’s house, but even in the quiet, Zane knew the two of them were in work mode. This wasn’t a leisurely weekend afternoon drive.
Cass looked down at her watch. “Diaz always goes to Sunday service, but it’s almost two. He should be done by now.”
“I talked to him late last night, and everything was good.”
“Let’s find out.”
Zane stopped the car, and the two of them walked up the driveway and onto Diaz’s front porch.
“Zane.” Cass pointed to the front door, which was slightly open.
Zane pulled out
