My Bad Boy's Secret: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance (27 page)

“And finally, and most crucially,” he continued, “we specifically needed to find two young and attractive females for this mission. Your physical appearances will be of paramount importance in attracting the interest of the Crew, and you have a far higher probability of being accepted by the Crew than any male.”

Great. So we were given this mission, not for our skills or experience, but only because we were cute.

I had bad feelings about what was before me. Everything I’d just heard about the Crew and this undercover mission sounded risky. Obviously, everything the DEA does is risky, but I didn’t want my first mission to be my last. But now, I finally had an opportunity to do something remotely exciting. Despite all of the fear and doubt gripping me, I didn’t want to pass up this chance.

“I accept,” I said very slowly, as if saying it slower would make things better. “But why do you need two agents for this job?”

“And why isn’t the FBI involved?”Asked Ada. “With a case this huge, shouldn’t the FBI agents be all over this? You guys are the biggest agency, with all that experience and reputation.”

Ada was right. It was weird for the DEA and ATF to be contacted about international cases. The FBI liked to hog all the glory.

Our questions made the FBI director sigh again. He emptied his briefcase and slid about a dozen files at us, and opened one to show us the photo of a woman. I felt my jaw sag as I took her in. She was a drop-dead gorgeous babe with thick blonde curly hair rolling around the sides of her face and aquamarine eyes piercing at us. Her look was dizzyingly sexy, which wasn’t saying much for government ID photos, but damn, she was still hot. She wore a coal-black jacket over a cream-white blouse that opened up a bit to show some cleavage, and a golden chain necklace with a heart-shaped locket. It was just a picture, but from her eyes and her pose, I could sense a sharp, ferocious aura coming from her. You could tell that even though she could be a model, she still meant business. I didn’t want to mess with her.

“This is the last photo on record that we have of the former FBI Special Agent McKenna Addison,” explained her boss. “In case you’re wondering, the FBI was responsible for investigating the Crew. We have since lost authority over the case.”

“The file we first handed you contained everything Agent – I mean, former Agent Addison gathered before she – defected,” he said with a wince.

Holy crap. She went rogue. The other directors were shaking their heads. I heard Ada gasp a little.

“I think I know about her,” I said, remembering rumours I overheard in the hallways and offices. “She was a star agent, right? Cracked a lot of cases, had a lot of achievements under her belt?”

“You only get one like her every fifty years,” chimed in the ATF head. “Everyone said that she would lead the agency one day.”

“We have a policy of not mentioning anything she was ever involved with,” retorted the FBI director sharply. He was louder than before. “Addison once vowed to arrest all members of the Crew and break them. Instead, the more she investigated and the deeper she dug, the more enamoured she became of the Crew. She began to respect, even admire them. She grew excited by their activities, and decided that breaking the law would be more of a thrill and a challenge than upholding the law. She betrayed her agency, her government, and her country. Before leaving, she took with her information from all of her previous cases, and all the records the FBI had of agent identities and classified operations. She was trusted with all the bureau’s secrets, and she crippled us by releasing those secrets to the Crew. We were unable to do anything for years. It took us two years just to protect our website from more hacks.” He stopped talking suddenly and chugged some water. He looked devastated.

“Then why didn’t any of this get reported?” I asked. “How could something this huge not be publicized?”

The FBI director smiled grimly. “You underestimate the influence we have over the media. It wasn’t easy. It took the whole might of the Department of Justice and a secret order from the President to make sure that not a single journalist published a story about it. The US government would have become a global laughingstock. Our finest agent, gone from a crime fighting heroine to a whore for criminals!”

“And now you see why the FBI is no longer leading the investigation,” said the DEA head. “And why we need two agents to keep tabs on one another to ensure that we don’t have another defection. You’ll both have to issue regular status reports to us to ensure your safety and loyalty during this mission. You’ll also have to update us every day on your location and progress. This mission will tax your physical and mental limits. It may require years for any breakthrough. And as you might be aware, there will always be a high risk of injury or death in the line of duty. Are you still willing to accept it?”

“Yes,” declared Ada resolutely. I was stunned by her confidence.

All eyes were now on me. What should I say? I knew that the country couldn’t go on like this. Drug cartels were operating in broad daylight and more savage than ever. A number of Latin American governments already declared that they were surrendering. Wars were raging across Africa over drug money, and governments were being toppled. People were killing each other with guns even stronger than the ones most militaries had. Recessions and depressions were occurring in dozens of countries because no one was working. Cities were becoming abandoned by people who couldn’t live with the violence. The world was going to hell, and I couldn’t stay in an office and watch that happen.

But what could I do about it? With my two years of experience and this being my first case, I had no clue where to start. And I didn’t know if I was ready to die for my country. But if I did nothing, I’d probably die of boredom. And the government was counting on me to do something to stop the Crew.

“I’ll do it,” I said. “Anything I can.”

“Good,” responded the DEA director without a smile. “Your first order of business, agents, is to live with one another for a month. After that period of time has passed, you will be sent to begin investigations in Bratislava, Slovakia, a major hub of operations for the Crew. We have arranged an apartment for the two of you to share. Your goal is to learn everything there is to know about one another, and to build the strongest possible bonds to have a chance of successfully completing your mission.”

I turned to stare at Ada, and she stared back at me. This was going to be a weird first task.

Chapter 06

Ada

              I’d been living with my new friend Sabina for two weeks now, and it was weird, to say the least. We moved into the government-issued apartment and we spent every second next to each other, talking and sharing info about ourselves. From our life goals to our embarrassing stories from summer camp, nothing was off-limits. It was like we were a couple of kids, and our parents were forcing us to go on a play date. Only in this case, our parents were the DEA and ATF, and the goal of this play date was to infiltrate a gang.

              I told Sabina everything about myself. I was born in India, and my parents and I moved to America when I was six. I grew up in Texas, and I learned to fight from an early age to protect myself from bullies. I was nearly expelled from school three times, I had my appendix removed when I was sixteen, and my favorite place in the world is the beach. I liked the color purple the most, I enjoyed spicy food and barbecue, I hated wearing makeup, and some of my hobbies included drawing, shopping, going to rock concerts, and playing basketball. I loved Daft Punk and country music, and I liked playing guitar and skateboarding.

              Sabina was a pretty cool girl. She told me that her family was Cuban, but that no one believed her since they insisted that no Cuban had red hair and green eyes. She was from Florida, and grew up loving watersports. She’d never left the United States before and she spoke Spanish fluently. I only knew a bit of Spanish. She liked driving, hunting and fishing, and reading. She was always a good kid, got the highest rank in Girl Scouts, and used to compete in gymnastics. She had only one serious boyfriend in her whole life. She played games on her smartphone, but she never enjoyed video games, which was a shame since I liked them a lot. She liked drinking, as did I, but neither of us had ever tried drugs.

              Today we were going out to browse stores and have lunch. Staying inside the apartment and talking all day was driving us crazy. We ate at Ben’s Chili Bowl, and we were aimlessly walking the streets, waiting for an interesting store to show up.

              “Let’s take our photo there,” I said as I pointed at a booth. “It can be the last record of ourselves we give to our families before we either die or go rogue.”

              “I can’t believe you’re not taking this mission more seriously,” scolded Sabina in a half-angry voice. By now, she was used to my sarcasm.

              “And I can’t believe you’re almost 30 and you’ve only had one real boyfriend,” I retorted.

              Sabina punched me playfully. We sauntered past several scruffy guys who looked like gangsters.

              “Nice ass,” one hooted.

              Lovely. Another street harasser. I got at least two of these “compliments” a day, and it always made my skin crawl. But I never actually did anything about it. I was too scared. Besides, kicking one guy’s ass meant that there would only be a million more to kick.

              We kept walking.

              “Where are you going? Come back,” said another guy. Sabina turned and gave them the finger.

              That turned their smiles into scowls. “Bitch, you want to mess with us?” yelled the first thug.

              We were in really deep now.

“We don’t want any trouble,” said Sabina.

              “You got trouble, slut!” shouted another thug. They were walking toward us. “Now apologize.”

              “Listen, assholes,” I threatened. I was shorter than them, but I was sick of their shit. “You don’t want to make us angry. I suggest you leave before you regret anything.”

              My threat didn’t work. The thugs laughed. “Regret shit? Fine, we’ll leave,” one of them said. “On one condition. We’ll forgive you if you show us your tits.”

              This was too much. “Fuck you!” I bellowed. I turned and dashed off. I couldn’t because I felt a harsh and garbage-scented hand on my right shoulder. I knew full well who it belonged to, but I instinctively turned and got a fist slammed into my nose. I fell on my back and yelled from the pain.

              “Ada!” I heard Sabina, screaming with concern. I saw three thugs grab her and feel her breasts. One was kissing her neck and another wasdry humping her. My blood boiled and I was ready to fight. My friend was in trouble.

              The thug stood over me and bent down to pin me down. His face was inches from mine. I didn’t give him that chance. I sent my footkicking with all my might into his crotch. I wanted to kick his dick and the balls off so that he could never jack off again.

              He howled and doubled back, which encouraged me. I moved my hand to my left pocket and drew out the ace up my sleeve. For years, I carried a switchblade with me. I finally had an opportunity to use it.

              The guy was still clutching his sore crotch when I held his shoulder to get better aim and stabbed him in the stomach with my knife. It went in and cut beautifully. I sliced open his stomach in one swift move and blood gushed out, staining his white T-shirt. He collapsed on his knees.

              But then, someone literally kicked my ass, and I let go of my knife. I looked up and saw the sole of a sneaker smash my face, making me gasp for air. Two thugs were ganging up on me. I spun and I kicked his legs, making one guy fall. The other guy tried to hold me down, but I sidestepped and landed some punches to his face. I felt like I was back in middle school.

              I was protecting myself this whole time, so I had no idea how Sabina was faring. I turned to her direction and saw that two of the three thugs who were assaulting her were now crumpled on the ground, bleeding. Another guy was cornered and looked like he was pissing himself. Sabina got closer to him and knocked him over with a sweeping kick. She had her own knife, and sliced him in several places.