Breach of Honor by Naomi Porter

39 Will

YESTERDAY, A PARCEL arrived at work. Nobody had questioned it because I’d mentioned how I was waiting for a package to be delivered, a gift for Miranda. Nobody thought twice about it, just like Abe had predicted.

Not long after I’d received the burner phone, the first text came.

M29: You there?

Will: Yes

M29: Good. More to come tomorrow.

Will: OK

The vague texts had annoyed me. And what the hell did M29 mean? I wasn’t Jack Reacher or Jason Bourne. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing.

But then this morning after Miranda had kissed me goodbye, another text came not long after she’d left. It creeped me out how fast the phone had pinged, just minutes after she drove off. Immediately I wondered if my house was being watched. If she was being watched.

As agreed upon, I would follow the directions in the text.

M29: Upper Escondido Falls @ 2

Again, I called for an Uber to pick me up at the pier and was dressed in a T-shirt, shorts, and hiking shoes. I hopped into the minivan donning sunglasses and a Dodgers ball cap. I felt foolish. I never dressed this way, but I needed to look like a hiker who wasn’t the heir to a billion-dollar company.

I wasn’t supposed to be recognizable. I wasn’t William St. James III.

My stomach was in knots as I exited the van with sweaty, shaky hands. I reminded the driver to pick me up in two hours. These meetings were on a lather, rinse, repeat cycle with the Uber drivers. I hated it.

For a Saturday afternoon in June, there were a lot of people hiking. Not that I was surprised, but I thought we were supposed to be covert, undercover. What if I ran into someone I knew?

The last time I’d hiked up to the top was two years ago. I’d tossed around the idea of bringing Miranda up here on one of our lazy Sundays, but I wasn’t feeling it anymore.

As I passed people, no one looked at me as if they were her. All I knew about this person who was going to be my partner was that she was twenty-nine, had light brown hair and blue eyes, and that she’d been doing undercover work for three years. It didn’t seem long enough to me, but it wasn’t my call.

Reaching the top, I took in the view. It was as awe-inspiring as the last time I hiked up here. Miranda would have loved it.

“Hey, you made it.” A young-sounding voice came from behind me. I turned around slowly.

Brown hair and blue eyes, petite. Shorter than Miranda and very straight. No curves. She could pass for a teenager.

“Yeah, I did. Have you been here long?”

“Not long. I’m Cori. Will, right?”

“Yes.” Relief rushed through me as I inhaled the fresh coastal breeze. Nobody was around us, so I wanted to ask my questions as quickly as possible. “Look, this is incredibly awkward for me. How am I supposed to pretend I’m having an affair? Jason isn’t easy to fool. And I’m a horrible actor.”

She smiled softly. “You have to relax, first off. You seem wound up.”

“Well, yeah! You’ve read the report, right?” Abe better not screw with me.

She nodded, still smiling.

“What exactly will be involved?”

“What does Jason like to do?”

“Whore around, drink, gamble, and apparently steal money.”

Her eyes narrowed. “That last bit wasn’t necessary.”

“Sorry.”

“Look, I know your mind is blown, but this shit is serious.” She stepped closer to me and flitted her gaze up to mine. “So, take it seriously. Choose your words carefully.”

Cori had flipped into agent mode, like Abe. She might look young and innocent, but I saw the fire in her eyes. Her professionalism helped me feel better about all this.

“Got it.”

“Now, Jason… it sounds like he’s a club guy. What else?”

“Anything I’m paying for. He likes to sail, watch baseball, and he’s a big movie buff.”

“Okay, that’s good to know. For us to appear into each other, it may require us to be close. Get my meaning?”

“Whoa… no! I don’t get your meaning.” I stepped to the side, studying her youthful face. No makeup, a small gap between her top front teeth… She was nothing like Miranda.

“Will, I thought rich boys like you knew your way around a woman?” She pushed her hip out and crossed her arms.

“That’s the available version. I have a girlfriend I plan to marry once this bullshit is over. I’m committed to her. Loyal. Faithful. I’d never cheat on—”

“Miranda. I saw her file.”

My shoulders tensed at hearing Miranda had a file. “I hate that she’s mixed up in this and she doesn’t even know. I hate lying to her.”

“You’re a good man. I’m pleasantly surprised. I thought I might be dealing with a billionaire douchebag. My boyfriend will be relieved to hear you’re a decent guy.”

“That’s not fair.”

“What?”

“That your boyfriend gets to know stuff and my girlfriend has to be kept in the dark.”

“You’re right. It’s not fair. But it is what it is. You want us to take down Jason, don’t you?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then you have to get your shit together. You need to keep your cool. I’ve worked this case for two years now—”

“Two years?” I was floored. Abe hadn’t told me how long they’d been onto Jason.

“Yeah, your friend is a sneaky bastard, but I don’t think it’s him so much as it is the people he’s working with. He’s not the brains. He’s a puppet.” Cori smirked. “Somebody is pulling his strings, and they’re lying to him. I’ve watched his accounts, and he doesn’t have that much money compared to what he’s stolen. Someone else is making out big, and Jason is the one who looks like the thief.”

A pang of sadness hit me. Jason had always been gullible, falling for the latest and greatest get-rich scheme. Seemed he’d landed a big one that would give him thirty years in a concrete cell. More if he was behind poisoning Simone, but Abe seemed to think it hadn’t been him. Which concerned me. How in the hell did we find ourselves in this shit with two different criminals?

I took a deep breath, trying to get my shit together.  “Tell me a bit about yourself. If I’m supposed to be into you, I should know some things about you.”

She smiled and nodded.

We hiked back down, casually talking, and parted ways when my Uber arrived.

From what Cori had told me, Jason had ended his lease in El Paso and secured a place in Marina del Rey. His ETA was next Friday. Once he arrived, I was supposed to suggest going out for a celebratory drink at Club Rendezvous, where I’d meet Cori Jansen for the “first time.” She’d told me Cori was her alias and didn’t tell me her real name. I was okay with not knowing anything personal about her.

Whether her answers were real or not didn’t matter. After the FBI took down Jason, I hoped to never see any of them again.

On the drive home, I gave myself a mental pep talk. Even if all this crap was outside my comfort level, I had to hold it together. I couldn’t crumble under pressure. Fear would not control me. There were sacrifices to be made for SJI clients, my sister, my family, and for Miranda.

Taking down a criminal organization was a massive undertaking, and the FBI would not fail because of me.