Chapter 3: After Hours

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Javí's first meeting with the Ambassador didn't exactly go the way that he thought it would. Not only was Crosby not so subtly putting the brakes on actively going after the Cali Cartel, but Javí's request to cut back on his office personnel fell on deaf ears.

"I appreciate the sentiment, I really do." Javí tried to make Crosby understand without telling him the real reason he wanted his new secretary transferred. "But I'm sure that between me and Agent Stoddard, we can answer the phones and file away our own paperwork. Adding another person just complicates things."

"Perk of the job, Javíer." Crosby smirked as he leaned back in his chair and took another sip of his whiskey. "She's pretty easy on the eyes, though, isn't she?"

Ambassador Crosby didn't sound like himself and Javí knew that something was up. Maybe now that he was in management, Crosby considered him a part of the good ol boys club and could speak more freely with him. But there was the possibility that he was bringing Eve up as a subtle dig at his past romantic/professional experiences with the hookers of Colombia. Best to tread lightly and figure out what he was getting at.

"She smells good, too, doesn't she?" Crosby added as he tried to gauge Javí's reaction. It was almost as if he was either trying to goad or warn him. But for the life of him, Javí couldn't understand why.

All at once a theory hit him, and Javí stirred in his seat. He was furious but tried to keep his reaction measured and not unleash his anger at the ambassador. The two of them had just been discussing Stechner (the CIA chief) and how he had inexplicably signed off on Javí coming back to Colombia after his scandal. After their history, that didn't seem likely unless Stechner was fucking up to something. Everything seemed to fit and Javí tried to stop grinding his teeth.

"She smells expensive." Javí answered, trying not to let any emotion show. "Did Stechner send her my way? Arranging for her to move in next door to me in embassy housing must have been pretty easy for him to pull off. Hardly a great use of resources."

"I'm not sure what you're getting at." Crosby replied with a trace of levity in his voice.

Crosby was a smart man, he knew full well what Javí was talking about. But in his defence, the CIA sending in a beautiful agent to spy on a DEA agent seemed preposterous on its face. Unfortunately, Javí didn't underestimate how low Stechner could go to keep him in line. If he hadn't been so pissed off, Javí would have considered it poetic justice based on how many times he had personally used sex to his professional advantage in the past. His theory still didn't explain why Eve put the brakes on the two of them seeing each other, but maybe playing hard to get was just part of Stechner's game.

"Makes it pretty easy for him to sign off on my appointment if he knows he has a pretty set of eyes on me." Javí scowled. "If he wants the CIA to work together with the DEA, this isn't the way."

"I think you might have slept with one too many informats, Agent Peña." Crosby grinned. Amused with Javí's suspicions. "Relax. It's not as bad as you think."

"Does she even speak Spanish?"

"Javí, I don't know if she can even type." Crosby chuckled, clearly finding the situation humorous. "She's here as a favour for a friend. Eve is harmless, that's all you need to know."

"With all due respect, sir, I'm not a babysitter." Javí insisted as he ran his hand down his chin; completely confused as to what the hell was going on.

"Well, for the time being, it's not like you have anything else to do."

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Javí headed back to his office downstairs with a bad taste in his mouth. Not only was he stuck between a rock and a hard place where Cali was concerned, but he still wasn't convinced that Eve wasn't a plant sent to mess with him. Since he couldn't get rid of her for the time being, he figured that it was best to stay on guard and avoid her as much as he could.

After all, Javí had bigger things to deal with. Duffy and Lopez still hadn't gotten back to him on the operation that they were running in Cali. With the way things were going with the higher ups, this might be their last chance to gather any new intel for the foreseeable future.

Maybe he had too much time on his hands because Javí couldn't stop kicking himself for falling hook line and sinker for Eve's fun innocent hot girl act.

Eve was good, he'd give her that. If Javí hadn't been on his way to work that morning, he surely would have taken her to bed without a second thought and would have considered himself a very lucky man. Not to mention that since she had been fairly fun to be around, he probably would have asked her out afterwards, as well. Who knows. He felt like such a fool for falling for Stechner's spy. He should have known that there was no way a woman like her would be interested in him - or work as a lowly secretary for that matter.

Between Stechner possibly fucking with him and hitting a brick wall with Crosby, Javí was in no mood for friendly banter with Stoddard and Eve when he got back to his new office. Instead, he walled himself away from the world and went back to reading his files so he could be on top of things if Duffy and Lopez turned up something. Because even though the authorities weren't exactly on board right now, there was still a chance that they could bring down Cali.

Javí had no idea how much time had passed when he finally looked up and called for Stoddard for the new customs intel. When he didn't receive an answer, Javí got up, stood in his doorway, and looked across the main office floor only to find it dark and empty.

Javí checked his watch. He couldn't believe that the whole evening had slipped away from him; it was nearly 10pm. Everyone must have called it a day hours ago.

"Stoddard!" Javí yelled again, this time a lot louder, hoping that maybe his shadow was still around. The kid seemed so eager, he wouldn't be surprised if he found him lingering around somewhere in the back.

"Oh shit! You scared me." A startled female voice answered from her desk outside of his office. Eve, who looked very casual and comfortable at her desk, began to pull off her headphones and give Javí her full attention.

"Why are you still here?" Javí asked, as his eyes quickly darted around the office again trying to confirm that they were indeed the only two people left in the office. Even though Javí was leery of her motives now, it was nice to not be alone. "It's your first day. You know you don't have to leave when I do."

"I know. I forgot you were still here, boss. I'm just trying to catch up a bit." Eve sighed as she leaned back in her chair and raised her arms out above her head and stretched out her back. She had lost her suit jacket and heels a long time ago and Javí liked her more casual appearance. If he didn't want to get rid of her so badly, it might be nice to see her more like this after hours. Her long dark hair piled on top of her head with her sleeves rolled up was a nice look on her. It occurred to him that if she was a spy, Eve Capshaw was outstanding at her job because, even now that Javí was on to her, she had him completely under her spell.

"A little late night reading?" Javí asked when he noticed that she had his old Escobar files all over her desk.

Javí figured that she was going to try to feed his ego by flattering him on his past work. Tactics like that would probably work on most men, but not Javí. He knew the truth and hated being looked at as some kind of hero. But now that he saw her coming, Javí was interested to see how she would try and play him.

"Sorry, is this okay?" She asked through her deep yawn.

"Can't see why not." Javí tried to charm her by lowering his voice. "Find anything interesting?"

"You could say that. I mean, I thought that I read the news...but this." Eve groaned as she gestured to the mountain of files on her desk. "This is a whole world that I had no idea even existed. Cocaine, it's...I dunno; it's never been my thing. But I didn't realize that it had this kind of price tag. I take it that the Cali cartel is just as bad?"

"Maybe worse." Javí sighed as he sat on the edge of her desk. Impressed that she didn't congratulate him on Escobar and seemed more interested in the current threat they faced.

"How so?" Eve quickly asked, her brows furrowed until Javí answered her.

"Well, unlike Escobar, they have the shiny veneer of respectability." Javí explained with a sigh. He wasn't sure if she was pretending to be ignorant of how things were, but he'd play along for the time being. "Not only is their image really important to them, but they've paid a lot of powerful people to not look too closely. Escobar on the other hand, loved the spectacle of it all when he killed you."

"He was a gangster." Eve pointed out the obvious. "They're usually petty like that. It probably just added to his image. But making a big scene probably made it easier for powerful people to fight to put an end to him."

"Exactly, but the godfathers of Cali, they're a different breed. Just as deadly, but not as messy. They're more polished and in suits....makes it a little more difficult to stomach fighting them as hard as they did with Escobar."

"These guys sound like American politicians." Eve groaned in disgust as she rolled her eyes.

"Only with a higher body count." Javí added as he tried not to find her expressions adorable.

"Back home, the policies politicians decide to back...or not to back, can kill people too. A lot of people." Eve replied with a dark look in her eye. "A bribe is a bribe whether it comes in the form of a campaign contribution or a thick envelope from a gangster. Corrupt politicians act like they're better than these guys, but the more I read, the more I'm not so sure. They all seem to have a price tag and don't really care how many lives they destroy."

Javí didn't sense a single hint of duplicity and maybe that's what made her words more powerful. Eve was smart and had the ability to see the big picture in a way that was really rare. There weren't a lot of people that cared about the little guys that got trampled on nowadays, whether by gangsters or politicians. But Eve saw them and seemed to care. For half a second they were on the same page and Javí didn't feel so alone anymore.

Javí had to stop staring at her because he could feel something swirling around in his chest that could only lead to disaster; especially if she had been sent to spy on him.

"I mean, it's not chicken wire..." Eve added as she grimaced at one of the crime scene photos in a newer Cali file. "So many lives have been turned upside down by this bullshit and they get to walk around in high society and pretend to be civilized. It's not right."

"You'd think that a CIA agent, such as yourself, would be used to seeing dead bodies." Javí blurted out, dying to call her out and have his suspicions confirmed.

"Huh? You lost me. CIA?" Eve tried to clarify until it dawned on her what he was accusing her of. "Wait! You seriously think I could be a CIA agent?" Eve scoffed with laughter in her voice, her big blue eyes bright and wide with amusement. "I'm flattered, but I barely got the office coffee maker to work. You should've seen me. Hardly the genius work of a CIA agent."

"Fair enough." Javí smirked, still not buying it. If she was sent to spy on him, he was probably playing this all wrong, but in his defence, it had been a long day. At least if she was CIA, she knew that he was on to her

"Can't the CIA mind their own business for two fucking minutes..." Eve muttered to herself. "Would they seriously try and mess with the DEA here? I thought you guys were on the same side?"

"So did I." Javí answered, entertained by Eve's reaction. "It's late. I thought that all you newbies were going out tonight."

"They wanted me to tag along but I'm dodging them for as long as I can." Eve giggled, still finding the idea of her in the CIA laughable. "Don't tell my boss, but I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm afraid that the longer I hang out with them, the faster they'll figure it out."

"Your secret's safe with me." Javí flirted against his better judgement.

He really had to get out of there because the longer he smelled her perfume, the more he wondered if he could get away with a quickie on her desk...or maybe even his desk since it was bigger. Eve held his heated gazed and Javí began to think that breaking in the couch in his office was a great idea. There were so many options at that late hour in an empty office. But then she parted her lips to say something but stopped herself and the thought of a quickie became unacceptable to him. Javí needed to take his time with her.

For a good long moment Eve appeared to read his mind but ended up looking away and tried to ignore the pull that they were feeling towards each other. Because at this point, their connection was an annoyance to both of them now that they couldn't act on it.

Javí was playing with fire and he was trying to decide if she was worth the risk. It didn't help that the little devil sitting on his shoulder was trying his hardest to convince him that she was.

"I'm going to call it a night, boss. I have a long night of bad dreams waiting for me." Eve sang out, only half teasing. She couldn't even handle scary movies and these old case files were real life horror show. Javí looked tired and stressed and Eve wished that it wasn't such a sexy look on him. Maybe she could pull some strings and get transferred somewhere else in the embassy. How hard could that be? Because she'd love for him to go back to being just her hot neighbour. That way she could get naked and help him destress. "Maybe, since my last wine glass bit the dust, I'll have a glass of wine out of one of my old Star Wars glasses or something."

"Have a good night." Javí abruptly nodded as he turned on his heel and went back into his office to grab his things. The longer the two of them hung out the more it tested his resolve.

Maybe he was wrong about Stechner and Eve. Maybe he was wrong about everything. All he knew for sure was that Eve clouded his judgement so Javí decided that he needed to get away from her and out of the office. He had to clear his head and get a drink.

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