Chapter Text
Javier and Steve stopped off at the Carlos Holguin School while on their trip to Medellin. Major Carrillo was there to greet them as they went over the plan and what to expect that night while at Las Margaritas. Carrillo explained that they had fifty men for the stakeout and they’d form a light perimeter around the hotel so as to not arise suspicion.
Steve knew that he’d be tagging along to take photos of the traffickers, but he wasn’t entirely sure what else to expect. Javier had been tracking the likes of the Ochoa brothers and Gacha for months, so he was a little more prepared for what would eventually turn into a shitshow.
Once the men were in the hotel room, Steve had set up a chair behind the curtain of the window, ready to take as many photos as he could as the traffickers entered the hotel grounds. Peña and Carrillo spoke to each other in Spanish occasionally, much to Steve’s chagrin. He hadn’t thought much of it at first, chalking it up to them both being used to speaking Spanish while on the job.
Carrillo peered at Steve before speaking to Javier again, this time in English, “So if this is your new partner, then why is there talk of another American?”
Javier turned his gaze from the window, catching Steve’s eyes on the way, “What are you talking about?”
“We were told there was another American was coming, someone to work as a mediator.”
Steve shrugged and Javier turned back to look out on the lot, “I haven’t heard anything.”
~~♡~~
Stepping off the plane in Columbia, you sighed as you took in the empty airport around you.
I don’t know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t this, you thought to yourself.
You secured your bag around your shoulder as you made your way to one of the workers at the nearby podium for your passport to be stamped.
“Miss Y/L/N, welcome to Columbia. If you do not mind me saying, I find it,” he paused to think of the correct word, his English turning into a hum as he fought to get it out, “refreshing, to see such a beautiful woman coming to our beautiful country.”
You smiled at him, taking your passport back and slipping it into your pocket, “Thank you, I am looking forward to being here.”
You turned to leave, thanking him, when he spoke up again, “If you don’t mind, why is it you’re here?”
Well that’s a red flag.
“Oh, for my fiance. He is here working as a doctor at a few of the hospitals.“
He nodded slowly, and you feared he saw through your lie.
“Well, welcome again.”
This time you nodded, and rushed past him to leave the airport; You didn’t want to draw any more attention to yourself than you had to.
Outside, a black car was waiting to take you to your apartment for you to drop off your things before taking you to the U.S. embassy. You had read some files on the flight over, getting an idea of what exactly you were brought to Columbia to do, but you were excited to experience hands on what the other agents have since the DEA first became interested in the drug traffickers that were supplying the US with millions of pounds of cocaine every year.
By the time you had made it to the embassy, it was a little after two in the afternoon. You had a meeting with the Ambassador, where she explained to you you’d be working with Agents Peña and Murphy to gain intel into the likes of Pablo Escobar and his followers. She briefed you on the mission the men had gone on the night before, and let you know you’d be the conversation piece between Major Horatio Carrillo and the men.
“Agent Murphy just arrived a few days ago himself, but Peña has been working on this a while now. He’s gotten too involved with Major Carrillo, and it’ll be your job to ensure that no unnecessary moves are taken with the Columbian government that would hurt our image.”
You nodded in understanding, before asking the only question you could think of, “When is it that I’ll be meeting Major Carrillo then?”
The Ambassador looked you over a minute and let out a long sigh as she stood, walking around to sit on her desk in front of you, “To be honest, I’m hoping it won’t be any time soon. We want to maintain as little contact as possible until absolutely necessary. For now, you’ll be going over the files we currently have, and gathering any intel that comes along the way.”
Her response shocked you, if you were brought down as the negotiator, how were you supposed to do your job if you were being told to lay low? Did she expect you to just act as an agent for now? What sense did it make for you to take things easy if the whole objective was to take down the top traffickers and keep the drugs from hitting US soil.
“I understand,” you smiled, “Is there anything else that I should know?”
She crossed her arms over her chest, “No, but I recommend you go and meet your colleagues while you have a chance.”
You nodded, standing to shake her hand, “Thank you for your time today, Ambassador.”
You hadn’t given her a chance to respond, instead you smoothed your pants over your thighs before standing and exiting her office.
Following the winding hallways, you moved along and introduced yourself to each group you found. You were aware that your desk space would be towards the center of the building, and you grew increasingly nervous at the idea of introducing yourself to your new coworkers.
Relax, Y/N. You’re here because they think you’re the one that’s best for the job. You’re not the only new one either, the Ambassador said that Agent Murphy had just started as well.
You stopped at the empty desk you assumed was reserved for you, and set your things down. There were a few officers around, but no one made any move to introduce themselves to you,
You made eye contact with an officer about twenty feet away from you, and when he smiled, you made your way over to him.
“Perdone… Tu hablas Inglés?” you asked the man.
His smile grew, “Yes.”
“Thank you, my name is Y/N, I’m looking for Agents Murphy and Peña?”
He pointed over your shoulder to a small room made of glass walls, “Murphy is there, but Peña hasn’t showed yet.”
You peered at the watch on your wrist; it was a quarter after three, and you found it odd that one of your partners hadn’t arrived yet.
Turning to look behind you, you saw a slender, good looking blond man rifling through some boxes of files.
“Thank you so much,” you offered before turning to walk in the direction of Agent Murphy.
You entered the small room and cleared your throat.
Agent Murphy’s head shot up in surprise as he took in your appearance with a questioning gaze.
Walking towards him with your hand out, you introduced yourself.
He took your hand and shook it slowly, a million questions evident on his face, but none of them being vocalized.
You chuckled, “I’m your new partner, although I suppose that’s not the best way to put it, since really I’ll be working with both you and Agent Peña.”
He regarded you curiously, unsure what to make of you as you continued to babble on.
You caught yourself and stopped talking abruptly, “I’m sorry. I can hear that I’m talking in circles here and I’m sure nothing I said makes any sense. Let’s start over, I’m Y/N Y/L/N,”
“So Carrillo was right, there is another American in town,” he shot you a smile as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Uhm, yeah, sorry, do you mean Major Horacio Carrillo?”
Steve nodded, “Yeah, I met him just yesterday. He helped us on our stakeout.”
You pursed your lips, holding back the questions that swirled around in your head.
Instead, Steve asked you one, “How do you know about him?”
“Well, aside from being your partner, I’m supposed to be the one that’s the mediator or negotiator when it comes to getting help from the Columbian government. It’s my job to make us look good and not draw too much attention to ourselves.”
“Huh.” was all Steve could manage.
You pursed your lips again and rocked back on your heels as an awkward silence fell over the two of you.
Taking a deep breath, you took a step towards the boxes on the table in front of Steve and reached in, grabbing a file, “So what’s all this?”
“It’s everything the DEA has so far on the local drug traffickers. And this,” he picked up a folder from the chair beside him, “Is all of the photos I took yesterday.”
“Okay, so what’s the plan right now?”
“Glad you asked,” he beamed, “I’m gonna be setting up this wall with all the photos and key information about each Sicario.”
You stared that the wall a moment, envisioning what it would look like.
After a few moments, you smiled, “That’s actually a great idea. Can I help?”
He paused a beat before speaking quietly, “Do you know anything about the case?”
His question caught you off guard, “I mean, yeah. I read a bunch of files on my flight down. I know about everyone from Pablo Escobar to the Ochoa Brothers… I even know a little about their lackeys, like La Quica.”
You looked to Steve, trying to get a read on him. He looked surprised by your answer, and you couldn’t tell if he was proud or impressed.
“Well, then, yeah. By all means.”
You smiled, taking some of the folders out and walking over to an open part of the table to lay out the contents.
“If you don’t mind me asking, Agent Murphy, I-”
“Steve.”
You paused, “I’m sorry?”
He laughed, “You called me “Agent Murphy.” We’re partners, you can call me Steve.”
“Okay, Steve, if you don’t mind me asking, where is Agent Peña?”
“Javier. There was just a few things he had to take care of regarding what happened last night, but he should be here soon…. At least I think so. But if not, I think you and I can get this out of the way and prepped.”
You nodded in response before opening the folders in front of you. You skimmed the contents in comfortable silence, and before you knew it, you and Steve were moving around each other as you pinned photos and blurbs to the wall, separating everything according to affiliations and territories.
Only about an hour had passed, but you sat back down and admired the wall of information you and Steve had managed to put together.
“I’m going to grab a sandwich and some coffee, do you want anything?” Steve asked, pulling you from your thoughts.
You smiled up at him, “Would you mind grabbing me a coffee as well? But only if you can carry it.”
He scoffed, “Please, Y/N, I’m a man. I can carry it.”
“Okay then, I’ll take a coffee with cream and sugar.”
“You got it.”
“Thank you,” you called after him as he rounded the corner.
When Steve came back, he placed your coffee down in front of you and glanced back at the board, “Woah,” he marveled.
“Oh, yeah, sorry. I thought it would be a little clearer if we had the color coded lines to show exactly how everyone is connected.”
He didn’t take his eyes away from the board, instead taking a bite of his sandwich and muttering, “What are you apologizing for? This is awesome!”
Steve went up to the board, sandwich in hand, and took a moment to look over the work you two put in over the last hour or so.
You sipped at your coffee and scanned the board as well, trying to figure out what else would be beneficial to add.
Before you could think of more, you both heard footsteps entering behind you.
You turned to see who it was, and choked on the sip of coffee you’d just taken.
You coughed a few times, turning back to your coffee to take another sip, your eyes wide.
Steve eyed you suspiciously, and you could feel the man’s eyes on you from behind.
“Welcome to the Medellin Cartel,” Steve spoke triumphantly.
The man behind you suddenly stepped forward, putting his sunglasses into his chest pocket.
He eyed you for a moment before walking to Steve and pulling the red marker from his shirt.
You watched as he crossed off three of the photos.
Steve smiled at him, and you watched as the two shared a silent conversation.
Finally, Steve took another bite of his sandwich and motioned to you, “Turns out Carrillo was right.”
The man, who you’d gathered was Agent Peña, turned around to look you over. He gave Steve a questioning glance, asking him to explain.
Steve quickly swallowed and took a sip of his coffee, “This is Y/N, she’s our new partner.”
He turned to look at you, his eyes raking over your figure agonizingly slow. You felt small under his gaze, and you were keenly aware of your cheeks heating up in embarrassment.
“Y/N, this is Javier Peña. He’s an asshole, and it’ll take you a while to get used to him, but I promise he’s worth it.”
Taking a deep breath, you looked up into Javier’s face just long enough to give him a smile and say hello, before turning back to Steve, “Sorry, but I thought you two just met as well? Am I missing something?”
Both men laughed and you noted the goosebumps on your arms at the sound of Javier’s breathy chuckle.
“Well, yeah, but I’m telling you. One job is all you need to know he’s a total pain in the ass, but he’s got a good heart.”
“Hmm” you mused, afraid to make eye contact with Javier again.
You hated the way his gaze made you feel. You were a DEA agent for the American government for Christ’s sake. Why did it feel like you were a teenager with a crush?
Taking another sip of your coffee, you took the chance to look at Javier again, and I mean really look.
You noted how tight his jeans were and how his jacket hung loosely from his broad shoulders- neither left much to the imagination.
He looked tired, but still incredibly sexy, and you scolded yourself for having such thoughts about a man who would be your partner…
You’d hoped that you would get along with him as easily as you had with Steve thus far, and you made it a goal to get to know them both, in as professional a manner as possible.
Staring into your coffee, you were vaguely aware of the conversation the two men were having in front of you, catching little details about their excursion the night before.
“Hey, hermosa,” Javier called. You startled at the term, looking at him questioningly, “You helped Steve here set this up?”
You nodded, unsure of how to respond.
He walked over to you and placed a hand on your shoulder, giving it a small squeeze, “Good to know I won’t have to baby you with all this. Really seems you know your stuff.”
As you registered what he said, you sat up in your chair a bit and placed your mug on the table beside you, his hand falling away. Steve could tell you were about to say something, so he stepped towards you both, “Actually, Peña, she’s been briefed on all of this, even read the files on her flight down. She’s also going to be our negotiator with Carrillo.”
Javier looked down at you, “Oh yeah?” he muttered around the cigarette he was currently lighting.
You nodded, sitting back to put a little more distance between the two of you, “Aside from helping you two with intel and taking down as many of these traffickers as possible, it’s my job to ensure America maintains it’s image throughout all of this.”
“Ah, so they send a beautiful American down to ensure America doesn’t get scuffed in the mud.” Javier teased.
Steve gave you an apologetic glance, “See, I told you he was an asshole.”
“I can see that,” you mocked, hating how you found such an asshole so attractive.
“Come on, Rookie. Let me take you to dinner tonight so we can get to know each other. It’ll be my treat.” Javier put his hand on your shoulder again, and this time you looked up at him.
“If you had been here an hour ago, I think we would have gotten to know each other just fine.”
You stood from your chair, and stepped away from Javier. You were becoming overwhelmed with the smell of his cologne and cigarettes as you tried to remain as professional as possible.
Grabbing your mug, you announced you were going to grab more coffee before making your way out of the small room.
You could feel both sets of eyes on you as you stormed away, finally able to take a breath and level your head.
“I like her,” you heard Javier remark as you were finally out of view.