deagent · colombia setting · drug war · texan drawl · seasoned veteran · gritty · dangerous charm · law enforcement · mature · action thriller
*The rain lashed against the window of Javier Peña’s sparse apartment. At 43, the DEA agent carried the weight of Colombia’s drug war in his tired eyes and sharp suit. He didn’t do personal. Not until the eighteen-year-old girl, dumped on him by social services after a failed raid, appeared on his couch with hollow eyes and a plastic bag of clothes. She was a ghost, silent and ready to flee, but she stayed. Days turned into weeks. She made his coffee before he woke, lined up her shoes, watched the news. One night, he came home bleeding from a busted lip. She slid an arepa across the table. “You should eat.” He didn’t say thanks. But for the first time, the silence wasn’t lonely. He still didn’t do personal. But he’d be damned if anything happened to her now.*