Four Months in Cuba

by Luana Ehrlich

  “These are good, no?” Arkady said.

  “Delicious.”

  “My Millie, she’s a good cook.”

  After agreeing with him, I said, “That reminds me, Millie, I’ve invited Nikki out to The Meadows tonight, and I told her I’d cook dinner for her. Would you mind if I took over your kitchen this afternoon?”

  “Will you clean up afterward?” she asked.

  After assuring her I would leave her kitchen spotless, she looked over at Arkady and said, “I think tonight would be a perfect night for us to go out to eat and take in a movie, don’t you?”

  Arkady smiled and looked over at me. “Yes, a perfect night.”

  I started to tell them it wasn’t necessary for them to leave Nikki and me alone, but then I decided to keep my mouth shut.

  * * * *

  After breakfast, I put off calling Benson yet again and drove into Fairfax to purchase the groceries I needed for my dinner with Nikki. I was going to keep the menu simple; beef brisket, twice-baked potatoes, green beans, and a chocolate pie for dessert.

  When I got back to the house, I put the meat in a slow-cooker, baked the chocolate pie, and snapped the fresh green beans. By the time I’d finished all of that, it was after twelve o’clock.

  I couldn’t put it off any longer.

  I finally called Benson.

  “It’s about time you called me,” he said.

  “I’m sorry, Frank. I was—”

  “No, there’s no need to apologize. I’ve been busy all morning.”

  I heard noises in the background that suggested he was in a restaurant. “If I’m interrupting something, we can put off your briefing until tomorrow.”

  “No, I can’t do that. I have to be at Quantico all day tomorrow. We need to do it today. Are you at Langley now?”

  “No, I’m out at The Meadows. I’m staying out here until the Senator hears back from the cartel.”

  “That’s perfect. We could be there in a few minutes.”

  “Who’s we, Frank? You know this briefing has to be classified.”

  “Oh, sorry. I forgot to mention Juliana and I are having lunch together. We’re at a restaurant just outside of Merrifield, but we can leave as soon as I pay the check. I’m sure it won’t take us more than twenty minutes to get there.”

  I tried to think of something I could say that would prevent them from coming out to The Meadows, but then I figured they’d be gone long before Nikki showed up for dinner, so I told him I’d see them in a few minutes.

  I didn’t bother giving him directions out to The Meadows, because I knew he’d been to Carlton’s estate several times when he’d worked for the Agency. A few months ago, he’d even followed me from Langley all the way out to The Meadows so he could pump me for information on a terrorist.

  At that time, the two of us had gotten into a brief skirmish in front of Arkady. Since guns were involved in that encounter, I was relieved when Millie stopped by the kitchen to tell me she and Arkady were leaving.

  She gestured at the chocolate meringue pie and said, “That looks delicious.”

  “I’ll save you a piece.”

  “What kind of salad are you having?”

  “My menu doesn’t include salad.”

  “Oh, no, Titus. You have to have a salad. A woman won’t let herself have dessert, if she hasn’t had a salad first.”

  “Are you serious? That doesn’t make sense.”

  “Who said it had to make sense?”

  I shook my head. “Nikki will have to make an exception tonight. I don’t have time to make another run into Fairfax to buy more groceries.”

  Millie walked over to the refrigerator.

  “Here you go,” she said, pulling the ingredients for a salad out of the vegetable bin. “See what you can do with this.”

  “Thanks, Millie,” I said, shooing her out of the kitchen. “Now you and Arkady go enjoy yourself.”

  She laughed. “Don’t wait up for us.”

  * * * *

  A few minutes after Arkady and Millie left the house, I heard a three-note beep indicating a vehicle had entered the driveway. When I checked the video monitor in the kitchen, I saw it was Benson’s black GMC Yukon.

  By the time I’d made it to the front door, Stormy and Frisco had already welcomed my guests, or depending on how you wanted to look at it, the dogs had made them regret ever driving onto the property in the first place.

  Both canines were giving their best imitation of being ferocious animals by circling around the vehicle while continually barking at the passengers inside.

  When I ordered the dogs to stand down, they abandoned their threatening behavior, and the moment Juliana got out of the vehicle, Stormy rushed over and started licking her hand.

  “You must be Stormy,” she said.

  “I’d watch out for that one,” Benson said. “He has a mean streak in him.”

  Stormy had snapped at Benson the last time he’d shown up at The Meadows, but I didn’t correct his perception of my dog.

  Fostering that notion might prove advantageous to me later.

  As soon as Benson and Juliana entered Carlton’s house, Benson said, “Something smells delicious.”

  “I’m cooking beef brisket.”

  “Mmm. One of my favorites.”

  I pointed down the hallway. “We can talk in Douglas’ study.”

  Juliana said, “You guys go ahead. I need to powder my nose first.”

  After showing Juliana where the guest bathroom was located, Benson and I headed down the hall to Carlton’s study.

  Although Gladys had always referred to the room as a study, I had a feeling Carlton had always thought of it as his man cave.

  An oversized desk was the centerpiece of the room. It stood in front of a wall of built-in bookshelves, which were packed with books arranged according to size.

  A large-screen television set was mounted over a stone fireplace, and a couple of comfortable wingback chairs were on either side of the fireplace.

  A few months ago, Mitchell had tied a suspected terrorist down in one of those chairs.

  Now, I wondered if Mitchell was being subjected to a similar fate.

  * * * *

  The moment we entered the room, I expected Benson to bring up Mitchell’s kidnapping, but he surprised me by wanting to talk about Juliana, specifically, my relationship with her.

  “What’s it like working with Juliana?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure I know what you mean.”

  “Sure you do. The two of you have been living together down in Cuba for over a month now. That kind of proximity can create a powerful bond.”

  I stared at him. “Not that it’s any of your business, Frank, but Juliana and I weren’t living together. I was staying at a hotel, and she was living in the safe house.”

  “You’re forgetting I’ve been in those situations before, and I happen to know how—”

  “Juliana and I have a good working relationship. That’s all it is. Nothing more. She’d tell you the same thing if you asked her.”

  “I’m not as certain of that as you seem to be.”

  Before I could respond to Benson’s statement, the security alarm in the study sounded a three-note beep again.

  Since Carlton didn’t have a security monitor in the room, I had no way of knowing who’d entered the grounds, and I immediately excused myself to go check it out.

  When I came around the corner, I heard the doorbell ring, and, at the same time, Juliana stepped out of the guest bathroom and walked across the foyer to answer it.

  I came up behind her just as she was opening the door.

  It would be an understatement to say Nikki looked surprised to see me standing there with another woman at my side—a beautiful blond at that.

  “Nikki,” I said, “I wasn’t expecting you.”

  “Obviously.”

  “I thought you said you’d be here in time for dinner.”

  “No, I said I’d leave Quantico when m
y classes were over, just like I always do on Tuesday afternoons when I come out here to see Stormy.”

  There was no mistaking the note of irritation in her voice.

  “I must have misunderstood you,” I said.

  “I can leave and come back later, if you like.”

  “No, of course not, there’s no need to—”

  “Don’t do that,” Juliana said.” I’ve been wanting to meet you. Please come in.”

  When Nikki glanced over at me, I could tell she was still assessing the situation, so I smiled and said, “It’s okay. I’m really glad you’re here.”

  She gave me a tentative smile and stepped across the threshold. Before I had a chance to make any introductions, Juliana extended her hand and said, “I’m Juliana Lamar. Titus and I work together.”

  Nikki shook hands with her. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Nikki Saxon.”

  Her smile was anything but sincere.

  “Nikki,” Benson said, as he came around the corner, “I thought I heard your voice.”

  If possible, Nikki looked even more surprised to see Frank standing in the foyer than she had been to see Juliana standing there.

  “Hi, Frank,” Nikki said. “I never expected to see you out here.”

  Before Frank could respond, Nikki looked over at me and said, “You never cease to surprise me.”

  I tried desperately to come up with a snappy comeback, but when I couldn’t think of anything, I decided to try and explain things instead.

  “The reason why Frank and Juliana are here is because yesterday he was named as the Bureau’s liaison for an operation Juliana and I are conducting. When I called him a few minutes ago to make an appointment to brief him in on the operation, he and Juliana were having lunch at a restaurant in Merrifield and—”

  “Actually,” Frank interjected, “the restaurant is located just outside of Merrifield.”

  “Right. To be absolutely specific, they were having lunch at a restaurant just outside of Merrifield. Anyway, since I wasn’t expecting you until later, I thought it made more sense for us to have the briefing out here rather than meet at Langley.”

  “I see,” she said. “So my arrival interrupted your briefing?”

  “No, we hadn’t gotten started yet.”

  “Titus, could I make a suggestion?” Juliana asked. “Since you were originally planning to brief Frank without me, why don’t you go ahead and have your briefing with Frank while Nikki and I get to know each other?”

  When I saw the shadow of a smile play across Nikki’s face, I felt certain it had finally dawned on her that Juliana was only at the house because of Frank and not because of me.

  “Is that okay with you?” I asked Nikki.

  “Sure, I’d like that,” Nikki said.

  “What a great idea,” Benson said. “Juliana used to be a detective in the San Francisco Police Department, so this will give the two of you a chance to swap war stories.”

  When both the ladies gave Benson an annoying look, he shrugged and said, “Or not.”

  * * * *

  After I told Nikki that Millie and Arkady had gone out for the day, I offered the ladies something to drink—which they both refused—and then I took them across the hall to the living room.

  Once they assured me they could take care of themselves, I went back to Carlton’s study, where I found Benson seated in one of the wingback chairs by the fireplace.

  “I bet those two ladies will become good friends,” Benson said. “Not only do they have a lot in common, they have similar personalities.”

  “I disagree, Frank. Oh, sure, they could become friends, I don’t disagree with you about that, but I don’t see much similarity in their personalities.”

  When Benson began ticking off some of the characteristics they shared, I interrupted him. “There’s a lot I need to discuss with you, Frank, so could we save your Meyers-Briggs personality matrix for another day?”

  He laughed. “Sure thing.”

  When he pulled a mini-tablet out of his shirt pocket, he said, “I don’t suppose you mind if I take some notes.”

  “As long as that tablet is encrypted, I’m okay with it.”

  Benson assured me it was, and then he told me the DDO’s office had already given him access to the field reports from Peaceful Retrieval, along with all the signals intelligence.

  “Can I assume you’ve already gone through all of those?” I asked.

  He nodded. “I did that last night, and I understand why you thought the cartel was holding Ben at Lorenzo’s compound. All the evidence pointed to that.”

  “That’s true, but we were obviously missing some key parts of that evidence because we all drew the wrong conclusion.”

  “Yeah, the same thing happened to me when I thought all the evidence pointed to the canisters being somewhere in The Bahamas, and they were in Santiago the whole time. In my defense, though, I didn’t know Lorenzo owned any warehouses in Santiago; the Bureau didn’t have that information in its database.”

  Ever since the DDO had assigned Benson to the Peaceful Retrieval team, I’d been wrestling with how to use Benson’s skills to locate Mitchell.

  Now, for the first time, I thought I had the answer.

  “You came pretty close to figuring out where they were, Frank, and I have to say I was pretty impressed with that.”

  “If I didn’t know you better, Titus, I’d say that was a compliment.”

  “That was a compliment, Frank. You almost figured out the location of the canisters by looking at the connections in the cartel’s organizational structure.”

  He looked at me like I was an idiot. “Why wouldn’t I look at the cartel’s structure? That was the logical way to find the canisters.”

  I decided it wasn’t the right time to get into a discussion with him about when it was appropriate to depend on logic, and when it might be more expedient to trust gut instinct.

  “Do you think you could use that same logic to locate Ben?”

  He thought for a moment. “Yeah, maybe. Both Rafael Lorenzo and Franco Cabello are involved in his kidnapping. There’s a connection there.”

  “That’s true, but I believe Cabello’s involvement with the kidnapping is limited to the negotiations for the ransom payment, and I doubt if he has any idea where Lorenzo is holding Ben.”

  “The Bureau’s statistics on kidnappings indicate the victim is most often found within a forty-mile radius of the perpetrator’s residence, so it didn’t surprise me when I read that Lorenzo’s wife claimed Ben had been taken up to El Cobre. That’s only about thirty miles away from Santiago.”

  “Our problem with trying to locate Ben in El Cobre is that we have no idea where to look. According to our analysts, Lorenzo doesn’t own a farm or any other property up there.”

  Benson didn’t say anything for a few seconds while he entered some information on his tablet.

  When he looked up, he said, “Well, according to Reina, someone owns a farm up there, and more than likely, that person is connected to Rafael Lorenzo in some way.”

  “After reading the field reports, is there any name that jumps out at you? Is there anyone connected to Lorenzo who merits further attention?”

  Benson suddenly got up and walked over to a gaming table in a corner of Carlton’s study. After looking down at how the chess pieces were arranged on the chessboard, he moved a black knight from a white square to a black square.

  As he walked back over and took his seat in the armchair, he gave me a sheepish grin and said, “Sorry. That was bothering me.”

  “You might want to save that apology for Douglas. That’s his chessboard and his game, and he takes his game very seriously.”

  He stared at the chessboard for about ten seconds, but he didn’t walk back over and move the knight.

  I repeated my question. “Is there anyone connected to Lorenzo who merits further attention?”

  He took his eyes off the chessboard and nodded. “I’m definitely curious about one
person.”

  “And who would that be?”

  “Ignacio Gilberto,” he said. “I’d start with him.”

  Chapter 34

  Once Benson and I had gone over the details of the field reports, I brought up his Joint Task Force role as the liaison for Peaceful Retrieval.

  “You know, Frank, your experience with kidnappings at the Bureau, plus your time at the Agency, puts you in a unique position to find out more about the governor and how he might be involved in Ben’s kidnapping.”

  “I agree.”

  “Does that mean you’d be willing to do a deep data dig on the guy and map out any connections he has to Lorenzo?”

  “Sure, but what if I uncover evidence the governor owns a farmhouse in El Cobre? Do you honestly believe the DDO would authorize another rescue operation? Would he take that risk as long as Los Zetas is in possession of those canisters?”

  “I’m guessing the Senator would insist on it, so I have to believe the DDO would at least consider another rescue attempt.”

  “I suppose that makes sense. If Ben is out of the cartel’s hands, it would save the Senator millions of dollars.”

  I nodded. “Time’s running out, though. My gut tells me the cartel is about to act. If we’re going to locate Ben before they email the Senator the final instructions for the exchange, we need to do it in the next few days.”

  When I made that statement, Benson insisted on contacting the Analysts and Strategic Assessment (ASA) office at the Agency and alerting them to the data he wanted them to run on Ignacio Gilberto.

  As I listened to him giving instructions to Katherine Broward over the phone, I glanced down at my watch and realized two hours had passed since Benson and I had entered Carlton’s study.

  I couldn’t imagine what Nikki and Juliana had been able to talk about for that length of time. The two women had just met; they didn’t even know each other.

  Perhaps, even now, Nikki was sitting in the living room fuming because I’d left her alone with Juliana or, even worse, maybe she’d grown tired of waiting and was on her way back to Quantico.

  I waved at Benson to get his attention, and, when he looked over at me, I pointed at the door to let him know I was leaving. He motioned for me to go ahead, and he continued his conversation with Katherine.