Freedom (Blackstone Series Book 3)

by J. L. Drake

  “May I have a chicken avocado salad, please?” I beamed at the chef, and he nodded and smiled at me. I went back to my story. “It’s quite brilliant if you think about it. You set up a false route using expendable people. If they are caught, they only ever have a very small amount of drugs on them. They would never talk. My father has spies everywhere. He would kill them, and he would also kill their family. Salvador Esteban is a very smart man, but he’s got nothing on his brother. If you want to make a dent in the cartel, you go after his brother Sebastian. Uncle Bash. Now, there’s your true nightmare.”

  “Why?” Mark followed me back to the table and sat across from me. “How’s he worse? Drugs or human trafficking?”

  “Take your pick.” I shrugged.

  “Shit, seriously? We’ve never had a lead that has ever led to Bash, to your uncle.”

  I popped a fork full of greens in my mouth and lifted an eyebrow. “Exactly. He’s smarter.”

  Mark’s eyes were fixed on me as he concentrated. His expression was as if I had unlocked something inside.

  “What?”

  “I just don’t think…I just realized…” He trailed off. “We’ve been making connections for years with mules, offering them deals for freedom, for information. And now here we are with a woman who was born and raised in that world. You’ve uncovered something huge for us. We would have continued to waste endless manpower and money chasing ghosts.”

  “I’m glad to help.” I stood and moved to get a brownie the chef just put out when he blocked my path.

  “Catalina, you should be careful who you share what with.”

  Seriously?

  I moved around him, but he stopped me again. “Mark, did I mention I’m scrappy?”

  “Huh?”

  “I’m hungry, and you are literally standing in my way.”

  “Look, just stay here, and I will be right back.”

  “I have zero desire to go anywhere, but you are the one blocking my food.”

  He hesitated with a concerned look and decided to let me pass.

  Once my stomach was full and I’d downed my body weight in water, I felt I could think clearly again. Mark hadn’t returned, but a boyish looking soldier stared at me from a few tables over. I felt like that was a requirement to be super cute at this Army headquarters. I didn’t mind the eye candy at all.

  “Sorry,” he blushed, “it’s not often we have civilians here.”

  “It’s cool.” I went back to playing with my water bottle.

  “You look bored.”

  “That’s an understatement.” I dripped with sarcasm.

  He glanced at his watch then at the badge hanging around my neck. “Where’s your group?”

  “In some meeting for over two and a half hours now.”

  He slid over a few chairs. “Have they shown you the shooting ranges?”

  As much as that sounded like exactly what I needed, I didn’t want to test my luck in this place. “I was told to wait here, so…” I shrugged.

  “Well, then…” He moved over to my table and waited for me to invite him to sit. I waved a hand, and he sat perfectly straight and held out his hand. “My shift just ended. I would be happy to keep you company until your people arrive. Name’s Corporal Davie.”

  “Catalina.” I glanced around. “Sure, that would be nice.”

  He grinned as he set his paperwork aside and removed his hat. He was extremely polite and well-mannered, a lost art these days.

  “Tell me something about yourself, Davie. What do you do here in the Army?”

  “I’m a diver now.” He laughed.

  “Sounds like there’s a story there.”

  He scratched his face as he thought. “I had a problem with the water once upon a time, and a good man saw that, despite my problem, I could still perform.”

  “So, that’s what you like to do now?”

  “Not really, but they needed one, so I took one for the team.”

  “There’s that word again.” I fiddled with my fork and poked at a cranberry. “Everyone has a team, but that’s where the story ends.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Nothing.” I shook my head.

  He frowned, and I could tell I sent a red flag. “Who are you here with?”

  “Mike Irons and the Blackstone team.”

  His face fell, but he recovered well.

  “Oh,” he stumbled, “so that means you’re the…”

  “Yes, the daughter.” I wanted to cry because even three thousand miles away, my father still could affect my life, and I was so tired of it.

  “Ms. Mendez?” I jumped at the solider who appeared at my side. “Frank would like to speak with you now.”

  “Nice to meet you, Catalina.” Davie offered me a smile, but it didn’t touch his eyes.

  Apparently, I was a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

  Finally, someone appeared and informed me he was there to escort me to meet the boss. The soldier knocked on Frank’s door and waited for a command to enter.

  “Go ahead, miss.” He opened the door and waited for me to step inside. I noticed Mike first then Mark and John. Then Cole came in after me.

  “Thanks, Sloane.” A man nodded as he listened to someone on the phone. “I’ll let John know to give you a call.” He hung up and turned to greet me. “Hello, Catalina. I’m Frank Brandon.” He looked like a poster boy for the US Army. He offered me a hand.

  “Nice to meet you.” I couldn’t help but study his perfect crew cut and meticulously ironed t-shirt, tucked into a pair of camo pants.

  “Please take a seat.” He pulled out a chair next to Mike, and my stomach slowly crept up into my throat. Frank took a seat across from me, and I felt Mike’s hand move to my thigh to stop my trembling.

  “I’m sure this is a little strange for you, Catalina, but I do appreciate your coming here to meet with me.”

  “I didn’t realize I had much of a choice,” I muttered, annoyed he asked me to come here and then made me wait nearly three hours.

  “Of course, you do, Catalina.” He wore a confused expression, as though what I said was the farthest thing from his mind. “You agreeing to come, it says a lot, and I appreciate it.”

  “I didn’t do it for you.” I felt Mike’s hand tighten as a warning to be nice.

  “I know.” Frank’s eyes shifted over to Mike’s for a moment. “Do you mind if I ask you some questions?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  He pulled out a map of the US and Mexico and spread it in front of me. “You shared something huge with Lopez. Could you please show me the route your father actually does use when he sends his drugs across the border?” He placed a blue Expo marker in front of me.

  I licked my dry mouth and hesitated, realizing this was suddenly very big. It was one thing to talk to Mark, but what I was about to do just became real. I knew I could never come back from this decision, sacrificing my father and all the family to the US Army. It was a huge decision. I looked at Frank and knew he understood. His eyes told me he wasn’t going to rush me. Molten steel poured down my throat and suffocated my insides. I knew my freedom and that of so many people would never happen unless I helped to end it. Javier’s death would be avenged, and my father and uncle would not get away with murder anymore. Bottom line was, I needed to show them I wasn’t a threat.

  I internally glanced at my braver side, who gave me a nod to continue. With that, I leaned forward and pressed the blue marker to the map and drew three trails I knew he used.

  “This one,” I pointed to the center trail, “is patrolled by Alamo Juan. He’s slowly being bought off by Uncle Bash, I mean Sebastian, so you won’t find my father’s mules there much longer. This one,” I moved my finger to the far left one, “will be out of commission soon too, because a new client has moved in and will be running drugs from Hawaii. Not to say that my father…” I stopped for a moment and looked at Frank. “If you don’t mind, I will not use the word ‘father’ again. Not to say that
Sal,” I used my mother’s term for him, “won’t just move it over to the right a bit.” I reached over and fingered the black marker and circled the stopping points. “But like I told Mark, if you want to make a dent in the cartel, you take out Sebastian.”

  “Any suggestions on how to do this?”

  I chewed on the inside of my lip. “Yes.”

  “How?” The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop—or my wild heartbeat.

  “What if I told you I could get you inside the house and get my father and my uncle in one place for you to take them both out?”

  Frank leaned back in his chair and tilted his head as he studied me again.

  “I would ask what you want in exchange.” He glanced at Mike, but his face was like stone.

  “I want trust.”

  He turned back to me, confused. “Trust?”

  “Yes, I want to be the person I was, who I became when I moved to the US seven years ago. I worked very hard to become Catalina Mendez, and that was taken from me when my brother was murdered by them.”

  A small smile spread across Frank’s face and soon was mirrored on Mark’s and John’s.

  “You have my trust already,” Mark piped in, and it warmed my heart.

  “Mine too,” Mike pulled my attention to him, “but are you really willing to take down your own family?”

  “Yes and no.” I turned back to Frank. “One other condition.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “You must not hurt my mother. She has no part in this. She told me the family secrets and how she bought my freedom, at the expense of her own. I owe her my life, so if I could finally help her obtain some form of freedom in this world, I must try. Perhaps you could get her in a witness protection program or whatever you guys do?”

  “Seems fair.” Mike leaned forward.

  “Agreed.” Frank spread out another map, but this time it was the blueprints to the house. “But tell me, how do you plan to get two rivals, like those brothers are, together in one spot?”

  “You leave that to me. I have some ideas, and I will let you know soon.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Mike

  “That was a hard one.” My father handed me a beer and sat in the gazebo across from me. I turned to face him and leaned my hip on the door frame.

  “Yeah, it was. I knew deep down it might have to come to her helping us. I couldn’t show Frank how terrified I was for her. I couldn’t have him ever question my loyalty to Blackstone. If he thought I was so far gone on her that it would affect my head, he would never have let me continue to be a part of this mission. Things are sure tricky at times.”

  “Sounds that way. Catalina is a strong woman, son. She will make her own decisions. She has proved that. How’s Trigger?”

  “He’s good. Still tore up from his uncle’s passing, but he’s got Tess, and she’s good for him.”

  “Good.” He tipped the beer back and drank the neck of the bottle. “Just like Catalina.”

  I searched the property until I found her with Charlotte and Kyle down on the sand, deep in conversation. Her small, curvy frame was under a burnt orange sundress, and her hair was swept up in a messy bun. Somehow, she must have felt me watching her, and her head moved slowly to find me.

  Once our eyes met, I felt a punch to the gut and a tug on the heartstrings.

  “I know you love her, Mike,” he said behind me. “The question is how much.”

  Catalina gave me a shy smile. Her bronze skin shimmered in the afternoon sun.

  She was that kind of pretty any woman would wish for, all-natural. She didn’t have to try at all, and to me, she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

  “If she was an active member of the Esteban family, I would still love her.” I admitted the truth. My father would never judge me for loving the enemy.

  “You can’t help who you love, son. Keith is a perfect example of that. Most people would have thought he was nuts running after Lexi, running into the gang like that. Lexi was full of hate and pain then, but he knew who she was underneath it all, and now look. Lexi has dropped her guard and is one big sweetheart.”

  “And they’ve created a mini Keith.” I smiled when I thought of their little guy’s face and how much his parents loved him.

  “Imagine a little Mike.”

  My heart lifted, and pride burst through my chest. “Or a little Catalina?”

  “Or both.” He laughed lightly behind me. “If you love her, Mike, you do the right thing by her and make sure she knows it.”

  I nodded and looked back at the one person who taught me to be the man I am. He taught me to be honest, respectful, kind, and loving. Most of all, he showed me how important it was to have a stable, loving family. That you would fight to the very end for the ones you loved.

  He came up to my side and held out something. “I know this is old fashioned, but I think the sentiment behind it would mean more to her than anything brought in a store.” He handed me a red box and flipped it open with his thumb. A single round diamond sat in the center of a gold band.

  “Gram’s ring?” I shook my head, unable to take it.

  He nodded. “When your grandmother passed, she told me to give this to you when I knew you were ready. Fifty-two years of love is inside this diamond. The type of relationship they had can’t be traded. No, sir, there’s no better luck than that.”

  I ran my fingers over my lips while I thought about how this would show Catalina how much I trusted her, by giving her a family heirloom.

  “Thanks, Pops,” I pulled him into a hug and held on to him for a beat longer.

  “Go big or go small, just make her yours so Frank will see what I do. She’s not going anywhere.”

  I slipped the box in my pocket and removed my vibrating phone.

  Mark: Remember how you were a dick and foreshadowed with the Furby of death?

  Mike: Quite vividly, actually.

  Mark: Mia is pregnant…again.

  A laugh ripped out from my throat. Wait until Savannah and Olivia heard about this one.

  Mike: So happy for you, brother.

  Mark: I’m going to get my band!

  Mike: If only you knew how to sing.

  Mark: That’s why they have Uncle Mike.

  Mike: This is true. Seriously, though, congratulations.

  Mark: Thanks, man. We’ll have to celebrate after all this shit is finished. See you in two days.

  I headed across the grass and leaned over the dock to admire the woman I could see having endless children with.

  Charlotte told a joke, which made Kyle laugh so hard he nearly fell off his chair. Catalina tossed her head back and looked so carefree. I wanted to keep this picture in my head. I wanted to get back to this place, no matter where the journey would take us.

  “Mike?”

  I turned my head to find Lizzy behind me. Her hands were tucked into her pockets, and she looked uneasy. She waved off the man she came with, and I shook my head at her constant need for attention. She really did need to grow up.

  “Hey.”

  “You love her?” She nodded toward Catalina.

  “Yeah, I do.” I turned to see her better.

  Her face scrunched like my words stung her, and her shoulders tensed and stayed up. It was time she heard how it was going to be for now on.

  “I waited for you, Lizzy, but you never saw me until I found someone else.”

  “I was stupid.”

  I shrugged in agreement. “Yeah, at times, you were.”

  “Ouch.”

  “Yeah, ouch, Lizzy. I was in love with you for years, and you knew it, yet you paraded man after man around me. Shit, I even caught you in bed with one of them.”

  She dropped her head in shame and moved to lean against the railing of the dock. “Do you love her like you loved me?” she asked softly.

  “No.” I felt the freedom that came with this much-needed conversation. “It’s very different.”

  “How?”

/>   “Because she reciprocates it, therefore it’s grown into something strong.”

  She nodded while her eyes were locked on her shoes. “Are you going to marry her?”

  “If it was up to me, we’d be married already.”

  “Wow,” her tone was low, “you sound very sure of yourself.”

  I smirked and watched her date flirt with Catalina. What a winner he was.

  “I’m sorry I hurt you, Mike.” She finally looked at me, and I saw her remorse. “I’m sorry I didn’t see you until it was too late. I think I’m just not ready for what you want.”

  “Agreed.” I nodded. “Will you be nicer to her now that you know she won’t be going anywhere?”

  She sighed and laughed a little. “No promises. She just bothers me. She’s perfect and knows it.”

  I glared at her, unhappy with her comment. Grow the hell up, Lizzy.

  “You really can’t see past your own nose.” Her face dropped. “If you want to be in my life, Lizzy, you need to grow up.”

  “Wow.” She laughed loudly and drew the others’ attention, and they turned in our direction. “Well, I guess that’s that.”

  “Yeah.” I pushed off the railing. “I guess it is.”

  Taking two steps at a time, I made my way down to the sand, kicked off my sandals, and stood behind Catalina. Tucking my hand under her chin, I leaned her head back and bent to kiss her lips.

  “Hey, you.” She grinned at me. “Everything okay?”

  “Yes,” I kissed her one more time, “everything is great.”

  She glanced at Charlotte, who held up a finger to Kyle.

  “Hey, big brother? Would you grab my phone from your bathroom?”

  “Sure.” I rubbed Catalina’s shoulder, just because I needed to touch her. Her head leaned against my stomach, and I wanted to moan with need. I wanted this woman every moment of every day.

  I made my way inside and headed for the bathroom. My sister’s phone was on the counter. Just as I snatched it up, I heard the little frigger’s voice whistle. I jumped, and her phone went flying into the toilet.