Forty-five minutes later, April rolled into the metropolitan Phoenix area, the shiny new buildings rising from the desert floor just like their city’s namesake. Phoenix was Tucson’s brasher, more modern cousin.
An hour early for Adam’s flight from Albuquerque, April pulled into a short-term parking structure and swiped her debit card at the meter.
She located Adam’s gate and took a seat with her strawberry-banana smoothie and a paperback snatched from the shelves at the souvenir shop—not that she needed to read a murder mystery at this point.
The book turned out to be the right choice, as delving into someone else’s problems made hers seem almost tame in comparison. She jerked her head up from the book at the garbled announcement for Adam’s flight. All she heard from the loudspeaker was Albuquerque, but that was good enough.
She shoved the book in her purse and pinned her gaze on the gate, now open for business.
She didn’t realize she’d been holding her breath until she released it when Adam’s shaggy blond head appeared among the disembarking passengers.
She raised her hand, but he’d already spotted her, a big grin splitting his face. At least someone found it easy to keep his spirits up.
She hugged him as his backpack slid down his arm and he patted her back. “Good to see you under better circumstances than last time.”
“Are they better?” She cocked her head, taking in his new shiner. “I told you that goon from Las Moscas made contact with me in the middle of the day, and then someone was taking potshots at Clay’s truck last night—almost killed us.”
“But Clay saved the day.” He hoisted his pack back onto his shoulders. “It’s gonna be okay.”
She touched the abrasion on his scruffy chin, which she’d missed before. “Have you recovered from your injuries already?”
“Kenzie’s a good nurse.”
“Do you have any idea if the detective from Pima County Sheriff’s found Gilbert, formerly known as Jesus? As of yesterday, they hadn’t.”
“I don’t have a clue. Nobody ever contacted me—sheriffs or drug dealers. I did see a few articles online about Jimmy’s death.” He lifted his narrow shoulders. “They chalked it up to the drug trade. Imagine that.”
“Let’s get out of here.” She prodded his arm. “Do you have anything to pick up at baggage claim?”
He punched the pack on his back. “I have everything I need right here.”
“I came early. My car’s in the parking structure.”
He ducked his head and tugged on a lock of her hair. “You’ve changed your mind, haven’t you? You’re going to help me look for Dad down in Mexico.”
She whipped her head back, her hair slipping from his fingers. “How’d you know that?”
“You’re my sister, April. I know you better than I know anyone.”
She murmured under her breath, “I wish I could say the same about you.”
When they got to her car, Adam tripped to a stop, his eyes narrowing. “What’s this car?”
“It’s my new ride.” She knocked on the hood with her knuckles. “My new, old ride.”
“Where’s your other car?” He twisted his head around as if expecting to see it in the lot.
“I kind of did an exchange.” She threw open the door to the back seat. “What does it matter?”
“I was kind of attached to that other car.”
“Yeah, since you drove it more than I did.” She grabbed the strap of his backpack and had a fleeting urge to take it and run off with it. If he had the flash drive in his pack, she could turn it over to Clay.
Adam wrenched the backpack out of her grasp and tossed it onto the seat. Then he slammed the door.
Oh, yeah, he had something in that backpack he didn’t want her to see.
She noted the twenty minutes left on the meter—just enough time for her proposition.
With Adam in the passenger seat next to her, she rested her hands on top of the steering wheel. “I have a deal I want to make with you.”
“I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.” He slumped in his seat. “What do you want?”
“I will go down to Mexico with you to search for Dad and El Gringo Viejo...but you need to give up that flash drive you stole from Jimmy.” She crossed one finger over the other to form an X and held it in front of Adam’s face. “Don’t even try to tell me you don’t have it. That’s why Jimmy and his guys came after you. They know you have that flash drive—and now Las Moscas knows you have it. Give it to them, and you can start a new life with Dad, if you want. If he’s who you say he is, he’ll protect you.”
After several seconds of quiet, April stole a look at Adam’s sharp profile. He had his eyes closed and his hands in his lap.
Then he cranked his head to the side and his lips twisted into his boyish grin. “Sure, April. I’ll give up the flash drive.”
* * *
THE RED DOT on Clay’s phone had stopped moving at the Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix. His heart flip-flopped in his chest. If she’d gone there to take a flight somewhere, he’d never find her.
His foot pressed down on the accelerator of Meg’s car. April’s cousin had gladly given up her vehicle to him when she found out April had disappeared...again. Meg even did some sleuthing in April’s bedroom and reported to Clay that her cousin had taken her suitcase that had been parked in the corner since she got back from Albuquerque.
Where the hell could she be going? Was she foolish enough to fly to Mexico and search for her father? At least that would get her out of the clutches of Las Moscas—on this side of the border, anyway. He knew they had operations on the other side of the border, as well.
As he drove north on the 10, he kept one eye on his phone. When the red dot started moving, he pounded his fists on the steering wheel. “Yes!”
As he barreled toward Phoenix, he watched April’s location move from the airport to Tempe, near the university. The pounding urgency in his head didn’t stop until that red dot did. With any luck she’d stay put.
He had the tracking device on her car, not in her purse, which would’ve been a much riskier proposition. If she parked her car and walked, he’d have to stake out the vehicle.
He was about thirty-five minutes out as long as April didn’t move. Did she really think he’d allow her to disappear from his life again?
After a while, he sped through the traffic into the city and took the turnoff for Tempe. He turned up the sound on his phone so he could follow the directions to April’s car. They led him to Mill Avenue, an area bustling with restaurants and shops.
As he cruised down the street, he had to hope that he saw her before she saw him. Of course, Meg’s silver compact was a lot less conspicuous than his white truck with the back windshield shot out.
The GPS directed him to make a right turn and he practically ran into April’s car parked in the last spot at the curb. He crawled forward, looking for his own parking space. He made a U-turn and parked across and down the street from her car.
He drummed his thumbs on the steering wheel as he watched the pedestrians zigzag back and forth across the street. Should he get out and look for her in the many restaurants and coffeehouses or sit here and wait for her to return to her car?
She wouldn’t be leaving her car in a place like this if she were taking off for somewhere else. She definitely planned to come back to the car—if she could.
What if this were the real meeting associated with that anonymous note? What if she were in danger right now?
The thought had him clutching at the door handle as a spike of adrenaline shot through him. He could at least try a little reconnaissance. He didn’t want to put her in even more danger if her...associate? captor? tormentor?...saw him charging up to save the day.
He dragged his gun from under the passenger seat and shoved it into the holster beneath his
loose-fitting shirt. The O.K. Corral was farther south in Tombstone, but if he had to engage in a shoot-out to save April, he’d be ready.
He slipped from the car and looked both ways before jogging across the street. From the sidewalk, he hunched forward and cupped his hand above his eyes to peer into the car.
His gaze tripped over a sweatshirt bunched up on the back seat and he said, “Damn it.”
He recognized that sweatshirt as Adam’s.
She’d rushed up here to pick up her brother at the airport and was probably buying him breakfast right now.
He banged the heel of his hand against the car window. Figured. He rubbed his hand against his thigh as he retreated to his car.
At least he didn’t have to go rushing in to rescue her from Adam—he could wait until they got back to the car. Then he’d break up that little tête-à-tête, along with any harebrained and dangerous scheme Adam planned to drag April into.
He got back into the car and slumped in his seat, cradling his phone in his hand. He scanned through his messages and paused over the one from Duncan. He’d asked Duncan to put a rush on those samples, and he knew Duncan had contacts.
He tapped it. Duncan had gotten the results back on the blood samples and had some info for him in an email. Clay brought up his email and located the one from Duncan. He tapped it and downloaded the report Duncan had included.
He skimmed through it and enlarged the area that contained the results. His fingers froze and he brought the phone closer to his face.
The blood in April’s kitchen didn’t belong to Adam. That blood belonged to a Jaime Hidalgo-Verdugo, whose corpse was found two days ago. It didn’t take a crack detective to figure out that Hidalgo-Verdugo was really Jimmy Verdugo.
Clay’s heart pounded in his chest as he scrolled down to the next set of results. The blood on the towel in April’s trunk? That belonged to Jimmy also.
Dread pounded against his temples. It had all been a big lie—a hoax. Adam didn’t have enough wounds on his body to produce that much blood. There was only one way Jimmy’s blood could’ve wound up in April’s kitchen and on a towel in her trunk.
Jimmy hadn’t assaulted Adam. Adam had murdered Jimmy. Sweet, hapless Adam was a killer.
What did that make him capable of now?
Chapter Seventeen
April dragged the tines of her fork through the salsa on her plate next to her half-eaten omelet. Adam had agreed to turn the flash drive over to Clay after Adam located El Gringo Viejo, but April didn’t trust him.
“Just give it over now, Adam. It belongs with Clay. Can you imagine what the Border Patrol could do with a map to the tunnels of Las Moscas?”
“Yeah.” Adam downed his second cup of coffee and put his finger in the air for a refill even though his leg was already bouncing uncontrollably beneath the table. “They could do some serious damage to the drug traffic into this country.”
“Exactly.”
“Exactly.” His blue eyes met hers over the rim of his coffee cup. He smiled, but the emotion didn’t reach his eyes. It never did.
She’d always put that down to the drug use. How could you really feel anything if drugs altered your emotional state? But if she looked at the past honestly, Adam always did have a flat affect, even as a child.
“Adam, you don’t have the infrastructure in place, like Jimmy did, to take over for Las Moscas. What good is that information going to do you?” She dropped her fork where it clattered against her plate. “I told you. I’ll come with you to Mexico to help you find Dad. If he is El Gringo Viejo, you can start a new life down there with him. You don’t need the flash drive for that.”
“I give you the flash drive now for Agent Clay, and you bail on me.” He held up his mug to the approaching waitress and nodded his thanks as the steaming brown liquid filled his cup. “Besides, if you found Dad would you really let him slide? He killed our mother, after all. You’d let him get away with that?”
She dropped her hands to her lap, folding them, her fingers twisting around each other tightly. “He’s in Mexico. If he is El Gringo Viejo and the authorities haven’t been able to get to him yet, why would they be able to get to him just because I dimed him off?”
Adam shrugged. “They probably wouldn’t. But can you imagine what I could do with knowledge of Las Moscas’ tunnels and backing from El Gringo Viejo?”
“That’s not our deal.” She wrapped her fist around her fork and stabbed her eggs. “What you could do? I thought you just wanted money in exchange for that flash drive. I thought you just wanted some protection from Dad. What are you planning?”
“Dream big, April.” He shook out a packet of sugar and dumped it into his coffee. He stirred it so that it created a whirlpool in the liquid. Then he placed the spoon on the table with a hand not altogether steady.
She glanced sharply at his eyes, dilated and darting around the room. “Are you on something now?”
“Not at all.” He rubbed his hands together. “I’m high on life. Isn’t that what you always told me to be, April?”
“I don’t understand why you need me to find Dad.”
“You know why.” He blew on the surface of his coffee and then slurped it up. “You were always their favorite. You could do no wrong in their eyes. Dad never paid much attention to me. Why would he want to see me now? But you?”
“He hasn’t tried to contact me once since he disappeared.”
“Because he thinks you think he killed Mom, but we know better, don’t we? If we could somehow get word to him to let him know we don’t believe in the setup, he’d want to see you in a heartbeat. C’mon, you want to find him, too, or you wouldn’t be here.”
April clasped the back of her neck and dug her fingers into her flesh. “I meant what I said about the flash drive, Adam. I want to turn that over to Clay.”
“Clay, Clay, Clay.” Adam smacked the table three times with each utterance of Clay’s name. “I thought you were over that guy.”
“Over?” April sat up straight, lining up her back against the booth. “This doesn’t have anything to do with my relationship with Clay. He’s Border Patrol. Just when they think they have all the tunnels under surveillance, another one pops up. That flash drive could be tremendously helpful in their efforts to stop drug traffic across the border.”
“What are you, a public service announcement?” Adam snorted and started picking potatoes off her plate.
“Adam, I had no idea you were looking to get into the drug trade yourself. I don’t support that at all.”
“But you support my working with Dad in the drug trade?”
She shoved her plate away. “You don’t even know if Dad is El Gringo Viejo. This whole thing could be a wild-goose chase. Clay said...”
“Stop. Not interested in what Clay has to say.” He tapped his knife against his plate. “Is that why you’re agreeing to helping me find Dad? You don’t believe we will find him or, if we do, he’s not El Gringo Viejo and he’ll take me off your hands. Then you’ll be free of me, and you can spend all of Mom’s money and sell her house and not give any to me.”
April had heard this poor-me story many times before. This time it raised a flag of anger in her breast. If Adam had more self-control, Mom would’ve trusted him with money and a share of her home.
“My goal was never to help you become a drug dealer. You must know that or you wouldn’t have had to trick me into marrying Jimmy.”
“I didn’t force you to marry him. You agreed to his proposal all by yourself.”
“Because you modeled him into something and someone he wasn’t. You took advantage of my vulnerable state. I can’t believe you set me up, and I can’t believe I fell for it.”
She covered her eyes with one hand, but she didn’t feel sad or broken. Anger had started percolating in her veins. Adam wouldn’t even make this deal with her.
She’d help him find Dad or maybe they wouldn’t, but he’d never turn over the flash drive to her.
“Jimmy wasn’t going to hurt you. He wanted access to El Gringo Viejo, just like I do. After you helped us, I’m sure Jimmy would’ve consented to a divorce or annulment.” He slurped his coffee. “Probably would’ve paid you off, too.”
“As if that’s what I wanted.” She dug some cash out of her purse. “But you must’ve decided to go it alone without Jimmy when you stole the flash drive. Why’d you do that?”
“Opportunity presented itself one day.”
“Who thinks like that?” She smacked down her money for her half-eaten meal. “I’m done, Adam. If you won’t give me the flash drive now, I’m not going to help you find Dad or El Gringo Viejo or any other gringo. I’ll tell Clay that you have the flash drive with intel on Las Moscas, and the authorities will arrest you. Whether or not you can keep safe from Las Moscas in prison is going to be your concern. My concern will be staying alive, as you’ve seen fit to put my life in danger.”
Throughout her tirade, Adam had shoved his hand into his backpack. Maybe she’d gotten through to him. Maybe he’d give her the flash drive now.
Instead, he dropped his hands into his lap, and his lips curled up into a smile. “You’re not going to do any of that, April. You’re going to help me, just like you always have to make up for our parents’ treatment of me.”
“I’m sorry for the way Mom and Dad treated you, but that’s not my fault, either.” She draped the strap of her purse across her body. “I’m going back to Paradiso.”
“No, you’re not. You’re coming with me just like you promised. And if you don’t? I’m going to shoot you with your own gun, which is pointing at you right now.”
* * *
CLAY SHOT UP in his seat as April rounded the corner with Adam close by her side, holding her arm. Adam never displayed much affection, so April must’ve agreed to do his bidding. If so, he probably hadn’t told her he was the one who’d killed Jimmy. Even April wouldn’t condone that from Adam.
Evasive Action (Holding the Line Book 1) Page 17