“Technically, Alvarez is the client.”
I touched the screen. “That man was in an accident. He has brain damage. The more agitated he gets, the more he sets back his progress. It’s very important to her that he do well with his treatment.”
“I understand her concern, Elliott. I just…if we were to attempt to get him out, it would be like walking right into the lion’s den. Alvarez wants you to come after him.”
“So we don’t knock on the front door.”
Kipling pulled up a chair and faced me. “Okay. I’m listening.”
“I was at that house for days. I know there’s a back gate, all the way in the back of the property that faces an empty lot behind it. That empty lot is not part of the gated community where Alvarez lives. There’s a patrol that goes through there regularly, but that’s the only security at the back of the property I saw beyond the perimeter alarm that signals the private security company that patrols there.”
“How do we get past the proximity alarm?”
I thought about it for a moment. “We set it off and wait for the patrol to come check it out. They’ll see that there’s nothing there and go back to their office to reset it. That’ll give us a good three-minute window to slip in.”
“How do we get out?”
“Set it off again. It takes them at least three minutes to get from one place to the next. By the time they got there, we’d be long gone.”
“But what about the people in the house? Wouldn’t they get suspicious for the alarm constantly going off?”
“They aren’t notified until after the alarm has been checked out. Besides,” I touched my finger to the computer screen, “there’s only one man in the house that I can see. And probably Alvarez and one or two more men in his office. I could easily avoid them.”
“We’ll need a distraction.”
“We?”
Kipling shrugged. “You can’t do this alone.”
I smiled, pleased that he was backing my play on this. “We’ll get Knox. She could ring the front gate, show a little cleavage. That would distract the one guard.”
“And Alvarez?”
“His office is at the front of the house. We’d come in through the back door and up the back stairs. He would never know we were there.”
“What about the security cameras?”
“Ricki.”
Kipling’s eyebrows rose.
“Ricki is a computer genius. She could cut into the feed, loop it, and send it back to Alvarez’s monitors. He’d never see us.”
“Is that possible with current technology?”
“It is for a genius hacker. We did it a couple of months ago on another case I was running, a stalker case where the stalker had installed spy cams in the client’s house. She hacked them so that we could go in and get the client out long before the stalker realized what was happening.”
“Smart.”
“I thought so.”
Kipling sat back, his eyes raised to the ceiling as he thought the plan over. “And what about the brother? What if he’s too agitated to control? What if he won’t leave quietly?”
I thought about that as I watched him pace.
“We’d have to knock him out.”
“With what?”
I shook my head. “We could talk to Alexander. Maybe he has something we could use.”
“Why would—?”
“His sister has severe agoraphobia. He used to carry around some sort of tranquilizer that he used on her when she got so agitated that she was a danger to herself. He hasn’t had to use it in a while from what I’ve heard, but I’m sure he still has some on hand.”
Kipling nodded. “You think quick on your feet, Elliott. That’s a good asset.”
“Yeah, well, this isn’t my first rodeo.”
Kipling smiled. “That’s one thing I love about Texas. All the euphemisms.”
“You’re not from here?”
“Nope. Born and raised back East. But I made Texas my home after I met my wife. She was from the Houston area.”
“Your wife. Didn’t know you were married.”
Kipling’s eyes darkened. “Yeah, well, she’s not with us anymore. It’s kind of difficult to talk about.”
“Sorry,” I said, Brooks suddenly bursting through my mind for reasons I didn’t want to explore at the moment.
“Well, I’m going to go up and talk to Ricki and see if she’s good with helping us out. You find Knox and Alexander and work out that end of the deal.”
“I will.”
Kipling touched my shoulder as he stood. “This thing will be resolved by the end of the day, one way or the other.”
I watched him walk away, wondering how things were going in that room for Brooks. Was she telling them what they wanted to know? Or would the cops have to start from the beginning when they were done with her? I had no idea what Brooks knew about Juan’s business. She’d mentioned something about drugs moving through his restaurants, but that was really it. I hoped, for her sake, she knew a lot more than that.
I closed my laptop and got up, stepping onto the back porch to call my colleagues. There was nothing I could do to help Brooks, but I could help her brother. And I was going to do the best I could to do just that.
Chapter 19
Brooks
It was a little intimidating, looking at that recording device and feeling the stares of those detectives. Their first couple of questions were easy. Where did I meet Juan? How long had I known him? Where were we married? How long had we been married? But then the questions got harder.
“Have you ever seen your husband commit a crime?”
“That’s a pretty general question, Detective,” Tierney said. “Could you narrow your scope a little?”
“Do you have knowledge of any illegal activities your husband has been involved in?”
Tierney clicked her tongue. “Detective—”
“It’s okay,” I said. “I know what he wants.” I looked down at my hands a long moment, formulating my response. “When I began working at Romero’s, I became aware of food deliveries that came every Tuesday afternoon just before opening. I asked the head chef about it because it was highly unusual to have that sort of delivery so late in the day. Not only that, but the kitchen staff was clearly instructed not to be involved in the unloading of that delivery—even though we were each required to come in at five Monday and Friday mornings to unload the other deliveries and to make sure that the food being delivered was of the proper quality and on the inventory list.”
“Did you ever have the opportunity to see what was being delivered on those Tuesday afternoons?”
“About a month before Juan asked me out the first time, I was in the back room, searching for a specific bottle of truffle oil I’d hidden away in anticipation of running out of the rare oil before the next truck was due. I was on my hands and knees in the very back of the store room when I heard some of Juan’s men come into the room. They were speaking in Spanish and I have a limited understanding of the language—mostly just words that relate to food—so I just stayed still and hoped they’d leave before they saw me. But then they brought a box into the room. I could see them between the shelves. I watched as they unpacked large packages of a white substance.”
“A white substance? Did you know what it was?”
“Not for sure. I’d never seen it before, except on television, but I was pretty sure it was cocaine.”
“Did you mention this to anyone else?”
“One of the guys in the kitchen. A dishwasher. He told me to keep my mouth shut, that everyone knew Juan moved drugs through the kitchens of both his restaurants and that anyone who talked about it almost always disappeared.”
“Did you take that as a threat on your life?”
“I did.”
“Did you ever mention it to anyone else?”
“No.”
“Did you ever learn of any other criminal behavior on the part of your husband?”
I inclined my head. “I did. After we were married, I overheard many conversations between him and his men. They often spoke in Spanish because he knew my understanding of it was limited. But living in a house filled with Spanish speakers, I began to pick up the language. I heard them talk about things they’d done, mostly things that happened in Mexico.”
I could see disappointment come into the detective’s eyes. I bit my lip, running the past two years over in my mind, wondering if I should have any sense of loyalty toward Juan at all. And then my back began to ache and I remembered how he treated me.
That didn’t deserve loyalty.
“There was this one thing that happened here in Austin. I heard Juan tell his men that a woman, I think her name was Peterman, that she had hired him to kidnap her little girl. Juan thought it was pretty outrageous, but he said that she had been a good customer for many years and he felt an obligation. And she was paying him quite well.”
“Alvarez had his men kidnap that little girl?”
“There was a group of them involved. Some kid from the right side of town. He was working with Juan, selling drugs for him. Juan had one of his men go to that kid and arrange for him to do it. I guess the kid lived down the street from the Petermans. But then the kid was picked up for breaking into another neighbor’s house. Juan was livid, thought the kid would turn on him. He was going to have the kid killed in jail, but his man assured him the kid would never turn on him and I guess he never did because I never heard about it again.”
Tierney leaned over and turned off the digital recording.
“We need to have a discussion,” she said to Detective Snider.
I watched as they both got up and left the room, the other detective following almost as an afterthought. David Grayson got up and came over to sit beside me, his long thin legs stretched out in front of him.
“Tierney represented the kid in that case. That’s probably what they’re talking about.”
“No kidding? Small world.”
He nodded. He sat up a little, checking his phone in a way that reminded me of a teen checking for a text from his crush. Then he focused on me again.
“Elliott says he had no choice but to pull you out of that house before the police arrived.”
“Juan tends to have a bit of a temper. He was angry with me for going to visit my brother at the institute where he’s receiving treatment for a head injury.”
“Why would he be angry about that?”
“Juan likes to control my comings and goings.”
David leaned forward a little, contemplating that. “We were told to keep you in the house, but it’s not the habit of Gray Wolf to keep our clients prisoners.”
“I appreciate that.”
“And last night? Things went well in Nolanville?”
I thought about the argument Elliott and I had. I wondered if David was, in some roundabout way, trying to ask if we were involved. Would it impact Elliott’s job if I admitted we were? I didn’t want to get him into trouble, even if we weren’t technically together anymore.
“Things were fine.”
David nodded. “Elliott’s one of my best operatives. I’d like to think he was very professional, even under the circumstances.”
“He was.”
He checked his phone again, clearly worried about something. I touched his knee to get his attention. “You don’t have to babysit me. I can handle myself.”
“I just…my wife. She’s five months pregnant, and she woke up a little under the weather this morning. I’m just checking to see if she texted me.”
“You should go check on her. I’m fine.”
He hesitated, his kind eyes moving slowly over my face. “You’re sure?”
“Positive.”
He stood up. “It’s our second child. You’d think I’d worry less, but I think I’m even more concerned this go-around.”
“I understand. Go see her.”
He stood, resting his hand on my shoulder for a moment. “You’re doing the right thing, Mrs. Alvarez.”
“Brooks, please.”
“Brooks.” He squeezed. “I’ll be back.”
I watched him go, admiring his devotion to his wife. I could only hope to find a guy sort of like him when it was finally my time. But after this week, I was beginning to wonder if it would ever happen for me.
Tierney and the detectives came back inside a few minutes later. Tierney leaned into me as she resumed her seat and said, “We might have a little conflict of interest here, so the detectives are going to change their line of questioning away from the Peterman kidnapping.”
“Okay.”
I focused on the detective, wondering if I should wait for his questions or just drop the bombshell I’d been sitting on. I decided I’d rather just get it over with.
“So there’s a warehouse on the far side of town where Juan oversees the delivery of illegal weapons twice a month that he then sells to Mexican gangs here, in Dallas, and in Houston. And there is a shipment due in about five hours. Is that important?”
I thought both the detectives would fall out of their chair as they stared at me, open-mouthed.
I guess it was something they wanted to hear.
Chapter 20
Elliott
Alexander, Kipling, and I walked across the empty lot behind Alvarez’s house that proved to be much bigger than I’d suspected—about five acres—before coming within sight of the back gate that opened onto Alvarez’s property. I found myself remembering the feel of Brooks’ body against mine the first time I grabbed her back here, pulling her down just after she set off the proximity alarm. The guards showed up almost exactly three minutes later, as she and I sat there arguing over whether or not she should try to escape the house. I had no doubt that that was how long it would take the guard to show up this time, too.
Alexander and Kipling moved behind a small mound of land off to the left of the empty lot while I crossed the dirt path that made up the alleyway between the two properties. Halfway across the path should set off the alarm, but I walked up to the gate and shook it a little, just to make sure. Then I joined my comrades and watched the stopwatch feature on my wristwatch. Exactly three minutes before the security cart arrived.
“Damn thing!” a male voice said. “Goes off five times a day, I swear.”
“Must have been a dog walking around.”
“Yeah. This guy, Alonso or whatever his name is, has the sensitivity up way too high. Supervisor talked to him about it, but he insists it’s necessary. I guess he has gold in his basement or something.”
“Fucking rich people.”
They drove off. The second they were gone, we slipped across the path, keeping as low to the ground as possible. The gate was kept locked with a keypad on the other side. I knew the code, but that wasn’t going to do us any good over here. However, the alarm was already going off and the fence was only eight feet tall. We scaled it easily, the whole military training, climbing wooden towers thing, coming in handy. There were cameras in the garden, most of them closer to the house. I touched the Bluetooth communicator in my ear, connecting with Ricki.
“All set?”
“You’re good.”
I gestured for Alexander and Kipling to follow as I rushed up the path Brooks took both times she ran through the garden to the gate. I pulled my gun as we moved, holding it at my side in case we ran into trouble. I knew Alexander and Kipling were doing the same.
There was no sign of life as we approached the back of the house. I gestured to Alexander and Kipling to wait as I made my way to the space under the balcony that served Brooks’ suite of rooms. I used a grappling hook and rope that I’d had hanging from my utility belt, catching the rail of the balcony with almost no trouble at all. I climbed up and slipped quietly up to the balcony doors through which Brooks had escaped twice while under my watch.
And found Juan Alvarez waiting for me.
Chapter 21
At the Compound
&n
bsp; David sat on the bed beside Ricki, watching her fingers fly over the laptop.
“You shouldn’t be doing this.”
“It keeps my mind off of things.”
He slid the laptop from her, taking over. “They should have come to me. I would have okay’d this plan if they’d bothered to pass it by me.”
“You told them to wait until after Mrs. Alvarez made her statement. But Elliott was concerned the young man couldn’t wait that long.” She touched her finger to the footage of Jimmy Holliday pacing in his sister’s sitting room. “I’m not sure he could have, either.”
“They just played with your heartstrings.”
“Well, as your wife, I have half say over everything that happens here and Kipling made a compelling argument.”
“Kipling? I was under the impression you’d spoken to Elliott.”
“No. Just Kipling.”
David looked sideways at his wife. “You and Kipling seem to have really hit it off.”
“Did you know he was from Illinois? He grew up not far from where I lived.”
“Yeah, you and Kipling and half a million other people.”
“Don’t sound so impressed.”
David glanced at his wife. “I’m not impressed with a guy who would take advantage of my sick wife.”
“I’m fine, David. Just a little tummy trouble.”
“But you’re pregnant. Did you call the doctor?”
“Not yet. I will.”
He shook his head even as he studied the footage coming in over the internet connection as well as the streaming video they were sending to Alvarez’s monitors. He touched his finger to one of the pictures.
“This is where he’s keeping the brother?”
Ricki nodded. “Why?”
“What’s this door here?”
Ricki leaned forward and looked closer at the feed. “I don’t know. The door to the hall?”
“No. I think that’s this door.”
“A closet?”
“In the sitting room? Where’s the bedroom?”
He pulled up the live feed and started searching through it, looking for a room that might fit what he was looking for. He was only in Alvarez’s house briefly and only really saw the sitting room and Alvarez’s office, but he had a sense of how it was laid out and it seemed to him there should be another room there. A bedroom that was at least as big as the sitting room, maybe slightly larger.
CONTROLLING BROOKS (Gray Wolf Security Book 4) Page 13