by DiAnn Mills
She wiped her eyes. “Thank you. We can talk in a conference room.” She spied his visitor badge.
“Alone with my girl? Good.”
The New York accent, spun with the familiar voice, filled her with longing.
In an interview room, they sat across from each other. Father and daughter. Years apart. She reached over the table, and he lifted her hand into his. Firm. Strong. Lines around his eyes and across his brow had aged him.
“I’m ashamed of how our call ended last week,” he said. “I was nervous and dropped my phone. It shattered. I started to call you back on your mother’s phone, but your number was on mine. Leah, I love you and I’ve never stopped missing you.” He pressed his lips together before beginning again. “I researched you online. My little girl puts her life in danger to keep people safe.”
His words sounded proud, and she relished the thought. “I’ve been well trained. And I work with a great team of people in violent crime and SWAT. Currently I’m on a homicide case.”
He sucked in a breath. “I didn’t realize.”
Confession time. “Protecting others is a way for me to make up for the foolish years.”
“And I blame myself. Too many shoulds.” He stared wordlessly into her face and blinked. “You’ve changed. Your eyes are calm.”
“It took a while for me to figure out some of life. My work experiences along with a heavy dose of reality have a way of molding a person into a better human being.” She sealed their time together in memory, never to be forgotten.
He glanced down at their hands, knit together. “I used to hold your hand like this when you were a little girl.”
“I remember. When I’d lose a basketball game, you’d have to talk me down off the cliff. The perfectionist in me still has a habit of surfacing.”
“We have a lot of catching up to do.”
“I look forward to it. Tell me about Mom and my brothers and sisters.”
“Before I dive into the whole family thing, I want to apologize for all the poor decisions your mother and I made raising you and your siblings. We never included you in the conversations, never asked you how you felt about it.” He blew out a sigh. “We expected far too much. All the times we let you down, disappointed you, missed important events.”
“It’s okay, Dad.”
He shook his head. “No, it’s not. Will you forgive your mother and me?”
She swallowed a lump. “Yes. A million times yes. I was horrible, so please forgive me.”
Tears filled his eyes and he nodded. “We’re a pair, aren’t we? Your mother is the one who insisted I fly here. She wanted to come, and she will the next time.”
A catch in her throat forced control. Next time? “Can we put the ugliness behind us and start fresh? I understand rough waters are ahead, but I want my family back. Not on holidays and an occasional email, but permanently.”
“Absolutely.” Dad grinned. “If the guard out front hadn’t ordered me to leave my phone in the car, I’d show you photos.”
“Protocol, Dad. Know what? I’ve followed my family on Facebook for years.”
He studied her. “There’s something else you’re holding back. What is it?”
Dare she ruin the reunion? “I have this question burning inside me.” She gazed at his lined face. “Why did you keep my great-great-grandmother’s identity a secret, and yet you named me after her?”
“What?” He startled. “Her name was Leah?” When she affirmed it, he breathed in deeply. “I never heard about her.”
“She escaped slavery in Alabama through the Underground Railroad. Settled in New York City and started an orphanage for children. It’s a powerful story. I’m so very proud of her.”
Dad tilted his head. “My grandmother never talked about her family. Your mother named you Leah because we liked it. Neither of us had a clue, except my grandmother wasn’t happy with the choice.”
“I thought she was why you and Mom opted for adoption.”
“Your uncle’s tragic accident prompted us. When did you find out about your ancestry?” Dad said.
“About five years ago. On a whim, I did a DNA test and decided to dig deeper. A book’s been written about Grandma Leah. I have it.”
“Wow. That’s amazing. Got to read it, and your mom will love the family history.”
“She was stubborn and fought for the orphans’ rights.”
“Now I know where our strong wills came from.” He swiped beneath his eye. “Thank you for telling me the story. Thanks more for seeing me.”
“I’ve dreamed of this, of us talking. How long are you in town?”
“Until tomorrow. Can we have dinner tonight?”
“I’d love it. I can look at your photos then.”
“Maybe a FaceTime with your mom too.”
His words brought her longtime dream to the surface. She’d relive this reunion time and time again.
A knock on the door broke the sweet reunion, and Jon stepped in. “Leah, I’m sorry to bother you. We have a signed search warrant for the Galveston site. Chopper’s picking us up in ten.”
She rose from her chair. “Dad, this is my partner, Agent Jon Colbert.”
Jon reached out to shake his hand. “It’s a pleasure, sir. Working alongside your daughter has made me a better man.”
“I’d expect nothing less,” Dad said.
She sensed the warmth rising up her neck and into her cheeks. She hugged her dad and promised to call him about dinner. “Dad, stay here. Another agent will have to escort you to the front.”
“I understand.” His face clouded. “Be careful. I don’t need a hero, just my daughter.”
68
BOARDING A CHOPPER ALWAYS gave Jon a twinge of apprehension. Not the flying so much as memories of hovering over a wildfire. Maybe one day, they’d vanish. With noise-canceling headphones in place to block the sound of whirling blades, he filled Leah in on what had transpired over the last thirty minutes.
“No one could raise the agents assigned to Rachel Mendez’s protection detail this morning, so when a couple guys drove to her house to pick her up, they found the two agents dead, execution-style. She’s missing.”
Leah’s gaze flew to his. “And her mother and children?”
“Unclear. It’s possible Rachel sent them out of town already, maybe went with them. But there’s more. Richard James called me—Elena’s gone. No note. Neither is anything missing. Her bedroom has a balcony, and they assume she left or was taken from there. They haven’t seen her since she went to bed last night. I tried Silvia’s cell phone and the dentist office. No answer there. The surveillance team said she went to work this morning and hasn’t left the office. I asked them to check inside, but the front and back doors are locked. No signs on either door about closing. They forced entry. Nothing indicated a problem, but no one’s there. It’s possible Silvia and the Rioses left through a side door that provides access to a community courtyard and adjoining offices.”
“What about Warren?”
“He isn’t picking up at his shop or on his cell. The only person who responded was Father Gabriel.”
“Tell me the missing people are at St. Peter’s.”
“I wish. Father Gabriel received a call warning him the Venenos were doing a roundup. He informed the officer assigned to him, and they’re at GPD headquarters.”
“Rachel, Elena, and Silvia, the three women important to Dylan,” Leah said. “Warren and possibly the Rioses. They’re together somewhere.”
As if timed to precision with his recap, Jon’s phone alerted him to an incoming call. He plugged his phone into the headphones. It was Zachary Everson. “A neighbor to the Mendezes saw a man matching Warren Livingston’s description enter the home about 7 a.m.”
“Any gunfire?” He wished Leah were listening in.
“No,” Everson said. “But the home’s security cam isn’t showing anything. My conclusion is the system’s been hacked—probably was done before their SUV was stolen.”
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“Leah and I discovered he’s not the savory guy we thought. We were waiting on search warrants this morning and for him and Rachel to be brought in. We also have a search warrant for Dr. Pablo Rios’s office.” Jon explained the previous DEA investigation and the possible link to Warren Livingston.
“Officers checked Silvia’s home and Warren’s,” Everson said. “No one answered at either home. I’ll send officers to the Rioses’ residence.”
“As soon as we land, Leah and I will join our agents at the dentist office.” Jon ended the call, still gripping his phone, his thoughts spinning. He told Leah about the findings. “People are missing, and we have no clue if they’re dead or alive or who’s responsible.”
God, I pray not one more victim.
Galveston came into view, and Leah spoke. “I’m thinking this is what they want—GPD and the FBI in one location to distract us. The rattlesnake scare diverted law enforcement. We need to work smarter, Jon. What’s on the island worth the risk? Moving a shipment of prescription drugs?” She stared at her injured left hand. “Do they need to transport drugs to another location while we’re occupied on the opposite end of the island?”
The chopper descended for landing, and Jon’s phone signaled a text, an unknown number.
Flew home a day early. Here’s the number for the man who wanted to buy acreage.
Jon leaned back and closed his eyes. The man who owned the farm where they found the rattlesnake pit had come through. This was the break they needed. Thank You.
“Everything okay?” Leah said.
“Better than okay. The man who wanted to buy the land where we found the rattler pit used a burner. It’s a number we’ve seen on Aaron Michaels’s phone.”
Once the chopper landed, Leah and Jon raced to an awaiting car. Jon drove, but she didn’t care. Her thoughts zeroed in on missing people and those suspected of masterminding the crimes.
Jon’s phone sounded, and he glanced at the caller. “It’s Kempler. Can you take it?”
She snatched it and hit Speaker. “Mr. Kempler, this is Agent Riesel. Jon and I are in a time-sensitive situation.”
“I’ll make it quick. I found the evidence.”
She swung a look at Jon. “Where?”
“The judge gave me a Bible years ago. I kept it in my desk. Never thought to look inside. But I was moving it aside to get something else and dropped it. A note fell out addressed to me. It said, ‘What you are looking for is in the family frame on my wall.’ Took a while to examine what he’d written, but it’s all documented. He believed Dr. Pablo Rios and Warren Livingston were dealing in prescription drugs. The judge didn’t have enough proof.”
Confirmation. “Are you sure the evidence you have isn’t enough proof?” Jon wondered if they should pick up the judge’s notes before doing anything else.
“I’ll bring everything to GPD—will that work?”
Jon exchanged a look with Leah. Was Everson trustworthy enough? “Yes. We’re on our way with a search warrant to Rios’s office now. We’ll call when we’re done.”
As Kempler ended the call, Jon turned to Leah. “I feel like I smacked the piñata and it broke. Now to find out where all these people are.”
As Pablo Rios’s dental office came into view, Leah recognized the vehicle of the agent assigned to Silvia’s surveillance. “Jon, I’m requesting the agent’s car. Ross Kempler has the documentation to help make arrests, and I want to get my hands on it.”
“Hey, you can’t take off without me. I’m your partner.”
She exited the rental car. “Timing is too important.”
69
LEAH FOUND ROSS KEMPLER and Father Gabriel sitting in Everson’s office. Ross produced Judge Mendez’s notes in his own handwriting and the documented evidence. While Greer, Trevelle, and the judge believed their findings were inconclusive, their private investigation had uncovered substantial information to bring in Warren Livingston and Dr. Pablo Rios for questioning.
Leah was concerned about Father Gabriel’s and Ross’s safety and persuaded them to stay with Everson until Jon finished with the sweep of the dental office. She received a call from Silvia and took it outside Everson’s office.
“Are you all right?” Leah said. “The police were at your home, but you didn’t answer the door.”
“I must have been in the shower.” Her voice quivered. She must be in pain. “Are you in Galveston?”
“Yes.”
“Can you and Agent Colbert come by the house? I need to tell you something important about Dylan as soon as possible.”
“Is he with you?”
“No. Just come, please.”
“Jon’s busy, but I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Leah told Everson where she was going and left the building. She texted Jon and drove to the Ortega address.
After ringing Silvia’s bell and pounding on the door, Leah walked around to the back of the house with her gun drawn. Neat and clean. Perfect flower beds. The back door was locked.
She peered through windows. Nothing.
A gun barrel pressed against the back of her head. “Drop it,” a man said.
Leah obliged, and he pulled her wounded hand behind her back. She winced. Someone swung her around.
Two men. Both with weapons. One man grabbed her phone and tossed it into the flower bed.
“We’re taking a little drive.” The man who held her spoke with a thick Hispanic accent.
“Where?”
“You’ll find out.”
Jon had worked alongside the agents sweeping the rooms of Dr. Rios’s dental facility for the past several minutes, and they hadn’t found anything suspicious. Whoever had left there did so in a hurry. The computers had been erased of data, and that had to have been initiated before leaving the office. The tech guys in Houston should be able to recover the data.
“The reception area looks clean,” an agent said. “Fingerprinting will take time.”
Jon nodded. “I’ll continue searching for a little longer, then I’m heading to Chief Everson’s office.”
“Agent Riesel has my car.”
“I’ll make sure it’s returned.”
While the agents checked out Dr. Rios’s desk, closet, and credenza, Jon headed for the back room where supplies were stored. Clean. Orderly. Then a locked closet in the break room caught his attention. He snatched a tiny dental instrument from a nearby tray and picked the lock. Inside the closet, he flipped on a light. Stacks of small plastic, zippered cases marked Dental Supplies for Mexico Missions. The cases were clear except for a bright-blue bottom about an inch thick. Why the extra padding?
He unzipped a case and removed a toothbrush, regular-size toothpaste, and dental floss. The bottom appeared to be glued and stitched. Grabbing a corner and slicing it with the dental pick, he pulled back the bottom.
Two layers of pills . . . Prescription drugs with the same identifying codes as those missing from Molston Pharmaceuticals.
Jon ripped open enough dental aid containers to discover thousands of dollars of prescription drugs. Some of the drugs were not from Molston Pharmaceuticals. With the number of trips Warren made to Mexico, no doubt much of the stolen shipment had been transported under the guise of a mission project.
Why had they left the drugs behind? No time? Who’d alerted them?
70
HER HANDS TIED AND a sweaty blindfold applied, Leah was shoved into the rear seat of a dark-colored Mustang matching Mr. Whitson’s and Elena’s descriptions of the vehicle involved in the crimes.
Four times the car came to a halt, and Leah assumed they were at stop signs or traffic lights. She calculated about twenty minutes before the driver shut off the engine. One of the men pulled her from the car. Waves slapped against the shore and seagulls cried out. Nothing more to distinguish where she’d been taken. Someone opened a creaky door and told her to climb the stairs. She counted twelve steps. The second floor? Her blindfold was removed but not the bindings around her wrists. She blinked. Th
e two men who’d abducted her blocked the only doorway she could see as if she’d make a run for it. The room reeked of grease and marijuana.
Warren Livingston faced her. “Well, look who we have here.”
“The FBI has evidence to convict you,” she said.
He slapped her face, staggering her, but she stayed on her feet. “I’m smarter than they are,” he boasted.
Resolve rose inside her. She ignored the stinging and eyed him. “Doubt it.”
Dr. Rios and his wife walked into the room. “Looks like you’re taking care of our problem,” Dr. Rios said. “Where’s her partner?”
“We’ll get him.” Warren turned to one of the men who’d nabbed Leah. “Put her in with the others, then get out of here. I’ll call when I need you.”
In a small living room, Dylan lay on a blood-soaked sofa. An even bloodier shirt was wrapped around his left shoulder, where Leah had shot him. Fever clouded his eyes. His face was pale. Looked like he needed immediate medical help or he’d die. Silvia blanched at the sight of Leah. She sat on the edge of the sofa, holding Dylan’s hand.
On the opposite wall, Rachel and Elena were tied back to back, their ankles bound with ropes.
The man forced Leah to the tiled floor and tied her ankles. She’d been roughed up before, and Warren’s men were no exception. Livingston and Dr. Rios and his wife entered the area.
“Dylan, you brought this on yourself,” Warren said. “You were told to behave, or your girlfriend and mother would be harmed. Problem is, I didn’t say which mother.” He laughed, a spine-chilling sound. “I have all three women and an FBI agent as a bonus.”
Dylan attempted to speak. “Told you,” he whispered. “I delivered the drugs like you said.”
“My man says he didn’t get them.”
He spoke haltingly, pain evident in his voice. “Then he stole them from you, not me.”
“You’re a stupid coward. All you had to do was deliver the goods and dump Mendez’s body. And you managed to botch up both. I’ve given you plenty of chances to comply. I even picked you up when the Feds had you trapped on a ferry. Lost a man doing it. Now you’re going to face the consequences.”