by Cara Putman
Hayden got ready for bed, then stuck a chair under the doorknob. She’d read that would keep an intruder out, or at least delay an invasion. There wasn’t anything she could do about the big plate-glass window. She crawled into bed and closed her eyes, but sleep was a long time coming.
As the first traces of the sun slipped salmon and gold over the horizon and pushed up the darkness, the private plane waited on the runway. Zeus hadn’t been thrilled to wake so early, only to be left behind. Andrew ducked at the top of the stairs and entered the small jet. Lilith and his father sat in leather chairs, coffee cups in hand; his dad’s would be black while Lilith’s would be some frou-frou dessert in a cup.
“Morning, son.” Congressman Wesley reached up to shake Andrew’s hand. “Glad you can join us.”
“Any particular reason?” His dad flinched, and Andrew wanted to resay the words, remove the bite from them. “Sorry. It was a short night, Senator.”
“Not quite, but soon. I’m still the congressman.” Dad’s grin was as excited as he’d ever seen.
“For a bit longer.” Lilith gestured to a chair. “Join us, and I’ll brief you and the senator. It should be an interesting trip.”
Andrew eased to the edge of a chair opposite the others. “Anyone else joining us?”
“Just the chief of staff.”
Andrew whistled. “Must be important if you have the CoS and LD along.”
“I wouldn’t waste my time. Until we can get ahead of the stream of kids, we need a safe place to keep them while immigration courts process them. This facility needs to follow the rules Congress outlined.” His dad frowned as his phone dinged. “I’d better check this. Could be about my swearing-in.” He swiveled toward the window to answer the call, shielding his mouth with his hand.
Andrew watched his dad a minute. So much of his life had been like this. He’d learned before he was thirteen that his own job was to avoid trouble. It wasn’t the family he’d imagined as a kid. More X-Men than Waltons. He could feel Lilith’s gaze and knew she sensed the tension, but he didn’t want to linger there.
His thoughts turned toward Hayden McCarthy. He’d bet she could mingle with the crowd at events without a problem. He could imagine her slipping from group to group with a smile. Did they teach that in the third year of law school, in some class he hadn’t taken?
Hayden was intelligent and beautiful in a quiet way, yet he knew from Emilie she was a force to reckon with in the courtroom. He wanted to see that side of her. The side that didn’t shyly admit she was good at what she did, but knew it with an intensity that won cases.
His phone vibrated in his pocket and he tugged it free. He turned away from Lilith as he read the screen.
Where are you?
Emilie texting him this early? That wasn’t normal.
He texted back.
With the congressman. What’s up?
Can you have coffee?
Nope. On a plane for Texas. Back sometime tonight.
K. Call when you can.
He held the phone a moment, but the screen stayed blank. As he got ready to put it in airplane mode, it buzzed again.
Hayden’s in Texas too.
Okay . . . He wasn’t sure why she was telling him that.
Can I give her your number?
His brow furrowed as he read the question again. Emilie had to know they’d already exchanged numbers.
Y?
Just a feeling.
TX is big. But sure.
Thks. Check out today’s article. TTYS.
K.
As he put his phone away, someone pounded up the steps. Chief of Staff Dan Washburn hauled his bulk up the last step, then stood in the doorway a moment. “Looks like we’re all here, Senator.”
Dad pulled the phone from his ear. “Nice of you to join us.” Only a slight layer of sarcasm coated his words. “Tell the pilot we’re ready to leave.”
The CoS stuck his head in the cockpit. “Let’s roll, boys.”
The captain turned around, her delicate features highlighted by her arched eyebrows.
“Ma’am.”
She nodded. “We can take off in five minutes.” She turned around, effectively dismissing the chief. Andrew bit back a smile.
Washburn sidled down the aisle then flopped into a chair across from Lilith. “Ready to investigate?”
She waved a hand in the air. “Won’t be much, but it will keep him happy.”
The congressman closed his phone and leaned toward her. “He can hear you, you know. Don’t discount how important this is. We’ve got a continuing crisis. The media may have lost focus, yet streams of unaccompanied minors still cross our borders. It’s our duty to care for them, and I don’t like what I’ve heard about these centers.” His frown settled into his face. “Makes me think of last week’s Walters cartoon.”
Andrew froze.
“Which one?” Washburn waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “His pen’s as poisonous as other editorial cartoonists.”
“I kind of like them.” Lilith looked at the congressman with adoring eyes. “They have a way of making you think.”
“The one where he alludes to the kids coming across our border being like the kids fleeing Syria and other points in the Middle East. Really made me think.”
Andrew reminded his lungs to breathe as his heart hiccupped. His dad liked his cartoon?
The copilot slid from the cockpit. “We’ll take off shortly. Please turn off your phones until we’re in the air. We’d prefer they stay off, but”—he shrugged—“we know you won’t do that. Do you need anything before I close the door?”
Andrew shook his head. “We’re good, thanks.”
The copilot looked at the senator. “Sir?”
Dad waved at him. “Fine.”
The copilot slid back into his seat. Then he turned around and closed the door separating the cockpit from the rest of the plane. A moment later the latch clicked.
Hayden felt groggy as her alarm blared in her ear. The night had been too short, her dreams active. A young man murdered where he should be safe. Pools of blood leaking from his body, staining concrete beneath him. Alone in a flood of people.
She tried to slide from the bed, put distance between the lingering dream and the reality of the morning, but she was trapped. Tied down by eddies of fabric wrapped around her legs.
Her heartbeat quickened, and she glanced around frantically, then sucked in air. She was fine. In a hotel. In the middle of Nowhere, Texas.
But her heart continued to race.
She took a deep breath and forced herself to blow it out slowly. A prayer flitted through her mind.
Her meeting was in half an hour. She had to collect herself. Get ready and then see what this guard could tell her. Hopefully it was more than Roy had. She struggled free from the comforter and sheets and lurched to her feet. She didn’t have time to waste if she was meeting the guard for waffles at seven.
With only a minute to spare she arrived at the tavern. The alcohol signs didn’t flicker their neon messages, but the door was unlocked and the sign turned to Open. A few battered trucks and dusty vehicles sat in parking spaces, a small crowd for breakfast and coffee hour.
Her phone dinged and she glanced at the screen, then frowned. Why was Emilie texting her Andrew’s number?
She shook her head and sat in the car a moment, refocusing on what she hoped to learn. If this guard couldn’t slip her onto the tour, she’d have to get back to DC and figure out what was next. It would be time to face Randolph, her new supervising partner, have Leigh file the complaint, and then get the discovery requests off to the government attorneys. She could kick this case into high gear and see what happened. And if Carmen was right and she didn’t have a job?
She couldn’t control that.
As she opened the rental’s door and stepped out, she hoped she would find out enough to bring justice for Miguel and peace for his mother.
APRIL 10
El jefe had a network
embedded inside the Estados Unidos that made Rafael a very nervous man.
He would never be free until he deciphered that puzzle. He needed to slow down and think. Stop reacting and start analyzing. He may not have much education, but he had the smarts to figure this out. He’d been trained by the best in the family, and what they hadn’t taught him he’d learned through observation.
He parked the vehicle and climbed out. He’d walk Fort Ward’s grounds and see what his subconscious revealed.
While he tried to maintain the look of a man enjoying light exercise over lunch, he stayed alert.
The device had information el jefe was desperate to reclaim and keep hidden. Why had Miguel taken it? What did he hope to accomplish? The boy was smart, smarter than most of the men and even el jefe himself. He wouldn’t have done it without a solid plan. And if Rafael could uncover that plan, then he might rebuy his life. Maybe he could complete what Miguel had planned. What he died to protect.
The key question: What would be so valuable to el jefe that its loss and the need to reclaim it was worth his son’s life?
He had to locate the device. A device that he would use to purchase his freedom.
If not from el jefe, then from the man’s enemies.
CHAPTER 35
THURSDAY, APRIL 13
The waitress, a younger, more harried version of last night’s, hair pulled into a brunette ponytail and a dusting of makeup around her eyes, pointed to an open table. “Help yourself. I’ll take your order in a minute.” She grabbed a coffeepot and hurried to a table to refill cups.
Hayden glanced around the room, but no one paid attention to her. The only folks seated alone were either engrossed in old-fashioned newspapers or devices.
One large table was surrounded by men in battered baseball caps, jackets of every size and shape slung over their shoulders. One of them guffawed, and as she glanced back at the table she noticed Roy sitting with them. He didn’t acknowledge her.
Hayden walked to a booth tucked against a window. The sunlight didn’t seem to warm the location, even as she slid closer to the plate glass. Her glance traveled to Roy’s table, and he nudged the guy next to him and jerked his chin in her general direction. The man stood, slapped a bill on the table, then grinned at the others before ambling her way.
His compact size made her think of an NFL running back. Stocky, but muscled rather than fat. He had an aura that emanated authority. The certainty he saw everything and processed it faster than the average person. Yet his grin didn’t slide from his dusky features until he slid into the booth across from her.
“You must be Hayden McCarthy.”
Her muscles refused to release their bunched tension as she reached out to shake his hand. “Thanks for meeting me.”
“If you came all this way, seems I should spare a few minutes for a pretty lady like you.” He relaxed against the seat back and studied her. “You’re out of your element.”
She couldn’t dispute his words. He knew more than she did about this situation. “Then help me sort it out.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“It could be.” She met his gaze, and stilled her hands where they trembled beneath his line of sight. “Did you work the night Miguel died?”
One slow nod. “Sure you want to dive into this? Before I say anything, I need to know.”
Hayden looked down for a moment, then brushed her hands along her black pants and placed them on the table. She leaned toward him and met his gaze. “I am absolutely committed to helping Miguel’s mother discover answers.” He opened his mouth, but she continued. “I might be chasing windmills, but I will do everything I can to help her. No mother should live with these questions.”
“You’re rattling big cages.”
“Whose?”
“I’m not sure.” He glanced her way, then looked toward the front doors. “You can’t kill a kid in custody without high-level access.”
“The facility doesn’t seem that secure.”
He nodded, his green eyes becoming catlike with laser focus. “Did you notice how isolated it is? Restricts access in and out. You must have a reason to be there. The cameras monitoring the parking lot help too.”
The waitress wandered over and plopped coffee mugs in front of them, then left without a word, as if the guard had prearranged everything.
“Do you know who killed Miguel?”
He shook his head. “That night was nuts—more so than usual. Someone musta slipped something into the kids’ drinks.” He half chuckled. “Just kidding. But it was like Friday the Thirteenth, a blue moon, and Christmas Eve combined.”
“Sounds like you have kids.”
He nodded. “It’s one reason I agreed to transfer. I figured the guards should understand kids. Otherwise it would be hard to handle them.” He looked out the window, and his composure broke. “My family crossed the border. I was the lucky one. Born here. A citizen because of the location of the hospital. Thirty miles south, and I wouldn’t have that gift.” He pulled his attention back to the diner. “These kids are taking the hard road. We don’t need to make it worse once they’re here.”
Hayden thought about his words. “Do you think the government should allow them to stay?”
“Not my call. My job is to keep them safe while detained. We failed Miguel.”
She captured his phrase on her phone. “What happened?”
“I was in the cafeteria with five others. All good guards doing their best.” He glanced down. “The kids were crazy, and our radios blared to life about the time the first group headed to their dormitory. They eat in a rotation. Usually keeps the chaos down.”
“This night?”
“It’s a good idea that doesn’t work every time. Some of the kids were clowning around, others were crying for no reason, others yelling.”
“Chaos.”
“Only word for it.” He rubbed his hands together on the table. “A female guard corralled her kids and headed toward the hall. That’s when my radio went crazy. She saw someone slip out of a dorm room, and when she looked in she saw a young man on the floor and lots of blood. She kept her kids moving so they wouldn’t see. I secured the scene. And that was it.”
“Was a crime scene team called in?”
“No. The prison director said it wasn’t necessary. He said somebody claimed the body. Someone else cleaned the room. Then everyone went back to their activities.”
“Director Snowden said he wasn’t there. Out with a surgery.”
“He might not have been physically present, but he directed the response.” He looked down at his hands. “I called a buddy with the state police, and he did some checking. State police didn’t have jurisdiction. Nobody did. By the time my friend arrived it was all cleaned up anyway.”
“A cover-up.”
Hayden barely breathed the words, but the guard nodded. “Exactly.”
“Did you know Miguel?”
“Not really. He was a quiet kid who kept to himself. Some seemed afraid of him, though I can’t see why. He was respectful, athletic, alone.”
“Most of the kids are alone.”
“True.” He studied his cup of coffee. “It felt different with him.”
“Did he have friends?”
“Not that I noticed.”
Hayden tried to paint the picture in her mind. A young man, almost an adult, decides to come to the United States, but instead of coming legally with his mom and brother, he takes the hard path guided by a coyote. “Miguel’s mom and brother went through legal channels to immigrate. Why would Miguel come illegally?”
“There are a number of reasons. The main one being he doesn’t fit an allowed group. Or maybe there weren’t enough slots. Some lotteries are in high demand and fill in days.” He tapped the side of the mug, then glanced at his watch. “We’ve got a VIP tour I have to get back for.”
“Any chance I can join the tour?”
“I’ll need to gauge the mood.”
He slid
from the booth without waiting for her to say anything. As she followed him, she realized she didn’t have his name. “Wait a second. What’s your name?”
“Not important.”
“I might need to reach you later.”
“If I learn anything new, I’ll contact you. For now, follow me to the detention facility. I’ll try to talk you onto the congressional tour. It’ll be sanitized, but you’ll see more than the director showed you.”
“Shouldn’t we pay?” The coffee hadn’t been great, but still.
“Already did.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t. The coffee is terrible.” He held the door of the restaurant as they exited, then climbed into a battered sedan. Funny, she’d imagined him as a pickup truck kind of guy. She trailed him through the twisting roads to the detention center. Was the director involved in the cover-up? If so, she’d add him to the complaint and nail him for lying in the deposition.
She stalled her musings as she pulled into a parking spot.
A black SUV was parked a few spots over, looking very out of place amid the dust-covered older model cars and trucks.
The promised briefing never arrived as the CoS, LD, and congressman huddled in a conversation that sounded a lot like campaign strategy. Andrew was happy to be excluded. He leaned against the headrest and hoped Jorge was doing okay at Mrs. Bradford’s. Andrew hadn’t liked leaving the boy when his mom’s condition was still uncertain, though he knew his neighbor would do all she could to make him feel secure.
The next thing he knew, wheels bouncing against the tarmac jolted him awake. His closed eyes must have signaled his brain it was time to snooze. He rubbed a hand down his face, wiping away drool as he straightened in his seat.
“Welcome back, sleepyhead,” Lilith’s voice teased. “Ready for our tour?”
“Sure. After I get a gallon of coffee.”
“Don’t think this town has a Starbucks.” She grabbed her bag and settled it in her lap, ready to spring from the jet the moment the door opened. “You’ll have to make do.”