by Ali Vali
But that was something for Hector to worry about. Her problem was staying alive when she told her new boss she couldn’t give him what he wanted. Not yet anyway. Keeping Hector happy was key to getting what she wanted in return. It was the only way she’d share all the training and wisdom her sister Kim had given her before she was murdered.
Tracy closed her eyes on the ride back to the house, using the time to organize her thoughts. When the car stopped and the driver opened the door, the first thing she saw was Miguel’s vehicle. He was another, not unexpected, surprise she’d have to deal with.
The conversation stopped when she was escorted into Hector’s study. Miguel sat there, along with the woman she recognized from all the family photos. This had to be Marisol Delarosa.
“Well?” Hector asked. “Where is my trophy?”
“Mitch Surpass, Emray’s front man, is dead.” She handed over the police report. “I just found out, so give me a few days to discover why he was killed in his car parked in the vicinity mapped on there.”
“Mitch was your only lead,” Marisol asked.
“Mitch was anyone’s only lead. He represented Emray’s interest, but someone else was in the car with him.” She told them about Freddie and rushed through the part about him being missing. “We find him, and with some creative incentive, you’ll have Emray.”
“Disappointing,” Hector said as he swiveled his chair away from her.
“I apologize, but you can’t have expected me to find someone none of your people have been able to in such a short period of time.” She was being disrespectful, which could bring her closer to Hector or to him ordering her killed. Strength was all these guys understood, Kim had told her.
“Listen, you bitch,” Miguel said as he got on his feet.
“Enough,” Hector said loudly. “With all this complaining you’re starting to remind me of an old woman.” He returned his attention to her. “Forget Gillis for now, and tell me what you haven’t about Nunzio.”
“I got everything from him you asked for.”
“Then why did he just call and tell Hector and me to fuck ourselves?” Miguel screamed.
“That’s unexpected,” she said, and kept her eyes on Hector.
“Let me explain something to you, Tracy,” Hector said, and waved her into a chair close to his daughter. “When I was a young man, I knew I wanted more than hustling a few dollars on the streets of Bogotá. My first step in getting here,” he pointed his index fingers down, “was to make a big play. I stole the biggest shipment I could pull off from someone higher than me. I did that numerous times until I could afford to kill the enemies I’d made. That sent a message to anyone who tried to take away what I’d gotten for myself.”
Tracy nodded and clamped her jaw shut. This wasn’t the time to interject anything. “Roth Pombo’s business was essential to what I want most. Only before I could take what I needed, someone cut his legs out from under him, and what was left was easy to deal with except for Emray Gillis. He wants the same things I do, but in this game there can be only one winner.”
“I understand that, sir.”
“Do you? Do you realize how big Pombo was getting? Actually he reminds me a lot of you. He was smart, and because he thought he was the smartest boy in the playground, he forgot that at times the most savage is the only one left alive.”
Marisol smiled and nodded when her father spoke. “Miguel and I have tried to find how he was able to move such a large amount of product in without any problem. The only thing we found in the last shipment makes two things possible. Either it can bring someone enough power to put our family in danger, or it can make my father the head of the cartel. I don’t think when you and Nunzio met with Mitch, you realized this. Pombo’s last shipment is a bomb ready to explode, with devastating consequences.”
“And you think Nunzio has it?” Tracy asked.
“He has it,” Hector said, as if expecting everyone to agree with him. “And what you said about respect will come into play here. How do you think he feels about me? Now that he has the prize, will he forget your betrayal and how we treated him?”
“What would you like me to do?” she asked. Sitting here was suddenly like having been dropped into a viper pit. The fear of danger was licking every part of her body like the forked tongues of a thousand deadly snakes ready to strike.
“I could use you as bait for Nunzio.” Hector smiled as he said it. “But I believe you to still be of value to me, so don’t worry. You know Nunzio better than all of us, so find him so I can show him my savage side. Unlike those who he crossed before, I won’t leave him alive.”
“We need to start with the story of what has happened up to now,” Tracy said to no one in particular. “Why would Pombo have sent another shipment when he was already out of the game, as you say? If the federales have him, what could he hope to get from that?”
“It’s in your best interest to find out,” Marisol said. Hector might not have threatened her directly, but his daughter didn’t seem to mind.
“It’s in all our best interests,” she answered.
*
The Whiskey Blue Bar in the W Hotel downtown was surprisingly full, with what seemed like young professionals from the surrounding buildings trying either to blow off steam or to not go home to a long list of renovations. Wiley sat in the darkest corner she could find and watched Walter literally sweat as his head swiveled around enough to give him an ache. The cocky manner in which he’d always conducted himself seemed to have vanished, along with the money and drugs he was searching for.
“Do you all see him?” Wiley spoke into the mike attached to the top button of her shirt.
“Yeah,” her father answered. “You ready for us to move?”
“Wait until we’re about two minutes into our talk, then try to coordinate it so you each take a door. We’re going for a take-flight response from our boy.”
She moved across the room, trying to stay out of Walter’s line of sight until the last possible moment. The way he jumped when she put her hand on his shoulder made her almost laugh out loud. Walter’s whole life had changed in a very short period of time, and he didn’t act like he was taking it well.
“Fuck,” Walter said, pressing his hands to the bar as if to hide that they were shaking.
“No, thank you. You’re not my type.” She waved the bartender off and sat on the stool next to Walter’s. It took him a few seconds to look at her, and as she watched his eyes zero in on the vest, she could almost see his brain cells slamming together, trying to come up with a reason for the change in her tactics. “Do you want to try to lie to me some more about what you’re planning to do or not do, or can we get this over with?”
“You don’t want guarantees I’ll stay away from Aubrey?” As he spoke his smile began to come back, but it was short-lived. The way she’d asked her backup group to dress had captured Walter’s attention completely. He had to recognize Don, but her father and Peter weren’t familiar, and from his expression he had no idea who they were but guessed why they were there. “You fucking bitch,” he said as he grabbed Wiley’s arm and squeezed hard.
“Give me who you’re working with and this all ends with you walking out of here.” She didn’t try to get out of the hold Walter had on her, but he didn’t notice her moving her other hand. Under the bar she pressed a pistol hard enough into his crotch that he stopped fidgeting immediately. “I’m not interested in you facing a jury or giving up what you’ve already made, using whatever name you want. I’m here because I want Aubrey and her family taken out of the line of fire and out of the mind of everyone who’s interested in asking questions she has no answers for.”
“I’m not this Emray Gillis, don’t make that mistake,” Walter said, and sounded almost sincere. “You can shoot me, but that’s not going to do shit for what you want.”
She turned toward Don for a second and nodded. “Not what I wanted to hear.”
“Wait,” Walter said when Don started towa
rd them. “Emray Gillis was someone a guy named Hector Delarosa made up to keep everyone occupied with trying to figure out who he was while he moved in on Pombo’s business. I’m trying to do my job by finding both the money and the drugs.”
“You’ve been burned, Walter. I’m not that stupid.”
“I’m telling you the truth. Maria worked for Pombo, and together with Natalie they planned to rip him off. When Pombo got taken down they tried to move up their timeline to leave with the cash. Hector wanted it all, though, so he took out Maria, trying to find out where all the shit was, and when that happened, Natalie went underground.” He spoke fast, like he only had a small window before he really had nothing but a small window in the cell she was fixing to put him in.
“Hector Delarosa is behind this? That’s the best you got? Walter, it wasn’t this Delarosa guy who showed up with a warrant at my house looking for the Tarvers and acting as if they were fugitives. That was you, and that makes Natalie’s story on Emray trump yours.”
“I’m not fucking with you. I went to your house because I was after the same thing you are, keeping the Tarvers safe.”
“What I see is a simple solution,” she said, putting her gun away and preparing herself for Walter’s response.
“What, turn me in to these goons? I haven’t done anything wrong that anyone can prove, so you’re fucked if that’s your answer.”
“No, Walter, I’m going to do what I’ve spent my whole career doing. When I was sent into the field, everyone I answered to wanted the job done however I needed to do it without any ramifications.” She leaned a little away from him, prompting Don and her father to take a step in. “You just gave me the easiest out to a situation the Tarvers and I want no part of.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“If Hector Delarosa really wants Emray Gillis, I’m going to hand him over. I don’t know the man, but I’m sure his reach is longer than mine.”
“Weren’t you listening? Gillis doesn’t exist. It’s a name Hector made up.”
“I’m willing to test that theory. Are you?”
That’s all it took. Walter’s expression closed off as the fear grew, and from what she could tell it was the kind of fear that spread faster than a virus. Like her, Walter knew how to play the government they both worked for, but men like Delarosa didn’t bother with rules of engagement. You screwed someone like that and you ended up tied to a showerhead getting cut to pieces by some animal who’d go out to dinner after he finished.
She put her hand on the back of Walter’s neck and squeezed. “I’m going to return the favor of sending unwanted guests to your door, and then, unlike you and your need to control me, you’ll never cross my mind again.”
If she hadn’t been expecting it, Walter would’ve knocked her to the ground as he tackled his way past Don. She followed him as far as the lobby and watched him speed off in the back of a cab.
“Now what?” Don asked.
“We have to call General Greenwald since I don’t want to deal with the FBI directly.”
“For?”
“I want Delarosa’s background and contact information. After I get in touch with him, we’ll deal with Walter.”
“How are you going to do that? Your whole supposed team was in there,” Peter said.
“Walter can stand in a shower for the next month and he won’t wash off what came off my fingers.” She walked them to her vehicle and started her evasive route home. “Our target is painted, so don’t worry about how far he runs. Once you wake a sleeping dragon, there’s nowhere to hide.”
*
Nunzio stared at the moving van they were following. With his men dividing the driving time, they’d be in New York in a day. Freddie sat next to him, asleep after taking three pain pills at once. How long he’d let him stick around was something he’d worry about later, after he’d gotten all the information Freddie had.
He smiled when he thought of Tracy, Miguel, and Hector. The gift Freddie had led him to had helped him get over any humiliation they’d made him suffer. For the first time in a long while, he was invincible, and eventually he’d prove it to the world.
“We’ve got a guy waiting that can help us make this street-ready, Mr. Luca,” the driver said after he put his phone down.
“Who recommended him?”
“Your grandfather. His man said he’s been working on it since you called. He also sent word that he’ll be waiting when we arrive.”
Finally he’d proved himself worthy of his name. He’d lived his whole life to hear either his dad or grandfather say that.
That time was now.
Chapter Twenty-three
General Greenwald had come through the next morning, so Wiley ate breakfast with everyone before she left alone. At the elevator Tanith hugged her, tentatively at first, but after Wiley wrapped her arms around her, she tightened her hold. To get to know Tanith, and help Aubrey raise her, gave her life much more meaning than her duties as the Black Dragon ever could.
“Will you come back?” Tanith asked her when the three of them rode down together.
“It might be late, but yes. I have only a few things left to do so you can get back to school and your friends.”
She was willing to keep that promise by perhaps making a deal with the type of man she’d battled for so long. Granted, her superiors had given her their blessing, but that she was taking a shortcut twisted the sense of justice that burned in her into a knot.
When she arrived at her destination, she parked the big Harley she’d chosen for the trip where she imagined the surveillance van usually sat always watching, always listening. That the watchers were gone seemed to put the men patrolling the grounds on edge, since they stopped and stared as she removed her helmet. When she unbuckled her leather saddlebag, more than a couple of them put their hands on their weapons.
Judging by the number of guards, the size of the house, and the cars parked outside, Hector Delarosa was a successful man. He was at the top of the food chain, and in her experience, no amount of surveillance ever brought these guys down. Roth Pombo was the anomaly, but Walter had destroyed him for his own selfish reasons. A blow for the greater good was the last thing on his agenda.
“Get lost,” the man at the gate said with a heavy Spanish accent.
“Tell Señor Delarosa I’m here to give him Emray Gillis, if he’s interested. You have two minutes. Then I ride away after calling him and telling him you refused the offer,” she said in decent Spanish. After the guy had a brief conversation on the phone close to the gate, it swung open.
She walked the length of the long drive, keeping her eyes on the front door. She wasn’t here for reconnaissance, and General Greenwald had called off the agents out front for only the morning. As the door started to open, the tingle in her scalp that was part fear and part adrenaline made her lips curl slightly upward. She’d stayed in the field so long because of this rush. Nothing but having Aubrey love her had duplicated it.
The young woman waiting was truly stunning, even though her face was an expressionless mask. “I’m Marisol Delarosa,” the woman said, turning as if expecting her to follow.
She walked with her eyes glued to the back of Marisol’s head. She didn’t intend to spook a group of paranoid and highly armed people. Marisol led her to a study where three people waited, and she recognized the handsome man behind the desk as Hector from the intel packet she’d received. He and Marisol had the same facial structure.
“Who are you?” the man sitting with a blond woman across the big desk asked.
“I’m no one.” Her response made Hector laugh.
“I’ve stayed safe all my life by not trusting no one,” Hector said.
“In my life I stay safe by being no one, and if you want what’s in here,” she touched the folder under her arm, “you’ll acknowledge that I’m no one you want to remember.”
“The other thing I rarely trust are gifts that simply drop into my lap.” Hector spread his ha
nds out. “Especially if no one takes credit.”
She opened the folder and started laying the pictures out on his desk. The first group she put out for him were the ones Natalie had given her. The next set showed Maria’s mutilated body and the men sent to kill her.
The other man in the room and Marisol moved to stand behind Hector. “I’m not sure how social you are with your competitors, but the man on the yacht is Roth Pombo,” she said, and pointed to the first picture she’d laid down. “This is Maria Ross.” She indicated the bloody mess. “Maria worked with Pombo to get his stuff into this country from Mexico.”
“How do you know this for sure?” Marisol asked.
Wiley gave the briefest synopsis of the history Maria, Roth, and Natalie shared. “When Roth was taken into custody, Maria tried to negotiate their last deal so she could leave with Natalie. She did this with Roth’s blessing.”
“I know of Roth Pombo,” Hector said. “I’ve never personally met him, but he’s more known for his viciousness than his charity.”
“Natalie gifted him with what no one else ever could, a son. She took their baby and the money Roth gave her, so she won’t be a problem for you or anyone. Her concern is strictly for her child.”
“Understandable,” Hector said. “But it doesn’t explain why no one would come to my house to share their tale.”
“Weren’t you ever curious how Roth was taken down? He had to have had the same level of insulation you enjoy from the regular policeman on the street.” She removed one of the two pictures she had left. “How could some beat cop take someone like you down? Because that’s what happened.” The picture she’d shown him was of Roth sitting on his yacht with the supposed Tajr member.
When Hector glanced down she noticed the slight reaction. The flare of his nose and the widening of his eyes meant Hector knew this guy, terrorist or not.