Cain shook his head yes.
Donna knew he wouldn’t talk with the recorder on. She also knew protocol, and more importantly she knew instinct. Instinct from street tested interrogations. Cain was trained to resist torture behind enemy lines under the most inhumane of conditions. Did she really think she was going to break him in a plush beach city with an average home value well north of a million dollars?
Donna nodded yes. She removed the batteries and set them on the table. She raised her arms at the elbows, her palms in the air as if to say ‘now what.’
“We’ve got to stop her,” Dudley said behind the mirror.
Chief kept his eyes on the pair and raised a finger to Detective Dudley telling him to stop. Chief crossed his arms and said, “Why don’t you take a smoke break. I’ll observe this one myself.”
“But Chief, I—”
“Outside.”
“What’s going on?” Donna began.
“I couldn’t sleep. I was thinking about that problem I had at the park, and how maybe it’s time to get professional help again. The thought of that makes my stomach turn, but I want to make this right. I want to make this work.”
“Save the pillow talk. You know what I mean.”
“I got out of bed and went into the kitchen. Even though you were fast asleep I didn’t want to turn on the TV, in case the noise might wake you. I took out my phone and figured out how to get the radio to work. I plugged in the headphones that came with it and was hoping I could tune in some of that late night music they play on the radio. The soothing kind without words.”
Donna turned her head to the side and exhaled hard. She didn’t see how this related or where he was going with this.
“The news came on. The lead story was the case. The report said that the prime murder suspect had been taken into custody. I had my own thoughts about who it might be or what he might look like, so I got dressed and came down to the station. I didn’t leave a note, because I didn’t expect to be gone when you woke up.
I walked down to the station, and the minute I saw him I knew it was the wrong man.
I spoke with him briefly, and then I went back to my rental, packed up, and began the walk to the Amtrak.”
“What a coincidence,” Donna said sarcastically.
“I know you’re upset, but I also know that you know it wasn’t a coincidence at all. I had to meet with someone right away to put this right.”
“And just how is it that you know how to put this right?”
“Because I spoke with this man whom your department has locked up. The man who they’ve accused of this crime.”
“And somehow that’s supposed to mean something?”
“I trust him. And I needed to know who else I could trust.”
“Are you joking me? I’m appalled at your arrogance. You’re not in the position to be deciding who to trust and who not to trust. Don’t you get it? You’re the one who looks awfully untrustworthy right about now. And your actions are doing nothing to disprove that.”
“The most important thing is I learned I could trust you.”
“Have you lost your mind?”
“Some might say so, but not about this.”
Donna lowered her voice and spoke through her teeth, her mouth not moving. “You sleep with me and an hour later you’re down at my place of employment asking a murder suspect if you can trust me! You’ve got some nerve.” Donna instinctively raised her voice and said, “Lock him in solitary!”
Donna turned to storm out of the room. She turned back and looked at Cain. “Why did I ever trust you? I let you in and you hurt me. We’re through. You’re through.”
Cain sat at the table staring at the wall. It was bad enough that the only woman he ever wanted no longer wanted him. To make matters worse, he began to feel trapped, cuffed in the small room by himself with no way out. The walls started to spin and his mind was taken back.
CHAPTER 38
Six months ago
La Paz, Mexico. Two hours north of Cabo San Lucas.
O’Connor turned the corner of the small alley and gave the hand signal for all clear. The other members of his team were following his lead. A small group of gringos wandering the streets of La Paz wouldn’t have been that surprising just a few years ago, but a small group of very large, muscular gringos making their way down the side streets of a city now torn apart by a drug war was a whole other story.
O’Connor saw the perimeter of the home he had spent the last night memorizing in his mind, forward and backward. The op was simple, but the execution was the riskiest of his career.
Today, El Toro would be meeting with the leaders of his primary stash house in La Paz. It was an unusual move, but El Toro had to make sure the house could hold up to the increased demand from drugs that needed to be moved from mainland Mexico, to the house, and then up to Chicago for distribution throughout the entire United States and into Canada.
El Toro wasn’t worried so much about the La Paz portion of the route. The local politicians were grateful for his campaign ‘contributions’ and the bogus elections they won. The money they received from El Toro kept plenty of food on the table, the finest clothes on their backs, and filled any and every wish they or their families could imagine.
El Toro had been known simply as El Toro for as long as anyone could remember. As a child he worked on a farm. One day, to impress a girl, he decided he would ride a bull. It was a ludicrous idea, but he was young, and feeling the effects of a first love. Somehow he managed to ride the bull a full eight seconds, and the girl was his. It was the first big shot of confidence the young boy felt. Soon he would leave the farm for the fields, working in the much more lucrative drug trade, and providing his new ‘girlfriends’ with any number of exotic gifts.
El Toro lived in a palatial estate overlooking the Sea of Cortez in Cabo San Lucas. He allowed his underlings to run the day-to-day operations on nearly all occasions, freeing up his time to enjoy the good life. But as the demand for cocaine and marijuana declined and the demand for heroin and methamphetamines skyrocketed, El Toro sensed a change in his business that rivaled something as big as the Internet in the world economy. It was a once in a lifetime chance to set up a distribution channel and become the premier supplier to the United States, and the world, and El Toro wasn’t about to delegate the pieces of such an enormous opportunity. As the saying goes he would have to lift up the hood, roll up his sleeves, and get his hands dirty himself.
El Toro had arrived in La Paz the previous night. He would depart via private plane that afternoon. The mission called for O’Connor and his team to capture, or take down if necessary, El Toro as he left the compound. They knew his team would be heavily armed, but they were thoroughly prepared. El Toro’s exit route would provide the perfect location to pin him in an unused business area, ensuring no civilian loss of life. The recon and planning had been excellent. All that was left was the execution.
The communication channel in O’Connor’s ear relayed messages from the dispatcher. The dispatcher was watching via satellite and local drones. This was too risky a mission to not have redundancy in place.
“Thirteen tangos, heavily armed, have exited the house. Loading into the vehicles now. Front driveway. Waiting on the main gate to open and allow exit from the property.” The live feed came over loud and clear in each of O’Connor’s team’s ear buds. It was nearly go time.
O’Connor gave the hand and arm signal that he would take another man and get into position at the front of the blockade. Leaders lead from the front. He didn’t just believe it. He lived it. Two other men would take up the back and another two would provide firepower from the side. A large wall hugged the alley on the opposite side. They’d have them pinned in.
The remaining two men would stay back with the vehicles and work with dispatch in case anything went sideways.
“Abort mission, I repeat, abort mission,” suddenly cracked over the comms out of nowhere.
“Repeat last, over,” O’Connor said
into his microphone. Something was definitely off.
“Abort mission. Exit Route B. Team is to take Exit Route B immediately, over.”
“Exit Route B lined with firepower for tango’s route, over.”
“I repeat, take Exit Route B immediately. Do not deviate, over.”
“Request to—”
“You are ordered to take Exit Route B, team leader. That is a direct order. Take Exit Route B. Do not deviate, over.”
O’Connor didn’t understand. Exit Route B was full of snipers who would watch to make sure El Toro got through the maze of side streets safely. O’Connor’s team was in the one position which provided a blind spot and hidden entry and exit points. Exit Route B seemed like a suicide mission. They wouldn’t be able to conceal their weapons and the route led them right to the town square. They’d be recognized, exposed, and sitting ducks.
Maybe the drone had picked up on something. Maybe there was a change in plans. At this late in the game it seemed unlikely. If O’Connor disobeyed he could be court-martialed, and worse yet could face significant loss of life … if he chose wrong.
He only had one choice. Follow the order.
The men made their way out via Exit Route B as concealed as they could. They leapfrogged and zigzagged as best they could, but still O’Connor thought he caught sight of some snipers on rooftops. The question was, did they catch site of him and his team?
As the entered the plaza they knew it was a trap.
The crowd of people and marketplace sellers that surveillance had shown to be so large each day prior had mysteriously dispersed. They found themselves fully exposed. Rounds rained down immediately.
A mortar hit the corner of the building where they were standing, quickly followed by the all too familiar sound of AK-47 fire. There was nothing they could do.
Nine days later O’Connor opened his eyes for the first time. The snipers thought they wiped out the entire team, but the two SEALs who had stayed back with the vehicles came immediately and provided backup fire. Eventually they were able to drag the bodies to an enclosed area until the policía arrived to assist the SEALs in airlifting their men.
After a few days of giving O’Connor the run around, waiting for his body and mind to show some stability, the nurse finally admitted his entire team was lost in the firefight. Even the two SEALs who had stayed back lost their lives in service to their country during the airlift.
O’Connor wretched with guilt and anger. This didn’t have to happen, but if it did, why did the entire team go down, and not the team leader? It was his idea of the exact opposite of what he was supposed to be, a leader. The captain goes down with the ship, not the crew. And why anyone had to die in the first place was still beyond him. He promised himself and his fallen teammates that he would get an answer, and revenge no matter the stakes.
In the weeks after O’Connor expected some sort of explanation or to read about some sort of debacle in the international newspapers. Neither came. The only thing he received was an honorable discharge and a few dollars to assist with the likely future hospital bills.
CHAPTER 39
Six months ago
U.S. District Court, Chicago, Illinois
Detective Brennan sat in the gallery of the courtroom, waiting for the moment she’d fought for for over two years.
The defense knew who she was. They’d seen her in the neighborhood from time to time. By the crude comments they hurled at her it was obvious they considered her little more than a crude junkie. But a junkie she wasn’t. She had spent hours studying drug addict behavior and mannerisms, small signs that would put the dealers at ease that she was no threat. They would soon find out this woman was the biggest threat they would ever face.
She had started off just making small buys, nothing that would raise a flag. Buying from the street level dealers and just showing her face from time to time. She would often arrive in the morning hours or during rush hour. She played the role of a highly functioning addict. A role that allowed her to shoot the breeze for a few minutes from time to time while she waited for her fix from the stash house. It broke her heart to see all the homeless people who also came to buy. She was able to get a few to shelters and a few more cleaned up, although it took a lot of work not to blow her cover.
Even though she appeared to have a job, and would often arrive in a car looking like she was coming to or from work, she would hear the insults as she left. Sometimes they talked about the things they wanted to do to her as she drove down the street, after she was fifty yards or more away. It wasn’t due to her acute sense of hearing, it was because she had planted bugs in the area when she leaned against a pole during a discussion, or against post boxes while bending down to tie her shoes. The wires allowed her team to listen in twenty-four hours a day. Listening was only the start.
They knew the drugs were coming up from Mexico. Part of the team wanted to take the evidence they had and bust the local distributor. He reported directly to the cartel boss, and an arrest of that magnitude would make the front page, and make the detectives shining stars throughout the entire nation. But Detective Brennan did everything in her power to push back against those wishes. And with a lot of heart, dedication, and determination she persevered. It was agreed that they would go for the big fish, known only as El Toro.
They knew the odds of him showing his face on American soil were almost nil. Only on the birth of an important child or some other major event would he be enticed to come stateside.
Little did they know the answer would show up on their front door.
While El Toro could easily impress nearly all the girls in his area, and eventually a large part of the country, there was one girl whose attention he could never command. It drove him crazy.
Her name? Maria Martinez.
Over the course of many years he tried to court her despite her resistance. When her younger cousin became ill one day, and with healthcare beyond her family’s means, a group of highly trained doctors arrived at her house and nursed the girl back to health.
Maria didn’t have to ask. She already knew who had sent the doctors. As much as her pride made her want to decline any help from a known drug kingpin, the need to see her cousin outside playing and enjoying life as a child again easily won out. She loved her too much, and swallowing her own pride meant nothing if it could help the little girl get back to good health.
After her cousin was well, she knew she must thank El Toro. As much as she despised him, she was thankful for his help.
El Toro accepted her into his home for an extravagant dinner. It would have been perfect if she hadn’t known where the money to afford such a lifestyle came from. She was not impressed.
After dinner, El Toro tried as he might to show her he was a legitimate businessman. He did have other business interests in mining natural resources and agriculture. He tried to explain that he used some of the ‘bad’ money he received and turned it to ‘good.’ None of the drugs he produced and profited from hurt the people of Mexico, he claimed. Maria was doubtful, but did find him slightly less repulsive than she first believed.
Over the next months he asked her for advice. Ways he could use the money for good. She slowly got more and more involved and eventually fell in love. She felt so glad that she was slowly changing this man. Helping him to use his money and his mind for good things.
Soon their first child came and Maria convinced El Toro that they had enough resources to comfortably last a lifetime. She strongly suggested that they could take their money and continue their legitimate businesses, and leave their drug businesses behind. El Toro wasn’t convinced. He had grown accustomed to the vast sums of wealth and was obsessed with becoming a billionaire by the time he was fifty.
Maria devoted her time to their child, ignoring El Toro, which angered him. Eventually he became violent, but Maria told herself it wasn’t very often, and that it was better to have a child raised with two parents. She was also very devoted to her faith and wouldn’t think o
f divorce.
One afternoon while Maria was visiting family, her brother Miguel noticed a bruise on her arm. He took her aside and after a long discussion, Maria admitted that El Toro had become violent.
Miguel knew it was time to get out, but also knew if they crossed El Toro their fate would be an agonizing and painful one.
The other child in their immediate family, Manuel, lived in Chicago. Manuel had just had his first child, and Miguel arranged for he and his sister and her child to attend their brother’s first child’s baptism. El Toro didn’t want to risk the trip to the States.
Before Miguel and Maria and her daughter left, he devised a plan. He knew his brother-in-law was armed to the teeth and couldn’t imagine anyone being foolish enough to take him on, until he saw the report of how the Navy SEALs had taken down Osama bin Laden.
SEAL's Secret: A Navy SEAL Romantic Suspense Novel (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 24) Page 10