Call of Duty 02 - Sworn to Protect

by DiAnn Mills

  “You’re too good,” he signed back. “Since you’re the winner, you get to go with me to the rodeo—if Mom says it’s okay.” Oh no. He should have asked Danika first. His gaze flew to her, but she smiled back. Whew. “The next one is Saturday night. But I’m not riding. It’s spectator only.”

  “I’ve already made plans for Saturday,” she signed. “Maybe a rain check?”

  “Sure. Sorry for jumping in and not checking with you first.” He rolled over onto his back and rubbed his stomach. “That sure was good pizza,” he signed.

  Tiana giggled. “You ate the most.”

  “And I’m ready for dessert.”

  Tiana peered at Danika. “Can we, Mommy?”

  “Dessert is a special treat,” Danika signed to Alex. “But it sounds great to me. Want to go for Italian ice cream? Tiana loves the mint chocolate chip.”

  Although Danika gave all indications of enjoying the evening, Alex sensed her preoccupation. No wonder. He wouldn’t be able to hide his worries nearly as well as she did.

  Today he’d overheard a conversation in the ER that he passed on to Ed. The condensed version was the Border Patrol had met its match, and they’d never find the traitor. They were looking in the wrong place. The wrong place. Did the clue mean Jacob Morales wasn’t involved?

  Ed hadn’t commented, and Alex had been too swamped to pursue an answer. Later he’d contemplate the information. Right now he was driving two beautiful ladies for gelato. Sandra chose to stay home. He knew the woman feared he’d tell the truth about her undocumented status. But for now, tonight anyway, he’d keep the information to himself.

  Within the half hour, the three scooted around a small round table with their bowls of gelato. Each had selected two flavors and then set the bowls in the middle so all could sample the mint chocolate chip, peanut butter and chocolate, tangerine, hazelnut, chocolate cookie dough, and rainbow fruit. It amazed him how Tiana acted so much like a normal four-year-old. That was due to Danika’s taking appropriate steps to help her daughter communicate in a silent world.

  Alex inwardly chuckled. Years ago while in college, his church started a deaf ministry, and he’d learned sign language. Once in a while he used signing at the hospital, but not until he was introduced to Tiana had he been able to put it to good use.

  Tiana dipped her spoon into his hazelnut.

  “You are going to pop,” he signed.

  “I have lots of tummies like a cow,” she responded and retrieved a second spoonful.

  Danika laughed. Alex liked making her happy, making both of them happy. If Danika couldn’t open up to him, at least he could add a little sunshine.

  “You talk a lot,” he signed to Tiana.

  “That’s ’cause I have fast fingers.”

  “She got you there,” Danika said audibly. “Thanks for dinner tonight. It’s been a diversion I needed.”

  “I took a gamble after our conversation this morning.”

  She pushed her bowl in Tiana’s direction. “Why are you pursuing me? I mean, let’s be honest here.”

  “I could ask the same of you. After all, you phoned Sandra to unlock the door.”

  She took a moment to answer and wiped a dribble of sticky gelato from Tiana’s chin. “I don’t know for sure.”

  He captured her gaze. He read sincerity, but he also knew part of the story behind her and Toby’s relationship. A lot of hurt lay behind those blue-gray eyes, and one day soon Alex would have to tell her about his friendship with Toby and his views about immigration.

  “I know you’re talking,” Tiana signed. “Is it about me?”

  “Typical female,” Alex responded. “Always about you.”

  “I think you like talking to my mommy. Do you think she’s pretty?”

  “Tiana,” Danika’s fingers flew, “that’s not appropriate.”

  “But true,” Alex signed. He turned to the little girl. “You and your mommy are the most beautiful women in the world.”

  Tiana beamed. Danika blushed. Tonight he was once more a lucky man.

  Chapter 27

  I doubt one could live in the darkness, but one could probably survive.

  Nathaniel LeTonnerre

  Alex stood at the ER receptionist desk and joked with the orderlies and the security guard. He faced the parking lot and drank in the peace of an empty waiting room. For a Friday afternoon, the city seemed quiet—no accidents and no outbreaks of illnesses, other than a much-needed afternoon rain that now soaked into the dry ground and continued to steadily fall.

  A white Lexus sped across the back section of the parking area and stopped at the concrete post encasing the emergency call button. Immediately Alex was alerted to a possible serious situation. The passenger door of the car opened, and a woman stumbled out, nearly falling to the pavement.

  Alex started for the door. The woman needed emergency care and was obviously incapable of making it inside the hospital. Usually that meant the one dropping off the ill or injured person didn’t want to be identified. He raced through the ER doors into the afternoon rain.

  The woman reached for the emergency call button and slid down, still grasping the concrete pole. The alarm sounded through the security guards’ radios all over the hospital, alerting them to an urgent situation.

  The driver reached across the seat and yanked the door shut, wasting no time in escaping the scrutiny of the security guards and orderlies rushing to help the fallen woman. Alex rushed ahead of the others. Not only did he hurry to aid the woman, but he also wanted the Lexus’s license plate number.

  The fallen woman glanced up, then closed her eyes. She looked to be in her early twenties. Hard to tell with her swollen face. One look at the way she held her arm, and he could tell it was broken.

  The Lexus sped away, and he hadn’t been able to read all of the license plate numbers. Somebody with money dumping off a young woman who’d been beaten. The driver must have known what direction the camera was pointed and avoided the tags being seen. Didn’t take a detective’s mind to figure out some sex-crazed guy thought he’d have a few hours of fun, then lost his cool.

  * * *

  At the station, Jacob took a call on his cell phone, thinking it was Barbara. He’d left a message at her office during the lunch hour, and she hadn’t responded. Last night he’d leased a one-bedroom apartment and planned to move in after work today. A decision had been made. A divorce was imminent, and the church’s opinion no longer held any weight. He’d fight for custody of his children and keep them away from their mother. Father Cornell had encouraged him to seek reconciliation with Barbara and to work on the source of his anger. Brainwashing, if you asked him.

  “Agent Morales,” a man said with a heavy Hispanic accent.

  “Speaking.”

  “I’m thinking you’d like information about your daughter.”

  Jacob stiffened. He sensed his blood pressure skyrocketing. “Where is she?”

  The man chuckled, a low tone that grated at Jacob’s nerves. “I can see her pretty brown eyes from here. Want to know what I’m thinking?”

  “Touch her and you’re a dead man. I’ll find you.” Jacob stood from the desk and glanced up and down the empty hallway. Where was Herrera or Jimenez when he needed them? “I want my daughter returned now.”

  “For a price.”

  Jacob understood his kind. He’d apprehended enough lowlifes to recognize greed. But he feared what would come next. “What do you have in mind?”

  “First of all, this conversation stays between us, or Naddie is a dead girl. No running to the supes or the cops or Barbara.”

  The use of the family’s pet name for Nadine twisted at his heart. “What else?”

  “I want you to update the list of sensors, and I’ll instruct you where to leave it.”

  The gravity of what the man suggested translated into exchanging Nadine’s life for some of the agents’. “You have no idea what you’re asking.”

  “I’m not finished. We want your cooper
ation in planting decoys so shipments of our goods are able to make it safely across the border and to our suppliers.”

  I don’t have a choice. “If I do these things, when will you release my daughter?”

  “When we’re satisfied you’re willing to uphold your end of the bargain, we’ll talk about it.”

  Jacob expected no less. “Can I talk to her?”

  “Maybe next time. And, Jacob, keep your nose clean. If the board decides to fire you, that’s a signature on Nadine’s death certificate. The supes can’t hold your hand through this. Looks like you need to beg for your job so you can beg to keep Naddie alive.”

  The call disconnected.

  Jacob leaned against the doorjamb, fighting the urge to throw his phone across the room. For the first time he contemplated betraying all he believed in . . . the Border Patrol and his country. He had no choice but to comply with the caller’s demands. The rogue that Homeland Security was looking for had done a thorough job. Herrera or Jimenez could be the traitor . . . or Danika. The latter made sense since Toby had been pro-immigration.

  Jacob couldn’t trust anyone, and God had let him down too many times.

  Chapter 28

  My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God.

  Job 16:20

  Sunday afternoon, Sandra sat at the kitchen table and read a Beth Moore book while Tiana colored at the kitchen table in her favorite princess coloring book. The little girl’s behavior had greatly improved since she’d asked why her daddy was not available.

  Tiana liked Alex, and that frightened Sandra. Last night when Danika and Tiana had attended Saturday evening worship, the little girl wanted Alex to join them. Danika suggested they ask him another time. Sandra hoped “another time” never happened.

  For Sandra, seeing the doctor again would be terrifying, but she doubted if she had much choice. How would she answer his questions about her illegal status, and what about the consequences if the Border Patrol discovered the truth? Worse yet, what about her relationship with Danika and losing the company of her dear friend and little girl. She’d like to think Danika wouldn’t turn her in, but Sandra knew better. Danika could lose her job and face prosecution for harboring an illegal. But Sandra had so much more to worry about. She had higher stakes. Her father needed surgery, and his procedure required money her parents didn’t have.

  Her phone rang, and the ID read Lucy. Sandra ignored it, but the call came through again. Then a third time. She’d turn the phone off except Danika might need her.

  What if the call was about Jose? Knowing Lucy, she’d drive to the house. When the phone rang a fourth time, Sandra answered it.

  “About time.” Lucy swore. “I have things to do.”

  “So do I.”

  “Hey, I did you a favor with your boyfriend.”

  So now she owed Lucy for Jose? “He’s not my boyfriend.”

  “How about an extra two hundred dollars a week?”

  “Not interested.”

  “Think about it, Sandra. Wouldn’t you rather have a few extra dollars to send to Mexico instead of worrying about medical expenses?”

  “I can take care of things myself. Whatever you want is wrong.”

  Lucy laughed. “Who are you to challenge what is right or wrong? Two hundred extra dollars a week for supplying information.”

  “I said not interested.”

  “I have my ways, and it looks like I’ll have to use them.”

  Sandra disconnected the call and put her cell phone on vibrate, something she should have done in the beginning. All she could do was live each day and hope Lucy ceased with her demands. Un pensamiento loco. A crazy thought. Lucy’s ceasing to manipulate her was as unrealistic as the fairy princesses in Tiana’s coloring book.

  * * *

  Tuesday afternoon, Danika took advantage of Tiana’s nap to pay a visit to Barbara at work and to see Shannon for an afternoon counseling appointment. Alex had invited her and Tiana to dinner, and she’d accepted without hesitation. She should have weighed the consequences of too much too soon before accepting, but her heart overruled her good sense. Establishing a relationship with Alex scared her, as though past encounters with drug smugglers were easier, and yet she wanted to step into uncharted waters.

  Walking up the steps to Barbara’s office in the four-story, glass-encased office building, Danika realized she hadn’t been checking on her sister-in-law enough. Families and responsibility partnered in good times and bad. Calls needed to be placed every day, and visits made to the kids on her days off. Nadine had not been found, and the inability to locate her ripped fear through Danika’s heart. But reality was not a viable excuse. Barbara deserved a listening ear to vent her grief and a shoulder to cry on. The longer Nadine was missing, the more it increased the likelihood of her not being found alive. First Toby and now possibly Nadine. Tragedy was no respecter of persons.

  To add even more trouble, yesterday morning Jacob had been dismissed from the Border Patrol. As much as she despised rumors, it seemed Jacob was the suspected rogue, and she’d heard charges had also been filed against him for the mistreatment of the illegal.

  Danika took the stairs to the second-floor office. The extra few minutes gave her time to contemplate what to say to Barbara. But at the top of the staircase, she had no more idea of what to say than before. A long hallway loomed ahead. Paste on a smile, girl, and pray up.

  The receptionist phoned Barbara and sent Danika to her office. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door. Barbara stared into the computer screen, and when she turned to Danika, hollow, reddened eyes told a grief-filled story.

  Barbara stood and Danika embraced her. “Hey, sweetie. What can I do?”

  Barbara slumped back into the chair. Besides being pale, she’d lost weight and she didn’t have any to lose. “I keep thinking things cannot get worse, but then they do.”

  “No word from Nadine?” Danika slid into a chair across from Barbara’s desk.

  Barbara reached for her hand. “I’m afraid something horrible has happened to her. I know my Naddie. She was angry, but with time she always comes to me.”

  “How are the other kids?”

  “Sad. Yesterday Amber asked if she’d ever see her sister again. I honestly didn’t know how to comfort her except to lie.”

  “Do you want me to take them for the night?” Danika had no problem canceling tonight’s dinner with Alex.

  “I couldn’t stand having them gone.” She hesitated. “Maybe a movie or something would divert them—but not tonight.”

  “I’ll swing by in the morning, pick them up for breakfast, and spend the day with them. Do they need school supplies?”

  Barbara took a deep breath. “As a matter of fact, I haven’t bought a thing for school.”

  “If you and Jacob approve, I could do a little clothes shopping with them.”

  Fresh tears dripped from Barbara’s eyes. “Jacob moved out. Said he filed for divorce.”

  Danika chose not to discuss his dismissal from work. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Maybe it’s for the best. I don’t know. He says he’ll fight me for custody.”

  “On what grounds? Never mind. He’d never win.”

  “I want to believe that. The priest told me God and the courts are on the mother’s side.”

  Danika believed the same in this case. “I want to be more of a help. I’ve neglected you.”

  “You have your own hands full. All this time I’ve admired you for the way you are raising Tiana and managing your career. Now I must do the same thing, and I’m frightened.” Barbara reached for a tissue. “If only my Naddie would come home. I want to hold her and tell her I love her.”

  “Have you been talking to Lucy?”

  “Sometimes twice a day. She has a way of making me feel better.”

  “Good. Support during a crisis is so important, and I know you two are close. I don’t want to stay too long and have your boss upset with me. I’ll pick up the kids in the morning abou
t eight thirty and return them when you get home. I’ll call about eight to make sure they’re up and ready.”

  “That’s wonderful. They will be excited to be away from the problems for a little while. I love you, my sister.”

  Danika blinked to keep from shedding her own tears. They embraced again, and Danika left the office for her counseling appointment. Her prayers circled around the Morales family. So many needs, so many broken hearts. Where was Nadine, and was she alive?

  An eerie sensation swirled through her. Could someone be out to destroy the Morales family—one by one? Could the same person who killed Toby also have snatched Nadine? Worse yet . . . The thought sickened her.

  Danika shoved aside the nightmarish thoughts the moment Shannon ushered her into the small office and began their session with prayer.

  “I see oppression in your eyes,” Shannon said. “Tell me what’s going on.”

  And begin she did, crawling through the horrendous situation with Nadine’s disappearance, Jacob’s deserting his family, the threats against her, and wondering if she was nuts to welcome a relationship with Alex. Not to mention Toby’s unsolved murder. The enormity of stating all the garbage smelling up her life depressed her.

  “Do I need to remind you that worry solves nothing; it only proves our lack of trust in God?” Shannon offered Danika a bottle of Diet Coke.

  “I understand the principle. What throws me off balance is the application.”

  “You tell me you’re taking safety precautions with the threats. You’re dedicated to supporting your sister-in-law in single parenthood and walking with her through a divorce and the high probability of losing a daughter.”

  “Jacob and Barbara haven’t gotten along since Toby’s death. I could kick myself for not noticing how badly it had affected Nadine.” Danika shrugged. “I’m beginning to think the telephone threat was meaningless. No illegal wants to be questioned by a Border Patrol agent.”