The Cartel Strikes Back: The Ted Higuera Series, Book 5

by Pendelton Wallace

  These men were no threat to her. But what did they want?

  He observed more closely. Maria picked up a piece of kelp from the beach and whipped it at Popo. The big dog jumped aside and barked his deep bark. He snapped at the seaweed with his teeth. Maria pulled it back and whipped it again. This time Popo was ready for her. He grabbed the seaweed in his massive jaws and held on.

  Maria pulled and pulled at the kelp, but Popo stood firm. He must weigh at least seventy pounds more than her.

  Finally, she said something to the dog and dropped her end of the plant, turned and walked off. After a moment, Popo dropped the kelp and ran after her.

  She spun and darted back towards the kelp. Her graceful movement was like a young fawn running through the forest. Ted held his breath. He had never seen her more uninhibited, more lovely.

  The big dog charged after her, he had played this game before, but swift as he was, his mistress reached the kelp first.

  She grabbed the bulbous end and whipped the long tendril at Popo. He barked and sprang aside like a sheep on all four legs.

  Lather, rinse, repeat, Ted thought.

  A dark SUV passed by on the street. The two men, ever vigilant, grabbed the fanny packs at their sides and ran for Maria. The SUV continued on.

  The men talked with Maria for a moment, then she dropped the strand of kelp, said something to Popo and headed for the Malecon.

  As they reached the street, a large black 4X4 pickup pulled to the curb. One of the men opened the door, and Maria climbed in. The other man lowered the tailgate and Popo jumped up. The men got in the truck and it started off down the street.

  Ted had to follow, to see where they were going. Traffic was slow and he could keep pace running up the Malecon, but he couldn’t do this for long. They might be going somewhere miles away, he’d never maintain this speed.

  His jeep was parked at the hotel, only about six blocks away. If he could keep up with them, he could follow in the jeep.

  There were so many cars on the road, that Ted actually passed the truck. He kept a sharp eye on it as he raced to the hotel parking lot. When he pulled the Jeep onto the street, he could see the big pickup several cars ahead of him.

  The truck continued down Abosolo Street past the Malecon to a more commercial district. These weren’t shops for the tourist; there were fabric stores, bike shops, a hamburger joint and a car rental place. This was where the citizens of La Paz did business.

  As they passed the Chedraui supermarket, the black pickup turned right towards the beach. Ted followed.

  A few blocks up, the pickup turned into the parking garage for a condominium tower. The driver swiped a card on the black box on the side of the driveway and the entrance gate swung up.

  Ted couldn’t get into the garage, so he left his Jeep parked illegally in the turnaround in front of the building.

  ****

  Luck was with him, an older woman was coming out of the door as he reached it. Ted held the door open for her.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “You’re welcome.” Ted performed one of the oldest tricks in the hacker’s manual, piggy backing on someone who had legitimate access to the building. Now for the big problem.

  Where had she gone? The building was seven stories tall with at least a hundred units in it. He couldn’t go around knocking on every door, sooner or later security would get suspicious of him and throw him out.

  Security! That was it. He glanced around the lobby and spotted two security cameras. Someone had to be monitoring those. Time for a little social engineering.

  A sign showing the location of the manager’s office and Security sent him along his way.

  At the security office, he tried the door. It was locked. He politely knocked.

  “¿Quien es?” a female voice on the intercom next to the door handle asked.

  “Soy Eduardo Higuera,” Ted answered. “I’m a police detective from the United States.” Lying was part and parcel of his trade.

  A buzzer sounded and Ted pulled the door open. Inside he found a modern office with eight TV monitors above the desk. An attractive young woman in a blue uniform sat behind the desk.

  “Hi, I am Ted Higuera.” Ted flashed his PI badge. “I am with the Seattle Police Department. We’re looking for a missing person.”

  A broad smile crossed her face and she brushed back an imaginary lock of hair. She hardly looked at the badge.

  “They call me Juana,” the guard said.

  Ted leaned one elbow on the counter and smiled back at the girl. “What’s a beautiful girl like you doing working security? You should be in the movies.”

  The guard stifled a giggle and cast her eyes down at the desk.

  “Like I said, we are looking for a missing person.”

  “He must be very important,” she said.

  “We try to be thorough.” Ted kept an eye on the monitors. It didn’t take long before he saw what he was looking for.

  On the far right hand monitor in the top row, he saw Maria, Popo and her two body guards emerge from the elevator.

  “His name is Mr. Gonzales. We think he may have been here recently.” Ted was making it up as he went.

  On the monitor, he saw Maria open a door and go into a condo.

  “No, I have not seen Señor Gonzales in some time. I think his daughter is staying here.”

  “Oh, really? May I ask in what unit? Maybe she can help me.”

  The woman looked at her computer monitor, hit a few buttons on her keyboard and looked back up at Ted. “She is in unit seven hundred and twenty-five. On the top floor, facing the ocean. Her father owns three units on that floor.”

  “Thank you very much. I’ll see if she knows anything about her father.”

  The girl flashed him her best Hollywood smile. “I get off at eleven.”

  Ted smiled at the security guard, turned and left the office.

  The building was very quiet. By May, most of the snowbirds headed north. It took Ted no time to catch an elevator and ride up to the seventh floor.

  As he stepped off the elevator, he looked around. He immediately spotted the security camera on which he’d seen Maria. He walked down the corridor to unit seven twenty-five.

  What was he going to say? Would she even want to see him?

  He approached her door and lightly knocked. He noticed that it was a steel door.

  The doors for the two adjoining apartments swung open. The burly bodyguards stepped out.

  “What do you want?” one asked.

  “I’m here to see Maria.”

  “There is no Maria here.”

  Maria’s door opened. “It is okay, José, he is a friend.”

  The two men looked at each other. An unspoken communication passed between them and they returned to their apartments.

  Maria threw her arms around Ted’s neck. “Ted. What are you doing here?” She hugged him so hard he thought he’d lose consciousness.

  Popo tried to push his nose between the couple.

  “Hey, boy, it’s good to see you.” Ted ran his hand over Popo’s head.

  “I came to find you,” he said to Maria. “You didn’t answer my calls, my texts. You just disappeared without a word. I knew you were in some kind of trouble.”

  “No! You can’t be here. You have to go home.” Maria pushed him away, pulled him into her apartment and locked the door.

  “What’s with the two goons in the other apartments?” Ted asked.

  “They’re two of Dad’s employees. They’re here to watch over me.”

  The unit was tastefully decorated with a mixture of Mexican and American art. Modern looking furniture graced the apartment, but ancient statues sat on the tables. A wide screen photo of the Seattle skyline hung on the wall next to a picture that Ted immediately recognized.

  “Is that a Frida Kahlo?” he asked, incredulous. He’d never even seen an original Kahlo outside of a museum. “An original?”

  “I brought it from the ranch. I lo
ve it so.”

  It was a self portrait of the artist. She was a stern looking woman with butterflies in her dark hair, a slight mustache and a dark unibrow. On one shoulder sat a black cat, on the other a monkey.

  “That must be worth . . .”

  “A lot.”

  “Listen, I’ve been to the ranch, I’ve talked to your mother. I know all about your father.”

  Maria gasped and held a hand to her mouth.

  “What did she tell you?”

  “That he’s been kidnapped. That they haven’t heard from the kidnappers yet.”

  Maria sat in a padded wooden chair. “That’s all? Did she tell you about Dad’s business?”

  Popo tried to climb in her lap. “Down,” she commanded.

  Popo settled for sitting on the floor with his head in her lap.

  Ted sat on the sofa across from her. “No. Why? What does that have to do with anything?”

  Maria breathed a sigh of relief. “Nothing. I just wondered what she told you.”

  Ted felt his spidey sense tingling.

  She’s holding something back.

  “What about your father’s business? Would it get him in this kind of trouble?”

  “Oh, Ted.” Maria got up and moved over next to Ted, Popo following her every move. “This is Mexico. Anyone with any money is a target. That’s why Nacho and José are here, to protect me.” She put her hands around Ted’s arm and snuggled into his shoulder. “I really missed you.”

  Ted could smell that something was wrong. Why was she changing the subject?

  “I missed you too. That’s why I came looking for you.” She felt so good next to him. “But tell me about your father. Everything I know will help.”

  Maria sat up straight. “Help what?”

  “Finding him, mensa. I’m going to help you find him.”

  A look of panic flashed across her face, then quickly disappeared. “Ted, you can’t. You have to go home. You can’t stay here. It’s too dangerous.”

  “Dangerous? Maria, what about you? What are you into?”

  She stood and walked to the balcony with her arms wrapped around her. The view was spectacular. To the left the broad bay stretched back to the shallow inlets at its head. Directly ahead, the Magote, a long sand spit that separated the bay from the Sea of Cortez rose out of the blue water.

  Ted thought the view was spectacular too. Her long, lean frame swayed rhythmically when she walked. Her skirt clung to her slender hips just right.

  Popo moved with her, as if he were on an invisible tether.

  Ted followed her out onto the balcony.

  “Well?” He stood next to her at the railing. He longed to touch her, to take her into his arms, but something felt wrong. He knew he shouldn’t push it.

  Maria stared at him for a moment then seemed to make up her mind. “Dad has a produce company. He buys fruits and vegetables from local farmers and he flies them to California. He’s so successful because he can get them to market so fast. He’s branched out into other businesses. We have the ranch, we own two resort hotels, one in La Paz and one in Cabo.”

  “So, what’s so dangerous about that?”

  Maria breathed in. “Ted, the people that took him, that have him, they’re dangerous people. They’ll do anything to get what they want. They won’t hesitate to kill anyone. You have to go home. I can’t stand for you to put yourself in danger.”

  Ted took her by the shoulders and turned her towards him. Popo growled.

  “I’ve been there before. I’m a big boy, I can handle myself.”

  “You’ve never faced anything like these monsters. They’re narcos. They’re tough and ruthless. They have an army at their command. They’ll stop at nothing.”

  “Maria, I haven’t told you the whole story. When we were here last time, when I met you, we were fighting the drug cartels. The evidence we produced got El Lobo killed and El Pozolero thrown in prison.”

  “Ted, I do know that.” Tears dripped from her eyes. “That’s why I’m so worried. El Pozolero has escaped from prison.”

  Ted took her hand and led her back into the condo. “That shouldn’t be a problem. El Pozolero was in prison in Mexico City. He’s probably holing up in the hills somewhere in Chihuahua right now.”

  “That is the problem, Ted. He’s here.”

  Chapter 19

  It was four a.m. before Chris pulled his sleek Porsche Boxster into the parking lot of the South District Precinct Station in industrial South Seattle. A visit to the police department and, later, to arraignment court, required that Chris wear his scary lawyer outfit. It took him a little time to make himself presentable.

  The espresso stands weren’t open yet, so he was running on empty.

  Chris entered the door of the one-story brick building. There was a small lobby and a desk sergeant behind a bullet-proof glass guarded counter.

  “I’m Chris Hardwick, attorney for Carlos Higuera,” he said to the sergeant. “I would like to speak with my client.”

  The bored sergeant looked at his computer monitor. “Yeah, we got him. You got some ID?”

  Chris showed his identification and the sergeant buzzed the heavy door open. “An officer will take you back to the interview room.”

  A tall female officer waited on the other side of the door. It was getting close to the end of the shift. She looked half asleep. She led Chris back into the bowels of the building without a word.

  She opened a door and waved Chris inside.

  Chris set his briefcase down on the table and sat in the chair facing the mirrored wall and door. Time passed. Chris checked his wristwatch. Nearly four thirty. He opened his case and took out a file folder.

  The folder really didn’t have anything of importance; it was a prepared new client checklist and some forms, but he didn’t want anyone looking through the two-way mirror to think he was sitting passively waiting. It was important to keep up appearances.

  Finally, the door opened and an officer escorted Carlito into the room.

  “Chris, thank God. Where’s Mama?”

  The officer unlocked Carlito’s handcuffs and left the room.

  “She’ll be here soon. Right now, I need to talk to you. Sit down.”

  Carlito looked around the bare room. He stared into the mirror for a moment, then sat with his back facing it as Chris had arranged.

  “They’re watching us, aren’t they?” Carlito said.

  “They’re not supposed to be, but you can’t trust anyone. We have to act like they are. They wouldn’t dare listen in on our conversation. That would get everything that we discussed thrown out of court for violating attorney/client privilege.”

  Carlito nodded his head.

  “Do you understand attorney/client privilege?” Chris asked.

  “Sure. We watch a lot of Law and Order on TV.”

  “Good. In a nut-shell, it means that whatever we discuss between ourselves can’t be used in court. We have to be careful though, if anyone else is in the room, even your mama, then our conversation isn’t privileged. You understand?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Okay, let’s start at the beginning. First, I have some papers you have to sign so that you’re officially my client.”

  Chris shoved the form that he had filled out earlier with Carlito’s information across the table. “All you have to do is sign the form on the bottom. I’ll have to get your mom to sign it too, since you’re a minor.”

  Carlito signed and passed the form back.

  “Now tell me what happened.”

  “I don’t know what happened. I was asleep and I heard all this commotion in the front room. I met Angela in the hallway and we went to the front room together. Hope was talking to a bunch of cops. The big, hairy one grabbed me and put ‘cuffs on me. That’s all I know.”

  “Hope said you were arrested for two counts of murder. I haven’t got the booking papers yet, but what do you know about the killings?”

  “Nothing. I swear. I don’t
even know those guys. I was home in bed at the time. Mama and Angie will swear to that.”

  “That’s a good start. I need to find out more about their case, why they picked you up. I’ll do all of that as soon as the city offices open. In the meantime, you have to stay cool. Don’t talk to anyone about the case. Especially anyone in your cell. Criminals will try to weasel information out of you so they can trade to the police for privileges. You keep quiet and let me go to work.”

  Chris left the interview room after the police officer took Carlito away. He made his way back to the lobby door. When he opened the door, he saw the family huddled in the waiting room.

  “Chris!” Hope jumped to her feet and flew at Chris. She wrapped her arms around him like he was a life jacket in a stormy sea.

  “What’s going on? Where’s Carlito?”

  Chris hugged his girl back. “I don’t know yet. I can’t see the arrest warrant or papers until the offices open. Carlito is here. He’s safe, you don’t have to worry about him.”

  “No,” Mama said. “I want him home. You have to get him out.”

  “That’s a little more complicated than you think,” Chris said, as he pried Hope’s arms off of him. “This is a capital murder charge. He’ll be arraigned in the morning. We’ll plead ‘not guilty’ of course, then we’ll argue about bail. The State will demand remand. That means that Carlito would have to stay in jail until his trial. I’ll ask for Carlito to be released on his own recognizance. The judge will probably set bail. It’ll be high, maybe a million dollars or two. We’re going to have to find a bondsman that can handle that.”

  “No,” Mama said. “We can pay that. We still have most of Papa’s lottery winnings in the bank. I just want him home.”

  Chris hugged Mama and Angela. “It’s going to be okay. Carlito says you can vouch for him, that he was at home at the time of the crime. We’ll get him out. I just have to see what evidence the State has that got him arrested.”

  “When will we know something?” Hope asked.

  Chris looked down at his short girlfriend. Her eyes were red and swollen, like Mama’s and Angela’s. He felt a twanging of his heart strings.