by Linda Ladd
Novak kept out of sight and waited. Maybe the guy had just been hungry and would now head back to the boat. That would be good. Maybe he didn’t know where Marisol and Jenn were, after all. Or maybe he was going on the hunt again. Maybe he was waiting for coordinates from whoever was tracking Marisol.
The Mayan did not turn north and head back to the marina. He went south again, heading down the highway toward the northern suburbs of Chetumal. Novak pulled out and tailed him. They were passing lots of trendy restaurants and nightclubs and theaters, the party spots, mostly built up around American businesses. Lots of the tourists were off the cruise ships, no doubt about it. The sidewalks were thronged with mostly young people out on the town and strolling about in large groups, probably a lot of them up from the city. Novak could hear mariachi bands playing in the outdoor cafes. Maybe the killer liked the nightlife. Maybe he was going to pick up a hooker and take her back to the boat and scalp her. Maybe that was how he amused himself on his off hours.
The Mayan didn’t do any of those things. He just kept driving, slowly and carefully, until he reached the city limits of Chetumal and stopped at a four-way intersection. Then he turned inland and headed up a ramp and onto the same four-lane highway that had brought Novak into town on the bus. Novak followed the car, staying thirty or forty yards behind the Subaru. Twenty minutes later, the guy took an off-ramp down onto another busy street, and then he circled back toward the ocean. By that time, Novak had begun to get a bad feeling. Because it now looked to him as if the Mayan was heading, in a roundabout way, for Jenn’s safe house. Novak didn’t wait to find out. They were about six city blocks from Jenn’s street now. The traffic had cleared as they neared the beach communities and hotels.
Novak jerked out his phone and punched in Jenn’s number. When she picked up, he said, “Get out, Jenn. Go out through the tunnel. He’s headed straight for you right now. About a mile away. Get Marisol and get the hell out. I’ll meet you where we had that picnic in the rain. You know it.”
“Yes,” she said, and then she hung up and got busy. She would get the girl out to the car that she kept gassed up and head out through the back alley. She had probably followed the same getaway procedure dozens of times during her career. Marisol would be okay. But this meant that the Mayan knew exactly where she was. How the hell had he located her? How the devil was he tracking them? If he could track them with this kind of pinpoint accuracy, they would never get away from him.
Novak considered his options and then chose the best one. He picked up his phone again and dialed up the local police station. When a man answered at the other end, Novak spoke in Spanish. “There’s a man out on Avenida Alvaro Obregon. Just past the intersection at Revolución. He’s driving a white Subaru Outback. He’s small and short and he’s wearing a black T-shirt and jeans and a ponytail. He’s got a gun and he’s shooting at people out of the car window. He’s already wounded a lady! Hurry, you got to help us! I think she’s dead!”
“What’s your name, sir?”
As if. “Hurry, please, she’s dying. Now he’s shooting again. Everybody’s running. He’s coming this way. Hurry, please!”
“Help is on the way, sir. Please give me your name—”
Novak hung up, and within three minutes, he heard a distant police siren coming his way. He braked and pulled over, and then he took the battery out of the cell phone, opened the door, and dropped it on the ground. He pulled out into traffic again, waited several minutes, then threw the phone out the window in front of an oncoming truck. A police car came into sight in his rearview mirror and then roared by him. Flashing lights were already visible ahead, where it looked like the cops were converging on the Outback. Maybe Novak would get lucky, after all. Maybe the Mayan had a cache of drugs hidden under the seat or a bag full of illegal weapons. Maybe he had some scalps in his backpack, or the green obsidian blade that he planned to use on Marisol. But for now, thank God, the killer had been waylaid by the Mexican authorities and would likely be tied up for some time. Novak had a window of opportunity to get to the women and figure out how the Mayan was tracking them.
Novak turned off about two side streets from the commotion ahead, and then he headed back toward the Parque Ecológico, where he and Jenn had their picnic so long ago. The park had very few visitors after dark. Jenn and Marisol would be hard for anybody but him to find out there in the darkness. He knew exactly where Jenn would be. He drove slowly and carefully, eyes on the rearview mirror, sure as hell not wanting to attract any undue attention.
Fortunately, the park looked pretty much deserted. Novak turned in to the nearest entrance and followed the meandering tarmac road. It was a nice place, and he had enjoyed it when Jenn showed him around. He had still been walking with a cane that day. He took the path to the right when the road forked. Jenn would get to the park first. Novak trusted her ability, especially when she was on her home turf and doing her thing. He came to a gravel utility road, one that led him back into a small copse of trees. Jenn’s RV was parked on the shoulder about thirty yards in, almost invisible in the darkness.
Jenn got out of the driver’s seat the minute his headlights hit her vehicle. She started walking swiftly toward his car. Novak killed the lights and got out.
“What the hell’s going on, Novak? Nobody’s ever found one of my safe houses before.”
“I don’t think he found it through any mistake we made. I think he found it through the girl.”
Novak strode past her and opened the door of the motor home and then stepped up into the Winnebago. Jenn remained outside on watch, but held the door open. The light inside was on, and the girl was sitting in the same place she’d been before, right before she had jumped out and run off. “What the hell’s going on, Marisol?”
Novak was damn pissed off now, because she had to have been the one who alerted the Mayan. She was going to tell him how she’d done it, and more important, why she’d done it. The girl pressed herself farther back into the chair, acting terrified. But she wasn’t terrified. She was watching him and calculating how much she could get by with. “What’s wrong? Why are you yelling at me? What did I do?”
“You’re leading that guy straight to us. Tell me how you’re doing it.”
Man, the innocent look she could put on. “No, I’m not. Why would I do that? He’s trying to kill me!”
“You tell me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I followed him, Marisol, and he went shopping and had a quick little dinner and then he headed straight for Jenn’s house. He had to have known somehow. You’re the only one who could’ve alerted him. Do you have a cell phone on you? Did you call him?”
“No, I don’t have a phone. I don’t have anything.”
“Who was the blond girl you were meeting on that street?”
“I don’t know any girl. I can’t believe you think I’d want him to find me. You saw how he hit me on the boat. He tried to kill me. He left me for dead.”
Jenn glanced up at him and then turned to watch for incoming company. “Hurry it up, Novak. I want to get out of here.”
“He’s not coming after us anytime soon. I sicced the police on him. At least for now.”
“I swear! I swear it!” Marisol was starting up with her weeping act, imploring him with clasped hands and woeful eyes. “I don’t want him to find me. He’s going to cut my throat, like he did to those men. He’s going to cut off my hair.”
Novak stared down at her and tried to think it through. His anger was making it difficult. “How many times have you run away?”
“Lots of times, but the longest was when I went to Miami.”
“Did this Mayan guy find you that time?”
“Yes.”
“What did he do when he found you?”
“He handcuffed me and took me back to my father’s compound near Mexico City.”
Novak felt his jaw clamp. She was still lying. She didn’t know how to tell the truth. He turned to Je
nn. “She’s got to have an implanted chip in her body. That’s the only way he could keep finding us. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. Every wealthy family in Mexico implants their children with GPS chips because of the kidnappings going on down here. Ruiz would definitely have it done to his own daughter.”
Novak grabbed the girl up by her shoulders. “Did anybody ever inject you with anything?”
“No! Wait, I mean yes. They gave me a sedative when they brought me back from Miami. It made me sleep for hours.”
“Where did they give it to you?”
“At Papi’s compound.”
“I mean where on your body, damn it!”
“In my hip.”
“Let me see. Hurry it up.”
For once, Marisol obeyed without complaint. She pulled her shorts down on one side, enough for him to see. Jenn stepped up and watched as Novak moved the tips of his fingers along the upper curve of her hip. He found the chip after about ten seconds.
“Give me your knife, Jenn.”
Jenn pulled it off her waist and handed it over, hilt first.
“No, stop! Wait! What are you going to do? Don’t cut me—”
That’s as far as she got before Novak had the tip of the knife under her skin and was digging out the small black GPS chip.
“Ouch! Stop it!” she cried, trying to twist away. “Why would they put that in me?”
“Why do you think? They wanted to track you next time you took off.”
While Novak examined the chip, Jenn stepped inside and pressed a towel down on the cut to stop the bleeding. A moment later, Novak smashed up the chip and hurled the pieces out the door. That chip answered a lot of Novak’s questions. Marisol was sure as hell gonna answer the rest of them.
“Let’s get out of here, Jenn. We’ll go back to the hotel. Separately. Different routes. But you need to strip-search her in case there’s another chip before we go anywhere else.”
Jenn told Marisol to take off her clothes, and then she examined every inch of her body, while Novak stood outside the door and watched for cars. When she didn’t find anything, they took off, one at a time, Novak first. At the entrance to the park, Novak turned right and headed back north to the Bahia del Sol. Okay, now a few more pieces of the puzzle fit into place. But there was more to it, and he had to get the answers. He’d find them on that boat, and that was where he was going right now.
Chapter Fourteen
Back at the Bahia del Sol, everything remained nice and calm. Novak arrived first and took the stairwell to the top floor. The late hour ensured that he wouldn’t run into any nosy people. His surveillance equipment still sat in place, and he hastily swung the balcony doors open and sat down. The killer’s boat was still out there, completely dark, and rocking slightly on incoming waves. No sign of life whatsoever. A quick scan of the parking lot below told him that the Mayan’s Subaru Outback was nowhere to be seen. So he waited and watched, deciding pretty much right off the bat that he was going to steal that boat and he was going to do it tonight. Now that Marisol’s GPS chip was destroyed, she and Jenn should be safe. He wanted them back at the hotel first, and then he was going in. Novak coveted that boat in the worst way. The thought of taking it right out from under the assassin’s nose gave Novak supreme pleasure.
The two women showed up twenty minutes later. Jenn was wont to take the most circuitous route possible—her inbred evasion tactics. She reported that nobody had seen them enter at the back of the hotel. The grounds had been basically deserted, just one couple playing tennis on a lighted court on the far side of the dark pool area, night owls and/or insomniacs.
Novak sat Marisol down on the couch and demanded answers. The routine was getting old and tired. He knew already that she might spin a new pack of complicated lies. She was good at it, but the tattoo had done a lot to prove her real identity, so he rested a bit easier on that count. Still, he had doubts and probably would never trust her completely. The question was, why had she habitually lied to him?
So he asked her the same questions again, but nothing he said shook her innocent declaration of ignorance. She just sat there and looked pitiful. More denials and more trembling fears that the Mayan was going to get her. That he was coming after her. That he was going to scalp her. That nobody could stop him. Marisol was a pretty little liar and proved it endlessly. Still, she was a stupid young girl in mortal danger. Neither he nor Jenn were cruel enough to cast her out on the street and let the killer have her.
“Jenn, we need to talk. You stay right here,” he told Marisol.
Marisol slunk down farther in the easy chair until she looked smaller, almost like a child. That kid really could win an Academy Award.
“So what now?” Jenn asked him. They stood just inside the master bedroom door. She stayed in the threshold, watching the girl. Marisol had moved now and was lying facedown on the couch. Quiet, for a change.
“We’re never going to trust her motives,” Novak said. “So, we need to concentrate on finding a safe place to drop her off. Let somebody else worry about her for a change. A police station, or a Catholic convent, maybe.”
“I’d choose the convent. The police around here can be iffy. And the Mayan? What about him? He’s not going to stop coming after us, is he?”
“Not until he finds us again and takes care of business. Won’t be so easy now, without the GPS. And I’m taking his boat tonight and leaving him stranded here.”
“You really think he’s still coming?”
“Yeah. He wants to silence that kid in there. She’s an eyewitness to the murder of her boyfriend as well as the attempt to murder her. I’m taking his boat to throw him off and put a crimp in his style. I think that boat is his command center and he’ll be lost without it. At least for a while. It’s sitting down there right now, deserted, ripe for the taking. With a little luck, I can find out his real name and report him to the authorities—Interpol, if he’s got the Mexicans paid off. I need to get the boat out of here before the police release him. If they’re working with him, it won’t take him long to get out. If we’re lucky, they won’t release him until later tonight. Depends on how deep the bribery goes. I figure I’ve got a window of about an hour, maybe a little more, if they don’t lock him up. That’s plenty of time to get the boat and take her out to sea.”
“What about us?”
“You stay here with the kid. Make sure you stay under the radar. You’ll be safe enough up here. Just keep your weapon close.”
“Well, don’t get caught. We’ve got enough trouble without having to get you out of jail.”
This time Novak actually smiled. “You’re awfully agreeable all of a sudden.”
“I can be agreeable at times. Think back.”
Novak’s eyes dropped to her mouth. It wasn’t hard to recall those times.
Jenn smiled, but almost instantly sobered. “What do you want me to do?”
“Stay here and watch the parking lot. Keep the lights off. I’m going out to the boat and take a look around. I’ll board her if it looks like a go. If he comes back, I’ll have the element of surprise. If he doesn’t, I’ll get the boat started and take her out to sea. You and the kid can meet up with me later somewhere. Safer for you that way, in case I get caught. Got a good place where we could rendezvous?”
“Let’s just meet up at my beach house on the coast south of Belize City. You remember where it is. It’s safer down there, and I have more pull with the authorities. I’ve got to check on an asset I’ve got stashed down that way, anyway. I can take the Winnebago and get the girl through the border with a bribe. I know some of the border guards. You’ve been to my place. Meet you there sometime tomorrow.”
“Think you can handle Marisol by yourself?”
She gave him a look. “What do you think, Novak?”
Jenn had an innate way of garnering cooperation. Marisol would toe the line around her. Then again, Marisol was a young and flighty girl who lied every time her lips moved. Sometimes fear
shadowed her eyes, too, fear that Novak sensed was genuine. She was afraid of the killer but had tried to shake Novak anyway. Why? It didn’t make sense. She was safer with him. She would already be dead if it weren’t for Jenn and him. And then there was that blond girl that Marisol claimed not to know. Novak thought differently but couldn’t figure how she fit into Marisol’s drama. Or if she did at all.
“Okay, Jenn, stay on the binoculars. The Mayan’s gonna come back here in a white Subaru Outback, unless he’s been thrown in jail. Maybe they found illegal weapons or drugs in his possession, but I don’t think he’s stupid enough to be caught like that. Not with his track record. So he’ll be back here eventually.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll keep an eye on the windows. Keep the lights turned off. If you see him coming, switch them on. Don’t use a cell. He’ll hear it, even on vibrate. It’s too quiet down there on the water at night.”
“Sure you don’t want some backup? I could handcuff Marisol to the bathroom sink.”
“I can get down there, sight unseen, no problem. Two of us might be noticed.”
“Just don’t get caught, Novak.”
When they left the bedroom, Marisol was still lying on the couch, either asleep or pretending to be. Jenn sat down in front of the binoculars. “It’s dead down there. Better get going. Time’s a-wasting.”
Novak slipped a black sweatshirt over his shirt and snugged on the ball cap. When he stopped at the front door, Jenn glanced at him
“Good luck. Don’t take stupid chances. I like you better alive.”
“Don’t worry.”
Novak let himself out, making sure that he heard the locks click and then the rattle of the security chain. He moved quickly down the hall and into the stairwell. It was very late now. Everybody in bed, he hoped. Nobody was taking the stairs, but nobody ever took the stairs, not since elevators had been invented. He ran down to the first floor, took a quick peek out into the hallway. Nothing stirring. He exited through the side door and tried to avoid the wavering reflections coming off the pool lights. It was quiet out in the rose garden. No cars were moving around in the parking lots. Nobody was out on the balconies, talking or smoking cigarettes. The tennis players were gone, the court now dark and deserted.