Instead of stopping, the passenger in the truck fired multiple shots in Declan’s direction. He went down. The truck picked up speed and turned out of the gravel lot and into the field behind the bar.
Sean didn’t know if Declan was hit, but he couldn’t let these guys get away. He aimed and fired at the truck, trying to get the tires, but the distance and the poor lighting hindered him. He hit the truck multiple times but it kept going. Damn!
Sean ran over to where he’d last seen Declan.
“Declan! It’s Rogan. Where are you?”
He heard a groan, then, “Fuck, fuck!”
Sean pulled out a small flashlight and searched the area. He found Declan lying in the weeds.
“You hit?” Stupid question. As soon as the words came out Sean saw blood. His leg and shoulder.
“Fuck me,” Declan said through clenched teeth.
“What were you thinking shouting ‘cop’?”
“Instincts. I didn’t want them to get away. Did you get them?”
“No. But I have a name and the local police can track them down.” Sean pulled out his phone and called Kane. “Declan’s down, about thirty feet outside the back door. Need an ambulance.”
* * *
Bella ran out of the bar with two men.
“It’s Bella,” JT said to Kane. His hand was on the door handle. Kane was talking to the 911 operator.
“Don’t,” Kane said in a low voice.
“Shit, she’s in trouble!”
“Jack said she left of her own free will. We pull her now someone is going to get dead. We have a man down in the back.” To the operator he said, “Gunshot wound, Triple D Bar on Main and Tejas. Man down behind the bar, multiple injuries inside.”
“Did Sean get her the phone? Can we reach her?”
“Sean will have done what he was supposed to.” To the operator, Kane said, “I can’t stay on the phone. Send as many buses as you can spare.” He hung up.
“But you don’t know!”
“JT, we have to let her go. We have a tracker on the car, we’ll get her, but right now we need to assess what the hell went on in there.”
Kane was right, but it was hard to let her go, especially when they were so close.
Sirens were getting closer when JT and Kane drove the rental toward the back of the bar. They passed several men running from the bar, some of them injured, none wanting to be here when the police arrived. Kane stopped, turned off the lights, and got out of the car. JT heard a whistle that sounded exactly like Kane’s, and would have been impressed at Sean’s training under his brother’s tutelage if he wasn’t so worried about his sister.
They approached Sean and Declan. Kane immediately took a towel from his bag and wrapped it around Declan’s thigh. “Shoulder wound is a scratch,” he said.
“Doesn’t feel like a scratch.”
“This leg is serious. Ambulance is on its way.”
“Did you get Bella the phone?” JT asked.
“Yes,” Sean said. “I asked her if she wanted to leave with me. She didn’t. I could have got her out, she knows I could have. She chose to go with them.”
Kane said, “JT, call Rick, we all need some cover.”
“What the hell is she doing?” JT asked. He itched to go after Bella now. “Sean, I need the tracker.”
“Wait,” Kane said. “Look, JT, I get it—but you need to focus on getting us some fucking cover because it’s a bloodbath in there.”
Jack approached them. “Listen to Kane,” he told JT. “I’ll give a statement, I was in the best position to see everything. But we’re all going to be jammed up if we don’t cover our asses.”
JT hadn’t even noticed Jack, and that bothered him. First, because he was worried about Bella, he wasn’t focused on the situation around him. And second, it reminded him that until last year, he hadn’t been in the field for a long, long time. He’d left that to Kane and Jack. Even Little Rogan had more street smarts than JT did at this point.
“You get Sean’s tracker planted?” Jack asked.
“Yes.”
“Good. Kane and Sean will follow.” Jack looked closer at Sean. “You’re hit.”
“Scratch.”
Kane turned from Declan and assessed his brother. “Through and through, but you need stitches.”
“I’m fine,” Sean repeated.
Kane pulled out a first aid kit. “You need stitches,” he repeated, “but this will work for now.” He quickly cleaned the wound.
“Damn, that hurts more than the bullet.”
“Shut up, wimp.” Kane put a thick pad on both sides of Sean’s arm, then wrapped several layers of gauze around it and taped it. By the time he was done, they could hear the police and ambulances in the front.
“JT, call Rick now,” Kane said. “Jack and I will track Bella. Jack will write out his statement and be available for questioning later, but we’ll all be arrested if we don’t have Rick cover our ass.” Kane stared at him. “You have to deal with the cops. I can’t do that.”
JT had always been the voice for RCK. Kane was perfectly capable of doing it, but he had been in the field for a long time. There could be people with a grudge against him, and sometimes he said and did things that got him in trouble with law enforcement. It was better that he keep a low profile.
“Go,” JT said. It was damn hard for him to let someone else go after his sister.
Jack and Kane disappeared into the night.
“I’m going to alert the ambulance that we’re back here,” Sean said. “Stay with him, JT.”
After Sean left, JT called Rick. Though it was well after midnight in DC, his old friend answered on the first ring. “We have a situation,” JT said.
* * *
An hour later, Sean had given his statement to the police—it was vague and detailed at the same time. The only other person willing or able to give a statement was the bartender, and he was more focused on Hirsch and the thug than on the girl. Jack had sent a statement through JT, though that wasn’t going over as well with the local police.
As far as the bartender was concerned, the girl hadn’t caused the problems, and he wanted a police report so he could file with his insurance company. JT wasn’t certain he believed the act, but he hadn’t singled out Bella and that was a plus.
Everyone who was able to walk had disappeared before the cops showed up. There were seven men dead or seriously injured. Diaz, his four thugs, and one man that might be working for Hirsch were all dead. The lone survivor was definitely Hirsch’s man according to Sean, and JT made sure when Gianna Murphy came on site that she knew he was to be kept separate and under protective custody.
When JT got Sean alone, he said, “You okay?”
“Barely a scratch.”
JT knew it was more than a scratch, but the bullet had gone straight through and Kane’s field dressing had held.
“They weren’t shooting at me,” Sean said.
“What the hell happened?” He put his hand on Sean’s forearm. “I’m not mad at you, buddy. I just—hell, I don’t know. And then Declan?”
“They got him stabilized, and Murphy said she’d check on him for us.”
“Have you heard from Kane?”
“The tracker’s working. They’re heading east, haven’t stopped yet. Have you ID’d the guy Bella was sitting with?”
“Damien Drake, Hirsch’s enforcer according to Declan.”
Sean nodded. “They came in together and sat nearly two hours. I came in much later. Though it’s been awhile, she recognized me.”
“You look like a younger version of Kane.” So much so that Sean was going to have to watch his back more carefully because, especially in border towns, Kane was persona non grata because of his mercenary work.
“She has the phone, she’ll call.”
“How do you know?”
“Because she didn’t dump the phone.”
“Do you have GPS on it?”
“It’s a burner, no GPS. Bu
t she would have dumped it immediately if she wasn’t planning to call. I pre-programmed my burner number, so if she wants to reach out she can.”
JT ran through everything he’d heard Sean tell the police and something was off.
“What are you not telling me?”
Sean glanced around, kept his voice low. “One of Diaz’s guys grabbed her, had a gun on her. She disarmed and shot him. He’s one of the dead.”
“Shit.”
“Clear self defense.”
“You have to write up all of this for Rick.”
Sean was about to say something when Gianna Murphy approached. “You sure know how to make an entrance, Mr. Caruso.” She assessed Sean.
“This is my partner, Sean Rogan.”
“Aw—family business?”
“He and another partner, Jack Kincaid, tracked Hirsch and his people here, but before they could determine whether the undercover subject was in jeopardy, war broke out. We didn’t have anything to do with it.”
“I believe you, Caruso. The bartender’s an ex-con. I know him, he knows everyone. Keeps his ear to the ground for me. Says Diaz was killed in cold blood. Says your boy here was just passing through having a couple beers. Doesn’t know who he is from Adam.”
“Thank you,” JT said. “You have Hirsch’s man under guard?”
“If he makes it out of surgery, he’ll be protected. They’re saying 50/50 now.”
“And Declan Cross?”
“He’s likely to survive, but they haven’t gone in yet. So I got a call from the assistant director of the FBI not ten minutes ago.”
Rick worked fast.
“Are we cool?”
“In a manner of speaking. He said you found a body, he’s putting together a task force, but isn’t going to let that poor girl rot for God knows how long. His words, not mine. So I’m sending a SWAT unit in on an anonymous tip from another business that something suspicious was going on and guns were visible. Something like that, hell, I’ll make it up as I go along. But we’re going to get her out tonight, ID her if we can, track down Milo Feliciano and find out what the fuck is going on.”
“Good,” JT said. “I told Rick it was his call. I didn’t feel right leaving her there, but we found her under questionable circumstances.”
“You must have saved his life, because he’s bending over backward to protect your ass. I expected some grey areas after talking to you, not breaking and entering.”
Breaking and entering was the grey area, JT thought, but didn’t say it out loud.
She glanced around. “Where’s the other Rogan?”
“Not here.”
Gianna narrowed her eyes. “I’m willing to play your game up to a point, Caruso, but when six bodies drop, I start to get twitchy.”
“No games, Agent Murphy,” Sean said. “Moore brothers. Know them?”
“Yep. Two-bit, low-level drug dealers. Stupid fucks, but the younger kid, Bobby Moore, has some brains. Unfortunately he uses them to improve on the stupid ideas of his older nitwit brothers.”
“The younger brother got himself shot tonight,” Sean said. “The other two dragged him out. They left in a pick-up, Texas plates, first three digits 22F. The rest was dirty. Might have been another F or P but then I couldn’t read the rest.”
“That’ll help, but I can probably track them through DMV. Not smart, like I said.”
“They cut a deal with Hirsch.” He glanced at JT, and JT nodded. They needed to spill what they knew, especially since Rick’s involvement meant FBI involvement. “From our intel-gathering, we suspect that Hirsch is consolidating networks along the I-10 corridor, and now—based on what happened here—when people don’t agree to Hirsch’s terms, they kill the opposition and promote another faction. It’s only going to get worse as they move deeper into Texas where there are dozens of people vying for control after Rollins and her network were taken out.”
“But you’re talking sex trafficking, not drugs.”
“Correct. But I don’t have to explain to you that once a pipeline is established they can transport anything they want—people, drugs, guns.”
“Nope, I certainly understand that angle. We’re in this together. I get that. But you’re not cops. Be honest with me—did you discharge your weapon?”
“Not in the bar. I had it out, but no one was paying attention to me, and I dove behind the bar. That’s how I got this nick. I shot at the Moores’ truck, hoping to disable it. Jack fired, however, in self-defense. He gave me his weapon for ballistics.”
JT hadn’t known that, but was relieved that Sean was playing by the rules.
“We’ll bag and tag it. Is it going to pop up in any other crimes?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Then we should be good here.” Gianna turned to JT. “How long are you going to be in El Paso?”
“Not long.”
“Call me before you leave.”
* * *
JT drove back to the motel where they were staying. It was a dive, but the lack of anything that resembled luxury meant anonymity and discretion. Sean called Lucy.
“Hey,” he said. “Did I wake you?”
“No. Nate and I are sitting outside the trucking company. JT sent me a name, and on our way back from Austin we decided to check it out, see if there’s any activity.”
“And?”
“People are working late, but no trucks have come in yet.”
Sean didn’t like the idea of Lucy doing an all-night stake-out. But he wouldn’t say anything, considering he’d been shot. He considered how to tell her so she wouldn’t worry.
“What happened with Mona?”
“I got a couple of names, one good lead. Tia Mancini is going to set up a meet tomorrow with one of Mona’s former hookers who’s taken over the business here.”
Sean didn’t want to tell Lucy what happened because he didn’t want her to worry, but he couldn’t keep it a secret. He told her almost everything, glossing over some of the details.
“The paramedics stitched me up. It was a through and through, it doesn’t even hurt.”
“I know it hurts, Sean. I wish I were there.”
“We’ll be back tomorrow, Saturday at the latest.”
JT said, “Can I talk to Lucy?”
Sean put the phone on speaker. “Lucy, you’re on speaker with JT.”
“Did I hear that you’re outside the trucking company?”
“Yes. Nothing so far, but people are inside.”
“Rick’s putting together a task force. He wants you on it. Well, I want you on it and Rick agrees. Call him and find out if he wants to raid it if the girls come in tonight. Force Hirsch to do something drastic.”
“You want me to call Rick?”
“Of course. You have his number, right? I can send you his private cell if you don’t.”
She didn’t say anything.
“Is something wrong?”
“No,” she said.
“Is it Rachel?” Sean asked.
“I’ll handle it.”
“Don’t call Rick,” Sean said. “He’ll call you. I gotta go. Tell Nate to be careful, and you do the same.”
“I will. I love you.”
“Ditto.”
Sean ended the call. “What was that about?” JT asked.
“You need to call Rick and have him lay down the law on the task force. Lucy is on thin ice with her boss, who has made it her personal mission to fuck with her.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because this is more important than office politics.”
“Lucy is important.”
Sean was pleased that JT recognized that, but he said, “Yes, but she would have helped whether she was sanctioned or not. Let’s just cover her now so we don’t have to do it on the back end.”
* * *
Bella had made a tactical error.
She hadn’t recognized Hirsch’s end game until now.
She should have walked with Sean Rogan tonight
. Hadn’t she, not twenty-four hours ago, asked for an extraction? Only to be talked out of it? When Simon explained things everything seemed so … just. The right was obvious, to find Hope or proof that she was dead then take all evidence to the authorities.
But now, she’d killed a man and was very possibly a wanted fugitive, running with a group of vicious sex traffickers who could and would kill anyone who tried to stop them.
Hirsch didn’t want a simple expansion. His plan wasn’t only to be the east-west pipeline, but to be protection. That had been perfectly clear in the way he handled Diaz in front of his new recruits.
Do as I say or you die.
Ruthless? Sure, a psychopathic form of ruthlessness.
She had to follow through. At this point, running would be almost as dangerous as staying. If she could just find proof that Hope was dead or alive, she could disappear. But she was fast believing there would be no proof, that the girl was long dead, her body buried in the middle of nowhere. The lingering doubt would destroy her grandparents. They would never know what happened to her.
Had we done enough? Could we have done more? Do you need more money?
Bella knew that Simon had only taken a token fee from the family to locate Hope. They didn’t have the money, and Simon wouldn’t let them mortgage their house to pay his otherwise steep costs. He didn’t need the money—though he was fast burning through his dotcom payout. But Simon was brilliant, he’d always find the way to earn more.
On the one hand, she admired Simon. He was generous, almost to a fault. He was compassionate. He cared about the fate of these girls, and he wanted to punish those who hurt them.
But.
But.
Bella had begun to realize over this year-long undercover operation that she might be expendable. That the ends—finding Hope, destroying Hirsch—justified any means. That Bella was a tool to that end, but there were other tools at Simon’s disposal. She had been loyal because they shared a common goal, but was he loyal to her? Did he care if she lived or died if, in the end, they got justice for Hope?
Contrary to her brother’s belief, Bella had no death wish. She took risks—that had never bothered her. Risks were a part of life, and risks for a greater good were justified. But she wanted to live because she was making a difference, one girl at a time. She was saving lives, she was stopping men like Hirsch.
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