Hidden Prey (Lawmen)

by Cheyenne McCray

  When she was on the ground, his gaze held hers for a long moment. His eyes were close to a shade of peridot, a little darker than the gemstone’s natural color.

  Her lips parted as she realized that he hadn’t released her hand. Warmth traveled between them and she bit the inside of her lip.

  He released her and gestured toward the building. “Come on in.”

  She fell into step beside him. On the front of the building, in silver lettering, was Department of Homeland Security and under that was U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

  Landon held the glass door open for her and she walked into the lobby. He let the door fall shut behind them, touched her elbow, and gestured down a hallway.

  She walked beside him but moved to the side when a man approached them.

  “You’re late.” The man gave a nod toward an open door. “The briefing is about to start.”

  Landon gave a nod toward Tori. “Dylan, this is Tori Cox. She witnessed Miguel’s murder last night.”

  At the words, Tori shuddered. She was a murder witness.

  Landon turned to her. “Tori, this is Special Agent Dylan Curtis.”

  Dylan held out his hand and Tori took it. She liked his grip, warm and firm. “Thanks for coming forward, Tori.”

  She gripped his hand in return. “It’s nice to meet you, Special Agent Curtis.”

  “My pleasure.” Dylan released her hand and spoke to Landon. “You need to get your ass in here.”

  Landon dragged his hand down his face. “I’ll get Tori settled and be right in.”

  Dylan nodded to Tori before he went through the doorway. Landon escorted Tori into a room with a desk and three chairs, and mirrored glass in one wall.

  She looked at him. “Is this an interrogation room?”

  He nodded. “I’ll be back in fifteen minutes or so.”

  “Okay.” She sat in the chair across the table from the other two chairs that were side by side. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  He put his hand over hers and squeezed before he turned and left the room, closing the door behind him.

  Landon paused as he left Tori in the room alone, then headed back down the hallway and entered the large briefing room.

  Sofia Aguilar, the Resident Agent in Charge, was at the head of the room. The RAC almost always had a hard look on her features, but today she looked fiercer than normal. Her dark hair was pulled away from her face and twisted in a knot at the base of her neck, and her dark eyes were sharp as ever.

  Landon took a seat just as Aguilar began speaking. “As most of you know, one of our own was executed in Bisbee last night. Miguel Garcia.”

  The agents in the room erupted with expletives.

  Landon clenched his hands into fists as anger burned hot and bright inside him.

  Aguilar held up her hand, silencing the agents. “We believe the Jimenez Cartel was responsible as Miguel was working deep undercover within the cartel.” She nodded to Landon. “Agent Walker can give more details as he was on scene last night.”

  Landon spelled out what happened. “A witness is here now. Knowing that it’s the Jimenez Cartel will narrow the search considerably when we show her photographs of some of the key players.”

  Aguilar braced one hand on her hip, which pushed aside her blazer and exposed her shield and her Glock. “Get with her and once she’s finished, make sure she’s kept in protective custody.”

  Landon nodded. “We’ll get her back to the safe house as soon as we’re finished.”

  “How the hell did this go down?” Dylan’s forehead wrinkled as he asked the questions aloud. “Why was he executed? Was his cover blown, or did he just piss off Jimenez?”

  “That’s what we need to find out.” Aguilar’s voice was harsh. It was easy to tell how angry she was over Miguel’s death. She barked out orders before excusing everyone.

  Landon’s skin burned and he had the feeling he would explode under the right conditions. Yes, he was going to personally take down the man responsible for killing Miguel.

  With renewed fury burning in his veins, Landon headed back to the room where Tori waited.

  CHAPTER 8

  Landon stood in the doorway and looked at Tori. For some reason he hated putting her through this whole procedure more than he usually did with a witness. Maybe it had something to do with the nightmare last night. Hearing Tori say “the truth,” when she was waking up from her nightmare had sent a strange chill through him. The thought that it could have something to do with his involvement in her brother’s death didn’t make sense.

  “Come on out here, Tori.” He inclined his head toward the hallway. “I’m going to have you look through some photos.”

  She pushed back her chair and got up from the table to follow him out of the room. She walked with him to another room, this one with six flat screen monitors on one wall. She sat at a conference table in front of the monitors.

  Landon sat beside her, a tablet in his hands. He set the tablet on the table and turned toward her. “Let’s start with the blond man you described.” Landon used the tablet to bring up six images of men, one on each of the six monitors in front of her.

  “That’s him.” Tori pointed toward the bottom middle screen and then looked to Landon. “He helped another man force Miguel down onto his knees before he was killed.”

  Landon’s jaw tightened and his body hardened. She’d identified John Graves, a key man in the Jimenez Cartel. He was the only man with white-blond hair that Landon knew of in the cartel, which was why he had included Graves in the lineup.

  He looked back down at the tablet, and in a moment the images of six other men were on the wall monitors, one image per screen. “You mentioned one of the men had a thin mustache, was about five-ten, and had an athletic build. Do any of these men look familiar?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  He scrolled through more images. One after another flashed on the screens and she shook her head as they passed by.

  After a while she blinked rapidly. “All of the pictures are starting to blur. Can you slow down?”

  He stopped the images from moving across the screens for a moment. “No problem.”

  When he started again, she continued to watch as surveillance photos and mug shots went by, one after another.

  “Stop.” She pointed toward one of the surveillance photos. “That man on the left screen. He was the other man who held down Miguel.”

  Tori had just identified Pablo Perez, another key player. He tried to keep his expression neutral. “You’re sure?”

  “Yes.” She nodded. “I’m absolutely positive. He and the blond man were the two who chased me.” Tori looked so tightly wound, like she might spring apart.

  “We believe we’re dealing with the Jimenez Cartel,” Landon began, and her eyes widened.

  “Jimenez Cartel?” She clenched her hands into fists on the tabletop. “That was the cartel that my brother had dealings with before he was killed in that raid.”

  A pained feeling shot through Landon. He squeezed her shoulder and his touch made her feel at least a little safer. “It’s going to be all right.”

  She hesitated then nodded.

  Landon narrowed his brows. “What can you tell me about the man who shot Miguel?”

  “All I remember is that he was wearing a suit, had dark hair, and was about five-eleven.” She put her hand to her forehead. “Miguel called him something, but I can’t remember what it was.”

  “Let’s go through additional photos.” Landon touched his tablet and more faces started to scroll by on the screens.

  She shook her head as they went by. “I don’t recognize any of them.”

  Tori looked exhausted and like she needed a break. Maybe what she needed was to go back to the scene to see if it jarred her memory.

  Tori’s thoughts went over and over what she had seen and the knowledge that the cartel was after her. The Jimenez Cartel. The same horrible people her brother had somehow been involved
with.

  Her thoughts turned back to her family and her ex-boyfriend. “My parents. Gregory.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what to do. I’m afraid for them.”

  Landon pulled out his phone and handed it to her. “Why don’t you try him at work?”

  “Oh. Of course.” She thought about it a moment and then remembered Gregory’s direct line, and dialed it. Her call went straight to his voicemail. She tried not to get more freaked out and left as calm a message as she could, telling him to call her, leaving Landon’s number, and that it was important. Then she dialed the main office number and asked for Gregory when Laura, the receptionist, answered.

  “He hasn’t been in today, Tori.” Laura sounded irritated. “He missed his appointments and he had to be in court at ten. His intern hasn’t shown up, either.”

  Tori’s throat felt crowded. Something was desperately wrong. “Can you leave him a message to call me if he comes in later?”

  “Yes, of course.” When Tori left messages, Laura always came across as sarcastic and put out. She clearly didn’t like her job.

  Tori thanked her and disconnected the call. When she handed Landon his phone, she saw concern in his gaze. She repeated what she’d been told.

  “What are we going to do?” she asked him.

  Landon raised his phone. “I’ll call the Tucson Police Department again and file a missing persons report. Usually the police wouldn’t consider him missing yet. But the cartel’s involvement changes that.”

  She listened to him file the report and then he disconnected the call.

  “There’s nothing you can do right now.” He appeared to be trying to give her the news in a way that wouldn’t upset her. “Our main concern is keeping you safe. We have agents watching your parents’ house and the Tucson Police Department is looking for your ex-boyfriend.”

  For a moment there was silence between them as he clearly let her come to terms with what he’d said.

  “What else do you need from me?” She tried to sound less shaky than she felt.

  “This is a witness statement.” He pulled up a form on the center screen and started typing. “Let’s go over all of it again and see if you can remember anything else.”

  Feeling as if everything had become surreal, Tori once again began giving her account of what had happened.

  When she finished, he looked at her, his expression serious. “Is there anything else you can remember?”

  She shook her head. “Not that I can recall.” She frowned and scrunched her nose as she thought about it. “It seems like there’s something, other than the name, that I’m missing. I just can’t remember.”

  “Do you think revisiting the site would help?” Landon asked.

  “I don’t know.” She pictured the scene. “Maybe.”

  “Let’s go.” Landon pushed back his chair and Tori did the same. He cleared the monitors before they walked out the door.

  The ride to Bisbee from the DHS ICE office didn’t take long. Landon worked over details in his mind and Tori seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. Tori’s guard detail followed in an SUV behind them.

  When they reached the site, police tape was up and the white car that Miguel had been driving was gone. The vehicle was U.S. Government property, an undercover vehicle, and would have been moved to another location where it would be photographed, searched for evidence, and so on.

  Landon’s mind turned to the scene last night. He remembered the unrecognizable face and his blood boiled.

  Sonofabitch. They had to get these bastards.

  He thought about Miguel’s wife and two kids, and gripped the steering wheel tighter. Landon needed to pay his respects to Jane. The memorial service would no doubt be scheduled for the following week.

  When they pulled up to the site, the SUV with Tori’s guard detail stopped beside them. Landon trusted the two agents assigned to protect Tori, but he couldn’t help but feel like he needed to be there for her, too. He’d never felt that way with any witness, and he shouldn’t be feeling this way with Tori.

  Even the thought of having her get on the witness stand was hard to handle. He didn’t like the idea of putting her in even more danger than she was already.

  He parked the SUV and turned to Tori. “Stay here.”

  She wore one of his other ball caps and a blue overshirt he’d kept in his truck, so she was wearing something different than the last time. However, he wasn’t taking any chances by letting her out of the car.

  When Landon climbed out of the vehicle, he searched the area with his gaze. The two agents in the other vehicle, O’Donnell and Johnson, were still assigned to Tori.

  Both Johnson and O'Donnell looked around, attempting to make sure the area was secure.

  Agent O’Donnell looked at Landon. “It’s too open. Too many places a sniper could be hiding.”

  “We’ll make this quick.” Landon opened the passenger door and met Tori’s gaze. “Stay in the SUV and try to remember everything you can.”

  She looked from the location of the scene back to him. “I think I’ll remember more if I get out.”

  He shook his head. “Too dangerous. You need to stay right here in your seat.”

  Her throat worked as she swallowed. “Of course.”

  She stared at the taped-off area and she looked as if she might gag at the memory of what she’d seen. Landon wasn’t surprised. She’d seen a man’s face get blown off. That would be traumatic for anyone who didn’t deal with violent death on a regular basis.

  “The man who shot Miguel wore a suit.” Tori’s forehead wrinkled in concentration. “It clearly wasn’t a cheap suit. In my career I see a lot of men in pricey suits, and his definitely was.”

  That could narrow the field a bit, Landon thought. Only those high on the food chain could afford an expensive suit. Very high up.

  “Do you remember anything else?” Landon asked.

  She frowned. “Miguel called him by something unusual… “Like El…and something starting with a P, I think. It’s on the tip of my tongue.” Her eyes widened. “He called him El Puño. The Fist.”

  Landon’s pulse quickened. Expensive suit and called El Puño. That could only mean one person. “I’m going to have you look over more mug shots.”

  He went around to the driver’s side and climbed in. He removed his tablet from where he’d put it inside the center console and set it in his lap. He took a flash drive out of his pocket and inserted it into the USB port on the tablet. He opened a file on the flash drive. The file held photographs of every key member that had been identified in the Jimenez Cartel. He touched the tablet and brought up six images of key members from the cartel.

  Tori pointed to a man’s image from one of the surveillance photos. She looked like she wanted to scream when she saw the photograph. “That’s him. He killed Miguel.”

  “You’re certain?” Landon asked.

  “Absolutely.” She nodded. “No doubt in my mind.”

  “Alejandro Jimenez, also known as El Puño.”

  “Yes.” She nodded again, vigorously this time. “Yes.”

  “The son of the Jimenez Cartel drug lord.” Landon hadn’t intended to say the words out loud. Shit.

  “The drug lord’s son?” A look of horror crossed Tori’s face.

  Landon reached out and put his hand over hers. He could feel it shaking. “You’re going to be all right, Tori. We’ll make sure of it.”

  She buried her face in her hands. When she looked at Landon again, she appeared worn and drained, and he wrapped his arms around her.

  “Shhh.” He held her securely. “It will be all right.”

  “Could I possibly have witnessed an execution by anyone more dangerous than him?” Her voice sounded strained as she drew away. “I saw the drug lord’s son commit murder. I’m a witness against an organization so ruthless that they won’t stop until they hunt me down.” Her throat worked as she swallowed. “I don’t know if I can do this, Landon.”

  “You can.�
�� He put conviction into his tone. “You’re a strong woman.”

  “I don’t feel strong.” She bit her lower lip before adding, “Not at all.”

  He remembered her strength last night when he’d told her she didn’t have to testify. Everyone had a breaking point, and this might be hers.

  CHAPTER 9

  Gregory’s toes barely reached the floor as he dangled by metal handcuffs that were linked over a hook. The hook was fastened to a chain that hung from a beam high overhead in the abandoned warehouse in South Tucson.

  Nothing would gel in his brain, and he was fast losing touch with reality. Every bit of him hurt, agony his constant companion. He’d been beaten, his leg shot so that the bone had shattered, and most of his fingers had been broken one at a time with pliers.

  “This will end if you give me the address.” Pablo sounded as if he would be doing Gregory a favor.

  If Pablo killed him now, he would be doing Gregory a favor. He didn’t know how much more of this he could take.

  “Give me the address.” Pablo’s voice grew menacing again.

  Gregory tried to swallow but his throat was too dry. He ran his tongue over his parched and swollen lips and tasted blood.

  “I don’t know the address.” Gregory’s voice was rough, hoarse from screaming in agony with everything these men had done to him since bringing him to the warehouse. “I gave you her parents’ names. I don’t know their address.”

  If he had known it, they probably would have gotten it from him a long time ago, no matter his thoughts of protecting Tori.

  “Those names have gotten us nowhere.” Pablo scowled. “You must have made them up.”

  “They don’t have a computer.” Gregory swallowed. “Her father doesn’t trust the Internet. He is a conspiracy nut and believes everyone is out to get them. He’s a drunk, too.”

  A side door creaked open and Gregory could see it was dark again outside. The blond man called John walked into the warehouse. He was carrying two cases. Gregory could just make out his own briefcase, and Tori’s laptop case. Clearly John had gone back to the townhouse and had retrieved both.