by Tim Green
"Did you talk to her?" Casey asked.
"I did," Jose said, nodding. "I also got a call from Soto, the kingpin I went to see. The information he's getting is in line with what Sharon thinks is happening. I had Sharon send the important stuff to my e-mail. If we can get a signal, I've got Verizon Wireless and you can download it."
"Don't you want to just tell me?" she asked.
"I could. But I want to see if you see it the way I do. I don't want to poison your thinking.''
"Too late for that.''
Jose booted up his computer and opened the material from Sharon before handing it over to her. She sat hunched over the computer, scrolling down, page after page, her brow furrowing deeper and deeper as she read articles from around the globe about the incredible breakthrough drugs Kroft Labs was producing.
"So, am I straight with this?" Casey asked. "They're five or ten years ahead of the competition in coming up with drugs that work on humans when the others have perfected them in animals only."
"I think you're straight," Jose said, his hands gripping the wheel.
"So," Casey said, "if you could use humans instead of animals for your research, you'd be way out in front, years ahead of everyone else."
"Patent the stuff," Jose said.
"Wipe out all the nightmare diseases everyone worries about," Casey said, musing. "Maybe win some Nobel Prizes or something along the way."
"And make a nice chunk of change."
"Billions," Casey said, picking up her phone and dialing. "And if you can make billions, what's a couple hundred people?"
"Especially if they're Mexicans," Jose said bitterly.
Casey put the phone to her ear and said, " Sharon?"
"Did you get it?" Sharon asked.
"Yes, I saw it."
"Am I crazy here?" Sharon asked. "When you said people disappear and I started reading that this company is coming up with all these breakthrough drugs, I'm thinking they're using people instead of lab rats."
"I think it's possible," Casey said, "anything is."
Sharon went silent for a moment, then said, "Listen, I know you haven't been checking messages on your cell phone because of all the media calls, but Stacy had the office phones forwarded here until we get new space. Mandy Chase is trying to get ahold of you. She called three times. She-"
"What's her number?" Casey asked, cutting her off. "We're heading back to the clinic. Jose says all we have to do to get inside is cut through some police tape. Screw the EPA. I'll meet her there."
"He told me you were planning to go there while you were asleep," Sharon said.
"So what's her number?" Casey asked.
"You don't have to call her," Sharon said. "She's already there."
"It's like four in the morning," Casey said.
"She sounded scared.''
CHAPTER 70
THE CLINIC LOOKED LIFELESS UNDER THE WEAK ORANGE GLOW from the streetlight on the corner. Nothing but shadows lay beneath the old pump station roof. Mandy's Range Rover waited for them in the back. As soon as the Mercedes rounded the corner of the building, the Rover's dome light went on and Mandy hopped out. She wore a white designer jogging suit with her bleached blonde hair pulled into a ponytail. With no makeup, the lines of age and the red-rimmed eyes added fifteen years to her face. Casey hopped out of the car and smelled liquor in the air.
"I'll do it," Mandy said, shaking her head. "I'll ruin him. He thinks I won't, but I will. Little gargoyle."
"Come inside," Casey said gently.
Jose led the way to the back door, cutting through the yellow police tape and placing his hand on the warning sticker sealing the door that announced that tampering with it was a federal offense that would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
"Vandals," Jose said, slicing through the sticker.
Casey handed him her key. He jangled the set and opened the door, flipping on the lights. The file cabinets and shelves stood open and barren. Casey righted one of the guest chairs in front of her desk, offering it to Mandy. Jose ducked out to the car and returned with a tray loaded with triple cappuccinos. He offered one to Mandy. She took it and sipped.
Casey took one, too, and drank gratefully, letting the caffeine rush through her empty stomach to her brain. Mandy slapped a manila folder against her leg.
"I'm glad you made it back," Mandy said, looking from Jose to Casey. "You wouldn't have, if he got his way. He wanted you killed in Mexico. I heard him say it."
"Anyone else with him when he said it?" Casey asked, hopeful.
"Jeff Macken."
"Who is he?"
"My husband's chief of staff," Mandy said. "He knows everything."
Casey hesitated. "Is he a lawyer?"
"Yes."
Casey's face fell.
"What?" Mandy asked.
"Privileged information," Casey said. "And you're his wife. You couldn't testify to what you heard, and anything that evolved out of your telling the story would be contaminated and excluded. We have a lot of different pieces of the story, but nothing that we can use in a court to pin it on your husband."
"We know he worked through Gage," Jose said. "We know he killed Elijandro. They're sending these people down to Mexico to test pharmaceutical drugs, and we know your husband must somehow be linked to Kroft, the company doing it."
"Now we need to prove it," Casey said. "If we do, even though it won't be enough to prosecute your husband, we think it'll be enough leverage to get them to stop."
"Here's your leverage," Mandy said, pushing the folder across the desk. "I heard him talking about you showing up at Kroft, so I took a look in his private drawer and found these. Offshore bank accounts in my husband's name. Deposits from Kroft Labs, in the millions. How does that work for leverage, Miss Jordan?"
"Like a crowbar.''
CHAPTER 71
CASEY DROVE TOWARD THE SENATOR'S RANCH WITH HER HAND ON Jose's leg, absently stroking the thick muscles. The sky ahead glowed with the promise of dawn. They turned off the country road and drove through the gates and under the metal archway that read LUCKY STAR. When the enormous hacienda came into view, Casey pressed her lips together and nodded her head. Her ex-husband came from this kind of wealth, the same fantasy world, and had been molded into the same type of asshole. Red-tiled roofs shaded the white adobe walls. Intricate wrought-iron doors and shutters graced the arched openings. Potted cacti and flowers crowded the tiled terraces and doorways, and a carefully manicured green lawn sprawled beneath giant gnarled oak trees that reached for the perfect navy blue sky.
Nearly a dozen gardeners crouched close to the ground, already pruning, digging, clipping, and sweeping in the gloom. A handsome young man wearing a white dress shirt and black slacks hurried from the house to open Casey's door and show them in. The young man's smile revealed gleaming white teeth and beads of sweat that glistened on his brown upper lip. A bronze lantern the size of a small car hung in the enormous circular foyer and a sweeping staircase ascended either side.
The young man led them into a study just off the foyer. They were greeted by Indian rugs, teak furniture upholstered in dark brown leather and animal skins, and the cool smell of old leather books. A ceiling fan swung its paddles in a lazy circle above. Jose slumped down in a leather reclining chair with his hands buried in his pockets while Casey took a seat by the deep barred window, clutching her briefcase tight and studying an oil painting of buffalo on a plain. They sat for almost ten minutes before the hardware on the door rattled.
When a strange man in an olive suit came through the door, Casey stood and craned her neck, expecting Chase. The man shut the door and held out his hand.
"Jeff Macken," he said.
Jose stared sullenly, and Casey looked at his hand until he put it down.
"Where's Chase?" Casey asked.
Macken's eyebrows shot up. "The senator? He has an extremely busy day that's already begun. He asked me to get this worked out."
"Do you know what I have
here?" Casey asked, patting her briefcase. "Here, take a look."
She withdrew copies of the records Sharon had uncovered on Kroft.
"I'll lay it out for you the way I would with a jury," she said. "This is the pharmaceutical lab Kroft runs in Mexico, the place we know they're using human beings as guinea pigs."
Macken took the papers without expression.
"These are the transport records of the truck we have eyewitness reports of leaving the senator's quarry." Casey handed him a DVD. "You'll see the truck go through Mexican customs on this, positively IDed by our witnesses."
Casey handed him a separate folder and said, "I'd say this is our star piece of evidence, but it's not. Good enough, though. Copies of bank records showing the millions the senator has received from Kroft Labs."
Casey shut the briefcase. Macken looked up from the papers and studied her face.
"Anything else?" he asked.
"Oh," she said, fishing into her pants pocket and taking out her cell phone, "right. This is the real kicker. The jury will love this, a cop on the witness stand always works wonders. Lots of credibility."
Macken shot a sneering smile at Jose and said, "Ex-cops bounced for corruption? Ex-cops under investigation for murder? He doesn't quite count, does he?"
Casey glanced at Jose, then turned her attention to Macken and said, "Oh, not Jose. No. Someone near and dear to your heart. Our star witness."
She hit the play button on her phone, already cued to the right point, and Gage's voice filled the room.
"They're gone. They're all gone…" Gage said.
"Where?" Teuch's muffled voice asked.
" Mexico," Gage said. "I don't know where. I don't. Chase knows. He knows."
Casey snapped it shut before Gage's scream and let the soft paddling of the fan fill the silence.
"You think he's too busy for this?" she asked.
"What do you want?" Macken asked.
"Everything I said on the phone," she said.
Macken blinked, looked at her blankly, and then said, "I think I should speak with the senator directly."
"Good idea," Casey said. "Mind if we wait outside? This place has an odor."
CHAPTER 72
CASEY AND JOSe LEANED AGAINST THE HOOD OF THE BATTERED Mercedes watching gardeners disappear with the coming light. Birds showed in inky patterns on lonely mesquite branches. The hills across the river lay like sleeping giants, garbed in purple robes. Pastures and woods stretched as far as they could see.
"Good land," Jose said, stretching his legs out in front of him and folding his arms across his chest. "Too bad it belongs to such a turd."
"Land good enough for corporate farming," Casey said. "Lots of jobs for people like Elijandro to come up here for."
"Nice if they could work some of this land for themselves," Jose said.
Casey kept staring at the horizon. A fountain of burning sunlight sprang up from behind the hills.
"But it's not theirs," Casey said, without taking her eyes off the sunrise. "It's ours, right?"
"What does that mean?" Jose asked placidly.
"A river of mud," Casey said.
"The Rio Grande?"
"You just got to be lucky and get born on the right side," Casey said as the first of the sun's rays glinted at them.
"Nice sentiment. But have you ever been to Detroit?"
"Good point.''
"And a US border town ain't no Veracruz, either,'' Jose said. He nodded and raised a hand to block the burning light. "You go there, you think you're in Europe."
The front door of the hacienda swung open and Macken walked double-time down the path until he stood beside them.
"Okay," he said, his face set and serious. "But we want that recording. We want your phone. And we'd like to speak with Chief Gage."
"Last time I saw him, his mouth was full.''
Macken gave her a puzzled look. Jose smiled.
"We're not responsible for Gage," Casey said. "Forget the deal."
"Wait," Macken said, holding up a hand. "I said we'd like to speak with him. We can proceed without him, but I have to have the phone."
"Everything else is the way I said?" Casey asked.
"Yes."
"Isodora and the baby?" she said. "Just like I laid out?"
"As long as you're willing to go to Mexico to get them, then yes."
Casey took out the phone and held it up in front of her.
"I want Jose cleared, too," she said.
Macken's eyes flickered to the phone. He licked his lips, nodded, and said, "Yes. Of course."
He held out one hand for the phone, extending the other to shake and close the deal.
Casey looked at him, not wanting to touch his hand. But she shook it, then surreptitiously wiped the cold sweat she'd picked up from his palm on her pants leg.
She dropped the phone into his other hand.
He smiled.
CHAPTER 73
SIX DAYS LATER, STACY WALKED INTO CASEY'S OFFICE, SHAKING her head in frustration. "There are two women outside, and I'm the one who has to tell them to go away?''
Casey looked up from her computer. Sharon slid another law book into place and turned away from the shelf to see Casey's reaction.
"Tell them tomorrow," Casey said. "We've still got to get this place back together."
Casey looked down at the budget spreadsheet in front of her and sighed. From the corner of her eye, she saw Stacy hadn't left, so she wasn't surprised to hear her speak.
"Well, they both have court appearances tomorrow, so I guess they're out of luck," Stacy said, sighing dramatically and turning from the doorway.
Casey kept her eyes on the numbers, mouthing them silently with her lips, but unable to really focus.
"All right," she said, looking up and directing her voice after Stacy. "Tell them to come around the back, though. I don't want to start an avalanche."
To Sharon she said, "Can you and Donna take these in the conference room? I can't do anything without Tina. Just do your best. Jose is on his way, and I'll get him to finish the books."
Sharon smiled, opened the back door, and showed the women through to the conference room. Casey tried to concentrate.
"Muchas gracias," one of the women said to her.
"Si, muchas gracias," the other said.
Casey looked up and nodded at their grateful eyes.
"De nada," she said.
"Speaking Spanish, now?" Jose said, striding through the door and closing it behind him.
"We're not supposed to be open until tomorrow, but they have court dates," she explained, sitting back in her chair.
"I knew you were a softie," Jose said, setting a folded newspaper down in front of her along with a tray of coffees from Starbucks. "We'll have to see about getting that fixed. You fixed everything else."
He pointed to a small article in the paper headlined FORMER COP CLEARED. Casey read the quotes from Ken Trent apologizing publicly for the department's sloppy murder investigation of Jose's aunt. Casey looked up, matching Jose's grin.
"Step one, anyway," she said.
"You weren't nervous, were you?" he asked.
"It's been almost a week," she said, knitting her brows.
"This stuff takes time," he said. "Big things you're putting into motion."
Stacy reappeared in the doorway.
"I know, the conference room," Casey said.
"Chase is on," Stacy said, breathless. "They're cutting in on GMA, live from Washington."
Stacy's eyes went to the TV on Casey's shelf.
"They didn't get mine hooked up yet," Casey said, scrambling around her desk and following Stacy into the old filling station front room.
Stacy raised a small TV from behind the counter and set it out for them to see. Sharon and Donna came in, crowding around Casey.
"Turn it up," Jose said.
Stacy reached for the button and shot him a look that said she knew to do that already. Chase sat between two other senator
s on the raised panel, with prodigious notes in front of him, and spoke into his microphone.
His hair was perfectly combed and his reading glasses were low on his nose. He had already begun when the audio switched on.
"-Have launched a full investigation, with the full cooperation of the Mexican government, into human rights abuses at the Kroft Labs facility in Nuevo Leon. This committee does not mean to suggest that the officers or board members of Royal Kroft Incorporated are in any way culpable for these horrible acts. Instead, we fully believe that these abuses were generated on a limited and local level. That said, Mexican federal authorities early this morning have raided the Kroft facility in Nuevo Leon and closed down the entire operation until it can be determined exactly who is responsible and they can be brought to justice.
"It is also the intention of this committee to diligently monitor the activity of pharmaceutical operations across the globe that wish to do business in the United States, to ensure that such abuses, wherever they exist, are brought to an immediate halt."
Chase looked up with a serious expression amid a flurry of camera flashes and an eruption of questions from the press. But before he answered, he led the men on the podium in a silent prayer.
The TV picture cut to Diane Sawyer, looking equally serious.
In her low, rich tone, the TV host said, "An American senator, leading the charge for human rights everywhere. That man has guts."
Casey puckered her lips and shook her head, turning away from the TV just as Jose's cell phone rang. He gave her a look and ducked back into her office.
"What's up?" Stacy asked.
Without replying, Casey followed Jose into her office, gently closing the door. Jose had one hand on the corner of her desk, as if to balance himself. He snapped his phone shut and looked up with a grim face.
"This is it," he said. "We're on."
CHAPTER 74
WHEN THEY PASSED THROUGH THE BORDER, CASEY PULLED over and they got out to make their call. The man put Isodora on the phone. Casey asked her what she had for breakfast, a random question the men couldn't have prerecorded. Then they waited for the text message with the video attached, showing Isodora outside their meeting place, answering the question. They had fed her cornflakes.