by Sable Hunter
“Hey, we’re a team.” Jet waved his hand in dismissal. “If this works out, even our small slice of the pie will be substantial. The ship was carrying rubies and emeralds to France to help fund their war effort when it was sunk by a British warship in 1708. This is a grave site as well as a treasure site.”
“How much is this pie worth?” Micah smiled with dollar signs in his eyes.
“About 16 billion.” Jet said calmly.
“Good God!” Micah grabbed his heart. “That’s more than the Powerball.”
“Someone give Micah CPR, he’s about to have the big one.” Destry remarked dryly as he came through the back door, closely followed by three men: Noah McCoy, Jacob McCoy and Bowie Travis Malone.
“Come in, gentlemen.” Kyle motioned for his butler to bring more glasses from the wet bar. “Make yourselves comfortable.”
There were greetings all around. Micah had wondered what was up, and now he knew.
Angel Rubio.
He also noticed one of the Equalizers was missing. “Where’s Tyson?”
“He’s at the airport picking up Marisol.” Saxon reported as he dug in the wet bar for peanuts.
“Are those two ‘together’ together?” Micah asked, making quotation marks with his hands.
“She’s letting him chase her until she catches him,” Destry said dryly. “It will be a cold day in August before I get serious about anyone. First Kyle, then Jet, now Tyson. I wouldn’t be surprised if Saxon doesn’t succumb anytime. Micah and I are the only two who’ve been inoculated against this plague called love. Right Micah?”
“Bachelor for life.” Micah held up his hands as if in surrender. “I have no plans to tie myself down to any woman.”
“Famous last words.” Jet gave him a knowing smile. “I’ll make you eat them with a dash of hot sauce one day.”
They all gravitated to the large conference table in front of a roaring fire. Kyle took the head chair. Micah sat down by Jet, bracing his feet on the cross bar beneath the oblong table, leaning his chair as far back as it would go. Looking around he couldn’t complain about the digs. When the Equalizers first formed, they’d met around a booth in Tyson’s rickety RV or on Jet’s boat docked at Galveston Island. Sometimes they’d gathered at Kyle’s swanky loft overlooking the lake. And now…now Albert Wolfe’s only son was sitting in the Governor’s mansion, the oldest continuously inhabited home in Texas. He could still remember well the day in 2008 when someone had thrown a Molotov cocktail on the front porch of the house and almost blown it up. The crime was still unsolved, but one of these days Micah was going to find out who’d done it.
If he ever had the time.
Between the work he did with the Equalizers, his ranch, and his writing, he rarely had the opportunity to get into trouble anymore. He’d had to juggle three projects just to make time to go to Angel House. For a second, he remembered Madison Fellows smile. She’d been a ray of sunshine on an otherwise cloudy night.
“Noah has some news for us. I told him that we’re ready to do what we can to help him find his mother.” Kyle announced, waving off a man at the door with a folder in his hand. “Not now, Carl. I’ll be with you in a few minutes.”
“Thanks, Kyle.” Noah removed his gray Stetson and set it on the smooth oak surface of the table. “I need to start this off by thanking you for what you did for me earlier.” He looked toward Jet and Micah. “You followed up on the photo lead that my cousin Heath passed along. Isaac told me you found yourself in quite a harrowing experience.”
Jet just waved it off. “No problem. We were glad to do it.”
“Yea, Jet enjoyed it, especially the tranny he met in Tampico.” Micah couldn’t help it, he loved to pick at the big guy. Jet gave him a look, then he realized it might not have been in the best taste, considering what Noah’s mother might be involved in. “Sorry. I wish we could’ve found her for you. At least we verified she’s alive.”
“Yes.” Noah cleared his throat and his brother Jacob took his glass and stood to refill it. “I’ll admit that when I got word she was in Tampico, I was devastated. At first, I thought the worst.”
Micah felt for the guy. What a bitter pill to swallow to find out your mother might be a prostitute.
“However after you returned, I received some additional information.”
Everyone leaned forward, fully invested in the mission.
“The last word we got from the PI was that my mother has left Tampico and moved to Juarez.”
“Damn.” Micah muttered. “Frying pan to the fire.”
Noah stood, going to look out the window. “Exactly. We don’t know why she moved.”
“I hope it wasn’t because we were asking too many questions,” Jet observed in a worried tone.
“I don’t think so.” Noah returned to his chair. “All you did was verify what we already suspected.”
“So, what can we do?” Micah asked. “I have a cop friend in El Paso by the name of Santiago. He’s former intelligence and knows the situation in Juarez well.”
“That would be great,” Jacob said. “We won’t turn down any help. Noah is understandably anxious to get started. But…”
“I know, I know.” Noah held up both hands. “We can’t go half-cocked, but this is my mother. And if what Roscoe and Vance are saying is true, she’s made some pretty powerful enemies.”
“What do you mean?” Kyle asked as he turned his UT class ring band around and around on his finger. Micah knew he did this when he was anxious. Any talk of Mexico always brought back memories for Thunderbird. He’d fallen in love with Hannah before he’d found out she was an illegal. Fighting her battles for her had given him a whole different perspective on immigration and issues across the border.
“Apparently, she’s doing her best to undermine the prostitution rings funded by the cartels. We think she’s running something akin to a half-way house or an underground railroad saving every girl she can.”
“I’d say that was good news,” Micah observed. Noah gave him a questioning glance. Micah stated what he thought was the obvious. “This woman is not only your mother, she’s someone you can be proud of McCoy. She’s a hero.”
His words seemed to soothe Noah. The meeting wasn’t over, but for the rest of the time they worked together to formulate a plan to locate Sofia and bring her home.
Angel Rubio…
“Angel Rubio! Angel Rubio! Is that you?”
The woman’s feeble voice called to Sofia from inside the dimly lit courtyard. She pulled the red mantilla closer to her face and looked up and down the street. Maybe she hadn’t been followed. After changing buses three times and following a circuitous route, if someone was on her trail, she’d know it soon enough. As she’d told Mateo this morning, everyone died sometimes. Some died from something and the lucky ones died for something.
If she were called upon to give her life in the quest to save the lost girls of Mexico, so be it.
Sofia stood near the stone wall for a few more moments, studying every shadow. When she was satisfied no one was lurking in the darkness, she entered the small dwelling of Senora Estevez. “I am here. How may I help you?”
The older woman made her welcome, fluttering around to offer Sofia refreshments. When she finally sat on the edge of a padded rocker, she began with a sad story that was only too familiar. “My granddaughter is missing. She is a good girl. We’ve never had any trouble with her.” Senora Estevez wiped her eyes with the edge of an embroidered handkerchief. “Lupe is beautiful. She’s a virgin. If someone took her, it was against her will. Will you help me find her?”
“Of course, I’ll certainly try. Do you have a photograph?” Sofia asked gently.
After toddling to the next room and back, Senora Estevez handed her a faded Polaroid. “See how pretty?”
Gazing at the happy face, the big brown eyes, the long dark hair, Sofia nodded. Lupe fit the description of ninety-nine percent of the lost ones. Poor. Pretty. Vulnerable.
“I will
do what I can.” The title of Angel Rubio sat heavily on Sofia’s shoulders. “You can do something for me, Senora.”
“What is this?” Her elder clasped her hands together, waiting. “I will do anything I can to help you.”
“Keep your eyes open.” She slipped a small piece of paper into the Senora’s hands. “If you see anything out of the ordinary, call me.”
After kissing the piece of paper, she nodded. “Times are not like they used to be. We have lost so many. There is a monster living among us.”
Sofia had to agree. “Yes. We must find this monster. So, I will ask one more thing of you.”
“What is it?” The grieving grandmother lifted her eyes wet with tears.
“Pray. Ni una muerta mas.”
The Equalizers at work…
“Come on, Wolfe.” Saxon picked up his laptop. “It’s not like you have anything better to do.”
Micah thought about his comfortable bed and the story half written on his computer. He did his best work when he was horizontal. Or standing. Or sitting. Hell, he was just talented. There were several women who’d give him a glowing recommendation if asked. The very thought made him laugh.
“Kyle won’t mind if we crash here?” Micah asked, picking up a sofa pillow and tossing it up and down in the air.
“Nah, he said we were taxpayers. This home belongs to the people of Texas, ergo to us.”
“There you go, ergo-ing again.” He picked up his Ranger’s hat and pulled it low over his eyes. “All right. I’ve got my thinking cap on. Where do we start?”
“Well…everyone leaves fingerprints on the net. Let’s go exploring.”
As adept at filtering out information online as Saxon, Micah grabbed a computer and went to work. Like his friend, he knew how to navigate the dark-web. He’d mastered intelligence gathering in the service. The contacts he’d made over the years were invaluable. He was still contacted occasionally by different branches of the government and the military to aid them on special projects with his own unique way of finding what other people intended to keep hidden. What they were looking for was any chatter that could be construed to be about abductions, prostitution, human trafficking–anything they could tie to Juarez. “If I were a total creep, selling drugs and women, where in Juarez would I live?”
“In the richest part of town?” Saxon muttered dryly.
“Yep, a place called the ‘Golden Zone’. Juarez isn’t like Tampico, there’s no particular red light district.”
“I don’t think Noah’s mother would be living in the better part of town.”
“No, I don’t think so either. But she would go where the girls are…if she’s the angel of mercy she’s purported to be.” Micah chewed on his lower lip as his fingers flew over the keys.
“Why do you think they call her Angel Rubio?”
Micah glared at his friend. “Golden haired angel. Did you fail basic Spanish?” Saxon didn’t look up. “There’s a superstition in Mexico that touching someone with blond hair is good luck.” When his friend continued to ignore him, he grew suspicious. “What?”
“I think I found something.”
“What? Did you find someone buying cases of duct tape and date rape drugs?”
“No.” Saxon flipped the screen around so Micah could see. “I found a message calling for a hit on Angel Rubio.”
Angel Rubio – Sofia Garza Salazar…
“I think we should leave, go to the States.”
Sofia dished up a plate of heuvos rancheros and handed them to the young man who had come to mean so much to her. “Mateo, this is not something I can run from. You, however, should leave. Go back to your family in Mexico City. Blend into the crowd.”
“You saved my life. I’m not leaving you.”
Watching Mateo eat his food with gusto, Sofia smiled sadly. “You should have stayed in Tampico. You were safe there, you had friends.”
He took a big swig of milk, then held out his plate for more. “Your son’s family came looking for you. Why would you avoid them to fight a battle you can’t win?” Mateo watched Angel Rubio’s face fall. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned him.”
“Noah. His name is Noah.” She said the words reverently, like a prayer. “He’s a beautiful young man, very smart. A good man.”
“How long has it been since you saw him last?”
As if in a daze Sofia began to speak. “The last time I held him, he was two weeks old. Since then, I’ve seen him twice. From a distance.”
“What do you mean?”
“I attended his high school graduation, sat in the back. I also saw him the day he married, I parked on the road a few blocks from the ranch and watched him and his new bride leave for the airport. She is as beautiful as he is.”
“How did you keep up with this?” Mateo was confused. He didn’t understand why a woman who loved a child so much could stay away.
“The McCoy family are newsworthy. I keep up with them via google-alert.” Sofia laughed a bit harshly. “Isn’t that pitiful?”
“How about the pictures? I saw the pictures and they didn’t come from the internet.” Mateo asked the question, then had the good grace to blush.
“You snooped through my things?” She raised one elegant eyebrow.
“Yes, I needed answers. I wanted to know why you risk your life for others.”
“And did you find the answer?”
“Yes.” He shook his head. “No. I don’t know.”
“That’s a very decisive answer.” She gave him a sad smile. “The truth is simple. I sinned and being separated from my child was the punishment.”
“Whose punishment?”
“My husband.” She stood up and began putting the dirty dishes in the sink. “He was an angry man and I never pleased him. I turned to someone else for comfort and Noah was the result. One day after he’d beaten me, I lashed out and told him the baby I was about to have wasn’t his. When Noah was born, he told me to get rid of him or he would kill my baby. I appealed to Sebastian McCoy to take Noah away, to save his life. He agreed.”
“So… he was the father?”
Mateo’s question was met by a period of silence. At last, she answered. “Yes, that’s what I told him.”
Mateo frowned. He needed to practice his English, sometimes he didn’t get the nuance. “And the pictures? Who sent you the pictures?”
Sofia sat back down. No use hiding things now. Too many years had come and gone. “Sue McCoy, Sebastian’s wife.”
“She must have been a very understanding woman.” Mateo didn’t pretend to understand the female mind, but this didn’t seem to be normal behavior.
“She was…eventually.” Sofia’s voice faded. “This was several years later. I tried to call Sebastian one day, just to see how my son was doing. She answered…we talked.”
“Why did you wait so long?”
How did she explain something so humiliating? “For a long while, I felt…unworthy even to inquire about Noah.” She refused to look at Mateo. “Once Noah was safe from my husband, he took his anger out on me.”
“How?” Sympathy was evident in Mateo’s voice.
“He bartered me to the owner of a brothel in Juarez. This is why my greatest desire is to help other girls escape the hell I once knew so intimately.”
A new day for Madison…
The cots at Angel House were as thin as a newspaper insert, but Madison would’ve been glad to sleep on a bed of nails if it meant staying away from her own place while Rudy was there. She awoke early enough to give herself time to head home, grab a quick shower and a change of clothes before heading to work. Madison was always bouncing around from job to job. Her main goal in life was to one day become a nurse, but until she could find the stability, both financially and emotionally to go back to school, temp jobs were the only answer. One day she might be working in an office entering data, the next she could be an executive assistant. The way she saw it, all of these varying assignments gave her valuable compu
ter skills and an opportunity to network with people she might not otherwise meet. After a turbulent childhood, Madison had been slow to find a footing in the world. Now at twenty-six, she finally felt comfortable enough to reach out to people and attempt to blend in with the rest of society.
Padding into the ladies’ washroom, Madison was glad to find it empty. Many other times at Angel House, she’d come here in the early morning hours only to find a visitor sleeping on the floor. Looking at herself in the mirror over the single sink as she brushed her teeth, Madison frowned at herself, wondering if Micah thought she was pretty. Oh well, que sera sera.
“Here you are.” Sonya entered the bathroom carrying a white mug full of coffee. The mug said Karen in purple letters with aqua stars encircling the name.
Madison sipped the morning glory. “You are a lifesaver, my friend.”
Sonya smiled back. “No biggy.”
“Well. Karen, thanks you.” She raised the mug in a toast, then both busted out laughing. The mug was a remnant from the eighties and they always got a laugh out of referring to whoever was drinking out of it at the time as Karen, even if the user was a male.
“You’re up early,” Sonya said as she leaned on the edge of a sink, hanging on by one ample hip.
“Gotta work.” The sun was still about an hour away from gracing the Texas skies. “I’ve been up about a half hour, already made my bed.” She’d also checked to see that her bag was still secure. It had been–thanks to Micah’s lock.
“Sleep well?” Sonya inquired.
Madison craned her neck and rubbed her shoulder. “What do you think? I don’t have the privilege of sleeping on that comfy blow-up bed you keep in the office.”
“Honey. Don’t hate. That’s just one of the perks that comes with being a director at this high-class establishment.” She gave Madison a saucy wink. “You could enjoy all of these fabulous luxuries if you’d make a bigger commitment to this wonderful place.”
Madison took another big gulp of her drink and exited the room. “Sonyaaaaa,” she whined. “Don’t make me feel bad. I’d love to be more involved around here and give back, but not all of us are as stable as you. The night I volunteer at the nursing home painting the ladies nails and playing games with them is about all I can spare.”