Eight blocks later, he made a right, and Matt followed him down a smaller street with older tenements lining its sidewalks. Tomás’ brake lights flashed ahead of him and he turned his flashers on, double-parking in front of a large building flying the blue and white Argentine flag. Matt slowed to a crawl and was easing up onto the sidewalk when he realized where he was – in front of one of Mendoza’s police stations.
Tomás watched the entry as the day-shift officers left, and saw Bruno’s rugged features in the crowd. He lowered the passenger window and leaned toward it and shouted his name.
“Bruno. Over here.”
His brother saw him and patted his companion on the shoulder as he shook his hand, and then turned to where Tomás was parked and moved unhurriedly to the car.
“Come on. Get in,” Tomás said.
Bruno eyed him distrustfully. “Where are we going?”
“I’ll tell you on the way.”
Bruno sighed and pulled the door open. Once he was seated, Tomás pulled out, and Bruno glanced at him.
“Have you been drinking?”
“Just one.”
“You said you were in trouble?”
“Bad trouble, Bruno. Worse than anything before.”
“Christ. What did you do, kill someone?” he asked, only half-joking.
“Almost.” Tomás told him about the fake kidnapping, his gambling debt, and the double cross. When he was finished, Bruno closed his eyes.
“Stop the car.”
“Bruno. I need your help. For real.”
“No, you need a psychiatrist and an attorney. And probably a priest. What in God’s name were you thinking?”
“I had to do something. They were going to escalate it. Cut fingers off. They already broke my ribs.”
“I wish they’d broken your neck. You deserve it.”
They stopped at a red light, and Tomás hung his head. “I know. It’s all gotten so…crazy.”
“That’s the tame version. Does it get any lower than what you’ve done?”
“I’m not excusing it, Bruno. And if I could take it back, I would. But right now I’ve got a real problem. They’ve got Catalina, and they changed the deal so I’ll still be a hundred large into them even once I give them the money.”
“That sounds like the least of your worries. I’d be more concerned about burning in hell for eternity.”
“That’s a given. But I need you to help me, Bruno.”
“How?”
“I want you to go with me. Push them around a little. If they see I’m with a cop, they’ll think twice about screwing me.”
Bruno shook his head. “You’re insane. There’s no way I’m going to do anything while in uniform.”
“No, think about this. They’ll assume you’re in on it with me. My partner. I’ll tell them you’re a cop, you show them your badge, and it sets them straight. They won’t want to bite off trouble with the cops on a nice clean transaction. All we want is for them to honor the original deal. You tell them that I’m partners with you, and that if they renege on their deal, they’re reneging on a deal with you, too. Puff out your chest some. They’ll fold. These are low-level street scammers. They’ll take the money and run.”
“And what if they don’t?”
“There’s no way they’re going to go to war with the police over trying to screw me. Besides, I’m pretty sure their boss doesn’t know what they’re pulling. Once they see they’re in over their heads, they’ll honor the deal, I’ll get Catalina back, and nobody gets hurt.”
Bruno sighed. “How well do you know them?”
“Pretty well. They run a lot of the loan sharking in town. And some card games.”
“Local, or connected?”
“I think they’re small fry, although they have some pull with the local casinos – but only to lend money. It’s not like they run them or anything. I wouldn’t get you into something you couldn’t get out of. I’m telling you, these guys are punks.”
Bruno watched two young women in tight jeans walk by as they pulled away from the intersection, their hair glowing in the dimming light. He bit his lip and touched his pistol, then nodded.
“You’d better be right. You carrying?”
“Carrying?”
“Are you armed?”
Tomás looked shaken. “No. Of course not.”
Bruno gave him a sidelong glance. “Okay. Go to my house. I have an extra piece there.”
“What? I don’t want a gun.”
“I’m not asking you what you want. If this gets ugly, you’re going to wish you had one. Now go to my house. No more bullshit. I’ve had about enough to last me a lifetime.”
“But the meet’s at a casino.”
“You told me. I know that place. There aren’t any metal detectors at the doors like the more upscale joints.”
“I don’t know, Bruno…”
“Tomás? You wanted me involved. I’m involved. Now drive to my house, or do this on your own.”
Chapter 10
Matt followed the car to a middle-class residential neighborhood, all single-story homes built from exposed brick, and watched as the cop got out and dashed into the house. He returned five minutes later dressed in civilian clothes – black slacks and a blue windbreaker. As the Mercedes lurched forward Matt gave his scooter some throttle, remaining almost a block behind now that he knew Tomás’ plodding driving style.
The afternoon light was giving way to dusk, the sky streaked with a rainbow of color as the sun drifted behind the mountains, the mature trees lining the downtown streets rustling in a light wind that carried with it the smell of freshly tilled earth and vineyards as Matt eased to a stop a hundred yards from where Tomás was parking. The only obvious destination was a low-budget casino – a small type that catered to the locals rather than the tourist trade, its neon sign as shopworn as the pavement on the street. Matt watched as Tomás retrieved a suitcase that probably had the money in it and raised his cell to his ear.
Jet sat with Sofia on the sofa, looking through a photo album filled with shots of Catalina, while Hannah lay on the carpet and played with some of her friend’s toys. When her phone vibrated, she glanced at the number and excused herself before moving down the hall to the rear of the house for privacy.
“Hey,” she said.
“They’re at a casino five blocks from Sofia’s house. They just walked in. This must be the meet. I’m going inside so I don’t lose them.” Matt gave her the location.
“I can be there in five minutes. Stick to them.”
“This is getting weird. He stopped and picked up a cop at the police station, then drove him home so he could change. I don’t like the direction this is going.”
Jet thought furiously. “I agree. This is sounding more and more like amateur night. I’m on my way. Don’t lose them.”
She hung up and rushed back into the living room. “Sofia, I’m so sorry, but that was kind of an emergency. Can I leave Hannah here for a few minutes? No more than a half hour, tops.”
“Of course. I enjoy her company. She’s such a good little girl…”
“Thanks.”
“Is everything all right?”
“Oh – yeah. I just forgot I need to take care of something at the apartment. Pay a worker.”
“No problem.”
Jet sprinted down the sidewalk to her car and leapt in. She cranked the ignition, flicked the headlights, then tore down the empty street, anxious to get to the casino. Catalina’s life hung in the balance, with a father who seemed determined to make poor choices. Why he would bring a cop to the tradeoff defied reason – unless he was part of the kidnapping plot. But then why would Tomás be playing taxi for him?
When she arrived, she called Matt as she parked.
“I’m here. Outside.”
“Stay put. I’m inside. The two of them met a guy by the slots and they just disappeared through a door in the rear.”
“Damn. Why wouldn’t they stay out in the op
en? Their safety odds just dropped through the floor when they walked through that door.”
“Agreed, but I don’t know what I can do.”
Jet sighed. “Just wait, I suppose. Hopefully they’ll return in a minute with Catalina in tow and we can all go home.”
Tomás and Bruno entered the casino, which was nearly empty, most of its patrons still at work earning the income they would come to squander later in the evening. Tomás saw one of Javier’s men standing at the end of a row of slot machines and walked over to him. A short man, balding but with long strands of black hair combed over his scalp in an unsuccessful attempt to forestall the inevitable, he gave Tomás an ugly look.
“Who’s your date?” the man growled.
“None of your business. He’s with me. I have the package. Let’s do this,” Tomás said.
The man looked Bruno up and down and turned back to Tomás. “Where is it?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“You better know what you’re doing,” he warned.
“Thanks for the advice. Now are we going to do it, or not?”
The man shrugged and moved to a door at the rear of the gaming area and knocked twice. The door opened and the man motioned for them to go in, choosing to remain in the casino, his beady eyes darting around the floor like a bird of prey.
Tomás entered the room, Bruno by his side, and approached the desk where Javier was sitting, a smirk on his face. Four of his bully boys lounged on chairs and sofas that lined the walls. The men stiffened when they saw Bruno, and the atmosphere became tense. Javier’s expression changed as he took in Bruno and then he fixed Tomás with a cold stare.
“What the hell is this?” he hissed.
“This is my associate. He’s my partner in several of my endeavors, and I asked him to come along.”
“Your associate. I see. And what does your…associate…have to do with our transaction?”
“He’s very concerned that you changed the terms. Very.”
Javier sat back, the situation completely different from the one he’d been prepared for, and glanced at his men.
“You’re on very dangerous ground, Tomás. You don’t want to bring anyone else into this,” he warned, his voice quiet.
“My associate is involved in my affairs. Your changing our deal creates considerable hardship for him, so he’s in this, whether you like it or not.”
“Is that so?”
Bruno shifted. “That’s right. You need to stick to the original deal,” he said gruffly.
“You’re about three seconds away from getting bones broken, tough guy,” Javier said.
Tomás laughed with false bravado. “I don’t think so. My friend here is a police officer. You want trouble with the police? Screw me over, you’re screwing them over.” He gave Javier his best tough-guy glare. “You obviously have no idea who you’re dealing with.”
The men put down their newspapers and drinks and slowly slid apart, putting space between each other. Bruno registered the movement and tensed, aware that things were spinning dangerously out of control, that his brother had misjudged the level of professionalism of the group he owed money to. The men looked street-hardened and older than Bruno had expected – hardly punks or amateurs, as Tomás had assured him.
“Tomás. Ease up. Now,” Bruno whispered, his hand clutching his pistol in his pocket.
Javier nodded. “Listen to the man, Tomás. You owe me money. This is a simple deal. I don’t care who else you’re in bed with. I want my money. The deal you get is the new one I told you you’ll get – and bringing your boy here to the party has only served to annoy me.”
Tomás whipped the little P380 pistol Bruno had given him from his pocket and held it up for Javier to see. “Time to rethink that, Javier.”
Bruno caught movement on the periphery of his vision. One of the men went for his gun and then everything fell apart in a matter of seconds as he pulled his Beretta free, cursing Tomás’ recklessness as he instinctively dropped into a crouch.
Matt was moving to the change booth near the rear door to exchange some of his bills for coins when gunshots exploded from the room. A woman screamed, and an old man who had been feeding one of the machines stood abruptly and tottered to the exit. The little weasel who’d shown Tomás and his cop friend to the door jerked a pistol free from his jacket and bolted toward the door to the back room. Matt had to make an instantaneous decision and didn’t hesitate. He covered the distance between himself and the man in three long strides and sweep-kicked his legs out from under him just as the door flew open and the cop, still shooting, fell across the threshold, blood streaming from his chest and down his face as he fired.
Jet was nearing the casino entrance when she heard muffled gunshots, followed by a hysterical woman and a pensioner bursting through the double doors with panicked expressions. Jet paused, and when more shooting sounded from within the building, she swore under her breath and darted into the casino.
Pandemonium greeted her. She took in the terrified gamblers huddled behind whatever cover they could find and saw Matt at the far end of the room knocking a man with a gun to the floor. Two security guards in gray uniforms were running toward him. Jet threw herself headlong down the aisle between two banks of slot machines in an effort to cut them off before they reached him.
Gunfire blasted from the room as she reached the end of the aisle and hurtled at the first guard, his partner a dozen yards behind him. She caught him in the chest with her shoulder, just as he was bringing his revolver to bear on Matt, and his breath blew out with an oof as she followed through with a strike to the pressure point on his neck, instantly disabling him. His gun tumbled from his hand as he fell. Jet went down with him, using his bulk to shield herself from the second guard as she groped for the pistol.
Her fingers found the cold blue steel and she brought it up, pointing at the second guard’s head as he struggled to get his gun free of his hip holster. Seeing the weapon aimed at him, he stopped and slowly raised his hands.
“Keep them up,” she warned, getting to her feet.
A volley of shots echoed from the doorway, where Matt was firing into the room. The guard cringed as she moved to him. He slumped into an inert pile at her feet when she brought the revolver down on his head. She ran to where Matt was lying next to a blood-covered body, a gun in his hand trained on the room beyond the doorway.
“Are you hit?” she whispered, her pistol also pointed into the room.
“No. But he’s a goner,” Matt said, indicating Bruno, who wasn’t breathing.
“Where’s Tomás?”
“Inside.”
They exchanged a look. “You ready to do this?” she asked.
“Let’s go.”
She rolled through the doorway with her weapon as Matt swung his gun around the doorjamb, sweeping the room. Inside was a tableau out of a nightmare – five men lying in pools of their own blood, two with their brains blown against the wall, one still spasmodically twitching on the floor, another moaning. Tomás was face down near a file cabinet, blood soaking his shirt. She moved to him and turned him over, then checked his pulse. Faint, but steady. A quick look showed he’d been hit in the chest and the shoulder, and the bloody hole in his lower trousers showed a flesh wound.
Matt caught her eye. “Looks like it didn’t go as planned.”
“No, that’s safe to say.”
“What now?”
“I don’t see any more rooms to search for the girl – and the police will be here any second. Let’s get out of here. Go on. I’ll be right there.”
“Where do you want to meet up?” he asked.
“I’ll call you. Now go.”
Matt didn’t need any further coaching, and dashed for the casino entrance as Jet reached down and dragged Tomás clear of the room. She checked his pulse again before sprinting for the doors, even as sirens wailed their approach.
When she came out onto the sidewalk, Matt had already gone. She hurried to
her car and started the engine just as the first police vehicle swung around the far corner. Jet punched the throttle and the Chevy leapt into the street. She watched more squad cars arriving at the front of the casino in her rearview mirror and thanked providence she’d gotten away when she had. As to Tomás, the police would get an ambulance there for him faster than she could.
When she pulled to a stop in front of Sofia’s house, she debated how to handle the situation and decided to play dumb. As far as her friend was concerned, Tomás was taking care of business and hopefully getting their daughter back safe. Reality was that something had gone badly wrong and now the little girl’s safety was a question mark. She dialed Matt’s phone. When he answered, she could hear his scooter motor in the background.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“On the way back to the apartment. I’m at a red light. Talk fast.”
“I’m not going to tell my friend what happened. If Tomás was carrying ID, she’ll get a call soon enough.”
“Good thinking.”
“What the hell happened?”
“My guess is Tomás and his buddy, for whatever reason, tried to take them.”
“Bad idea. And no sign of Catalina.”
“Maybe that’s why he freaked out.”
“Could be. But now he’s a pincushion, and she’s still kidnapped.”
“Bad situation all around. Oh – light turned. Gotta go.”
“Stay at home until I get there. And Matt? Sorry I got you into a shootout.”
“I was just beginning to think hanging with you might be nice and boring.”
“You should know better.”
“I do now.”
Chapter 11
Luis looked up as his second-in-command entered with a dour expression. Luis finished scribbling in his ledger, closed the heavy leather-bound book, and set his pen down on the desk.
“What do we have?”
“Footage from the casino. As you know, we get the security cam feeds real time. I had our boy run us a copy of the relevant sections.”
Luis shook his head, fuming. “How did a simple cash collection turn into a bloodbath?”
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