24/7

by Yolanda Wallace

  Director Chavez relayed the order to the surly hit man who had tossed him the cell phone he was now holding. The man patted Menendez down and rummaged through his toolbox. Luisa stiffened when she saw the hit man pick up the “replacement part” containing the hidden camera. Then he casually tossed it aside, slammed the toolbox shut, and leaned toward the phone in Director Chavez’s outstretched hand.

  “He’s clean, boss.”

  “Then bring him in here.”

  “Move.”

  The hit man pressed his pistols into the small of David’s back and marched him toward the theater. Luisa watched until they disappeared inside. She braced herself to hear gunshots or to see the relieved face of someone unexpectedly tasting freedom after spending most of the afternoon coming to terms with her impending death. She knew she shouldn’t expect the face to be Finn’s, but her heart held out hope. As she tightened her grip on her battle rifle, she prayed her heart wasn’t about to be broken.

  “When will you release the hostage?” Director Chavez asked.

  “When I see if this guy is really who he says he is,” Javier said. “When will I get my money?”

  “The van’s on the way from Mexico City now. It should be here in about four hours.”

  Director Chavez hesitated long enough for Luisa to notice, but she didn’t think the brief pause captured Villalobos’s attention. President Peña Nieto had refused to authorize payment of the ransom. Not only the full amount, but any amount at all. Director Chavez knew Villalobos wouldn’t take the news well, so he decided to string him along as long as he could while he tried to think of a way to resolve the situation while leaving the least amount of casualties behind.

  “You’re cutting it close, aren’t you?” Javier asked.

  “Like I said, these things take time.”

  “Just make sure yours doesn’t run out. And if Luisa Moreno’s with you, tell her I’m looking forward to our date.”

  So am I, Luisa thought, though I doubt you’ll enjoy it as much as I will.

  ❖

  Finn tensed when the electrician was shoved into the room. She couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to him if he wasn’t able to fix the problem. Would he be executed, too? And if he was able to do his job, would he be allowed to leave, or would he be forced to join them?

  “What’s your name?” Javier asked.

  Obviously nervous, the electrician swallowed hard. His Adam’s apple bobbed like a fishing lure caught in the currents of a rushing stream.

  “David, sir. David Menendez.”

  “Let me tell you a secret, David. I can smell a cop from ten miles away. Did you know that?”

  “No, sir.”

  “It’s a hidden talent of mine.” Javier sniffed the air. “Do you know what you smell like, David?”

  Too frightened to speak, David shook his head.

  “You smell like a coward. Are you a coward, David?”

  “I—I don’t know, sir.”

  “You don’t know?” Javier turned to his men like a schoolyard bully seeking validation from his lackeys. “What do you know?”

  Even from twenty feet away, Finn could see David’s eyes fill with tears.

  “That I don’t want to die.”

  Javier tapped the barrel of his gun against the side of David’s head.

  “Then do your job. It feels like a fucking sauna in here.”

  “Yes, sir.” David swiped his hand across his eyes. “I need to check the main unit first to see if there are any issues with it. If there aren’t, I’ll need to take a look at the control panel.”

  Javier waved him away as if he had grown bored with the conversation. “Go with him, Manuel.”

  David was ushered out by the same man who had brought him inside. Finn hoped the problem would be an easy fix and the air would magically start working again, but David returned several minutes later looking just as lost as he had when he had first arrived. He headed to the control panel, unscrewed the cover, and took a look at the wiring. Then he pulled something from his toolbox, inserted it into the panel, and replaced the cover. He flipped the On/Off switch a couple of times, then stepped back like he was waiting for something to happen.

  Finn sighed with relief when she heard the familiar click of the air conditioner powering on and felt a blast of artificially cooled air from the vent overhead hit her in the face.

  David packed his toolbox and hesitantly approached Javier. “May I leave now?”

  “Go.” Javier jerked his chin in Aurora’s direction. “And take her with you.”

  David fiddled with the controls on Aurora’s wheelchair until he got it going in the right direction. Then he practically ran out of the room, Manuel hot on his heels. Finn wished everyone else could follow in their wake.

  Their ordeal was supposed to end in a few hours, but she sensed it had barely begun.

  ❖

  “Here they come.”

  Luisa lowered the tablet computer when she saw David and one of the hostages exit the theater with one of Javier’s hit men trailing them. The hostage was slumped over in her motorized wheelchair. David wrapped an arm around her shoulders to keep her from falling as they slowly made their way over the bumpy terrain.

  “Is she alive?” Director Chavez asked.

  “Yes,” David said. “She was overcome by the heat, but I think she’ll be fine.”

  Director Chavez eyed the hit man as he backed away, each waiting for the other to make a move.

  “Drive her to the nearest hospital and get her checked out. Sanchez, Avila. Help him get her loaded in the truck.”

  Two officers stepped forward and followed David to the borrowed truck. They lifted the hostage from her wheelchair and placed her in the front seat. After they loaded the wheelchair in the back of the truck, David drove away, and Sanchez and Avila returned to their positions.

  “What do we have?” Director Chavez asked.

  Luisa returned her attention to the camera feed displayed on the computer. Using the icons on the touch screen, she turned the camera in a slow pan of the room.

  “The situation’s not as bad as we thought. There are more men outside than there are inside. Not including Villalobos, the hostages are being guarded by twenty men. Once we pierce the outer perimeter, the inner ring is sure to fall.”

  She left the rest unsaid, however. If they didn’t get to the men in the inner circle fast enough, there was no telling how much damage the gunmen could inflict before they were taken down.

  She panned the camera again, then zoomed in on a familiar face. Finn looked weary, but she seemed to be holding up okay. Luisa hadn’t expected any less. If Finn was brave enough to travel the world alone, she was brave enough to handle anything Javier Villalobos could dish out. For Finn’s sake, Luisa hoped the worst was already behind her, but she feared the worst was yet to come.

  She didn’t know Villalobos’s end game, but she knew he wasn’t going to give up without a fight. And neither was she.

  “We need to put our heads together,” Director Chavez said.

  He used his cell phone to call the various squadron leaders under his command since radio communications were limited to coded, mission-specific exchanges in case the compromised officers on Villalobos’s side were tuned to the same frequency. When the men arrived, everyone huddled over the tablet computer while Director Chavez planned the rescue mission that would mark the Federal Police’s finest hour—or one of its most devastating defeats.

  “Does everyone understand their roles?” Director Chavez asked.

  Everyone responded in the affirmative.

  “Good. Resume your positions and make sure the rest of the team is in the loop as well. We move on my signal. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “What would you like me and my men to do?” Hector Salinas asked.

  “Get these vehicles out of here. We need to get this driveway cleared as soon as possible.”

  “You got it, Arturo.”

 
Director Chavez’s cell phone rang shortly after Salinas and his men began the laborious process of moving the dozens of cars parked haphazardly all along the winding driveway. The director nodded as if he had been expecting the call.

  “What’s going on out there, Chavez?” Javier asked. “My men are telling me you’re up to something.”

  “I’m not up to anything. I’m simply fulfilling the terms of our agreement. Three vans are on the way. One contains the cash you requested, the other two will be used to provide safe passage for you and your men. If you want your money and a way out, I need to make room for the vehicles that can give you both.”

  “What about the other thing I asked for? What about Luisa Moreno?”

  Director Chavez met Luisa’s eye and held her gaze.

  “I’ll hand her over to you after you release the hostages, not before.”

  His voice sounded sincere, but his expression said he had no intention of keeping his word.

  “If you think I’m giving up all my leverage, you’re crazy. After I get Moreno and the money, then you get the hostages.”

  “Now you’re asking me to give up my leverage. If this is going to work, you have to at least meet me halfway. I give you the money, you release the hostages, then I give you Moreno. That’s the best I can do.”

  “I’m done making deals, Chavez.”

  Villalobos sounded increasingly agitated. Luisa feared he was dangerously close to becoming completely unhinged, which could put the hostages in even more peril than they already were.

  “Now get me what I asked for or you get nothing.”

  Nothing was what Villalobos and his men had to lose. For the moment, Luisa and her colleagues still had everything to gain. Time would tell which side would win. And time, Luisa knew, was running out. Director Chavez had preached patience and restraint. But if they waited much longer, their patience could become a liability instead of a virtue.

  Director Chavez’s personal cell phone rang. He handed it to Luisa while he continued trying to bargain with Javier Villalobos.

  “The director is busy at the moment,” she said, feeling more like a secretary than a federal officer. “This is Luisa Moreno. How may I help you?”

  “Moreno, it’s me, David Menendez. I’m calling from the hospital. The hostage Villalobos released has regained consciousness and is starting to talk.”

  “Has she given you any information we can use?”

  “She says the rest of the hostages are getting anxious. They’re planning some kind of attack. As soon as they see an opening, they’re going to turn on their captors.”

  On the tablet’s screen, Luisa could see Finn and the women sitting near her watching the gunmen holding them as if they were waiting to spring into action. What were they thinking? They had the superior numbers, but they were hopelessly outgunned.

  “What are they going to fight with, their bare hands? They’re unarmed and untrained. I admire their bravery, but if they make a move on Villalobos and his men, it would not only be futile but suicidal.”

  “I agree, but if you were in their position, would you wait for someone else to decide your fate, or would you take matters into your own hands? You would fight. So would I. You can’t hold it against them for doing something you would do yourself.”

  “I don’t, but based on what you just told me, our mission has changed. We not only have to save the hostages from Villalobos, we need to save them from themselves. The way things are going, I don’t know if we’ll be able to do either.”

  She felt like pulling her hair out. She knew the mission’s failure would haunt her for more than the rest of her career. It would haunt her for the rest of her life.

  “Talk to me, Moreno,” Director Chavez said after he was unable to convince Villalobos to modify his demands. “What did Menendez have to say?”

  Luisa filled him in on what Menendez had told her about the hostages’ plan to revolt.

  “We’ve got to move in, sir, and we’ve got to do it now.”

  Director Chavez nodded soberly as if the matter was settled, but Luisa wasn’t done.

  “You need to let me go inside, sir. Handing me over gives us our best chance to beat this guy. You know it as well as I do.”

  As Director Chavez eyed the news helicopters circling overhead and the onlookers crowding the beach, Luisa could see the indecision etched on his face. She could practically read his thoughts. Was he doing the right thing? Had he waited too long to make his move, or was he about to act too soon?

  He reached for his cell phone after the first of two armored vans pulled into the resort’s winding driveway.

  “You win, Javier.”

  Luisa’s adrenaline spiked. One way or another, the standoff was about to come to an end—and whether she wanted it or not, she would have a front row seat.

  “Moreno’s coming in.”

  Day Seven

  Finn glanced at her watch as the display changed from p.m. to a.m. A new day had arrived. This was supposed to be the beginning of her last full day at the Mariposa Resort. Now it could turn out to be her last day on earth.

  She had always wondered how she would spend her last moments. When the time came, would she find herself alone in a far-flung locale or would she be surrounded by family and friends in the cozy confines of home? This scenario had never occurred to her. Surrounded by hundreds of women who were strangers less than a week ago but now felt like family.

  She looked around the room. It had been more than twelve hours since Javier’s men had invaded the resort. Many of the hostages were starting to flag. Finn saw exhaustion and despair etched on their faces. The men holding them were undoubtedly tired, too, but their eyes glittered with what looked like anticipation. If the Mexican government met their demands, in less than an hour, they could all be very rich men. And everyone else in the room would either be free or dead.

  Nervous tension turned the muscles in Finn’s neck, back, and shoulders into knots. She craned her neck to ease the pain, then placed her hands on her knees to stop her legs from shaking. She had experienced many things during her travels—from flight delays to lost luggage to lousy accommodations to natural disasters—but she had never experienced anything like this. The complete and utter certainty that she and everyone with her was about to die.

  “Are you having second thoughts?” Ryan asked. “If you are, you aren’t the only one.” She took Jill’s hand and held it in both of hers. “Maybe you were right. Maybe we should wait and see what the Federales have in mind.”

  Earlier, Ryan had been gung ho about going after Javier and his men. She seemed considerably less enthusiastic now that she had something—someone—to lose. She and Jill had been glued to each other ever since they were reunited. If they were fortunate enough to make it home, Finn thought they would remain that way for years to come. Seeing their connection made her miss the one she had started to establish with Luisa. And it made her wonder if she and Luisa would have a chance to explore their burgeoning relationship instead of watching it wither and perish before it had a chance to reach full bloom.

  This week had felt like the start of something. Today could be the end. Of everything that was. And everything that was yet to be.

  She had spent most of her childhood feeling rejected. Feeling broken. Feeling like no one would ever want to be involved with someone like her. Someone who was different from everyone she knew in almost every way. A brainiac amongst the jocks. A lesbian in a sea of heterosexuals. A stutterer surrounded by people who had no problems speaking freely—especially when they were hurling insults in her direction.

  She had gotten used to being alone. Along the way, she had managed to convince herself that she liked it. Lasting connections, she told herself, were something to be avoided rather than pursued. Then a tall, dark stranger sat next to her in an airport bar and everything had begun to change. She had been drawn to Luisa, intrigued by her. In a matter of hours, she had fallen into bed with her. In a matter of days, she had fall
en in love with her. Then the words had come tumbling out. The words she had never thought she would say. The words she might not get a chance to say again.

  I love you, Luisa, she thought. Come for me.

  When the double doors near the front of the room swung open, she instantly regretted her silent plea.

  Luisa walked into the theater with her arms outstretched and her gloved hands facing the ceiling. The pose made her look more than a little like the bird girl statue on the cover of the infamous tell-all that had made Savannah, Georgia, even more of a tourist mecca than it already was prior to the book’s publication. She was in full uniform. In spite of the helmet on her head, the bulky bulletproof vest protecting her upper body, and the knee pads with a hard exoskeleton strapped around her legs, she looked vulnerable. Defenseless.

  “Is that your girl?” Ryan asked. “The cop you were talking to on the bus?”

  Finn nodded.

  “What is she doing here?” Jill asked.

  “What she does best: putting herself at risk in order to save someone else. I can’t let her do this. I can’t let her put her life on the line for me.”

  Finn tried to go to Luisa—to stop her—but several pairs of strong hands dragged her back into her seat. And an almost imperceptible shake of Luisa’s head held her there. Finn’s heart lurched in her chest when Javier pointed his gun at Luisa’s head. Her helmet looked sturdy, but could it stop a bullet at such close range? Finn didn’t want to look, but she couldn’t turn away.

  “Where’s Manuel?” Javier asked in Spanish.

  “Counting your money,” Luisa replied in kind. “One hundred million dollars is a lot of bills. That takes time. I’m sure he’ll call you when he’s done.”

  Finn didn’t know which was sexier, hearing Luisa speak her native language or watching her stand up to the man who had been tormenting them for hours on end.

  Javier cocked his head. “You’re awful calm for someone who’s about to die a slow, painful death. You’ve got a large set of balls on you, Moreno.”