by Peg Brantley
And then he thought about the story potential. This could be huge. The rescue of a young, innocent girl whose father was a drug lord? The possible twists were mind boggling. This could make his career. This could be the story that raised him from the ranks of “who wrote that?” to “I never miss his column or his books." Whatever he was digging himself into could make a huge
difference in his family’s finances.
A solid story here, and Pamela would forgive everything. Especially if it brought in some money to pay the extra bills and take a few family vacations. Hell, Darius thought, might as well think big.
Then he thought again.
Yeah, they were walking into unknown waters tonight. Darius just hoped there weren’t any gators.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“We good?” Mex asked as Darius slid into the passenger seat of the rented SUV. The interior overhead light glowed dimly in the darkness.
Darius looked briefly in his direction. “Wouldn’t be here if we weren’t.” He closed the door and the light slipped away.
“Just checkin’.”
“Know where we’re going?” “I’ve programmed the GPS gizmo.
Other than that the answer is no.” “Better than I’d hoped for.” “Fuck you.”
“You taking your meds?”
“What? Just ’cause I cuss you
think I need drugs?”
“It’s a sign is all.”
Mex looked at his friend. Didn’t
see any subterfuge. “Yeah. It hit me a few days ago. I’m on ’em.” “You feel yourself slipping, you need to let me know.”
“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t good.”
“Well, good then.”
“Good.”
It didn’t take too long before they were out of the city. Mex imagined that if he could see past the headlights, he’d see the flat swampland the region was known for. The air was heavier here too, the humidity making it crawl with a life of its own.
The two travelled in
companionable silence for several miles. According to the GPS they’d be on the current road for twenty more miles.
Darius cleared his throat. “I spoke with Pamela.”
“I would expect you to speak with your wife.” Mex wondered what was coming. “She good? Kids good?”
“Yeah, yeah. All good. She’s just… I don’t know. Pregnant.”
“Look, if you need to get home, I understand.”
“Nah. Not right away. You know Pamela. She gets that this is important.”
“But?”
“But nothing’. She just misses me. Her hormones are kicking places they shouldn’t be kicking and she’s reacting.”
“Sure?”
“Hell, I don’t know, Mex.
Pamela’s at that point where she wants me around and doesn’t want me around. She doesn’t know what she wants. And I know I want this story.” Darius shifted in his seat, pulled his seat belt away from his chest and let it resettle. “Just thought I’d tell you we talked is all.”
The two friends fell silent for a mile or so.
“You’ve read more about this Cade LeBlanc than I have,” Mex said. “What do you think makes him tick?”
Darius popped his neck. “I just skimmed but I think a family member—a sister maybe—got involved in some cult and ended up dying. I don’t remember the details.”
For a moment he thought of Sedona, then shook it off. “What cult?”
“I told you, I was skimming.” Darius turned his head away from Mex and looked out the window.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Silence.
“Darius?”
“Nothing much else to say. Except that along with the anti-social behavior —the whole cult thing and all—the sister also had trouble with depression.”
Silence.
“Shit, amigo. Unless the dead sister’s depression is significant to our case, what the hell do I care?”
“You don’t. I don’t. Unless it affects how Cade LeBlanc responds to you.”
“What? Like I’m carrying a sign or something?”
Darius waited for Mex to take a breath and look him in the eye. “Or something.”
“Fine. I’ll try and play nice. Anything else?”
“Just that he’s been doing this for a long time, knows what he’s doing and has had a lot of success.”
“Which is why he wants to meet us out in the middle of a swamp at midnight?”
Darius didn’t bother to answer.
A few minutes later the GPS had them pull off the dark road on to an even darker road. One made of dirt and not exactly smooth.
“Are you sure about this?” Darius asked.
“Like I would know. I just input the information. From that point forward it’s a relationship based on trust.”
“Which we all know you have very little of.”
The dark road had so much gravel build-up that he fishtailed twice and grimaced as flying bits of rock hit the rental. The last time he’d been on a back road in Louisiana, it had been made of ground up seashells from the gulf. Gravel was probably cheaper and maybe more ecological, but he missed the idea of driving on shells.
Mex slowed to a crawl, peering out the windows to try and see past the headlights. This can’t be good. Based on the activity in the lights in front of them, they were outnumbered a gazillion to one by bugs, most of which probably bit and sucked.
A few yards later the road leveled out to an even grade. A large parking lot stretched in front of a building with a sign that had the smallest spotlight in the world angled on it. It took Mex fifty more yards to be able to read the thing. Boudreaux’s was all it said.
There were two vehicles in the parking lot. One was on the side of the building: a beater with more rust than paint. The other, a brilliant red BMW SUV that was so clean it caught a fragment of light from the spotlight and spilled it back into the night like
stardust. Mex figured the clean machine belonged to LeBlanc. A part of Mex wondered how the hell a guy who pulled kids out of cults could afford a high-end Beamer, but the other part knew there were more than a few people back home who questioned his own wealth. Because he was Mexican, they assumed it was drugs. Because he kept to himself they knew it was drugs.
Screw ’em.
He pulled up next to the BMW, angled so that although he and Darius had easy access, the driver of the red luxury vehicle would have a hard time getting in the driver’s side.
The two men sat and took in the view of the crab shack.
Suddenly, there was a pop as the door to the restaurant flung back and hit the siding. A man stood there, eyeing them right back. Three hundred pounds of muscle. Hair tied back in a pony-tail. Fierce. Challenging. A shotgun in his right hand.
* * Shit. We haven’t even stepped out of our rental car and Genghis Khan stands ready to pick us off. This meet was a bad idea.
Before Mex could stop him, Darius pushed open his door and squeezed out.
His friend held his hands high, palms forward. “We’re expected. We’re here to see Cade LeBlanc.”
Mex wondered if he was going to have to haul Darius back into the SUV and peel out of this dark and desolate spot before they were both obliterated from the face of the earth. He was glad he hadn’t killed the engine.
The giant seemed to consider Darius’s words, then rested the shotgun at his side. Took one step back. Bowed his head. That was the best they could hope to get, and Mex decided they had no other choice but to take this
opportunity.
Mex tweaked the ignition key, and the silence was deafening. At least until the night insects took up their songs. He stepped out of the vehicle, closed the door and moved toward the restaurant. Darius fell into step behind him. Mex was comforted by the gun secured in the back of his waist, but he seriously doubted that both of them would survive if Mount Etna decided to fight.
They walked steadily toward the restaurant, neither of them giving i
nto the urge to swat at the deluge of insects. Mex kept looking for a Plan B and wasn’t happy with any of the options.
There were five steps up to the deck area, then another ten feet past the sentinel to the entrance. Mex stilled his thoughts. Decided that if he were killed, he’d be with the love of his life. That would not be so bad. He missed Maria every day. But what about Darius? A wife waiting for him in Colorado. Kids. Another on the way. He pushed those concerns away. All that was important— the only thing that mattered—was saving Dia, and by saving Dia he could save his sister.
No more sacrifices.
Mex swallowed.
As the two men cleared the top
step the giant held up a hand and twirled a finger indicating they were to turn around. Mex felt his gun slip out of his waistband, and after quick pat-downs— the man had obviously done one or two —he signaled them to enter the
restaurant. “Gun be your’ when you lea’. Righ’ now, it be mine.” The manmountain’s Cajun rolled like honey out of his mouth. Mex barely got the gist. The guard didn’t enter with them but stood sentry, presumably what he’d been doing when he and Darius had pulled up.
Mex wondered what the lookout was for. Was there more danger here than he’d considered?
The interior of the crab shack was murky. Light filtered through a window in a swinging door to the kitchen and blended substance and shadow. Weak moonlight messed with things from another angle. Well-worn tables stood empty and clean, scattered throughout the room. Several tables lined the glass wall that ran the width of the room at the far end. One caught his attention. A lit candle reflected off the glass, but not enough to reveal the features of the lone figure who sat waiting.
Mex and Darius took a few steps and stopped. Waited.
The shadowed form stood. In greeting or preparedness? “What’s your business here?” Soft. A little sexy with business mixed in.
A woman! How many people does this guy have set up for them to get past?
“We’re here to meet Cade LeBlanc.” Mex felt as if he was a little too loud. A little too official. He dialed it back. “We have an appointment.”
Although he couldn’t see her face, Mex swore the woman smiled as she spoke. “Then I suggest you get
yourselves over to my table before you’re late and I decide I don’t want to wait any more.” Yep. Definitely. She was smiling. Mex could understand her smooth cadence easier than he could the giant’s, but it still sounded like honey to him. Honey, with just a little bourbon.
He and Darius walked across the restaurant. Mex forced himself to look straight ahead, acutely aware of what he could and couldn’t see peripherally.
“Please, gentlemen. It’s just me and Boudreaux and Little Ray, aside from the two of you. Since Boudreaux wouldn’t hurt a fly that was yammering at him for hours, I’m forced to bring Little Ray with me in case there’s trouble.”
“Little Ray?” Mex asked.
Cade LeBlanc laughed. He found himself drawn to the husky sound. “When we were kids, we grew up in the same neighborhood of camelbacks, and Ray was the tiniest kid around.” She noted the questioning looks from both Mex and Darius. “A camelback is a house that’s one story in front and two in back. Ya’ll aren’t from around here, are you? Anyway, he hated being called Little Ray, but there was nothing he could do about it. One night we went to sleep, and the next morning he’d blown up to giant-size.”
“But you still call him Little Ray.”
“Nothing he can do about it. When you live in a small place with big imagination, names stick.”
Mex looked Ms. Cade LeBlanc over. Wavy hair, brown with a few streaks of red the flickering light picked up, but even more of gray. Average in just about every way except for a pair of enormous eyes. It was hard to tell in the candlelight, but he guessed they were green with some amber tossed in. Just a guess, but it felt right.
When all three were seated, Cade LeBlanc put her elbows on the table and leaned forward. She looked directly at Mex. “You’ve got a missing girl who is connected to a drug cartel.”
“I do.”
“You think Santeria is involved.”
“I do.”
“Then she’s in trouble.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Dia woke with a start and listened hard. She’d heard a noise. Where had it come from? What was it? There. A thump and voices. Outside. She pushed the light blanket off, pushed aside the mosquito netting and stepped to look out the window.
Pilar, Luis, and Hector were swaying and chanting. Sparks from the fire they stood around flew off into the night. What were they doing? If this was a Santeria ritual Dia wanted to be there.
Where did she leave her shoes? Come on, Dia, she thought. You would think in this small room she wouldn’t lose anything. She dug around in her clothes bag. Nothing. Maybe if she stood on the deck it would be okay. She wouldn’t need shoes if she didn’t go down by the fire.
Dia padded barefoot to the door that led from the main area to the back deck and eased the screen open. She tried to be quiet, not because she was trying to be sneaky, but because she didn’t want to interrupt a religious ritual. Softly closing the door behind her, she moved to the edge of the deck where she could more clearly see and hear what was going on.
It was a ritual all right. But the words were different from any she’d ever heard before. She’d have to ask Pilar what they meant.
Luis held something in his hand and raised it over his head. Dia gasped out loud when she realized it was a dead rooster. The man spun in her direction, the firelight carving angry lines in his face as he looked at her.
“You! Leave at once!” The venom of the words stung Dia and pushed her back from the deck rail. She knew Luis had mostly just put up with her, but now he sounded like he hated her. She sought Pilar. Their eyes met and Dia could not understand the expression on her nannyturned-friend’s face. Then Dia dropped her gaze down to what Pilar held in her hands.
My shoes.
* * * Sedona couldn’t sleep. She’d overheard her captor talking on the phone earlier. It sounded like he was talking to VV but she couldn’t be certain. Whoever it was, they were making plans to move her. Something about the motel getting suspicious because Cigarette Breath told them he didn’t want maid service.
Yeah, right. Like a maid ever touched this room. Oh please, God. I don’t want to die here. And I don’t want to go wherever they’re going to take me. If this place was their first choice, she didn’t want to think about what might be next.
She remembered the advice from the experts who said never let someone take you away from the place of first contact. She was already too late for the first move, but maybe there was
something she could do about the second one.
At least if they were talking about moving her, they weren’t going to kill her. Yet. She tried to push those thoughts away.
“C’mon, Princess. Here. Swallow this.” Cigarette Breath forced a pill in her mouth.
She spit it out.
“Bitch, you forget who you’re dealin’ with. You think I don’t have an option to a freakin’ pill?” He bent over and plucked it out of the dirty carpet. Wiped it on his jeans. Sedona figured a needle probably wasn’t any cleaner. The next time he stuffed it between her lips, she accepted the glass of water he held up and swallowed.
“We’re relocatin’.”
Great, Sedona thought. He’d wait until the sedative took effect and she was unable to fight back.
Teo, where are you?
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Mex pushed his chair back from the table. Confirmation of his worst fears made him want to take action. Do something.
“What can we do?” Darius asked the woman sitting next to him.
Cade LeBlanc looked from Darius to Mex and sighed. “Tell me everything you know about the drug cartel her father is involved with, including their rivals. I need to know names as well. Who was the nanny close to outside of the family? If you don’t have this
information now, get it by noon tomorrow. If what I suspect is right, we don’t have much time. We might already be too late.”
Mex stiffened. “What do you suspect?”
Cade looked away.
“Ma’am. We’re tired. We’ve come a long way. What do you suspect?”
“Call me Cade.”
Mex nodded.
“It is not unusual for drug cartel members to be involved in what I call extreme religions.”
Mex waited.
Cade took a long pull from the bottle of beer sitting in front of her. “They include animal sacrifice. It can be horrific.”
Mex waited.
“And within the cartels
especially, the sacrifices often go beyond animals. We know that people have lost their lives in rituals where cartels hope to protect themselves from law enforcement.”
Mex waited.
“Or to gain the upper hand over rival groups.” Cade pushed the bottle away from her. “I suspect that a rival cartel is hoping to kill two birds with one stone by sacrificing the little girl. On one hand, in their minds, they might gain some elevation of protection or success, but most definitely they’ll send a message.”
Mex and Darius spent the next hour detailing everything they knew to Cade LeBlanc. She asked a lot of questions and they knew they had more research to do.
“I need you to find out whatever you can about the nanny’s boyfriend. Luis is the key. He will lead us to the people responsible for the abduction of the girl.”
“Why don’t you use her name?” Mex asked. “Why don’t you call her Dia?”
“Because I can’t go there yet. It’s how I remain professional. Clearheaded. Detached.”
Mex squinted his eyes as he considered her words. “Why did you get involved in this line of work?”
Cade crossed her arms. “That’s for another time, when and if I feel like sharing.”
“Are you usually this easy to get along with?”
“Usually.”
* * Mex wanted nothing more than to fall into the room and close the door to the rest of the world. To close the door to everyone and everything that took a breath. He had to focus hard to remove his clothes and crawl into bed. It had been all he could do to remain “in the moment” at the meeting with Cade LeBlanc.