by Peg Brantley
A minute later he hung up and looked at Cade again. “Darius is coming back. He was just boarding his flight.”
“So I gathered. I sure hope he can sleep well on planes. We could use another pair of boots on the ground.”
Mex shook his head. “They think they have everything under control. He and his wife think they have a plan to make sure they continue to fly under the radar.” He closed his eyes. “And if they don’t? I mean, how important is it for him to be here? Is it worth it for him to risk his family?”
Cade swallowed. “His decision, not yours.”
“Look, I’m thinking we can handle this. Darius can run our intel side. He doesn’t need to be here.”
“You’re right. But Darius also wants to get the story first hand. He doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy to sit behind a computer to get the details. He likes to get the feel.”
“At what price?”
“Don’t make me defend him. He knows what could happen. This is his call.”
“I don’t think we need him here. He might be distracted.” Mex held his phone, ready to make the call to tell Darius Johnson to get off the plane and go home to his family.
Cade reached out and grabbed his hand. “Wait. Why are you so dead set against more help when we have to move in?”
“I’m not against help, at least the right kind of help.”
“What then?”
“I have enough guilt.” He laid the phone down on the table. “Hell, Cade, I have four lifetimes worth of guilt. I’m depressed, I’m medicated, and I’m operating in unfamiliar territory. The right kind of help doesn’t have a family. A pregnant wife.”
Her voice was barely above a whisper. “You don’t think we’re going to find Dia, do you? You think we’re going to die.”
Mex didn’t say anything.
“You do, don’t you? You think we’re going to die.”
“People die.”
“What kind of answer is that?” “The only one that would be true.”
“Then we need to talk a little bit about how I operate. I couldn’t do this every day of my life if I thought I would fail. Yeah, I’ve lost some people, but mostly I haven’t. Yeah, I’ve been in danger but because I plan well, that danger is seriously mitigated.”
“We need to check the home where we saw Dia’s backpack. We need to clear it. We need to know for sure they didn’t just move her out during the day.”
“I agree.” Cade pulled a notepad out. “If we can wait for Darius to get here, our odds for not getting killed go up. Are you willing to work with me here?”
“Only if Darius buys into the plan.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Cade made a rough sketch of the home. “We know there’s the main entrance from the street. I saw a back door when I went to the bathroom. Because the garage is in the back of the house on the alley, it’s unlikely there’s a side entrance but we can’t count on that for sure.”
Mex nodded, intrigued with her thought process. Well, not so much intrigued really as hopeful.
“The problem with a full-on approach is that if Dia isn’t there we’ve alerted them to our presence if even one person is in the home. So the entrances are more of an FYI thing. Agreed?”
Mex nodded. He got the feeling Cade was winging it. But he also got the feeling that Cade’s ‘winging it’ would lead to a solid plan.
“So we need to do one of two things. We either need to wait until we actually see Dia enter the house, which is unlikely, or we need to have a way to contain Rosa Santos so she doesn’t sound the alarm and we can do an indepth search.”
“How do we do that? How do we contain Santos?”
Cade took out her own phone and hit a button. “Hey. I need a favor.”
Mex, instantly aware that he was bothered by her intimate tone, wanted to know more. Who was she calling? What was their history? And she’d just hit one button. Speed-dial. He wasn’t happy about that.
He heard Cade ask whoever was on the other end of the line if he—Mex knew it was a he—could find anything on Rosa Santos. She gave the address. “I need the info quick. Like ten minutes ago.”
Four seconds later she laughed, that deep full laugh Mex had initially been drawn to. “Call me.”
* * * Cade looked at Mex. If he weren’t already stretched to the limit she’d make some kind of joke about the call she’d just made. As it was, Mex looked like he was about to bag everything—especially her.
She ran a hand through her hair. “I have a friend in the St. Tammany Parish sheriff’s department who owes me. He’s going to do a search to see if Rosa Santos might need to be called in to the department to take care of something. Even if he doesn’t come up with
something on her, her name is common enough that she might just have to come in to prove she isn’t the one they’re looking for. Either way, that’ll give us a chance to check out the house with no one home.”
Mex sat silent.
“Well? Good plan?”
“It might work.”
“Thanks for your encouragement.” “What do you want from me,
Cade? I’m struggling right now just to stay human, let alone be a cheerleader. This is hitting closer to home than I’d counted on.”
“Look, Mex. We’re only talking about a couple of more days. Three at the most. And maybe even less if my friend comes through. We’re gonna get this little girl and she’d damn well better take her life and make it into something.”
Silence.
“Damn it. I need to know you think this is doable. That you aren’t walking into any step we take with a doomsday attitude. I’m here for you; I’ve got your back. But I need to know you’re ready to get mine and that you won’t just give up or walk away.”
More silence. The darkness, Mex thought, is pushing me down but Dia’s urgency is pushing me forward. If I’m going to succumb, I’ll succumb after we’ve completed our mission. He spoke. “I know what’s important. I’ll be there. I’ve got your back. ” He paused. “It’s doable. We can make this happen.”
Cade looked at the man sitting in front of her. He knew he did not inspire her confidence right now. “What time does Darius’s flight arrive?”
Mex looked at his watch. “It’s about a three hour flight. Have your sheriff friend get Rosa Santos’s attention before he leaves his shift. I’ll pick Darius up, we’ll catch some shuteye, and we’ll meet you at the house. You’ll need to confirm that she leaves.”
“You’re suddenly sounding down with this.”
“There’s no other way to be. Make sure you carry some protection with you.”
“I didn’t know you cared, mon cher, but you should probably know I always pack. That whole line of work thing.”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Mex turned off the SUV’s headlights a block before he pulled up behind a pickup truck and shut the motor off. The houses they saw were dark, the
occupants away, asleep, or passed out. He and Darius waited in silence while Cade got out and moved into the backseat.
“Has she left?”
“Not yet. I called my friend at the sheriff’s department. He was just going off his shift.” She leaned forward, handed Mex a gun he’d asked her to bring, and tapped Darius on the
shoulder. “Welcome back, Darius. Glad to have your help.”
“Thanks.”
“Does your friend know we’re breaking in to someone’s home?” Mex asked.
“He knows what I do, and he knows that sometimes that means I have to bend the rules to save lives.”
“Bend the rules?”
“It’s not like we’re going to steal anything.”
Darius twisted in his seat. “Why is it okay with him for you to break the law?”
“About eight years ago I got his brother out of a cult situation.”
“Santeria?”
“Nope. A group called Christ Enlightenment.”
“Christian?”
“They t
hink so, although I seriously doubt if any Christian church operates even close to the way those guys do.”
Mex nodded toward the house. “Look, a taxi just pulled up.”
They watched as the woman Mex and Cade had spoken with earlier walked slowly out of the house and got into the cab. A minute later it pulled away from the curb.
“No one else in the house?” Mex asked.
“No one I’ve been able to see.”
“You ready?” Mex asked Darius.
“Let’s do this.”
Mex and Darius got out of the SUV first and walked around to the back of the house. Cade would follow a minute later and approach the front door. A tiny house like this one, they’d hear her ring the doorbell. After three rings, Mex would break in the back door.
He and Darius both had their weapons drawn as they rounded the corner, keeping the guns pointed to the ground as they moved rapidly to get in position. Mex hoped there wasn’t a dog. There hadn’t been any sign of one earlier but they hadn’t checked the backyard.
Pressed against the exterior of the house, on either side of the door, they listened for the doorbell. Mex and Darius heard it at the same time and looked at each other.
One down.
No other sound came from inside the house. The doorbell pealed again and Mex could almost feel how empty the place was. Two. Unless Dia was drugged, he didn’t think she was here.
A third double tone and Mex was at the back door. It was a cheap and simple lock. They were inside in less than a minute.
He pointed to the front of the house. “Let Cade in.”
If Mex had hoped to see two plates on the table he would have been disappointed. The kitchen was tiny but neat. He opened the refrigerator. It didn’t look like there was enough food in there to feed one person let alone two. He pulled out all of the drawers and checked their contents. Nothing.
“Mex, I’ve got the backpack,” Cade called from down the hall.
He hurried through the dining room, where Darius was looking into the cupboards of a sideboard, to what looked like a spare bedroom.
“It’s Dia’s, no doubt about it.” Cade held up an iPod with Dia’s name written on it. “Santos must have moved it after we left.”
Cade dumped the contents out onto the bed. Nothing that wouldn’t be in the typical teenage girl’s backpack
collection of things they considered important. Except for the cowrie shells.
“Why would she have these?”
“They’re used in Santeria
ceremonies and rituals. She must have been practicing.”
“Okay. Her backpack isn’t going to tell us where she is. There’s got to be something in this house that can tell us where she’s being held.”
Cade pointed out the door. “There’s a small desk in the next room. Probably our best bet.”
“You look through that, I’ll check the master bedroom.”
Darius called from the dining room. “I found some photos. Could be something here.”
Mex hurried to the dining room and looked at the photos. A young man and woman were in most of them.
Darius pointed to a woman in one of the pictures. “That’s Pilar Villanueva. I recognize her from my online
research.”
“So that must be Luis Alvarez.” Mex turned the pictures over looking for a date or a location. There was nothing to identify either.
“Did you bring your camera?” Mex asked.
“Yeah.” Darius took the photos and laid them on the dining room table. He pulled out his camera. “Gotcha. We need to see if we can match the
backgrounds to locations.”
Mex nodded. It would take far too long to do it that way. Dia might be long dead. But it was all he had to go on and he wanted to encourage his friend. Maybe keep him busy and out of the way. And unharmed.
He walked back to the master bedroom and searched it carefully. There were some more photos of Luis and Pilar but that was all he found. Both the small master bathroom and the main bathroom yielded no results.
Cade walked up to Mex with an envelope in her hand. It was addressed to Luis Alvarez in Florida. There wasn’t a return address. Mex opened the envelope and looked at the signature at the bottom. There was only the initial “P” but there was little doubt as he skimmed the letter it was from Pilar to Luis.
“Look at the postmark.”
“This means that Pilar spent time in Pearl River while her boyfriend was in Florida.”
“At least long enough to post it.”
“I’m thinking there might be more to it than just passing through. Maybe she lived in this house for a while.”
“Or maybe she has some other ties to this place. I mean, why would she live here?”
“Good questions. You check your sources and Darius will check his. If the nanny has another tie to this place, we’ll know.”
Mex wanted to call VV. Make sure Sedona was okay. Let him know they were getting close. He wanted to call Vicente. Tell him the same thing. Make sure the cartel boss didn't send off any vibes that he hadn't made good on his promise to provide the name of the man directly responsible for having his family gunned down.
To his surprise Mex was more interested in appeasing VV than VV’s father, who had hired him in the first place. The bloodlust Mex felt against the instigator of the horrific murders of his family members did not stack up against getting his sister home and safe.
He looked at his watch. They’d been in the house almost an hour. The sheriff’s department was ten minutes away. “We need to get out of here.”
“Get the photos?” Mex asked Darius as they moved through to the back of the house.
“I think so. I’m not sure what to do with them but I’ll figure something out.”
“Good. Let’s go.”
The three froze as they heard a key in the front door.
Shit. Mex motioned both of them to get out the back door. He didn’t need to remind them to move fast. And quiet.
Mex screamed words in his head. Please don’t let her be thirsty or have a sudden need to check out her back yard. Please let her need to go to the
bathroom. Please let the three of them get out of here without being caught. Please let this all happen so Dia can stay safe. So Sedona can live. Please.
Cade and Darius made it out the back door, Mex hard on their heels. He eased the door to the frame and prayed that it slipped rather than snapped into the closed position.
Less than a minute later they were all in the SUV.
Mex looked around at his fellow criminals. He was thinking about the fact that they still didn’t have Dia. “Was this worth it?”
Darius spoke first. “We can eliminate this house as a holding point. Because of the photos we have other places to check out we didn’t know about before. So yeah, we made some progress.”
Cade waited until Mex looked her in the eye. “We learned that we can operate as a team. If every other piece of information we got tonight was shit, we learned that. And that is gonna carry us forward. Do you agree?”
Darius nodded and Mex continued to look at Cade. He would only let them go so far. He would not risk their lives when it came time to get the girl.
Cade settled behind the wheel of her truck and leaned out the window. “We also learned that Pilar Villanueva might have some as yet unknown connection to the area other than Luis.” Cade paused. “That connection could be significant.”
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Dia’s arms were sore. They’d been cleaning the stilt house for hours getting ready for the last of the company. Some important man who everyone called The Client. He was supposed to arrive tonight.
The plan was for a big celebration dinner, and then tomorrow night they’d have the ritual everyone had been talking about. And she was going to get to attend with the grownups.
“Dia!” Pilar called from the kitchen.
She plodded to the doorway. “Please, Pilar. No more scrubbing. Everything has bee
n cleaned twice.”
Pilar laughed. “And it looks grand. Now, off with you to get cleaned up. Wear whatever is your nicest and then come help me with the dinner. We’re going to have a huge feast.”
Later, Dia was setting the long table. Six places. Even though the dishes didn’t match, she thought they looked pretty together. Hector brought extra candles from the store for their dinner.
They were really going to
celebrate tonight.
Pilar came and put an arm around her. Dia snuggled in for the hug.
“Tonight I want you to sit next to our special guest.”
“Really? Me?”
“Part of the reason he’s coming here is to meet you.”
“Why?”
“We’ve told him how special you are.”
“But why, I mean… I don’t…” Dia pulled away from the embrace, suddenly wanting to be home. With VV. She could hear Mamá calling her name, and Mamá was home. She had no idea what she’d have to say tonight to such a special guest. The Client would expect her to be able to talk about things and know things and her tummy was
beginning to feel sick.
“Don’t worry, Dia. Just be yourself. You’re charming and
intelligent and I know you’ll do fine.”
Dia’s shoulders sloped as she walked away. “If I don’t throw up.”
Pilar gripped Dia by the arm and spun her around to face her one-time nanny. “You will do this. You will not embarrass us or place us in any kind of bad light. Do you understand me?”
She swallowed and tried not to cry. She wanted Pilar to be proud of her, not ashamed. And she wanted Pilar to think of her as a friend and not a little girl she had to take care of. “I… yes. I understand.”
“Quit your shaking then. I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I didn’t think you were ready.” Pilar held her at arm's length and stared hard into her eyes. “You are ready, aren’t you?”
Dia sniffed and straightened her shoulders. “I’m ready.”