by Lincoln Matt
“You are American?” the kid asked, his eyes wide with fear as he lifted them to meet mine.
“Yes,” I confirmed. “We’re here investigating the murder of one of our citizens.”
This had the desired effect.
“Murder?” the young man cried, shaking his head vigorously and looking like he was going to cry some more. “I don’t have anything to do with any murder! I don’t know anything about that. I’m just a hotel clerk! I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, is all. That’s all! I swear it.”
Holm gave him a wry smile. “You see, we’d like to believe that. We really would. But so far, you haven’t really given us much to go off of, you see?”
“That’s because I don’t know anything!” the kid cried, practically screaming now. “I swear, I don’t! How am I supposed to help you if I don’t know anything about anything!”
“You knew enough to nearly get us and the President of your country’s daughter killed,” I pointed out.
“The President’s…” the young man mouthed, astounded. “Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I didn’t realize. I didn’t… Oh, no, no, no, no, no…”
He continued to go on like this, practically manic, and Holm and I exchanged a look. This kid didn’t know a damn thing, that was for sure. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t help us.
“Alright,” I said, leaning forward. “Let’s start over. You know our names, now why don’t you tell us yours.”
“J… José,” the young man stammered through his tears. “José Reyes. But I don’t know anything, I swear to you, I don’t.”
“Alright, José,” I said kindly. “It’s nice to meet you. I wish it were under different circumstances, though not as much as you do, I’m sure. Now I believe you, and I think Agent Holm does, too. Is that right, Agent Holm?” I turned to look at Holm.
“Sure is,” Holm agreed, continuing to give the young man a stern look. “But just because you got caught up in something you couldn’t handle for honest reasons doesn’t mean you haven’t done anything wrong, and it doesn’t mean you can’t help us, either.”
“That’s right,” I said. “Now we understand that you were just trying to protect yourself and the people you care about. We really do. This is all frightening, and you got put in a bad position. But you’re still in a bad position. And helping us means helping yourself right now.”
“I don’t know how I can help you!” José exclaimed, making to throw his arms up in the air, but getting stopped short by the handcuffs. “I don’t know anything about these people!”
“Do you know what’s going to happen to you next, José?” I asked. “Do you know where they’re going to take you?”
He nodded through more cries.
“They’re going to take me to Santo Domingo,” he sobbed. “And lock me up and put me away forever. But I’ve barely lived yet! I’ve never even been to the big city. I was planning to go for college. I’ve been saving up with this job. I even got in on a scholarship. But now….”
He was panicking now.
“Okay, okay,” I said. “Let’s back up a little. You seem like a smart kid. You learned English, got this job, got into school. What do you want to do with your life, if you could do anything at all?”
“I… I don’t know yet,” José stammered, surprised at the question. “I just want to get out of here.”
I gave him a smile. “I bet you do.”
“And now I’m finally going to, but I’m never going to see the outside of a jail cell,” the boy cried, throwing his head back down on the table in disgust.
“Now, now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Holm chuckled. “You can still help us, even if you don’t think you can.”
This got his attention, and he raised his head slightly to peer up at us again. “How?”
“Well, just because you don’t think you know anything doesn’t mean you didn’t overhear something or come across some information that you don’t understand,” I explained. “And that could be helpful to us. So do you want to try? There’s nothing left to lose, really, is there?”
“They could hurt my family,” José murmured.
“You just let us worry about that,” Holm said. “We can keep them safe.”
That was true enough. It would be easier to keep this promise since José’s family was Dominican and safely on that side of the border. With the Haitian boy, it would be trickier, though that wouldn’t stop us from trying.
“Alright, José,” I said. “How about you start at the beginning? Tell us exactly how and when they got in contact with you, everything they said to you, everything you heard them say to each other. Don’t leave anything out. Every little detail counts. You never know what could be important out of context.”
“Okay,” José said, taking a deep breath. “I will give it a try. I didn’t ever so much as talk to a Haitian until a few days ago. Or at least not that I knew of. I suppose I could’ve talked to one and not known it…”
“It doesn’t matter,” Holm said, though not unkindly. “How did they approach you?”
“Two of them came up to me on my way home from work,” José said. “I was walking on the road, and I didn’t know who they were, I swear it. I mean, I knew they were Haitian, but I didn’t know they were from the cartel at first. It didn’t even cross my mind. I thought they were just lost or were immigrants looking for jobs over here. That happens sometimes.”
“It’s okay, José, we believe you,” I assured him. There was no reason for him to lie at this point. Besides, he was so freaked out that I doubted he’d be able to if he tried.
“Okay,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief. “So I was walking home, and they came up to me. I started telling them about the hotel, in case they were interested in a job there. My manager isn’t bigoted. He’ll take whatever good help he can find. Anyway, they already knew about the hotel. Told me they’d been watching me. Well, only one of them told me… the one who spoke Spanish.”
“Were they the same men who were here today?” I asked.
“Two of them, yes,” José confirmed with a shudder. “I never saw any of the others until today.”
“They said they were watching you?” Holm repeated.
“Yes, that freaked me out,” José said. “I wasn’t sure how to react, I just froze. And then I remembered all the stuff that’s been going on with the cartel and everything. I don’t get involved with that stuff. I just keep to myself and focus on work and studying for my college entrance exams. So I haven’t been paying much attention. But with the conference and everything, it’s been on everyone’s mind around here lately.”
“So, what did they say next?” I asked.
“Well, I just kind of made a run for it at that point,” José admitted sheepishly. “They’re much bigger than me, you see. I knew I couldn’t take them, not in a million years.”
“That’s smart,” Holm said. “But let me guess, they were faster than you, too?”
“Loads,” José sighed. “I mean, I’m small, and fast too, so I got pretty far, but there were two of them. They roughed me up a bit.”
“They beat you?” I asked.
“Yeah, but not where anyone could see,” José said, pulling up his shirt the best he could around the handcuffs to reveal some ugly bruises. “They didn’t want anyone to start asking questions, they said.”
“What made them stop?” I asked, feeling sick to my stomach once again, based on how these guys treated young people.
“I said ‘Okay, okay, what do you want,’” José said. “I didn’t want to, I swear. I just needed them to stop hitting me.”
“No one blames you for that,” I assured him. “What did they want?”
“Well, they asked me what I knew about the conference happening at the hotel,” José said. “I just said not much, but that I knew it was some kind of negotiation with the border towns. I was still kind of cagey at that point. I didn’t say anything about it having anything to do with the cartel.”
/> “You’ve got more spunk than I would’ve at your age,” Holm said with a grin, though I doubted that was true.
The boy shrugged. “I just want my family to be able to live here in peace like they always have,” he said.
“What did they do next?” I asked gently.
“Well, they kind of bought that much,” he said. “I think they already knew it was about them.”
“What makes you say that?” Holm asked.
“Well, they were talking to each other about it, saying that everyone wouldn’t come together like that if it weren’t to gang up on the cartel,” José explained. “Because the border towns don’t like to get the federal government involved unless they have to, or each other for that matter. People like to keep to themselves around here. They just prefer it that way.”
“I see,” I said. “So, they were talking to each other right in front of you?”
“Yes, but they didn’t know I could understand them,” José said.
I gave him a confused look. “How’s that?” I asked.
“Well, I can speak French,” José said as if this was obvious.
I had to stifle a laugh as I exchanged a look with Holm.
“Well, José, you are full of surprises,” Holm chuckled. “Did they say anything else when they thought you weren’t listening?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” José said. “I’ll have to think about that. It was all such a blur, and I was very frightened. There were a few times they did that.”
“So, you met them more than once?” I asked.
“Three times,” he confirmed. “They got me to reveal about the conference, and then they threatened my family, said that I had to talk to them whenever they wanted, or else they’d kill my mom and little brother. So they said to wait for them to come again, and then they let me go when I promised not to say anything to anyone.”
“Okay, so when did they contact you next?” I asked.
“They told me to meet them behind the hotel one night,” he said. “They left a message for me in my mailbox at home. That’s what really freaked me out, that they knew where I lived. I didn’t want them to hurt my family.”
“We understand,” I said. “No one’s blaming you for that.”
“They were,” the boy said bitterly, eyeing the door, behind which there were sure to be patrolmen.
“We’ll take care of them,” Holm said.
“We know President García,” I added. “Don’t worry about anyone else.”
This seemed to impress the boy even more.
“Okay,” he said. “So they met me behind the hotel and told me to keep watch on everything. They said that they wanted to know as soon as the people at the conference reached any kind of agreement, and what it was.”
“What did you tell them?” I asked.
“Well, you see, I’m more observant than people think,” José explained. “I’d been paying attention to the conference, long before the cartel showed up. I knew that they were trying to make a treaty, with signatures and everything. And exactly what they were fighting about. I didn’t know that nice lady was President García’s daughter, though. I swear if I had…”
“It’s okay, José,” I reassured him. “What did you tell them?”
“All of that,” the boy said. “I was so afraid. And so then they talked between each other in French again. What did they say… they said something about going back to the doctor and telling the higher-ups about it.”
“The doctor?” I repeated, more sharply than I’d intended. “What do you mean by that?”
“I don’t know,” José admitted. “That’s all they said. It didn’t make much sense to me either. They thanked me and left after that, gave me a way to signal to them that a treaty had been finalized. I was to put a specific stone in a specific place behind the hotel. So when they reached an agreement, that’s what I did.”
“It’s okay, José,” I said. “You spoke to them when they arrived?”
“Yes, I led them inside,” he said and began to cry again. “I’m very sorry. I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt. I just didn’t want anyone to hurt my mother or brother.”
“We understand, José,” I said. “And no one got hurt, no one except those bastards who threatened you, anyway. Did they say anything else? Anything at all?”
“They spoke in French again,” José said after thinking hard on this for a moment. “Something about a ship.”
“A ship?” I repeated. “What ship?”
José shrugged. “I do not know. I’m sorry, that’s all I got. Oh, and they said something about how they would never be caught dead taking that new drug, or letting someone give it to their family members.”
“They were talking about the drug?” Holm asked. “Why?”
“I don’t know,” José said. “That’s all they said, I’m sorry. They were continuing a conversation they were having on their way to the hotel, I think. They didn’t know I could understand them. It was all in French.”
“Thank you, José,” I said, giving him another smile. “You’ve been very helpful. And don’t worry about any of this, or about your family. We’ll get it all sorted out, I promise.”
And with that, Holm and I rose to leave.
CHAPTER 16
Ethan
Holm and I convinced the patrolmen to hold the kid until we could talk to Diane and President García and get things sorted out. He and his family would be fine.
“Well, that was interesting,” Holm said when he and I were back in the lobby, hanging out in the couch area and resting for a moment. “Now there’s a ship involved? Why’s there always a ship involved with you?”
“I don’t know, maybe I’m just a magnet for this kind of thing,” I chuckled. “I guess I’m in the right line of business.”
“A magnet for every ship except the one you’re looking for, that is,” Holm reminded me.
I’d almost forgotten about the Dragon’s Rogue, with everything that was going on with this mission.
“Yes, I suppose that’s true,” I sighed. “I’d better call Diane, check in on Emmanuel’s case and see what we can do for this kid, as well.”
“Good idea,” Holm said. “This is the mission of lost souls, isn’t it?”
I pulled out my phone and dialed for Diane while Holm went to talk to the remaining hotel clerk again.
“Ethan,” she said, picking up before the other line even began to ring. “How are you doing? I heard you got shot.”
“Ah, it was just a scratch,” I assured her. “I’m calling about a kid Holm and I talked to who’s gotten himself in some trouble….”
“Yes, the Haitian boy,” Diane said, cutting me off. “We haven’t managed to track down his family, but I spoke with President García, and he will get amnesty for cooperating with you. I can’t promise anything about the rest, but García will do what he can for them.”
“Oh, good, that’s good,” I said. “I was going to ask about him, too. He’s a good kid who just caught up in some bad stuff. But, unfortunately, we found another kid in a similar situation, a Dominican teenager on his way to college in Santo Domingo. He’s the one who leaked the information to the cartel about the treaty today.”
“You want to help the mole that nearly got you killed?” Diane asked dryly. “You never cease to surprise me, Marston.”
“I know,” I grinned. “But these guys have their claws in deep around here, Diane, it’s really bad. As bad as I’ve seen. He was just trying to save his mom and little brother.”
“Alright, I’ll see what I can do,” she relented. “What’s his name?”
“José Reyes, from the town where we are now,” I said. “I got the policemen here to hold on to him for the time being, but they’re intent on locking him up. He’s a smart kid with a bright future ahead of him, and he helped Holm and me with some information on the cartel.”
“Okay, I’ll get in touch with some people about that,” she said. “We can get his family protection at th
e very least. What kind of information is this?”
I relayed everything that José had overheard about the drug, the so-called “doctor,” and this strange ship.
“Interesting,” she said. “Could this ‘doctor’ be the voodoo witch doctor you’ve been talking about?”
“That’s what I was thinking,” I confirmed. “But I’ve got no clue about this ship they were supposedly talking about.”
“Well, go off of the leads you’re sure of, and the case will work itself from there,” Diane said. “You know that.”
“I do,” I agreed. “This case is just off somehow. Hey, do you know anything about Haitian zombie powder?”
“Holm mentioned something about that,” Diane said, sounding skeptical. “That’s a bit of a stretch, don’t you think, Ethan?”
“I do, but then again, this all seems like a bit of a stretch,” I said. “So, I’m willing to consider all options at this point.”
“Fair enough,” Diane relented. “I’ll look into it.”
“Anything else on Jake Wallace?” I asked.
“Yes, actually,” she said. “I got in contact with some feds in New Orleans. Neither of the names we have rung a bell for him, but I showed them our guy’s picture. I guess he’s a well-known dealer down there, has a rap sheet as long as any I’ve seen. He goes by the street name Abel. They’ve never been able to identify him otherwise. He’s never been caught or booked.”
“Abel,” I repeated. “Interesting. I’ll look into that.”
“Let me know what you find, and we’ll continue research here,” Diane said. “And Ethan?”
“Yeah?” I asked.
“Be careful tomorrow,” she said.
“I’ll do my best,” I promised her.
I ended the call and was greeted by another notification, a missed call from Clyde, one of our lab techs. I moved to call him back. He also picked up almost immediately.
“Agent Marston,” he said. “It’s good to hear from you. Did you get my message?”
“Oh, no,” I said. “Sorry, I just saw you called. I was on the phone with Diane.”