He shrugged. “About the same. Don’t want to go through that again, ever.”
“No matter how hard we try, though, we can’t seem to hide from these assholes for long. I’m afraid to hire any more security because I keep getting good people killed.”
Beau shook his head. “The cartel killed those people, and all of us in the serve and protect business are fully aware of what we sign up for when we take the job. You, too. Although you don’t get a Federal check anymore, you’re still part of the law enforcement community.”
“What am I supposed to say to Lance’s pregnant girlfriend? I just found that out by snooping on your FBI buddy’s laptop.”
Beau winced then walked around the desk and gave her a hug. “Don’t tell me stuff like that. I need plausible deniability. As for the girlfriend, you’re not going to say anything, nope, no which way, no how. Your mind is already about to meltdown, thanks to all the stress you’ve endured. Herman will talk to her.”
He was right about the imminent circuit overload, and the pressure didn’t look like it would end anytime soon. “More than anything else, I want revenge against that bastard, Fernando Santiago. He’s the monster who’s the main source of our grief.”
“Couldn’t agree more, but he’s safe for the moment, surrounded by hundreds of cartel soldiers in Nicaragua.”
“If what has happened to me and Roger had happened instead to some member of the president’s family,” Athena said, “he’d nuke the bastard.”
Beau laughed nervously. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but our task force has made progress in getting a covert CIA operation approved to get rid of Fernando. But it would take a small army to invade his compound. Not viable, and a CIA drone doesn’t pack nearly enough punch to kill Fernando unless he walks outside, when our spies say he stays indoors. So, we have another scheme in the works.”
Beau refused to say more, and he eventually wandered off to bed. He took Leo with him.
Athena couldn’t reach out and attack Fernando herself, but she could make him suffer. Over the last several years, the cartel’s bank, brokerage, and digital currency accounts had shot up in value.
She set to work identifying them, lots of assets spread all over the world.
Chapter 31
The cops had finally cleared out. Athena leaned back in her chair to take a nap, but someone knocked on the office door. Athena took a minute to gather her wits and said, “Come in.”
Viola entered. “Have a minute?”
Athena rubbed her face to wake herself up. “Absolutely. How are you doing? Living around me is obviously damned risky.”
“Not a problem,” Viola said. “I’m a lot safer with you and Beau than I’d be on my own. But if you need me to leave, don’t hesitate to say so.”
Athena shook her head. “I appreciate your help with Leo and the rest. Anyway, as soon as I get a free minute, I need to start thinking about where we can go next.”
“Yeah,” Viola said, “that’s why I’m here. I think I know of a safe place we could hide for a month or two.”
That was the first bit of good news Athena had heard in a long time. “Safe is everything. Tell me.”
“There’s this rich guy I’ve known since I was a Girl Scout in a troop with one of his daughters. He owns a bunch of car dealerships in the Springs. I’ve had a long, close relationship with his family. While I was in college, I worked for him part-time, handling bookkeeping for some of his dealerships. Even though he sells cars, I’d trust him with my life.”
“What’s his name? I can check him out.”
“Dealing Davey Diamond. Anyway, he owns a fancy cabin a few miles back in the woods near Breckenridge. He and his fourth wife are on a cruise from San Diego to Anchorage. Before I was grabbed, I’d agreed to go by his house every week to make sure the place hadn’t burned down. He’d prefer that I lived there, but I had my job in Denver and all that.” Her voice cracked. “He probably won’t mind if you three stayed with me as long as we kept a low profile.”
Athena had her doubts. “Maybe. How secluded is the place?”
“It’s surrounded by national forest and has a first-class security system.”
The forest would make it easier for an assassin to approach, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. Athena pointed at an unused burn phone. “See what you can work out. Tell him that we’re all hiding from the cartel, but don’t mention my name or Beau’s.”
Viola nodded and called him. The conversation started very friendly—until Viola mentioned the kidnapping, which he’d obviously not heard about. Then, it sounded like the guy wanted to cancel his cruise and return home to protect Viola.
Eventually, though, she convinced him that she and her friends just needed an out-of-the-way place to hunker down for a few weeks.
The phone call ended. Viola said, “He wants to pay me more for housesitting fulltime, but I said no. He’s doing us too big a favor. Bottom line, we can move in whenever.”
“God bless him. And you, too.”
-o-o-o-
Tuesday
Davey Diamond’s cabin, near Breckenridge
Once Athena and the others moved to their new hiding place, her life finally began to calm down. Like an old-time sailor, her life was broken into a string of four-hour shifts. They started and stopped whenever Leo woke up for more chow.
The cabin was more like a house, with four bedrooms. Athena surrounded it with motion detectors and video cameras. She spotted lots of deer and elk, but no human intruders.
Beau worked the cartel issue remotely. Viola spent most of her time studying Santa Muerte and preparing more masses. Everybody on site—except for the baby—packed a pistol at all times. They rarely left the old mining claim owned by Diamond.
-o-o-o-
Thursday
The Post series reached the end. It described the attack at the South Park ranch, and by then, Ken Chen and seven other people within FBI and Main Justice had resigned. That was inevitable after a further investigation found three more DOJ cartel moles working in Seattle, Houston, and LA.
The national hue and cry convinced the Feds to act. Law enforcement from nine Western states laid siege to every one of the Santiago compounds, including the ranch near Vail. No one was expected to give up anytime soon, but police chiefs from all over the West were eager to donate staff to continue the sieges for months if necessary.
-o-o-o-
Sunday
Two weeks after the Post began its exposé, Athena received a message from Roger. Here’s what’s left of Fernando Santiago and his nine thousand square-foot palace in the jungle. May he rot in hell.
A photograph attached to the text showed a field of blackened rubble. Whatever building had once been there was completely gone. She prayed that Fernando had been inside. A half dozen vehicles on the property had been burnt and flipped. It must’ve been quite a bang.
Curious for more details, she wrote back to Roger. What exactly happened?
Officially, it’s being blamed on a natural gas leak. But I have reason to believe a Navy sub somewhere out in the vast Pacific experienced an equipment malfunction and accidentally launched a cruise missile with a thousand-pound warhead. It had to come down somewhere, you know.
Athena was more than happy to accept any alternative—so long as Fernando was dead.
Chapter 32
Friday
In the days that followed the big bang, it became obvious that the cartel had lost its leader. All of his subordinates that’d barricaded themselves in the various compounds surrendered one-by-one.
Athena, Viola, and Beau were watching the local evening news when one of those red ALERT! banners flashed at the top of the screen. Carlotta and Pablo Santiago Surrender! Live coverage!
The scene shifted to the Santiago ranch near Vail. Viola perked up. “Hey, I know who that girl behind the jefa is.”
She pointed at a very attractive young Hispanic woman in
her late teens. “At Casa Santiago, a woman named Maria helped me a lot. A week ago, the cops released her and her brother Emilio. They didn’t know anything about the drug business. She wrote me offering to help with the church.”
“If you accept,” Athena said, “don’t let her know where we are.”
“I know. Anyway, Maria told me about that girl on screen, Jasmine. Is there any way we can help her, once she’s out of jail?”
Athena groaned. Viola was always a sucker for a sob story. “She’s somebody you’ve never met, right?”
“Yeah, but Maria likes her, and Jasmine was a slave, like me.”
“Jesus,” Beau said, “we need to be sure nobody connected with the cartel finds us. We won’t know for sure for months whether they’re gone for good.”
Viola sighed. “I’ve learned. Security is job one, but that poor girl could get chewed up by the legal system like I was.”
Athena agreed. “Assuming Jasmine’s as innocent as you think, I’m willing to help her. The Feds should release her quickly, and if they do, I know of a terrific halfway house in the Denver area for women and girls involved in the sex-slave trade.”
Viola beamed. “Perfect. I’ll tell Maria.”
-o-o-o-
Later that night, Athena laid next to a sleeping Beau. It’d been three grueling years since she’d been shot in Cheyenne. She prayed that all the chaos that shooting caused was behind her—behind everyone she’d met along the way. And the long, treacherous road since then had brought her a few blessings. Her son and friends were irreplaceable. She never needed to be lonely again.
~Finis~
For the latest book news about my mystery-thrillers, join my email list here. No spam.
If you enjoyed reading Anointed, please consider leaving a review here. Opinions from early readers are particularly important in helping other readers find books they’ll enjoy. Thanks so much!
And thank you for reading my books.
Anointed (Vanished Book 3) Page 21
