Williams took a pull from his beer. When he peered through the telescope again, Val stood in the great room holding her baby. Her face was red, and she seemed to be crying while she talked to Ricardo.
“Christ,” said Williams to himself, grabbing the headphones for the listening device, hoping he hadn’t missed anything useful.
Chapter 25
Ricardo sat in his favorite chair in the great room, trying to focus on a novel he’d started last week, but all he could think about was Maggie. The background check Consuella’s contacts had done on Magdalena Sanchez was surprisingly thorough. He’d only wanted to learn more about her so he could pursue her better. He had no idea she wasn’t who she’d said she was.
He’d kept the information from Carlos, wanting to talk to Maggie first, and he’d asked Consuella not to say anything to anyone else. It would be their secret.
Last night was supposed to be the night he told Maggie the truth—that he knew who she was—but he’d never felt so relaxed as he had last night. He didn’t want whatever they had together to end. She made him feel alive. He almost didn’t care that she was just using him for information. She had to be. Why else would a CIA agent go to bed with a drug lord? He had to admit, it was a pretty extreme way to get information. And what had she gotten out of him, anyway?
A soft crying wafted in through the open patio doors, and by the time he turned toward the sound, Valencia came rushing through the doors.
“I’m sorry, señor. I’m so sorry.” Val sobbed and hugged her baby to her chest. “He said he would take Maria.” Ricardo froze. What on earth was she talking about?
He stood and hurried over to her and the baby. He placed a hand on her shoulder, and she flinched, continuing to cry. Her cheek was swollen, but the bruising around her eye told him her injury wasn’t fresh. It had likely happened earlier that day.
“Who said they would take Maria and what are you sorry for?” He held his breath as he waited for Val to answer. It was Carlos, he was positive about that, but what had Val done that had her so upset?
“Carlos. He wanted to know about Maggie.” How did Val know her real name? Had Consuella told her?
“I didn’t think he would do anything, but I went to meet Maggie, and she didn’t show up. I think he did something to her.”
His stomach lurched. It was just like Carlos to take action without thinking about it. “What do you mean, you went to meet her?” Ricardo gestured for Val to take a seat on the couch across from the wingback chair. He handed her a box of Kleenex, and she took a deep breath. Maria looked up at her and started to cry too.
“Shh,” said Val, trying to calm both herself and her baby. “I’ve been working with Maggie. She’s CIA. Consuella asked me about her, but I made her swear she wouldn’t tell you.” Val forced her gaze to the floor.
Ah, he always knew he could trust Consuella’s loyalty to him. Sitting in the chair across from Val, he inhaled deeply and slowly blew out, his mouth forming a small circle. “It’s okay, Val. I know Maggie is CIA.”
She glanced at him then quickly looked away again. “I agreed to help her get information on the cartel.” She shrunk back in the chair as if she was concerned Ricardo might try to hurt her. “I’m so sorry.”
Ricardo’s head spun. Not only was the woman he loved missing—or dead—but his own employee was feeding the CIA information about him. He wasn’t expecting this. Acid rose in the back of his throat, and he focused on his breathing to calm his nerves. It didn’t matter right now. Maggie was missing. Could he really love her? He barely knew her, but he felt as if he could tell her anything. Nothing else mattered. He had to get her back.
Val had seemed to calm down as well. She stared into his eyes now. “Do you think it’s too late? Will Carlos kill her?”
Christ. As soon as Carlos had whatever information he wanted from Maggie, he would most certainly kill her. Carlos didn’t let traitors get away. Ricardo had to act fast. He rose from the chair.
“Wait right here. I’ll be right back. I don’t want Carlos hurting anyone else, including you and Maria.”
Ricardo went to his room and took a painting down off the wall. Behind it was a wall safe that he opened. Stacks of cash sat piled neatly, and he took every single one out of the safe, along with his gun. He packed most of the cash into a suitcase that he pulled out from under his bed. He tossed in a few things from his dresser and zipped up the suitcase. The rest of the cash and the suitcase, he took with him downstairs.
When he arrived back downstairs, Val turned to him with wide eyes. “Here.” He handed the cash to her. “Take this and use it to get as far away as you can. Take Consuella and Sara with you.”
“But señor, I—”
“No arguments.” He touched Maria’s cheek. “Carlos is her father?” It wasn’t really a question, but the inflection in his voice made it sound that way.
Val averted her eyes and nodded slowly. “Yes.”
“Then you will never be safe if you stay here, and neither will she.” The color drained out of Val’s face.
She nodded and accepted the stacks of cash, balancing them as she held Maria. “What will you do?”
“The same as you. Get as far away from here as I can. I’m not sure where yet.” He had an inkling of an idea where he would go, but he didn’t want to name a place in case Carlos eventually found Val.
She took a step toward the patio. “What about Maggie?”
“I’m not going anywhere without her . . . if she’s still alive.”
The doorbell rang, and both Ricardo and Val jumped a little. Ricardo rushed to the door. Through the glass panels on either side of the door, he recognized the man he’d known as Julio Sanchez’s driver. He turned to Val who was also looking at the man through the window. “CIA?”
She nodded and Ricardo opened the door.
Williams darted in, out of breath. “Look, I’ve been listening to your conversation.”
Ricardo raised his eyebrows, but he wasn’t surprised.
“Hank Williams,” he said, jutting out his hand.
Ricardo accepted. “I don’t think we have time for formalities, Mr. Williams. My brother isn’t exactly rational.” He closed the door behind Williams.
“Do you know where he’s taken her?” Williams placed a hand on his hip.
“I have a good idea.”
“All right then. Let’s go,” Williams said, opening the door.
Ricardo turned to Val. “Promise me you’ll leave town. Don’t wait.”
She nodded, tears filling her eyes again.
“Take Consuella and Sara. There’s plenty of money for the three of you but stay away from your families. Carlos will look for you there.” Maria grimaced and started to cry too as if she sensed her mother’s fear.
Val sniffed and nodded again. Then she waited at the door while Ricardo picked up his suitcase and followed Williams to the blue Land Rover that sat idling outside.
Chapter 26
“Something’s wrong. They should have been there by now,” said Garcia, as he looked through his binoculars at the secret meeting spot minutes from the Ceiba mansion. It was a grove of palm trees in a park that was walking distance from the mansion. There were enough small shrubs surrounding the palms that if the women stood in the right spot, they’d be camouflaged.
“Are you sure this is the spot?” asked Morales.
Garcia lowered the binoculars and glared at Morales. “Yes, I’m sure. I remember, because it seemed odd to me that those were the only palm trees in the entire park and they towered above the rest of the trees.
Morales chuckled. “Yeah, I don’t know why everyone thinks all we have here are palm trees.”
In no mood for chit-chat, Garcia lifted the binoculars to his eyes again and scanned the rest of the park.
“You think we should go check it out? What if Maggie’s informant’s there waiting for her, but we can’t see her?”
Garcia’s question was met with a clicking sound, and he
lowered the binoculars again. “Jesus, Morales. What the hell?”
Morales aimed his Glock at Garcia. “Sure.” His voice had changed pitch, like he was mocking Garcia. “Why don’t we go check it out?”
“Put it away.” Garcia eyed the gun.
Morales shrugged, but kept his gun trained on Garcia. “Why? There’s nobody here.”
“It was you, wasn’t it? What did you do with her?”
“Just what we talked about.” He waved his gun around and Garcia ran through scenarios in which he reached for his gun and shot Morales before Morales shot him. None of them ended well for Garcia. “We agreed both brothers should have her, didn’t we?”
“Mother fucker!” Rage boiled in Garcia’s gut. He slowly slid his hand back to where his gun sat in its belt holster. “You gave her to Carlos?”
A sly smile crossed Morales’s face and a soft chortle escaped his mouth. Garcia lunged across the SUV at him, and a deafening shot rang out.
Val ran as fast as she could to the cottage. It was late enough that both her roommates were home and not working at the mansion.
“We need to leave,” she said, as she burst into the little house. “Now!” she yelled.
Sara stood from where she sat in the living room and Consuella appeared at the end of the hall.
“What’s going on?” asked Consuella.
“Carlos knows.” Maria wailed in Val’s arms.
“Knows what?” asked Sara, her eyes wired with fear.
Val rocked back and forth, trying to calm her baby. “He knows Maggie’s CIA. We need to get out of here.”
Consuella rushed toward Val. “Here. Let me take her. Go grab your things.” Finally, she was getting through to someone.
Sara didn’t budge. “But where will we go?”
Val held up the cash that Ricardo had given her, and Sara gasped, covering her mouth.
“We can go anywhere we want. Come on.” She seized Sara’s wrist and dragged her down the hall to the bedrooms.
Minutes later, the women appeared, each with a backpack. Maria had relaxed in Consuella’s arms and her little head bobbed like she would fall asleep any minute.
“Go,” said Val, placing her arms under Consuella’s so she could transfer Maria to her. “Get your things.”
“We can go to my sister’s,” Sara said as they waited for Consuella.
Val shook her head and scowled at Sara. “Carlos will look for us there. I never told him that Maria is his, but he probably figured it out. He’ll want his baby back.”
“Maybe he won’t care,” said Consuella, returning with a small suitcase.
“I can’t take that chance,” said Val. “We can’t tell anyone where we’re going.”
Sara and Consuella nodded.
“And where are we going?” asked Sara.
Val’s heart pounded against her chest. She’d barely had time to think. “The bus station,” was all that came to mind. “Hopefully the last bus out of the city hasn’t left yet.”
“It’s okay. We’ll figure it out.” Consuella seemed to sense Val’s apprehension. “We have each other and Maria. We’ll be fine.”
They left the cottage, closing the door behind them as if nothing was out of place. Val hoped it would be a long time before Carlos returned and realized they were all missing.
Chapter 27
“Come on, Garcia. What’s taking you so long?” Maggie talked to herself to keep from falling asleep. She was weak from not eating and needed to keep her mind active while she waited for Carlos to come back. Garcia and Williams were her only chance. What if Williams had teamed up with Morales? Shit.
Breathe, Maggie. Just breathe.
She’d struggled for quite some time attempting to free her hands from the duct tape wrapped around her wrists, but all her fighting did was make her wrists raw. The tape hadn’t loosened at all.
It seemed like hours since Carlos and his men had left the warehouse, but without windows in the small room where they’d left her, it was hard to know for sure.
Thunder cracked above, and her senses jumped to high alert. The rain bounced off the sheet metal siding, muffling her chances of hearing any vehicles outside. Her shoulder was numb from her body weight resting on it, so she rocked her legs again to turn herself over to the other side. She grunted as her body, still attached to the chair, flipped to the other side.
“What are you doing in there?” Frig, they were back. She’d hoped they’d forget about her for the night. She ran her tongue along her teeth, trying to ease the scorching dryness in her mouth.
The door to the tiny room flew open and light flooded in, blinding her. From the position she was in, she couldn’t see who had entered, but she heard at least three male voices.
One of the men stepped closer to her. Something dangled from his hand. She turned her head as far as she could. It was a sack covered in blood.
“Miss Barnes.” It was Carlos. Was Ricardo there too? She tried to crank her head farther around so she could get a better look at who else was in the room, but it was already at its maximum torque. “I’ll give you one chance to answer the question I asked you earlier.”
There was no way she was telling him anything. She didn’t care if she died for her country.
He tossed the bag toward her. A head rolled out, and she tried to recoil, but she couldn’t. She was forced to watch in horror as it rolled closer. “Just in case you think help is on the way and you don’t need to answer my question.” She gagged at the blood and bone spinning toward her. It stopped inches from her, and she screamed.
“Garcia! Noooo!” She closed her eyes and writhed and shrieked like a wild animal. “Ahh!” Her stomach lurched, but nothing came out, and a series of dry heaves followed.
“Open your eyes,” Carlos ordered.
She closed her eyes tighter and shook her head. She would never get the image of Garcia’s severed head out of her mind. There was no way she was opening her eyelids and looking into his cloudy, dead eyes. Tears streamed down her face.
“Fine. We’ll do things the hard way.” He kicked dirt on her as he turned to leave. “You know what to do,” he said to the other men in the room.
She opened her eyes as two men shot over to her and sat her upright in the chair. Carlos seemed to have disappeared. One of the men sat on her lap facing her. He played with her hair, smiling at her with his tobacco stained teeth while the other man pulled out a knife and disappeared behind her. He sliced through the tape around her wrists, nicking the flesh under her thumb, and she instinctively winced.
“Did you like that?” asked the man on her lap. He pressed his groin into hers and she turned her head, so she didn’t have to look at him. The other man slit the tape around her ankles, cutting her again, then he tucked the knife in his waistband. The pervert on her lap stood and each man grabbed one of her arms. She tried to jerk them free, but they only gripped her tighter and swore at her.
In the middle of the warehouse, a few men gathered around a metal table. When Maggie got close, they helped the two men that had dragged her out of the room sit her on the edge of the table and shoved her back against it. Each arm was tied to a corner of the table with rope, and her legs were bound to the table legs at her ankles.
The man who’d sat on her lap leered at her as he took his friend’s knife from his waistband and cut her top from the bottom up, slicing it open. Then he cut her bra and removed it from her breasts.
“Argh!” Maggie growled and tugged at her hands, but the rope wouldn’t give. She couldn’t catch her breath, and tears streamed down her face as she told herself to fight.
The tip of the knife trailed down her stomach, and when it reached her panties, the man who was controlling it tried to slip it under the lace. She twisted her hips violently from side to side, trying to get away from the knife. Another man smacked her across the face while two others tied her to the table at her waist.
Carlos stood by her side. He removed his suit jacket and nodded to the
man with the knife who finished what he started by slitting the lace of her thong in two spots and yanking it off.
“No,” she said. “Please don’t.” She thrashed her head from side to side and earned herself another backhand to the face. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth, and she moaned and tried to spit. She closed her eyes as a fist slammed into her ribs—first one side then the other, again and again.
She squeezed her eyes as hard as she could and tried to thrash around again, but all it did was cause her to wince in pain. There was a light jingling sound then a zip, and the men around the table hooted and hollered. Fabric touched her thighs then the bulge of an erection pressed against her. The cheers grew louder as rough hands tightened over her thighs.
Bang! A shot rang out and everyone went silent. Cool air filled the space where the hands had been. Thank, God.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Ricardo shouted.
Footsteps echoed across the warehouse floor.
“Untie her, now.” A dead silence filled the warehouse. “I’m your boss too, now untie her.”
The ropes loosened leaving behind a raw burning.
“Help her up,” he ordered. “And do up your pants.” Ricardo waved a gun at his brother. “Christ, Carlos. I should shoot you in the dick and leave you here to bleed out.”
Maggie blinked hard. Was he really here? Had Ricardo come to rescue her? He was aiming his pistol at Carlos, staring him down like he was some sort of prey.
Williams stood next to Ricardo, aiming his Glock at the men around Carlos.
Chapter 28
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” said Ricardo. “You—” He pointed his gun at the two men who’d helped Maggie up. “You two are going to help her to the Land Rover while my friend and I watch the rest of you to make sure there’s no funny business.”
Maggie's Mark (Ceiba Cartel Book 1) Page 10
