Brandon’s head thumped against the window. He sat straighter and looked around. They were at the gate to the Fierro hacienda.
Raul didn’t leave you. Didn’t leave. Came for you. Didn’t leave.
Fahim’s hand coming to a rest on Brandon’s arm made him jump.
“Hey, kid, are you okay?” Fahim asked.
“Yeah. No.” Brandon shrugged. “I will be.” He slipped off the seat and crouched next to Raul.
Raul had shifted back into his werewolf form. It was easy to see his wounds were healing, another couple of days and not Brandon, or anyone, would be able would be able to tell the injury ever existed.
Snuffling in his sleep, Raul turned from one side to the other. The sound warmed Brandon and made him smile. The urge to lay down beside Raul, tug him into his arms and press flush against Raul’s body was almost irresistible.
Raul’s jaws clamped around Zoe and ripped her apart.
Brandon pulled the blanket scrunched down by Raul’s hips up and over his shoulders.
“I know the code.”
He quietly opened the van door, slipped out and punched the code into the gate keypad before he climbed back in and sat quietly in the back while Fahim drove through and to the entrance of the main house.
Tadeo and Natty were waiting.
Natty, being a caretaker and protector in her own right had hot food, cold drinks and clean clothes waiting for them all.
“Fahim, I wish you’d reconsider and stay here for a few days until we find out what’s going on,” Raul said.
They’d finished dinner and Fahim had the dishes cleaned with a few waves of his hand.
“We have plenty of room,” Natty added. “You could dunk Raul in the fountain the way you did when you were children.”
Fahim burst out laughing. “As tempting as that is, Natty…Yaya, I live alone for a reason. I need my me time to recharge the mental batteries.” He winked at her, tapped his forehead then leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek. Patting Brandon’s shoulder on the way to the door he said, “Call me if you’d like.”
Brandon nodded and smiled. “I will.”
“Good. I mean it, I do,” Fahim said.
“Holy...” Tadeo was looking at his phone but heading to the small television on the kitchen counter. He flicked it on, and they all gathered close.
Brandon had to grab the counter to keep from swaying. A chill ran through him as he watched the ‘Breaking News’.
“Internet mogul, William Lynch, was arrested just hours ago, suspected of being involved in an international human trafficking ring. Authorities are searching for his oldest son, Ethan Lynch, who is also implicated.”
Tadeo turned the sound down when the gate intercom beeped. A male voice identified himself as being from the FBI and looking for Brandon.
“I can…” Fahim put a hand on Brandon’s shoulder and point to the ceiling.
“No, they’ll just keep looking,” Brandon said.
“Brandon, not a word until your attorney gets there,” Raul warned.
“But I don’t—”
Raul held up one finger and cut Brandon off. “Not a word.”
Brandon looked on, insides churning and gurgling as Natty instructed the agent to the main entrance then remotely opened the gate. He went outside flanked by Raul and Tad.
Natty walked a few paces ahead. She extended one hand and said, “Good day, gentlemen, I’m Natalia Antonia Pilar Varela Fierro. I own this hacienda and am head of my family. Do you have a warrant for my guest?”
One of the agents stepped forward and presented her with his badge. She examined it then returned it.
“Señora Fierro, I’m sorry for the intrusion. I’m Special Agent Grullón.” The guy probably had four more names, but Brandon realized was smart enough to keep it informal.
Natty smiled, or maybe barred her teeth, Brandon couldn’t be sure. “Your great-aunt and I have known each other since we were small girls.”
Tad leaned over and whispered in Brandon’s ear, “Werewolf.”
Grullón’s gaze flicked to them for a split second. The other agent remained impassive and in the background. Clearly Tad had been heard by at least one of the men.
“Señora, we don’t have a warrant, we were hoping to keep this informal for now. Brandon Lynch is needed for questioning in the disappearance of his brother, Ethan Lynch.”
Natty turned and looked back at Brandon. He licked his lips, swallowed and nodded.
“This young man is a guest in my house, please extend him every courtesy that status allows,” Natty said.
Brandon wasn’t quite sure, but it seemed to him Natty had the power to order around FBI agents. Or maybe it was that she intimidated them.
Grullón nodded. “Of course.”
“His attorney will need to know where to meet him. Are you going to the Tucson office?’ Raul asked.
“We are,” the other agent said and didn’t look at all happy that they’d have to wait on someone else. Actually, he hadn’t looked happy since Natty began talking and his partner didn’t give her any argument. Though with Raul and Tadeo hanging around that was probably a very wise idea.
Grullón would be one werewolf against three and a scintilla. Bad, bad odds.
“Do we leave now?” Brandon asked.
“We’d like to.” Grullón bowed slightly to Natty when she gave him one nod.
Brandon had the distinct impression that was paramount to groveling at her feet. Or a pup showing his belly to a woman who was his obvious superior. Brandon let himself be ushered into the car. As they drove off, he looked back, thinking this was the last time, Natty’s obvious power aside, he’d see any of them unless it was during visiting day at prison.
It seemed as if Brandon had done nothing but ride in a car lately. Again, he was watching scenery roll by, except he’d stopped worrying over being arrested, now he was worried about spending the rest of his life behind bars. He might not have been one of the traffickers, but he’d certainly committed more than one crime while breaking their ring.
No matter how many times they tried to ask questions, Brandon refused to talk until his attorney arrived. The problem was, he didn’t have an attorney and the only ones he knew worked for Seafind. Brandon didn’t think they were an option. So, he sat in a small room, on a hard chair, waiting. The fact he hadn’t said anything, meant they hadn’t really given him any information.
Eventually he folded his arms on the table and laid his head on them. Periodically someone had escorted him to the bathroom, but otherwise he was left alone.
Brandon started awake and sat straight when the door opened and closed again.
“Your lawyer’s here,” an agent Brandon hadn’t seen before walked in with a woman. He turned to her and waved grandly at Brandon. “All yours.” He held a business card in one hand and glanced at it as he spoke, eyebrows raising.
“I’d like some privacy with my client.”
Brandon recognized her immediately but couldn’t remember her name.
“Knock on the door when you’re ready.” The agent left the room.
“I brought you something to eat. Not Natty’s cooking, but better than nothing,” she said and pushed a bag across the table at Brandon.
“Thanks.” He unwrapped the sandwich and pulled a small piece off. “You’re Raul’s…” His what? Brandon knew the relationship they’d had, but didn’t know what she was to him now.
She smiled and Brandon instantly felt better. “I’m not really his anything. We have two lovely daughters together. I know it’s complicated and difficult to understand sometimes.” She reached across the table. “Gisele Sandoval.”
Brandon shook her hand. “I thought you were a diplomat.”
“I’m an attorney with the US Office of Foreign Services,” Gisele explained.
“Oh. I don’t think I have the money…I’m not sure I can afford…”
Gisele smiled. “Don’t worry about it.”
Brandon
took a few more bites of the sandwich, he must’ve been hungry because his brain was starting to function better.
“There’s cameras in here.”
Gisele nodded. “Yes, there are. But the sound will be off, nothing is recorded until the official questioning begins.” She set a thin, leather briefcase on the table and pulled out a paper, handing it to Brandon.
“I’m licensed to practice law in the United States, Brazil and Spain. If you’re not comfortable with my representation, I can help you find another lawyer. The FBI is not the enemy and they’re not going to mess with an attorney for the US government. Not that way at least.”
“No, this is fine.” Brandon looked directly at her. “It’s great. Why are you doing this for me?”
“You and I share something that makes us sort of family. Raul told me about his promise to you, though not the details of why he made it. This is part of that promise.” Gisele stopped talking and pulled more papers from her case. “These are your permission for me to represent you.”
“Do you have a pen?” Brandon waved at the paper. “I need to sign this.”
“There’s two copies, one for you and one for me.” Gisele handed off the pen, another copy of the form and began spreading other papers across the table. “First, let me fill you in on what’s been going on the last few days that you might not be aware of. There was a…hmmm…series of anonymous tips sent to several law enforcement agencies both in the United States and Mexico. Where these tips originated from is impossible to trace.
“The tips resulted in a man by the name of Oscar Bisset and his accomplice, Tala—no last name—being arrested because of their involvement in a human trafficking ring. Also, thanks to the information relayed authorities were alerted to the fact Tala is a jinn and precautions could be taken to assure she didn’t slip through anyone’s fingers.”
“That was fortunate,” Brandon said.
“It’ll be all over the news in an hour or so, I’m sure, but your father’s office and Seafind are being raided today. It may have already happened. I think they wanted to locate your brother first, but he seems to have vanished off the face of the planet.” Gisele stopped, obviously waiting for Brandon to comment.
“Ethan and I were never close. I can’t honestly say I’m close to any of them,” Brandon said quietly.
“I understand William is your biological father. Do you know your biological mother?”
Brandon shook his head. “I’ve met her, but I can’t say I know her.”
“Do you know where she is?”
“No, I don’t. And I don’t care! From what I saw, she’s a horrible person and sold me to my father for twenty-five grand,” Brandon blurted out.
“These are questions those agents will ask. They’ve informed me your biological mother, a woman with a number of aliases, but whose real name is thought to be Zoe Fettes, is also believed to be involved in the same human trafficking ring. She’s been monitored for some time, along with your brother Ethan. Their disappearance coincided with some seemingly unrelated events in Mexico.” Gisele studied Brandon for a few seconds before asking, “Do you know anything about that relationship?”
“Not really. I knew he was seeing someone,” Brandon shrugged. “Actually, I think several someones but that’s it. I didn’t really care.”
Gisele nodded. “I want you to keep your answers as short and possible. If you can answer with a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ even better. Don’t offer extra details. The change in your heartrate could easily be attributed to the fact you’re in an interrogation room and are nervous.”
Brandon snorted a laugh. “I am nervous.”
“Let’s get this over with shall we. Then we’ll get you back to the hacienda.” Gisele stood up and walked to the door, knocking lightly. “We’re ready,” she said when the agent looked inside.
Brandon spent several more grueling hours being questioned by the FBI. It was obvious they thought he was involved, but couldn’t figure out how. Brandon had never been a partner, only an employee of Seafind. He was in the IT department, in actuality he was their IT department, but what he did and how he did it wasn’t illegal. He’d built a search engine. One he didn’t even have proprietary rights to. He’d made more than the average person in his position, but that wasn’t illegal either and he was, as he was reminded often, the son and half-brother of the owners and founders. To top it all off Brandon had been kidnapped and brutalized by the very people the FBI were trying to find. There wasn’t any real evidence tying Brandon to Zoe other than birth records.
The whole thing ended when one of the agents produced a photograph of Brandon and his biological parents. It would’ve been glaringly plain to even someone with very bad eyesight, Brandon had no memory of that photograph. The three of them sat together, Brandon on Zoe’s lap smiling and appearing to be clapping his hands. He was maybe a year old. Zoe and William were a quarter century younger, they looked like any other happy young couple with their little boy. For the first time Brandon had the thought that maybe his parents had been in love at some point.
It was gut-wrenching.
Tears sprung from Brandon’s eyes to be hastily brushed away. He handed the photo back saying, “I never saw this before today. I don’t remember it being taken and don’t remember her.” It was the truth too. The woman in the photo wasn’t the woman he’d recently met. Brandon could honestly say he knew nothing of the woman in that photo.
They let him go.
Even as Brandon slid into the seat of Gisele’s rented Mercedes, he expected agents to pour out of the building and haul him away.
No one chased them.
“This isn’t over by a long shot, but none of you will go to prison,” Gisele said kindly.
“Thank you.”
As they drove, Brandon stared out the window but the only real thing he could see was Raul standing over Zoe with her flesh falling from his fangs.
Werewolves kill to protect.
Raul didn’t leave you.
Chapter 18
Gisele was as good as her word. Brandon spent hours being questioned, deposed and drilled, but he never spent a minute behind bars. His father’s trial would probably last months and the thing that saved Brandon was the fact he’d always been an employee of Seafind, never a partner or even given credit as one of the founders. If there was another scintilla who’d be able to find traces of the information he’d altered no one ever located that person. Paperwork William provided to Raul when he hired him might’ve implicated Brandon. He didn’t want to think that was his father’s intention at the time. It was something Brandon would probably never know. It really didn’t matter, those papers had been turned into ash.
Brandon was quite sure people suspected he and Raul were involved in Ethan’s disappearance, but how remained a mystery and unprovable. Bisset and Tala of course tried to implicate them, but Brandon made sure there wasn’t a shred of evidence to prove Raul and Brandon were anywhere near El Paso, or Bisset and Tala after Brandon’s original rescue. There wasn’t enough cause to ban Brandon from using computerized equipment, though he was forbidden to use Seafind during the investigation. It didn’t matter, Brandon had no reason to use that or any other search engine.
Brandon took a trip to Boston. He managed to get his apartment packed up and with Fahim’s help had everything except his motorcycle moved to Arizona without ever seeing anyone from Seafind or his family. He had no idea how long it would be for that snare to be unraveled and he didn’t much care.
He walked through his empty apartment and sat in the middle of the living room floor. Without furniture scattered throughout and pictures on the walls his home seemed so lifeless and cold. This had been his first apartment and he’d loved having his own space. It was more than his home, it was a refuge separate from the people he’d called family all his life, it was where he came to recharge. He’d grown up in this city, but it wasn’t where he wanted to be anymore. When he really thought about it, Boston had never been home o
nly this apartment.
Brandon thought he wanted to be in Rio Rico, in fact he was sure of it, the place called to him. Until he remembered Zoe’s final moments. On the heels of that memory came a thought that had become almost a mantra.
Raul didn’t leave you.
Even the abomination that was Brandon’s singing voice, snatched away by the wind before he could offend anyone couldn’t drown out those four words. Brandon suspected a category 5 hurricane wouldn’t be able to do that either.
He didn’t rush his trip, but he didn’t take his time either. No side sightseeing excursions or extended meals. No prolonged hours driving either, he wanted to get there in one piece.
By the time Brandon rolled into Green Valley and to the same motel he’d stayed in the first time he’d come to this area it was early evening. His vacation seemed like a lifetime ago, though in reality it’d been less than a year. He wasn’t on vacation now. After booking a room he hauled his few bags to his room and dropped onto the bed, pulled out his phone and heaved a sigh.
He listened to the voicemail again.
“Hello, Brandon. Fahim told me you rented a storage area in Green Valley. We should talk. Please call me when you are in town. I’ll buy you lunch. Travel safely.”
Glancing at his watch, Brandon wondered if it was too late to call. It was only a few minutes after eight in the evening, but he wasn’t sure of the protocol.
He couldn’t make anything worse, at least he didn’t think so. He swiped the number and hoped he’d get voicemail.
Which of course he didn’t.
“Buena noches, Brandon.”
“Hi, Sen—”
“Yaya. I’ve told you before, you call me Yaya. Don’t make me tell you again.”
Brandon smiled and laughed softly. “Yaya. I hope I’m not calling too late.”
“Family never calls too late.”
A warm feeling spread through Brandon from her simple statement.
“And don’t argue with me, boy,” she added.
“No ma’am…sorry, Yaya.”
“Hmm…I’ll pretend I didn’t hear you call me ma’am. I’m glad you called. There is a small Greek restaurant a few blocks from Tadeo’s office. I’ve been having cravings for some souvlaki lately and they have the best I’ve ever tasted outside of Greece. Would you escort an old lady to lunch tomorrow?”
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