by Matt Lincoln
The corner of Arturo’s mouth twitched. “They say that. Some even tell the truth. The reality is that love is vast and unpredictable. Grasp it when you can. Mistakes can be overcome. Regrets are forever.”
Yoani gaped at Arturo. That was the most he’d said at one time since she met him at the airport, and it went far deeper than she imagined possible from the quiet man.
“That’s—”
The door’s lock clicked. Yoani wasn’t ready to see the American guard yet. There was so much more that she wanted to ask of Arturo, but not with an audience. She stood to meet the MBLIS agent, but that wasn’t who arrived.
Philippe Molina stumbled into the room and pointed a gun at Arturo.
CHAPTER 43
I kicked off my shoes and flopped backward onto my bed. It was a less than elegant move, but it was my houseboat, and I was alone. Before I could engage in my glorious plan to sack out early for once, my ringtone for Holm’s number went off. I answered with a groan.
“I told you I’m done for the night,” I complained.
“Hotel, now.” Holm’s sharp command got me on my feet. “Dollar Store just called. He said the Delgado crew just outed an imposter. I called Arturo to warn him and Yoani, and there was no answer.”
“On my way.”
I ended the call and threw on my shoes. I was almost out the door when another ringtone sounded. It was the phone that Javier González was to call in a few days to confirm the delivery. I grabbed the phone and ran from the houseboat toward my car in the marina parking lot.
I answered the call as I ran. “Sutton.”
“Ted, how are you?” González’s tone was pleasant, charming as usual.
“Finishing up a run.” It was true. I reached the car and opened it as I spoke. “I have an appointment. How can I help you?”
“You can help by taking delivery of your car later tonight.” He kept his jovial tone, but a layer of tension crept in. “The boat made good headway and is in early.”
I flicked my dashboard light on as I pulled out of the marina’s drive, but I kept the siren off. The hotel was only a few miles away, and I couldn’t help wondering about González’s timing.
“That’s… amazing.” I grasped for words as I steered one-handed through the city. “I wasn’t expecting it so soon.”
“Is this a problem?”
“No, no.” Hell yes. I didn’t have the cash, and I couldn’t be sure it wasn’t a setup. “Have you called Liam yet?”
“I left a message.” González went quiet for a moment. If not for party sounds in the background, I would have thought the call over. “I will text you a time and location as soon as the ship’s captain confirms it with me.”
“I’ll be ready.” I slammed on the brakes as a car pulled out in front of me. “And I’ll make sure Liam gets the message. He’s probably out with some chick.”
“Heh. Very good. I will be in touch. Adiós.”
We ended the call, and I threw the phone into the passenger seat. I was almost at the hotel and saw a blue Lancer turn hard into the parking lot. Holm must have been on the way when he called, and he paused at the lobby entrance next to a jumpy valet.
“Are you police?” the man asked in a thick Southern accent.
“Feds,” I snapped. “Get your manager.”
“H-he’s right in there,” the valet stammered. “Is there an ambulance comin’?”
Neither of us answered. We rushed into the lobby where the hotel manager wrung his hands next to a waiting area. The MBLIS agent on Yoani’s detail lay on her back. Blood stained her white shirt from the ribs downward, and her face was deathly white.
“She’s alive,” the manager said. “We’ve done what we can to keep her still until the ambulance gets here.”
Those must have been the magic words, as blue and red lights washed through the glass doors and across the lobby. Medics ran in even as I checked for the young agent’s pulse. It was thready but present.
I left her in their care and ran to the stairwell with Holm. Room 628 was three floors below the room they’d been staying in, but the safe bet was that Philippe had found it. We hit the sixth-floor landing with neither of us breathing hard. I eased the fire door open, and we made our way onto the floor. The room was at the far end of the west wing. Everything was quiet, aside from a movie playing too loud in one of the rooms. Holm and I closed in on room 628 and drew our weapons.
Holm signaled for me to stop. He mouthed to me, It’s open. He crossed to the far side of the door.
The door was ajar, held open by the deadbolt. A muffled voice and a series of thuds came from inside. I nudged the door open with my off hand and led with my handgun in the other. Nobody rushed the door, so we pushed inside. The suite’s outer room was empty, and the connecting door was bolted shut.
More sounds came from the bedroom half of the suite. I crept past the empty bathroom and stopped short of the open bedroom door.
“Come out with hands up,” I ordered.
“Mmph-grmph.”
I caught Holm’s eye, and he nodded.
“Last chance. Get out here with your hands where we can see them.”
Nobody emerged from the room. Leading with the gun, I entered the bedroom and found Arturo handcuffed and feet tied with strips from a torn sheet. More strips bound him at the mouth, and he was crammed between the bed and wall. Holm cleared the other side of the room to ensure no further surprises. I holstered my gun and worked Arturo’s gag free.
“Philippe took Yoani.” He twisted so I could reach the cuffs. “He said something about taking him to someone he called ‘Tia Felicia.’”
“Do you think it’s a nickname or that she’s actually his aunt?” Holm asked.
Arturo winced as he rolled back over to get his ankles free. His black pant leg looked slick over his lower leg, and there was a dark wet spot on the carpet.
“Dammit.” I wrapped one of the discarded strips around the wounded area. “Robbie, call more medics up here.”
“I have had worse.” Arturo pushed to his feet despite my attempt to get him to stay in place.
My phone vibrated in my pocket. I checked the ID and answered.
“Hey, boss.”
“There’s been a shooting at Yoani’s hotel, and our agent is down.” Diane sounded out of breath. “Get—”
“We’re here,” I told her. “Philippe took Yoani, and Arturo’s wounded. Yates is hurt but alive. Medics got here right after we did.”
“I have people on my ass wanting to know what the hell is going on,” Diane barked. “Important people from here and Cuba. You better have answers by the time I see you.”
“We’re already on it.” I gave Arturo a look. He furrowed his brows and nodded. “Get someone to look out for Yates. We’re going to find Yoani and Philippe.”
I ended the call without allowing her a chance to call me off.
“Call TJ, have him see if he can dig up anything about this aunt,” I told Holm. “Arturo, I need to see that leg wound before Diane gets here.”
“I am going.” He crossed his arms. “I was supposed to prevent anything from happening to her, and I failed.”
“I doubt Philippe will hurt her.” I pointed to his pant leg. “Roll it up, brother.”
He peeled the strips away. They’d already turned red in the minutes since being wrapped. Fresh blood oozed down his leg as he pulled the pant leg up. To his credit, he didn’t flinch when we pulled a lamp over for a better look. The bullet hadn’t gone all the way through, and there was a nasty bulge opposite of the entry point.
“You need to get that treated,” I told him. “We’ll find them and bring Yoani to the hospital as soon as we do.”
Arturo glared at me. Without breaking eye contact, he snatched up the torn sheet, bit at the end to start a new strip, and then tore along its length. I sighed and helped bind the injury.
“TJ has something,” Holm announced as I tied off the strip. “Looks like Tia Felicia took her father’s
last name when she came of age. She lives in Little Havana.”
“He has to know we’ll find them there.” I held out a hand to help Arturo up, but he lurched to his feet on his own. “Did he say anything else before leaving?”
Arturo shook his head. “Not that I can think of. Just that they had to get to her house.”
“Let’s move,” I said. “We have to get out of here before Diane shows up to stop you from going with us.”
Lucky for Arturo, we didn’t see Diane until we passed her car in the parking lot. Approximately five seconds after I roared past in the Charger, her call hit my phone, and I took it by Bluetooth.
“You have a lead already?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I told her. “They have an aunt nearby. Sounds like Philippe got outed in the crew. I think he’s protecting what family he has left.”
“Did she leave willingly?” Diane asked in a sharp tone.
“No, she did not,” Arturo called from the back seat. “He threatened to shoot me in the head if she didn’t go.”
“Renteria? I thought you were injured. Ethan, why is he with you?”
“For the same reason, I’d do the same thing. I have to drive, boss. We’ll let you know what we find.”
“You better.” She ended the call.
“This gets better,” I told Holm and Arturo as we roared down the road. “They moved up the car delivery date to late tonight. Robbie, Javier left a message on your other phone. I can’t think this is a coincidence.”
“Shit.” Holm ran his hands through his hair. “Think it’s a trap?”
“No. It sounds like they were early, anyway. Philippe must have found out and pulled something stupid.”
“Dollar Store didn’t have details,” Holm said. “He only knew that some serious shit hit a big fan. We don’t know if they found out that Philippe is a real Delgado or something else, just that he’s in the wind.”
I killed my emergency dash light a block before Felicia Delgado’s street. We went dark and parked a couple of houses down from her house. Once out of the car, I heard three arguing voices echo out of her open windows. I recognized Yoani and Philippe, and the third sounded like that of an older woman.
Arturo gritted his teeth and tried to keep up with Holm and me. I stopped and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Let us handle this,” I whispered. His eyes narrowed, and I knew it was like I told Diane. The man was too much like me. “Okay. Stay out front, but be smart. You aren’t armed, and you’re hurt. Don’t be stupid.”
His cocky grin was a little too much like looking into a mirror.
“I will behave.”
“Yeah.” I shook my head and ran on with Holm. “Don’t let Philippe get out the front. Arturo will get himself hurt worse.”
Holm snorted but kept his thoughts to himself. If not for circumstances of birth, Arturo might have served with us. We knew the type because we were the type.
I took the front of the house, and Holm made his way to the rear. Felicia Delgado’s front entry was open but blocked by an unlocked black steel security door. I inched it open and winced at the loud protest from the hinges. The shouting, however, continued.
As I snuck in through a dark living room, I marveled at the strength in Yoani’s voice as she bellowed at her uncle. I heard Arturo’s name in the tirade, and Philippe returned something with my name in a sneering tone, but they spoke so fast that I couldn’t catch more than the gist.
There was a lit entry to the next room, which was where they were arguing. I drew my weapon and aimed my voice toward the front door.
“Hello, anyone home?”
“Ethan?” Yoani called out.
Philippe hissed something to her and then shouted toward the front.
“Go away, Marston. Everyone here is safe.”
I cupped my hand to sell the thrown voice thing.
“Tell that to Arturo.”
“That was an accident, man.” Heavy footsteps crossed the aging wood floor. “I need to go. Get Yoani and Felicia somewhere safe.”
I tensed as he got closer, but his footsteps stopped. He broke into a run away from where I waited. I rushed around the corner as Holm burst in from the other side. Philippe kicked out the screen window, glared at us, and then vanished.
“Stay with them,” I told Holm, and then I ran out front.
I found Arturo sprawled on the spit of lawn before Felicia’s home. He groaned as he rolled onto his side. I scouted the area outside the house and nearby, but I came up empty.
Philippe was gone.
CHAPTER 44
“All we have to do is pretend everything is fine,” I told the other MBLIS people in Felicia Delgado’s dining room. “Robbie and I will go get cleaned up, and Yoani and Arturo will wait at the office with Diane. MBLIS can put Ms. Delgado up at a nice hotel for the night.”
Muñoz and Birn had joined us at Delgado’s home. Diane was still at the hotel to handle the fallout from the incident.
“That leaves the two of us to hunt for Philippe,” Muñoz grumbled. “That asshole is causing more trouble than he’s worth.”
“He wants the list so he can take over the car sales,” Yoani said. “He’s loyal to family, but he’s greedy, too.” She pointed toward the living room where her great-aunt wept. “As long as we’re safe, he doesn’t care about hurting our feelings.”
“Did he say anything else?” I asked Yoani. We hadn’t had a chance to go over what happened until that moment. Tia Felicia had been hysterical for a good twenty minutes after we arrived. “We need an idea of where he’s going next.”
Yoani’s grimace didn’t bode well for any of us. “He’s not planning to stop the car delivery if that’s what you’re worried about. The investigation and crackdown will destroy the González operation. He wants that because it will leave room for him to take over.”
“Why did he bring you here?” Holm asked. “Other than Felicia being family.”
“He found out a drug shipment is arriving tonight.” She sneered. “Philippe said he tried too hard to get in on the action. Manny showed up, and they got into a fight. Philippe demanded the list.” She touched her forehead and closed her eyes. “Now Manny knows a real Delgado is in the game.”
“Do they know the car delivery is a setup?” I asked.
She shook her head and shrugged. “We argued about that after I yelled at him for shooting Arturo.” She looked over at her guard. “Lo siento, Arturo.”
“It wasn’t your fault.” He kept a firm tone even though he looked at least two shades paler than he ought. “I’m sorry that you have to be related to that pendejo.”
My phone from Javier González chose that moment to vibrate twice to indicate a text message.
Meet at 3 a.m. GPS coordinates to follow.
“Is that cash ready, Sylvia?”
Muñoz nodded. “I’ll get it to you at the marina. You’re still planning to take your Mustang?”
“Yeah. Robbie and I will drive out with that.” I turned to Birn. “Do the guys have the truck set to go?”
The MBLIS grease monkeys weren’t about to be left out of this adventure. As long as everything went smoothly, Rudy, the garage chief, would have nothing to worry about.
“Rudy will drive out with one of the junior agents.” Birn gestured to Muñoz. “Sylvia and I will get that tracker onto the smugglers’ boat.”
“Be careful. These jokers will be on high alert after all this crap with Philippe.” I smothered a yawn. This wasn’t supposed to be the night. I was supposed to be getting solid hours in the bunk. “I hate to say it, but I want JJ Rucker on Philippe’s tail. Rucker is an ass, but he’s good at what he does.”
Holm and Birn groaned, and Muñoz rolled her eyes.
“Stopped pissing on each other’s territory,” she scolded. “I’ll brief him, Ethan.”
“What is the chance Philippe won’t blow your cover to these asshats?” Birn asked.
“I don’t think he will.” I leaned forward. “He
wants to take over Manny’s crew. How better than to let us do our jobs? If he wanted to sabotage our investigation, he had far better chances before he ran out on us.”
“You better be right.” Birn stood and stretched. “This was supposed to be a night off. You guys sure know how to shake things up.”
“Tell me about it,” I grumbled.
“What will you do if they have drugs or people on the boat?” Yoani asked.
“They won’t,” I told her. “Manny is smart. I bet he’s offloading now. By the time the cars get to us, they’ll be all that’s left in the cargo hold.”
Her silent nod caused a lump in my throat. She had to be reliving that night when she and her mother almost got on a boat. If they had, Yoani would have died with all of the others.
“Lamarr and Sylvia, get the equipment you’ll need,” I ordered. “Robbie, get into character and meet me at my place. I’ll have the Mustang ready to go.”
“What about the cash?” Holm protested. “We don’t have it.”
“Diane has a plan.” I hoped.
Five minutes later, I was on the phone with the boss in question as I drove home.
“Tonight?” Her voice went up in pitch. “Do you have any idea how many favors I’ll have to pull to get you that much cash that quickly?”
I grimaced. “I am very sorry about that, but we don’t have a choice.”
“You could set a sting and pull them in right there at the scene.”
“That would kill my plan,” I complained. “We promised Havana that we’d help pull in the bad guys on their side, too.”
“We promised we’d do our best.” She ground her teeth so loud that I heard it over the speaker. “Setting a sting may be our best right now.”
“Getting that cash is doing our best. Everything else is in place.”
“Ethan, I didn’t want to tell you for another day or two, but the money might not be there.”
“What?”
Diane growled. “They’re cutting us off at the knees. Whoever has it out for us is crippling our cash flow.”
That was not what I wanted to hear. Senator Whittington could kiss my ass, but that wasn’t for Diane to know. Not yet.
