by Kane, Janine
“Are ya’ll ready to get down to business?” Gomez asked.
They all said, “Yes,” or nodded their assent.
“Okay then, I have news about the cocaine racket that was broken up very recently, thanks to a lot of your hard work. I’m hearing from good, reliable sources that most of the men involved who weren’t scooped up by our team have scattered, relocating back to Mexico in some instances. The one they call ‘The Boss,’ or as we all know him now, Vincent Heston, has not given up on the Lone Star State. No one that I’m talking to can or will tell me where he’s holed up, but until we have this guy, we’re not done with this. I have a bad feeling that, as we speak, he’s rebuilding.”
Sam waited until Gomez was done speaking and said, “Sir, can I ask who it is that you’re getting this information from?”
Gomez looked at Sam a bit strangely. The fact that it was an unusual question for a field agent to ask a supervisor was not lost on Gray either.
Gomez answered him, kind of, by saying, “Lewis and I have an informant or two that we’ve been cultivating for a few years, as I’m sure all of you do as well.”
“Yes, sir,” Sam said. “I was just curious. All of my contacts and informants seem to believe that Heston has left the state.”
Freeman spoke up. “I got word today that Gilberto Sanchez was in Brownsville this weekend, and again this morning. He’s supposedly still in retirement, but considering the family tie there, it may be probable that’s where Heston is.”
“Or maybe the old man’s in town for one of his monthly blow jobs,” Sam said, and they all laughed.
Gil Sanchez thought that he was on the down low with his visits to the redhead at the massage parlor. She was discreet; he paid her well enough to be. But the bleached-blonde that worked the counter every so often when Gil came in was a heavy drinker, and almost any amount of information could be plied out of her with enough whiskey. She also had a fetish for black cowboys. Freeman, who was a recent re-plant from the field office in Brownsville, had been just the man to combine the two.
When they had first spotted Gil’s pattern of coming to Brownsville once a month, they thought perhaps there was some drug business going on in the parlor. They were still trying to find out who was at the helm of the massive cocaine operation, and they had to consider the possibility that the business was Sanchez’s, or at least a spin-off of it.
After a few drinks and some dirty dancing that Freeman would later tell them he would never, ever engage in again, the middle-aged bottle-blonde lush had told Freeman the truth about Gil Sanchez. The old man had a fetish for redheads and blow jobs. He came all the way from his home in Matamoros, Mexico to Brownsville Massage to satisfy both of his needs.
Gomez looked at Freeman thoughtfully and said, “Why don’t you take Grayson with you, and you two go visit the boys down in Brownsville. See if you can find out exactly where Sanchez went when he was there this weekend and this morning. Maybe take a few agents from Brownsville’s office and check those places out. It might be a slim lead, but it’s the only one we have now, unless ya’ll have anything else to report?”
They all shook their heads. Freeman stood up as the meeting broke up and looked at Gray. “I suppose you want to drive?”
“Don’t I always?” Gray said with a grin. “I need a minute with the boss first, though.”
“Okay,” Freeman told him. “I’m going to see a man about a horse and check in with the wife. I’ll meet you at the car.”
As he headed to Gomez’s office, Gray noticed Sam on his cell phone over in the corner of the room. He hated knowing this, but if Barry was right about Sam, he was sure that by the time he and Freeman got to Brownsville, Vincent Heston would be gone.
Chapter Five
Witness Protection
Stockdale, Texas
Tuesday Morning, 5:30 A.M.
Eva and Cheryl made it to work at exactly the same time. Eva had been hoping to get in a tad bit earlier than Cheryl today. She loved her boss. Most of the time, her lively talking, or Eva should say gossiping, amused her. However, this morning Eva had woken up with a bit of a headache and wanted a few glorious minutes of hot coffee and silence before Cheryl got there. She wasn’t so lucky. It seemed that was going to be the theme for the day.
She had woke up to a cold, empty bed. Zack was gone already, and in his place was a note. It was a nice note, and it made her smile, but it wasn’t warm and sexy to cuddle with like Zack was. She had turned on the light next to the bed and read:
My beautiful Eva,
I’m headed to work. I have a session with Sandy’s primary trainer, Eli, this morning. He’s just going to go over the basics like membership, cost, paperwork, stuff like that with me. You’ll probably be gone before I get back, though, so I wanted to tell you to have an amazing day, and I love you, and I will be thinking about you all day. You looked so beautiful and peaceful this morning, I couldn’t stand the thought of waking you.
I did do things to you while you were sleeping, though. (Zack had drawn a happy face next to this.)
I’m kidding. I’m a pervert when it comes to you, but not that bad.
I love you, Eva.
Zack
She put the note down after she’d read it and picked up her phone. She sent him a text that said:
Anytime you want to do things to me, feel free. I love you too! Have a great day!
Then she had reluctantly gotten out of the warm bed and prepared for work. She was almost ready to leave, in enough time to get there way before Cheryl, when her phone rang. It was Trish.
“Hey, sweetie,” her friend said, “I’m sorry to call so early, but I need a huge favor.”
“Sure,” she told Trish. She owed Trish and Tyler a lot for the fresh start they had given her. “What can I do for you?”
“Tyler had a few too many last night and left the car down at the bar. Mitch and Flynn put him into a cab. I can take one back to get it before I have to leave for work this morning, if you’re in a rush, but I was hoping…”
“Of course I’ll take you by to get it. It’s not out of the way.”
“You’re a sweetheart. It’s way out of the way, but I love you for not mentioning it.”
Dreaming of hot coffee as she drove, Eva had taken her friend into town to pick up the car. They found it right where Tyler had left it, covered in a fine coating of Texas dust.
Sensing something was wrong, before Trish got out, Eva asked her, “Is everything okay with you and Tyler?”
“Sure, why?” Trish asked. It was weird, but her friend’s “Why?” almost sounded like “What do you know?”
“No reason,” Eva replied. “It’s just that Tyler doesn’t often go out on a weeknight, and even less often without you…”
Trish’s eyes brimmed with tears as she admitted, “We had a fight. I’m sure everything will be fine. He’s just been a little distant lately.”
“Oh, honey,” Eva said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
“It’s okay,” Trish told her. “It’s not your fault. I’ve been crying about everything lately. I think maybe that’s what’s pushing him away. He’s afraid to say anything in fear it might bring on a bad mood and a torrent of tears. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“You want to have lunch today? We can talk. I’m off at one-thirty, but if you have your lunch earlier, I’m sure Cheryl wouldn’t mind if I left for a while.”
Trish nodded and wiped her tears. “That would be nice. I can do one-thirty. You want to meet me at the Wendy’s down from the school?”
“I’ll be there,” Eva promised her.
After she waited for Trish to get in her car and start it up, she headed to work. The drive from Sutherland Springs to Stockdale was short, but she was running late. It didn’t matter. She was glad that she had been there for Trish. It made Eva sad to hear that she and Tyler were having problems. They were the couple who had restored her faith in love. She had even restarted her novel, and
the love story she was writing was loosely based on their close relationship.
But now Eva was at work. While Cheryl kneaded out the dough to make the morning’s delectable creations, she talked non-stop, telling Eva the newest rumors that were flying around town. Eva nodded and said, “Mm hmm,” in all the appropriate places, and was even mildly interested at a few points. Cheryl was still talking a few minutes after six when Eva turned the sign in the window to “Open” and unlocked the front door of the bakery. Almost immediately, the bells on the door jangled, and Eva turned to see her brother Hank come in the door.
“Hank!” she cried, going over to give him a hug. She was happy to see him, although surprised.
“Hi, Evie. How are you?” he said.
Eva held him back at arm’s length to have a look. He seemed healthy, and he even had a little suntan across his face.
“I’m great, Hank. Surprised to see you, though. How are you? What are you doing here?”
Hank laughed. “One question at a time, sis. I’m good, better than I’ve been in a long time. I’m here to see you, and meet with Grayson later today.”
Eva led him over to the counter and said, “Sit, I’ll get you some coffee.”
Cheryl waved at him from the back, and Hank waved back. He seemed embarrassed to see her again, no doubt after the way he had acted in the past. At least she was smiling at him and didn’t look like she had held a grudge.
Glad she had already filled the pot, Eva set a cup in front of him and poured. “You want a muffin or something?” she asked when his cup was full.
“No thanks, Eva. I need to talk to you about something.”
“Oh no,” she said with a grin.
“It’s not bad, well, not compared to what I was mixed up in before. Grayson said that he got approval to put me in Witness Protection. That’s what he wants to talk to me about today.”
“That’s good,” Eva reckoned. Looking at her brother’s face, however, she could tell that he didn’t feel the same. “Why is that not good, Hank?” she asked.
“Evie, you know I don’t do well on my own. I don’t have a knack for making friends, and I’m not even very good at getting a date. We both know my horrible track record when it comes to relationships. I don’t want to be sent off to a strange city, probably in another state, and be all alone, Evie. I don’t want to go. I want to be here, close to you.”
Eva put the coffee pot away and came back over to her brother. “Oh, Hank. I know that it’s a scary prospect, starting over. But new beginnings aren’t all bad. I came here looking for one, and look how happy I am. I have great new friends and a new relationship.” Cheryl, who was clearly straining to hear their conversation, cleared her throat. Eva added, “And I have the best job and the greatest boss in the world.”
Hank looked up at Cheryl and smiled. Then he said, “I’m happy for you, Evie. But we both know that I’m not like you. I don’t make friends like you do. I’m afraid of being completely alone.”
Eva put her arm around her brother. “How about I talk to Grayson with you? Maybe we can figure something out that’s not so lonely for you.”
Hank nodded. “Okay, I’m willing to talk to him. But I wanted to warn you that I might just back out.”
Eva sighed. “Fair enough,” she said.
******
Brownsville, Texas
DEA Field Office
Tuesday Morning, 8:00 A.M.
Gray and Freeman were sitting in the field office waiting for the arrival of Special Agent in Charge Gomez and Supervising Special Agent Lewis and the director of the DEA. They were meeting at the Brownsville Field Office under the cover of secrecy. It tore Gray apart that it was all happening because of Samuel.
The previous day, Gray had reported to his supervisors what Barry had told him. They had all taken note of Sam’s phone call just after the meeting had ended. Gray had asked Sam who he had to call in such a rush, and he’d told him some bull about forgetting to remind Tammy to pick up one of his suits at the cleaners. The bosses told Gray and Freeman to go ahead to Brownsville, and they would meet them there with the director the next day, after they saw how the raid on the house that Sanchez had gone to went. Gray and Freeman had arrived in Brownsville the previous afternoon.
Gray tried not to dwell on what he had done. If he was right about Sam, he had no choice but to take action. As a snitch, Sam was putting the lives of his Brothers in Arms at risk every day. If Gray was wrong, however, he would feel like hell as they tore his friend’s life apart, trying to find something to connect him to Heston. But as sick as it made him, he was sure that he wasn’t wrong.
He told himself that, for the time being, he would stick to trying to find out what the Brownsville agents knew about Gilberto Sanchez and what he had been doing in Texas this past weekend. The agent they had spoken with on Monday, a good friend of Freeman’s named John Greene, told them that his informant had reported Sanchez was there for “business” but claimed that he didn’t know who the old man was meeting with.
The informant was a “sometimes” driver for Sanchez, when his regular driver was unavailable. He told Greene he had driven Sanchez to a ramshackle house on the south side of town. He said there were three “brainless-looking apes” in the front yard, and the old man had just barreled through, as if they weren’t there, and gone up to the front door. He stood there banging on it as the apes looked on, and finally it was answered by a hot little “señorita” in a short black robe. Sanchez went inside for fifteen or twenty minutes, and then one of the apes removed the two suitcases that Sanchez had loaded into the trunk of the car and took them inside. Sanchez came out, and the driver had then taken him to Brownsville Massage and waited another forty-five minutes for the old man to come out. He then drove him home to Matamoros.
“How does he just jump back and forth across the border like that?” Gray had asked Greene. “Is he a U.S. citizen?”
“No,” Greene said. “The driver says that the border patrol agent looked at whatever the old man handed him and flagged them on through. On his way back, after he’d dropped off the old man, the same agent tore the car apart searching it and hassled him almost to the point of a strip search. The driver is a U.S. citizen.”
“Hmm, I’d like to talk to that border patrol agent,” Gray told him.
“So would I,” Greene said. “My guy couldn’t give me a name, though, only a description and the gate he was working. When I got there, it was a female agent, and she claimed that she had been there all day.”
“Nice,” Gray said. “Have you been to the house yet?”
“No,” he had told him. “For that, we were waiting on you. I did check it out a bit. It’s owned by a slum lord and has been since the seventies. This guy owns most of the crap properties in that area, and he doesn’t care who he rents to as long as they pay cash on time every month. It’s been used off and on as a crack house, and for a while, I think there were several hookers who did business out of the place. There’s been more police action there than a Dunkin’ Donuts over the years. I remember responding to a few ‘shots fired’ and ‘domestics’ there myself, back in the late nineties when I was still on patrol. It’s a prime piece of real estate. Wait ‘til you see it. I was thinking we should head down there now. Ya’ll ready?”
Both confirming that they were, Gray and Freeman had retrieved their flak gear and weapons from Gray’s car and rode in the DEA van with Greene and his partner, a guy named Johnston. They also took two local police units with them, just in case. They had no idea what they were rolling up on. When they got there, the cyclone fence was standing open and there were no signs of the “three brainless apes” the informant had said were guarding the front door. Moving in formation, they approached the house with Greene in the lead while the uniforms held back near the gate.
Greene knocked on the door and announced, “DEA, open up!” He shouted it twice, and then they used the battering ram to shatter the door open. Going inside with their guns dra
wn, they did a search of the house top to bottom. It was a quick search, considering the whole house was only about eleven hundred square feet. Greene gave the all clear and then the real search began. That, too, was a bust. Whoever Gil Sanchez had gone to see hadn’t left so much as a piece of trash behind.
“Damn,” Greene said, frustrated. “We should have come out as soon as I talked to the driver.”
“What time was that?” Gray asked him.
“About eleven o’clock,” he estimated.
Gray looked at Freeman, and then back at the other agent, and said, “That would’ve been too late as well. Our meeting was over by 8:30.” And Samuel had already been on the phone.
Chapter Six
Buns in the Oven
Sutherland Springs, Texas
Tuesday Afternoon
Worried about her brother, Eva had called Zack after talking to Hank. Her brother’s safety was the most important thing to her. She’d naturally find it very difficult to say goodbye to him if he was placed into Witness Protection, but she’d rather have her brother alive than dead. If she couldn’t convince him Witness Protection was his best option, she hoped Zack could. Her brother admired Zack. Knowing this, Zack had told her to send Hank to their house while he waited for Gray.
After giving her brother the invite, she returned to the phone. “Hanks says you’re the best boyfriend in-law ever.”
