Beyond Justice

by Cara Putman

  Suddenly she froze and fear shadowed her face. Andrew turned back and stilled when he saw a gun in Matt’s hand. He cautiously raised his hands in front of his body, then took a step to the side to better position himself between Hayden and Matt.

  “Matt?” Hayden’s voice was admirably still. “What are you doing?”

  “They have my family.” His eyes were wide, pupils dilated, and color flooded his face, a startling transformation from the man who had been so forthcoming earlier. “Somehow they know I helped you.”

  “Who’s ‘they’?”

  “I don’t know. They called thirty minutes ago. I have no choice.”

  Andrew’s mind raced as he tried to catch up with the conversation between Hayden and Matt. He was caught in the middle without a playbook. The gun wavered momentarily in Matt’s hand, but the man quickly steadied it.

  “Hayden.” Andrew gritted the word between his teeth. “You’ve got to catch me up. Now.”

  “I’m trying to figure out what happened to my client’s son. He was murdered in that detention center. His mother needs to know why.”

  “There has to be more.” Nobody took a man’s family over an unrelated death.

  His phone buzzed in his pocket, but he ignored Emilie’s ringtone. She’d have to wait.

  A droplet of sweat slid down the small of Hayden’s back. “Who has your family, Matt?” She forced a steadiness into her voice she didn’t feel. Nothing in law school had prepared her for a situation like this.

  “I don’t know.” He groaned. “I have to protect them. Please understand.”

  The look on his face was agonized as Hayden reached below the car window and slid her phone from the door handle where she’d stashed it. One flick and she could alert 911, but she also needed what Matt knew. She flicked, never removing her gaze from him. “You have to have some idea.”

  The man swore, a broken sound.

  “You wouldn’t do this if you didn’t believe the threats were serious.” It was risky, but she had to learn everything before help arrived. The sun glinted off the gun’s barrel, warning how real this was. Not some scene from a movie, but real-life threats with a bullet behind them.

  He mumbled something in Spanish, and she glanced at Andrew. He just raised a shoulder while keeping his hands in front of him.

  “Matt.”

  “Drugs. It’s always about drugs along the border. Some of the kids, they are nothing more than mules. The stories I hear. It’s heartbreaking. I just wanted to help.” His words cracked on a sob. “Now they have mi familia.”

  The minutes dragged by. When would help arrive? They were less than thirty minutes from Waco, and there had to be a sheriff’s deputy or highway patrol closer than that.

  Hayden cleared her throat as she tried to buy time. “Let us help you.”

  “How?” He looked at her with wild-eyed hope. “Tell me how you can help.”

  She took a moment to collect her thoughts. What would she ask if she were in court questioning a witness? She’d want to know the elusive how and why. “How do they know you helped me? You’ve given me nothing that exposes them.” What had she learned in her time at the detention center? “Does a snake tattoo along the neck mean anything to you?”

  “It’s a symbol for one of the cartels.”

  “Which one?”

  “The Rodriguez cartel.” His voice steadied as he talked. “It’s placed on its most trusted.”

  Rodriguez? Why would Miguel’s own family come after him? “What does the cartel deal in?”

  Matt shrugged, but the gun sank lower, pointing at her abdomen rather than her chest. “Drugs. Possibly heroin or a new one.”

  Why was Andrew stepping around her? She edged forward. She needed to keep Matt talking until help arrived. “What new drugs?”

  “Meth. Ecstasy. Anything that can cross the border. The cartels change with the addictions.”

  Hayden frowned. When had it evolved from cocaine? “Why come after you?”

  “They said someone saw you with me at the detention center.”

  “It has to be more than that, for them to grab your family. The timing is too tight.”

  “I only met you this morning.” His eyes were wild, and the gun wavered in his hand. “You have no idea what it is like here.”

  “Help us understand.” Andrew’s voice was calm yet firm as he stepped toward Matt. “I work with kids and teens who made the trip legally. I understand their journey.”

  “But you haven’t lived it. I wanted so much more for my family.” His words broke Hayden’s heart even as he cocked the hammer of his gun. “I must save them.”

  “Yes.” Hayden nodded and edged toward him.

  Sirens pulsed behind them, and Matt’s gun jerked as he searched the road. Andrew took another step between them, and Hayden wanted to yank him back. Clearly Matt didn’t want to hurt her, or she’d already be dead.

  “Matt, help me help you. Who’s behind this? You know.”

  He jerked toward her, then back to the road. Cars skidded behind them, and doors popped open. Matt’s eyes widened even further.

  “Put the gun down,” a man bellowed.

  Hayden didn’t turn. “Matt, I know you don’t want to do this.” If she could get him to put the gun away, maybe she could defuse the situation and they could save his family. She twisted slightly toward the officer behind her. “He says someone has taken his family.” Turning back to Matt, she asked, “Where are they?”

  “The photo was our living room.” He gulped, his eyes now fixed behind her. “My home.” The words were louder, clearer. “My phone has the text. Front pocket of my jacket. The photo shows them at my house.” He rattled off an address as Andrew slowly approached him.

  Matt froze as Andrew retrieved the phone and then turned and walked it toward an officer.

  “Slide the screen and it should pop up. I had it open as I came.”

  Hayden took a breath, and then asked another question. “Did you disable my vehicle?”

  His brow furrowed as he frowned. “No. The text told me to follow you and use an opportunity to take you.”

  Andrew stood next to her as uniformed officers swarmed Matt. He was pushed to the ground but not as roughly as Hayden expected. The officers must know him as fellow law enforcement. “If he didn’t mess with the car . . .”

  “Someone else did.” Hayden sagged as the adrenaline abandoned her. “We need to get out of here.”

  Chaos flowed around them as a tow truck labeled Ned’s Recovery pulled alongside the rental. “Someone call for a tow?”

  Hayden started to laugh, an uncontrollable burble.

  “Talk to the officers.” Andrew pointed toward one of them. “Maybe he can help.” He leaned against the car next to her, and she sagged into him. As he slid an arm around her, it felt so right. She didn’t have to be strong enough on her own.

  CHAPTER 40

  One car transported Matt, while an officer took Hayden’s statement. Andrew watched her from his post ten feet away answering questions from another officer. The Ned’s Recovery truck waited on the side of the road, ready to tow the rental as soon as the circus cleared. Andrew’s phone kept buzzing, but the officer had made it clear he couldn’t answer. He slid it out far enough to see it was Lilith . . . again . . . and then hit the prepared message that he couldn’t take the call. Maybe she’d take the hint this time.

  “What else can you tell me?”

  “Nothing.” Andrew sighed. “I just got here this morning, and I was supposed to be on a return plane two hours ago.”

  His phone buzzed again. What was going on? He slid it back out.

  Time’s up. Monday the world will know who you are.

  Seriously? This message on top of all Lilith’s calls? The number for the text showed as 0000000. A big blank of a clue.

  “Sir? This would go faster if you answered my questions.” The words were said with a polite air that made Andrew wonder if the deputy had listened to his previous an
swers. He reined in his frustration, then rifled his fingers through his hair.

  “Sorry. There’s nothing more I can tell you. I had never seen the guy with the gun before. And I don’t know why Hayden is in Texas. She’ll have to answer that.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to relax. “That’s it.”

  The deputy’s speaker squawked, and he clicked a button to talk into his radio. Then he jotted a couple more notes. “Stay put while I check on the lady.”

  Hayden looked up with a harried air as the officer approached, and all Andrew wanted to do was whisk her as far away from this mess as he could. Instead he pulled out his phone and started listening to messages.

  The first, from Emilie, was a little odd: “Hey, Andrew. Call me as soon as you can, okay? I think Hayden needs help. I might have something on your leak too. Not sure yet.”

  Then there was a message from his dad asking where he was, and a couple after that from Washburn and Lilith asking the same question. Looked like they’d called about the same time the car drifted off the road. Then another from Emilie: “Your leak is closer than we thought. I’ve got to go.”

  Two more calls from Emilie followed but no voice mail. Then Lilith and the annoying text.

  Andrew wanted to pound his frustration out on something. He’d have to settle for calling his editor. After a quick conversation with Michael’s assistant he was patched through.

  “Andrew.”

  “Any progress on leaks, Turner?”

  “None. Everything seems clammed up like it should be.”

  “Well, someone’s talked. I just got another text that the word will be out Monday.” Andrew watched the officers grilling Hayden and felt his blood pressure build. “Listen, my cousin thinks she’s got a lead, but I can’t reach her right now.”

  “Give me her number, and I’ll follow up.”

  “Thanks.” Andrew gave Michael the number and hung up. He had to get back to DC and talk to Emilie.

  Hayden walked toward him. “They say we can leave.”

  “Just like that?”

  She shrugged. “I guess. I want to get out of here . . . The officer said Matt’s wife was beat up and his kids forced to watch. I told the police I don’t want to press charges against him. I don’t believe he wanted to hurt us.”

  “I’m not so sure.” The words slipped out, earning Andrew a glare from Hayden.

  “Can someone give us a ride to the airport?” she asked.

  “Sure,” one of the officers said. “Grab your things from the car, and I’ll take you.”

  Andrew got Hayden’s things from the rental while she climbed into the cruiser. On the way to the airport she peppered the deputy with questions about the Mexican cartels and whether local law enforcement had noticed an upswing in drug activity. Seemed she was taking Matt’s theory for a test spin.

  “We are seeing more unaccompanied minors,” the officer said. “It’s another surge, and that strains the system. In turn that makes it easier to sneak in drugs.”

  “Do they use kids as mules?”

  “I have heard of situations.”

  They passed the rest of the trip in silence, and soon the officer pulled the vehicle into a parking lot. Across the tarmac they could see several private planes.

  “Wait a minute,” said Hayden. “Is there a commercial airline here?”

  The officer laughed and shook his head. “Not here. But this is where you asked me to take you.”

  Andrew met her gaze. “We flew in here this morning.” He started walking toward a low hangar. “I’ll get us a plane.”

  When he returned, Hayden was going through her e-mail and messages. She frowned at him. “Listen to this message from Emilie. She left it while I was at the tavern this morning.”

  She put the phone on speaker and Andrew leaned closer. “Hey, something’s wrong. Give me a call as soon as you can. This story is bigger than we thought.”

  Hayden looked at him, concern shadowing her face. “I tried to call her but it rings and rings. It never kicks over to voice mail.”

  “We’ll keep calling.” Andrew rubbed a slow circle on Hayden’s shoulder. Her muscles were tense as rocks. “You know Em. She probably walked away from her phone without realizing it was on, or turned it off and forgot.”

  Emilie could take care of herself . . . Andrew knew that. But the messages she’d left him added to his sense that something was wrong.

  APRIL 13

  He had a new target.

  One that didn’t match his earlier directives.

  El jefe was losing focus.

  What had distracted him from his earlier attention to the pursuit of the boy and the device?

  Rafael sank against the uncomfortable hotel headboard and opened the Internet window on the tablet. A quick search of the woman’s name revealed she was an attorney and sometimes journalist. Why focus on her?

  A link to her articles appeared, and he clicked on the most recent.

  It only took a moment to find the article. It took longer to translate the words into something he could understand. He frowned and tried again. Surely he had made a mistake.

  But as he deciphered what he could, understanding dawned.

  This woman had uncovered what had happened to Miguel.

  Somehow she had unraveled the events at the detention center. And figured out why he had entered the Estados Unidos illegally.

  He looked at the article again.

  She did not have his name nor his image.

  She did not understand what Miguel had carried with him.

  But she knew enough.

  He reread his instructions from el jefe. Make it look like an accident.

  Much easier instructed than accomplished. He’d start by following her. See what he could learn. A tracking device on the woman’s car and he could follow her anywhere. It was the stuff of TV shows and movies, but it worked.

  First he’d find and take care of this woman. Then?

  He had a new idea, one he wouldn’t share with el jefe or anyone else.

  Then he would find Miguel’s brother.

  CHAPTER 41

  Hayden felt washed out while the small plane flew from Texas to the private airport in a DC suburb. The plane ride had experienced more turbulence than she was used to, and she couldn’t shake her concern for Emilie or the fact that someone had cut her brake line and sent Matt to harm her. What would have happened if he’d succeeded? Was he going to shoot her, or take her to someone, and if so, to whom? Daniel Rodriguez? To distract herself, she read Emilie’s article, then reread it, and her heart sank. The article was a blow-by-blow account of Miguel’s trip to the United States.

  Somehow Emilie had filled in the gaps in time during his coyote trip, confirmed when he’d been detained, and sketched out his murder. There were still holes, but she had written a roadmap of Hayden’s case that pointed to the Rodriguez cartel.

  Hayden rubbed her neck, feeling knots of tension at the base spilling into her shoulders. Warm hands slid hers to the side and worked the knots. Her muscles tightened against the pressure, and she glanced back at Andrew.

  His eyes were intense as he continued the firm yet gentle pressure. “Let me do this.”

  She tried to break their locked gaze but couldn’t. Instead, she read the desire in his eyes and wondered what to do with it. Did it match the intensity building inside her to know him? The day had been crazy and scary and she wanted to pretend this tension between them meant nothing, but his gaze narrowed on her lips.

  Her heart rate hitched and she bit her lower lip.

  His head tipped forward, and then the plane bounced through another pocket of turbulence, and she snapped to her senses.

  “Thank you.”

  He nodded and kept up the smooth motion, but the moment was broken. Slowly her muscles eased and she relaxed until she almost started purring, but the spark of attraction was dimmed.

  While she’d been reading Emilie’s article, Andrew had blatantly ignored warnings t
o stay off phones as he clicked from website to website. When she’d asked what was wrong and if she could help, he’d ignored her, so she’d pulled out her laptop and put the finishing touches on the Rodriguez discovery requests. First thing in the morning, she’d serve those along with filing the complaint at the Court of Federal Claims and courier a copy to the Department of Justice. Then the excitement could begin, as she figured out where she was working.

  For now she wanted to sit here and never have Andrew stop kneading her shoulders.

  The plane bumped to a landing then glided to a stop on the runway. “Where are we?”

  “A small airport outside Leesburg. Can I give you a ride home?”

  “Thank you.” The benefit of the private airport was it took only minutes from when they walked off the plane until they reached Andrew’s Jeep. The downside was it was too far from public transportation to make it an affordable ride home. Andrew helped her into his Jeep, then stored her suitcase in the back. His silence as the ride began told her more was going on than he’d shared. “What’s wrong?”

  He sighed as he pulled out of the airport and onto the road. “Nothing you can help with.”

  “Are you sure?” Hayden studied the tense line of his jaw and the way he kept his gaze locked on the road. This was more than concern about Emilie. “I’d like to help if I can. I’ve been told I’m a pretty good listener.”

  “Thanks, but this is something I have to figure out. And unfortunately, no one can help me.” He huffed out a sigh that matched the tapping of his fingers against the steering wheel. “I’ve tried, and it’s one big blank.” His gaze slid to the rearview mirror, then to his side mirror.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “I’m not sure.” He glanced in the rearview mirror again. “Someone might be following us.” He turned on his blinker. “I’ll take a circular path.”

  Hayden turned around, but all she could see in the dark was the silhouette of an SUV-type vehicle hidden in the shadows behind its headlights. She turned back around and kept her gaze glued to the side mirror as Andrew executed a series of turns. An on-ramp for I-66 appeared, and as he swerved onto the ramp at the last possible second, the SUV shot past them on the highway. Still Andrew floored the gas and zigzagged through traffic until he’d put space between them and the ramp.