by Ali Vali
“When was this?” Hector put his hand over the photo.
“About a week before Roth was sent to Almoloya de Juárez.”
“This fool brought him down?”
“No, this one did.” The last photo showed Walter’s face clearly as he maneuvered the speed boat next to Roth’s vehicle. “If you wanted Emray Gillis, there he is.”
“He did business with Roth, then set him up?”
“Actually, he was sent to Mexico to find out how Roth’s business ran. He was assigned to figure out how he moved product and who was working for him. Emray is really Walter Robinson of the CIA.”
Hector sat back and cut his eyes up to the man behind him. Whatever the silent communication was, the guy paled considerably. “Where is he now?” Hector said, his voice now controlled and his face neutral again.
“That I don’t know.”
“How convenient that you don’t have an ending to your story,” Hector said, and smiled. His upturned lips in a way marred his good looks.
“Like you said, you have no reason to trust me, but I truthfully don’t know where Walter is at this moment.” She wasn’t lying since she didn’t have a tracking device in her hand. “That’s not why I’m here.”
Hector picked up Walter’s picture and handed it to Marisol, who then left the room with it. “No one wants credit but perhaps is interested in a reward for this because I’m grateful for the visit.”
“I simply want one reward.” She placed the folder on his desk and folded her hands together at her front, not wanting to appear threatening in any manner. “I need you to understand that I don’t know where Roth’s last shipment is and if Natalie left with the money. Perhaps Maria Ross gave up that secret before she died, or perhaps it died with her and the men she might’ve told it to.”
“I believe you, so what do you want?”
“Only your understanding that neither I nor anyone close to me knows where this stuff is, and that we’re not interested in finding out. Walter could never accept that message.”
“That’s all you want?” Hector picked up everything she’d brought and placed it in the folder. “All this is worth more to me than that.”
“It’s not worth more than my family. My price is for them to be able to stop looking over their shoulders for something they have no clue about.”
“Why me?” Hector placed the folder in the drawer to his left. “Why bring this to me?”
“Walter blamed you for Maria and for Pombo, and he swore he had proof.”
“And still you’re here.”
“It’s simple,” she said, and noticed the time. They had fifteen minutes before the watchers were back on post. “Walter’s a lying scum, and you’re going to take the fall for him if he can orchestrate it. That means if you catch up to him, he’ll reverse himself and blame me or the people I care about.”
“Can you at least tell me if you’re FBI or DEA?”
“I’m retired, but not from either of those agencies. You have nothing to fear from me, and after today we’ll never meet again unless by chance.”
“The hunters outside, though, left before you arrived. Obviously you are not just anyone.”
“I’ve done enough for people to owe me a few favors. Believe me, I’m not powerful enough to make them disappear from your life permanently. They’ll be back shortly, so I’ve got to go. Do we have a deal?”
“We do, and thank you,” Hector said as he stood and shook her hand.
Another woman led her all the way to the gate and smiled at her as she locked it. She’d started Walter running the day before, and this would ensure he’d go as far as he could get. That’s what she wanted, along with wiping Aubrey and Tanith off anyone else’s hit list. She hadn’t wanted to push, but she wondered who Walter’s terrorist was. From Hector’s response, he knew and so did his man.
“Enjoy your freedom, Walter. It’ll be short-lived.”
*
“Explain this to me,” Hector said as he held up one of the pictures the woman had brought.
“He’s my brother and a bastard. I’m not responsible for him or anyone else in my family,” Miguel said defensively. “I’m loyal only to you.”
“Tracy, leave us,” Hector said as he glared at Miguel. It was hard not to lash out for what he took as a lie. “What the hell is this on his chest, and what’s he doing with a CIA agent?”
“I don’t know. Diego has always been one for easy money. Give me time and I’ll find out, but you’re taking the word of some nameless bitch you met today over mine.”
“A picture is worth more to me than words, Miguel.” The door opened again and Marisol entered with four men. “I love you like a brother, but this is more than coincidence. I’ve given you months to find this asshole who’s trying to gut us all, and he’s with Diego. Do you honestly want me to believe you had no idea this was happening?”
“Yes, I want you to think about what I’ve done for you, then believe me when I say I had no idea.”
“How many fucking trips did you make to Mexico to find out what I wanted? In all those trips you had to have run into Diego at some point. You never mentioned that. Either you’re planning to betray me, or you’ve gotten lazy.”
“Hector, come on. I deserve your consideration.”
“Like the woman said, it’s about family and keeping them safe.”
“For the love of God, I’d kill myself before I’d betray you.”
“Thanks for the offer.” He nodded once. It was time to promote from within, so he called Tracy back in. “What’s your advice?”
“It depends on what will happen with Miguel.”
“Miguel is moving on.”
“Then he should take his brother with him, since there’s no way he didn’t tell Miguel who Emray Gillis is.”
“And this strange tattoo?”
“It looks Arab to me, and something easily dangled up for the Mexican and American authorities to distract them. No wonder they took Pombo down if they thought he was helping a terrorist.”
“Will you be as loyal to me as Miguel has been?”
“Miguel has proven disloyal,” Tracy said as she crossed her legs. Her skirt hiked up her thigh, but he didn’t take it as a come-on. “Think of my loyalty as a lifetime commitment, like my sister gave to Nunzio.”
“According to you he led her to her death.”
“He did, and eventually he’ll pay for that. What’s important is Kim’s visit with you before that day.”
“She was ready to throw Nunzio over, so that’s the example you want to use to convince me to open my door to you?”
“If that’s true Nunzio would’ve been dead, then left like garbage. She went with him because she loved him, but her visit here was to tie my future to you. She didn’t want me to repeat her mistakes.” Tracy stood and took the two steps to touch his desk. “I was your gift from her, so it’s time to accept or let me go.”
“Was she telling the truth about the money?” He pointed to the door as he got up as well.
“Yes, and I’d guess more people than Maria Ross knew where Roth’s stash was.”
“Where is it?” He walked around and held his hand out to her.
“The only way Nunzio had the cojones to blow you off is if he found it.”
“That’ll give us a place to start, then,” he said as he watched his men carry Miguel out. His longtime friend was slumped between the two larger men, and Marisol followed them out. “Perhaps my future lies in new alliances.”
*
Wiley started the bike and took the shortest route home, secure that no one was following. The meeting pleased her because of how it’d gone, but it disgusted her to have to go to someone like Hector. He’d throw everyone on his payroll at Walter, but she missed the anonymity of her scope. Problems were so much easier to solve with a quick squeeze of the trigger.
The first floor of her place was empty, so she took her time putting her helmet away and used the phone. “Thank you for the
window, sir.”
“Anything of value?” General Greenwald asked.
“You can tell anyone who got spooked by the terrorist Walter photographed with Roth that it’s probably a false alarm. Delarosa didn’t say anything, but I believe he recognized him. If you find him I’m sure the tattoo is paint-by-numbers.” She kept her eyes on the stairs and the elevator as she spoke. It didn’t shock her to see Aubrey on her way down the steps.
When she put her finger up, Aubrey sat and smiled at her. “This started as a fluke, but we stumbled into a shakeup in the cartels’ hierarchy.”
“Would you be opposed to helping us defuse the situation?”
“I’ll take the shortest solution.”
Greenwald laughed. “Sure, but finding Walter might take time.”
“If you give me a ride to and from work when I ask, I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”
She gently put the phone down and looked at Aubrey. Something in her eyes must’ve scared Aubrey because she got up and came closer.
“Don’t do that,” Aubrey said as she put her hands on Wiley’s cheeks. “It’s like you can’t help giving in to the fear, but if you do, there’ll be no room for me.”
“Doesn’t it ever scare you?” She closed her eyes and rested her head against Aubrey’s chest. Though years had passed since that van exploded right before her, she hadn’t forgotten even the smallest detail of the scene. The memory of the mix of smells at times made her nauseous still, but she’d fought hard not to forget. Forgetting meant she could relax and try to gain her life back. It’d been an unacceptable reality for so long.
“The moment I became a mother, I swore I’d do anything and everything to keep Tanith safe. No sacrifice, no amount of misery I had to live through would be too great as long as my daughter was safe.” Aubrey lifted her head and kissed both of Wiley’s eyelids, as if to get them to flutter open. “It’ll always be my goal, but by trying to do the right thing for her, I ended up hurting her more than anything. I’ve learned that I could forgo my own happiness to make her whole, but truthfully that ended up hurting her as much as my staying away from you did me. Maria did everything to put her in harm’s way, and I wasn’t happy with her.”
“You believe me that I’ll do everything to keep her safe, right?”
“I believe that with everything I am. I know that as well as I know you’ll do whatever you can to give her and me the love and attention that’ll end up making the difference in how Tanith looks back at this time.” Aubrey kissed her and crawled to straddle her lap. “I want her to see what it is to love someone and how the intensity of it should take your breath away. That’s worth everything, and I’ll take a chance on having it even if it’s for only a short time. It’ll be worth it.”
“You might have to say that more than once to bring my paranoia down a few notches over the next months.”
“I’ll tell you as often as you need to hear it,” Aubrey said, then kissed her again. The way Aubrey held her with such fierceness made Wiley want her right there, to hell with whoever else was in the house. Her body burned and ached at the same time. “How did today go?”
“It won’t matter now how long it takes to catch up to Walter. I gave him plenty to worry about and more incentive to run.”
“Why not confront him here?”
“Because here is where I plan to live with you, Tanith, and your parents, since they lost their house in all this, and I don’t like to make messes where I live. Right now that’s not the government’s agenda anyway.” She touched from the bottom of Aubrey’s neck to the top button of her jeans. “They want Walter to run to whoever helped him put this together, sort of like putting bait out and waiting for the ants to take it back to the nest. Once you have them all in sight you take care of the bunch.”
“Do you know how much I want you right now?”
Warmth spread from her chest downward to her crotch. As it inched forward as if spreading tentacles of desire and passion through her, she felt like she was thawing after a deep freeze. “I do, but right now I want to go up and let Tanith pick a bedroom so she can change whatever she wants to make it feel like hers. Your parents can do the same.”
“How about me?” Aubrey asked with a smile so big it shattered the last of her doubts.
“You have a room,” she said, and stood with Aubrey still wrapped around her. “You can change whatever you like, except the woman in the bed next to you. Tonight will be the first time of many that we lock the door and put a bullet through old fears. You’re mine, and I want to show you how lucky I believe I am that you’re finally back here with me.”
Chapter Twenty-four
A week later Wiley left Aubrey sleeping as she put her uniform on, waiting until she was in the den to put her boots on. They’d said their good-byes, like they had in the beginning, the night before because Aubrey didn’t like crying in front of her—never had.
Tanith wasn’t used to that custom, so Wiley sat next to her on the sofa and watched her tie up the green laces in silence. A week of her paying special attention to Tanith had erased the worry lines no one under ten should have, and the night before she’d sat on her bed and explained mission timelines and how many days she could be gone. Tanith hadn’t gotten hysterical but she wasn’t happy either.
“Did Mom tell you to be careful?”
“More than once, but you can say it again. I don’t mind.”
“Can I see them again before you leave?” Wiley tossed her jacket aside and stripped her T-shirt off. As she’d done often since Wiley had first shown them to her, Tanith ran her finger along her and her mother’s names on the Tanith tattoo. “Do you think Mom would let me have one of these?”
“Maybe one day when you have a partner and child you want to carry around with you always. Once you have that, I’m sure she won’t mind.” She put her shirt back on and buttoned up the jacket with only her rank insignias on it. Once she was on the ground she’d strip even those away. She’d become the Black Dragon, or no one with a big gun. If Hector saw her like that he’d understand what she meant when she went to see him that day.
“Take care, okay? Keep an eye on your mom for me.”
“Here.” Tanith held her arm out rigidly. Clutched in her fingers was a picture of her and Aubrey, both smiling wide for the camera somewhere outside; a perfect blue sky outlined their heads. “So you won’t forget us.”
“Thanks.” She took her cap off and tucked it inside. “I love you.”
Tanith’s face was wet with tears when she left, but the picture and the fact that she cared had smoothed Wiley’s guilt for leaving them behind so soon. She looked at the picture as the transport plane she’d boarded in Mobile, Alabama, flew over the Gulf. They were landing in Cartagena in four hours after a couple of stops, where she’d have a ride waiting.
The unit heading into the rivers and jungles west of the Nukak Natural Reserve in the Guaviare Province of Colombia could take her within fifteen miles of her destination. Guaviare was one of the three leading places in the country for coca plants and was where Walter had picked to hide. A spread outside a city with less than fifty thousand residents was a perfect place: big enough to blend in, but remote enough to climb the ladder in the drug trade.
The tracking dot she’d glued to Walter’s neck had stopped working two days ago, which meant the heat had to be brutal, but she was confident Walter was still hiding there. He’d made a smart move since Hector’s farmers weren’t that far away. They’d never get close to Hector’s top lieutenants to report a suspicious American harvesting plants and making cocaine.
She didn’t know who Walter had morphed into now. He’d probably buried Emray in New Orleans, and Operative Robinson was long dead as well. She was curious but not concerned as the plane landed and she was escorted to one of the sparse barracks on the remote military base. The U.S. military personnel were there as guests of the Colombian government, so she nodded at the hour the staff sergeant said she had. That’s when the sche
duled American and Colombian patrol would leave. Wiley had to be in position before they rolled out.
She took her duffel and removed the kit at the top. It didn’t take long to apply the paint that’d make it impossible to spot her in thick foliage. She then changed uniforms and strapped a smaller pack to her back, along with her sniper rifle. It’d take her two days tops to get back, wash all this shit off, and return to her life.
As she crawled under the truck that’d bring up the rear, she started a mission carrying something personal for the first time. She had the picture Tanith had given her in her breast pocket, and she took one last look before they started rolling.
Her handheld GPS had a blinking target in the upper right-hand corner. From her current position she’d have to suffer the bad roads and mud for thirty-eight miles before she could drop and immediately roll before the lead vehicle made the turn and noticed her. It was two in the afternoon by the time that happened. Once she was clear she pushed herself to get to her perch with some daylight left.
The overcast skies made that impossible, but at midnight, with night-vision goggles and patience, she stopped at the tree line next to a cleared field near a grouping of buildings. For security she backtracked about five hundred yards before she started her climb, wearing a leaf-covered cape she’d removed from her pack.
“I hope you’re having a good night, Walter. Tomorrow morning will be memorable.”
*
Walter stared at the food put out by the woman he’d hired, but he hadn’t had an appetite since he’d run from New Orleans. Years of work and one flaw at the end had knocked him down as he reached for the last rung to total success. Greed had made him stupid, but he wasn’t giving up.
Major Gremillion might’ve thought she’d gained the upper hand, but she and the group of misfits she’d collected through this process weren’t important enough to waste energy on yet. Hector Delarosa and his goons, though, were. Hiding in Hector’s backyard was brilliant, especially since he knew Hector’s men were plastering New Orleans with money trying to find him. No matter how much money Hector had made, he was like any other thug he’d met in his job. They were rich with no imagination.
