by Liz Lee
He prayed, begged God to keep Lil and Anna safe. Swore he’d do whatever if it were so.
He didn’t dare close his eyes. Every time he did visions of Lil filled his mind. Lil eating, Lil cleaning, Lil losing Scrabble calling him a cheat, Lil playing with Scamp, drinking her wine, asking him to come to bed with her.
Dead.
How could he have gotten sweet Lil messed up in this crap?
“All clear, David, all clear. Your sister’s here.”
Ortiz’s voice rang clear, and David started forward overjoyed until he realized what the detective hadn’t said.
He followed the line of officers through the church, through the halls, the rooms and finally there they were. Anna was rubbing her wrists, crying, hugging Detective Ortiz. Someone was helping Miguel Hernandez to his feet. The poor boy could barely stand. Ryan was slapping cuffs on Nancy Valdez.
But Lil wasn’t there.
“Lil.” Her name came out as a tormented question. Anna heard it and ran to him, launched herself in his arms. “He has her, David. Degas took Lil.”
Lil rode beside the man who’d so recently threatened to kill, who’d given her a choice.
She tried not to think about the scar on his face. About the blood on her shirt. About what might be happening back at the church.
“Miguel’s mother….” Her scratchy voice broke and she realized fear was a great generator of thirst.
Degas turned on to a dirt rode. “Miguel’s mother has turned up in her home town. Juarez is a big city. The police will find her. If the police get to Miguel in time, he and his mother will be reunited.”
If. She closed her eyes and prayed the police would get there. Degas didn’t know about Solidad’s papers. He didn’t know everything.
“Why are you doing this?”
Degas turned onto another dirt rode. “I’ve been in business a very long time, Miss Palmer. If I’m going to be brought down, it won’t be without a fight.”
The words sounded true, but she didn’t believe them. If he wanted a fight, he could’ve had it at the church. This wasn’t about a fight. It was about something more. Something dark she didn’t yet understand, probably never would.
She tried not to focus on the scar running down the side of his face. Tried not to think of the life he’d led, the things he would be willing to do to get his way. “If you were doing this for a fight, you wouldn’t worry about David. He’s not the one responsible.”
David had helped the agents, but he wasn’t the one who’d connected the dots. He’d just stepped in to keep her safe.
Degas knew that. It was obvious when he turned his head to her, when he smiled that cold gentleman’s smile that turned her to ice.
“We both know who’s responsible. No more questions.”
David fought the emotions tearing through him. The fear for Lil competed with the relief that his sister was okay.
Anna was nearby, watching everything unfold. Miguel had been taken with a team of Federal agents and medical personnel to a hospital. They’d flown away in a helicopter, but not before Miguel had shaken his hand. Thanked him for saving their lives. His and Rafe’s.
Now he was left surrounded by agents, police officers and Mexican officials, and he knew he’d failed. Lil was out there with a madman. A madman who’d be out for revenge and who knew what else.
He couldn’t stand around waiting for someone to make a decision, to figure out what to do next. Lil needed him now.
Across the group of law enforcement officials he saw his sister watching him, a frown on her face, and he knew what she was thinking. Why are you here? Go get her. Go get her now.
He turned away, looked out over the desert separating them from wherever Degas might be hiding with Lil. Where Ryan said Degas could be found. Where they were planning to attack right now. Attack with an army of who knew how many men. An army that could accidentally kill Lil.
No. Going after them wasn’t a problem. But if he screwed this up, Lil was going to die. She might die anyway.
His heart hurt at the thought. Anger threatened to overwhelm him. Somewhere inside him was the ability to turn emotion off. He knew it was there. Sought that ability now. It wasn’t working. Where Lil was concerned the emotion was too intense. Too painful. Too full of fear.
He couldn’t wait. Not any more.
As if he could read his mind, Ortiz appeared at his side.
“We’ll find her, Martinez.”
David didn’t hide his skepticism. “If Degas wants to be found. That’s the only way.”
“Interesting you say that.” Ortiz walked away from the crowd and David followed, sure now the detective had more to say. More he wanted David to hear, but no one else.
“Interesting, how?”
“Interesting in the same way this entire case is interesting.”
He was done playing games. “Say whatever it is you want to say Ortiz.”
The detective narrowed his eyes as he looked at him in the blinding afternoon sun.
“It’s a little too coincidental to me, that’s all. You being involved all this time. Lil ending up in the middle of it. It’s almost…” he paused, watched a piece of tumbleweed blow across the dirt at their feet. David wondered if he was deciding whether or not to say what he was thinking.
“Almost?”
“Almost like this whole thing was orchestrated. I don’t know how or why but it doesn’t flow with Degas’s actions in the past. We‘ve been chasing him for years and suddenly he falls. I don’t like it. I don’t like that it feels like Lil’s been used.”
David didn’t like it either. Didn’t like the possibilities that opened.
“Using Lil is pointless.”
“Pointless?” Ortiz laughed. “In less than a week she’s helped take down one of the biggest criminal elements in the United States and Mexico. She’s a schoolteacher. That doesn’t make sense to me. When things don’t add up, I start looking for variables in the math. What could have changed, what could’ve been skewed? She’s the new variable, but it still doesn’t make sense.”
It didn’t to him either. But he wasn’t going to sit around all day talking about it. “I’m going after them.”
“You and what army?”
The army gearing up for attack was part of the problem.
“Me. Alone. Now. I’m not waiting anymore. While Ryan and his team and you and your team and the Mexican authorities are all discussing operations and strategies, Degas has Lil. I can’t just sit here waiting.”
Ortiz leveled him with a stare. “Don’t you think Degas anticipates that reaction?”
“I don’t give a damn what Degas anticipates.”
“That’s what I’m saying, David. Think it through. Degas has stayed a step in front of us for years because he understands us. He knows what we’ll do. Where we’ll go. He beats us at our own game. If you do what he expects, you’re playing into his hands.”
“If that saves Lil, I don’t care.”
“You might get lucky. You might save Lil. Or you might both die. What purpose would that serve?”
David didn’t answer. He couldn’t very well say he’d rather be dead than alive knowing he’d led Lil to her death. Knowing he’d never told her he loved her. Never taken the chance to save her.
“It might not serve a purpose,” he said, making sure Ortiz heard his unspoken words, “but I can’t sit by while the big shots over there plan. I’ll see you around.”
Degas pulled up to the closed gate of a palatial retreat, one of several mansions in and around the area. Mansions everyone knew were tied to the drug cartels. The people involved in the drug trade never bothered with living secret lives. They just made sure their armed guards were ready to defend as necessary.
If he crossed to the other side of the gate, people were going to die. Lots of people.
They’d lost. Somehow, they’d lost.
Lil refused to think about that. Refused to think about what might have happened to Anna and Migu
el and Nancy.
To the other girls who’d passed through that church and its pink hallway and its concrete floors.
This man was a monster. And he was sitting on the wrong side of a wall that could lead to his salvation. He definitely had an army willing to do what he asked. Who knew what else was behind that wall?
She wasn’t willing to sit quietly and let him win.
“They’re going to catch you this time.” She didn’t know what imp took over her brain, her mouth, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself.
He didn’t even look at her, just kept his eyes trained on the horizon where a trail of dust rose in the distance. His army or her salvation? She didn’t know. She wasn’t sure it mattered.
“Miguel was a boy. Practically a child.”
He laughed. “Miguel Hernandez is no boy. He and his family knew what they were doing when they challenged me.”
All this over a challenge to his authority.
“So you killed them?”
“It’s possible your star pupil is still alive if your boyfriend made it in time.”
Hope sprang forward in her mind, but she tamped it down. She could only pray it was so.
“You could give up now. If you turn this into a battle, you’ll never win.”
The dust cloud was growing nearer. The reddish brown dirt mixing with the sunset to form a perfect imitation of hell.
“I lost this battle the minute I took the Hernandez family from their home. Maybe sooner.”
Was he giving up? She couldn’t tell.
“So turn yourself over to the authorities. Help them locate the girls who are still missing. Tell them who you’re working with….”
He wasn’t listening. Instead he faced west, her words seeming to pass by unnoticed. She could see the vehicle in the distance now. A dark truck, speeding down the dirt roads in their direction. Salvation or destruction? Which did it hold? Would it even matter?
She thought she heard him whisper mi hijo, but she wasn’t sure.
What did one say to a deranged drug and human trafficker who’d killed untold numbers of people? She wasn’t sure. She just knew she didn’t want to die.
“Excuse me?”
He turned to face her then and she saw a far away look in his eyes. Something indefinable. Almost sad. “I said, Miss Palmer, I am a fool. The ultimate fool.”
Chapter Ten
David shifted into a higher gear as he passed a pothole.
Ortiz was probably right. This could be a suicide mission. If that was the case, so be it.
If Ortiz was right and this mess didn’t add up, so be that too. He had to give Lil a chance. He’d do whatever it took. Whatever.
He thought about calling his mother. Saying goodbye. But he couldn’t do it. If he didn’t make it back, she’d know the truth. She understood the power of love. It had filled her life with joy and then nearly destroyed it when his father had died.
How had he been so stupid? That joy was worth everything. Every chance, every responsibility. Lil deserved a birthday party. The big kind with balloons and a birthday cake and candles that wouldn’t blow out. She’d told him once she’d never had one. He’d give that to her.
And he’d teach her to hug and mean it.
Maybe he’d even teach her to cook.
He wasn’t letting Degas take her away from him. No way.
God please, don’t let her be hurt. Please.
If it came down to it, he’d trade his life for hers. If he couldn’t give her the love she needed, if he wasn’t able, wasn’t around, his family would. They’d embrace her. Make her one of their own. His mother would give her a birthday party. Anna would teach her to cook. Joseph would teach her to slow dance. Isabel to hug. And when Isaiah came home from deployment, he’d teach her to fight so a bastard like Degas could never take her again.
And maybe she’d be okay one day, without him.
He didn’t want to think about it.
His phone rang and he saw the number. His mother. He picked it up after one ring.
When she heard his plan, she told him he had to stop. “Please, David. Let the authorities handle this.”
“I can’t do that, Mamà. You know I can’t.”
His mother sounded frantic, her voice broke up. “It’s about you David. It’s all about you.”
She’d been talking to Detective Ortiz.
“Anna will be home soon, Mamà. Do me a favor. If Lil comes home without me, give her the family she’s never had. Do that for me. Okay.”
His mother’s voice broke again on the phone, but he didn’t have to hear her. She’d do it. He knew she would.
“You’re breaking up, Momma. I love you. I love you all.”
He hung up the phone and slowed for another pothole then shifted gears again. His mother would understand. And they’d all be okay Somehow, they would be.
He turned onto the next dirt road Ryan had told him about, saw a dark car in the distance, near the wall that surrounded one of the giant estates that dotted this area. Estates built from cattle ranches turned to drug running. Degas’s home.
Strange how he’d been so close all along. So close and so untouchable. Ortiz was right. It didn’t add up.
He’d worry about that later.
The car in the distance grew larger. Degas was waiting outside the wall. One quick move and David’s plan would be shot.
He floored the truck, clenched his jaw as he passed over the bumpy dirt road.
Two silhouettes. Degas and Lil.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
As he stepped on the brake, the truck skidded to a stop. Dirt flew and the bed of the truck nearly hit the car.
He left the keys in the ignition, jumped out. Yelled. “Let her go, Degas.”
No shots fired. No sudden appearance of armed militias ready to fight for their commander, a man who’d done unmentionable terrors to unknown numbers of innocent victims.
Degas and Lil looked at him. The satisfied smile on Degas’s face did little to give David faith this would turn out well. The sheer terror on Lil’s face made him more determined than ever to broker a deal. Somehow.
“She’s a teacher. No one special. It’s me you want. Let her go.”
He prayed Lil knew the lie for what it was.
Inside the car Degas watched him intently, still not speaking, still just sitting. Dammit. If nothing else, he could give Lil some comfort. Some knowledge.
“Come on, Degas. Half the police in Texas are at the church. Miguel told them everything. Nancy’s in custody. They’re coming here next. It’s over. Let her go. If you want a hostage, take me.”
His mouth was dry and the last words were nearly whispered and he knew that was a mistake. Lil was his Achilles Heel. Degas knew that now if he hadn’t already.
“I don’t think so.”
The man’s voice was low and even and soulless. And with his answer David knew he’d failed Lil terribly.
Completely.
He looked at her then, hoped she’d see the apology in his eyes. But all he saw was anger.
“Why are you doing this? Tell me why.” She practically screamed the questions at Degas, and David wanted to hear her voice forever.
“Why?” Degas repeated her question.
One word. Fully loaded.
The man looked at David’s gun and laughed. “Put that away. Put it away and get in the car.”
When he hesitated, Degas grabbed Lil’s face with his hands. Pinched it tight. “Get in the car and you both live. Don’t and she dies.”
“Don’t do it, David. Don’t listen to this man. He’s a liar. A killer. Don’t you dare get in this car.” Lil’s face hurt under the man’s soft hands. Her words made him squeeze harder.
What was David doing here all alone? What was he thinking?
He stepped forward and she said it again. “Don’t David. Go back home. Your mother needs you. Your brothers and sisters. Leave me. Let Ryan do this. Please don’t get in the car.”
He reached the door and she said go away, but she knew it was no use.
And when he climbed into the back seat, she told herself she wasn’t glad. Wasn’t relieved he was in here with his presence, his scent, his comforting surety.
The minute his door closed, Degas started the car. Lil looked at David in the mirror. Met his dark eyes with hers. And prayed he could read her thoughts. Read how even though she was so mad at him she could scream, she loved him completely, totally. That she admired his stupid courage. That she wished this wasn’t their last day together.
His face was grim. Determined. He slid his seatbelt into place and she almost laughed because it was so strange. Why bother when they were headed to death anyway?
She wanted to tell him what she was thinking, but she couldn’t. Degas might guess, but he didn’t know. Not really. And if he did, he’d only use it against them both.
She sat back in the seat and closed her eyes. Where were the helicopters, the DEA planes, the authorities?
And then David spoke, his voice angry, loud. “You got me, now tell me what the hell is going on.”
He wasn’t going to answer. He was going to drive who knew how long, and he wasn’t going to tell them anything. He was probably going to try to use that lethal looking .45 to put a couple bullets through their heads. Screw that.
David started to say something along those lines when Degas pulled over at one of the houses near his property. The adobe hut was more ramshackle than finished, but it was there and they were stopping.
“If you want to know what’s going on, you’ll come with me now. No fighting. No problems.”
No fighting. No problems. “Don’t leave the car, Lil.”
She squinted her eyes at him and he could read her thoughts. Don’t tell me what to do after that stunt you pulled. He had to admit she was probably right. They were at Degas’s mercy now. No police, no army on either side. Just them and the madman they’d brought down.
