The Body Market: A Leine Basso Thriller

by Berkom, D. V.

  Santa slipped on a pair of night vision goggles from the console and drove through the desert with the lights off, methodically working a grid pattern moving them north in increments. Leine scanned the area with the binoculars, looking for any indication of the girls’ location. At one point, she thought she saw a flash of headlights, but when they crested the next rise there was nothing but black terrain capped with glimmering stars.

  Half an hour in, Santa stopped the vehicle and turned to Leine.

  “You know,” he said, “it’s more than likely Otero’s guys have night vision capabilities. We may not see anything unless we’re right on top of them.”

  “I’m not giving up. We can go back the way we came if we don’t find them.”

  “I didn’t suggest stopping. Just wanted you to be aware of the possibility.”

  “Got it.” Her words came out clipped.

  Santa sighed and shifted into gear.

  ***

  Elise ran as fast as the rough terrain would allow, ignoring the sharp branches that scraped against her legs. She stumbled and her bare foot landed on a section of cholla. She cried out as the spines embedded themselves in the soles of her feet. Her lungs bursting, she hopped away from the cactus on one foot and carefully lowered herself to the ground. She crossed her leg, bringing her foot up onto her thigh and began to pick out the spines. The barbed hooks didn’t want to come easily, and she grimaced as she yanked them out. After the last one she rubbed the holes where they’d been and looked in the direction Julia had gone, hoping her friend had covered more ground than she had.

  A pair of headlights headed in the same direction she’d run.

  How could they know where Julia was? Her heart slammed in her chest. It’s pitch black out here. They had to have night vision goggles. She scrambled to her feet.

  They’ll come for me next.

  ***

  “There—” Leine pointed to a flash of headlights in the distance.

  Santa drove toward them, steering around cactus and creosote bush. Leine leaned through the open window. The pair of headlights turned and headed east, bouncing like they were highlighting lyrics at a karaoke bar. She searched through the binoculars until she had the SUV in sight. She caught a glimpse of a dog’s head through the passenger window.

  “It’s him,” Leine said.

  ***

  Cruz glanced at the blinking dot on his monitor and turned east.

  Then it vanished.

  “¡Cabrone!” He slammed his fist on the steering wheel in frustration. Max whined and paced in his seat. The transmitter was faulty. That could be the only explanation. He smacked the monitor but received no answering blip.

  A low moan came from the cargo area. The redhead was waking up. He hadn’t hit her hard enough.

  “Shut up, puta, or you will die, now.”

  The moaning stopped.

  He glared through the windshield, willing the American girl to materialize. He’d called in the redhead’s capture to keep Garcia from sending more trackers, but that didn’t give him a lot of time to find her and do what he wanted to them both.

  He drove toward the last location on the monitor, but then stopped the SUV, cut the lights, and shifted into park. Rifle in hand, Cruz exited the vehicle and looked east through the night vision scope, scanning the desert.

  The landscape glowed from ambient starlight, the bushes and cactus dark, amorphous shadows. A coyote darted between the chaparral and slipped back into the night. The wind picked up, rustling through the sparse vegetation. Still, he saw no one.

  White-hot anger boiled through him, and he had to consciously relax his grip on the rifle. Breathing heavily, Cruz glanced through the window at the monitor. Two dots.

  The transmitter was working.

  ***

  Elise ran blindly through the desert, the sound of a vehicle approaching from behind spurring her forward. She tripped again and fell to her hands and knees. A sob escaped her as she clambered to her feet.

  I will not let them take me again, she said to herself, pushing through the pain. Just keep going, Elise. One foot in front of the other. You’ll be fine.

  “How much is that doggie…” The faint strain of music floating toward her was familiar and she glanced over her shoulder, confused by the innocuous song. Too late she turned back, stumbling as her foot hit air. Elise fell over the edge of the arroyo, hitting the loose dirt with her forearm and knees and skidding down, down, down, grasping at the spiky vegetation and roots, ripping them free until she hit bottom with a sickening thud.

  Dazed and unable to pull in a breath, she rolled to one side and raised herself onto her elbow, placing her other hand on the ground for support. At the same time, she registered something hard and smooth beneath her.

  That’s when the stench hit.

  Gagging, she recoiled and snatched her hand back from something wriggling, and scrambled to her feet, blood roaring in her ears.

  A vehicle pulled up behind her, the headlights spilling past, illuminating the ground. Elise blanched at the sight of writhing maggots crawling where her hand had just been. She recognized the shredded blue dress and froze.

  “Oh my God,” she whispered.

  The runaway’s corpse lay face up, staring at the desert sky. Her dress had been ripped in two down the front, leaving her body exposed. A jagged gash formed a dark river of blood from her ribcage to her navel, and her intestines stretched across the sandy riverbed, dragged from her abdomen by a scavenger and partially consumed. Dozens of gleaming skulls wearing macabre smiles lay scattered across the wash around her, perched atop piles of bones picked clean. The tattered remnants of their blue shifts hung across bleached white ribcages, and hips, and femurs.

  Elise’s breath caught when she recognized another victim, face down in the pile of death, her scalp half gone, the familiar black hair a mat of dried blood.

  Celeste.

  A low growl erupted behind her. Elise slowly turned, nausea building in her chest.

  Backlit by the lights of the SUV, Cruz stood in front of the vehicle, a rifle in his hand. A few feet from her the angry pit bull stood coiled and ready, lips curled back in a snarl and ears flat against its head.

  Elise’s body began to shake and she closed her eyes, unable to stem the tears rolling down her face.

  “No, no, no,” she whispered.

  The dog’s growls grew louder and more menacing.

  “You’ll just have to wait, Max,” Cruz murmured, standing next to the canine. “You can have your time with the American bitch. I promise.” He stepped forward and grabbed Elise by the hair, yanking her back toward the truck.

  “Stop. Please,” she cried. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

  He jerked her head back, and her scalp burned with pain. The dog man dragged her to his vehicle and released his grip, dropping her next to the front tire. The dog shadowed her, standing guard. Cruz walked to the back of the SUV and opened the tailgate. Julia spilled onto the ground in an immobile heap. Elise gaped at her friend, willing her to move.

  She didn’t.

  “What have you done?” Elise screamed. “You killed her, didn’t you?” She struggled to stand, her rage spurring her on. Cruz watched her with amusement. With a deep growl Max charged her, snapping at her legs, coming within a hairs breadth of her skin. Elise froze, folding in on herself, her gaze to the ground.

  A large rock rested near her foot.

  Something inside her snapped. She stooped to pick up the rock and hurled it at the dog’s head. It slammed home with a thud and the pit bull yelped and ran, shaking off the pain. Red-hot rage welled up inside of Elise, blotting out everything else as she glared at the dog man. Seething with anger, she pressed forward, her chest rising and falling with each breath.

  Cruz brought the rifle up, taking a step back as she advanced. “Stop now or you will die.”

  “Then shoot me.” She ground out the words.

  A flash of anger traced through his eyes. He raised
the barrel of the gun and looked through the sight, his finger on the trigger.

  “Stop!”

  Cruz spun in place, swinging his rifle toward the voice. A sharp crack came from behind him and his head snapped forward, the side of his skull exploding in bits of bone and flesh.

  Chapter 38

  Elise stared at the dog man’s inert body, visibly trembling. Leine stepped into the headlights and walked slowly toward her.

  “It’s all right, Elise. It’s over,” Leine said.

  Elise’s gaze shifted from the man on the ground to Leine to the gun in her hand, fear flickering in her eyes. Leine leaned the MP-5 against the front of the SUV and continued her careful approach.

  “How much is that dog—”

  Santa emerged from the left and Elise’s attention snapped to him. She tracked him as he walked to the passenger side of the SUV and reached through the open window. Mercifully, the song stopped.

  “There’s a monitor in here.” He opened the door and slid into the passenger seat.

  Leine scanned Elise, looking for anything that might be transmitting their position. She wasn’t wearing shoes, and her thin clothing didn’t have buttons. No rings or a necklace. “Can I see your bracelet?”

  Elise looked at her wrist as though she’d never seen it before. She held out her arm, and Leine unfastened the piece.

  “Sebastian gave it to me. He said it was magic.”

  “It’s magnetic,” Leine said, studying the back.

  “I’ve got two blinking dots,” Santa called. He exited the cab and walked behind the SUV to see to Julia.

  Leine nodded toward Elise’s arm. “What happened to you?”

  Elise glanced at the bandage and frowned. “I think they took a skin sample to check how healthy I was.”

  “May I?” Leine asked, reaching for her arm. Elise nodded. Leine peeled back the bandage and gently probed the skin around the incision. “There’s a hard lump under your skin.”

  “I thought it was scabbing up.”

  “I think a transmitter has been implanted in your arm.” She handed Elise the bracelet. “Put this back on and keep it near the bandage. The magnets must interfere with the signal.”

  Elise attached the bracelet. Her gaze skated toward the girl lying on the ground behind the SUV. “My friend—is she—”

  “I’ve got a pulse,” Santa called.

  Its head down, the pit bull crawled into view, sliding on its belly toward Cruz. Blood dripped from its ear. Whimpering, it snuffled at what was left of his master’s head and nosed his shoulder, trying to get him to move.

  Elise’s knees wobbled. Leine grabbed her by the elbow and wrapped her arm around her shoulders.

  “Come and sit down,” she said, leading her away from the mass grave to the back of the SUV. Julia lay on her side in the cargo area and Santa was in the process of checking her vitals. Leine eased Elise into a sitting position. “I’ll be right back,” she said and started to walk away. Elise’s eyes widened and she grabbed Leine’s hand.

  “Don’t leave me,” she said, her voice cracking.

  Leine’s heart squeezed tight and she stopped, waiting for Elise to relax her grip.

  “It’s all right, Elise. I’m coming right back.” She nodded at Santa. “That’s Santa. He’s one of the good guys, I promise.”

  Elise studied the detective, who was now rubbing Julia’s legs and feet, trying to restore circulation.

  “I’m going to get water for you and a blanket for your friend, okay?”

  “Okay,” she whispered, releasing Leine’s arm.

  When Leine returned with the pickup, Elise’s complexion didn’t appear as colorless as it had before, although she had a long way to go before she normalized. She’s crashing, Leine thought. She handed a blanket from Herrera’s truck to Santa and her own jacket and a bottle of water to Elise.

  “How many girls does Garcia keep at the ranch?” Leine asked, checking the cuts on Elise’s legs and feet.

  Elise took a sip of water and wiped her mouth.

  “All of them, I think. I’m not sure.” She stared into the dark night.

  Leine cleared her throat and she refocused.

  “There were close to thirty girls in the room where I slept,” she said. “There might be more, I don’t know.”

  “Thank you, Elise. Sit tight. We’ll be on our way in a couple of minutes.”

  Leine motioned for Santa to follow her. He finished wrapping Julia in the blanket and walked around to the side.

  “The mass grave has to be Otero’s handiwork,” she said, indicating the arroyo in front of them.

  They walked closer to the bodies, shining flashlights on the gruesome scene before them.

  “They’ve been gutted,” Santa remarked.

  “The clothing is similar to what Elise and her friend are wearing.” Leine closed her eyes as a curtain of weariness descended over her. “Looks like this is where they dumped the bodies of the girls who were no longer useful.”

  “Jesus,” Santa breathed. He shook his head and slid his phone out of his pocket. “This is the end of Garcia and El Rancho del Maestro.”

  Leine studied the grisly scene before her, taking it in, letting it settle deep in her bones.

  I’m sorry I didn’t find you sooner.

  Chapter 39

  Herrera was able to expedite Leine’s and Elise’s trip back to Los Angeles, while Julia formally requested asylum. Gunderson and Nabokov were on their way to the federal detention center where she was being held to secure her release. Santa drove back to Los Angeles early the next day.

  Elise was immediately put under protective custody at an undisclosed private hospital. Dick Bennett rushed to Elise’s side as soon as he learned of her rescue. Belinda Bennett couldn’t be reached.

  The lacerations on her back and feet were healing, and Elise insisted she was ready to go home but soon learned that the transmitter would need to be surgically removed from her arm before her release.

  Leine arrived at the hospital about an hour after Elise’s father. Dick Bennett appeared gaunt with dark circles under his eyes. His clothes looked as though he’d slept in them for a week. When Leine asked how he was doing, he shook his head.

  “The stress is unbelievable. The IPO’s happening tomorrow, ready or not. I’m just relieved you found her.”

  “Where’s Mom?” Elise asked.

  Dick smiled and reached for her hand. “She’ll be here soon, baby. Promise.”

  When the nurse came in to check her vitals, Leine and Dick Bennett walked out to the hallway to allow them privacy. He leaned against the wall and sighed. The policeman assigned to security stepped a discreet distance away.

  “Where is Mrs. Bennett?” Leine asked.

  Dick Bennett shrugged. “I honestly can’t tell you. I’ve been at the office working around the clock. I tried her cell, but she’s not picking up. I left a message, so I’m sure she’ll be here soon.”

  “I’m sure she will,” Leine replied.

  He spoke of how he was going to take the time to be a better father, really listen to Elise, get involved in the high school and all her activities. Leine wondered how that would be possible, now that he was obligated to investors.

  Not your problem, Leine. She remained silent, allowing him his moment, hoping he meant what he said.

  When the nurse was finished, Leine said her goodbyes to Elise and Dick and went out to her car.

  It was time to confront Belinda Bennett.

  ***

  Leine drove the last mile up the curving canyon road and parked in the shade beneath a tree near the Bennetts’ driveway. Careful to avoid the camera, she slipped through the open gate. The green light she’d noticed on her first visit now glowed orange.

  The gate combined with the security camera’s orange indicator light gave her pause and she drew her gun. The entrance to the Bennetts’ driveway had been open on her prior visit because they’d been expecting her, but at that time the green light indi
cated the security camera’s normal operation. An orange light generally meant there’d either been a technical failure or a manual override.

  Either whoever was inside the house had taken the security system off line, or Belinda had been expecting someone and didn’t want a record of the visit. Neither of which boded well.

  As she neared the top of the drive, she recognized Belinda’s black Mercedes parked next to the ’61 Ferrari she’d seen the last time. Both vehicles were near the entrance. Like before, the garage door leading to the lower level under the home was open.

  An unfamiliar SUV took up residence at the other end of the drive. At first she didn’t see anyone nearby. As she drew level with the Mercedes, a tattooed man with a shaved head wearing a gray T-shirt appeared at the garage entrance and started up the driveway toward her. Leine dropped to a crouch behind the car.

  A slight breeze kicked up and she glanced behind her. The leaves shading her car danced in the wind, the sunlight glinting off the windshield.

  Can he see that? She turned back.

  There was no sign of him, but the front door of the SUV was open.

  Shit. Where the hell did he go? Leine quickly slid the suppressor from her side pocket and screwed it on as she scanned the area. Something flashed in the Mercedes’ outside mirror and she turned. The man was coming up behind her in a crouch, his gun out.

  Leine pivoted, tracking his approach in the mirror. When he drew level with the back window, she fired.

  The bullet carved into his forehead and he staggered, crumpling to the ground. Sprawled on his back, his sightless eyes stared at the brilliant California sky.

  It was the same man she’d seen in the photograph with Zamir.

  Leine waited a moment to be sure no one else had heard the discharge and then evaluated her options. Gaining entry was her first priority.

  She followed the walk to the entrance and tried the front door. It was locked. She considered using the burglar tools in her pocket but decided instead to try an alternative. Skirting the dead gunman she followed the driveway into the garage under the home.