“The Castigadores?”
Janelle frowned. How did Simon know their name?
“Yes. That’s what they call themselves. They have been snatching young boys from the poorer neighborhoods and selling them for the vilest kind of services.”
Her stomach going tight, Janelle pulled her arms around her. She hadn’t wanted to believe that part was true.
“We were making progress in getting evidence when one of our CIs was found dead in the police parking lot with three bullets in his chest.”
“Oh my.”
“It was a message. And it was heard. The head of the department clamped down on the investigation.”
“But you went ahead on your own?” Simon said.
“No, I closed the case. That was, until something happened.”
Janelle glanced at Simon. “What was that?”
“A boy, Alejandro’s best friend, was kidnapped.”
“Diego?” Simon said.
“How do you know that name?”
“Your son mentioned him.”
Janelle watched Torres’s thick brows shoot up. “Alejandro knows?”
“I’m afraid so.” Simon’s voice was dark.
Torres shook his head again, the furrows in his brow growing deeper. “That was the last thing I wanted. Two weeks ago Diego’s mother came to me at the station in tears. She was beside herself.”
“I can imagine.” The poor woman.
“She gave me a photograph of the boy and said he loved futbol. That must have been how they lured him in. I knew missing posters and public service messages would do no good. And I could not sit by and do nothing. But I also knew I would have no support in the department, so I decided to continue the investigation on my own.”
Like Simon would have.
“It wasn’t easy, but I managed to gain the trust of my contact and arrange a meeting with them. The one you witnessed last night.”
Again Janelle frowned. Torres and Simon must have had a long conversation before she found them at the car.
“And your contact didn’t show up tonight,” she said.
“No, he didn’t.”
That wasn’t a good sign. “Do you think he knows who you are?”
“Do you mean that I’m a police officer?”
“Yes.”
“It’s possible. But he probably isn’t concerned about it. Sad to say, some of our people are open to looking the other way for a bit of filthy lucre.”
Interesting way of putting it. “And you hoped these men assumed you were one of those.”
“Yes.”
She could see frustration in the lines of his face.
“Do you have anything else?” Simon asked. “Any other evidence you could use?”
Torres tapped his fingers on the desk, picked up his cigarettes once more, then put them inside a drawer. He must have been trying to quit.
“The surveillance team we used to have on the Castigadores discovered they meet regularly in the back room of a local bar. If I could bug that room, I could discover a lot more about their plans, but I cannot do that alone. I do not have the manpower or the equipment.”
Simon sat back and rocked in his chair. “We might be able to help with that.”
“Oh?”
“In exchange for a favor.”
Torres narrowed his eyes at Simon. “What sort of favor?”
“You said you know the agents in the embassy.”
“And so?”
“Do you know an Agent Knox? Julian Knox?”
“Not well. But yes, I know him. Why?”
“We need to speak with him.”
Janelle tensed at Simon’s bold request.
Torres’s skeptical scowl was back. “I thought you were from the embassy.”
“No, the embassy doesn’t know of our existence. But I have a message for Knox.”
“And you want me to deliver it?”
“No, I want you to arrange a meeting with Knox for us so I can deliver it.”
Torres studied Simon with fresh suspicion, and Janelle wondered how easy it might be for the inspector to ascertain Simon’s true status with the FBI.
He sat back. “I’m not sure I can agree to that.”
“Then I’m afraid you’ll be on your own with the Castigadores.” Simon started to rise.
Torres held up a hand to stop him. “I will make a deal with you, Agent Rodriguez.”
“Which is?”
“I will contact Agent Knox once you complete your assignment for me.”
Janelle knew Simon would help whether Torres agreed or not, but she couldn’t help admiring his fearless negotiating skill.
Simon pretended to think about it a moment, then nodded. “Agreed.”
They shook hands, and Simon sat back down while Torres opened a drawer and pulled out a set of blueprints. “The name of the bar is Casa Ale. This is the layout of the building.”
Janelle leaned forward and studied it while Simon translated the Spanish labels.
A large rectangle designated the space open to the public. The bar proper was in a corner, while the seating area with tables and chairs was arranged in front of the windows. A small rectangle to the left of the bar was marked “restrooms.” To the right of the bar, lines indicating a hall led in turn to the “kitchen” and “storage” areas.
“This is the room they use.” Torres pointed to a square across from the largest storage room. “They enter from the street through a door here.” He tapped the paper. “We cannot bug it from the inside. Too many nosey eyes and ears.”
Which covered most of the senses.
Rubbing his chin, Simon studied the schematic. At last, he said. “I have an idea how to handle that.”
Janelle wasn’t sure what that meant, but the whole plan sounded risky. Still, she was up for it.
“According to the intelligence, they should be at Casa Ale tonight around one in the morning.”
Janelle glanced at an old fashioned clock on one of the shelves. That would give them less than an hour.
Simon rolled up the plans. “We’ll gather our equipment and meet you there in thirty minutes.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Back in the living room they said goodbye to Alejandro.
Sauce smeared on the front of his shirt, he stared at them with his big brown eyes. “Are you going to catch the bad men and find my friend, Diego?”
“We’ll do all we can,” Simon told him.
“Can I come with you?”
Torres cleared his throat. “No, son. This work is not for little boys.”
Alejandro scowled. “I am not so little. I am eight.”
“You need to catch up on the schoolwork you missed today. Besides, it’s past your bedtime. I need you to behave yourself right now. It’s very important.”
“All right.” Sadly Alejandro waved goodnight to his new friends and with his shoulders slumped, he let his aunt lead him back to the bedroom.
Feeling sorry for the boy, but glad he was safe, Janelle left the flat with Simon and drove back to the hotel in silence.
As soon as they were inside the room, Simon turned to her. “Why did you leave Alejandro alone in the car at the park?”
She blinked at him, stunned. She’d almost forgotten about that. “I told you. I gave you fifteen minutes. You didn’t come back in time.”
With an angry huff, he marched to the closet and picked up one of his duffel bags. “You can’t always time an operation like that.”
“I watched you when you were in front of the gate. I saw Torres’s cigarette under the trees. Then he disappeared and you went after him.”
Simon put the duffel bag on a stand and opened it. “And I found him and got the information we needed from him. Now we have an ally.”
He was making her livid. “What if it hadn’t worked out that way, Simon? What if the contact had showed up? What if he’d dragged you off somewhere and killed you?”
His face darkened with irritation. “I
don’t need to be babysat. I do have some experience, you know.”
His remark felt like a hornet sting. “What are you saying, Simon? That I don’t have experience? That you think I’m a liability?”
“You’re a responsibility. My responsibility.”
“In other words, I’m the one who needs to be babysat.”
“I didn’t say that.”
Infuriated with him, she marched to the window, pulled off her snood and tossed it on the table. “I’m just as much of a professional as you are, and I can take care of myself.”
“I know that, and you’re good at what you do. But I’ve made up my mind.”
“About what?”
He turned his back and began packing a smaller bag with tools. “I can’t let you go with me tonight. It’s too risky.”
Talk about a double whammy. She couldn’t have felt more stunned if he had slapped her across the face. “You’ve got a lot of nerve, Simon Sloan. You take risks all the time. You shouldn’t even be involved in this case. You’re supposed to be trying to find out who murdered Cooley and prove yourself innocent.”
Frustrated to the brink of his endurance, Simon spun around and stared into Janelle’s fiery green eyes. The look in them stirred him to his soul. And her thick flame-red hair falling to her shoulders, the curves of her body under her black outfit, stirred desire in him, as well.
But that was just the problem. He was too close to her. Tonight when he reached the car and found her gone, he’d felt as if he might lose his mind. It was a situation ripe for mistakes. Mistakes he couldn’t afford.
Her words angered him. Shouldn’t be involved? How could he not get involved? Fighting crimes like this against children had been his life for almost a decade. But Janey? She might be a professional, but she didn’t sign up for this detail.
And then she did something totally unexpected. She sat down on the end of the bed and put her head in her hands.
She sat there for a long moment and then spoke in a soft voice. “Do you know why I became a PI, Simon?”
His heart melted. “Tell me.”
Janelle turned to Simon and watched his deep blue eyes as he stared at her with what looked like sudden tenderness. Suddenly she had to bare her soul to him. To make him see what was inside her. What drove her. “Do you remember the guy in LA?”
“Ostap Savko?”
“No. The guy who was my sister’s ex.”
He thought a moment, then nodded. “What about him?”
“Livvy hooked up with that guy when she was only sixteen. He was bad to her. One night, she called me from the emergency room. I couldn’t believe what he’d done to her when I saw her. She had bruises and a black eye and a bloody nose. It was terrible.”
Simon came and sat down on the bed beside her. Along with compassion for her and her sister, she could feel the outrage pouring from him. She felt the same fury at the memory.
She drew in a breath. “Anyway, I tried to talk her out of staying with that creep, but she wouldn’t listen to me. Instead, she ran off to L.A. I felt so helpless. That’s when I decided to go into police work.”
“You were with the police in LA?”
She shook her head. “In Napa Valley. It didn’t work out. But later I decided to become a PI and got hired at the Parker Agency. When Livvy’s little girl went missing last winter, and you got involved, I don’t know. I thought we were working for the same thing. For something really important. Something bigger than ourselves. I thought we shared that. I thought that was what we were sharing now. So you see, I have some skin in this game, too.” Her voice quivered as she spoke the words.
Gently he took her hand and held it. It felt so good, but she couldn’t imagine what was going through his mind.
After what seemed like an hour, he let out a breath. “All right. I’ll let you come with me tonight. But when I give you an order I expect you to follow it.”
Well, then. But he did have seniority over her, meaning quite a few more years of experience. And he was used to being in charge.
She lifted her chin. “If the order is reasonable.”
It was the best he was going to get from her. And the best she was going to get from him. For tonight anyway.
Getting to his feet, he looked down at her black fashion ankle boots. “And put on some comfortable shoes.”
“Aye, aye, captain,” she said, saluting him as she rose.
Without a smile, he turned back to his bag and finished packing his equipment while she tucked her hair into her snood again and found the shoes she’d worn in that cave in Patagonia.
Surprised the soles weren’t worn through, she put them on, and they hurried out the door with him.
They were already late.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The clock on the Beetle’s dash told her it was twenty-five minutes before one by the time they reached their rendezvous point.
Casa Ale stood on the corner painted a smoky charcoal and looking ominous with its Old World pub design.
Noisy groups were going in and out of the entrance that was wedged into its cutout corner. Simon drove around the front, and they discovered it was quieter on the building’s other side.
Spying an empty spot, he pulled over to the curb with the Beetle facing away from the bar.
“What do we do now?” Janelle asked.
Before Simon could answer there was a rap on the back window that made her jump.
She turned around and recognized the police inspector’s dark hat and horseshoe mustache.
Simon clicked the locks open, and Torres climbed into the backseat.
“You’re a little late,” he told them.
“We ran into traffic,” Simon said with a dismissive air. He didn’t want to admit to the inspector it was because they’d had a fight. “Did you walk here?”
“No. My vehicle is two behind yours.”
As if to double check, Simon searched for it in the rearview.
Janelle used the side mirror. “The black one with the dent in its side?”
“That’s it. The department keeps us in the latest models,” Torres said with a hefty dose of sarcasm. Then he switched subjects. “So what is your plan for tonight, Agent Rodriguez?”
Simon turned around. “Hand me that bag.” He pointed to the one he’d packed in the hotel.
Torres did as he asked, and Simon zipped open the bag’s side and drew out a small electronic tablet. He turned it on and waited for a connection.
“My partner and I will go in and plant the bug. It will synch up with my cell and this device, and send a wifi signal here.” He pointed to a red icon on the screen. “Once it’s sending, it will send a synch message. Just tap the icon and it will start recording. It will do both audio and visual. The device has a one-twenty-eight flash drive, so we shouldn’t run out of room.”
“I did not know the FBI had such state-of-the-art equipment.” Torres’s tone said he still wasn’t sure who they were working for, but he was too desperate for help to turn them away. “Where do you plan to put your bug?”
“In the ceiling vent of the meeting room.”
Torres’s brows popped up. “And how will you manage that?”
“Let me worry about that part. You just take care of your end. Do you have any questions?”
“No, Agent Rodriguez. But I must warn you to be careful. The Castigadores are not known for their friendliness.”
“I understand.” Simon turned to her. “Are you ready?”
Janelle took a deep breath and nodded.
Simon grabbed the black bag and got out of the car.
She stepped out onto the sidewalk and fell in alongside him. As they pretended to head for the bar, she noticed the air had grown warmer than it had been earlier.
After a bit, Simon slowed his steps and came to a halt near a tall tree planted in the sidewalk. He leaned in close to her. “Are you a climber?”
“You mean we’re climbing that?” She thought he had stopped here just
for the shadows.
He nodded once and handed her a pair of black work gloves. “We need to get in through the roof.”
The roof. So that was his secret plan.
She gazed up at the gnarled spreading branches of the tree. She didn’t know what kind it was, but it seemed pretty sturdy. And a limb the tree trimmers must have missed grew very near a balcony on the second floor of the neighboring building.
That was their way up.
The bar itself didn’t have a second floor. Instead it had a large attic she’d seen on the blueprint in Torres’s office, furnishing a second climb to the roof. Evidently that’s where they were heading.
She didn’t care much for heights, but she could do it.
Glancing over Simon’s shoulder, she checked to make sure no one was coming around the corner. Then she put her foot onto the lowest notch in the tree truck, grabbed onto the bark, and pulled herself up, thinking of the times she used to sneak out of the house via a tree when she was a teen.
Her stomach lurched a bit. Heights must not have been an issue for her back then.
Her foot found the next groove and up she went again. Now it was time to get to the balcony.
The outline of the limb stretched out beneath her in the lights from the streetlamps. Steadying herself, she was just about to climb onto it when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
She turned her head and saw Simon just below her holding onto the trunk with his other hand.
He put a finger to his lips and pointed down just as the sound of music and laughter reached her ears.
She gazed down at the sidewalk and saw a couple floundering along the walkway, arms over each other. The pair might have been too inebriated to notice two people climbing the tree over their heads, but they couldn’t take that chance.
She waited until they were gone, made sure no one else was around, then squatted onto the limb and began pulling herself over it. She pulled with her arms, pushed with her legs. Arms, legs. Arms, legs. By the time she got close to the railing of the balcony, she was winded, her biceps were throbbing, and she felt like she was a pleb in basic training.
Now what?
She was almost to the end of the branch. Only one thing to do, but it was dicey. Again her stomach quivered, but she ignored it. She wasn’t going to give up now. Not after how hard she’d fought to come here tonight.
Escape from Danger Page 10
