“The police are here,” Finn said.
“Talk me through it,” Luisa said. “Tell me what’s happening.”
“The car in front is pumping his brakes to try to get Javier to slow down.”
A clash of bumpers made Finn pitch forward. Her shoulder slammed into the back of the seat in front of her. She managed to turn her head in time to avoid a broken nose, but not a nasty case of whiplash.
“What happened, Finn?” Luisa asked. “Are you still there? Tell me what’s going on?”
“Javier rammed the police car in front of the bus and ran it off the road.”
Finn craned her sore neck to look behind her. The car had come to a stop in the median, parts of its rear end strewn along the road. The troopers inside looked pissed but unhurt.
“That was close,” she said. Then her relief gave way to confusion. “Wait. Where are they going? Three of the cars flanking us just peeled off and roared ahead.”
“If the traffic in front of you has been cleared, they’re probably setting up for a roadblock.”
“That’s not going to stop him. If he’s crazy enough to ram a police car, he’s crazy enough to plow through a roadblock.”
Richard, who had seemed paralyzed by fear after the police cars showed up, finally found his voice.
“Javi, stop. This is suicide.”
“Yes, yours.”
When Richard took a step toward him, Javier opened the bus’s door, grabbed Richard by his collar, and shoved him outside. Finn watched as Richard tumbled across the pavement like a discarded rag doll. The remaining police cars on the right side of the bus swerved to miss him, then the drivers turned back to offer aid.
“Javier just threw our guide off the bus. We’re going sixty miles an hour and he just—he just—”
Finn was too shaken by what she had just seen to finish her sentence.
Javier closed the bus’s doors and turned to glare at his passengers.
“If anyone else has any bright ideas, they get to go for a ride next,” he said in heavily accented English. “Do I have any takers?”
Finn heard whimpering as some of the women started to cry. Javier stepped on the gas as the bus neared the three police cars parked across the road.
“He’s going to ram the roadblock.”
Finn braced herself for impact. Seconds before there would have been a collision, the police car in the middle cleared out and allowed the bus to pass through the barricade unscathed. On the other side was nothing but open road. Javier headed straight for it. And no one was on his tail.
“Why aren’t they coming for us, Luisa?” Finn asked. “Are they just going to let him go?”
“The troopers have decided it’s too dangerous to attempt an interception. They don’t want to risk anyone else getting hurt. They’re going to follow you from a safe distance until your bus arrives at the hotel.”
Luisa sounded frustrated as well as disappointed. Finn felt the same way. She also felt confused. And very, very afraid.
“Then what?” she asked. “They just w-w-wash their hands of us?”
“No. Calm down, Finn, and try to breathe. Is that better?” Luisa asked after Finn did as instructed.
“Yes.”
“Okay. Now listen carefully. The state guys from Quintana Roo have the resort surrounded, and Director Chavez and I are heading to the airport now to bring reinforcements. We should land in about three hours. Stay strong, mariposa. I’m coming for you.”
Finn hoped Luisa would arrive in time, but she didn’t see how she could. Unless the Federal Police had a plane that could break the speed of sound, Luisa and her fellow officers would land in Cancún a good two hours after the bus returned to the resort. Then they would have to secure ground transport for the drive from the airport. By then, they could be too late to save anyone.
“Did you hear me, Finn? I said I’m coming for you.”
“I heard you.” Finn didn’t want to give up, but it was hard to be positive when all hope seemed to be lost. “Hurry.”
❖
Luisa heard defeat in Finn’s voice. She didn’t like it. She tucked her cell phone in her pocket as she boarded the transport plane, more determined than ever to bring Javier Villalobos and the rest of the Jaguars to justice.
The bad guys are not going to win today. Not on my watch.
She placed her helmet and goggles on the seat beside her and checked her gear. Gloves, body armor, pistol, battle rifle, plus a supply of tear gas canisters. Everything she needed to take on a mob—or fend off an army. In this case, an army of highly trained mercenaries fighting for their lives with little to no regard for the lives of the women they were holding against their will.
Director Chavez took the seat to her left.
“I know this mission is personal for you,” he said as he eyed the sniper rifle she had added to her arsenal at the last minute. “But I need you to keep your emotions in check.”
“I know, sir. You can count on me.”
“Don’t make me regret bringing you along, Moreno.”
“I won’t, sir.”
Luisa made the promise, but she didn’t know if she could keep it. Even as she said the words, she imagined the team taking Javier Villalobos not just down but out. If he did anything to cause Finn harm, she would put a bullet in him herself. Several, if need be.
“What’s the plan?” she asked.
Director Chavez spread a map of the Mariposa Resort’s grounds across his lap.
“Preliminary reports indicate the Jaguars have two layers of defenses. They’ve infiltrated the resort’s security staff. The guards and the men they’ve apparently recruited from our ranks have ringed the resort, denying anyone entry or exit.” He pointed to a building in the center of the map. “The women are being held here in the theater, the only space large enough to house everyone at once.”
“How many guards are on them?” she asked as she surveyed the map.
Director Chavez shook his head.
“No one has been able to say for sure. At least ten. All of them heavily armed.”
“So even if we pierce the outer layer of the Jaguars’ defenses, they could still take out the hostages.”
“If they haven’t already.”
“Let’s think about this for a second. The organization is on the ropes. We’ve taken out their leader and their second-in-command is on the run. If they were going to kill the hostages, they would have done it fast while they still had a chance to get away.”
“What are you thinking?” Director Chavez asked.
“I don’t think Javier Villalobos is following orders. I think he’s acting on his own. He wants something.”
“Something like what?”
“Money, publicity, or an exchange of some kind. Something he wants for something we have. Whatever it is, he’s willing to barter five hundred women’s lives to get it.”
“If he holds you somehow responsible for his grandmother’s death, kidnapping your girlfriend could be his way of getting back at you. No matter what happens when we land, don’t let him bait you into doing something you might regret. We’re better than he is, Moreno. We’re here to seek justice, not exact revenge.”
Sometimes, Luisa thought as they continued to make their way to Cancún, justice and revenge were one and the same.
❖
The winding road that led to the Mariposa Resort was filled with so many patrol cars and support vehicles the bus couldn’t squeeze its way past them. Javier parked the damaged vehicle five hundred feet from the resort’s entrance and shut off the engine. He held his gun loosely. Almost casually. As if he did this kind of thing every day. In contrast, the policemen that quickly formed a circle around the bus gripped their weapons so tight Finn was surprised the guns didn’t snap in two. She could see the tension in the officers’ faces and in their body language. One wrong move and the standoff could end in bloodshed.
“Here’s what’s going to happen.”
Javier tossed
his baseball cap and sunglasses aside, pulled LeeAnne from her seat, and pressed her against him to act as a human shield. Wesley, LeeAnne’s partner, seemed torn between staying in her seat and climbing over it to scratch Javier’s eyes out.
“We’re going to exit the bus in an orderly fashion. Then you’re going to walk, not run, to the resort and enter the theater. Stay single file. Don’t try to escape. If those chickenshit cops out there don’t kill you by accident, I will do it on purpose.”
“Javier Villalobos,” a police officer said through a bullhorn, “throw your weapon out the window, put your hands on your head, and surrender.”
Javier opened the window wide enough to shout his response.
“I’m coming out,” he said in Spanish, “but I’m bringing everyone with me. Let us pass and no one gets hurt. Back up or this one gets it first.”
LeeAnne trembled as Javier pressed the barrel of his gun to her head.
“No,” Wesley pleaded. “Please don’t.”
“Shut up,” Javier said in English, “or I’ll pop you, too.”
Finn gripped the seat in front of her and pulled herself to her feet. “What are you doing?” Ryan asked in a fierce whisper.
Finn resisted Ryan’s efforts to pull her back into her seat. She had never considered herself a follower or a leader. She was more of an observer than anything else. Now, though, she needed to participate instead of watch. She raised her hands and stepped into the aisle.
“I’m the one you want, Javier. Take me. Let everyone else go and take me.”
Javier turned his gun on her but didn’t loosen his grip on LeeAnne.
“Aren’t you the brave one? No wonder that fucking cop likes you so much.”
He waved his gun at her, indicating he wanted her to move closer. Finn walked up the aisle on shaky legs. She didn’t know what Javier had planned for her, but whatever happened, she hoped it would end quickly. He stopped her when she reached the first row of seats.
“That’s close enough.”
He looked her up and down, his eyes almost feral in their intensity. Then he pushed LeeAnne away from him and reached for her. “I was planning on killing you first. Now I think I might save you for last.”
He held her as closely as a lover, his beard stubble scraping her cheek and his breath hot against her skin.
“Everyone out!” he yelled, then lowered his voice to a malevolent whisper. “This one’s mine.”
No one moved when he opened the door. They remained glued to their seats as if they thought he might rescind his offer without warning.
“Leave before I change my mind.”
Finn watched as the women slowly disembarked and, once they were safely on the ground, ran into the waiting arms of the policemen. All except Ryan.
“Did you get lost on your way out?” Javier asked.
Ryan squared her shoulders. “Your men have my girl in there and I’m not going anywhere without her.”
“It looks like we have another brave one on our hands.”
“You’re crazy, you know that?” Finn asked.
“Look who’s talking,” Ryan said. “I’m not the one who willingly handed herself over to a gun-wielding madman.” She gave Javier a halfhearted shrug. “No offense, asshole.”
“It’s your funeral,” he said. “You can have it wherever you want.”
“That’s a good start, Javier,” the policeman with the bullhorn said. “Now hand over the rest.”
“Negative,” Javier said, switching to Spanish again. “These two are coming with me.” He pressed the gun to Finn’s temple and jerked his chin toward Ryan. “Move. Both of you.”
Ryan climbed off the bus first. Finn followed. Unable to look down because of Javier’s tight grip around her neck, she felt for the steps with her feet. She stumbled once and nearly went down, but Javier—probably less concerned with her well-being than his own safety—kept her from falling.
“Back off,” Javier said to the encroaching officers when he and Finn reached the ground. “We’re heading inside, and you’re not going to stop us.”
“Stand down,” the officer in charge ordered.
“That’s more like it,” Javier said after the other officers dutifully backed away.
He spun Finn around and forced her to walk backward as Ryan led the way up the hill. Then he pointed to the police and news helicopters circling overhead.
“Smile for the camera.”
When they neared the front of the resort, Finn saw the police standing on one side and the Jaguars on the other. The opposing forces flanked each other like fencers about to engage in a duel, though the weapons they held were much more powerful than swords. One side cheered Javier’s approach while the other showered him with epithets. It remained to be seen which side would have the final say. Finn hoped, for her sake, it would be Luisa’s.
Javier released his grip on her once they were inside the confines of the resort, but Finn’s sense of impending doom grew the closer they came to the theater. What would they find when Javier’s men opened its doors, a sea of anxious faces or a river of blood?
Two men wearing spandex tights and brightly colored masks stood guard outside the doors. Their bulging biceps were probably the only weapons they needed, but each sported a semiautomatic rifle to bolster his cause. A pile of confiscated cell phones sat at their feet.
No wonder the dozen or so calls Ryan had made to Jill on the way back from Chichén Itzá had gone directly to voice mail. Javier’s men had taken everyone’s phones so their owners couldn’t communicate with the outside world, and powered them off so their locations couldn’t be traced.
“Is everything in order?” Javier asked in Spanish.
“Yes,” one of the men said.
“Show me.”
The man opened one of the double doors. Finn heard several gasps of fear as hundreds of heads swiveled in their direction.
Ryan rushed inside and scanned the crowd. The room sat a little over five hundred and nearly all the seats were taken. On the far side of the room, Aurora, Sasha, Katie, and Jules sat near Jill, who thrust her arm in the air and began waving frantically.
“Here. I’m over here.”
Ryan took a step toward her, then turned to make sure Javier didn’t plan to shoot her in the back if she moved.
“Go,” he said dismissively as he tucked his gun in his waistband.
Ryan ran across the room and into Jill’s arms. Finn smiled as she watched the tear-filled reunion. Then she allowed her gaze to wander, taking in the faces of all the wonderful women she had met during the week.
“They’re alive. They’re all alive.”
“Not for long,” Javier said. “As soon as your girlfriend gets here, you’re all going to die. And so is she.”
❖
Luisa tried to call Finn as soon as her plane touched down in Cancún, but Finn didn’t pick up. Luisa didn’t want to imagine what that might mean, especially after she opened her phone’s Internet browser, performed a search on the developing incident at the Mariposa, and watched news footage of Javier leading Finn and another woman inside the resort at gunpoint while dozens of law enforcement officials looked on helplessly.
“There were thirty-nine women on the bus,” she said, thinking out loud. “He released all except two. Why did he let the others go?”
Director Chavez furrowed his brow as he considered the question.
“He may be trying to establish good will, which means we might be able to make a deal with him to release the rest of the hostages.”
“The last time we tried to bargain with a member of the Villalobos family, the end result wasn’t what we hoped.”
She could still see Mrs. Villalobos tumbling out her living room window, the moment playing out in a strange combination of slow motion and high speed.
“We’ve got to try again,” Director Chavez said. “We’ve got no choice.”
Luisa and the rest of the members of Director Chavez’s handpicked team cross
ed the tarmac. The ground troops climbed into the backs of two waiting vans. The snipers boarded a helicopter and waited to be deployed. Luisa didn’t know which direction to turn. Should she try to find a seat in one of the armored vehicles or in the chopper?
“You’re with me, Moreno,” Director Chavez said.
“Yes, sir.”
Luisa didn’t know whether to feel disappointed or elated as the van’s rear door slammed shut and the driver began heading for the Mariposa. Ground troops did most of the work during confrontations like the one they were about to have with the Jaguars, but snipers received most of the glory. In a matter of seconds, one well-placed shot could end a standoff that had endured for hours. Luisa relished the opportunity to learn at Director Chavez’s side, but she wanted to be the one to end this nightmare once and for all. Not for glory or attention. She wanted to end it for Finn. Javier Villalobos had her and she meant to get her back. No matter what the cost.
She could feel everyone’s excitement ratchet up a notch or two as they drew closer to the Mariposa Resort. They had trained for incidents like this time and time again, but this wasn’t a glorified training session. It was very, very real. Lives were at stake. The hostages’ as well as their own.
“Don’t forget to breathe, Moreno,” someone said. “You won’t do anyone any good if you pass out.”
Director Chavez laughed first and everyone else joined in, Luisa included. Even though the joke was at her expense, it had seemed lighthearted instead of malicious. She felt like she had finally earned her teammates’ respect. All it had taken was finding the leader of the Jaguars, solving the mystery of Carlos Ramos’s disappearance, and putting her life on the line for a rescue attempt that could very easily become a recovery mission. No biggie.
The armored vans pulled up outside the Mariposa, and everyone piled out.
“Take your positions,” Director Chavez ordered.
Luisa and the other members of the team fanned out, supplementing the ranks of the weary local and state police officers who had been staring down the Jaguars’ gunmen for nearly six hours.
Joint operations were normally cockfights between warring factions determined to prove whose dick was bigger. Therefore, Luisa was surprised to see the relieved look on the commander of the state troopers’ face when he ceded control to Director Chavez.
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