Dead Heat (29 page)

Brad immediately approached her as everyone else filed from the room. His eyes were dark with anger. “Where did you get that information?”

Before she could say anything, he said, “It was Rogan, wasn’t it? Your boyfriend’s brother. Shit!”

“It’s good intel.”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t, but you should never talk about my case without telling me first. I need to make some calls.” He looked at his watch. “We’re taking a military transport to McAllen. Archer arranged it, we leave in ninety minutes. Be at my office in forty-five minutes.”

Lucy followed Juan to his office. “Sir?”

“Shut the door.”

She did. “I apologize if I stepped on your toes. I didn’t know what was going on in the meeting, but it seemed you don’t want me with the task force anymore. I can assure you, I’m not reckless. I understand the risks and I’m willing to take them. There are two children in jeopardy, sir. And I think—”

He put up his hand, then sat heavily at his desk. “Lucy, please sit.”

She did, though her back was rigid.

“You misunderstand. It’s true, I had second thoughts about your involvement with Donnelly’s operation. Not because I think you’re incapable; on the contrary, you’ve exceeded my expectations in the three months you’ve been assigned to my team. But you’re part of
my
team, and this situation has gotten out of
my
control. Donnelly wasn’t straight with me, and I wanted to pull you and Ryan because of that, not because I didn’t believe you’d be a valuable addition.

“Donnelly has been after Sanchez for years. I didn’t realize Operation Heatwave was targeting some of Donnelly’s biggest cases. The fugitives on Donnelly’s list were from drug cases, not just rounding up gangbangers who slipped through the cracks. While we work closely with the DEA, the FBI does not routinely involve itself in drug crimes. There’s a completely different set of skills, risks, and training. You’re not there. I didn’t like that Donnelly had kept important information to himself; I didn’t like that you have become a target for whatever cartel Sanchez is working for.”

“Sir, if I may.” Lucy cleared her throat. “I should have told you earlier that I guessed that Donnelly had another agenda. It was clear after working with him Saturday that he was a bit …
obsessed
, for lack of a better word … about Sanchez. But rightfully so. And knowing what we now know about his connection to this new group is going to help the DEA shut down Sanchez, find his source, and help us find Bella and Michael.”

Juan nodded. “You were vague about where you came by that information in the briefing. Did it come from RCK?”

“Yes, sir.” Technically, it was Kane, but since Kane was still part of RCK there was no reason to go into specifics.

Juan rubbed his eyes. “It’s a slippery slope, Lucy.” It looked like he wanted to say more, then didn’t. “Until this is over, don’t go anywhere alone. You and Ryan are partners; stick together. Even if it’s a routine interview, you need backup. I would tell any of my agents the same thing if they had just been threatened as you were. Understood?”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.”

“Be careful, Lucy. For agents, the FBI is safer than most law enforcement organizations. Working for the DEA is probably the most dangerous.”

*   *   *

Lucy and Ryan arrived at the DEA office ten minutes early, and Assistant Director Archer greeted them. “Brad will be back in a minute. I’m glad to have you both on board.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Ryan said.

“Let’s find some place to talk,” she said. She ushered them into a small conference room and closed the door. She didn’t sit, nor did she invite them to. “Where’d you get the information about Vasco Trejo?” Archer asked.

“Kane Rogan. He’s a principal at Rogan-Caruso-Kincaid and—“

Archer said, “I know who they are. Donnelly didn’t tell me you were
that
Kincaid.”

“It’s not important.”

“Damn straight it’s important. We run up against RCK all the time and sometimes it’s not friendly. They don’t play by the same rules we’re forced to.”

Lucy bristled at the tone, but kept her face impassive. “I know what they do.”

“I assume Jack’s your brother.”

“Yes.”

She smiled and shook her head. “Small fucking world. My first assignment was down in McAllen. I was as green as they came, but had the fire in the belly. One day my partner said, ‘We got a delivery.’ I had no idea what that meant. He took me outside and in the parking lot was the right-hand man of one of the cartel leaders. Trussed up like a pig. My partner grinned ear-to-ear and said, ‘Major Kincaid comes through again.’” She laughed. “That was years ago. I knew he’d moved back to California, got himself married or something. Never thought he’d be one to settle down. And you’re his sister.”

“Yes.” It was clear that at some point, before Jack left Texas five years ago, he and Samantha had some sort of relationship.

“The intel was good. Very good. Vasco Trejo has been on my radar for months, but until now I had nothing on him and put him at the bottom of the shit pile. Not many people here know much about him. He’s wanted for murder—and we knew he’d fled to Mexico. As far as we know, he hasn’t crossed to our side of the border in seven years, so he hasn’t been on our active list. He was a low-life gangbanger who offed a rival gang member, then fled with money and drugs. Not a peep until one of our contacts said he’d been seen in Monterrey, about two hours south of the border. So I put him back on the list, just to keep him in my face. We haven’t heard a word until you mentioned him this morning. Brad’s all over it. But this changes the game somewhat. I’m going to join you in McAllen, because if we have a chance to nab him, we will, and I can deal directly with border issues.”

Brad walked in. “We need to make a stop. Mirabelle’s lawyer just called me. She’s out, reunited with her daughter, and she wants to talk to Lucy.”

“Do we have time?” Archer asked.

“I’ll take Lucy to meet with her—she’s still at the courthouse. She refuses to leave, wants protection. The AUSA is working on something temporary, but they want something from her.”

Ryan said, “I’m going, too. Sorry, Luce, but Casilla made me swear to watch your back. No offense, Donnelly.”

“None taken.”

Archer nodded. “I can hold the transport a few minutes, but don’t make me wait too long.”

CHAPTER 24

Mirabella Borez was sitting with her daughter CeCe in a small conference room adjacent to an office used by the Justice Department on the third floor of the courthouse. They held hands, their damp, streaky faces evidence of tears.

The AUSA left them alone with Mirabelle, who glared at Donnelly. “I’m not talking to you. I don’t have to, my lawyer said I don’t.”

“That’s right,” Lucy said. “You don’t have to talk to us at all, but you requested this meeting because you want police protection. To get it, you have to convince us that your life is in danger.”

CeCe squeezed her mother’s hand tighter. Her bravado from Saturday was gone; she was a scared eleven-year-old, confused, perhaps feeling manipulated by her uncle. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and hung limp down her back. Her clothes were clean, but her eyes were swollen from crying. She stared at Lucy as if she hated her, but then looked away and all Lucy saw was the scared little girl inside.

Mirabelle nodded. Lucy gestured for Ryan and Brad to take seats at the other end of the table, not to crowd Mirabelle. She wanted her to feel comfortable enough to talk freely.

“Mirabelle, I think I know why you wanted to talk to me. It was about our meeting yesterday.”

Mirabelle nodded, and fresh tears streamed down her face. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes, Ms. Kincaid. But I love my girls. I really do.”

“I know you do.”

“You said something about Bella’s father—I told CeCe the truth, and she told me what happened when Jaime took my Isabella. That he deliberately left her. I know why, and I’m scared.”

Lucy took a risk, because there was a chance that she was wrong, but she’d been mulling over Bella’s parentage all night. And when Sam Archer said that Trejo had left San Antonio about seven years ago, it clicked.

She said, “Vasco Trejo is Bella’s father, isn’t he?”

Mirabelle nodded. “I don’t know why Jaime is doing this, I don’t know why he would betray me—his own sister—but taking Bella, he’s going to give her to Vasco. I’ll never see her again.”

“Are you certain?”

This time CeCe spoke. “Uncle Jaime told me once when he was mad at my mama that we could all live in a palace in Mexico if only Mama would agree.”

“My husband’s name is on Bella’s birth certificate, and I think of her as Pablo’s daughter. Vasco is cruel. He likes to own people.

“Tell me what happened, Mirabelle.”

“I can’t.” She gave a sidelong glance at her daughter, and Lucy understood there were some things she would never say in front of her children. “But he left, and he didn’t know I was pregnant.”

“He must have figured it out.”

Mirabelle said, “Jaime knew. George always believed me, but Jaime knew the truth. I … um … I didn’t want what happened. He…” She glanced at CeCe again.

Lucy said to Ryan, “Can you take CeCe to get a soda or something?”

Ryan took the girl out and then Lucy asked, “Did Vasco Trejo rape you?”

She nodded and closed her eyes. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “The first time. And then he said I was his, and after that I just went along so he wouldn’t hurt me.”

Lucy dug into her purse and came out with a small package of tissues. She slid it across the table to Mirabelle, who clutched it in both hands.

“It’s not your fault, Mirabelle,” Lucy said. She’d had enough experience working with rape victims to know what Mirabelle was feeling. The confusion, the conflict, the guilt, the anger, the sorrow. “And it’s not Bella’s fault.”

“But I never said no, not after that first time.”

“The first time counts. Okay? I’ll hook you up with a great crisis counselor I know, but just believe me, okay? If you want to believe in your heart that Bella is Pablo’s daughter, believe it. Vasco has no claims to her.”

“He wants to possess her, to own her, to punish me for not going with him. But I couldn’t—no matter how much money he had, I couldn’t go with the man who killed my husband.”

Lucy remembered reading that Pablo Borez had died in a prison fight.

“You know that?”

“Jaime was upset and told me. He said he had to work for Vasco now, because of what I had done. It was my fault—I met Vasco in the bar where I worked. He was smart and charming and cute and I thought he had the answer for everything. But I didn’t do anything!”

“Tell me about the boys in the basement,” Lucy asked, shifting the direction of the conversation.

“Jaime brought them. I told him not to, but he did. They never stayed long, just a few days, until the last one. He took something that belonged to the general…” Mirabelle stopped. She stared at Lucy. “Don’t tell me—”

Lucy nodded. “Vasco Trejo is the general.”

“He knew! He knew from the beginning! Why would my brother betray me like that? Betray his nieces? He knows what that man did to me. To my Pablo. Pablo was his best friend. How could Jaime betray his sister and his best friend?”

“We think that Jaime has someone in law enforcement feeding him information.”

“He does.”

Donnelly leaned forward and said, “Who? Who is it, Mirabelle?”

“I don’t know! I swear to you, I don’t know! Does this mean you can’t protect me and my daughter?”

She looked at Brad. Brad said, “Ms. Borez, I can put you in protective custody for a few days, but we need something you can testify to against your brother or against Vasco Trejo.”

Her bottom lip quivered and she looked from Brad to Lucy. Then she sighed deeply, almost a cry. She pulled several now-crumpled tissues from the package Lucy had given her and blew her nose.

“I was there, seven years ago, when Vasco killed my boss at the bar,” she said quietly. “In cold blood, for no reason, except that he thought my boss was skimming the protection money he paid Vasco.”

Lucy and Brad exchanged looks. Mirabelle probably had a lot more information than she even realized would be valuable.

Brad said, “I’ll make the call,” and stepped out of the room.

Mirabelle reached across the table and grabbed Lucy’s hands. “I know you don’t like me, but you don’t want to hurt my daughters.”

“I will do everything I can to find Bella and bring her home.”

“I believe you. But if I go home, he’ll find me there. He’ll kill me. But first he’ll make me watch him kill CeCe. He told me he would hurt her if I ever told about my boss, and I never told anyone until now. No one. Please don’t let him hurt my babies.”

“We can protect you,” Lucy said.
I hope.
“But from here on out, you have to be honest. Because if the government attorney catches you in a lie, all bets are off. Do you understand what that means?”

She nodded and wiped her face again. She smoothed down her hair. “I won’t lie. But, Lucy, what about this cop my brother has? What if they find out? Get to me like they got to George?”

Lucy straightened. “Do you know who killed your brother?”

“It has to be the cop. Who else could get to him?”

Mirabelle was right. The way George was killed—poison or allergy—wasn’t typical of a gang-related homicide, where a prisoner could be bribed to kill another prisoner. Gangs also liked to take credit. It helped them keep others from talking, helped them earn street cred. But George’s murder was more sophisticated. More difficult.

“We’ll keep the information you give us on a need-to-know,” Lucy assured her. “And make it clear you don’t know the identity of any law enforcement on your brother’s payroll. They won’t have any reason to go after you or CeCe.”

Mirabelle looked skeptical, and Lucy wished she were more confident. If there was a corrupt cop, that made everyone more vulnerable.

“What is the big endgame?” Lucy asked. “Bella is in danger. What is your brother supposed to do for Trejo?”

“I don’t know the details,” she said. “All I know is that they plan to steal a shipment of something, drugs probably, from a rival group. When that happens, Jaime said the circle would be complete because that group would be killed for not delivering and his hands would be clean. Their last big rival will be dead. I don’t know when, but soon.”