Shadows of Deceit (A Series of Shadows) (41 page)

“Liar! You did no such thing! We had nothing! My mother had nothing! She was a maid at that hotel you tossed us in! She worked her fingers to the bone to feed us! She earned ownership of the hotel by sleeping with the owner! He left it to her when he died!”

“Whoa!” Niko stood up. “OK, I get it!”

Max looked at Niko like he too was insane. “You get it? Well by all means explain it to me because I am at a loss here.”

Niko chuckled. “His mother hooked up with the manager of the hotel and instead of this little shit accepting that his mother had moved on and fell in love with someone else, he created some sick and twisted story in his own head to justify things. Created his own little martyr pity party that has ballooned over the course of his life.”

“You lie!” Rojas bellowed. “Do not speak of my mother like that you lying bastard!”

“Really? Max ignored Rojas’ protests. “So you think he sold that story to his brother and sister? Help justify themselves?” Max approached Niko and the men stood discussing things as if Rojas was not even there.

“Well that would explain a lot.” Niko crushed his cigarette under his boot. “Why as soon as she was old enough, Magdalena took off and headed back to Colombia. Hooked up with the first scumbag she came across. They say girls look for a guy that reminds them of daddy.”

Max snorted. “True. When you put it that way it makes sense.”

“Yeap.” Niko leaned back up against the wall. “He and his brother probably plotted and planned for ages. Juan here took off to Cuba because deep down he knew the truth and couldn’t stand the sight of his mother.”

“Shut your filthy mouths!” Rojas bellowed. “You know nothing of my mother or my family! Shut your mouths!”

Max spun around and was leaning down over Juan Rojas with his fangs extended so fast that the man went silent and still, his eyes wide with terror. “You are the one who will shut his filthy, leeching murderous mouth until I tell you otherwise. Do I make myself clear?” Max’s face was no more than an inch from Rojas’, his index finger pointing, gouging into the flesh of his cheek. There was a long moment of silence. Max stood up when he heard the sound of trickling water but as he stepped back he realized that Rojas had pissed himself. It gave Max an odd sense of satisfaction. “Alright then. Now that we have determined mental disease and defect is an inherited trait on your father’s side, let’s move on to more recent affairs.” Niko snorted making Max turn around and grin at him. “Am I wrong?”

“Not at all.” Niko chuckled and shook his head. “Please, continue!”

“Thank you.” Max walked over and grabbed an old waste bin, dragged it in front of Rojas then flipped it over and took a seat. “How long have you been running your little enterprise?”

Rojas didn’t answer immediately. The weight of the situation obviously coming into focus. “Which enterprise?”

“Now now Doctor, I thought we made progress here. Please don’t start playing dumb.” Max folded his hands and leaned forward.

“Do you mean the clinic and the surgeries or the blood harvesting?” Rojas was showing more cards than Max expected.

“So you are not a real doctor and all of those procedures you have been conducting, charging hundreds of thousands of dollars for are bullshit?” Max really didn’t care about all that but it was important for him to learn everything he could about Rojas’ illegal activities so they could make as much right as possible.

“I did go to school to be a doctor! I did, really!” Rojas stammered. “I just couldn’t pass the exams no matter how I tried. I paid to have my file fixed and all the proper documentation made.”

“Quite the industrious fellow.” Max scoffed. “How long ago was that?”

“Not long after my brother went back to Costa Rica.” Rojas admitted. “Manuel suggested it actually. We came up with a plan because so many rich and superficial people came in and out of the resort. We decided we should set up a business catering to the wealthy that couldn’t get the procedures done anywhere else. It was so easy. Once we set everything up and got our first big fish, word just spread and they were booking appointments months in advance.”

“And the harvesting operation?” Max asked.

“That started about five years ago.” Rojas was thinking. “A couple years before, my brother had a guest come to the resort in Costa Rica who propositioned him about making the resort an exchange point for his drug operation. He introduced him to our brother-in-law, Ernesto, and they worked out a profitable arrangement for everyone. It was strictly drugs for a while and everyone was happy but one day when Ernesto and his family were staying at the resort, they met another family from South Africa. The son liked my niece, Adrianna and one night when he snuck in to mess around with her, he overheard Ernesto and Manuel talking about the operation. The son was young but he was very smart. Somehow he knew all about my father and he cornered Manuel and Ernesto the following day. He promised revenge and money beyond our wildest dreams. Of course Manuel and Ernesto agreed to whatever he wanted.”

“Who was this person?” Max demanded.

“He was Sanguinostri. His parents were very rich and important. Manuel was younger than I when our father was killed so he relied on me to explain what all of that meant.” Rojas was evading the question.

“I don’t give a shit about what psychotic story you painted for your brother.” Max growled. “Who was the family?”

“It wasn’t the family! Just the son!” Rojas clarified. “He was one of those spoiled socialite types. He hated his parents and wanted to get out from under their control. That was why he thought up the whole operation and funded everything.” Rojas’ throat was going dry.

Max looked over his shoulder at Niko. “Can you get a bottle of water out of the car please? I don’t want him losing his voice before we get to the good stuff.” Niko nodded and walked out to do as requested. “Close your mouth and swallow a few times. You should still be bleeding so that will wet your whistle enough until my associate gets back with water.”

Rojas did as Max suggested, taking a few extra breaths before he continued. “The boy’s name is Cameron Timms. His parents are George and Alma Timms.”

Niko walked in just in time to hear Rojas say the names of a prominent and highly respected South African Sanguinostri couple. They were also the same couple that had been found murdered in their home just a day ago. Everyone had presumed the son had been abducted, not that he had taken part in the massacre before he fled the country. This is how Johan Esterhuizen must have gotten involved. Cameron had to have solicited his help.

“Are you certain of this?” Max demanded.

“Absolutely.” Rojas croaked, causing Niko to walk over and pour water down his throat. He coughed a few times and took a moment to regain his breath before he resumed his tale. “Manuel came to visit and explained everything. He told me that Cameron would be visiting me soon to make all the arrangements and he did. He had grand ideas and understood my anger. He showed me there was a brilliant way to use that against you. He hated that he was born into a parasitic race but he had learned to use it to his advantage.” Rojas paused once more to catch his breath and Max got up and started pacing around him. “As I said, he hated his parents but they were filthy rich and from very old money. Well, probably not to you, but even still. He had gone into business importing drugs into his country and met a man that helped him expand his little enterprise into a much bigger one. It was only after the boats of captives started being delivered here that I learned Timms enterprise extended to mercenary for hire, weapons, anything that fetched a high price on the black market.”

“So Cameron Timms was the mastermind behind all of this?” Max found it hard to believe a Sanguinostri, a blood born at that, could harbor so much hatred and animosity for his own kind. Then he remembered Albert Von Messenbach and he knew anything was possible.

“Yes, Cameron.” Rojas confirmed. “I have no idea what else he was involved with but he had a huge criminal enterprise going on. In the last several months he would land right in front of the medispa in a big fancy helicopter. We never heard him coming! He was checking up on me regularly.”

“Why over the past several months?” Max had an idea but he wanted blanks filled in.

“You would have to ask my brother about that but I am sure it had something to do with my niece.” Rojas sighed. “I never should have agreed to have contact with her.”

“Explain yourself.” It was Niko who demanded this time, drawing Rojas’ attention and a scowl.

“It was a stupid plan that Manuel and Ernesto hatched several years ago. They wanted to secure a shipping route that Ernesto’s brother wasn’t cooperating with. Something to do with the company he worked for.” Rojas was trying to remember specifics. “Ernesto brought his daughter to visit, she thought it was a special vacation for her eighteenth birthday. I was given instructions to meet them for dinner and evaluate Adrianna without her knowledge. Her father wanted her to have work done and I thought it was supposed to be some sort of surprise. Ernesto scared me so I didn’t question any thing, I just did as I was told.” The first flicker of remorse flashed across the man’s face. “I had no idea she didn’t know what was going on until after the surgery. She was sedated and prepped when I got there. I assumed she had come in willingly.”

“So you hacked her up without her consent?” Niko took a step towards him then stopped, thinking the better of getting too close.

“I did excellent work on her!” The arrogant and defiant Rojas was back. “Cameron was in the room when Adrianna woke up. She started to panic but he must have hypnotized her or something. I hid outside the room and listened as he planted ideas in her head. He told her that he wanted her to seduce a man, convince him to marry her and help her father gain access to his company. He said that it was all so that one day she and Cameron could run away together and live on an island in paradise, in love forever.” Rojas snorted. “She agreed to do whatever he wanted, anything to make him happy so he planted the suggestion that she was to do whatever she was told if it was to make him happy. I never liked that Manuel took advantage of that. I am pretty sure he used that to get her into bed with him, but I cannot be certain.”

“We can be.” Niko confirmed. “Everyone that worked at your family hotel knew it before they knew she was your niece.”

Rojas sagged his head. “My brother has certain proclivities that I do not entirely condone.”

It was Max that snorted this time. “And we all know how high a moral standard you have.”

“Judge me all you like, as if I care what a pig like you thinks of me.” Rojas was about to spit again but the pain in his mouth prevented it.

“Let’s not take a step backward here.” Niko moved in closer. “You’ve been doing so well, it would be a shame to have to start with the pain again.”

Rojas glared and considered for a moment. “Fine. After Adrianna left I never saw her again. I don’t know where she is or whether she proceeded with the plan Cameron had made. After they left Cuba, I didn’t see anyone but the people that brought new captives in and removed the spent ones. At least not until Cameron started his surprise inspections.”

“They were human beings you son of a bitch!” Niko stormed towards him and raised his fist but Max stepped in front of him before he could take a swing. “He talks like they were used batteries or something! Use up the juice then pop in a new batch!”

“I know.” Max placed a hand on Niko’s shoulder in a reassuring gesture. “Patience.” Niko blinked then turned around and took up his post against the wall. Max turned and sat on the trash can once again. “You said Cameron started paying visits recently, that you thought it had to do with Adrianna. Explain.”

Rojas was trembling, looking at Niko with obvious fear. “When he came the first time, I think it was early Fall. I asked if I had done something wrong, to warrant his surprise inspection. After all, I had been taking care of things on my end without a problem for so many years.” Rojas was talking to them as if they understood his dilemma. “His response was that if my niece had done her job right he wouldn’t be wondering if being a complete screw up ran in my family.” Rojas looked insulted as he recounted the tale. “He threw my father’s murder in my face like he had brought it on himself by being incompetent! Comparing him to Adrianna, can you believe that?” Rojas looked at them briefly then remembered he would get no sympathy from either of them. “I was too angry to confront him. I just ignored him and went about my business. His visits were a nuisance but I would give him the tour and a progress report then he would be gone. He never stayed longer then it took for him to inspect things. Snot nosed prick parasite. If I wasn’t making so much money with our arrangement I would have gutted him myself. That and the fact that his mommy and daddy would have swarmed the facility looking for him.”

“His parents knew he was visiting you in Cuba?” Max asked him.

“He told them he was coming for a night of whoring and they let him.” Rojas scowled with disgust. “Can you imagine parents like that? Allowing their precious son to take off for a night of rape and parasitic feeding on a third world country? It makes me sick!”

“As opposed to raping and bleeding children dry in front of him in the privacy of his own home, right?” Niko made the snide comparison to his own father’s actions drawing only a scowl from the man.

“Where is Cameron and your brother now?” Max demanded.

“Manuel is probably drinking an iced glass of guaro on the beach right now.” Juan smiled slightly.

“He left Costa Rica several weeks ago. We know he was smuggled into the US on a freighter. We think he and Ernesto are together somewhere.” Max informed him and measured Juan’s reaction. He determined that he had no idea his brother left Costa Rica based upon his puzzled expression. “Did you know your niece was murdered less than a week ago? Along with Casius Arcano?”

“What?!” Rojas was genuinely surprised. “Murdered? By who?”

“So you admit you know who Casius Arcano was?” Max wanted to be sure.

“I remember that was the name Cameron said when he hypnotized Adrianna but I never met the man nor do I know anything about him other than he owns the company Ernesto’s brother works for. What about Adrianna?”