CHAPTER 15
ANDERSON ENTERED HIS BRIEFING on the suspicious gambling case with knots in his stomach. What was once a strange betting pattern had now devolved into a kidnapping and murder case involving one of Juarez’s most dangerous cartels. He felt unqualified to lead the new interdepartmental task force to solve the case. He felt worse about the single idea he had to propose to bring Jake home alive and maintain the integrity of the Super Bowl.
He passed out a prepared briefing for everyone on the team to read, so they could familiarize themselves with the case. It contained all the facts of the case, including pictures from the grizzly murder scene the evening before. Only the rustling of papers interrupted the silence in the room before one of the agents spoke.
“So how are we going to crack the Hernandez family without the help of the Mexican government?” one of the agents asked.
“Good question,” Anderson said. “I’ve got an angle that I think just might work.”
* * *
CAL HAD JUST FINISHED covering Seattle’s early afternoon press conference when his phone rang. He found a quiet nook in the tunnel of Reliant Stadium to talk.
“Got any good news, Anderson?”
“Kind of.”
“What do you mean, kind of?”
“Well, I have an idea of how we can rescue Jake.”
“Excellent. I know Noah will be happy to hear that. Do you think it will work?”
“Yes, but it’s contingent upon one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Your help, Cal. I need you to help me.”
“Anything. Just tell me what to do.”
“You might not want to volunteer so quickly until you hear what it involves.”
“Look, I don’t care. Just tell me what it is.”
“I need you to go interview Hernandez in Juarez.”
“What? Are you kidding me?”
“Nope. I’ve already cleared it with Fink if you’re willing to do it.”
“What could I possibly interview him about?”
“He’s got a legit coffee company that is preparing to launch in the U.S. next month. And guess what city he’s starting in?”
“Seattle?”
“Yep. And all I want you to do is go interview him at his place. All you have to do is gather some information for us about his compound and we’ll take care of it from there.”
“OK, you do realize there’s this thing called the Super Bowl I’m covering this week, right?”
“Yeah. That’s why Fink is sending someone in your place.”
“But the deal is, you’ll be able to write this story before anyone else.”
“Well, that’s all I need to hear. The Super Bowl will be a Page 2 story compared to this. I’m in.”
“OK, I’ll email you some information. But we need you to act on this right away for this to work. Got it?”
“Yeah, got it.”
“Oh and one more thing. You’ll probably need to take a photographer. You think anyone at the paper would be up for this assignment.”
“Hmmm. I doubt the photographers down here would give up covering the Super Bowl for this story, but I might know someone who would do it. I’ll call you after I get the information.”
“Great. It’s on its way now.”
Cal hung up the phone. His first thoughts were about having access to writing the story of the year, if not the century. His next thoughts spiraled into what an idiot he was. Who did he think he was? This was the Hernandez family. They put people’s heads on a pointy stick just for challenging them on Twitter. They hang dead bodies from overpasses. Did he have a death wish?
It took Cal a few minutes to sort everything out in his head. He finally concluded that if it were his son in this situation, he would hope someone else would have the courage to do what he was being asked to do. He didn’t care to be a hero. But he did give Noah his word that he would help, and little Jake’s life was at stake.
If he made it out alive, he would have one heck of a story to write.
Now he just had to convince Kelly to join him.