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Matt got up from his position in one of the easy chairs and stretched. “Hey, I hope you don’t mind. I have a very early shoot in the morning and you really don’t need me for anything right now. Mind if I leave?”
“No problem, Pal,” Garrett answered. “Go get some rest and we’ll bring you up to date. I’m not sure when Barrington will call or come over, so it could get late.”
Not long after Matt left, the Colonel stifled a yawn and voiced a similar request. “Speaking of getting late, you all know how much I’m enjoying this cloak and dagger stuff, but it’s if it’s going to extend past my bedtime, as much as I hate to admit it, it’s hard for me to keep late hours anymore.” He patted Clarence’s head. “Hard for my pooch, too. Good luck with Barrington. I think we made the right decision by calling him and Nathan. You know what they say: ‘Better safe than sorry.’ Talk to you tomorrow.”
Cameron went around gathering the dessert dishes and forks and headed for the kitchen.
With the others gone, Garrett moved onto the sofa next to Kate and took her hand. “How’s it going with your agent and the producers?”
She smiled at him and said, “Better than anticipated. Everything was wrapped up today, which means I’ll be leaving in the next few days.”
As Garrett seemed to take that in, a look of disappointment descended upon him. “So soon?”
“Afraid so, but I’ll still have my people available whenever you need more checking or assistance. I must get back to my business. One thing I’ll miss is lunch or breakfast with you and the nightly meetings, but I suppose those will end one way or another anyway when this all comes to a head.” She flashed a smile. “I can still participate by phone.”
“I’ll miss you, Kate. I really like you and I haven’t said that to a woman in quite a while. When this is over, if I decide to take a quick hop to San Francisco, will you have dinner with me? After all, it’s only an hour flight and my time is my own once we get this whole disaster figured out. I can only imagine what kind of assets she’s piled up, so I really hope we can recover at least some of the money that woman stole. Who knows? Maybe she even keeps some of it in cryptocurrency like bitcoin, for example. Hard to trace, easy to transfer.”
Kate leaned against his shoulder. “Yeah, I wouldn’t put that past her from what I’ve learned of her financial skills. To answer your question, I’ll miss you, too. Of course, I’d want to see you if you come to my city. In fact, I’ll count—”
Her comment was interrupted by loud quacking coming from the direction of the courtyard. It was as though several ducks had come out of the canal and were demanding attention. Maybe Maxi and Mini shared the fact that it was a good place to get treats, but for that to happen when they were generally sleeping late at night was very unusual.
“I’ll check to see what’s going on. Maybe Barrington got your message and came straight over. It’s probably him.” Kate walked over to the front door and opened it. The ducks went wild.
The door was still slightly ajar when two huge guys with Rojas tattoos on their thick necks and forearms burst into the living room. The larger of the two appeared to stand around six-foot-six and wore a black leather jacket over a form-fitting wife beater shirt and black jeans. His greasy black hair was combed straight back, and he sported a mustache. He held Kate’s back tight against his chest with one muscular arm wrapped around her neck as he pushed her forward. A nasty-looking knife rested at her throat. His sneer exposed a gold grill over yellowed teeth. He grunted a single word: “Move.”
The other shorter but meaner looking one held a gun aimed at Garrett. “Do what he says, puta, or I shoot your boyfriend and my friend uses his knife on you.”
Garrett obviously knew enough not to make a move that could endanger Kate. Meanwhile, Cameron heard the commotion, but wisely remained in the kitchen. She must have reasoned that if they didn’t see her, the intruders wouldn’t know there was a third person in the house. She backed into the walk-in pantry, pulled the door partially closed and took her cell phone out of her pocket. When she dialed Barrington’s cell number voicemail answered. She whispered into her phone, “It’s Cameron. We’re in danger. Come quick and bring backup.” Hopefully she hadn’t been heard.
Kate’s heart was beating so fast and loud it echoed in her ears. Her karate training compelled her to slow down her breathing, but it was clear her black belt would be of no use in this situation. She said in a flat voice, “What do you want? Money? If you’re looking for drugs, we don’t have any.”
With her back to the two thugs, she couldn’t see their tattoos which she would have recognized instantly after her last encounter with the Rojas Cartel.
The big guy released his grip and shoved her to the sofa where she collapsed next to Garrett. He gave her hand a squeeze as if to tell her they would get out of this.
It was almost more of a growl than a statement when the big guy said, “We have been watching you. We know you are looking for the wife of the piece of scum we threw in the canal.” He pointed to Garrett. “You, Mr. FBI man—yes, I know who you are. You are going to tell us what you know, or your girlfriend will not be so guapa when we are done with her. Claro? We have our ways to know what we want.”
Garrett didn’t answer immediately. Then he said in a level voice, “You are right about us looking for Shady’s wife. We have our own beef with her, but if you got him, what do you want with her?”
The smaller man said in nearly perfect English, “While we do not have to answer you, I will. Those sucio cabrónes —forgive me, I will translate. Those dirty bastards think they can steal our customers with their pills and doctors and pharmacies. The body of El Doctor was the first message to his amigos that we will protect what is ours. His espousa will be the next, so we must find her. We believe it is possible she had as much power with their foolish attempt to cut into our business as he did. She will know the names of all the others. When we are done, the others will realize you do not challenge the Rojas. With no leaders, we believe they will be finished.”
“I understand what you said but harming us won’t help. If we find her, she will be brought to justice and your message will be sent. You see, we know something you don’t. She has killed before, so she won’t be able to get out of that when she is arrested. The cops will make sure she pays. You have as much as told us you killed Shady, but we think you didn’t know you actually finished the job for her. We think she planned to kill him. Do we have a deal? Trade our safety for our silence about what you just told us. You leave us in peace, and we will take care of her. But, if the police do connect you to Shady’s murder without us telling them anything, we can’t help you on that.”
Both men looked a bit stunned. “That puta has killed before? I will tell you this because you may be right. When we found him he was unconscious on the floor. We thought he was dead, but he opened his eyes and tried to rise.” The tall one pointed to his sidekick. “Hernando beat him to send a warning to the others, then pointed a gun at his forehead to scare him. He tried to grab it and it went off, killing that cabron. It was not our plan to kill him, so we took his body while we figured out what to do and the news said he was kidnapped. But you think she meant to kill him, and we did it for her?”
Cameron came out of the kitchen. “That is exactly what we think. Look, you aren’t good guys. I know that because I’ve had experience with the Rojas before. I should not be warning you, but I know you have your own twisted code of honor. You could kill all of us, but I don’t think you will. We have surprised you. It is the truth that we don’t know where she is at this moment, but we will find her, and we know how. She will pay. That won’t happen if you harm us, and you don’t have the time to beat it out of us. The cops are on their way here, and I’m not bluffing. Leave Barbara Shady up to us and the cops. Go!”
The tension in the air was almost palpable. Silence. Hostile stares. The big guy moved toward Garrett and Kate sitting on the sofa. He bent right into their space while Cameron held her breath. Then he said, “We will take you at your word. FBI man, what we have heard from you and your amigos better be true or we will be back just for fun.”
Garrett stood, almost eye to eye with the thug. “You will read of it in the papers. Now get out of here.”