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Gunderson returned with a package. It was the clothing Tino had requested. He took the package into the bathroom and dressed. He would have preferred Isabella help but knew he had to keep moving to remain limber. If their suspicions were correct Hadda was in Karyme’s hands and needed their help.
What he didn’t understand was where Garza had gone. Why wasn’t he helping his daughter or his wife? While working for the man, he’d sensed a commitment to his immediate family.
He stepped into the bedroom and found Isabella alone. “Where’s the WIA?”
“I told him to do another sweep of the museum for the statue and to bring in Bastante.” She smiled. “It was mainly to get rid of him so we could go find Hadda.”
Tino hugged Isabella. “You know I would prefer you go with him, but I need your intelligence and knowledge of the sewer tunnels to get me back to those two chambers. That has to be where Karyme has the girl.”
“You know I won’t leave you now. And I’ve deduced the same thing. There was a significance to those chambers and I have a feeling Karyme uses them to sacrifice her enemies.” She slipped into her vest.
Tino inhaled the pungent sewer aroma. “I cannot believe you waited so long to shower.”
Tears glistened in her eyes. “I almost got us both killed by not believing in you. Once I realized I’d been a fool, I only wanted you safe. Smelling like a sewer didn’t matter.”
She sniffed and put a hand on his cheek. “Will you be able to handle going back down there?”
“Sí. But I will need another revolver. Mine has disappeared.” Tino frowned, remembering he couldn’t count on getting help from Rico. He could think of only one person who would lend him a weapon. “Come. We have a stop to make.”
He grasped Isabella’s hand and led her out of the room and hotel. They hailed a taxi and Tino leaned forward, “Cantina Roja, por favor,” he said, directing the man to take them to Luis Bohu. He had to make the man see giving him a weapon and not following would be the best for Hadda.
The taxi pulled up to the cantina. Tino slowly unfolded his stiffening body and helped Isabella exit the cab. They stood on the busy sidewalk as the taxi pulled away from the curb.
“How will we get to the manhole cover?” Isabella took his offered hand and followed him into the dark interior.
“The same place I am getting a gun.” Tino stood a moment allowing his eyes to grow accustom to the darkness. The music was a bit subdued from his first visit to the establishment.
Walking forward he was met by two of Luis’ ratas. “I wish to speak with Luis,” he said, drawing Isabella close to his side.
One of the men retreated through the spattering of customers. Tino kept an eye on him as he moved to the farthest corner of the room. “We do not have time for this,” Tino said, pushing the man in front of him to the side and heading the direction the bearer of his request disappeared.
He spotted Luis as the man bent to speak to the gang leader. Luis peered their way and frowned. Tino continued. He ached all over, but he couldn’t show any weakness. To do so could bring harm to Isabella.
At the table, he motioned Isabella to slide into the booth and he followed her.
“I do not wish to speak to you,” Luis said through clenched teeth.
“If you really care about Hadda you need to listen.” Tino leaned over the table to keep the conversation low and away from any overly curious ears.
Luis dropped the anger and leaned his crossed arms on the table, leaning closer. “What do you know?”
“We believe Karyme Garza has her and we believe we know where.” Tino nodded toward Isabella who squeezed his hand under the table. “But her men took my weapons. I need you to give me a revolver and us a ride.”
Luis peered at Isabella. “I know you. Alphonso said you were a friend of his.” His eyes narrowed. “He’s disappeared. His cousin has been calling me asking if I know anything.”
Isabella shivered. Had Bastante killed Alphonso? Even though he turned on her, she hoped he hadn’t come to that. “Yes, we met at the hostel restaurant one day. Alphonso was helping me with something that may have put him in danger.”
Luis’s faced darkened. “Are you the one who asked him to help you in the tunnels?”
Remorse lodged in her throat. She swallowed and nodded. “Yes. Only he led me into a trap. I managed to escape, but I don’t know what happened to him.”
Foul words exploded from Luis and his guards lunged forward. He waved them away. “Was it that backstabber Bastante?”
Had the museum director pulled something on this man as well? “Yes. Was that the person who had you labeling crates in the museum?” This was the one thing she didn’t know. Who the person was behind the labeling?
“Sí. The last shipment he did not pay us. He said there would be no more and he did not have to pay us. Who would we complain to?” Luis glared daggers at the knife that appeared in his hands. “We have been planning a way to get our payment. Alphonso said he had the way. Then he disappeared.”
“This is interesting, but the longer we sit here the greater the chance we will not get to Hadda in time,” Tino cut in. “I need a gun, and we need a ride.” He stared into Luis’s eyes. “And it has to be you who helps us. I trust no other.”
Luis stood. “Follow me.”
Tino slid out, pulling Isabella out behind him. She fell into step beside him as they followed Luis out a back door. Once outside, Luis turned to his guards. He instructed them to remain.
“In the car.” He opened the door of a small SUV and slid behind the driver’s wheel.
Tino held the door open for her and she climbed up into the back seat. Tino took the passenger seat in the front and Luis sped out of the back alley and into the congested street.
“Where do you need to go?” Luis asked, deftly navigating the busy streets.
“Do you have a revolver in here?” Tino asked before Isabella could speak.
“Sí.”
Tino looked over his shoulder. “Tell him where we need to enter the tunnels.”
Isabella leaned between the two front seats. “We need a street north of the Garza compound about three blocks that has an old sewer entrance.”
Luis nodded and headed toward the Garzas.
Isabella hoped she’d judged the distance about right. She remembered spotting an entrance off the sewer tunnel like the tunnel that went to the Garza’s basement when she and Alphonso were in the tunnels. She was focused on getting Tino out earlier but she believed they came into the sewer tunnels at that spot. It was a fair distance from the Garza tunnel, but easy enough access, she could see Karyme having it installed for what she now assumed was carrying out sacrifice rituals with people she wished to get rid of.
The idea she could have thought highly of this woman at their first meeting filled her mouth with bile. How had her instincts been so wrong?
Luis stopped the vehicle. “We are three blocks from the Garzas.”
Isabella hopped out of the vehicle. Tino opened his door. “Stay here and get your gun. I’m going to find a manhole.” She jogged down the street two blocks and didn’t find a cover. She pivoted and found Tino and Luis in a heated conversation. Leaving them to their head butting, she jogged the other direction and found a manhole. It was into the new sewer, but she could find a portal into the old sewer. Isabella knelt down and worked the lid loose.
By then Tino and Luis noticed her and came over.
“I will go with you,” Luis said.
“No. Isabella and I know what we are dealing with. If Hadda is still alive we will bring her back here. You wait. She will want someone she cares for waiting for her.” Tino waved to the open hole.
Isabella dropped her feet and legs into the hole. The damp, foul odor of the functioning sewer wafted out. She found the ladder and descended into the darkness. Her feet sloshed into the slick sludge and the stench grew around her. She clicked on her flashlight and waited for Tino on the raised ledge on the side of the cement culvert.
When he stood beside her, they both looked up. Luis peered down into the hole.
“Do you think he’ll stay?” Isabella asked, moving down the tunnel.
“I hope so. He could get someone hurt if he follows us.” Tino walked beside her. She flashed the beam of the light along the wall, until she found the portal into the old sewer.
“We do not know what we are going to find.” He touched her arm. “Are you even sure this is the way to the chambers?”
The concern in Tino’s voice helped ease the tiny beads of doubt skittering around in her brain. He might be in pain and injured, but he would protect her with every ounce of muscle and skill he had.
“Yes, we have to get into the old tunnel.” She turned the round handle, sucking the seal loose, and pulled on the door. They stepped through and Tino helped her pull it closed.
“We might need to make a quick get-a-way,” he said, stopping her from sealing it shut.
“Good idea.” The light caught on the metal plate with the name of the street. The direction they walked and came through the door etched in her mind as she determined which direction they needed to go. “This way.” Isabella turned to the left. The older tunnel had drier, less pungent air. She inhaled deep and set her mind picking through the street map she studied the first week she arrived in Mexico City.
Faint voices floated down the tunnel toward them. Isabella stopped and listened. They didn’t grow closer. She placed her lips on Tino’s ear. “I think the voices are coming from the chamber.”
He nodded. Shining the light down only a few feet in front of them, they continued down the tunnel until she could see the faint flickering glow from the torches in the chamber. She clicked the flashlight off and continued quietly. Tino moved past her, a revolver in his hand.
At the opening, they paused listening.
“I know you have told your father lies about me. I have seen you two whispering.” Karyme’s voice wasn’t as controlled and cultured as usual. She was flustered and veering toward excitable. That wasn’t good for whoever she was talking to.
“Karyme, my queen, this girl is not going to tell you anything. It is time.” Bastante’s voice held authority and conviction. Isabelle gripped Tino’s arm. He and Karyme were working against her husband.
Tino moved to the edge of the doorway and peered in. He backed up and placed his mouth on her ear. “They have Hadda. They are all in white robes. Karyme and Bastante on the chairs. Hadda at their feet with her wrists and ankles tied.”
Isabella put her hand around her survival tin. She would need a blade to slice Hadda’s bindings. Her mind raced through the images she remembered of the chamber. Other than the chairs there was no place to hide. They had to make the room dark to have the advantage. How many torches were there and where were they located?
She tugged on Tino drawing him down the tunnel away from the doorway.
“We need a plan,” she whispered into his ear.
He nodded.
“There is nowhere to hide in that room. You can’t go in shooting. We don’t know if someone has a gun. There were two torches in that room. One on either side of the door. We’ll have to go in at the same time, grab the torches and snuff them out. I’ll go for Hadda if you stay by the door, so I can find the way out in the dark.”
He shook his head. “I will go for Hadda.”
“No. You need to have your hands free in case you need to use the revolver.”
He shook his head. “It will be dark what will I shoot at?”
“What if they have another light source hidden? If the lights come on, you’ll need to protect us.”
Tino’s hand roughly cupped the back of her head, and he drew her face to his. “I do not like this but can come up with nothing better.” He kissed her with the intensity she’d grown to love and released her.
Hand in hand, they crept back to the doorway. Tino pushed her to the opposite side.
“Please, do not hurt me. I will not tell anyone.”
Hadda’s scared voice was all Isabella needed to chase away her fear. The girl’s only hope was in their hands.
Tino nodded and they both rushed into the room, grabbing the torches. It took Isabella a second longer to rub her torch out on the dirt floor. In that second, she saw who stood behind Karyme’s chair. Her heart squeezed with fear for them all.