216 Aquarius Drive, 10:20 p.m.
Harper wound through the parking area until they reached the back of the meatpacking plant. He guided his SUV to the east perimeter of the property and shut off the engine. The lampposts were few and far between this far from the plant but Dan suspected the meager lighting and the seclusion were the reasons they’d been instructed to wait here.
This was the sort of business best conducted where no one would see.
“You’re telling me,” Dan asked, needing clarification now that he’d had time to get a grip on his composure if not his trepidation, “that Salvadore Lopez is going to show up here to talk? We have nothing to offer him,” he reminded Harper. “We don’t know where his sister is, but he wants to talk anyway?”
Dan just didn’t see that happening. This could be a major waste of time they didn’t have.
“That’s what I’m telling you,” Harper confirmed. “The two members of his clique I was interviewing when you called about Chief Harris conveyed a personal message from Lopez. He wants to work out this situation privately with you.”
“Are these the same people who told you Lopez had taken her and we had until sunup to produce his sister?”
“That was the word from the folks blowing up their phones during the interview.”
Dan surveyed the deserted lot a third time, or maybe it was the fourth. “Pardon the hell out of me if I opt not to trust Lopez’s friends. Did he confirm Chief Harris is safe? Did he provide proof of life?” Damn it, they were wasting time here. Jess was counting on him and he was sitting in this damned SUV waiting for Lopez and some member of his posse to show up and, as likely as not, start a shoot-out. “The whole thing could have been staged.”
What were the chances that they could have this tête-à-tête without weapons being drawn?
“Lopez is supposed to explain everything when he arrives. It’s not an optimal situation, sir, but I didn’t see that we had any other choice.”
“And where exactly is our backup, Sergeant?” Dan felt ready to explode. He needed to do more than talk.
Tension thickened in the air for a beat. He was angry and sick with worry and damned terrified—all this he was taking out on Harper.
“We don’t have any, sir. That was the deal breaker for this meet.”
Dan laughed. He didn’t mean to, but this was just too much and, frankly, if he hadn’t laughed he might have just lost it. He railed at Jess all the time for taking risks like this and here he was following that same pattern. He had known damn well they didn’t have any backup before he asked. “I think Harris has rubbed off on you, Harper.”
“That could be the case, sir, but I have reason to believe this lead is on the level.”
Dan checked his weapon, then reholstered it. “You did the right thing. If Lopez had contacted me, I would have come alone if necessary.” Whatever it takes to get her back.
Harper glanced at Dan. “The man, Hector, who set this up is related to Jorge Debarros.”
“Christina’s father?” The thirteen-year-old had been missing for six years and Jess had waltzed into town and four days later solved the case. The remains discovered in the basement of the home of the couple who’d abducted Andrea a little over two weeks ago were those of Debarros’s daughter, Christina. He and his family had suffered all those years, wondering and worrying. Jess’s relentlessness had allowed them to finally give their little girl a proper burial.
“When Jorge saw the first newscast about Chief Harris’s disappearance,” Harper went on, “he called his brother Hector, who’s tight with Lopez. Hector and another of his clique were meeting with me at the time. They both appeared a little edgy when they got the news. Hector called his boss and Lopez asked for this meet.”
Dan checked the time. Jess had been missing for approximately two hours. A volatile combination of fear and fury churned in his gut. “Are we early or are they running behind?” If Lopez wanted this meet so badly, where the hell was he?
As if to emphasize his thought, the digital clock on the dash blinked to 10:35.
Had they been here only fifteen minutes? It felt like an hour and yet that fifteen minutes was fifteen too many to have squandered.
Harper checked his cell. “They just turned into the parking lot.”
Headlights came around the corner of the building and pointed in their direction. Dan cleared his mind, sharpening and narrowing his focus to the here and now. What happened next was critical to how this meeting would shake down and to finding Jess alive.
The Cadillac Seville parked in front of Harper’s SUV, leaving getaway room between the two front bumpers. When the lights had extinguished, the front doors opened and two men got out. They moved to the strip of pavement between the two vehicles and waited, hands held out to their sides in a voluntary stance of submission.
“The one on your right is Hector Debarros. I’m sure you recognize the other guy as Lopez.” Harper looked to Dan. “Ready, sir?”
“Let’s get this done.”
Braced for any sudden moves from their guests, they emerged from the SUV. When they reached the front of the vehicle, the man Hector spoke up. “Where are your weapons?”
Both Dan and Harper opened their jackets to show their holstered weapons.
“Where is Deputy Chief Harris?” Dan demanded. He had no desire to make small talk. Getting to the point was the only item on his agenda.
“I had nothing to do with taking your cop,” Lopez boasted. “My sister, Nina, is attempting a takeover. Her followers took your cop. There isn’t much time if you want her back in one piece.”
“Why are your own people saying otherwise?” Harper challenged.
“Nina has started a war,” Hector explained when Lopez looked away as if too ashamed or overwhelmed with emotion to say the rest. “She’s been collecting allies for weeks behind Salvadore’s back. A war is coming—”
Lopez held up a hand when Hector would have said more. “She ordered the execution of four of my people when she killed the Negro Jerome Frazier. That was her work, not mine. It’s your job to stop her. That’s all you need to know.”
Dan saw how this was shaping up. Lopez had a little uprising on his hands. He couldn’t exactly kill little sister without rubbing Daddy the wrong way. So he wanted the BPD to do it.
“We’re supposed to take your word for who killed whom?” Dan laughed. “I don’t think so. We don’t do family counseling. Maybe you can talk to your priest about your family issues.”
Fury hardening his face, Lopez stepped forward.
Dan braced for battle. Next to him, Harper did the same.
“Don’t do it for me,” Lopez said to Dan, his posture as cocky as his tone, “do it for your cop. Nina will kill her and spread the word that it was me who ordered the hit and brought the five-oh down on our people. She wants a war. She wants to win, and the only way to do that is for me to die. You kill me and she takes over. That part might not matter to you, Chief of Police Burnett, but it means everything to your lady cop.”
“I can tell you where to find her.” He studied Dan a moment. “But I warn you, Chief of Police Burnett, choose your most trusted men. Not all of them care if your lady cop survives.”