A few possibilities, some actually interesting.
One or two that were fascinating.
She stopped short in the parking lot.
Yes, incredibly fascinating …
But if there was even a chance of its being true, there was no way she could let Eve go off without her help.
Help she’d refused already with great firmness. How to get around it?
She couldn’t act herself, so pull the strings. Find someone Eve wouldn’t be able to refuse. Not that easy. Eve was a workaholic, and that dictated a fairly solitary life. She had Joe Quinn, her half sister, Beth Avery, a few close friends, Catherine Ling, Kendra Michaels.
And her adoptive daughter, Jane MacGuire.
Margaret would have chosen Jane first except for the fact that she had been suffering from the tragic loss of her fiancé and was only now recovering.
Jane …
Margaret and Jane had grown very close during the past year. She knew Jane would not think twice about jumping into the situation no matter how risky to help Eve.
She also knew that Eve would not want Jane to know about that danger.
She thought about it.
… elements in play you don’t know about.
What the hell? Why was she being so hesitant? She always ended up going by instinct anyway.
She reached for her phone and dialed quickly. It rang four times before it was picked up. “Jane? It’s Margaret, do you have a few minutes? No, that’s not right, maybe longer than that. I’m in Carmel, California. I need to fill you in on something that’s been going on out here and then ask you to—”
* * *
“I almost had her,” Ramon Franco’s voice was tense with excitement. “A minute more, and I’d have had her in the elevator, then one needle, and she’d—”
“I told you not to make a move yet.”
“I wasn’t going to do it, but you wanted her dead. Wasn’t that the primary goal? There she was, and Quinn had ducked into the administration office. I could tell by the way she looked that she’d be easy if I took her right then. I was right. I was that close to—”
“You didn’t do what I said, Franco.”
“You said you wanted her dead.” He tried to keep the impatience out of his voice. Salazar had once been a man to respect, but he was getting old, and he’d forgotten you had to take advantage of the opportunities when you were on the hunt. “It would have been over almost before it began if I’d taken her out today.”
“And it would have roused an inquiry that might have led to Castino. It has to be done quietly. All I wanted was information. Did you get it?”
“Didn’t I say I would?” He could tell by the silence on the other end that he’d gone too far. “If I made a mistake, I’m sorry. I only thought to please you.” He went on hurriedly, “Eve Duncan was admitted to the ER with a concussion. Not serious. She was released today. The kid is still going by the name of Cara Delaney and has been at the hospital visiting Duncan. After I left the hospital today, I called my contact at the police department, and there’s been no interest in Cara. They’re leaving her in the hands of Child Services.” He paused. “And Child Services has been requested to leave her in the hands of Eve Duncan and Joe Quinn by a Sheriff John Nalchek, who was one of the lead investigators.”
“And no doubt the request was granted.” Salazar was silent. “We may be lucky, Franco. It appears that Duncan has no desire for the child to be returned to the loving arms of her father. It may buy us time.” He amended. “Buy you time. Find out where they’re taking the girl and follow them. But don’t touch her until you’re sure you can take Duncan down at the same time. And I want a clean kill, with no bodies.”
“The kill would have been clean if I’d put the kid down at the hospital. I had it all planned the minute I saw her on that bench. It was just—”
“You were in the middle of a hospital with people all around you. You were taking a chance.”
“I would have pulled it off.”
“Forget it. You made a mistake. Admit it.”
It hadn’t been a mistake, Franco thought furiously. It had been bad luck, but he had been superb. He had almost gotten away with it, and this old fool couldn’t see it. He had played that kid perfectly. He drew a deep breath and forced his voice to be contrite. “Of course, I made a mistake. I guess I was just too eager to please. I’ll handle it the way you want me to handle it. I’ll call you as soon as I know what’s happening with them.”
“Be sure you do that. I wouldn’t want to have to replace you. As I said, you have great promise.”
“Thank you, that means a great deal to me, sir.” He hung up.
He sat there for a moment, fighting the hatred and the anger. How dare that fool humiliate him like this.
Keep calm.
His time would come.
But first he would have to disarm Salazar by giving him what he wanted. Duncan, the kid, and he might throw in Joe Quinn.
SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
It took Joe five minutes to get in touch with Manez at Mexican Federal Police after he, Eve, and Cara arrived at the boarding gate and were waiting for the flight to be called. He quickly gave Manez the information about Kevin Roper and a complete description. “Nice-looking kid and no accent. I need the verification that he’s one of Salazar’s men. Will you get it for me?”
“I will do all I can. We need to talk, Quinn.”
“I’ll be glad to do it later. Right now I have a limited time before I’m boarding a flight to Atlanta. I need you to go over everything you know about Salazar and Castino and any details about those kids Walsh kidnapped.”
“I already briefed you on my take on the matter.”
“It was all piecemeal. That was okay as long as I was only concerned with finding Walsh and keeping him from killing Cara. Now I need to know everything so that I can find a way to take Salazar and Castino down, so they can’t tear Cara into pieces.”
“May I remind you I’ve been trying to do that for years?” Manez asked dryly. “Where do you want me to start?”
“Tell me about Salazar.”
“Grew up in the gangs on the streets. Worked his way up through murder and killing off everyone in his way. Finally killed off the head of the Mulez Cartel and took power. Since then he’s been fighting off other cartels and threats from within. Castino has been a constant headache to him. He hates his guts. Castino was starting to take over his territories, and Salazar scrambled to organize a coalition of other cartels in the area. Castino was forced to join or face a gang war that would have been very expensive. Salazar could never show publicly how he felt about Castino.” He paused. “But he was my first suspect when Castino’s daughters disappeared.”
“Salazar’s personal life?”
“He has a wife, Manuela, he married when he was seventeen. He has three sons and a daughter. He appears to be a devoted family man. His father was a small-time drug runner and was killed and decapitated when Salazar was starting to run drugs himself. His mother died two years ago.”
“Any weakness?”
“Ambition. Other than that, you’ll have to tell me.”
“What about Castino?”
“He inherited the cartel from his father, Jorge Castino, but he learned well from the bastard. He’s more vicious than his father ever dreamed of being. He grew up believing he should own the world, and he’s been trying to take it over since his father was killed. He’s got a gigantic ego that makes it impossible for him to admit he’s not perfect in every way. He hated the idea of the coalition, but he was smart enough not to try to fight it. The moment anyone tried to break it, the others would pounce like ravening wolves.”
“Personal?”
“Quintessential macho. Something of a womanizer in his early years. He married Natalie Kaskov several years ago. She’s the daughter of Sergai Kaskov, one of the heads of the Russian Mafia. It might have been a marriage to meld the two Mafias or it might not. She’s a
beautiful woman, and I can see Castino going a little crazy about her. They seem to be very compatible, and she appears to like the good life as much as he does. She gave birth to the two girls, and the word was that Castino was disappointed not to have a boy. Not that he would admit it, that would have been a failure. So he went to the other extreme and made much of them whenever they appeared in public with him or Natalie.”
“And made them targets to all the people who hated him. Send me photos of everyone we’ve talked about. I want to be able to know them when I see them.”
“Hold on a minute.” He was gone from the phone and when he came back, he said, “The photos are on their way. I’m curious to know just when you intend to formally make Salazar’s and Castino’s acquaintance.”
“I have no idea yet. I’m just looking for a hook. I want to see what Salazar saw that would lead him to take a chance that could get him gutted. He must have hated Castino big-time to kill his kids.”
“Salazar didn’t look too closely at the situation, or he would have noticed that neither Castino nor Natalie paid the girls any attention when they weren’t on display. Of course, after the girls were kidnapped, they were both supposedly heartbroken. Natalie in constant tears and Castino threatening vengeance if his girls were not returned to him.”
“Just the effect Salazar wanted.”
“He didn’t let it show,” Manez said. “Salazar’s been very understated for the last few years. No one suspected him.”
“He was walking a tightrope with his hired killer, Walsh. I imagine every minute they were afraid of being butchered by Castino if he found out Salazar had paid for the kidnapping.”
“No one could prove it.”
“The situation is changed now. We have Cara.” Joe looked across the jetway at Cara and Eve standing in front of the huge windows. “And as long as Cara is alive, she’s more of a threat than she’s ever been to Salazar. Find out who this Kevin Roper really is, so I can identify that particular threat.”
“I’ll work on it. But I’m not going to be your clerk, Quinn. You and Eve Duncan are the smallest pieces in my puzzle of how to control these cartels. But I’ll ask around.” He hung up.
A moment later, Joe’s phone pinged, and the e-mail photos arrived.
Just two photos but Manez must have thought they were enough.
The Salazar photo showed a tall, handsome, heavyset man in his forties with a thick head of black hair and dark eyes beneath a beach umbrella beside a swimming pool. He was wearing slacks, his white shirt open to the sun. He was sitting next to an attractive plump blond woman in a bikini with her hair tied back in a ponytail. They were both smiling at a young boy sunning himself on the tiles beside the water. Salazar and his wife, Manuela; presumably the boy was his son. A warm family picture. No one would dream that the man was a murderer who would kill a child without compunction.
He scrolled down to the next photo. It was taken on the street outside an outdoor restaurant. Castino was a dark-haired, slim, athletic-looking man who wore an elegant white suit that made his obviously good body appear excellent. He had fine features and a long nose that managed to look almost Roman. He was walking beside a tall, curvaceous, young woman with gleaming dark hair worn in a chignon. Natalie was dressed even more elegantly than Castino and was smiling and clearly talking vivaciously to him. Joe could see a faint resemblance to Cara in that face. Beautiful. Joe agreed with Manez that a man might go a little crazy over her. They were a perfect couple, assured, powerful, striding through life and paying no attention to anything in their path.
Joe could see why Salazar might have wanted to destroy that arrogance with one swift blow.
Yes, Manez had given him a capsule of the two men and their motivations with these two pictures. Joe needed more, but he couldn’t push any more right now. Manez and his men were strained to the breaking point with trying to keep order and sanity in this madness of vice and drugs he was facing. He’d help Joe if it wasn’t too taxing on his resources. And informants could be expensive and difficult to handle.
He could only hope that Manez would be able to hit it lucky.
* * *
“You look absolutely fascinated.” Eve’s gaze was on Cara’s face as the girl stood at the tall windows overlooking the runways. “That’s our plane at the gate. We should be boarding soon.”
“I know. I heard them announce it.” Cara’s gaze never left the plane that was taking off on the far runway. “Look at them. Aren’t they beautiful? I’ve seen lots of planes on TV, but I’ve never been as close to them as this. Elena and I never had enough money to travel by plane. We always took her car or a bus. But jets have so much power … They seem to sing as they lift off, a deep roar and then the higher notes that follow…”
“Only you would hear music in that sound,” Eve said. “I’m certain that the neighborhoods surrounding the airport aren’t appreciating them as you are.” Yet it was entirely natural Cara would be able to hear music where others did not. Eve had been told by Cara’s teacher that she was an extraordinary violinist though Eve had never heard her play. “And I don’t hear anything as delicate as a string instrument in that roar.”
“I do. It’s a secondary theme, but it’s there.” She glanced at Eve. “Though it’s more for a piano. Jenny would be able to hear it. She always liked the thunder. She’d play for me sometimes…”
Before Jenny had been killed when she was nine years old, before Cara and her nurse, Elena, had been forced to start the long run that had dominated Cara’s young life. “You had to be only about three at that time. I’m surprised you remember.”
“I remember. I remember everything about her. I didn’t start playing the violin until I started school, but then I understood…”
“You loved it?”
“It was … everything,” she said simply.
“I’ll get you another violin as soon as we get to Atlanta.”
“Thank you.” A brilliant smile lit her face. “It will be … I won’t feel as … alone.”
“You’re not alone, Cara.” She reached out and gently touched her shoulder. “I know you probably feel that way right now, but you have Joe and me. Soon you’ll have friends your own age. We just have to get through this patch.”
She nodded. “And there always seems to be another patch just ahead. But that’s the way it is. Elena always told me that we had to ignore the bad times and just enjoy the good times.”
“She sounds like a very wise woman.”
“She was great.” Her voice was unsteady. “I miss her.”
“I know you do.”
“It shouldn’t have happened. Sometimes I thought she was being too careful, but I was wrong.” She moistened her lips. “I used to ask her why we couldn’t just go to the police and tell everyone that Walsh had killed Jenny. But she said that it was too complicated. That my father was almost as bad as Walsh, and I mustn’t get near either one.”
“She was right. It wouldn’t be safe. And you’d be in the middle of an international incident that could end very badly for you.”
“I don’t remember my father or mother. Elena said they hardly ever wanted to see Jenny or me. I didn’t understand it. You see all those TV shows where the father and mother act all sloppy about their kids.” She frowned. “And my father must have kind of liked us if that other guy, Salazar, thought he’d be sad if he killed us.”
“I don’t know what he felt. I’ve heard he’s a very bad man. I do know that environment would be totally wrong for you. That’s why we want you to stay with us until we can sort this mess out.”
Cara nodded. “I promised Elena I wouldn’t try to go back to see him or my mother. It’s just hard to understand. I know Walsh was a terrible man. I know Salazar, who hired him, is bad. But it’s not easy to think of your father as being just as bad and maybe hurting you.” She spoke haltingly, trying to work it out. “But there are so many bad people out there. How can you tell who you’d be safe with?”
“You
can’t. Be careful and watch your back,” Eve said. “I’d love to tell you that you have to have faith, and everything will work out fine. But I can’t tell you that, Cara. It’s not the world you live in right now.”
“I know. That’s kind of what Joe said.”
“But you still came close to real danger when you trusted that boy at the hospital. I would have thought that you’d be more cautious.”
“He wasn’t like … I thought he’d lost someone like me. I wanted to help him.”
“And he caught you off guard.”
She nodded. “It won’t happen again. I’ll know better next time.”
“Let’s hope there won’t be a next time,” Eve said grimly. “Maybe Joe scared that slimeball away.”
Cara gravely shook her head. “I don’t think so.” She turned back to the window again. “He didn’t act scared. I believe I’ll see him again.”
Eve’s brows rose. “You don’t appear frightened.”
“I know him now. I’m scared, but I know who I’m facing.” She added, “It’s all part of this business of not understanding. Nothing is what it seems. All the time that Walsh was hunting us, he was just a faceless monster. It was almost a relief when I actually saw him. Now he’s dead, and there’s someone else. I have to learn what I’m facing. I guess I was expecting someone who was like Walsh.”
“And he wasn’t.”
“No, I think he might be even worse. He made me … care. But now I know the face of this monster,” she said quietly. “And I’ll never forget it.”
LAKE COTTAGE
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
“It’s beautiful here,” Cara said softly as she climbed the steps to the front porch. “I love the lake. Elena took me to a motel in the hills that had a lake for a weekend last year. But it wasn’t like this. I’ll like being here until you send me away.”
“Who said we were going to send you away?” Eve asked as they watched Joe unlock the front door. “I told you that this was a time of exploration while you decided what was best for you. You might like the lake, but you might not like the life Joe and I lead. We’re pretty boring most of the time.”