Big Girls Don't Cry (31 page)

Her question hit the bull’s eye. At the mention of Bella’s name, Sergio’s face crumpled, as though the bones that should have held it together went on hiatus.

He ran his hands through his tangled black hair, further adding to his drunken, disheveled appearance.

With shaking hands, he filled a shot glass full of tequila, sloshing at least as much over the papers on his desk. Tossing it back, the look he threw her was ripe with pain. His voice was an agonized whisper.

“You’re right, Sergio. We’re working to find my brother’s killer and now Bella’s. Help us, Sergio. Don’t let them get away with it. We both know Walter Cochran wasn’t smart enough to mastermind this operation. You know that, Sergio. If Walt killed Anthony and Bella, he did it because someone ordered him to.”

He mumbled, “I warned her. I tried to tell her who those guys are. What they’re capable of. Fuck! Why do you think I wouldn’t work with them? I told her not to get uppity. Those guys don’t like uppity broads. She wouldn’t listen. I told we could make more on the sidelines then we ever could in the center. And it would be safe.” He groaned. “She would have been safe. But she wouldn’t listen. She was too smart, too greedy for her own good.”

Lexie went for the juggler.

“She didn’t deserve it, Sergio. No one deserves to be cut up like an animal at slaughter. This is as much about you, Sergio, as it was about Bella. They’re warning you, Sergio. Telling you what will happen if you get out of line.”

Sergio shook his head. “I don’t know. The suppliers who come once a month are all foreigners. Come from Afghanistan, some from Chechnya. Bringing in the finest dust I’ve ever seen. Our local gangs are amazed, willing to buy it at an inflated price it’s so good.

Lexie pushed.

“But the man, Sergio, the man they call the Boss. Who is he?”

He whined, “I told you I don’t know. I’ve never met him. Neither did Bella. But she told me two nights ago that she’d told Walt that she wanted to meet him. She was sure she could wiggle her way to the top.”

He shook his head with a sob.

“The only thing I can tell you and you can take it to the man you’re shackin’ with. Tell him he needs to look a lot closer to home. There ain’t no gang around here that has as big a reach as the U. S. Army. And that fucker, the Boss, he’s high enough up the totem pole that it’s gonna take a crane to blast him out of there. You know how them grunts protect one another? When your man finds him, tell him to cut off the bastard’s prick and feed it to him. And then cut him in pieces the way he did…”

Lexie put her hands over her ears. She couldn’t bear to hear how Bella and Anthony died. She was saved when the door burst open. A grim faced Brady charged in, Manuel and two other bouncers at his heels.

Brady glared at the drunken man with tears running down his face.

He snapped. “Too bad you didn’t care enough to kick the fuckers out of here. Instead, you gave them a base to house their illegal enterprise.” Glancing back at the cadre of bouncers forming at the door, he turned on Sergio. “For what it’s worth, you’re better off siccing your hound dogs on the drug dealers you’re hiding than us. In about five minutes this place is gonna be swarmin’ with military police and a few dozen squads from the YPD. You’re gonna find out, there’s no such thing as an arm’s length relationship in a drug operation this big. The only thing difference between you and the guys who are running it is that you’re an even bigger coward. And, you fuckin’ asshole, I hope you go to your grave knowing that your woman was chopped to death because you were too cowardly to protect her.”

“Unfortunately, the son of a bitch is already on his way out there. So much for promising to wait for us. I’ve alerted our contact at the base and the YPD. They’ll be right behind us.”

Lexie dashed across the alley to where they’d moved her Camaro. She shouted at them over her shoulder, “My Camaro will be faster than the Jeep. I shoved a change of clothes in the trunk. Brady, you drive while I change.”

“Whoa! Hold up a minute there, hotshot.” Brady caught up with her and yanked her back. “Uh uh, doll face. Not a chance. Jake would feed our pricks to us if we let you come with us. Sorry, honey. This mission is gender specific. A dick is required equipment.”

Lexie jerked her arm free, seething. “Fuck you, Brady. I’m going with or without you. Decide. Remember, Jake briefed all of us. The team, remember? He gave us two locations, depending on who the Boss turned out to be. Now we know and that’s where this team is going.”

“Our commander is in danger, Brady, and is counting on his team for support. So are you going to stand there with your finger up your butt arguing with me or are we gonna haul ass and go help him?”

Brady ran his fingers through his blond waves with an aggrieved sigh. “Damn, Lexie. I wonder if Jake has any idea what he’s gotten himself into.”

He growled. “Fine, like I have a choice. Give me the fucking keys.”

As they roared down the highway, Lexie wriggled out of her sexy costume, dragging on her dark grey sweats. She tied her hair up in a ponytail and pulled a Giants cap low over her eyes, yanking her long blond tail through the hole in the back. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out her 9mm Glock and tested the safety.

Clint jumped at the click, his eyes widening in shock.

“Damn, Lexie, do you know how to use that thing?’

She tossed her head. “Do you think my brother would give me a gun and not teach me how to use it?” She tucked the gun in the back of her waistband. She reached in her duffle bag and pulled out her kama blade. She stuck it in her boot holster and grinned at Clint, enjoying the shock on his face.

Lexie’s chest tightened. All the humor suddenly seemed irrelevant. For the first time, she allowed herself to focus on the fact that Jake had gone off on his own to take down the mastermind of a multi-billion dollar international drug ring.

~~~

Building on the work that Anthony had done, the pieces had fallen into place. He’d combed over Anthony’s reports. Much of the time, Anthony was talking in code, some of which Chief Burton understood, some Jake told him. It was so like Anthony; didn’t trust a fucking soul until he had all the pieces. The hardest thing for Jake was what must have agonized Anthony. That it was one of their own. And for Anthony, it must have been a double challenge accepting not only was the army involved but so was the YPD.

The first brick in the wall was the report from Dr. Chang. He confirmed that the shit that was coming in droves was not local. What few people knew was that every drug had its own unique stamp, as detailed as a genealogy chart. Dr. Chang confirmed that the high quality heroin was being imported from Central Asia, specifically from Afghanistan. There was only one way shipments the size that they were seeing could be coming to a place like Yuma. It required an organization with a built in transport capacity. Like the

U. S. Army.

After he met with Dr. Chang, Jake kept ploughing through the clues. The next step was the most critical. It was the difference between success or failure. He’d met with each of the two men with enough moxie to mastermind an operation this big. As he had all his life, he trusted the signals on the back of his neck when they fingered the culprit, gratified that his gut hadn’t let him down.

Laying on the ground, confident that his camouflage protected him from sight, he texted Brady the prearranged signal. Both Brady and Clint would be mad as hell he hadn’t waited for then. But given the massive activity already underway at the base following his bombshell, he knew that they had precious little time before the mastermind knew he’d been found out. His night vision goggles allowed him to survey the impressive grounds. It was eerily quiet. Jake could only hope that meant the guy was as cocky as ever. That he was alone, certain that he had covered his tracks and sent his goons to help unload the transport.

Jake inched forward, following his carefully conceived plan. Too late, he heard a twig snap. The pinch on the back of his neck was all too familiar. As was the crashing numbness flooding him. Wasn’t the first time he’d been hit with an ampi loaded dart. The first time was in Columbia and it damn near killed him. His last conscious thought was that he sure hoped that Brady got his message and, most important, that the men came alone, leaving Lexie protected as he’d ordered them to.

Chapter 32

Jake groaned at the sharp pain in his ribs. The ugly laugh from the burly man hovering over him when he kicked him again confirmed the source. Jake’s only thought was that at least he was alive, barely. Trussed up like a pig on a spit, he couldn’t feel his hands or feet. From past experience, he knew the drug wore off in stages. He thought with a grimace that, for now at least, the numbness was a blessing. Tasting the blood in his mouth, he could only imagine the fun that they had with him before they tied him up.

“That’s enough, Behnam. I want him alive and fully conscious. It would be a shame if he misses any of the delights I have prepared for him.”

Jake followed the voice to see Dirk sitting behind his impressive carved mahogany desk. The smirk on his face and demonic gleam in his eyes confirmed that this was a moment he’d been waiting for.

Steepling his hands in front of him, Dirk sneered. “Of course, a dose that should have put you down for at least an hour is already wearing off. Naturally, the mighty Jake Gardner would recover more quickly than the rest of us mere human beings.”

He barked a short laugh.

“You may soon regret your superior healing powers, my friend. A little numbness might be useful given Behnam’s prodigious skills.”

Dirk jerked his head at the two goons beside him.

“Bring him over here and tie him to this pillar,” He said, pointing to one of the columns on the archway.

“I want him standing up straight, fully exposed. Knowing you two,” he said grinning at the baboons next to Jake, “The larger the canvas you have to work on, the more impressive your torturous masterpiece.”

Jake stifled the groans that hovered in his throat as they secured him to the post. For as long as he could, he refused to let Dirk know the pain that was racking his body. Knowing that his only hope was staying alive until his men got here, he decided to engage Dirk, knowing the man’s hatred was so intense that he needed the opportunity to crow over his victory. The next words out of Dirk’s mouth confirmed his assessment.

“Humor me, Jake. What was the giveaway? The final clue? Tell me, how you knew that it was me?”

Jake willed his mouth to fill with spit, refusing to speak in anything less than his normal voice.

“Truthfully, Dirk, it was Anthony who put most of the pieces together. He figured out early on who Walt was. But he didn’t stop there. A third rate evidence clerk hiding in the basement of the YPD wasn’t capable of pulling off this enterprise. Anthony’s biggest insight was tracing the dust. We both spent enough time in Afghanistan to hear the raves about the quality of the opium. Once he determined the source, it was an easy step to trace it to the base.”

“So Beloi figured all that out. Why didn’t the YPD act on it.”