Hidden Prey (Lawmen) (11 page)

Tori looked exhausted and like she needed a break. Maybe what she needed was to go back to the scene to see if it jarred her memory.

Tori’s thoughts went over and over what she had seen and the knowledge that the cartel was after her. The Jimenez Cartel. The same horrible people her brother had somehow been involved with.

Her thoughts turned back to her family and her ex-boyfriend. “My parents. Gregory.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what to do. I’m afraid for them.”

Landon pulled out his phone and handed it to her. “Why don’t you try him at work?”

“Oh. Of course.” She thought about it a moment and then remembered Gregory’s direct line, and dialed it. Her call went straight to his voicemail. She tried not to get more freaked out and left as calm a message as she could, telling him to call her, leaving Landon’s number, and that it was important. Then she dialed the main office number and asked for Gregory when Laura, the receptionist, answered.

“He hasn’t been in today, Tori.” Laura sounded irritated. “He missed his appointments and he had to be in court at ten. His intern hasn’t shown up, either.”

Tori’s throat felt crowded. Something was desperately wrong. “Can you leave him a message to call me if he comes in later?”

“Yes, of course.” When Tori left messages, Laura always came across as sarcastic and put out. She clearly didn’t like her job.

Tori thanked her and disconnected the call. When she handed Landon his phone, she saw concern in his gaze. She repeated what she’d been told.

“What are we going to do?” she asked him.

Landon raised his phone. “I’ll call the Tucson Police Department again and file a missing persons report. Usually the police wouldn’t consider him missing yet. But the cartel’s involvement changes that.”

She listened to him file the report and then he disconnected the call.

“There’s nothing you can do right now.” He appeared to be trying to give her the news in a way that wouldn’t upset her. “Our main concern is keeping you safe. We have agents watching your parents’ house and the Tucson Police Department is looking for your ex-boyfriend.”

For a moment there was silence between them as he clearly let her come to terms with what he’d said.

“What else do you need from me?” She tried to sound less shaky than she felt.

“This is a witness statement.” He pulled up a form on the center screen and started typing. “Let’s go over all of it again and see if you can remember anything else.”

Feeling as if everything had become surreal, Tori once again began giving her account of what had happened.

When she finished, he looked at her, his expression serious. “Is there anything else you can remember?”

She shook her head. “Not that I can recall.” She frowned and scrunched her nose as she thought about it. “It seems like there’s something, other than the name, that I’m missing. I just can’t remember.”

“Do you think revisiting the site would help?” Landon asked.

“I don’t know.” She pictured the scene. “Maybe.”

“Let’s go.” Landon pushed back his chair and Tori did the same. He cleared the monitors before they walked out the door.

The ride to Bisbee from the DHS ICE office didn’t take long. Landon worked over details in his mind and Tori seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. Tori’s guard detail followed in an SUV behind them.

When they reached the site, police tape was up and the white car that Miguel had been driving was gone. The vehicle was U.S. Government property, an undercover vehicle, and would have been moved to another location where it would be photographed, searched for evidence, and so on.

Landon’s mind turned to the scene last night. He remembered the unrecognizable face and his blood boiled.

Sonofabitch.
They had to get these bastards.

He thought about Miguel’s wife and two kids, and gripped the steering wheel tighter. Landon needed to pay his respects to Jane. The memorial service would no doubt be scheduled for the following week.

When they pulled up to the site, the SUV with Tori’s guard detail stopped beside them. Landon trusted the two agents assigned to protect Tori, but he couldn’t help but feel like he needed to be there for her, too. He’d never felt that way with any witness, and he shouldn’t be feeling this way with Tori.

Even the thought of having her get on the witness stand was hard to handle. He didn’t like the idea of putting her in even more danger than she was already.

He parked the SUV and turned to Tori. “Stay here.”

She wore one of his other ball caps and a blue overshirt he’d kept in his truck, so she was wearing something different than the last time. However, he wasn’t taking any chances by letting her out of the car.

When Landon climbed out of the vehicle, he searched the area with his gaze. The two agents in the other vehicle, O’Donnell and Johnson, were still assigned to Tori.

Both Johnson and O'Donnell looked around, attempting to make sure the area was secure.

Agent O’Donnell looked at Landon. “It’s too open. Too many places a sniper could be hiding.”

“We’ll make this quick.” Landon opened the passenger door and met Tori’s gaze. “Stay in the SUV and try to remember everything you can.”

She looked from the location of the scene back to him. “I think I’ll remember more if I get out.”

He shook his head. “Too dangerous. You need to stay right here in your seat.”

Her throat worked as she swallowed. “Of course.”

She stared at the taped-off area and she looked as if she might gag at the memory of what she’d seen. Landon wasn’t surprised. She’d seen a man’s face get blown off. That would be traumatic for anyone who didn’t deal with violent death on a regular basis.

“The man who shot Miguel wore a suit.” Tori’s forehead wrinkled in concentration. “It clearly wasn’t a cheap suit. In my career I see a lot of men in pricey suits, and his definitely was.”

That could narrow the field a bit, Landon thought. Only those high on the food chain could afford an expensive suit. Very high up.

“Do you remember anything else?” Landon asked.

She frowned. “Miguel called him by something unusual… “Like El…and something starting with a P, I think. It’s on the tip of my tongue.” Her eyes widened. “He called him El Puño. The Fist.”

Landon’s pulse quickened. Expensive suit and called El Puño. That could only mean one person. “I’m going to have you look over more mug shots.”

He went around to the driver’s side and climbed in. He removed his tablet from where he’d put it inside the center console and set it in his lap. He took a flash drive out of his pocket and inserted it into the USB port on the tablet. He opened a file on the flash drive. The file held photographs of every key member that had been identified in the Jimenez Cartel. He touched the tablet and brought up six images of key members from the cartel.

Tori pointed to a man’s image from one of the surveillance photos. She looked like she wanted to scream when she saw the photograph. “That’s him. He killed Miguel.”

“You’re certain?” Landon asked.

“Absolutely.” She nodded. “No doubt in my mind.”

“Alejandro Jimenez, also known as El Puño.”

“Yes.” She nodded again, vigorously this time. “Yes.”

“The son of the Jimenez Cartel drug lord.” Landon hadn’t intended to say the words out loud. Shit.

“The drug lord’s son?” A look of horror crossed Tori’s face.

Landon reached out and put his hand over hers. He could feel it shaking. “You’re going to be all right, Tori. We’ll make sure of it.”

She buried her face in her hands. When she looked at Landon again, she appeared worn and drained, and he wrapped his arms around her.

“Shhh.” He held her securely. “It will be all right.”

“Could I possibly have witnessed an execution by anyone more dangerous than him?” Her voice sounded strained as she drew away. “I saw the drug lord’s
son
commit murder. I’m a witness against an organization so ruthless that they won’t stop until they hunt me down.” Her throat worked as she swallowed. “I don’t know if I can do this, Landon.”

“You can.” He put conviction into his tone. “You’re a strong woman.”

“I don’t feel strong.” She bit her lower lip before adding, “Not at all.”

He remembered her strength last night when he’d told her she didn’t have to testify. Everyone had a breaking point, and this might be hers.

Gregory’s toes barely reached the floor as he dangled by metal handcuffs that were linked over a hook. The hook was fastened to a chain that hung from a beam high overhead in the abandoned warehouse in South Tucson.

Nothing would gel in his brain, and he was fast losing touch with reality. Every bit of him hurt, agony his constant companion. He’d been beaten, his leg shot so that the bone had shattered, and most of his fingers had been broken one at a time with pliers.

“This will end if you give me the address.” Pablo sounded as if he would be doing Gregory a favor.

If Pablo killed him now, he
would
be doing Gregory a favor. He didn’t know how much more of this he could take.

“Give me the address.” Pablo’s voice grew menacing again.

Gregory tried to swallow but his throat was too dry. He ran his tongue over his parched and swollen lips and tasted blood.

“I don’t know the address.” Gregory’s voice was rough, hoarse from screaming in agony with everything these men had done to him since bringing him to the warehouse. “I gave you her parents’ names. I don’t know their address.”

If he had known it, they probably would have gotten it from him a long time ago, no matter his thoughts of protecting Tori.

“Those names have gotten us nowhere.” Pablo scowled. “You must have made them up.”

“They don’t have a computer.” Gregory swallowed. “Her father doesn’t trust the Internet. He is a conspiracy nut and believes everyone is out to get them. He’s a drunk, too.”

A side door creaked open and Gregory could see it was dark again outside. The blond man called John walked into the warehouse. He was carrying two cases. Gregory could just make out his own briefcase, and Tori’s laptop case. Clearly John had gone back to the townhouse and had retrieved both.

“Your computers.” Pablo sounded satisfied as he took one of the briefcases from John. “Maybe now we’ll get somewhere.”

Gregory closed his eyes. The address wasn’t on his computer, but it was no doubt on Tori’s. And the shitty thing was that he knew Tori’s password, and these men would probably get it out of him. She had never known, but he’d had a software program that tracked keystrokes and he’d found out what her password was.

He’d spied on her and had gone through her laptop several times, making sure she wasn’t cheating on him. He reviewed her email regularly and even managed to break into her phone sometimes when she’d been in the shower. No text messages, no instant messages, and no emails. He made sure he knew where she was at all times and had even installed a tracker on her phone—

He went still. The tracker he’d put inside her phone. These men could find Tori with it, even if the phone was off and the battery was out.

“Is there anything else you can tell me that will help me find Tori?” Pablo asked.

Gregory avoided Pablo’s eyes as he thought about the tracker application on his laptop and how easy it would be to tell the man that the tracker would lead him straight to Tori. But somehow Gregory managed to hold it in. He’d already given too much. Tori might be as good as dead thanks to the weakness that had brought him to this point.

Wasn’t it what she deserved after all that these men had done to him?

His whole body went slack. The agony was so unbearable that he was close to passing out again. This could all be over if he gave them what they needed.

No. I can’t do that to her.

But why not? It was her fault that this was happening to him now.
She
had left
him.

“What is the password?” Pablo asked and Gregory opened his eyes to see that the man had set Gregory’s and Tori’s laptops on a workbench. Pablo had Gregory’s laptop open and ready at the password screen.

Gregory hesitated and John kicked Gregory’s shattered leg. He shrieked with pain, unable to speak for a moment as tears flushed his cheeks. Spots appeared before his eyes and he nearly passed out.

“Password,” Pablo demanded again.

In between sobs, Gregory gave it to him.

Pablo entered the password and Gregory’s desktop came up with icons for all of the applications he used. One of the apps was for the tracker that could locate Tori’s phone. Pablo clicked on the address book icon first.

When the address book popped up, Pablo did a search. He looked at Gregory and scowled. “I find nothing for a Henry and Josie Cox.”

Gregory clenched his jaws tight. Pablo nodded to John who raised his leg to slam his foot into Gregory’s shattered leg. Oh, God, he couldn’t take it again.

“Wait!” Gregory screamed. “It’s probably on her computer.” Gregory sobbed in resignation. “I don’t have their address on my computer.”

Pablo stared at him for a long moment. “I believe you.” He turned to the other laptop. “Is this Tori’s?”