New Growth (Spook Hills Trilogy Book 2) (32 page)

Each day Mathew gained strength and endurance, finding a
few hours of lucidity once he kicked the lingering effects of the pain
medication he took.
 
Callie had been at
the hospital when he first woke up and only left his side when Steve or Ivy
pried her away to get some rest.
 
While
he was in no condition to make love with her, he was finding her continuing
closeness, even here on the plane, increasingly tempting.
 
His heart beat stronger with gladness that
they were now a couple.

When Mathew woke up part way through the trip back to the
States, he switched
seats with Annetta,
and
he
talked with Cruze for over an hour
while Callie chatted with her.
 
What
might Callie discover as the two women conversed over a glass of
champagne?
 
As was her custom, Annetta
only took tiny sips.
 
She seemed to savor
the idea of champagne more than the fizzy wine itself.

Cruze inquired about
particular
phrasing in the agreement and Mathew explained the legal terminology to
him.
 
The conversation made him realize
how isolated the cousins must be and that made him sad for them.
 
Each one operated in the underworld, they had
perpetrated numerous crimes, they represented the types of felons he had spent
his career bringing to justice and yet he found himself sorry to think soon he
will not be around them again.
 
He hoped
their tactics for safeguarding the Fuentes would prove successful during the
next few
days
until they slipped away
into their new lives.
 

As soon as the cousins were confirmed safe in a new
location, squads at the Bureau were
scheduled
to jump on researching the full list of criminals.
 
Once the information was confirmed with
collaborative evidence, the FBI planned to arrest the offenders in multiple
simultaneous operations, before any rumors about the sell-out circulated in the
underworld.
 
The Spook Hills Gang planned
to return home and wind down their involvement.
 

Once on the ground in Miami, they deplaned first to be greeted
by
Brian,
who would escort the Fuentes
down the metal stairs from the Jetway to the tarmac where a town car
waited.
 
They had briefed Brian by phone
about handling the scheduled stops for the Fuentes.
 
Although Brian took command of the action
with the Fuentes, he blushed when he met the cousins, turning quite pink as he
reached out to shake Annetta's hand.
 
Mathew could see that he found Annetta attractive.
 
He had known Brian for almost twenty years
now,
and he had never seen him look quite as
taken with a woman as he did during his first contact with Annetta.
 

Brian led as they turned to walk down the stairs, reaching
back to help Annetta make her way down the steps in her narrow pencil skirt and
heels.
 
While Mathew doubted she needed
Brian’s assistance, she followed him submissively, even smiling at him when he
helped her into the waiting limo.
 

Unassuming Brian embodied courage and conviction.
 
Brian had jumped in front of a bullet meant
for Mathew during a bust in Bulgaria, never hesitating to protect his friend
and colleague.
 
Mathew carried no doubts
of Brian and Moll managing whatever might come up with Cruze, Annetta and
whoever was after them.
 
Moll had
demonstrated his commitment when he threw himself over Cruze in the restaurant
to protect him from the gunmen.
 
Brian
would do the same.
 
The invisible bonds
he shared with Brian, Moll and Steve proved stronger than thick ropes of
titanium.
 
When one of them committed
himself, the others never questioned his pledge.
 
He thought the Fuentes were beginning to have
an inkling of how these ties now protected them.
 
They vouchsafed for the behavior of the
cousins, putting their own reputations on the line.

While the Fuentes went on their way to a Miami hotel,
Callie, Ivy and Steve joined Mathew to board a Bubird to fly out
immediately.
 
Mathew settled into his
seat, saying a prayer for the safety of his friends, including Cruze and
Annetta.
 
Had they lingered in London out
of fear for their own longer-term well-being or out of real concern for
him?
 
He suspected a bit of both came
into their delayed departure.
 
Callie
perceived Julio as sincere when he showed up at the
hospital,
and Steve mentioned his opinion shifted for the better
from talking with him there.
 

As soon as she walked into the conference room, she slipped
in
his mind from Julio to Annetta, as if Julio
were no more than a discarded costume.
 
She became so convincing in either persona, he accepted the shift.

To his way of thinking, Annetta had stepped up as the
leader.
 
He did not think she was a
killer.
 
Annetta struck him as a strong
woman tempered by adversity and the lonely life she had chosen and yet he
discerned she secreted away a heart as tender as Callie’s.
 
Her doom to a life of isolation by her
father’s depraved actions saddened him.
 

While Cruze had been a dangerous man while with his
brothers, Mathew viewed him now as more of a follower.
 
He appeared to be weary, supporting his
contention that he never wanted those years of drug running.
 
Mathew believed their postulation of wanting
to atone for their
illegal
activities and
their desire for quiet, lawful existences.

The Bubird took off, showing Portland as their
destination.
 
They intended to file a new
flight plan mid-air to stop in Atlanta only long enough for some of them to deplane.
 
Now at cruising altitude, they moved to the
onboard
table to begin their discussions.
 

When they sat down, Mathew noticed that Steve,
Ivy
and Callie stared at him expectantly,
making him appreciate he was now recognized as the man-in-charge.
 
Taking a secondary role must have been odd
for Steve, particularly after the work he and Ivy did on the case thus
far.
 
Since the day of Ivy’s abduction
and Mathew’s taking over the two sets of negotiations, the baton of power had
passed.
 
His dear Callie wore a concerned
expression, but he sensed her eagerness to help.
 
Steve told him what Cruze said about the man
who Cristo called PercyNarc and the
incipient
evidence Cruze related about him.
 

“The Warthog, aka Lloyd Gerkasky,” Mathew said.
 
"Remember earlier this year I responded
to a request for a deposition
on
an FBI
agent with complaints of harassment filed against him?
 
Medium brown hair and about the same height
as the guy spying on me last summer.
 
Gerkasky may be at the center of our troubles."

"Bingo!”
 
Steve
said with a grim smile.
 
“Some years ago,
I moved Gerkasky off one of my teams.
 
I
found his investigative efforts shoddy, his
language
coarse
, his attitude odious, and his
documentation skills weak.
 
He didn’t
measure up to what was needed for
significant
international cases.
 
The Bureau
transferred him to the Narcotics Division in the New York office.
 
I didn’t say anything when you were called to
give your
deposition,
so as not to shade
your estimation of him.”

“I’ll call an agent friend of mine in the New York office
and probe him about Gerkasky,” Mathew said.
 
“Steve, you and Ivy handle the investigation of the names the Fuentes
gave you.
 
I’ll help as I can.”

“What do you want me to do?” Callie asked.

Despite her distress over his injuries, Callie remained by
his side.
 
The caring way she fussed over
him made getting shot almost worthwhile.
 
Although she knew that Susannah was safe, loved and cared for by Rich
and Sassy, Mathew could tell that Callie longed to be back with her.
 
This trip marked their longest separation
since Susannah was born.
 
He understood
that Callie was torn between helping him and being safely at home with her daughter.
 

He spoke gently to her. “Callie, I want you to continue on
this flight and go home.”

“You’re injured.
 
I
can help.
 
I want to see this through
with you.”

“Coming to London was dangerous enough.
 
As we progress on this trip, the likelihood
of more shootings increases.
 
We can’t
allow you to risk leaving Susannah without a mother.”

He watched the look of determination on Callie’s face start
to fade.
 
Mathew could see how torn she
was, wanting to be with him to offer whatever help she could, but knowing
Susannah needed her too.

Callie nodded reluctantly, left the table and returned to
her seat, sitting with her head bowed and her back to him.
 
Mathew knew this was best for her.
 
Ivy should go with her, but in talking it
over with Steve at the hotel last night, he understood that would not be an
option.
 
After having Ivy abducted, if
only for a couple of hours, Steve wanted her where he could protect her and Ivy
would not leave him to return home.

Mathew rose and went over to sit opposite, Callie.
 
He picked up one of her hands and said,
“Callie, we are much younger than Steve and Ivy.
 
We have the potential for a long life
together and many years to enjoy Susannah as she grows up.
  
Believe
me when I say I am not parting with you
easily
.
 
Darn it, Callie.
 
I love you.
 
Can you blame me for wanting to protect the woman I love?”

She smiled slightly back at him and asked, “You love me?”

“More each day that I spend with you.
 
It started the first time I saw
you,
and now I know I want you in my future.”

“I love you too, Mathew.
 
I am so afraid of losing you, but you are right about Susannah.
 
I will go back.
 
Promise me you will be back the day you
finish up in Albuquerque.”
 
She leaned
over and kissed him, circling her arms around him gently, yet with intense
warmth.
 
“What can I do now?”

“Would you come back to the table and tell us about your
tête-à-tête with
Annetta?
”

Callie stood up, took his hand and together they went back
to where Steve and Ivy sat working on their laptops.
 
When they pushed their computers away, Callie
began speaking in
an unsure
voice.
 
“Annetta and I
talked
about fashion and how she was looking forward to shopping as
a woman again.
 
Annetta
mentioned
the
importance of blood relatives and how much the three Fuentes boys had meant to
her growing up.
 
She also adored their
poor, honest and hardworking parents.
 
The
more I talk with her, the more I like her.
 
Despite her past, she has a fragile quality.”

“Did she say anything
about
this person or persons after them?” Steve asked.

“She did tell me one thing.
 
The night they learned the outcome of the DNA tests on the dead
brothers, an unknown person tailed them in Caracas.”

“What?” Mathew asked in a surprised voice.

“They left the clinic after talking with the head
geneticist,” Callie said.
 
“Annetta, well
Julio then, detected a tail behind their rental car.
 
They zigzagged around, picked up their
luggage and engaged a private jet to take them to an island in the Caribbean
where they docked her speedboat.”

“Someone understands the Fuentes well enough to figure out
where they went for the genetic analysis or who tracked them in the Caribbean,
not
easy
on the open seas, but also not
impossible if they planted a transmitter on her boat,” Mathew said.

“She
say
how they got
to Caracas?” Steve asked.

“Same way.
 
Hired jet
service."

“Why didn’t she tell me about this?” Mathew posed the
question with a tone of annoyance.

“I don’t think Annetta shares anything about herself
easily.
 
She is reserved,” Callie said.

“Information constituted her stock and trade for many
years,” Steve interjected.
 
“She needed
the talents and contacts to acquire saleable material and understand when to
disclose the info to the right person at the best price.”

“How did anyone know about the graves and the bones taken?”
Callie asked.