Fixed Asset (Downrange), page 18
I didn’t know how old Tom was. He looked older than I was, and Maria was a few years older than Catarina—an age gap but not one that would make Tom look like a dirty grandpa panting after a young girl.
“Has Tom spent any significant time in Honduras?” Fallon asked, looking around.
“That would take me weeks’ worth of digging through his aliases. Hold on a second.”
Keys could be heard pounding in the background.
“Jesus,” Shep muttered.
“What?” Pete looked just as impatient as he sounded.
“Guess who was the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Honduras?” Shep asked and continued to pound on his keyboard, then went on to answer his own question. “Charles F. Washington.”
“Tom’s father was the ambassador?” Catarina inquired. “Could he have met her when he was a kid? When was this?”
“Two years before Maria was born. His mission ended the year after her birth. According to her birth records, Maria’s mother was unwed. No father listed.”
“Sister,” Pete, Catarina, and Ryan all said at the same time.
“Would be his half sister,” Shep corrected. “The timing matches. And if Sphynx thinks she heard an emotional connection, half sister would explain it.”
Sphynx?
Catarina’s torso swung back, and her gaze remained glued to the phone.
Apparently, no one else in the room caught the slip, nor did they catch Catarina’s reaction. Not to Shep’s voice when she’d first heard him, and not to the use of a nickname no one had heard.
Catarina pulled herself together and asked, “Was Charles married to Tom’s mother?”
“Yes, until he died two years ago.”
“Deathbed confession?” Mason muttered.
“Doesn’t matter,” Pete cut in. “We’ll ask Berta what she knows about Maria’s family. If she knows that Tom is her half brother, that’ll tip her off that we figured it out, and she can confirm. But if she doesn’t know, for Maria and the kids’ safety, I think we should keep that to ourselves.”
Before anyone could give their opinion on the matter, Aiden strangely blurted, “Isla Natividad.”
“What?” Ryan got in there before I could.
“Isla Natividad, six kilometers off the mainland. It’s a small fishing town, mostly uninhabited, with a dirt airstrip. Twenty-three nautical miles from Tortuga Bay. If I had a pretty Russian for sale and I didn’t want the cartel getting their hands on her, I’d take her to family to hide, then a small island with a few fishermen living there. If payoffs needed to be made, it’d come cheap.”
“Shep can track—”
He cut Pete off. “Already on it. Give me twenty minutes to see if I can get a lock on Carlos and what I can pull up on the cousin.”
“Thanks, we’ll be waiting.” With that, Pete disconnected.
I wove around the furniture to get to Catarina.
“Are we pretending that Cat didn’t have a weird reaction to Shep?” Mason asked. “And Sphynx, what the hell is that?”
Fuck.
“Mase—”
“What? You were across the room, and I know you didn’t miss it. So me standing next to her, I sure as shit didn’t.”
I wasn’t a fan of Catarina being put on the spot. Though after she blew out a breath, she didn’t seem to mind.
“His voice . . . he sounded familiar. I thought I was wrong, then he called me Sphynx . . .” She didn’t finish her thought.
Ryan looked up from his tablet to ask, “Do you know him? Like in real life?”
Cat rolled her eyes.
I knew she refrained from a snappy comeback when all she said was “Yes.”
Mason looked around the room. “Does anyone know Shep in real life?”
There were head shakes and noes all around.
Pete added, “Never met him, and I don’t know anyone who has.”
“Where’s Shep get the money to bankroll the ops?” Cat asked.
“He steals it. And before you ask, that same money pays our salary.” He looked at Catarina. “And now yours. It pays all of our bills. Not a single person we rescue pays—not for the exfil and not for the safe house. Their captors do. Shep drains all their accounts. If he’s bored, he finds other criminals doing jacked-up shit and takes their money too.”
I knew Shep paid my salary. I didn’t give two shits it came from stolen funds for criminals.
“You got a problem with that?” Pete finished by asking.
“Me?”
Pete dipped his chin.
Cat thought about it for a moment. Then she smiled.
“Nope. I actually love that the assholes who cause so much pain and destruction with their greed will now be paying my car payment.”
Pete looked at me and smiled.
“Good. Now, Ryan, tell us about this island.”
By the time Shep called back, we’d thoroughly checked out the island the best we could electronically. We’d also looked into Tortuga Bay and the ocean route to get to the island. The seaside town was small but had an airfield. Pete had also called Berta to ask her if she had any allies in that area. Unfortunately she didn’t. He didn’t ask about Tom’s connection to Maria; that was for a different day when we weren’t on the clock.
“I got two things for you. I ran some of Carlos’s known associates. You won’t be surprised to know they’re not big into credit, banking, or credit cards. But I found one, a woman, Gloria Alverez. She charged gas in El Riito. Then again southwest in Santa Ana. Again in Mexicali. From there, she caught the 5 and headed south. I got another charge in Playa Hermosa. The last charge is in Chapala, where the 5 turns into the 1. That highway dead-ends in Tortuga. It’s a twenty-two-hour drive. I can’t get her all the way, but in the vicinity. The rest of the gas would’ve been paid in cash.
“I called Tom. He reached out to his insider in Carlos’s organization and got back to me. First, Gloria is Carlos’s woman—as in, his girlfriend and also the woman who runs his stable. She takes care of the girls, and I use that term loosely, but Gloria oversees the prostitutes. Second, the auction in Juárez is set. Carlos’s second-in-command is handling the sale since he’s not there, and there are no out-of-town buyers coming in, which confirms Calista isn’t there. I think it’s a safe bet Carlos and Gloria took Calista to Tortuga.”
“Any word in any of those dark holes you peruse about a Russian being sold in Mexico?” Aiden asked.
“I don’t bury the lede.” Shep blew out a breath. “I would’ve led with that.”
Pete looked like he was deep in thought.
“What’s on your mind?” Mase asked Pete.
“I don’t like leaving those other women up for auction.”
“We can’t save—”
“Them all, yeah, Mase, I know. But I know there’s an auction; it’s sitting heavy in my gut.”
I was about to suggest calling Takeback, but then I remembered Mia shouldn’t go anywhere near Juárez, and getting her to stay behind would be like me convincing Catarina to sit this op out.
It just wasn’t going to happen.
“Me, Ryan, Gavin, and Fallon hit Juárez,” Aiden suggested. “You, Mase, Cat, and Jack hit the island.”
“Shep, what’s your intel on the auction?”
“I don’t have much. Word is there are ten girls. They’re from Carlos’s stable. He’s rotating out.”
I wasn’t the only one who grunted in disgust.
“I can have a workup in a few hours. First I need to make the arrangements for the flight down to Baja. There’s a larger island north of Natividad. Cedros. It has an airport. It would also be a good place to handle the sale. It’s worth checking out the island before you head to Natividad.”
“El Morro,” Ryan confirmed. “Fifteen kilometers.”
“Correct. Did you get the workup I sent over on Calista Ventura?” Shep inquired.
“Yeah. Thanks for that,” Pete answered.
I still didn’t know who the model Tom had referenced was, but the pictures Shep had sent over, along with a full dossier on Calista, proved she was pretty enough to be a model. Long blonde hair, blue eyes. I thought she resembled Kate Hudson if Kate had longer hair.
The report also included her occupation—freelance investigative journalist. Something Tom had conveniently left out. She had written numerous articles on the sex trade and an exposé on Washington elites using high-dollar escorts, and the women who serviced these men. She hadn’t named any of the men but gave enough detail that it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who the piece was about.
She also smartly wrote under pseudonyms—three of them to be exact. And she didn’t only report on trafficking; under one of the pen names, she exposed corruption. Meaning if her pseudos ever got out, she’d be in danger. Which seemed moot seeing as she’d already been kidnapped.
“Good. I’ll hit you back soon.”
“We have a plan,” Pete announced. “We hit both targets.”
“Copy.”
“Wait.” Mason stopped Shep from disconnecting. “Are we just going to pretend that Cat and Shep don’t know each other?”
Catarina’s hand shot to the side so fast, Mason didn’t have time to stop her backhand to the solar plexus.
“Damn, woman,” he grunted.
Shep said nothing.
“You do know her, right?” Mase continued, like he hadn’t just had the wind knocked out of him.
“Sphynx,” Shep said.
Catarina went statue still.
“I’m calling my marker.” With that, Shep disconnected.
Catarina frowned. Then her lips twitched. After that, her eyes went to the floor.
“What the hell was that about? What’s sphynx?” Mase pushed.
“I’m Sphynx. Or that’s what some of the guys called me. It’s a hairless cat.”
“Like that grumpy cat with no fur?” Aiden asked.
“Yes, Aiden, that’s what hairless means.” Cat offered no more explanation.
“So you know Shep,” Mase continued.
She lifted her eyes, but her gaze was faraway.
“In another life, yes.” Her tone sounded wistful.
My gut twisted. “And the marker?”
“To keep his secret.”
“Were you two . . . did you . . .” Ryan stumbled, then put up his hands. “None of my business. Sorry.”
It was my business, but I wasn’t going to ask her in front of the team.
Thankfully, she put me out of my misery.
She glanced over at me and answered, “Never.”
That was good enough for me. Cat wouldn’t lie. She’d evade if she didn’t want to answer but she’d never flat-out lie.
“I’m not sure if I’m pissed or jealous Cat knows Shep,” Mason muttered.
“We got work to do,” Pete reminded him.
Right.
Everyone scattered except for Catarina.
She turned to face me, and I knew what was coming.
“You don’t have to convince me.”
“I can’t betray his trust and tell you who he is.”
“Baby, I’d never ask you to break anyone’s trust.”
“Okay. It’s just, it’s the same as Tom asking to keep a secret—”
Before she could finish, I tagged her around the waist and hauled her close.
“It’s not remotely the same, and I get it, baby. Stop worrying.”
She leaned closer and relaxed.
“Kiss me so we can get to work.”
“Are you asking or commanding?” she sniped.
“Commanding.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Jack.”
“Catarina.”
One side of her mouth hitched up.
Fuck it.
I bent forward and kissed my woman.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Has it been twenty-four hours since our last flight?” I grumbled as we disembarked the plane on Cedros Island.
The airfield was nothing more than a long runway. No tower. No hangars. One end of the runway was feet away from a bluff that went straight down into the ocean. I was not afraid of flying. I wasn’t a fan of back-to-back flights, but planes didn’t bother me. However, I’d closed my eyes when we came in for landing. Taking off would be worse.
“Just barely.” Jack transferred his duffel to his other hand.
Before we’d boarded the flight, which departed from the same airport we’d flown into yesterday, Jack took me to a mall so I could pick up a few things before we went back to his . . . our house so he could get packed. We’d also made a stop at a Walgreens so I could get toiletries.
He hadn’t probed or given me any weird sidelong glances after the whole Shep incident. He’d said he believed I’d never been with Shep in a romantic way. But sometimes people say one thing but really feel another way. Jack didn’t.
On the plane while Jack was snoozing, I thought about the man who had once upon a time been my friend. A man who had caught me by the ankle before I rolled off the roof of a three-story building. A man who’d kicked in doors and cleared my way so I could gather intel that would further help his team track terrorists. A good man who had fallen on hard times, then disappeared. Over the years, I’d thought a lot about him. Where he was, if he’d recovered, what he was doing.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think he was the infamous Shepherd Drexel.
Though, I should’ve put two and two together. But this was one of those times when it only hit you in the face after you knew. If Jack and the rest of the guys knew, they’d probably laugh their asses off.
My friend’s beloved German Shepherd’s name was Drexel.
But I owed him my life. He’d called that marker. I would never breathe his real name to anyone, thus they’d never know how Shep Drexel got his name. But I knew, and I loved that was the name he picked.
“Why does it raise the pucker factor when the plane that dropped you off taxis away?” Mase asked.
“Because your ride dumped you and now you got no way home,” Pete offered.
“Before we hit the hotel, I wanna stop at the grocery store,” Mason announced.
Of course he did.
“I saw the five Snickers you put in your pack,” I noted. “Do you really need more candy?”
“Yes, Kitty Cat. I prefer local chocolate when I’m traveling.”
Pete was a few feet in front of us. He didn’t break stride when he confirmed, “He’s not lying. Every country, multiple stops for candy bars.”
“Some of us like foreign chocolate. Some of us like foreign women. But one of those things doesn’t steal your wallet and watch.” I heard a loud snap. “Oh, and your passport.”
Jack chuckled. Pete did not.
“Did you buy a hooker and she pulled the ole ‘wait until you pass out, then steal all your shit’?” I asked.
“No. I did not buy a hooker. I met a woman in a bar and took her back to my hotel room,” Pete disgruntledly mumbled.
I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing. “Where was this?”
“Saint Petersburg.”
And then it hit me. “Your nickname.”
“Yup.”
“Russia or Florida?”
There was a beat of silence.
“The Sunshine City in the Sunshine State,” Mason answered. “Had to explain to the Master Chief why he was missing our flight out of Tampa.”
“I was twenty-three,” Pete defended himself. “And the woman had this British accent that drove me wild. Totally lost my head.”
“Lost your head and your wallet,” I noted. “Are we walking across the street to the grocery store here or the one by the hotel?”
We’d all studied the map of the island. There was a tiny village next to the airfield. It had a few stores and a church. Our hotel was seven kilometers up the road. We could hoof it, and with the clean, cool night air after being in a stuffy plane, I would’ve suggested ditching the car and walking, but I was ready to sleep. We had an early morning tomorrow. Before we left for Natividad Island, we needed to make sure Carlos hadn’t brought Calista here. If she wasn’t on either island, we’d head to the mainland.
“Hold up,” Pete said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “It’s Shep.” There was a brief pause before “We’ve landed.” Another pause, this one longer and accompanied by Pete’s gaze sliding around the group. “Right. We’ll pivot. Thanks for the update.”
Pete pocketed his phone and announced, “A plane registered in the United Arab Emirates filed a flight plan to Mexico City. The plane is still there, but the pilot and the four occupants of that flight boarded a smaller aircraft. Flight plan has them landing here on Cedros. Shep missed it earlier, but Gloria Alverez checked into a hotel here two days ago and hasn’t checked out.”
I guess I wasn’t getting into bed anytime soon.
“Well, that fucks up tonight’s plans of kicking back and eating chocolate,” Mason grumbled my thought.
“I feel like I should ask if eating chocolate is a euphemism for something. But I’m afraid that’s what you call a combat jack and I’ll be scarred for life, so I’m not going to ask.”
Mason’s smile was wicked.
Thankfully Pete cut in before Mason could confirm my suspicion. “We’ve got five unknowns, Gloria, and Carlos on the island. The hotel Gloria checked in to is in the same village where our hotel is, near the fishing port and pier. We’re hoofing it, using the beach until we hit the bluffs, then we’ll use the dirt access roads to Ghost Town. That puts us three klicks from the hotel.”
The beach route was the long way to the village north of the airport, where the hotels and pier were. It would add forty minutes to our walk.
“Are we hitting the hotel tonight or waiting until dawn?” Jack asked.
“My vote is tonight,” Mason declared. “I’m not all that fired up about hanging out for longer than needed in a place named Ghost Town.”
I couldn’t stop my smirk.
“Scaredy cat.”
Mason lifted his right hand and flipped me off. What he didn’t do was deny he was scared.
