Alejandro (4 page)

Audrey flushed. She hid her face behind some paper towels, drying the last of her tears from her cheeks. “I’m sorry. You two are… together?”

Mel’s features scrunched up in disgust. “Eww, no. Don’t get me wrong, he looks…” A ruby blush tinted her dark brown cheeks. “Well, you know how he looks. But Ale has personal issues. He keeps his distance from us women. Plus, he’s undercover. That’s no place to form a relationship.” She crossed her arms and set her narrowed eyes on Audrey. “Although, he’s never chased a woman into the ladies’ room before.”

Audrey shook her head, turning back to the sink. “I didn’t mean for this conversation to go in this direction. It’s just, coming here and finding out my sister is dead… decapitated.” She put a shaky hand over her eyes. “We never…” Audrey dragged the same hand over the crown of her head, pulling hard the hair she balled into her fist. Forcing her hand out of her hair, she inhaled on a count of five and exhaled with an equivalent count. Agents Phillips and Santiago were waiting in the conference room. She’d have to deal with her grief later, when she wasn’t so exhausted.

“We never what?” Mel asked quietly.

“Nothing.” Audrey squared her shoulders and smoothed her wrinkled shirt. “Look, I know it’s late and you want to go home, so I’m ready to return to the conference room now.”

“It’s really no trouble. I’m working the night shift anyway.” Mel stepped forward and laid a reassuring hand on Audrey’s back. “You’ve just had some devastating news. Take some time.” When Audrey shook her head, Mel nodded, offering her a sad smile. “Okay, then.”

Ale’s gaze latched to her as she entered the conference room, but she avoided his look and settled back into her chair. Agent Phillips stuttered a bit before beginning again with the details of Penny’s death. She’d met with Miguel Trujillo, a mid-level drug trafficker based in San Antonio and something went wrong. Her body was later found in a park several miles away from her home. A child discovered her head buried in the sand surrounding the children’s playground. The medical examiner’s report stated she died from the gunshot wound. Her head was severed post-mortem.

Agent Phillips stopped speaking. Audrey kept her eyes on her hands clutched in her lap. She bit her lip. At first she trembled in sorrow at the specifics of her sister’s death, and then she shook out of anger.
God, help me not to seek revenge!
She turned her eyes to Agent Phillips. “Continue, sir.”

Phillips frowned. His gaze swerved to Ale. Audrey looked at Ale for the first time since he’d held her in the bathroom. His green eyes darkened the longer he looked at her. “Trujillo was looking for something. I mentioned this at the house.”

“I remember. But I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Think, please, Audrey.” Mel leaned toward her, placing a hand on Audrey’s arm. “It’s really important.”

“I get that it’s important to you, but what hasn’t been explained is why my sister would have this information, or what you may think it is.” Audrey glanced from Mel to Ale. She saw their looks of hesitation. Shaking off Mel’s hand, she slammed two clenched fists on the table. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Ale’s jaw hardened. He leaned forward, his eyes flashing. “We think whatever your sister was keeping from Trujillo is what’s keeping him here in San Antonio. And we
need
him to stay here.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s planning to move his operations to Laredo, and if he’s allowed to do that, he could disappear into Mexico and we might never find him again.”

Audrey shook her head, the possibility of her sister’s murderer escaping justice not an option. “But he killed my sister! Aren’t you planning to prosecute him for that?”

“Ms. Hughes,” Phillips interrupted. “We have no evidence that points to Trujillo as the killer.”

Audrey’s jaw dropped. She turned from Phillips to Ale. “
No evidence?
But you said—”

“It wouldn’t have been anyone else,” Ale rushed to say. “Either by his hand or on his order. I know Miguel.” He expelled a ragged breath. “He’s got too much ego to let someone else do it. He killed her himself, I’m sure.”

“You just can’t prove it.”

Ale responded with a frown and a shake of his head.

Frustration near boiling point, Audrey squeezed her eyes shut, pinching the bridge of her nose. She still couldn’t believe her sister would’ve had a relationship with a man like Trujillo. When she spoke to her sister last, when Penny told her she’d changed her life, did she mean Trujillo? How much did Penny know about Trujillo’s business? She did use drugs in the past, but was she also involved in actual trafficking? Was she killed over drugs? “Did Penny… Did Trujillo want Penny to go with him to Laredo? Why do you need Trujillo to stay in San Antonio?”

“I’ll answer that.” Agent Phillips picked up the remote from the table and pointed it forward in the direction of the television that hung on the wall opposite him.

Audrey eyed the screen. She stared at the face of a deeply tanned man with a thick mustache and a scar above his left eye. “Who is he?”

“Martin Alba. He’s a fugitive we’ve been hunting now for about two years. We know for a fact the Trujillo organization has ties to Alba, and we suspect they’re aware of Alba’s current location. Alejandro is undercover in the Trujillo organization, collecting information.”

Audrey turned to look at Ale. He held her gaze for a minute before returning his focus on the television. Audrey bit her lip.
Penny, who were you? What did you get yourself into?
Had she ever really known her sister? First she’d aligned herself to Trujillo, and now she was connected to a fugitive?

Agent Phillips continued. “We believe Trujillo and Alba have a personal connection beyond trafficking drugs. What that connection is, we don’t know yet.”

“But if Trujillo leaves San Antonio,” Ale’s baritone voice began, “he’ll go to Laredo and we could lose him.” His eyes rested on hers, an earnest look in them. “He could cross into Mexico, and our jurisdiction stops at the border.”

“Wait a minute.” Audrey put her hands up. “I thought this was about Alba. Why do you need jurisdiction over Trujillo?”

“Trying to kill two birds with one stone, Ms. Hughes.” Phillips stood and moved to the screen. He jabbed a button on the keyboard situated at the edge of the table. Several bullet points appeared and Audrey began to understand. Trujillo wasn’t just any narcotics trafficker. He was instrumental in the supply routes of many major facilitators.

“Oh, Penny,” Audrey whispered. “Did you have any idea?” she asked herself out loud.

“It’s quite possible,” Phillips answered. “She might have had information about other traffickers, and that’s why Trujillo killed her.”

“That’s just speculation.” Ale’s hurried response caused his boss to frown at him. “We don’t know anything for sure.”

“Alejandro’s right. We don’t know for sure, but whatever your sister knew…” He paused, pointing at Audrey. “If she told you anything—”

“I’ve already told you, I hadn’t spoken to Penny in a long time.” Aggravated, Audrey dragged a hand through her hair, and then yanked it out when it snagged. Surging to her feet, she moved to the farthest corner of the room, away from the marshals. “I’m here to get Angel.”

“Who?” She heard Ale rise from his chair, the sound of his heavy boot drawing nearer. He halted a few feet from her.

Phillips and Mel watched her with interest.

“Angel. He’s Penny’s son. I received a letter a few days ago. Penny said to come get him.” Audrey swallowed, remembering the words on the page, hearing the frantic voice of her sister in her head, but believing Penny was just being theatrical. “That’s how I knew where she lived. She’d drawn up legal guardianship papers for me to take care of…”

Audrey blinked rapidly, the moisture burning her eyes. She hadn’t even known Angel existed until she’d read Penny’s letter. What would she tell the boy about his mother?
How am I supposed to explain her death?

Many years earlier, when Audrey and Penny were teenagers, officers had come to the Hughes’s home. Audrey had answered the door, had first heard the news of their parents’ death. She didn’t remember how, or even if, she’d been the one to tell Penny. But somehow, the officers made their way to the living room, and when Penny entered, she ran to her sister’s arms, sobbing.

Audrey cleared her throat, dispelling the swell of emotions. Her eyes found Ale’s, a mixture of concern and sympathy swirling in their depths.

“You okay?” he whispered.

Audrey nodded.

“Do you think the child is involved in any way?” Mel asked quietly.

“That’s a good question.” Phillips rounded the table and came to stand beside Ale, his hard gaze on Audrey. “What did your sister say about Angel? How is he connected to this case?”

Audrey made a sound of absolute shock. If Penny trusted Audrey to care for her son… “Angel is
not
involved. I’m here to take him away from all of this.”

With his tongue, Phillips flicked the top row of his teeth. “Where’s this letter Penny sent you?”

“Ah, um…” Audrey glanced at her purse in the chair she left. She couldn’t explain why she hesitated giving Agent Phillips the letter, only knowing her sister’s relationship with such a nefarious character made Audrey want to retreat — to protect her own. Angel was all she had left of her sister — of her family.

“Ms. Hughes?”

Audrey’s eyes snapped back to Phillips. The subtle threatening tone caused her to delay moving in the direction of the bag. She nodded and then went to retrieve her purse. “The letter is in here.” She fished it out and handed it to Mel.

After reading the contents of the letter out loud, Mel passed the note to Phillips, who in turn handed it to Ale. Audrey sat, folded trembling hands in her lap, and held her breath. She caught the looks between the marshals and grew impatient to hear their thoughts. Whatever they decided wouldn’t change her plans; she’d get Angel, bury her sister, settle any financial business Penny had, and then return home with her nephew.

“Well, the letter doesn’t say or imply much about Angel,” Mel commented.

“But it seems she had her suspicions that Trujillo would kill her,” Phillips responded. “Ale, you’ve said before she told you nothing about what Trujillo was thinking.”

Audrey cut her eyes to Ale. They hadn’t had time to discuss Penny’s role in their operation. What had Penny told him? What didn’t she say?

He held her gaze. “She told me nothing.”

Audrey shivered. He wouldn’t be easy to penetrate. When she reached out to take Penny’s letter from Ale, her eyes caught the time on her watch. She’d been awake for twenty hours. Audrey shoved the letter back into her bag and stood. “I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

“Where? Not back to your sister’s house.”

Audrey ignored the incredulity in Ale’s voice, instead focusing on stopping her head from swimming after standing too quickly. She was more physically exhausted than she realized.

“Ale’s right.” Mel came to stand near her, her eyes wide with worry. “It’s not safe there.”

“You’ll be under the protection of the US Marshals, Ms. Hughes,” Phillips offered. “In fact, we’ll need you close by. Alejandro can take you to a safe house.”

Protection? Safe house? Audrey put her hands up to shield her eyes from the stares of three determined US Marshals. In less than twenty-four hours, she’d discovered her sister had been murdered, she herself had been shot at, kissed by the most handsome man she’d laid eyes on, and now she was to be whisked away to some unknown location for an undetermined period of time.
No.
Tomorrow she’d retrieve Angel and then… she didn’t know. She was too tired to think of anything else.

Audrey dropped her hands and shook her head. “I’m not going to the safe house.” Ale’s expression grew cloudier by the millisecond as he held her pointed gaze. “I’m going to a hotel.”

Chapter Three

“AUDREY, slow down!” Ale chased her as she ran from the conference room toward the elevator at the far end of the floor. She reached it only seconds before he did. She punched the button to go down and crossed her arms, keeping her body facing the elevator doors. He came around to stand in front of her, blocking her exit, but she moved to the side. After doing a side-to-side dance a few times, she let out a frustrated groan and shot him a look that nearly made him wince. “You can’t be serious.”

“Don’t I look serious?” she spat.

Hands on hips, hair in wild array, and her mouth in a firm line, she looked every bit determined to be stubborn, to do things her way — much like her sister Penny. But the smudges of mascara around her eyes and the dried paths of tears on her cheeks reminded him that she was fully immersed in the stages of grief. First anger and now denial. She failed to recognize the potential danger that awaited her. And without his help, she’d be defenseless. Her reasoning was impaired. Coupled with the traumatic experience earlier at her sister’s residence, he marveled that she hadn’t completely lost her senses. Her strength was a credit to her, if not an ever-growing pain in the rear to him.

“Audrey, until we know
why
Trujillo killed your sister, we have to assume you’re a target.”

“He doesn’t even know I exist!”

“I’m not willing to take that chance, especially not after what happened at your sister’s house this evening.”
The shooting, not the kissing. The shooting…

With another exasperated huff, she crossed her arms again. “You don’t control me,” she breathed. “As far as I’m concerned, those men tonight probably followed
you
to my sister’s house to gun
you
down.” She locked eyes with him. “I’m going to bed, then I’m going to wake up,
unharmed
, and get my nephew. After that, I’ll find a prosecutor to go after this Trujillo.”

Her fiery blue eyes melted his resolve. His lips twitched as he fought a smile at her take-charge attitude. He recalled their first encounter; instead of phoning the police about an intruder in Penny’s home, she’d brandished a fireplace poker. But the real power lay in her hand-to-hand fighting skills. She liked to do things without relying on anyone. He respected her — and his groin still throbbed with a dull ache.