Border Crossings: A Catherine James Thriller (26 page)

“That’s probably true,” said Matt.  “But there’s an easy way and a hard way.”  He grabbed Miguel by the knee and dug his thumb into the bullet hole.  Miguel’s eyes went wide in pain.  “You don’t even want to know what we did to the guys you sent after us in Cancun.  I skinned one of them myself, flayed his flesh right from his bone.”  He let go of Miguel’s knee and throat, and Miguel immediately vomited on himself.  He’d never imagined the human body could hurt so much.  “Tell us the rest,” Matt prodded.

“What happened to Taylor Woodall?” asked Catherine.  “What
exactly
happened.”

Miguel was nearing semi-consciousness and Matt untied the gag that had fallen around his neck and used it as a tourniquet on one leg, then he used his own belt for the other.  A large pool of blood was already forming and he was worried Miguel might bleed out from the second shot sooner than he thought. 
Why is he bleeding so much?
He wondered.  “You were drinking tonight, weren’t ya?” he told Miguel as he tightened the belt around Miguel’s leg.  “Tsk, tsk.  Your blood’s all thinned out, but these will let us keep you around for hours.”  It was an over-exaggeration, but he needed Miguel to believe his hell could go on indefinitely.

“Go on,” said Catherine.  “Tell us about Taylor.”

Miguel winced in pain as the belt cut off the blood supply to his legs, but he spoke.  By now, he would have done anything to avoid being shot again.  “Tio told me to go out to the clubs and find a girl that fit the bill.”

“Why her?” asked Catherine.

“Arismendez was being picky.  He wanted an American girl with blond hair and green eyes, tan and pretty.  He wanted the hottest girl we could find.  If we didn’t find the right girl, we could fuck off, that’s what he said.  She just had the look, that’s all.”

“She just had the look?” Catherine asked.  “Is that what you’re telling me?  You raped and murdered that poor girl because she just had the look?”

“I didn’t do any of those things!  It was him.  We didn’t know what he was going to do.  We didn’t know any of this shit was going to happen.  We were just there to talk business.  It was that stupid Arismendez who wouldn’t listen.”

“What’d you put in the drink?” asked Catherine.

Miguel started moaning again.  “Speak up,” said Matt, holding him upright by a handful of hair.

“Ribs.”

“Ribs?  You mean Rohypnol?” asked Catherine.

“Yeah, Arismendez had some.  He’s got everything. 
Tio
told me to use ‘em so we could knock a chick out and make it quiet.”  Catherine clenched her jaws.  Her anger was building rapidly again and she pressed her will against it to keep from raging out of control.  “But that other chick saw me.  I knew we should have just bailed.”

“Why didn’t you?” she asked him.

Miguel looked her in the eyes.  “I couldn’t,” he said.  “There were millions of dollars on the table.  If I came back without a girl, we were fucked.”

“So you kidnapped her.  You shot her friend and you snatched that poor girl right off the street . . . all because you were told to go find a pretty girl?”

“I had to,” said Miguel.

“Bullshit,” said Catherine.  “You didn’t have to do any of it.  But you wanted the money.  What’d you do to Taylor after you snatched her away from her life?”

Miguel sighed and turned his head away, but Matt was quick to grab his leg again, sending spears of pain shooting through his nerves.  “I brought her back!” he said, Matt releasing.  “She wouldn’t stop fighting in the car so I pushed a few ribs down her throat.  Then we took her back to the villa.  She was out of it by then and Arismendez was pissed about it.  He mixed up a shitload of coke with water and made her drink it.  Then he took her to a bedroom and told us all to go have a drink by the pool, stay in the guesthouse if he didn’t come down.  I don’t know what happened.”  Miguel’s head began to sway back and forth.

“What’d he do?” Catherine asked, but Miguel began moaning again, this time in choking breaths.

“I’m dying,” he began to cry.  “I’m going to fucking die.”  Tears began to roll down his cheek.  “Don’t kill me.  Please, just drop me at the hospital.  I’ll tell you whatever.”

Matt grabbed his leg again, and Miguel jerked and twisted.  Then Matt let go and grabbed Miguel by his chin, “Hey.  Hey, look at me.  You tell us everything you know until you’re done and we’ll decide then,” he said, releasing his grip.

“I wasn’t there, all right?  I don’t know what happened.  She was a tough chick.  She bit the shit out of one guy in the car and when Arismendez came back down he had marks and shit all over.  She bit him, too, on his ear and his eye was all fucked up.  He came outside told
Tio
he’d make a deal, but that some shit had happened upstairs.  He wanted the girl gone.  He said she was unconscious and we needed to get rid of her.  We didn’t even know what he did until we went upstairs to get her.  She wasn’t unconscious, man, she was dead.  He’d choked her or something.”

Catherine sat against the wall of the rail car to the right of Miguel.  She couldn’t help but to see images of Taylor’s last moments.  It’d been a long and drawn out death.  “How long were they in the room before he came back down?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Miguel said, now sobbing miserably.  “He had her up there a couple of hours, maybe, I don’t know.  I don’t want to die, man.  Please.  I don’t want to die.”

“You should have thought of that before you let that girl die,” said Matt.

Catherine began to cry. 
A couple of hours.  Oh, God. 
She knew what had happened to Taylor, but hearing it now conjured such a horrific image.  She could more than see the attack.  She could feel it in her soul.  Anger returned and replaced her tears as she wiped them away.  “Who shot her?”

“
Tio
told me to make sure she was dead,” said Miguel.

Catherine looked up again, and Matt caught her glare.  “So it
was
you who killed her?”  She stared down at the gold medallion hanging around Miguel’s neck.  It had five x marks etched on its face.  “Which one is she?” Catherine asked.  She grabbed the medallion in her hand and slapped Miguel hard across the face, “Which one is she!?”

M
iguel shook his head.  “No, man, she was already dead.  You should have seen her, she was dead.  He choked her to death, plus all the drugs he made her take.  I shot her like I was told, but he had already killed her, I swear.”

She might have been alive,
Catherine thought. 
She might have made it!
  She stood up and clenched the gun in her hand, wanting so badly to use it now.

“Why the cemetery?” asked Matt.

“Heat was everywhere. 
Tio
left and told me to handle it, so we tossed her in a bathtub in the guesthouse until we could figure out what do to do.  We decided to wait until the next night when there wouldn’t be so many cops all over the place.  The cemetery was close by and
Tio
said we should take her there, dump her in a fresh grave.  He told me Arismendez was going to bring us all down with this shit.”  He laughed in spurting breaths.  “He was right, huh?”

“And then you went after the kid,” Matt reminded him.

“Yeah, those fucking kids,” said Miguel, still chuckling pathetically.  “We thought the cemetery was empty.”

“Who killed the other kid?  The one named Juan?” asked Catherine.  Miguel began shaking his head.  Catherine kicked him in one of his knees, “Who!?”

He looked down at his medallion and Catherine knew the answer.  “I had to.”

If he said
I had to
one more time, Catherine thought she might kick his teeth in.  “I see.  Who gave the kid up?”

“Some cop.”

“Vargas?” Catherine asked.

“I don’t know.  Just some cop
Tio
bought.”  Miguel was beginning to fade in and out.  “Let me have some water, man.  Come on, get me some water.”  His eyes rolled around and he could no longer focus on anything.  They rolled upwards and his head lolled to the side.  “Just a little water, man, come on.”

Matt pointed to his watch and made the international death sign to Catherine, an index finger crossing his throat, to indicate Miguel was likely not going to be with them much longer.  The alcohol in his system had thinned the blood so much the tourniquets couldn’t keep him from bleeding out.  Even if they had decided to let him live, it was too late.  There was nothing they could do to stop it now.  He wouldn’t make it to a hospital even if they were so inclined, which they weren’t.

“Where’s Ortiz?” asked Catherine.

“Just a little water,” Miguel mumbled.

“Come on, Miguel.  Where’s your
Tio
?” asked Matt.

“
Tio
?” Miguel asked, dazed.

“Yeah,
Tio
.  Where does
Tio
live?”

“
Tio
’s rich,” he mumbled.  “He lives in a fucking mansion.”

“Where?” asked Catherine.

“
Tio
,
Tio
,
Tio
,” he mumbled.  “Good ole
Tio
.  ‘Trust me,’ he said.  Now look at me.  And Arismendez, that fat, fucking asshole.”

“Where’s
Tio
, Miguel?” Matt asked.  “Where’s his mansion?”

“Fat fucking asshole,” he mumbled again, this time barely audible.

Catherine knelt down by him and held his hand.  “Tell me how to find
Tio
, Miguel.”

“Fuck you,” he said, his eyes rolling around like marbles.  “I don’t care anymore.  Fat fucking asshole,” he said melodically, as though it were his new favorite rhyme.

Matt looked at Catherine.  They were about to lose him.  “Tell me where
Tio
lives and I’ll kill the Fat Fucking Asshole for you, Miguel,” said Matt.

Miguel stared up at the railcar’s metal ceiling, and then he coughed and made a gurgling noise.

“Miguel!” Catherine yelled, kicking his leg again.  “Where’s
Tio
?  How do I find Arismendez!?”

His eyes settled on her for a moment, and he smiled.  Matt was still holding him upright, but he felt the slack weight and tried smacking Miguel on the cheek.  “Come on, Miguel.  Wake up.  Miguel?  Wake up!”  But Miguel didn’t move.  He just lay there staring upward blankly.  Matt looked at Catherine and his eyes told her they weren’t getting any more out of Miguel.

“Damn it,” said Catherine.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Matt.  He let go of Miguel’s head and the body slumped to the side.

  “What do you mean ‘It doesn’t matter’?” she asked angrily.  “He didn’t tell us where they are.”

“You think all those officials back in Cancun don’t know where this Arismendez guy is?  You heard him, he’s right in the heart of the city.  Everybody there knows who he is.”

That wasn’t a comforting thought.  “Okay, but what about Ortiz?  He’s somewhere here in Mexico City.”

“We have Miguel’s cell phone.  I’m sure Uncle Ortiz is in here somewhere.”  He pulled out the phone and began going through the address book.  “Bingo!” he said, turning the phone to show Catherine.  “We got
Tio
’s home and
Tio
’s cell.  These guys aren’t worried about hiding.  They don’t think they have to.  He’ll be easy to find.”  Catherine looked at him with a smile, but it turned into a worried curve of her lip after a moment.  “What’s wrong?” He asked.  But he had an idea of what it may be from her expression, “Are you up for more of this?  We can stop any time.  Pass this along to someone else.”

“Who?” she asked.  Matt said nothing, only looked back at Miguel’s blank stare.  “Exactly,” she said.  “It’s us or it’s nobody.”  The idea that Arismendez had been sitting in Cancun this whole time was making Catherine’s innards boil.  And he’d just been left to carry out his business, murdering people left and right, untouched by anyone.

Matt turned back to meet her gaze.  “Then it’s us.”

“Yeah,” she said.  “I guess so.  But how the hell are we going to be able to keep this up?”  She was daunted.  Miguel was supposed to be the last link in the chain, but now they’d found out he was just a rung in a ladder that still kept going.  She wasn’t cut out for the running around killing people for more names to run around and kill.  It was all starting to seem like a bloody road with no end.  How long before a Mack truck bowled them over, just two more carcasses on this highway of death?  Even if they did make it through, avoiding all the dangers involved, how long until she no longer recognized herself?

Matt put his hand out and cupped her chin, “We can do this,” he told her.  “If you want to keep going, I’m with you.  But if you’ve gotten the answers you were looking for and are done, I’m with you there, too.  We know who did it and we know why, now.  That’s something.  It’s a big something.  I don’t think anyone could ask more of you than what you’ve already done.  And I don’t think the Mexican government will look the other way if they find out Arismendez is the one who killed Taylor.  They’re not going to give up their tourism.”