Fatal Exchange (10 page)

I
don
’
t
want
you
as
my
negotiator
 . . .

Rafael’s sharp words to Mason echoed through Emily’s mind. She shoved her uneaten pizza aside as Mason walked down the aisle toward her. She’d watched his interaction with Rafael. Voice even. Temper in check. But clearly nothing he’d said made a difference. Rafael had made it clear he was finished talking. That meant that whoever was behind this had found a way to completely control Rafael.

Mason slid into the seat in front of her. No matter what Rafael’s reaction had been, Mason’s presence helped take the edge off the panic she’d felt all morning. With him in the room, she could almost believe they were all going to be okay.

“How are you doing?” he asked.

She managed a smile. “I’m fine, considering my day.”

“
I’m fine
aside, how are you really doing?”

She shivered and reached for her sweater from the back of the chair. He leaned forward to help wrap it around her back. His hand brushed against the back of her neck. Prickles ran down her spine—having nothing to do with the dropping temperature of the room. And everything to do with the man sitting in the desk in front of her. Emily slid her arms into the sleeves. This wasn’t the time or the place to let her imagination—or her heart,
for that matter—distract her. But while the girlhood crush she’d had on him in college had faded years ago, what she was feeling now was something brand new.

She focused on his question as she rubbed her finger across someone’s pencil doodle of a unicorn on the top of the desk. “My stomach is knotted, and I’m cold, except for my hands, which are sweaty. But we’re all still alive, so I feel as if I have something to be thankful for. And . . .” She hesitated again. “Having you in the room helps a lot.”

“Being here clearly isn’t making a difference with Rafael.” He kept his voice low, but his frustration was obvious. “You should eat. Keep up your strength.”

She looked at the slice of pizza on her desk. “I can’t eat.”

“I understand. I was certain that if I could just get in here, I could find a way to convince him to turn himself in, but now . . . I’m not sure there is a way out short of finding Eduardo or handing over the money.”

“Then that’s what we wait for. Because he’s determined to see this through.” Emily glanced up at Rafael, not knowing if she and Mason should be talking. For the moment, though, he was letting them. Just like he’d allowed her to continue to walk around and check on each of the students every few minutes. “You texted that they took Rafael’s mother.”

Mason nodded. “At this point we’re assuming she’s with Eduardo.”

Rafael had worked hard to keep his family together. Knowing his mother’s life was on the line would have been enough to push him over the edge.

Emily lowered her voice. “Any leads on their whereabouts?”

“Your sister’s team is working on finding him. Jackson and the lab are trying to narrow down a location.” Mason glanced back at Rafael. “Do you still have the phone? I need to send the captain a text.”

She nodded, then slipped him the cell phone under the desk.

The clock ticked in the background while Mason wrote a text to the captain. Rafael had started pacing again in the front of the room. Fatigue showed on his face.

The kids sat quiet. Waiting. Pizza boxes lay open at the back of the room, half empty. A couple of the kids were still eating. Some hadn’t eaten at all. Emily tapped her fingers against the desk. She couldn’t blame them. Having your life threatened with a bullet tended to erase your appetite.

A moment later, Mason finished typing, then slid the phone under his leg. How could he be so focused and alert and calm?

“Do you ever get scared?” she asked.

He touched the dark stubble on his face. With his hair brushing the collar of his leather jacket, he had a look of rugged charm about him. Complete opposite from Charlie, who preferred suits and ties to jeans and T-shirts.

Not that she was comparing.

“I’ve learned to cope with fear, but yeah, I get scared. I remember one of my first assignments as a rookie cop. We were called out to handle a domestic dispute with weapons and ended up walking into a shooting match. Before we could arrest the couple, I was certain I was going to get killed. I don’t think I’ve ever been so scared in my life.”

“I guess we know the outcome to that one.” She caught a brief flicker of a smile at her response and grasped onto the small sliver of hope that this day would also end without anyone dying. “What did you do?”

“I ran.”

Emily’s eyes widened. “You ran?”

“It was either that or get shot. Turns out the weapons they had were assault rifles, and they were shooting at anyone who came near them.”

“You were lucky.”

“Nope.” He smiled at her, and she noted the dimple in his right cheek. And the fact that his eyes weren’t just plain brown, but a half-dozen shades of the color. She looked away. She was clearly losing it. “I’ve learned God had something else in mind for me. It’s taken me a long time to realize that though. As for you, you’ve held up under a lot of pressure today.”

She felt her stomach flip at the compliment. It’d been a long time since she’d let a man affect her this way . . . since Charlie. For some crazy reason there was something about Mason that was managing to rekindle feelings she’d thought were long buried.

Or maybe it was just the fact that she’d been thrust into a terrifying situation, and he’d suddenly become her hero.

She pushed the thoughts away. “I just wish I’d been able to convince Rafael that what he’s doing isn’t going to work.”

“You can’t beat yourself up either, Emily. I’ve known him for a long time as well and couldn’t get him to step down. You’ve done a great job in not allowing a bad situation to get worse.”

“I don’t know how it could get worse. A boy was shot and almost killed in front of all these kids. Amie’s still having trouble breathing, he held a gun to my niece’s head . . .”

“Your quick response helped save Philip’s life.”

“Maybe, but I didn’t have a choice. No matter how scared I am, these kids are my responsibility.” She glanced back at Rafael, surprised he was still allowing them to talk. He lifted the blinds a fraction, peaked outside, then started pacing again. No matter what had happened or what he had said or done, he was nothing more than a scared boy. “What about my texts? I know someone is manipulating him, and there has to be a way to figure out who is behind this.”

Mason lowered his voice. “There’s a team scanning for a signal. If he’s wearing an earbud—and if someone’s out there—they’ll find them.”

“Do you believe someone’s manipulating him?”

“Yes, but only because I don’t want to believe he was able to orchestrate this on his own. But no matter what I think, we can’t rule out the possibility that he’s playing us.”

“Playing us?” Emily leaned forward. “Why would he do that?”

“If he can’t find a way out of this, blaming someone else would be a viable option for him.”

“So he finds a way to make me believe someone else is out there controlling him, so when this is over, he can walk away?” Emily shook her head. She didn’t buy it. “If he’s doing this on his own, wouldn’t he want me to think he’s in complete control? Otherwise, he’d appear vulnerable and weak.”

“I don’t know. I spoke with him this morning. He sent me the photos of his brother, and I heard the fear in his voice. I don’t think there’s any way he could do this on his own, but that doesn’t mean the captain doesn’t have a point. We have to consider all the options.”

“And in the meantime?”

“I’m going to give him a few minutes more to cool off, then try and talk with him again.”

Feelings of vulnerability she’d tried to bury all morning resurfaced. “Odd how all the scenarios we went over in our teacher training tried to prepare us for what to
do
, but not for the emotional impact.”

“Sometimes nothing can fully prepare you.”

Like Avery. Even with all of her sister’s experience in dealing with tragedy, knowing her daughter’s life was on the line was going to affect her. “What about Avery? I’m assuming she knows Tess is here?”

“Yes.”

“How’s she handling it?”

“You of all people know that your sister’s strong, but I know this has to be tough on her. The captain sent her back to the precinct to run intelligence and search the Cerdas’ apartment.”

“Ouch. I’m sure that didn’t go over well. I know she’s wishing she could barge into this classroom with the SWAT team, grab all the kids, and run.”

Mason chuckled softly. “I’m sure she’s thought of that idea once or twice.”

Emily tapped her fingers on the desk and looked at Tess. She sat in the next desk over, head down, eyes squeezed shut. “Avery and Tess fought this morning before school. I know it has to be weighing heavily on both of them.”

He paused for a moment, a shadow crossing his expression. “I’m sure she’s also not happy that I’m the one in this room trying to negotiate your and Tess’s release.”

Emily shook her head. “I wouldn’t worry about that. I’m pretty capable of forming my own opinions of people.”

“So her feelings toward me haven’t affected your trusting me to head up this negotiation?”

“I learned a long time ago to let Avery have her own opinions. I might look up to my sister, but that doesn’t mean she’s always right.”

“She’s completely wrong in this case.” The hint of amusement on Mason’s face vanished. “I didn’t have anything to do with Michael’s death, Emily. He was my best friend. I never would have done anything to betray him.”

“You don’t have to explain—”

“Maybe not, but I feel like I do.” He shook his head. “I need you to believe me.”

She ran her finger across the doodled unicorn again. “Avery was hit hard when Michael died, and we’ve both seen how his death has affected my mother. Add to that, Avery’s the kind of person who wants to fix everything. There are some things that simply can’t be fixed.”

“And you?”

“It’s been a hard few months. Michael and I were close. But
so were you. I haven’t forgotten that you lost your best friend and, really, lost a family too.”

“Your family always was the family I could only dream of having. Mine . . . well. Let’s just say I love my brothers, but beyond that, it was your typical broken, dysfunctional unit.”

She could read the disappointment and longing in his eyes. She knew enough about him to know that his home life had been difficult. He hadn’t experienced the healthy family she’d been blessed with.

Mason grabbed the phone from under his leg, then glanced up at Rafael, who was slouched against the teacher’s desk.

She felt her heart pound. “Another message?”

“From the captain. This might be over sooner than we thought.” Mason squeezed her hand. “They think they’ve found where the cartel is keeping Eduardo and his mother.”

A
very felt the familiar punch of adrenaline rush through her as she and her team burst through the doors of Graceland Funeral Home with a warrant from Judge Atlas. Tory had taken Jackson’s discovery of glutaraldehyde—a chemical used to embalm bodies—on three of the four victims in the Torres case, cross-referenced it to suspected cartel involvement, and found one probable match. Which at the moment gave them one shot at finding Eduardo and his mother.

The strong scent of flowers engulfed her inside the pale-blue reception room. It was exquisitely decorated in order to make a grieving family feel comfortable when they walked through the door. For her, though, it only managed to dredge up unwanted memories connected to Ethan’s and her brother’s deaths. The pungent scent of flowers. The casket and burial vault display room. Why was everything bringing on a slew of unwanted emotions today?

A woman walked into the reception room. She looked to be in her late twenties, with a red-highlighted black ponytail, jeans, and a pink Mickey Mouse T-shirt. “I’m sorry, but we’re closed . . .”

Her voice faded as she caught sight of the uniformed officers behind Avery.

Avery held up her badge. “Who else is in the building?”

“No one . . . just . . . the janitors.” She tugged on the end of her ponytail. “We’re closed on Mondays. I’m just here to finish some paperwork.”

“We have a warrant to search the premises.”

The girl pulled out a phone from her back pocket. “I’ll need to call my boss—”

“You can hold off on making that phone call for now,” Avery ordered.

The girl’s face paled. “I don’t understand.”

“Where is the room where all the documents and files are kept?”

“Downstairs.”

“Which room?”

The girl hesitated.

Avery’s patience was gone. They’d noted the edge of a file cabinet in Eduardo’s ransom photos, and since many funeral homes had a windowless, concrete room so records and files would be preserved in the case of a fire, that’s where she planned to look first. “I have a warrant. Which room is it?”

“It’s at the end of the hallway, but I can’t let you in there. Diego would kill me if he found out—”

“You don’t have a choice.”

“Even if I wanted to, I don’t have the key.”

“That’s not a problem.” Avery nodded at one of the uniformed officers. “Stay with her. Griffin, Tory, and I will check out the records room. The rest of you spread out and search the building.”

Ignoring the girl’s protests, Avery started down the dimly lit staircase in front of Griffin and Tory. At the bottom of the stairs was a long hallway with a couple of naked bulbs hanging from the ceiling and casting eerie shadows along unfinished cement walls. She grabbed her flashlight as they started down the hall
and shone it down the line of doors, a stark difference from the polished decor upstairs.

Lord, they have to be here . . .

A guard sat in front of a door at the end of the narrow corridor, chair tilted back, earphones plugged in, eyes closed.

Avery kicked the chair onto all fours. The guard grabbed for his gun but didn’t react fast enough.

“This is an interesting place for an armed guard.” Avery pointed her gun at him. “Set your weapon on the ground, stand up, and put your hands behind your head.”

He yanked the earphones out of his ears, set his weapon beside him, then stood up slowly.

“Where are they?” she asked.

“Who?” He shook his head. “I’m just the janitor. Taking a break. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Right.”

Griffin pulled a set of keys from the guard’s back pocket and started fishing for a match for the doorknob. “Got it.”

Avery stepped into the room while Tory cuffed the guard. She switched on the light and felt the air in her lungs escape. She recognized the boy sitting in the corner from the photos. The same bloodshot eyes, bruised cheekbone, crooked nose . . . How many others had sat in this room trying to prepare themselves for a horrible death?

He glanced up at them, his eyes squinting at the light. He started pulling against the pipe where his hands had been secured with duct tape, unable to speak with the gag in his mouth. Avery knelt down beside him and untied the bandana. Her stomach quivered. A few more hours, and he might have been another victim for her to find with his throat slit.

“Eduardo. We’re the police. It’s over.”

He gasped for air. “They said they were going to kill me.”

“Who are
they
?”

“I don’t know. I never saw them before.”

Avery glanced behind a row of filing cabinets for the boy’s mother, but there was no sign that Elaine Cerda had even been there.

“Where’s your mother?”

“My mother?”

She helped Eduardo to his feet, grasping his arm tighter when the boy stumbled. She’d make sure he got the medical care he needed, but there were questions she needed answers to first.

“We thought she was being held here with you.”

“Why would she be here? They grabbed me from our house. They didn’t take her.”

“Someone did. Early this morning from outside the hotel where she works. Your mother’s missing, Eduardo.”

“No.” He struggled to keep his balance. Avery caught the hint of panic in his eyes. Or maybe it was guilt. “Where is she?”

“I wouldn’t be asking you if I knew, now would I?”

“If they have her, they’ll kill her.”

“Maybe you should have thought about that before you got involved with the wrong people.” She nodded to Griffin. “Cuff him and take him back to the precinct.”

“Wait.” Eduardo tried to pull away from Griffin’s grip. “You can’t arrest me. I was kidnapped. I’m not the one who’s supposed to go to jail.”

“Really?” Avery caught his gaze, her anger mounting. He might be a kid, but how many lives had his bad choices affected, including his own? His mother. Rafael. Emily. Tess . . . “The police dogs found drugs hidden under the carpet beneath your bed, and then there’s a little matter of fifty-thousand dollars in cash. If you can find a way to talk your way out of both of those, you might get lucky, but I have a feeling the DA’s not going to be very helpful.”

“It’s not what you think.”

“So you’re not dealing drugs?”

Eduardo looked down.

An officer entered the room. “The rest of the building is clear.”

Avery nodded. They’d take the receptionist in for questioning to see what she knew, but more than likely she was a part of the legitimate front who was purposely kept in the dark.

They headed up the stairs for the front door. One piece of the puzzle was still missing. Mrs. Cerda should have been here.

“Where’s the woman?” Avery asked the guard at the top of the stairs.

The man’s brow wrinkled. “The only person I saw was the boy.”

She shook her head, uninterested in playing games. Until they found Rafael’s mother, Tess was still in danger. Avery took a step forward until she was less than six inches from the man’s face. “Tell me where the woman is.”

“I said, I don’t know.”

“You’re already facing charges of kidnapping for ransom, and now you’re too stupid to cooperate—”

“I swear, it was only the boy.” He made eye contact and kept it. “No one else has been here, and they don’t tell me nothin’.”

Avery backed off. More than likely the man was telling the truth. But why hold Mrs. Cerda at a separate location? It didn’t make sense.

“She has to be here somewhere,” Avery said.

Tory shook her head. “There isn’t any sign that there was anyone here besides Eduardo.”

Avery turned back to the guard. “Tell me who you’re working for.”

“They pay me to sit and guard this room. I don’t ask questions. And like I said. They don’t tell me nothin’.”

“When do you expect them to return?”

“They usually bring food once a day, along with a replacement for me. Not exactly a lot of traffic down here.”

Avery turned to their backup team. She didn’t believe him, but a few rounds in the interrogation room with Carlos would change things. “I want you to keep this building under surveillance. If anyone comes in or goes out, I want them brought in for questioning.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Avery started for the door with Eduardo at her side, in step with Tory and Griffin, as the front door of the funeral home burst open.

One of the officers walking out with them shouted—“Gun!”

A shot echoed across the reception area, shattering a plate of glass behind Avery. She pulled out her weapon, then jerked Eduardo with her behind the receptionist desk.

“How many?” she shouted at Tory.

“Two. One bald, the other with a tattoo across his left forearm.”

If they were out to silence their only witnesses, then Eduardo knew something.

Avery turned to the young man. “What do you know?”

“Nothing.”

“Tell me the truth, Eduardo.”

Two more shots were fired.

She’d had enough surprises for today. Enough bad guys. All she wanted was to snuggle with Tess on the couch and for this to all be over.

She fought to focus. Emotions she’d held on to the past few hours were beginning to unravel. After today, the captain was going to throw her off the case, and for once she’d have to agree that he was correct.

“They’re using your brother to get the money they believe you owe, Eduardo. What are you involved in?”

The boy’s face paled.

“They took your mother as well.” What was it going to take to convince him to talk?

“I’m a seller.”

“How much do you bring in?”

“A couple hundred thousand a year.”

A couple hundred thousand?

“Partly earned . . . partly stolen.”

“And they want it back.”

Eduardo nodded. “But I don’t have what they want.”

He’d been trying to play the cartel.

“And your mother doesn’t know?”

“She’s too busy.”

“Who do you work for?”

“He’ll kill me.”

“They’re going to kill your brother and mom. Who is it?”

One of the men moved into her line of sight on the far side of the counter. She pulled the trigger. No boom. Just a click. Avery tapped the bottom of the magazine, racked the slide, then flipped the gun to the right, and let the empty shell fall out. The magazine dropped, leaving her defenseless, but he’d seen her. She—and Eduardo—were pinned in. She needed a way to get him out that wasn’t in the line of the gunman. And he was making his way toward her.

The man in a black knit cap rounded the corner . . . dark hair, scar on his left cheek, gun aimed straight at her. Avery grabbed her backup pistol from her ankle holster.

He fired off two shots, seconds before she did. The first bullet hit Eduardo. The second slammed into her like a baseball bat as it ripped through her thigh. Her breath caught. Adrenaline flooded her system. She waited for the pain, but all she felt was a hot burning sensation and a strange numbness.

The room tilted diagonally as the gunman fell to the ground. Someone had hit him. Tory and Griffin shouted in the background, their words mumbled and garbled. Her mind tried to grasp what was happening as they moved in slow motion
toward her. She tried to focus, but all she wanted to do was close her eyes.

The diagonal room tilted further as she dropped to her knees. Blood dripped onto the floor. Red. Sticky. Her blood. If the bullet had hit her femoral artery, she could bleed out in a matter of minutes.

She tried to shout. Tried to think. But all she could focus on was that they had to save Eduardo. He was the only link they had to finding who was behind this. If he was a dealer, he had to know who was behind the kidnappings . . .

“Eduardo . . . We can’t lose him.”

Tory knelt in front of her. “Avery, you’re going to be okay. We’re going to get both of you to the hospital. Paramedics are on their way now. Just hang in there.”

She groaned. Memories blurred. She’d been there when her partner Mitch had been shot. He’d died, leaving behind a fiancée who loved him. Parents who hadn’t expected to bury their child. She wasn’t ready to die. Wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Tess and Jackson. Needed to tell them she was sorry. So sorry . . .

She tried to open her eyes. Tory was pressing against her with something hot. Avery tried to push it away. She needed to get up. If they didn’t find his mother, Rafael would have no reason to let the students go. And Tess . . .

“Don’t get up, Avery. You need to be still.”

“Have to get up.” Her head swam. “Eduardo—”

“Eduardo was shot. One of the shooters is dead. The other’s in custody.”

“No. He can’t die. We have to find his mother.”

“We’ll find her, but in the meantime, you’re off the case. You’re going to the hospital.”

Sirens wailed in the background. Tory’s voice drifted away until Avery couldn’t hear her anymore.