Rage Of The Assassin (22 page)

The lieutenant’s voice came over the radio a moment later, and Cruz switched to his earbud.

“Lieutenant, we found the driver, but we were attacked when we tried to grab him. Nobody survived. There were shooters everywhere in the buildings around here. Nobody on our team stood a chance. There’s backup on its way, but I want you to get to the site and oversee a search. I’m stuck a few blocks away.” Cruz told him about the explosions, and when he finished, Briones sounded shocked.

“Drones? Like they use in combat?”

“Exactly. Armed with bombs of some sort. They were homing in on my phone. I don’t know how, but it got compromised.”

“You’re okay?”

“Yes, but I’m waiting to ensure nobody tries to make off with any evidence.” Cruz paused. “Any calls from Dinah or Godoy?”

“Not that I know of. Give me a second and I’ll check with your secretary.”

“Thanks.”

Briones returned two minutes later. “Nothing from either of them, but
Capitan
? You probably better get back here. Godoy’s wife is in your office – she says it’s an emergency and she needs to talk to you.”

Cruz shook his head. “His wife?”

“Yes. I asked her what was wrong, but she said she’d wait to tell you. Only you. She stressed that.”

“I’m going to be a while,” he growled.

“She seems distraught. Barely holding it together.”

“Damn. I don’t have time for this.”

“Yes, sir.”

Cruz sighed. “Fine. When the bomb squad gets here, I’ll come in. How soon can you get to the shooting scene? There’s a strong possibility that Aranas was there. The chances that he still is are nonexistent, but nevertheless I want a building-to-building search, and I want the neighborhood cordoned off so nobody can get past police lines. Probably way too late, but we need to do something in case any of the shooters are in the area and try to slip by.”

Briones hesitated. “That will require a lot of manpower.”

“Then requisition it. It needs to happen.”

“Will do, sir.”

“Any further news on the buildings they’ve sealed off?”

“Not yet. All I can get is the official line: that it’s a terrorist threat and there could be a bomb. If anyone knows anything else, they aren’t talking.”

“Damn.” Cruz looked back at the coils of smoke winding into the air from the crater. “I’ll need a cell phone. Mine’s history.”

“We have a ton of spares. I’ll leave one in your office.”

A huge explosion rocked the car, and Cruz stared off in its direction as a fireball lit the sky.

“What was that?” Briones demanded.

“I don’t know. It sounded like a bomb. From where the shoot-out took place.” Cruz frowned. “I have no idea what the hell’s going on, Lieutenant, but whatever it is, I want you to be extremely careful. We’re flying blind in this, and that’s a good way to get killed.”

“I will. I’ll be on the comm line if you need anything.”

Chapter 37

The task force floor was quiet when Cruz returned, only a skeleton crew working the night shift. A janitor was mopping the ceramic tile floor as Cruz stepped through the doors and made his way across the expanse to his office in the far corner, furious at how the day had gone by in a whirl with no progress made on freeing his wife or Godoy’s ridiculous task force, and their only lead on Aranas having turned into a bloodbath with nothing but dead officers to show for it.

He opened his door and found Mrs. Godoy sitting at his conference table, her face drawn. Cruz had never met the woman and was taken aback by how attractive she was. He’d always assumed that a cockroach like Godoy would be married to something equivalently odious, but even though she was in her fifties, the considerable beauty that must have been her youthful joy was still very much in evidence.

She stood as he approached and offered a delicate hand. Cruz shook it and took the seat opposite her.

“Mrs. Godoy, I’m afraid I have very little time. This is highly irregular, and I’m in the middle of several crises…”

“
Capitan
Cruz, I know you and my husband don’t always get along, but he’s mentioned your name a number of times as the most competent officer on the force.”

“I appreciate the praise, but–”

Her voice dropped to a hush. “My husband’s been kidnapped.”

Cruz sat forward, his shock obvious. “What? When?”

“Last night. I got the call this morning. He was taken at his mistress’s apartment. That’s all I know.”

Cruz looked away at the pained expression on the woman’s face. It was clear to Cruz that she hadn’t known about her husband’s dalliances until the call.

“Did you report the ransom call to the police?” he asked.

She snorted. “Are you kidding? The kidnappers just grabbed one of the senior police officials in the country. You think they’re afraid of the cops? We both know the DF force is a joke – there are more kidnappings in this city than almost anywhere in the world. And how many wind up being solved by the police? I know the numbers,
Capitan
. Almost none.”

Cruz couldn’t dispute her reasoning. It was the ugly truth. Most didn’t bother reporting kidnappings, preferring to pay in order to safeguard their loved ones rather than allow the local police to blunder through, which usually resulted in the victim’s death.

His voice softened. “But you’re telling me.”

“Yes. Because you’re not like the rest. You may actually be able to do something.”

He considered her words. Here he was, almost nine hours after his wife had called to announce she was being held captive against her will, and he’d achieved absolutely nothing to free her.

Cruz shook his head. “Your faith in me isn’t justified, Mrs. Godoy. I don’t handle kidnappings. I have no real experience investigating them – that’s not what I do.”

“You’re honest, which is a good start. And you know everybody. You run a large organization. You must have informants. All I’m asking you to do is try. I don’t expect miracles.”

“What are the terms of the ransom?”

“They want a million U.S. dollars.”

Cruz’s eyebrows lifted. “I see. And do you have that kind of money?”

It was her turn to look away. “I can probably get it. But it would make things very difficult.”

Of course it would. Especially since she was probably planning to divorce Godoy once he was freed, if she didn’t kill him first. That was
her
million the kidnappers would have walked away with, her piece of the marriage wealth she’d have claim to in divorce proceedings. Cruz could understand her reluctance to pay it in order to free a cheating spouse – especially an objectionable piece of excrement like her husband.

His face showed nothing. “How much time did they give you?”

“They want the money by tomorrow. I told them that was impossible, and that I’d need at least a couple of days. They didn’t like it, but they agreed.”

“So we have…thirty-six hours?”

She nodded. “About that.”

“Have they called back?”

“No.”

Cruz stood. He needed this like he needed a hole in his head. He was formulating his refusal when she began crying, as though she sensed his coming rejection.

“I…I’m sorry,
Capitan
,” she sobbed. “I just don’t know who else to turn to. He always told me that if he was ever in real trouble, you’d be the one he’d want on the case. And now…now he’s in trouble. I hope he wasn’t wrong about you. He said you are an honorable man.”

Cruz moved to his desk and fished out a box of tissues he kept for his allergies. He handed her one and sat again. He’d never been good with crying women and felt his heart go out to her, even though he despised her husband.

“Can you think of anyone who might be connected with this?” Cruz asked. “Anyone who holds a grudge against him?”

She shook her head. “No. I’ve spent the whole day wondering about that, but there’s nobody. Then again, it seems I don’t really know anything about my husband, do I? I had to hear about this…this other woman, from his kidnappers.”

“Did they mention her name?”

“No.”

“And you have no idea where he was snatched?”

“None.”

Cruz felt himself getting sucked into the situation and made a decision. “I’ll do what I can, which isn’t much. We can pull your phone records and see where the call originated, but that’s likely a dead end. Most kidnappers know enough to place their ransom calls with untraceable or stolen cell phones. And we can look at your husband’s credit card bills and see whether there were any charges yesterday that might indicate where he last was, as well as check his bank records to see whether he’s made any suspicious payments.”

Mrs. Godoy looked puzzled. Cruz clarified. “Often, if a married man is seeing another woman, money changes hands – perhaps some help with bills or a loan to help a sick relative…assuming it’s not a more…commercial transaction.”

“I didn’t even think about that.”

Cruz couldn’t grasp how a good-looking woman could see her repellant husband as anything but a paying customer, but there was no point in belaboring it. “I’ll need your signature on some forms to do all this.”

Relief flooded her features. “Thank you. Thank you so much,
Capitan
. Of course I’ll sign whatever you wish.”

Cruz nodded and rose again. “Mrs. Godoy, I have to warn you that you’d be best off preparing to pay the ransom. You know how slim the likelihood is that we can locate him in time. These kidnapping rings are usually organized and experienced, and they rarely make mistakes large enough for us to track them down. I’m not going to lie to you. My efforts will probably do no good.” He wanted to add that she should refuse to pay the ransom, and instead take the money and spend the season in Paris or Barcelona, but held his tongue.

She stood and dabbed her eyes, and then removed a card and wrote two phone numbers on the back of it. “This is my home number, and this is my cell. Call me anytime.”

He took the card and motioned to the door. “Nothing will get done before the morning, I’m afraid. As you can see, the office is largely empty. But I’ll put some people on it then, and you can expect a group to want access to your phone line so we can trace any new calls.”

“Of course. I’ll cooperate however you like,” she said as she moved to the doorway. “Thanks again,
Capitan
Cruz. You’re a good man.”

Cruz escorted her to the elevators and, when she was gone, retraced his steps to his office, shaking his head. As though he didn’t already have enough on his plate. But he couldn’t refuse her.

Now he needed to make another round of calls and see what he could learn about the continuing closedown of the downtown area around the buildings, and see whether there was an alternative way into the hospital that he could use in order to free his wife and unborn child. There had to be some way in, either through ventilation shafts or, worst case, through the sewers.

But there was no way he was going to stand by and do nothing.

He was going through his Rolodex when his handset chimed.

It was Dinah.

“How are you,
amor
?” he asked.

“Everyone’s settled in for the night. But it’s a nightmare. They brought meals, but they were inedible, and they’re still not telling us when this will be over. Have you heard anything?”

“No. Whatever is going on, it’s being directed from higher in the food chain than I have access to. But I haven’t given up. I’m going to find a way into the hospital tonight and get you out.”

“How?”

“I haven’t figured that out yet. But I will. I promise. Where exactly are you in the building? Everyone will probably be asleep by the time I get in, assuming I can, and I want to be able to find you without starting a riot or wasting time.”

“They have guards patrolling the halls.”

“Right, but I’m still the head of the anti-cartel task force. I’d say that trumps some private security goons.”

She told him which floor she was on and the department name, and described its location. When she finished, Cruz was more determined than ever. “I’ll come for you before the night’s over, Dinah. I swear I will.”

“I believe you, Romero. But don’t get into trouble. Please. Be prudent.”

“Absolutely,” he lied, and disconnected.

The time for following the rules and operating through channels was over – he’d been doing that all day and had nothing to show for it, so he’d have to break some rules. His wife was all that mattered, and his job as a man, as her husband, was to get her out. He was her mate first, a cop second, and if he had to choose, there was no question which one would triumph tonight.

Now he just needed to come up with a workable plan to evade the entire Mexican army and police force.

He smirked at the thought. If Aranas could slip out of a supposedly impenetrable maximum-security prison right under the noses of the nation’s premier security force, Cruz could certainly do the same for a hospital.

At least that was his hope.

He thought for a moment, flipped to the address card he was searching for, and began making calls.

Chapter 38

Charlottesville, Virginia

El Rey and Dr. Hunt sat in his car, watching the fenced perimeter of the storage facility and the armed guards that patrolled it. They’d been there for two hours, and it was becoming increasingly apparent that the security was too rigorous for the assassin to attempt breaching. Hunt sighed and looked at her watch.

“Any ideas?” she asked.

“Not yet. I thought you said the security was lax.”

“That was years ago. They must have upgraded since then. I don’t think there were guards at night like this, just a few who sat around inside playing cards or whatever. Maybe there was some sort of a threat?”

“I might be able to cut through that fence and make it to one of the doors, but I’d be picked up by the surveillance cameras. You can just make them out near the roofline. See?”

She nodded. “Then what are you going to do?”

“I need to think.”

She took the hint, reclined her seat, and closed her eyes.