The Body Market: A Leine Basso Thriller (21 page)

L
eine pulled into
the parking lot of the Happy Cow an hour and twenty minutes after her call to Santa and Herrera. The DEA agent’s truck was parked under the sign. Herrera, Santa, and two other men Leine didn’t recognize stood next to it. Two other vehicles were parked nearby. When they saw her pull in, they walked over to the SUV.

Santa leaned through the window and peered into the back seat.

“
Hola,
” he said to the children.

“
Hola,
” came several quiet replies.

He turned to Leine. “You’re bleeding.”

Leine followed his gaze. The bloodstain on her sleeve had grown. She’d put pressure near the wound and had stanched the flow temporarily, but it hadn’t been enough.

“Bob’s got a first aid kit in his truck,” he said.

Herrera opened the passenger door to count heads. The other two men stood a short distance away.

“Yep. Twelve. Just like the report says,” he said to them.

“Report?” Leine asked.

“I checked to see if there had been any reports of missing kids out of La Paz, and bingo—two days ago, twelve kids on a field trip went missing.” He leaned against the seat. “I called the mayor to let him know we found them. He’s sending the parents on a school bus to pick them up.”

He turned to the kids. “Did you hear that?” he said. “The mayor himself is sending a bus to bring you all home.” Cheers erupted from the backseat.

Leine glanced in the rearview mirror. Several of them gazed longingly at the man behind the
carne asada
counter, carving up what was left of a pig. The smell of seared meat wafted through the window, reminding Leine how hungry she was, let alone twelve kids who’d been kidnapped two days before.

She gave Santa a meaningful look. “I’ll bet they’re starved after what they’ve been through,” she said. Santa smiled.

“Who wants a taco?”

***

It had grown dark by the time Santa changed the bandage on her arm and Leine and the children had eaten. Herrera introduced the two men with him as fellow DEA agents.

“I have reason to believe Elise Bennett is being held against her will at Felix Otero’s whorehouse,” Leine said. She relayed the information from Zamir’s gunman to Herrera and the other two agents.

“That’s the place,” Herrera confirmed. “We’ll make sure the right people know.”

“I’m willing to do reconnaissance,” Leine continued, “if you’ll wait to contact your people until I report back. I’m worried what might happen to Elise in the raid.”

Herrera considered her offer. “I’ll hold off for a few hours,” he said, glancing at his watch. “I assume you’re going with her?” he asked Santa.

“Yes.”

“Just remember, you’re not here. Keep your ass under the radar.”

With Herrera’s blessing, she and Santa said goodbye to the kids and left in Herrera’s truck. Bob and the other agents would stay with the children until the bus showed up to take them home. Then they’d comb through Zamir’s SUV.

They followed the main highway south and then west, driving past empty, half-finished houses and stores, the occasional steer, and billboards to now-defunct hotels and restaurants.

The warm evening air flowed through the window, the smell of Baja del Norte redolent with dust and asphalt, the faint, briny scent of the sea, the weight of life’s many detours—some good, some not. Leine’s memories of the country were tinged with blood—a byproduct of her former life and, apparently, the life she led now.

She glanced at Santa and her face warmed. He always managed to be there when she needed him.

Besides April, this man is the best part of my life.

Leine mentally shook off the unfamiliar sentiment and focused.

“The driver said Belinda Bennett betrayed the man who kidnapped Elise.” She leaned back and watched the play of headlights on the shadowy desert terrain.

Santa glanced at her. “You don’t think he meant the ransom?”

“No. He said a man named Ivan was using Elise to force Belinda Bennett to pay up. When she didn’t come through with the money, he sold her to Otero to recoup his losses. Apparently he has a deal where Otero pays him a percentage of earnings.”

“What earnings? I thought Bob said Otero kept these girls as a kind of perk for his employees.”

“It’s possible he charges other men who aren’t in his organization to use them.” She hoped they weren’t too late. 

Several kilometers later, a sign above a metal gate materialized to their left that read
El Rancho del Maestro
. Santa slowed to a stop.

“The ranch of the master?” Santa shook his head. “This guy’s got a serious case of egomania.”

“I think it might refer to God, although it could be all about Otero. He’s known to be a religious zealot.”

“I wonder how he justifies prostituting young women against their will.”

“Or running a criminal enterprise.” Leine scanned the darkness beyond the gate, focusing on a speck of light in the distance. “Looks like the ranch is a couple of kilometers that way.”

Santa put the truck in gear and continued past the entrance to the ranch. They drove up a slight rise and then back down the other side. At the bottom he headed off-road, following a wash into the desert, paralleling the ranch. When the wash petered out Santa cut the lights. He climbed up another rise and parked. After rummaging around in the console, he handed her a pair of night vision binoculars and a handheld radio.

They walked to the crest of the next hill and stopped. Santa had gotten close enough to the ranch to give them a good visual of the three main buildings. Several lights burned from the windows of one of the two farmhouse-like structures. Snippets of raucous laughter, music, and the occasional slam of a screen door floated toward them through the still desert air.

In contrast, a solitary light had been left on in a room on the first floor of the main farmhouse and one on the porch. The structure was oddly silent. The dark upper level matched the single story building at the back of the property. Two guards with machine guns patrolled the grounds facing the road, and another walked the perimeter. There didn’t appear to be any other security.

“We need to approach from different angles,” Santa said. “I’ll take north, you come in from the west.”

“Sounds like a plan.” She switched on both radios and keyed the mic. “Once for copy that, twice for what the hell did you say?”

Santa nodded. “Meet you back here in thirty minutes.”

Leine checked her watch—seven thirty. She secured her radio to a belt loop and headed for the back of the compound.

She’d made it to within a hundred yards of the dark, one-story building when Santa’s voice came over the radio.

“Motion cameras.”

Leine keyed the mic and scanned the roofline. It didn’t take her long to spot the video camera mounted on the front of the building. Otero wanted the girls to know he was watching.

She checked to make sure there was no one nearby and then sprinted to the side of the building, keeping to the shadows. Her back to the wall, she inched her way toward the front, staying out of camera range. She reached the end and glanced at the angle of the lens, and determined that if she remained flat against the wall, she could continue undetected.

She peered around the corner and figured she was about three meters from the door. Leine slipped past the camera and reached for the handle.

“
Hola
.”

Leine froze, her hand halfway to the doorknob. She turned slowly. A rail-thin boy of about twelve or thirteen stood behind her, his arm held close to his side.

“Who are you?” he asked in Spanish, cocking his head.

Better just run with it,
she thought.

“My name is Lana. What’s yours?”

The boy’s face split into a grin and he nodded. His head and neck moved as though loosely attached, like a bobblehead doll.

“My name is Sebastian and I live here. Where do you live?”

Leine started to breathe again. He wasn’t concerned about her being there. She glanced behind them in case anyone else wanted to join the party, but there wasn’t a soul nearby. It would only be a matter of time before someone showed up. She ushered him around the side of the building.

“I live north of here.” She smiled back at him. “Maybe you can help me. I’m looking for this girl.” She slid Elise’s picture out of her back pocket and, using a penlight for illumination, showed it to him.

He squinted at the photo and nodded enthusiastically. Leine’s heart beat faster.

“That’s Elise. She’s very nice,” he said, lowering his gaze.

“Yes, she is nice. Do you know where she is? I have something important to give her.”

Sebastian shook his head, his eyes glistening with tears. He opened his mouth several times to speak but couldn’t, apparently overwhelmed with emotion.

Leine’s breath caught in her throat.
Oh, God. I’m too late,
she thought. The crushing guilt of not finding Elise in time gripped her like a dead weight.

“What happened? Is she all right?” Leine asked.

Tears streaked down his cheeks. He wiped his nose on his sleeve.

“I—I don’t know. Nobody can find her. I think she’s lost.”

She’s still alive,
Leine thought with a jolt.
Maybe.

“Do you think something happened to her?”

Sebastian shrugged, misery obvious on his face.

“It wasn’t my fault, I promise. I told Master Garcia and he got mad.”

“Why was Master Garcia mad?”

“Because I made her lost.”

Sebastian broke down sobbing. Afraid his crying might attract attention, Leine put an arm around his shoulders and pulled him further from the front of the building. He willingly followed.

“Shh, Sebastian. It’s okay. I’m sure Master Garcia doesn’t think you lost Elise.”

Sebastian grew quiet but the tears continued.

“Yes, he does. He told me.”

“When’s the last time you saw her?”

Sebastian gulped in air and wiped his eyes. “After dinner. I usually help with the dishes and then I have an hour to play. She asked me to show her and Julia how big the ranch is, so I did.” His face fell. “But when I said we had to go back, they kept walking.”

Leine took him gently by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes. Working to keep her voice calm, she said, “Who is Julia?”

“She lives here. She’s got red hair, and she’s nice, too.”

They’re both trying to escape.
“What time is dinner?”

“Six thirty and seven o’clock. We eat at different times so it doesn’t take so long to get our food.”

“What time did Elise and her friend find you? Six thirty or seven?”

Sebastian thought for a moment. “It was during the first time.”

Six thirty.
“Can you show me where? Maybe I can find them both.”

The tears slowed and he gazed back at Leine, his expression grave. “Master Garcia already sent Max to find them. If he can’t find them, no one can.”

“Max must be very good at finding people. Did he take a car?”

Sebastian smiled through his tears. “Max can’t drive,” he said, as though she’d just said the funniest thing he’d ever heard. “He’s a dog.”

W
ithout much prompting,
Sebastian led her to the place where he’d told the girls they couldn’t go any farther. Leine waited until the perimeter guard passed by before they left. They walked north, into the desert for about twenty minutes before they stopped next to an old
palo verde
with a thick trunk. Leine called Santa on the radio.

“Elise escaped. Meet me two clicks north of the compound.” She read him the coordinates from the phone. “I’m next to a big
palo verde
.”

Santa keyed the mic once, indicating he copied.

“This is the place you can’t cross.” Sebastian rotated in a circle, his arm outstretched. “There’s an invisible line all the way around the ranch, and we aren’t allowed to go beyond it.”

“What happens if you do?”

“Master Garcia gets very angry and sends Max and Cruz out here to find you.”

Leine fished the small flashlight from her pocket and directed the beam at the ground. She made a few passes along where he’d indicated but saw nothing. Then she checked the tree. A small solar-powered box was attached. She shined the light in front of her and walked a straight line to another tree about five yards away, where she found a second box.

“Sebastian, do the girls have to wear anything they can’t take off, like an ankle band?”

He frowned and shook his head. “No.”

“How about an arm band or maybe a necklace?”

“No. Master Garcia doesn’t like them to wear jewelry. Except…”

“Except what?”

The whites of Sebastian’s eyes glowed in the darkness. “I—I gave her a magic bracelet. Do you think she’ll get in trouble?” Panic filled his voice.

“I’m sure what you did was fine,” Leine soothed. “Magic bracelets are usually a good thing, right?”

Sebastian sighed. “Yes. That’s what the man told me. Do you know what time it is?”

Leine glanced at her watch. “Eight fifteen.”

His eyes grew wide and a panicked look crossed his face. “Eight o’clock is my bedtime. Master Garcia will be angry with me if I’m not there.”

The raid was still hours away and Leine didn’t want to arouse suspicion. Keeping him there would probably be the worst thing she could do.

“Are you sure you can find your way back okay?” she asked.

“Yes. I do it all the time.”

“Will you promise me one thing?”

“Yes.”

“Will you promise you won’t tell anyone about me? I want to find Elise, but I need it to be a surprise, okay?”

“Okay. I promise.” Sebastian smiled and dipped his head up and down. “I hope you find her. She’s nice.” He turned and faced the ranch, lights twinkling in the distance. “It was good to meet you,” he said, and headed back toward the lights of the ranch.

Leine watched him until he disappeared into the shadows before slipping behind the tree to wait for Santa. A short time later, she heard rocks skitter to her left.

“Leine?” Santa’s low voice carried in the stillness.

“Here,” she said, stepping from behind the tree.

“Elise escaped?”

“I just had a conversation with a boy named Sebastian who works at the ranch. Turns out, he unwittingly showed her which way to go. She and another girl took off almost two hours ago. Otero’s using a dog to track them.”

“Where’s Sebastian now?”

“I had to let him go. He’s a special needs kid, and it sounds like Otero keeps close track of him. I made him promise not to tell anyone about me.” Leine smiled at the alarm on Santa’s face. “It’s the best I could do. We’re going to have to trust him.”

“Since when did you trust anyone?” Santa asked, pulling out his phone.

“Tonight.” She glanced at the cell. “Texting Herrera?”

He nodded. The screen lit the contours of his face as his thumbs flew over the keys.

She turned on her flashlight and walked over to the
palo verde.
“I figured out why the ranch isn’t heavily guarded. Otero installed electronic monitoring.” She shined the light on the sensor attached to the tree trunk. “I assume the girls all wear some kind of tracking device that trips the sensor when they go where they’re not supposed to.”

“Otherwise it would trip each time a rabbit passed by.”

“Right. Which means Otero’s guy will lead us directly to them.”

“Then we’d better get going,” Santa said. They hurried back to the truck and climbed inside.

Santa slipped on a pair of night vision goggles from the console and drove through the desert with the lights off, methodically working a grid pattern moving them north in increments. Leine scanned the area with the binoculars, looking for any indication of the girls’ location. At one point, she thought she saw a flash of headlights, but when they crested the next rise there was nothing but black terrain capped with glimmering stars.

Half an hour in, Santa stopped the vehicle and turned to Leine.

“You know,” he said, “it’s more than likely Otero’s guys have night vision capabilities. We may not see anything unless we’re right on top of them.”

“I’m not giving up. We can go back the way we came if we don’t find them.”

“I didn’t suggest stopping. Just wanted you to be aware of the possibility.”

“Got it.” Her words came out clipped.

Santa sighed and shifted into gear.

***

Elise ran as fast as the rough terrain would allow, ignoring the sharp branches that scraped against her legs. She stumbled and her bare foot landed on a section of cholla. She cried out as the spines embedded themselves in the soles of her feet. Her lungs bursting, she hopped away from the cactus on one foot and carefully lowered herself to the ground. She crossed her leg, bringing her foot up onto her thigh and began to pick out the spines. The barbed hooks didn’t want to come easily, and she grimaced as she yanked them out. After the last one she rubbed the holes where they’d been and looked in the direction Julia had gone, hoping her friend had covered more ground than she had.

A pair of headlights headed in the same direction she’d run.

How could they know where Julia was?
Her heart slammed in her chest.
It’s pitch black out here.
They had to have night vision goggles. She scrambled to her feet
.

They’ll come for me next.

***

“There—” Leine pointed to a flash of headlights in the distance.

Santa drove toward them, steering around cactus and creosote bush. Leine leaned through the open window. The pair of headlights turned and headed east, bouncing like they were highlighting lyrics at a karaoke bar. She searched through the binoculars until she had the SUV in sight. She caught a glimpse of a dog’s head through the passenger window.

“It’s him,” Leine said.

***

Cruz glanced at the blinking dot on his monitor and turned east.

Then it vanished.

“
¡Cabrone!
” He slammed his fist on the steering wheel in frustration. Max whined and paced in his seat. The transmitter was faulty. That could be the only explanation. He smacked the monitor but received no answering blip.

A low moan came from the cargo area. The redhead was waking up. He hadn’t hit her hard enough.

“Shut up,
puta,
or you will die, now.”

The moaning stopped.

He glared through the windshield, willing the American girl to materialize. He’d called in the redhead’s capture to keep Garcia from sending more trackers, but that didn’t give him a lot of time to find her and do what he wanted to them both.

He drove toward the last location on the monitor, but then stopped the SUV, cut the lights, and shifted into park. Rifle in hand, Cruz exited the vehicle and looked east through the night vision scope, scanning the desert.

The landscape glowed from ambient starlight, the bushes and cactus dark, amorphous shadows. A coyote darted between the chaparral and slipped back into the night. The wind picked up, rustling through the sparse vegetation. Still, he saw no one.

White-hot anger boiled through him, and he had to consciously relax his grip on the rifle. Breathing heavily, Cruz glanced through the window at the monitor. Two dots.

The transmitter was working.

***

Elise ran blindly through the desert, the sound of a vehicle approaching from behind spurring her forward. She tripped again and fell to her hands and knees. A sob escaped her as she clambered to her feet.

I will not let them take me again,
she said to herself, pushing through the pain.
Just keep going, Elise. One foot in front of the other. You’ll be fine.

“How much is that doggie…” The faint strain of music floating toward her was familiar and she glanced over her shoulder, confused by the innocuous song. Too late she turned back, stumbling as her foot hit air. Elise fell over the edge of the arroyo, hitting the loose dirt with her forearm and knees and skidding down, down, down, grasping at the spiky vegetation and roots, ripping them free until she hit bottom with a sickening thud.

Dazed and unable to pull in a breath, she rolled to one side and raised herself onto her elbow, placing her other hand on the ground for support. At the same time, she registered something hard and smooth beneath her.

That’s when the stench hit.

Gagging, she recoiled and snatched her hand back from something wriggling, and scrambled to her feet, blood roaring in her ears.

A vehicle pulled up behind her, the headlights spilling past, illuminating the ground. Elise blanched at the sight of writhing maggots crawling where her hand had just been. She recognized the shredded blue dress and froze.

“Oh my God,” she whispered.

The runaway’s corpse lay face up, staring at the desert sky. Her dress had been ripped in two down the front, leaving her body exposed. A jagged gash formed a dark river of blood from her ribcage to her navel, and her intestines stretched across the sandy riverbed, dragged from her abdomen by a scavenger and partially consumed. Dozens of gleaming skulls wearing macabre smiles lay scattered across the wash around her, perched atop piles of bones picked clean. The tattered remnants of their blue shifts hung across bleached white ribcages, and hips, and femurs.

Elise’s breath caught when she recognized another victim, face down in the pile of death, her scalp half gone, the familiar black hair a mat of dried blood.

Celeste.

A low growl erupted behind her. Elise slowly turned, nausea building in her chest.

Backlit by the lights of the SUV, Cruz stood in front of the vehicle, a rifle in his hand. A few feet from her the angry pit bull stood coiled and ready, lips curled back in a snarl and ears flat against its head.

Elise’s body began to shake and she closed her eyes, unable to stem the tears rolling down her face.

“No, no, no,” she whispered.

The dog’s growls grew louder and more menacing.

“You’ll just have to wait, Max,” Cruz murmured, standing next to the canine. “You can have your time with the American bitch. I promise.” He stepped forward and grabbed Elise by the hair, yanking her back toward the truck.

“Stop. Please,” she cried. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

He jerked her head back, and her scalp burned with pain. The dog man dragged her to his vehicle and released his grip, dropping her next to the front tire. The dog shadowed her, standing guard. Cruz walked to the back of the SUV and opened the tailgate. Julia spilled onto the ground in an immobile heap. Elise gaped at her friend, willing her to move.

She didn’t.

“What have you done?” Elise screamed. “You killed her, didn’t you?” She struggled to stand, her rage spurring her on. Cruz watched her with amusement. With a deep growl Max charged her, snapping at her legs, coming within a hairs breadth of her skin. Elise froze, folding in on herself, her gaze to the ground.

A large rock rested near her foot.

Something inside her snapped. She stooped to pick up the rock and hurled it at the dog’s head. It slammed home with a thud and the pit bull yelped and ran, shaking off the pain. Red-hot rage welled up inside of Elise, blotting out everything else as she glared at the dog man. Seething with anger, she pressed forward, her chest rising and falling with each breath.

Cruz brought the rifle up, taking a step back as she advanced. “Stop now or you will die.”

“Then shoot me.” She ground out the words.

A flash of anger traced through his eyes. He raised the barrel of the gun and looked through the sight, his finger on the trigger.

“Stop!”

Cruz spun in place, swinging his rifle toward the voice. A sharp
crack
came from behind him and his head snapped forward, the side of his skull exploding in bits of bone and flesh.