Winning Texas (42 page)

“
You need to leave. I won
’
t have you disturbing my girls during lunch.
”

“
Yes, ma
’
am,
”
he said.
“
I
’
ll just get my sister. She
’
s nearby, looking for wildflowers.
”

“
Five minutes and you all better be gone.
”

“
Of course,
”
he said. She walked away toward the kitchen.

“
Travis, let
’
s blow this joint.
”
Jared had come up behind them at the end of the conversation.
“
Get your sister before the old biddy comes back.
”

“
Sure thing, dude.
”

CHAPTER 47

Annie wandered through the trees to an unadorned building that looked several degrees less fancy than the other one set slightly further back in the greenery. She suspected that the girls were housed in the modest building and the other one was reserved for the well-heeled couples who came to adopt babies. That one looked deserted. She walked inside the first building and wandered down the hall. Doors were closed, but one young woman was walking toward her. Annie put on her friendly, helpful reporter
’
s face. The woman was short, with dark hair, and a chunky figure. Annie couldn
’
t tell if she was pregnant, but she looked about the right age.

“
Hello, I
’
m Annie. I
’
m looking for a young woman named Vera,
”
she said.
“
Is she on this hall?
”

“
Yeah, last door on the left,
”
the woman said.
“
You a friend? She doesn
’
t speak a whole lot of English.
”

“
I
’
m a friend of a friend,
”
Annie smiled.
“
Thank you so much.
”

Annie knocked on the door and a young woman opened it. She was petite, with drooping blonde hair and a frightened look in her big brown eyes.

“
Are you Vera?
”
Annie said.
“
I
’
m a friend of Leka, your cousin.
”
She held out the multi-colored silk scarf Leka had given her to signal that Annie could be trusted. She
’
d told Annie that Vera had always admired that scarf.

“
Leka,
”
the woman said, grabbing the scarf and holding it to her face to sniff the faint aroma of her cousin
’
s perfume. She quickly pulled Annie inside her small room with its single bed, chair and dresser. She shut the door, clutched at Annie
’
s arm and began speaking in a mixture of English, Albanian and impromptu sign language. Tears rolled down her face.

Annie sat with her on the bed and listened carefully, asking questions when she could break into Vera
’
s torrent of talk. Eventually she patched together the story. Vera had been at the ranch for a few weeks with five other Albanian women who also lived in the building. She and the others had been injected weekly by a nurse with what they believed was sperm. The girls knew they were expected to become pregnant and stay at the ranch until they bore a baby. Vera was waiting to find out if she was pregnant. Most of the girls staying there were in some stage of pregnancy already. They were fed well and examined regularly. Babies were usually delivered on the premises and separated from the mothers. When infants were just a few days old, couples arriving in fancy cars would take them away. Ms. Juliana, who ran the place, threatened to turn the girls over to immigration authorities if they tried to leave before they delivered. She told the girls that they
’
d go to prison for long stretches because none had immigration papers. She also promised the women expertly forged immigration papers, money for a new start and a job if they delivered a healthy baby, stayed quiet about it and signed the necessary papers. They
’
d be taken back to Houston or Brownsville to begin a new life.

Annie was mesmerized, listening in silence or asking questions until her cell phone rang. She saw it was Travis and picked up.

“
Got to get out of here fast,
”
Travis
’
s voice was jittery.
“
The cafeteria manager discovered us. Get to the van as fast as you can. It
’
s still parked in back of the kitchen.
”

Annie hung up and patted Vera on the shoulder.
“
I have to leave quickly, but we
’
ll be back in a few hours to get all of you out of here. We
’
ll take you back to Houston. Please be patient just a little longer.
”

Vera nodded, but looked panicky.
“
Please don
’
t forget about us.
”

Annie hurried out of the building. She looked around carefully, but saw little activity in the wooded areas between buildings. She walked purposefully across the campus, keeping a deliberate pace but not moving so fast that she
’
d arouse attention.

She passed the fancy building where baby-seeking couples stayed and walked past what she thought must be the administration building. The campus was quiet and seemed mostly empty, though she noticed two pregnant girls walking toward the cafeteria. It wasn
’
t far, she thought, trying to breathe normally and stay calm. She was almost there
–
another five minutes and she
’
d be safe.

Suddenly she heard a pop and felt a burning pain in her side. She looked around, but didn
’
t see anyone. To her surprise, blood was dripping down the side of her blouse. She tried to zigzag, the way she
’
d been taught to protect herself in an ambush. It was too late. She heard another pop, felt a searing pain in her arm and fell to the ground.

CHAPTER 48

Juliana Souza sat in her office at the Krause Ranch administrative building. She looked through the spreadsheet on her computer with satisfaction. It had been a good month, with two placements finalized. The Benson family from New Jersey had paid $70,000 for the Ruiz girl, and the Robinettes from Boston had given her a check for $75,000 for the Munoz boy. She
’
d solved the hardest problem, obtaining birth certificates, by finding a worker in the state
’
s records department and paying him under the table to produce authentic-looking documents. Her infertile couples, sorted through and handpicked for their discretion by her Houston lawyer, would pay almost any price for a healthy white infant. Even though many of the mothers had light brown skin, the babies looked sufficiently Anglo to suit the prospective parents. She
’
d picked male sperm donors who were tall, blond and fair-skinned, part of the German-Texas community. It was a huge selling point. The regular supply of donated sperm from young men in the Hill Country was part of a deal Kyle had reached when he began giving money to the German-Texas cause.

That was the only benefit so far from his extravagant support of the German-Texas movement, Juliana reflected bitterly. She
’
d become increasingly angry that he was wasting hard-earned money because of a silly high school friendship with Sam Wurzbach. The state senator had persuaded Kyle to donate a half-million dollars to the German Texas cause. Luckily, he
’
d gotten himself killed, so perhaps Kyle would get back to making money instead of spending it. She knew about the Nazi origins of his late grandfather and suspected that the old man was the reason behind her fianc
é’
s ridiculous outlay. At least the Nazi connection had served the purpose of bringing him to Brazil, where she
’
d met him, fallen in love and gotten her ticket to America. If he
’
d only marry her, everything would work out. She
’
d make sure of that.

An insistent knocking on her door interrupted her thoughts.

“
Who is it?
”
she asked in an unwelcoming tone. Juliana didn
’
t like to be bothered when she was looking at private ledgers.

“
It
’
s Helga. I have your lunch
”

Helga Schmidt opened the door, depositing a tray with her usual Caesar salad, iced tea and fruit salad on the table. Juliana prided herself on her slender but voluptuous figure and she worked hard to maintain it. She had her own exercise room at the ranch, and usually ran every morning she was forced to be on the property. If only Helga and the pregnant women would follow her example, she thought, maybe they wouldn
’
t get so enormously fat and ugly. Maybe the food bills would come down.

Helga stood in front of her, idiotically waiting for permission to speak. Really, she was a tiresome woman, afraid of her own shadow. Juliana realized that because the ranch was out in the country, she couldn
’
t hire the cream of the crop, or employees who
’
d question much that went on. By and large, her help was abysmal.

“
Do you want something, Helga?
”
Juliana said, trying to disguise her impatience.

“
Just wanted you to know that a writer and his sister came with the food deliveryman today,
”
Helga said in her peculiar lilting German Texas accent.
“
He said they wanted to see this ranch because they
’
d heard it was one of the most beautiful in the Hill Country. I told him to leave.
”

“
When was this?
”
Juliana said, her voice rising.

“
About ten minutes ago,
”
Helga said.
“
I didn
’
t want to disturb you before your lunch time.
”

“
Why didn
’
t you bring them to me?
”

“
The writer seemed very nice and said his sister was hunting for wildflowers. He apologized and said he
’
d find her and leave.
”

“
Helga, that was foolish. I
’
ve told you before that we have to operate secretly because of the competition. You should know visitors aren
’
t allowed.
”
Juliana tried to speak calmly, but her head was spinning.

“
I
’
m sorry, Ms. Juliana.
”

“
Just leave and come back later for my tray.
”

Helga closed the door softly and she sprang into action. That stupid woman had ruined everything. Juliana knew it with a certainty born of superior survival instincts. If someone unknown was on the premises, it was disastrous. A writer and his sister, huh? She looked out the window and saw a tall woman walking across the grass, looking around nervously. Juliana never forgot faces and she thought she recognized the woman who accompanied the cop to the club
’
s porn star show. She obviously was a spy of some sort, intent on unmasking the business. Juliana had to work fast before the stranger left with all the ranch
’
s secrets.

She opened her right-hand desk drawer where she kept her loaded pistol. The open window in her office offered a perfect, easy shot before the woman got away. She fired twice and saw she
’
d hit her target. The woman fell, likely dead, but perhaps only wounded. At least Juliana had stopped her for a crucial few minutes so that she could escape.

She
’
d rehearsed this scenario dozens of times in her head. There was no time to waste. She took out her key to a small wall safe, opened it, grabbed the stacks of cash money and threw them into her industrial-size briefcase. She
’
d squirreled away close to a half-million in cash in the safe. She
’
d planned for contingencies, knowing she might need to leave fast. She
’
d taken a risk to provide this adoption service, but had hedged her bet by keeping the women there until they gave birth and bribing them with fake immigration papers and money. She
’
d be damned if she
’
d take the blame. Kyle would just have to deal with the fallout.