Sheltering Dunes (28 page)

“I think you know the answer, but I’ll tell you anyway. Like I said, no games. We know these things, but we don’t have the evidence. What we need is someone like you, and a couple of others, to talk.”

“To turn, you mean.” Mica snorted and shook her head. “What you want is to get a couple of us killed. If you know so much, you know what happens when someone talks about MS-13. Sooner or later, a week, a month, five years, they end up dead.”

“We know. We know that’s why you’re running. You want out. We can help you.”

“Oh yeah? And how do you plan to do that?”

“You help us with information on Hector—how the gang is structured, who his lieutenants are, who his contacts in other organizations are, who might be willing to talk if the money is right. You do that and we’ll get you a new identity.”

“A new identity?”

“WITSEC—the witness protection program. We’ll relocate you, get you a job, get you twenty-four-hour protection for the rest of your life.”

“And where do you plan to put me? Kansas? Someplace where I’ll live in a box wondering when he’ll track me down, answering to some cop instead of Hector? How is that any different? At least with La Mara, I’m free.”

Allie said softly, “Are you? Then why are you here?”

“I’m here because I choose to be here.”

“You’re here because you’re running for your life,” Allie said. “Let us help you.”

“You’ll help me right into the ground. No deal.” Mica shook her head. She’d never live to make it into WITSEC, and if she did, she’d never see Flynn again. Never be able to set things right, if Flynn would even talk to her.

“We
will
get the evidence on Hector,” Mitchell said, “and when we do, you’ll go down with him. We’ll charge you as an accessory. You don’t want that to happen. I don’t think you’re guilty.”

“If you wanted to arrest me, you would’ve done it already.” Mica called their bluff, but she believed the detective. Hector had a world of hurt coming his way and didn’t know it yet.

“Look,” Mitchell said, “there may be a way to work this so you don’t have to testify. So Hector doesn’t know where the information is coming from.”

“How?”

“Help us get the guy who’s after you. If we arrest him, with enough evidence to put him away, he’s going to be in the same situation you are. He’ll know if he goes to jail he’s a liability and Hector will kill him. My guess is he’ll turn if we offer him protection. And if he’s one of Hector’s lieutenants, he’s got to know what we need to know.”

“And what do I get out of this?”

Mitchell looked her right in the eye. “You get freedom. You walk away.”

“And if you don’t get Hector, he’ll know it was me.”

“How is that any different than where you are now?” Allie said. “At least this way, you have a shot at getting Hector out of the picture. With him gone and someone else in his place, you’re not going to be so important anymore. At least you won’t be at the top of their list.”

Mica thought about it. She’d been gone too long now. Even if she wanted to go back, Hector wouldn’t be able to let her, not and still save face. He was going to kill her; there was no going back. What they offered was a slim possibility, but it was more than she had right now. “How would it work?”

Mitchell sat forward. “We wire you, we’d watch you, we’re pretty sure they know where you are now. These attacks are evidence of that. It won’t take very long for them to make another move because they’ll expect you to run exactly as you planned on doing. I’ll be with you twenty-four seven. We’ll pick up whoever comes after you, squeeze him, and you’re out of it. We’ll have enough evidence from the attack on you to arrest him and charge him. Once that happens, he’ll have a big target on his back and he’ll know it.”

“And I get immunity? Whatever Hector says about me, no accessory charges?”

“That’s right. You’re out of it.”

“And if I say no?”

Mitchell shrugged. “Then we let a few people know that you helped us anyway.”

Mica thought she saw Allie stiffen, as if she didn’t like what Mitchell said. She didn’t think Mitchell was bluffing this time. If Hector or any of his lieutenants thought she’d talked, they’d never stop coming for her, whether Hector was in charge or not. “It doesn’t bother you to sign my death warrant?”

“Not a bit,” Mitchell said.

*

Dell closed the door to the interrogation room, leaving Mia Gonzales inside, and followed Allie down the hall to Reese Conlon’s office. Bri Parker and Conlon waited inside, Parker in her usual position against the wall and Conlon behind her desk. A video console showing a blank blue screen sat on a triangular platform bolted into one corner of the small room. Conlon and Parker had probably been watching the interview. She sat in the same chair she’d been in that morning, next to Allie, in front of Conlon’s desk.

“Nice interview,” Conlon said.

“Thanks,” Dell said.

“Pretty rough on her there at the end,” Parker said.

“La Mara members are used to being interrogated. It’s a rite of passage for them to be picked up. I wanted to win her over, but she’d never believe me if I went easy on her. She’s going to know if we’re selling her a line of goods.”

“Are you planning on leaking word that she helped us if she doesn’t agree?” Conlon asked.

“That would be up to you and the lieutenant.”

“And if it were your call?” Conlon asked quietly.

“Yes, I would,” Dell said instantly. “Mia Gonzales may be innocent of any crime—technically. But she’s been part of La Mara for years. They’ll come after her no matter what we do. We need to make something happen before she disappears. And she will.”

Conlon nodded, neither approval nor disapproval showing in her face. The lieutenant had briefed Dell on the sheriff. Conlon was a combat vet and a seasoned law officer. Dell wasn’t fooled by the small-town ambience and homey atmosphere in the station. These were sharp officers. She hadn’t run an operation by herself before, and she wasn’t too proud to learn from everyone. “What would you do?”

“I’d do the same.”

Next to her, Allie shifted slightly in her chair. Parker never moved a muscle.

“Butler—Gonzales—is a target,” Conlon went on. “Her best chance of getting out of this alive is for us to be all over her. So—whatever it takes, we do.”

Parker stirred. “So, Mitchell, you’ll be undercover? How is that going to work?”

“You didn’t get a chance to meet Mitch,” Dell said. “If Mia goes for it, Mitch will hook up with her in the bar tonight and go home with her.”

“Girlfriend?” Bri said, looking surprised.

Dell grinned. “No, boyfriend.”

Parker shot Allie a glance. “How is that going to play with Flynn?”

“Flynn’s out of it.” Allie turned to Dell. “What if Mica’s been watched and they know about Flynn? Will they believe her hooking up with Mitch?”

“A lot of the La Mara girls fool around with other girls,” Dell said. “The guys don’t take it seriously—they think it’s hot. They’ll find Mitch just as believable as Flynn.”

“That’s going to piss Hector off big-time if he gets wind of it,” Allie said.

“Yeah,” Dell said. “It’ll turn up the heat on her a lot faster and probably make them move on her right away. They might get careless. That will work for us.”

A muscle along the edge of Allie’s jaw quivered. “You really are likely to get her killed.”

“Not going to happen,” Dell said. “I don’t plan on letting her out of my sight. In a few hours, Mitch is going to be her new main man.”

*

Philadelphia—The Badlands

Hector muted the ballgame and picked up his cell phone. “What?”

“Sorry, boss,” Carmen said. “We got a little problem.”

“Fuck,” Hector muttered. “Who do I have to kill?”

“We sent Ramirez up to look for Mia—”

“Yeah, I know. To that bumfuck place in Massachusetts, right?”

“Right.”

“So?”

“He thought he had her a couple days ago, but it turns out it was just some girl that looked like her.”

“Dumb motherfucker. Did you pull him off?”

“He said he was sure she was there. Swore he’d seen her working in some dyke bar.”

“Dyke bar, huh? I always thought she liked pussy, but she never sampled any I know of.”

“He says she got tight with some other girl. He was already there, so I figured he might as well check it out.”

“And? Is it her?”

“Ah—probably.”

Hector scratched his balls, getting more irritated by the second. “Just spit it out, cocksucker.”

“Ramirez tried for the girl he thought was Mia—he didn’t get her. She got away.” Carmen coughed. “She got his knife. She stuck him with it.”

“You gotta be fucking kidding me! Where the fuck is he?”

“He’s holed up somewhere up there. I think he’s afraid to come back.”

Hector smiled. Maybe Ramirez wasn’t as stupid as he thought. “Did the cops make him?”

“He says no. He got away before they showed up, but they took Mia with them. If she talks—”

“She knows better than that.” But he wasn’t sure. Mia had run away, and he hadn’t expected that. She knew way too much to be left alive, and if Ramirez had brought the cops down on her, she might cave. “You head up there—you personally. I want this taken care of right away, and this time for good. You feel me?”

“I hear you,” Carmen said.

Hector hung up, turned the game back on, and called out for Angelita, one of the seasoned girls, to get her ass in there. Angelita had a good mouth, but he was going to miss Mia.

Flynn pulled into the lot of the rescue station half an hour after Mica disappeared with Allie and Bri. The sheriff’s department was across the street, and she couldn’t help but look over, wondering if she shouldn’t just walk in and say that she wanted to talk to Mica. If they wouldn’t let her see Mica, she could sit there and wait until Mica was finished and they released her. They had to release her. Anything else would be unthinkable. Mica might have lived with crime, might have been part of a criminal social organization, but she wasn’t a criminal. There must be some room in the justice system for those who were neither perpetrators nor victims, but casualties of a world in which power and violence ruled above law and humanity. A world where the only currency with which to purchase survival was your soul.

She was amazed that Mica’s soul had survived after so many years of subjugation, but Mica’s humanity was very much intact. She had experienced Mica’s tenderness in every touch. Mica had sacrificed herself for others, and that made her a hero in Flynn’s eyes. Mica was so strong, but she wasn’t superhuman. She shouldn’t be alone now. Flynn couldn’t abandon her, no matter what Mica had sa—

“You’re a little early, aren’t you?” Dave asked, walking out through the open vehicle bay behind her.

Flynn caught herself in mid-step, realizing she’d been halfway across the lot on her way to the sheriff’s department. Headed for Mica. “Hi. I didn’t think you’d be here. You working a double?”

“Yeah, I need the overtime. Wife’s pregnant again.”

He said it like it was a problem, but his grin was huge.

“Congratulations.”

“Thanks—so what are you doing here? Aren’t you on sick leave?”

“I was going to ask you and Wheeler if you wanted some extra shifts—if I need a little more time,” Flynn said. She could take a few days off until her ribs were less tender, but she wasn’t sure that would be enough time for her to figure out what she was doing with the rest of her life.

“Sure, I could use the hours. Wheeler’s inside.” Dave put his hands in his pockets and rocked slowly back and forth, his expression one that said he was waiting for her to say something else.

What could she say? That she’d made a mistake, more than one, and she kept repeating them? That she’d gone astray once again, when it mattered more than ever? Mica’s words kept running through her mind, tormenting her with their truth. The pain she’d been able to set aside during the moments she was with Mica had come flooding back when Mica turned away. The worst agony, though, came from knowing she had learned nothing from Debbie’s death. She knew her weaknesses and still she had not been able to change. She’d tried so hard to give Mica the support she needed, but maybe Mica was right. Maybe all she really wanted was to satisfy her own needs.

“You doing okay?” Dave asked.

Flynn jumped. “What? Oh. Yeah—I’m fine.”

“Well, you know, I’ve got your back.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“And Flynn,” Dave called as she started into the stationhouse, “I know you’ve got mine. Never doubted it.”

Flynn stopped and turned. “Thanks. That means a lot.”

He waved her off, looking uncomfortable. “Yeah, yeah. So take care of business and get back here.”

“Will do.” Flynn found Wheeler, arranged for coverage, and climbed into her car. She headed west on Route 6, figuring it would take her three hours if traffic was light. As she drove, she thought about telling Dave she’d be back. She wondered if she would. But then if she didn’t return, where could she go where once she arrived, she wouldn’t still be alone with her memories and her regrets? And if she left, she would never see Mica again. The ache in her chest expanded until she couldn’t take a full breath.