A Touch of Regret (A Nick Bracco Thriller Book 8), page 28
Arturo grabbed the rope and pulled. The first thing Gallardo noticed was the brightness at the bottom of the opening. An artificial light beamed into the crease and before he realized what was happening, he pounded his horn and shouted,” Stop!” from inside his car.
Then he opened his door so Arturo could hear. “Stop!” he shouted again.
By the time Arturo turned, it was too late. Several people outside the tunnel had grasped the bottom of the heavy metal door, preventing it from closing.
“No, no,” Gallardo waved furiously at Arturo to quit pulling on the rope. “Stop.”
With a confused expression, Arturo turned. The metal door remained half-open even after he loosened his grip on the rope. There were seven or eight pairs of legs outside, their hands clenched to the bottom of the door, pulling it up.
“Get in,” Gallardo yelled to Arturo, but the door was now rising, and the tunnel quickly filled with a dozen of Daunte Morales’s soldiers with their assault rifles all pointed at Gallardo.
As the door yawned open, a semicircle of cars all shined their headlights at the opening of the tunnel. Daunte sauntered in with his hands in his pockets followed by an excited Mateo Martinez holding a large white sign that said, SURPRISE!
Some of the soldiers led Arturo from the tunnel as he looked to his cousin for any kind of support, but received nothing but a look of astonishment.
Daunte opened Gallardo’s door and gestured for him to exit.
Gallardo complied, his head still swimming with thoughts of how his escape route was discovered.
Mateo greeted Gallardo with an exuberant, “Happy Birthday.” He looked at the soldiers and added with a low voice, “They’re all toy guns. They just wanted to make sure you came to the surprise party. Fun, right?”
Gallardo had no idea what he was talking about. His birthday was months away.
“I like him,” Daunte said, watching Mateo dance with excitement from the surprise. “He brings a positive attitude wherever he goes. He’ll be well taken care of.” Then he turned his glare to Gallardo. “You, however, will not achieve the same fate.”
Gallardo’s throat tightened and he could barely say, “How...”
Daunte shrugged. “The kid’s mind works in wonderous ways. He can’t add two plus two properly, but he can recall details about things that seem arbitrary to the normal mind. For example, he remembered where the exit to the tunnel was because there was a large rock that looked just like a falcon. Like your symbol. He was able to lead us here surprisingly well.”
Mateo heard the comment and with a beam of joy on his face he handed Gallardo a stuffed falcon. “Happy birthday!”
Gallardo was too stunned to even comprehend what was happening. “How,” was all he kept muttering.
“I had a long conversation with our friend from the FBI,” Daunte said.
“Our friend?”
“Well, maybe friend is too strong a word. Let’s say our acquaintance. Or should I say, my acquaintance.”
Gallardo waited for the nightmare to end, but with the mention of Nick Bracco, he knew this was not headed in a good direction. “What did you speak about?”
Daunte lifted his phone from his pocket and tapped his screen a couple of times, then showed the screen to Gallardo. It was a picture of man tied up with his mouth taped shut.
“It seems that Brick didn’t exactly accomplish his goal,” Daunte said. “The Bracco family is intact and safe. He wanted assurance they would stay that way and I gave him my word.”
Gallardo’s knees faltered, and he grabbed the side of the car to remain upright. Any agreement with the FBI was not a promising result.
“I told him that Brick going after his family was your idea and he believed me. He offered me a pass on the attempt as long as I eliminated the Falcon division of the Border Patrol. I gave them the names of the dirty agents. These were all men on your payroll, and I had no problem exposing them for what they were. Dirty cops. By the way, Berto is very much alive and has been cooperating with Bracco as well.”
Daunte tilted his head. “You don’t look too good, Caesar. Do you care to sit down?”
Gallardo was too proud to appear weak in front of his enemy, so he tried to stand taller. “I am fine.”
“Also, Jake Marino and Bruce Walker were both rescued from your compound. It seems that Iggy helped their cause to escape. Surprising, isn’t it?”
Gallardo’s brain was spinning with all kinds of imagined betrayals, but he never saw that one coming.
Daunte nodded casually. “Anyway, Agent Bracco and I came to an agreement where I could maintain my operations without further scrutiny from his team as long as we made some concessions. Most of them are operational adjustments I can live with, especially eliminating the dark web account. Apparently, they have some tech guy who already disabled the site permanently. However, when I asked him what I should do with you, he was very firm about his decision.”
Gallardo’s grip on the car door strengthened.
Daunte placed a hand on Gallardo’s shoulder. “We have history, my friend, that goes back a long way. I promise that everyone in your family and your remaining crew will be provided for and offered safety among my team.”
Gallardo felt a sense of relief the way Daunte was explaining his decisions. But then he gave Gallardo a harsh stare. “You threatened my daughter. She almost died tonight.”
“But I warned you to keep Isabela inside.”
“You used her love of animals as a way to threaten me. At my home. That was my safe place. We always agreed our homes were off limits. But that didn’t stop you from setting off bombs in my yard.”
“I didn’t think anyone would really do that. I thought the dead dogs would be enough.”
Daunte glared at him. “My daughter almost died, Caesar. Do you understand?”
Gallardo nodded, looking at the floor of the tunnel, wondering how it all came down so quickly.
“Just remember,” Daunte said. “This was Agent Bracco’s decision. I am simply following our agreement.”
Gallardo could feel the pulse pounding in his ears. He looked at Daunte with his best poker face and said, “I am ready.”
Daunted nodded, then glanced over his shoulder at Mateo who was eagerly speaking with one of his soldiers about the decorations he’d created for the party. Daunte looked back to Gallardo and said quietly, “Emilio is going to take you on a little ride into the desert. It will be quick, I promise.”
Gallardo accepted his fate. He wasn’t going to embarrass himself and make a scene.
“Oh,” Daunte said, pulling the phone from his pocket once again. “Agent Bracco wanted me to read you something.” He scrolled up on his screen and recited, “He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.”
Gallardo’s heart sunk into his chest as the words of the great Sun Tzu came at him like a blazing arrow. His eyes were unfocused and lingered on the ring of headlights surrounding the tunnel opening. While his mind drifted into the abyss of his poor choices, Daunte squeezed his arm and said the only words he felt could offer solace.
“I am sorry,” Daunte said. “But, you know I promised...”
Gallardo nodded. Daunte didn’t need to finish. He already knew his comment would end with two words. Nick Bracco.
Chapter 49
It took a couple of days of debriefing before Jake was let loose from his border work and reassigned as a resident agent up in Flagstaff. Bruce would search for work as a chef in Flagstaff as well. They’d both grown a fondness to Arizona but preferred the mountains to the desert. Possibly a little distance from the border had something to do with the move as well.
Before the move, however, they needed to return Iggy to her roots. Jake drove through the old neighborhood in Phoenix where mature trees lined cracked asphalt roads in the shadow of South Mountain. Bruce sat in the back seat while Iggy sat in the passenger seat with her knees up and her arms wrapped around her legs.
“Are you nervous?” Jake said.
Iggy stared out the window with a maudlin expression, watching brown-skinned people playing with their kids under the shade of overgrown trees. People she had known for years as a child, yet she wasn’t the same person. She’d lived among corruption for so long, it was hard for Jake to imagine she could assimilate to a new world. She must’ve felt like an alien returning to her home planet.
“I’m still in shock,” she said casually, like a warrior trying to ignore the spear sticking out of her abdomen.
“Maybe you should call first,” Bruce suggested from the back seat.
“No,” Iggy said. “That wouldn’t be right. He needs to see my face. I want him to know it’s really me.”
They rolled along in silence as Iggy lowered her head into her knees and squeezed her eyes shut. The agony radiated from her tiny body like the blistering heat wafting from a desert highway.
A minute later, she lifted her head. “It’s the second to last house on the right.”
Jake coasted the last quarter mile until he saw the well-manicured house with an RV parked on the side under a taut blue canvas. He parked by the curb.
“I think I’m going to throw up,” Iggy said, leaning over and clutching her stomach.
Jake put a hand on her shoulder. “He’s gone. He can’t hurt you anymore.”
“You don’t know the terrible things I did down there. I should never be forgiven.” She rocked back and forth in agony, while Jake looked back at Bruce, who offered a sympathetic shake of his head.
“You’re right,” Jake said. “I couldn’t possibly know what you went through. It must have been horrible. But I do know that you saved our lives. Without you, many more people would have died. Iggy, you don’t realize this yet, but you’re a hero.”
“No, no, no.” She cupped her hands over her eyes. “It’s not true. I am so bad.”
He stayed quiet while she tried to cope, but he could tell the gravity of her trauma was not going to dissipate anytime soon. He remembered the debriefing and all the counseling they’d been offered. A standard practice of the FBI after any traumatic events during the line of duty. Nick had extended the offer to Iggy for what she had done for his team. Especially for his cousin.
Jake leaned toward her and stuck a business card into her curled hand. “This is important,” he said in a calm voice. “You need to see Dr. Morgan. He has an office in Phoenix. He will help you get through this burden of guilt you’re carrying. You can’t do this on your own. Believe me, I know. I’ve been going through some guilt issues myself. It’s like breaking your leg, if you don’t get medical help, it’ll heal eventually but it’ll never be right. He can help you be right again.”
She stared at the card as if it were a moonrock. After a couple of deep breaths, she looked at Jake with a hopeful expression. “Do you really think he can help me?”
Jake held up the palm of his hand. “I promise. He’s seen it all. Nothing you say would surprise him. He’s the best there is.” He looked around conspiratorially and added, “For what it’s worth, I’m a patient as well.”
Iggy’s eyebrows raised. “Really?”
Jake shrugged. “There’s no shame in getting professional help. You need to forge new mental pathways for your brain to overcome guilt. Trust me, you will get better.”
Her shoulders dropped just a bit, and Jake remembered something. He fished into his pocket and held out a silver necklace. “Here,” he said. “This is for you.”
Iggy’s eyes grew large as she held the slender chain in her hands. At the bottom was a squat-looking bird with a short, large head. She held it up and asked, “What is this?”
“That is a great horned owl,” Jake said. “It’s one of the fiercest owls in the world. It’s nicknamed the ‘Tiger in the Night.’ Would you like to know who it preys on?”
Iggy shrugged.
“Falcons,” he said. “It eats falcons.”
With a hint of a smile on her face, she leaned over and hugged Jake.
“Thank you,” she said.
A dog barking broke the spell. Inside the house, a German shepherd jumped up and down in a window to spy a look at Iggy. The sight made Iggy hold her hand over her mouth.
“Max,” she said to herself. When she got out of the car, Max clawed at the window ferociously, trying to get to her. She walked onto the lawn toward the front porch with a huge smile.
A man in a Dodger cap came to the window to see what his dog was yelping at. They both disappeared from the window and a few seconds later the front door opened.
Max rushed out like he was chasing a rabbit. He leaped straight into Iggy’s arms, whining with delight as she hugged him, tears running down her cheeks. Max licked her face, then jumped all around her, not sure what to do with himself.
“You’re my good boy,” she said, petting his fur as he squirmed in her grasp.
Carlos stood in the open door with his mouth agape, like a ghost had returned from the dead. Max ran to him as if to encourage him to join the party, running between the two of them with pure delight.
“Mija?” he murmured, squinting from confusion, then saw Jake standing outside the driver’s door.
Iggy slowly walked over to him as if not to frighten him. Carlos finally stepped toward her. When he was close enough to understand his long-lost sister was really alive, his face melted into a slack-jawed ball of grief. He dropped to his knees and grabbed her bare legs as if she might run away.
Iggy leaned over and hugged her brother’s back, while Max ran around the two of them, furiously wagging his tail.
After a minute, Carlos looked up to Jake with swollen eyes and said, “Gracias.”
Jake gave him a quick wave and got back into the car.
Bruce jumped into the front seat and said, “Do you think she’ll ever recover?”
Jake drove away and watched the celebration from his side view mirror with a satisfied heart. “I’m not sure,” he said. “What about you? Do you think you’ll ever recover?”
Bruce reached over and squeezed Jake’s shoulder. “I’ll get there.”
“Good,” Jake said with a grin. “Let’s try to get there together.”
Chapter 50
Matt was driving west on La Jolla Shores Drive when the Pacific Ocean finally emerged on the horizon like a giant globe. Their open windows allowed a gentle sea breeze to flow through the car.
“That view never gets old,” Nick said, taking in the view.
“Nope,” Matt said. “And I think your blood pressure goes down by 20 percent just seeing it.”
The mission was over. Walt insisted that Nick take a proper vacation by joining his family in San Diego. Matt couldn’t resist the opportunity to spend some quality time on the beach, so he decided to tag along. Especially since the safe house was a five bedroom and Tommy and Red were the only other visitors taking advantage of the opportunity.
They drove in perfect silence until Nick got a text message. “Stevie won’t be joining us this weekend,” he said.
“Why?”
“Walt says he has a new woman in Baltimore and wanted to go home to see her.”
“Really? An IT tech?”
“A psychologist.”
“Nice, I could use one of those.”
“Isn’t that the truth.”
Nick’s phone buzzed with an incoming call. He showed Matt the name on his screen.
Matt nodded.
Nick put the phone down on the console between them and hit the speaker. “Hello, Senator.”
A woman’s voice came on the line. “Nick, it’s Jennifer. Ron’s in the shower. I know you’ve spoken with him already, but I wanted to thank you myself.”
“Of course, Jen. Like I told the senator, it was a team effort.”
“I know,” she said thoughtfully, and then left some empty space for him to diagnose.
“Is there something else?’ Nick asked.
“Well, it’s sort of personal. I don’t want to overstep my boundaries.”
“Go ahead and step. I’ll let you know if you’ve gone too far.”
Matt stopped at a light. Two girls in bikinis with boogie boards under their arms crossed in front of them. He winked at one and got a grin in return.
Nick shook his head at his partner.
“Well,” Jennifer said. “I’m concerned about Bruce’s safety. He’s staying in Arizona and that worries me.”
“He’s in Flagstaff,” Nick said. “It’s a college town up in the mountains. What’s to worry about?”
“Yes, but what about this cartel leader. Won’t he be looking for him?”
Matt drove away from the light with his attention on the female beachgoing crowd and Nick pointed to the road. “Watch where you’re going.”
“Excuse me?” Jennifer said.
“Sorry,” Nick said. “I’m just getting my partner’s attention.”
“Hi, Jen,” Matt said into the speaker.
“Oh, hi Matt.”
“Bruce will never have another problem with any Mexican cartels. I can promise you that,” Matt told her.
“But how can you be so sure?”
“Because I killed all the cartel guys a couple of days ago. There’s nothing but peasants and farmers left in that country.”
Nick put a hand over his face.
“I almost believe you,” Jennifer said.
“Seriously though,” Matt added. “The cartel boss who was after your son is nowhere to be seen. And he won’t be found.”
There was silence for a moment while Jennifer Walker considered his words. “So you really did...”
“No,” Matt said. “I did not. However, we are very good at our jobs, and we have contacts in important places. We’re not wrong about this. He’s gone for good.”
Nick wasn’t about to explain his agreement with Daunte Morales. And he wasn’t about to participate in any retribution against the cartels. Once Gallardo was gone, there were no more ghosts to chase. Besides, all Nick was responsible for were terrorists. The Mexican cartels left a long line of horrible stories in their wake, but they weren’t Nick’s focus. He had left his briefing with the DEA and Homeland Security and let them do their jobs. The Border Patrol would be revamped and cleansed of the cartel influence, but he knew that wouldn’t last. He just wanted to stay in his lane and keep his family out of harm’s way, which was exactly where they were.
