Devils and Dust (16 page)

Mandujano took a sip of his beer. “I truly do not know what happened to those people. That shipment, like one before it, simply disappeared.”

“Shipment?” Keller said. “Those were
people
.”

Mandujano shrugged. “What would you call it? Load? Group? Shall we sit here and argue word choice? The point is, I would like to find out what happened as much as Mr. Sanchez here.” Keller started to speak again, but Mandujano raised his hand. “I know. I did not have family on board that truck. But I had a valued employee driving, one of whom I was fond. Most importantly to me, someone has attacked my business. Someone has made me look foolish. If that happens, I must respond, or others might be tempted to do the same.”

“So you want me to find out what happened,” Keller said.

“I want you to find those people,” Mandujano said. “You are good at finding people, I hear.”

“Why don’t you get your own people to do it?”

“I have. But they have turned up nothing so far, beyond what I have told you. And now you are here. A successful hunter of men, or so I hear. Perhaps you can succeed where others have failed.”

Keller shook his head. “For all we know, they’re all dead.” He looked at Oscar. “Sorry, man, but it’s true.”

Oscar nodded. “I have considered this. But…” He gestured at Mandujano, urging him to go on.

“There were two bodies found,” Mandujano said. “My driver and one other. If the rest were killed, then why not leave their bodies in the same place?” He shook his head. “No, those people were taken.”

Keller looked down at the table and took a sip of his beer. “And you want me to find where they were taken. And by whom.”

“Yes,” Mandujano said. Keller didn’t answer. He only stared at the label on his beer. “I ask you this,” Mandujano said. “Why would they be taken and not killed? What use would someone have for a truckload of workers?”

Keller looked up. “You’re talking about slavery.”

Mandujano nodded. “Some of the group taken were women. Young women. I trust I do not have to paint you a picture.”

Keller knew he was being manipulated. But what Mandujano was saying made sense. And if Oscar’s sons were being held in captivity, Forced to work, or worse…

“Okay,” Keller said. “Say, just for the sake of argument, I agree to do this. What happens when I find these people?”

“You just need to tell me where and when,” Mandujano said. “My people will deal with it from there.”

“Bullshit,” Keller said. “If I find someone is holding people as slaves, in the U.S., I’m calling the law.”

“As you wish,” Mandujano said, “as long as you stop whoever is doing it.” He smiled and took another drink. “Permanently. I think you are beginning to comprehend where our interests are the same.”

Keller looked at Oscar and Angela. “And are you going to beat them if I fail?” he asked Mandujano. “Like you did that girl?”

“No,” Oscar said, “I am coming with you.”

“Whoa,” Keller said. “Time-out. That’s not going to happen.”

Mandujano smiled. “Mr. Sanchez seems a very determined gentleman. He told me the only way to stop him looking for his sons would be to kill him. I do not mean to be threatening; I am merely stating a fact, when I tell you that option is still on the table.”

“Oscar,” Keller said, “you’re not a bounty hunter. You’re a schoolteacher.”

“I am also a father, Jack,” Oscar said. “And a man. I will not sit safely while another man risks himself for my sons.”

Keller looked at him in shock. When he’d met Oscar, the older man had been quiet, almost meek. He was still quiet, but Keller nearly didn’t recognize the calm, determined man who sat across from him. He could tell what Mandujano said was true. You’d have to kill Oscar to get him off this hunt. And he’d be safer with Keller. But Angela…Keller pointed at her. “You let her go back to the States,” he said.

“Agreed,” said Oscar.

“Of course,” Mandujano said.

“No,” Angela spoke up.

“Angela,” Oscar said gently. “You can’t come with us.”

“I’m not spending all this time to find you,” she said, “just to lose you again.” For a moment, Keller wondered whom she was talking to.

“Angela,” Keller said. “There’s only one way for us to do this. That’s to go north with one of these,” he looked at Mandujano and nearly spat the next word, “shipments.” Oscar nodded.

“And hope someone attacks you,” Angela said. “Great plan.”

“It’s the only one I can think of,” Keller said. “And it’s not one you can be part of.” He looked at Oscar. “Right?”

Oscar looked at him thoughtfully for a long moment. Then he looked at Angela. She turned her eyes away. “Yes,” Oscar said.

“Okay, then.” Keller looked at Oscar. “I don’t suppose there’s any way to talk you out of it, buddy.”

Oscar shook his head. “Sorry.”

“Okay,” Keller said. “It’s decided. But one thing,” he said to Mandujano.

“What is that?”

“We don’t go with a load. I’m not going to put a lot of innocent people in the line of fire. We mock it up just like a real shipment, but we run empty.”

Mandujano thought it over, then nodded. “Agreed.”

“This is insane,” Angela snapped.

“All the more reason for you not to go,” Oscar said.

She shook her head. “Fine.” She stood up. “Get yourselves killed.”

Oscar and Keller stood up as well. “May I have a moment to say good-bye to my wife?” Oscar said.

“Of course,” Mandujano answered. “We will pick you up at the hotel.”

“You knew where we were staying,” Keller said.

“Of course,” Mandujano answered.

“So why put a tracer on our car?”

“I knew where you were,” Mandujano said, “but I didn’t know where you were going. When you made it impossible for me to find that out…” He shrugged. “I had to go with another plan.”

“So you took Angela because I found your tracking device?”

Mandujano smiled coldly. “I said a minute ago that failure has consequences. When you are opposing me, so does success.”

“Mr. Mandujano?” Keller heard Angela say. Keller turned to see her standing a few feet away. “Will you do me a favor?” she said, adding, “Sir?”

“What would that be?” Mandujano said.

“Take your sunglasses off.”

He looked puzzled. “
Que
?”

“Please,” she said, “take them off. I’d like to look you in the eye when I say what I have to say.”

He hesitated a moment, then removed the glasses. His eyes were pale brown, almost tan, set a little too far apart. Angela leaned down and put one hand on each arm of his chair. Her face was inches from Mandujano’s when she spoke.

“If anything happens to them,” she said in a low, steady voice, “either of them, I’m holding you responsible.” He didn’t flinch or blink, just looked back at her calmly. “I don’t know how. But believe me, I will devote the rest of my life to killing you, after destroying everything you love.” He didn’t answer, just stared back at her without blinking. She straightened up. “Now call your dog to see us back to our car. This place is beginning to turn my stomach.”

Mandujano put his glasses back on. “ANDREAS!” he called out. The fat man appeared at the glass door, as if summoned like a genie. “Take them back to the car. Let them go in peace. In fact,” he said, “escort her to the border. See that no harm comes to her.” The man shook his head in evident disgust, but motioned to Angela. She walked to him, head held high, not looking back. When she disappeared into the house, Mandujano chuckled. “Much woman, that one.”

“You have no idea,” Keller thought.

“S
O,”
A
NGELA
thought to herself, “you found what you were looking for. How do you like it?” The three of them were following the fat man—Andreas, she’d heard Mandujano call him—down the flagstone path toward the gate. Her legs were hurting, the fatigue and stress of the last few days caused her old injuries to ache. She glanced over at the cage in the shade of its canopy. The lion watched her, his golden eyes unreadable. She was frightened down to her very core, for herself, for Oscar, and for Keller. She wondered if any of them was going to get out of this alive. And if they did, she didn’t know what she was going to do afterward.

“I’ll drive,” Keller said. “I know the way.” Oscar nodded and got into the front passenger seat. She experienced a brief flash of irritation at that. She’d gotten used to riding shotgun. With Keller. Now her husband was back, and…”
Why is everything so complicated?
” she asked herself as she climbed in the back. They set off in silence. She noticed a black SUV pulling out to follow them.

“You realize how crazy this is,” she said to them.

“A little bit, yeah,” Keller said.

“It is the only way,” Oscar said.

“No,” she said, “it isn’t. You can go back and talk to the—” She stopped.

“To who?” Oscar demanded. “The police? Immigration? They would lock me up and send me back to Colombia. Without my sons and without you. We have talked about this.”

“No, Oscar,” she said, “
you’ve
talked about this. I haven’t had any say in it. None at all. And I’ve about had it with that.”

He was silent for a moment. “This is what I have to do,” he said.

“
God
,” she snapped. “You are so goddamn pigheaded.” She turned to Keller. “And you’re no better. You’re on the hunt again. I know that makes you happy. But you’re going to get both of you killed. You know that.” Keller didn’t answer.

“Please,” Oscar said, “let’s not fight. Not now.”

“Jesus.” She shook her head and gazed out the window.

K
ELLER DIDN’T
speak because he didn’t know what to say. Angela was right. This plan was likely to get both he and Oscar killed. But he couldn’t deny the feeling he was getting, the rising excitement. He was going back on the hunt. Back to war. And he loved it. God help him, he loved it.

They pulled into the courtyard of the hotel, the black SUV following. Angela got out without speaking. Keller looked at Oscar. “She’s right. We can still bail out on this.”

Oscar shook his head. “You don’t have to come, Jack. You’ve done enough as it is.”

“I’m not letting a friend go up against these people alone. Whoever they are. Besides, someone kidnapping people, keeping them as slaves…” He shook his head. “Hard to believe it, in this day and age.”

“It is evil,” Oscar said. “And we will try and stop it.”

Keller nodded. “Okay.”

“Excuse me,” Oscar said. He got out of the car. Keller did the same as the black SUV pulled into the parking lot. Angela was coming back down the stairs, her bag in her hand. Oscar motioned her over to the side, a few feet away. Keller didn’t look, but he could hear them whispering. He stole a glance out of the corner of his eye and saw them embrace. He kept his face expressionless. They broke the hug, and Keller caught one softly murmured phrase from Oscar. “
Mi corazon
.”

My heart.

“
Mi corazon
,” she whispered back. She was looking at Keller over Oscar’s shoulder as she said it. After a moment, she broke the hug and walked over to Keller. “Take care of him, okay?” she said softly.

“I will,” he said. She embraced him tightly. “And take care of yourself, Jack,” she whispered in his ear.

“I will,” he whispered back.

“We’ll talk when you get back.” She pulled away and got into the Jeep.

Keller looked at Oscar. He was looking at the black SUV. Keller saw Mandujano in the passenger seat.

“Well,” he said, “let’s get going.”

A
NDREAS
Z
AVALO
kept his face impassive, even as he raged inwardly. He wasn’t used to having his counsel disregarded, especially in such an open and humiliating manner. If it had been up to him, the woman, her Colombian husband, and the crazy
gringo
who’d accompanied her would be dead and buried in an unmarked desert grave. But Mandujano seemed intent on using them to find out what was happening to his shipments of illegals. That was something Andreas Zavalo could not let happen, because what was happening to them was entirely due to the enterprise of Andreas Zavalo.

He wondered if his boss had figured out what he’d been doing, but quickly rejected that idea. People who skimmed from the cartels did not live to see old age. If Mandujano really knew that he’d been skimming not just profits, but people, Zavalo would be dead, or dying slowly and in agony at that very moment. He was under suspicion, for sure. That was why the
jefe
wouldn’t use his own people. He didn’t know who to trust. But using outsiders, even ones so easily expendable…that was madness.

He could hear the woman’s footsteps behind him. He’d been too far away to hear the actual words, but he could see the way she’d confronted the
jefe
. If he was a man given to regret, he would regret what he was about to do to someone with such courage. But he was not that kind of man. That kind of man did not survive long in the seas he and Auguste Mandujano swam in.

They reached the gate. Zavalo opened it with a flourish. The three of them, the two men and the woman, stepped through without speaking. One of Mandujano’s men was pulling around the front with their vehicle. He closed the gate and turned away, pulling out his cell phone and dialing a number he knew by heart. The person on the other end picked up as Zavalo paused in front of the lion cage. “Yes?” was all he said.