Back on Solid Ground (23 page)

“I agree with
everything you’re saying, Niki,” Carlos said. “Stacy has unwittingly captured
all of our hearts like I would have never thought possible.  And to tell you
the truth, nothing would give me greater satisfaction than to kill the man
myself.  But I felt it was my duty to let you know that, for whatever reason,
Stacy didn’t want that.” 

“I’ll take it
under advisement,” Niki said, angrily.  “But I can’t make any promises.” 

“I’ll let you
get packed,” Carlos said, and he got up and left.

Niki picked
up the duffel bag that was still packed from his last trip and started to
repack.  He needed to distance himself from this situation and think of this as
merely another job.  They had been paid huge sums of money to track people down
before, and that was precisely what they were doing now.  The only difference
was that he happened to be in love with the person they were tracking.  He
finished packing, then sat down on the bed and looked around the room. 
Everything reminded him of Stacy.  He thought back to when he had opened his
door and she had landed on the floor at his feet, and it made him smile.  She
was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, looking up at him defiantly with
those dangerous green eyes.   He had wanted to grab her and kiss her even back
then.  Or in the kitchen when she had slapped the shit out of him for cutting
her hair.  He never would have put up with that from someone else.  The more he
thought about it, Niki realized that Stacy had had him wrapped around her
little finger from the very beginning.   Maybe Carlos was right.  Maybe she was
his soul mate.  One thing was for sure, Niki was going to get Stacy back no
matter what it took.  There was no other option.  He grabbed his bag and closed
the door behind him.  Next time he came back, it would be with Stacy. 

Eli had
hacked into the FBI databank and was running the fingerprints from the four men
they had killed.  The first three came up blank, but he hit pay dirt on the
last.  He ran a printout and logged off, then went to find Niki.

“I got
something,” Eli said, when Niki finally showed up in the living room.  “Where
the hell have you been?  I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“In the
tower.  I was watching for the plane,” he said, preoccupied.  Niki went to the
bar and poured himself a drink.  “What’d you find?” Niki asked.

“One of the
guys has a connection with the National Liberation Army,” Eli said.

“
Shit
,”
Niki muttered under his breath. “He was Colombian?” Niki asked.

“Yeah, and he
was suspected of being involved in the kidnapping of an American citizen in Bogota some years back.  The woman is still missing.  He was also a known drug
trafficker.” 

“Who did he
work for?” Niki asked.

“I don’t
know.  That’s all I have,” Eli said.

Niki was
silent while he thought.  “You need to stay here and see what else you can dig
up.  It won’t take three of us to deal with Stacy’s father,” Niki said.

Jason came in
and dumped his bag by the door.  “You get anything off the prints?” Jason asked
Eli, and Eli filled him in.  Jason shook his head.  “You know what it sounds
like, don’t you?” he asked, looking from Eli to Niki.

They both
did, but neither wanted to say it out loud, and when neither Niki nor Eli
spoke, Jason continued.  “Someone’s trading Stacy for drugs.” 

“That would
be my guess,” Niki agreed. 

“It makes
sense,” Jason said, spelling it out. “Stacy’s father pays someone to kill her,
but the guy can make twice as much by faking her death and trading her to some
sick fuck who has a fetish for red hair or green eyes or whatever.  Those
Colombian drug lords are sick mother fuckers.”

Niki turned
to Eli.  “Do a search on women who have been kidnapped in Colombia during the
last ten years, and make a list of those that have anything in common with
Stacy,” Niki said, “be it hair color, eyes, age, height,
anything
, and
see what you come up with.”

They could
hear the plane and Niki and Jason grabbed their bags.  “I’ll drive you over,”
Eli said.  Carlos met them at the foyer and put his hand on Niki’s shoulder. 
“Good luck.”

Niki and
Jason boarded the plane and headed to San Antonio. 

“Did you know
that there is a greater risk of being kidnapped in Colombia than in any other
country in the world?” Jason asked Niki.

“I knew it
was up there,” Niki said.

“Last stats I
heard, there were over 200 kidnappings in a year alone.” Jason said.  “And that
doesn’t include the ones that were kidnapped elsewhere and
taken
to Colombia,” he added. 

“I just hope
we’re wrong,” Niki said.  He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against
the seat and rubbed his temples. “I just can’t believe this shit is happening. 
It’s all so surreal,” he said. “The whole damn thing.”   

“It’s been a
bit of a whirlwind,” Jason agreed.

“If she’s in Colombia, I won’t ask any of you to go with me,” Niki said.  “This isn’t part of the job
any more.  It’s strictly personal.”

“You wouldn’t
have to ask, whether it’s personal or not, and if you were thinking straight,
you’d know that,” Jason said.  He was quiet for a minute before speaking again.
“I think you should let me question Stacy’s father.  You’re too close to all
this and it might cloud your judgment,” he said.

“What do you
think I’m going to do?” Niki asked. “Kill him before he talks?”

“Well that
would
fuck things up,” Jason laughed.

“Yeah it
would, wouldn’t it?” Niki agreed.  “I don’t know, maybe you’re right.  We don’t
have to decide right now.”

The mere fact
that Niki considered Jason’s suggestion let Jason know how far gone Niki was. 
“You really love her, don’t you?” he asked.

“For lack of
a better word,” Niki said.

“That’s
good,” Jason said, thoughtfully. “It’s about time you found a nice girl and
settled down.”

“What’s
that
supposed to mean?” Niki asked.

“Just what I
said.  You’ve got to settle down
sometime
.  Or did you plan on being a
criminal all your life?” Jason asked.

 Niki didn’t
answer.

“You’ve got
money; you’ve had your thrills.  So it boils down to this:  would you rather
die a lonely old man or have a beautiful wife and lots of little kids running
around to keep you young,” Jason asked.  “I know which one I’m choosing.”

Niki looked
over at Jason.  “I didn’t know you wanted kids.”

“Of course I
want kids.  We all want kids,” Jason said.  “Meeting the beautiful wife is the
tricky part.  You got lucky.”  

“Maybe Stacy
has a friend,” Niki said.

 “Yeah,”
Jason smiled deviously.  “And she’ll owe me a favor after we rescue her.”

“I don’t know
about that, but she’d probably call it even,” Niki said.  He changed the
subject.  “Did you arrange for a car?” he asked.

“Yeah, it’s
at the airport,” Jason said.  “I got us rooms downtown at La Mansion.”

“Stacy’s
father lives in an area called Monte Vista. It’s an upscale old neighborhood,
maybe ten, fifteen minutes from the airport,” Niki said.  He looked at his
watch.  “It’s going to be 6:00 before we land.  I think we should kill a couple
of hours and pay our visit after dark.”

“It’s your
call,” Jason said.

The plane
landed and a black Mercedes was waiting for them.  Niki got behind the wheel
and they headed out of the airport and south on 281.  They checked into the
hotel and walked down to the Riverwalk where the San Antonio River snakes its way around downtown, with trendy restaurants, bars and gift shops lining its
banks.

“What are you
hungry for?” Niki asked.

“How does
Mexican sound?” Jason asked.  “A guy at the hotel said to try Casa Rio.  It’s
down here somewhere.”

“I’m not
hungry, so whatever you want.”

They made
their way along the Riverwalk checking out the restaurants and bars.  Some had
loud music blaring and others were more sedate.  They passed Dick’s Last Resort
just as one of its rowdy patrons stumbled out of the bar, right into the river
and everyone around cheered and clapped.

They found
Casa Rio and sat outside under one of the colorful umbrellas, overlooking the
river.  Barges full of tourists were cruising up and down the river, some of
the people were eating and drinking and others were just taking in the
sights.   Niki and Jason both ordered margaritas and sat back watching the
crowd.

“I’d like to
come back here under different circumstances,” Jason said.

“Yeah, it
seems like a cool place.  It’s weird thinking of Stacy as being from here,”
Niki said.

“Why?”

“I don’t
know.  I guess because I’ve never seen her in any setting but ours,” Niki said.

Jason
finished eating and they walked back to the hotel and the valet brought the
Merc around.  Monte Vista was easy to find and Niki drove slowly past the house
several times before parking in the street three houses down.  Niki was getting
pumped like he always did before a job.  The adrenaline was starting to flow
and he could feel the rush beginning.

There were
lights on in a front room downstairs, which Niki assumed to be a living room,
and in a back room upstairs, which he took to be a bedroom. They headed around
to the back of the house and looked through the window on the kitchen door. 
There was no sign of anyone, so Jason picked the lock and he and Niki went
inside, closing and locking the door behind them. 

Niki and
Jason crept silently through the house looking for Stacy’s father, but the
house was empty.  They ended up in Stacy’s father’s bedroom and Niki was
looking through the man’s things. 

“We’ll wait
in here,” Niki said. 

“What’d you
decide?” Jason asked.  “You want me to question him?”

“No.  I’m
okay,” Niki said, and Jason didn’t argue.  He’d never known Niki to lose his
cool during a job and he knew that if Niki said he could handle it, he could.

It was just
after 10:00 when the man got home, and it was another 15 minutes before he made
his way upstairs.  He had been drinking and he reeked of stale beer when he
barreled into his bedroom.  The room was dark and when he hit the light switch,
it took him a few seconds to realize that someone was sitting in the chair in
his bedroom. 

“What the
hell are you doing in here?” he exclaimed.

“Waiting for
you,” Niki said calmly.

Jason moved
in from behind and pulled one of Trent’s arms up behind his back, immobilizing
him, then he hooked his right arm around Trent’s neck and got him in a
chokehold.  Niki got up from the chair and slowly approached Stacy’s father. 

Trent was terrified.  “There’s money in the safe.  I’ll open it for you,” he stammered. 
“You can take it all,” he said, trying to bargain with them. 

Niki was in Trent’s face.  “We don’t want your money,” he said calmly.  He reached down and picked up Trent’s free hand and broke his little finger with a hideous snap, and Trent yelled out in
pain.  “I trust I have your attention?” Niki asked.

Trent nodded his head, “What do you want from me?” he said.  His finger was throbbing and
he had a shooting pain all the way up to his elbow.

“The name of
the man you hired to kill your daughter,” Niki said.

“I don’t know
what you’re talking about,” Trent said, unconvincingly, and Niki broke his
thumb.  Trent screamed out in pain and started to cry. 

Niki held up Trent’s hand, “I need a name, Mr. Trent,” Niki said.

“I didn’t . .
.” Trent started to say, but Niki snapped his wrist before he could finish his
sentence.  Trent screamed again and began blubbering like a baby. 

Niki removed
his knife, went to the dresser, picked up Trent’s lighter and held it up to the
end of the knife.  “The next word that comes out of your mouth better be a
name,” Niki warned.  The end of the knife was glowing red as Niki approached Trent.  He held the knife up inches from Trent’s face and pointed it towards his right
eye.  Then he repeated.  “Who did you hire to kill your daughter?”

“Martine
Corazon,” Trent said, choking on the words. 

“And where do
I find Mr. Corazon?” Niki asked.

“He’s
Colombian,” Trent cried, “Bogota.” 

Niki’s heart
sank.  He wanted to ram the knife right into Trent’s heart.  “Let me have him,”
Niki growled, and Jason released his hold.  Niki clenched his hand around Trent’s throat and backed him up against the wall and held him there.  “If I don’t find
her, you’re a dead man,” Niki said, glaring into his eyes.  He let go and Trent fell to the ground, coughing and whimpering.  “Let’s get out of here before I kill
him,” Niki told Jason. 

Jason stepped
over Trent then turned around and kicked him in the ribs.  “That’s for Stacy,
you sick fuck!”

Niki and
Jason left through the front door. “I need a drink,” Niki said.

They drove
back downtown and left the car at the hotel, then walked to a bar and drank
long necks until the bar shut down.  They ended up back at the hotel just after
2:00 a.m., and Niki called Eli to fill him in.

“Martine
Corazon,” Niki told him.  “See what you can find on him.  Jason and I are
flying to Bogota later this morning,” he said.

“I’ll meet
you in Bogota then,” Eli said.

“You don’t
have to.  This isn’t business anymore,” Niki said. 

“You think
I’m not going to help you just because there’s no money in it?  What kind of
asshole do you think I am?” Eli said angrily.  “You’re my fucking brother.”

Niki didn’t
say anything.

“Are you
still there?” Eli asked.

“Yeah, I’m
here,” said Niki.  “I was just thinking.”

“I’m going
back to sleep.  I’ll see you at the airport,” Eli said irritably, and he hung
up before Niki could talk to Carlos.