Forsaken (The Found Book 2) (5 page)

“Are you listening to me?” Spittle came out of the man’s mouth.

“Of course I am,” Seth said gently. He watched as the man’s face smoothed out. Again Seth was thankful for his gifts, because he sure as hell wasn’t on his game.

“I’m depending on you. I realize we don’t always see eye to eye. But we’re family. Deep down I know you love my little girl. The day I have a grandchild will be the happiest of my life.” Tomas stood up and leaned over his desk, flipping open a file and pushing it in front of Seth. “This is what I really need help with.” It took him a minute to comprehend what he was seeing, and when he did, he could see why his father-in-law was shitting a brick. He had been skimming money from Labado. He was crazy, there was no other word for it.

“Labado will kill you, he’ll kill me, then he will kill Portia, and if you have a grandchild he’ll kill him or her while you were watching. What the fuck were you thinking?”

“I was thinking I could put it back as soon as Benitez Shipping started making a profit. We just hit a dry spell.”

“Of course you did, it’s because you won’t reorganize. You asked me to turn this company around, I brought in two consultants who laid it all out, and you didn’t listen to one word they had to say. As a matter of fact, you did the exact opposite of what they told you to do. You expanded into markets already saturated, and you didn’t refurbish your ships, and now you can’t support half the cargo load you need to.”

“And I told you, there are more fish in the sea than Labado, and they were the ones supporting our expansion.” Tomas was breathing so heavily, Seth wondered if he was going to have a heart attack right there.

“Sit down and let me take a look at this file. I need to better understand what we’re dealing with.” Seth waited until the other man gained his chair and then read the spreadsheets. In the last ten months, Tomas managed to steal close to twenty million dollars from Labado. Money that would have normally been missed except for the fact so many shipments of guns and drugs had been caught at the US borders. Labado’s organization was so busy digging themselves out of those holes that they hadn’t had a chance to notice their money launderer was stealing from them. When they did, Tomas Benitez would be a dead man.

“Even if you were able to pay this money back, you couldn’t fill in the gaps of the missing time. How are you going to explain the shortages in past bank statements?” It was like looking at a deer in headlights. “Jesus, you haven’t thought any of this through, have you? You’re not just gambling with your life, you’re gambling with your daughter’s.”

“But, you can fix this, I know you can. Labado loves you. You were high up in his organization before you married Portia. Labado still has you working for him part time. I know you can fix this with him. Or better yet, you can figure out a way so he doesn’t ever have to know.”

“First you’re going to have to cover what’s missing. Where in the hell are you going to come up with twenty million dollars Tomas?”

“I’ve got a plan. The four drug shipments that haven’t worked out for Labado? Well he’s furious. He knows he has a leak in his organization. I’ll just arrange for an extra shipment. I won’t tell him or anyone in his organization, so it will go through, then I’ll just tell him it was for half the amount. That’ll be enough to cover what I owe, plus enough to put Benitez Shipping back in the black.” Seth noticed he had the good sense not to talk about trying to negotiate an arms deal. Dealing with drug dealers was crazy enough but the arms dealers was so far out of Tomas’ league just showing his face would get him killed.

“Can’t you go to your brother for the money?”

“He won’t willingly give me anything. I could have him killed, but I’m not his beneficiary. He left everything to the church. It’s an ironclad will, I’ve checked.”
Smart brother.

“It takes time to set up a drug buy with someone, you have to establish a relationship.”

“I’m telling you, this will work. I’ve already been in contact with Vargas’ son. He lives on Fisher Island.”

“I know where he lives. Ricardo Vargas has more guards than the president, how in the hell did you contact him?”

“Well I didn’t,” Tomas hedged.

“How do you know his father is willing to do business with you?”

“He’s arranging a meeting. You need to meet with him. All of us do.” What wasn’t he saying? Seth thought it through.

“Portia.”
Of course she was involved. She was always involved.
“How did she manage to get close to him?”

“She was out boating with some friends, and her boat accidentally crashed into his.”

“Perfect, just perfect. Tell me something, why didn’t you have her marry Ricardo, it would have been a match made in hell.”

“Portia loves you, you were the father of her child before she had the miscarriage.” Seth watched dispassionately as the man crossed himself. It was becoming clear there never had been a child. In the last two months more memories of the night had come back to him, and he was sure he had been drugged. He remembered being carried to Portia’s hotel room. Those were not the memories of an amorous man who had gotten a woman pregnant. Seth thanked God for those memories surfacing, the thought of betraying Annie had been killing him.

“Tomas, this could be a set up.” But as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he knew they were wrong. Vargas would love to cut out Labado and take over Benitez Shipping. God knew his father-in-law was easy prey, it was amazing it hadn’t happened before this. If Vargas could figure out distribution, he’d take out Labado in a heartbeat, then Tomas wouldn’t have to worry about ever paying him. Great, they’d have an all-out drug war on American soil.

“You’ve got to stop the meet. Labado will find out, and have your head, literally.”

“That’s why I need you. You’ll figure out a way to make this all work out. You always think of all the angles. You know Labado, you’re smart.” Tomas sat back in his chair with a self-satisfied smirk. Seth hated him.

“You’re not hearing me, Thiago Labado has spies everywhere. Luther Vargas is head of his family because he is a ruthless killer. You’re swimming with sharks. If you do this, you are probably going to end up dead and so will Portia and I. Are you still willing to do this?”

“And you are not hearing me, dear son. I expect you to protect us all.”
Fuck!

****

“It’s good to see you, Carson. You never come to my house anymore.” Thiago Labado said as he hugged him. Seth hugged the man back. “Do you like the changes?” Thiago asked, as he threw his arm wide to indicate the waterfall that was now a focal point in the marble appointed foyer.

“It’s magnificent,” Seth said, reciting his expected lines. He knew exactly what to say when he was with Thiago, it was easy. They walked around the house, and Thiago showed him all the changes his new decorator had made. Seth couldn’t believe how garish it was, but he showed the appropriate level of enthusiasm and appreciation.

“Do you want the name of my decorator?”

“Have them call Portia, she is in charge of all of that. I like taking care of the business side of things, that way I get to spend more time with my friends.” Seth saw Thiago’s pleased look at his response. They were in the sitting room smoking cigars and drinking bourbon.

“So why have you honored me, dear friend?”

“Ric Vargas accidentally managed to crash his boat into Portia’s when she was out with some friends.”

“Bastardo! Those fuckers are trying to cut me out. They want to work with Benitez Shipping to bring in the drugs. They must have figured out some way to distribute product here in the United States. Poor Portia, she must have been terrified.”

“Portia was out of her mind,” Seth agreed. “Anyway, they have requested a meeting with Tomas and me. Of course Tomas and I wanted to inform you of this craziness. We would never betray our friendship, but…”

“But what?”

“Well of course you are probably already thinking along these lines, but I’m concerned for Portia’s safety if we were to follow their plan,” Seth said, leading the man.

“Give me a moment. I have to think this through. We should make them think you are going along with their plans, when you’re actually double-crossing them.”

“That’s why I came to you. Of course our first loyalty is to you.”

“You are a good and loyal friend. You and Tomas have to keep your meeting with Vargas.” Got you, Seth thought with an internal smile.

“I don’t like the idea. Too many things could go wrong.”

“Haven’t I always protected you? Haven’t I always taken care of my men? Especially you? You’ve been like a son to me, ever since you started to work for me almost two years ago. I saw something in you that reminded me of myself at your age. Even the one time you fucked up, you did it beautifully. Knocking up Portia Benitez was a magnificent accident. You have solidified our relationship with the major shipping source. You have the Midas touch.” Thiago tipped his glass in salute.

“Thank you, I have been trying to follow the example you have set.” Seth watched as the man preened. “As for keeping us safe, I have all the confidence in the world in your abilities to keep us safe from Vargas, it is actually Tomas who worries me. He is a wild card. He never follows instruction.”

“I have a solution for that. I will hold Portia hostage until this whole ugly mess is over with. I will threaten to kill her if he does anything foolish.”

Seth had to think quickly. All three of them were needed to meet Vargas. “I can’t allow that. Tomas would see this as a sign of weakness on my part if I were to surrender Portia to you. There has to be another way so I do not lose face with my father-in-law.” Seth relaxed as he watched Labado consider his words.

“I have to threaten something else he values. The only other thing he holds in esteem is his home. I will have that set to blow up. If he somehow botches things with Vargas his entire estate will be burned to the ground. It’s perfect, I’m sure the threat will keep Tomas in line, but if it doesn’t he’ll watch it burn, then I’ll roast him over the live coals. No one will ever betray me again.”

Seth didn’t doubt that he would do it. “It is agreed then. I will let you know the details when they are set.” They embraced and Seth left. He wasn’t able to take a deep breath until his Ferrari was on the highway, and even then he constantly checked his rear view mirror. This was going to take a great deal of finesse to pull off. He slammed his hand on the steering wheel.

All of this bullshit was taking valuable time away from investigating Labado’s new source of income. Seth was so deeply undercover, he didn’t know who he could pull in to help him with the human trafficking. He rarely contacted the DEA anymore, and even then it was in secret because there was a leak in his task force, and he couldn’t trust his immediate superior. Right now he couldn’t even make contact with him because he was watched so closely. He had both Benitez and Labado watching him as a matter of form. They might trust him, but hell, they watched everyone, including their wives, mistresses, sons and daughters.

Seth had to get a grip. He had to first focus on this Vargas meet. The last thing anyone needed was an out and out cartel war on US soil between Vargas and Labado. Then he needed to make sure he pulled Tomas’ ass out of the fire with Labado. God, it seemed like a lot.

Even the meditation he was doing at night didn’t seem to be helping. Normally when he would focus on Annie, it soothed him, but now it made him more desperate. He should really stop torturing himself with something beyond his reach. He had made his decision when he married Portia, Annie was his past. But escaping into these dreams was the only thing calming his nerves and seeing him through the hell of his life, didn’t he deserve some solace?

Chapter Six

It had been two weeks since Tomas showed him the books. The meet with Vargas was going down tomorrow night. The Benitez estate was set with explosives, and Portia and her father were staying at the Benitez penthouse suite in the downtown high-rise. Seth was staying in a room at a neighboring hotel. He didn’t want to deal with another night of Portia trying to force her way into his bedroom.

He liked the bar, it was quiet and intimate. In a dark corner, sipping his third bourbon, the hackles on his neck rose. Great, he was being watched. He hoped Vargas and Labado would keep their men out in the lobby or better yet outside the hotel. He needed this time alone.

A movement caught his attention and he saw two redheads and a mountain of a man walk into the bar. To be fair the red heads couldn’t be more different, one was beautiful and all leg, with the rich auburn hair and a gold skin tone most women would kill for. The other red head looked like he could have walked off a Scottish movie set, and the last man looked like he came straight from a football field dragging two players behind him. They ordered drinks and ignored him, but they stood out too much to be working for either Vargas or Labado and it pinged his radar.

Seth threw down some money and got up to leave. As he walked by their table, he felt a definite pull, especially by the redhead. Unfortunately not the woman.
Maybe the third bourbon was one too many
.

When he got to his room, Seth didn’t even bother trying to sleep, just stripped off his shirt, opened the balcony door, and into his meditation pose. He wished he was back in the dry heat of New Mexico, but he made due with the sultry air of Miami. Taking deep calming breaths, he looked out over the ocean, which in an odd way reminded him of the desert. Both had a living powerful presence you could breathe in, and the moon was the same.

Slowly he worked the muscles in his body so all the tension drained away. First his feet, up to his neck and finally he took in a full deep, calming breath.

“Seth.” He smiled at his unconscious. Never before had his meditations started with Annie initiating the conversation. He liked this change.

“Seth, can you hear me?” He conjured up her sweet, beautiful face. Emerald green eyes, framed by dark lashes.