Sworn to Protect (10 page)

“Is he mad because I can’t hear or talk like other kids? Is that why he went away?”

A lump formed in Danika’s throat. This was the most progress ever made in getting to the source of Tiana’s bottled anger. “Oh no, honey. Daddy loved you just the way you are. You were his joy.”

“Are you mad because I can’t hear or talk?”

“Of course not. We talk in a special way.”

“Are you going to heaven with Jesus and Daddy?”

“Someday, when Jesus decides it’s time.” Danika rocked her precious baby girl and continued to sign. “No one is mad at you. I love you. You are my precious little girl, a gift from God.”

“And you won’t leave me?”

She thought about Toby’s murder and the problems at the station. “I’m doing my best to stay right here with you. I love being your mommy.”

Tiana leaned against Danika’s chest and relaxed. A breakthrough had been made, and for that Danika was pleased. But the agony in Tiana’s eyes spoke volumes. Her daughter’s anger had been unveiled—the issue of not understanding and blaming herself for her daddy’s death. Danika learned a lot tonight. She and Tiana shared the same heartache.

Chapter 15

If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.

Voltaire

For the first time in months, Danika slept through to her six o’clock alarm. She woke refreshed, feeling more positive than she’d been in a long time. Tiana was still sleeping when the clock read seven thirty and it was time for Danika to get to work. She’d miss her early morning workout, but her body would survive.

She grabbed her coffee in a to-go mug and brushed a kiss on Sandra’s cheek. Her friend appeared preoccupied. “Are you okay?”

“Oh yes. Everything’s fine. I’m thinking of what Tiana said to you last night.”

Danika nodded, a mixture of bittersweet emotions looming over her. “I think we’re on the right track to solving her behavior problems. At last, my baby is telling us how she feels. I’m going to talk to Shannon about how to proceed.”

“Sounds like a good idea. I’ll make sure Tiana knows she’s special. I read that in one of your parent magazines, and I see her VeggieTales movies reinforce it too.”

Danika set her coffee down on the counter to give Sandra a hug. “I love you, dear one. No amount of money could ever be placed on all you do for us, especially the love.”

Sandra’s lips quivered. “We are like sisters in our hearts.”

“Mexico lost when you became a U.S. citizen. I look forward to the two of us being friends when our hair is gray and our teeth are gone.”

Sandra smiled through tear-filled eyes. “Not me. I’ll use Clairol, and I brush my teeth.”

Danika laughed and hugged her. “Okay, Sandra. I’m off. You hold down the fort while I go fight the Indians.”

“I thought you said the Indians were treated badly.”

“I did. It’s a saying.”

Sandra waved her away. “You confuse me.”

Once at the station and through muster, Danika was told she needed to pick up Rita at McAllen Medical Center. Odd, since the agent who spent the night with the patient could have provided the transportation. But after Danika’s conversation with Jimenez yesterday afternoon, she wasn’t questioning a single order. The confrontation had her biting her tongue and swallowing the cynicism. Being suspected as a rogue agent
did
make her angry enough to consider quitting, but why give Jimenez the pleasure?

Then a delicious thought shoved her superior from her mind: she might see Alex.

At the medical center, she replaced the agent in Rita’s room and learned Rita had spent a restless night with the thought of returning home. After greeting the girl, Danika waited for Alex or the nurse to bring the discharge papers.

She took Rita’s hand—a child who hadn’t been ready for an adult world. “You look healthy and pretty.”

“Dr. Price took good care of me.” She smiled, her large nut-brown eyes sparkling like Danika had often seen Tiana’s do.

“I see that. Are you in pain?”

“A little. Just worried about going home. My parents were afraid for me to make the trip, but they wanted a better future for me than in Mexico.” A wistful look passed over the girl’s face. “I did want to come here to work. I told them I could send them money so their life wouldn’t be so hard.”

Danika’s emotions plummeted. But the laws protecting the border were in place for a reason. “You had a worthy goal, but the U.S. has laws concerning how to gain access into our country.”

“But it takes so many years.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to come here boldly and full of confidence than to go through the dangers of crossing the border illegally? I’d love to see you march across the bridge at Hidalgo with your visa in one hand and your suitcase in the other.”

“It does sound good. Hiding from the Border Patrol was scary.”

At least Danika had accomplished something. “Look at the amount of money it cost you and your family.”

Rita propped herself on one elbow. “It was only half for me. I planned to work for a lady for free until the rest of my fee was paid.”

Danika had choice words to describe that type of arrangement. Many young girls ended up as work-worn maids or prostitutes and were never able to repay the money owed. “What kind of work would you have been doing?”

“Cleaning houses.”

“I see. Who would you be working for?”

Rita tilted her head. She reminded Danika of a younger Nadine. “I don’t know her name. The guide was supposed to take me and two others to meet her.” She frowned. “I hope a rattlesnake got him. But I’m afraid he might find me and kill me. Besides, he did lead some good men across.”

“Were there any drug smugglers with you?”

Rita shook her head. “I cannot say. Many work with gangs, and I’d be killed as well as my family. It is very dangerous at home.”

“I’m sorry.”

Danika saw a shadow in the doorway. A young man with blue scrubs and auburn hair pushed a cart of medication into the room. “Agent Morales, Dr. Price would like to see you. He’s at the nurse’s station.”

Danika released Rita’s hand with a promise to quickly return. She ventured down the hall and around the corner, anticipating Alex to be standing there. If her life wasn’t in such shambles, she’d accept a date. Right now her insides were doing flips at the thought of simply seeing him.

The nurses buzzed around the station like bees on honey. Maybe Alex sat in the middle. She nearly laughed at her own joke. When she didn’t see him, she lingered in the hallway thinking he must be with a patient. Ten more minutes passed.

Danika glanced at her watch. “Excuse me, I was told to meet Dr. Price here,” she said to a nurse behind the circular enclosure. “I’m to pick up discharge papers for a young woman.”

The nurse shook her head. “Dr. Price is in emergency. He hasn’t been up here for rounds this morning. However, I do have the papers.”

Apprehension clutched Danika’s chest. She raced back down the hall to Rita’s room with one hand on her weapon. She flung open the partially closed door.

Blood stained the white sheets and puddled on the floor. Rita had been stabbed in the chest.

* * *

Jacob’s stomach hadn’t been this sore since he’d gotten over food poisoning at a crawfish festival. He patted his shirt pocket for his doctor’s slip to give to his supe and walked toward the station’s employee entrance. He was dreading today, actually despising the day. Everyone knew what happened. When disciplinary measures had been meted out, the news spread through the agents faster than rising water in a hurricane. They’d ignore him. Of course, he’d been avoided for quite some time, much the way Barbara and his kids treated him. The other agents used to look up to him—an icon of the McAllen Border Patrol sector. Those days faded into oblivion when Toby died. Everyone seemed to have forgotten his brother’s murder. But not Jacob. He’d not give up until justice was served.

Inside the station, he changed into his uniform, minus his weapon, which had been confiscated when he’d been brought in for the abuse charges. He trailed down the hall to the field operations supervisor, Agent Oden Herrera, and presented the doctor’s slip.

“You need to schedule your counseling appointment,” Herrera said.

“Now? I just walked in.” Jacob clenched, then unclenched, his fist. “It’s Saturday. No one’s open today.”

“Jimenez’s orders. The call’s been made, and I have three appointments available.” He pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket. “Pick one.”

Jacob looked at his options. All three interfered with other things. “Can’t do any of those.”

“You’re not scheduled to work then.”

“I have a life,” Jacob snapped.

“That attitude is why you’re seeing a counselor and why your job is on the line.”

Jacob started to say he didn’t need the job, but he did. He could agree to this counseling and still lose his job with the BP. He stiffened. “Is there an appointment available thirty minutes prior to the second one listed?”

“I’ll look into it. Get back with me after your shift.”

“All right.”

Herrera leaned back in his chair. “Morales, we’re on your side. Something is eating at you, and we’re all in this together.”

“Yeah. I’ve heard that.”

Herrera stared at him. Disgust—or was it pity?—clouded his eyes.

Chapter 16

Only the brave know how to forgive.

Laurence Sterne

Danika clasped Tiana’s hand firmly in hers and walked into the sanctuary of McAllen Community Church. The Saturday night service didn’t draw near the worshipers Sunday morning did, but this uniquely scheduled time allowed people like her who worked on Sundays to honor God.

Tiana released Danika’s hand. “Mommy, why are you shaking?”

Danika willed her body to relax and put aside the memory of Rita’s limp and crimson form. Murdered. And for what purpose? Would the word
why
be permanently engraved in her heart for the deaths stalking her? She’d seen dead bodies before; it often came with the job. Except this time, Danika had formed a bond with a young woman who had trusted her. And Danika had failed her.

“I feel sad, and I need God to help me feel better.”

“I’m sorry, Mommy. When I ask Jesus for a daddy, I’ll ask Him to make you happy.”

“Thank you.” Right now she needed a few crimes solved, not another man in her life.

Danika’s mind focused on this morning at the hospital. Fortunately a volunteer had seen the young man pushing the medicine cart down the hall—the same cart that was found abandoned in the hallway.

The police did not blame Danika. Neither did Jimenez find fault in the way Danika had followed directions to meet Dr. Price at the nurses’ station. Danika, however, believed she should have been able to detect the killer. He ran loose while a family in Mexico no longer had a daughter. Danika remembered the young man’s features, and an artist at the McAllen police station did a sketch from her description. Then a call came in to the McAllen Border Patrol station claiming Danika Morales would be next.

At least she wasn’t under suspicion as a sold-out agent, but there wasn’t much comfort in that knowledge. She refused to crouch and hide like a scared rabbit. If someone wanted her bad enough, they’d find her anywhere. Trusting God came to the forefront of her mind, which was why she and Tiana sought peace and refuge in His house.

Danika and Tiana slid into a pew beside Becca, and she hugged them both.

“I’m so sorry about today,” she whispered. “And I’m glad you’re here.”

“About time I trusted God. My own way isn’t working very well.” Danika chose not to mention the threat on her life. No point in alarming her friend or anyone else. She’d faced the risks of her job before and held her ground.

Tiana stood with the praise songs and hymns, her tiny hand tapping the back of the pew in time with the vibrations. Once the pastor began his sermon, she opened her coloring book and crayons. The Sunday service had a college student who signed the Sunday school lesson for the hearing-impaired, but nothing was available for Saturday evening. Danika hoped her daughter kept her word to behave. Since the outburst about not having a daddy, she appeared to be much happier.

The back of Danika’s neck chilled. Her desire to have Tiana with her tonight might not have been wise with someone out there seeking vengeance. Danika shook off the eerie sensation and concentrated on the pastor’s words.

Thirty minutes later, tears streamed down her face. She was back where she belonged. Home. And the revelation came not in the sermon or in the Scripture reading but in a nudging in her spirit during an updated arrangement of the old hymn “It Is Well with My Soul.” The confusion about Rita, Jacob and Barbara, Nadine, Toby, and her job had not disappeared, but the restlessness had ended, and in its wake was blissful peace. The stubbornness and bitterness plaguing her life for the past two years would still erupt, but she had the means to fight those moments of despair.

Danika closed her eyes and prayed for the road ahead to be an easier walk. Yet she understood life’s challenges and the stalwart faith required to survive. Forgive she must, but that didn’t mean she’d stop searching for Toby’s killer or leave Jacob and Barbara alone to fight their own insurmountable problems.

“Have you had dinner?” Becca asked when the service was over.

“Not yet. Want to grab some chiles rellenos?”

Becca grimaced. “You’ve been working with men far too long.”

“Thought we could add a little spice to your life.”

Becca moaned and squeezed Danika’s shoulders. “You look good.”

“Long time coming. Thanks for not giving up on me.”

“I could never hold down the type of job you have. The heartache and critical situations would give me a lot of sleepless nights, and the stress would give me a heart attack.”

“It’s who I am. Now, where are we going to eat?”

“Seafood?”

“Perfect. Tiana loves popcorn shrimp.”

“One more question. Have you decided to take a chance and get to know your doctor friend?”

In truth, Danika pondered the same thing. Alex’s kindness this morning when she discovered Rita’s lifeless body demonstrated his integrity. He’d sat with her in his office until the police and Chief Jimenez arrived. It wasn’t his words that had comforted her but his quiet presence. She’d heard enough clichés from well-meaning people who attempted to comfort her when Toby died, and the tears in Alex’s eyes were exactly what she needed. She didn’t want to hear Romans 8:28 again.

“Well, have you decided?”

Becca’s sweet voice drew Danika back to the present. “I’m thinking about calling him. You know, take a leap.”

“All right! And I want to know all the juicy details.”

“Well, I haven’t done it yet. Has Felipe called you?”

Becca shrugged. “We are going to dinner Tuesday night.”

“At Chili’s?” Danika stifled a laugh.

“Did he tell you?”

“In a way. Are you going to see a movie too?”

“As a matter of fact, we are.”

* * *

Sandra finished putting the dishes into the cabinets and closed the dishwasher. With a little extra time on her hands this evening, she planned to watch a recorded history documentary. Learning had become a passion for her, everything from cooking shows to history.

The doorbell to the back door sounded. Hoping it wasn’t Lucy, she glanced through the window portion of the door. Instead she saw a familiar face.

“Jose.” What a surprise. She hurried to unlock the door and let the man inside. The moment she opened the door, he whisked her up into his arms and hugged her.

“Sandra, eres cada vez más bonita.”
His dimpled grin made her tingle.

“You should come around more often.”

His dark eyes danced. “Ah, I’m here now.” He brushed a quick kiss across her lips. “And now I know what I’ve missed.”

She sensed herself grow warm, but falling for Jose was out of the question. “Come in. Would you like a Coke or coffee? I have chicken enchiladas or brownies—”

He covered her mouth. “All of it and lots of you.”

“You’re making me blush.”

He stepped back. “I meant talking time.”

“Good. I thought I would have to put you in your place.”

Jose laughed. “You are sounding more American all the time.”

She lifted her chin. “Well, I am—sort of.”

“On paper.”

Sandra frowned. “I’ll take those papers any way I can get them.”

“At least you have them.”

Oh, Jose, if you had the same papers, then we could be more than friends.
She took his hand. “Come in, and let’s talk. How did you know I was alone?”

“I took a chance.”

How very nice.
“Then let’s make the most of our time together.”

A few moments later, she set out a plate of warm enchiladas and another platter of brownies with a Coke for Jose.

He picked up a brownie. “You should be married with lots of
bebés
.”

Jose as a husband would be nice, but he never stayed with a woman very long. He liked them all.

“Someday. Right now I have Tiana to take care of and a dear friend in Danika.”

“The Border Patrol agent?”

“Yes. I know it’s dangerous, but Lucy does good work.”

He shook his head. “If you can survive the first couple of years working for her.”

“I’d do it again. It was worth it.”

“Can you vote with those papers?”

Sandra remembered the last presidential election. “I didn’t try.” She’d lied to Danika about voting. Another lie among so many.

“I’ve never figured out why those of us who just want to work aren’t allowed to cross the border. Americans don’t want our jobs anyway. You cook and clean, and I mow yards and pull weeds.”

Sandra nodded. “Even with a bad economy, they need us. Then they complain about too many Mexicans.”

“Maybe things will change soon.”

“I hope so. Sorry to hear about your sister.”

His face clouded. “She was walking home from work when fighting broke out in the streets between the police and the Zetas. A policeman’s bullet got her.”

“Are your parents doing better?”

“Yes. I’d like for them to come here too, but I’m afraid they’re too old to make it across the river.”

Sandra toyed with a napkin. “Jose, why are you here? It’s been months since I’ve seen you. The last I heard, you were living with Linda.”

“She left me for a man who was a real citizen.”

“What about your little girl?”

“Linda has my daughter and won’t let me see her.” He glanced away, then back to Sandra. “Please forgive me for hurting you. I thought Linda and I would be together forever.”

Right now, looking at Jose and remembering the past . . . she’d like to have him back until he found another prettier woman. “Of course I forgive you. But I’m sure there’s more to your visit.”

“There is. I wouldn’t lie to you. I need a favor.”

She should have known. “What’s that?”

“I really need more yard work. From the looks of your yard, I can tell someone is already doing it. But maybe if you put in a good word for me . . .”

Sandra reached across the table and touched his arm. “I would be happy to, but Danika checks everyone’s papers.”

He covered his face. “I really need the money to send back to my parents. After my sister’s death, they have no one to help them with bills and medicine.”

Sandra understood taking care of aging parents. “I wish I could help.” A thought occurred to her. “Lucy might be able to help you. She’s a wicked one, and you’d most likely be working for nothing for a while.”

“I’ll do anything.”

“Then go see her and see if something can be worked out. Believe me, the deal will be in her favor. And she does handle the yard service here.”

He smiled and stared into her face. Hope brightened his face. “If I worked here, we could see each other more often. And I’d have my documentation papers.”

“That would be nice.”

“God smiled on me when I came to see you tonight, Sandra. I’ll never forget this. Never.”