The Covert Element (31 page)

I hopped out of the Pilot, anxious to hear more about Beth.
Then I remembered that hopping with a concussion is not a great
idea. I made my way somewhat more gingerly onto the porch and
up to the oak entry door.

When I reached for the door handle, the door leapt inward and
Beth came flying out. Normally, I really like it when she jumps into
my arms, wraps her long legs around my waist, and plants a big
smooch on my kisser. This time was pretty great, too. But the
pounding headache, and bruises from the hull-cushioned boat ride,
made it tough to maintain this pose for long.

"Babe, I was so worried about you. You stupid lunk."

The lunk thing hurt a little. I couldn’t argue with the stupid
part.

"I’m just glad you didn’t get grabbed up, too." I squeezed Beth’s
athletic body tightly to my chest.

Perceiving my physical discomfort, Beth unlatched her ankles
from around my mid-section and jumped to the floor. Her smile
looked . . . unbelievable. And damn, she smelled good.

I placed my hands on her hips and gazed into her eyes.

When asking forgiveness from one’s spouse, timing is
everything.

"Beth, you’ve gotta be pretty mad at me right now. And I don’t
blame you one bit. I was chasing cartels like they were gangsters. It
was a big . . . a huge, mistake. Can you forgive me?"

Beth tried to press her lips together and look stern. Then she
started laughing.

"You think you’re pretty smooth asking my forgiveness just
when you’ve returned from the dead."

"I am pretty smooth, aren’t I."

Beth slapped my stomach with a vicious backhand.

"Yes, dammit. Now get in here and show me some appreciation
for saving your ass."

Beth smiled as she turned away from me. Then, pulling my arm
under hers like a fire hose, she dragged me inside.

I kicked the door shut with my heel.

"Doll, where’s Bull?"

"I haven’t seen him. He just told me to come to his place and
wait. Sergeant Fuentes is on the back deck. He’s avoiding an
anxious woman by pretending to guard us against an assault up the
cliff and through the trees."

Beth smiled.

I could see Fuentes’ foot propped up on the deck railing. I was
glad that Beth wasn’t here, alone with Fuentes, any longer. I didn’t
trust the guy.

Just then I heard a car pull up. A quick check out the front
window confirmed that it was, indeed, Mr. Red Feather, making his
triumphant return.

Bull entered through the garage doorway.

He came toward us, extending his hand to Beth. Beth stepped
past his outstretched attempt at a greeting and gave him the best
hug she could manage. Her smiling face and sandy blonde hair lay
sideways against his big chest. Her arms didn’t come close to
encircling his torso.

Bull looked at me as she held the grip. Eventually, he
mechanically patted Beth’s back.

Bull and Beth knew one another. But I had never seen her
embrace him before. I wondered if she was employing a
psychological warfare tactic. Make him uncomfortable now to
scramble his natural defenses so he’d relax later.

"Nice to see you, Bull," Beth said into his chest. "Seems like it’s
been a long time."

"Um hmm," he said, watching over the top of Beth’s head for
my reaction to her greeting.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"It’s really not fair that my husband keeps you all to himself.
We need to get together more often."

With a final squeeze, Beth released her hug.

I moved closer to Bull.

"No hug," he said.

"Just a proper thank you, my friend." I extended my hand to
shake.

He accepted my greeting.

"No problem. Where’s Sarge? We all need to talk."

"He’s out back," Beth said. "I’ll ask him to come in." She
headed for the deck.

I looked at Bull.

"Where’d you go?"

"Nowhere. Just looked around. Made sure we’re still safe."

That made sense. I mean, it made sense if you hadn’t just shot
a man in the head. That Bull had retained his professional
demeanor under today’s circumstances was remarkable . . . maybe a
little scary.

When Beth returned with Sergeant Fuentes, we each found a
spot to sit on the comfortable furniture of the great room.

Bull didn’t say anything right away.

"So what did you want to talk about?" I said.

"Not me. You talk."

I supposed Bull’s approach was reasonable given that I had
been the cause of the recent excitement.

"Okay. Let me start out by saying how sorry I am that . . ."

Bull interrupted me.

"Talk about now."

Okay. No apologies at present. Bull wanted to see where all this
was headed.

I spoke first to Sergeant Fuentes.

"I have located the drug manufacturing facility. And its owner
knows that I know. That’s why those two Latinos jumped me and
interrogated me in that river cabin. They were ready to kill me for
whatever I
might
know.

"I’m assuming you believe those men worked for
Los Cinco
,
yes?"

"
Si.
It is a
Los Cinco
drug facility," Sergeant Fuentes said.
"How did you locate this place?"

"We’ll need to leave that for later. Right now, Bull is correct
that we need to figure out where we go from here. I have some
thoughts."

I looked each person in the eye to make sure my suggestions
were welcome. It appeared they were still listening.

"First of all, the only way I can think of to get
Los Cinco
off my
back, and Beth’s, is to put that drug lab out of business. Then the
cartel won’t have any need to silence us and our supposed
knowledge of their secret operation. The cat will be out of the bag.
We won’t matter anymore."

Fuentes leaned forward.

"I will destroy the lab. I have explosives. I know how to use
them. I will take the risk. Please allow me to do this for all our
sakes."

"I appreciate your offer, Sergeant, but I don’t see how that gets
Beth and me off the hook.
Los Cinco
will assume that I blew up
their plant and they will want revenge. Then there is also the matter
of taking innocent lives in a bombing. We don’t know that everyone
there is
Los Cinco
. And there are also the customers who might be
killed or injured.

"I can’t agree with your approach, Sergeant."

Fuentes began to speak again, but I cut him off.

"Please, Sergeant, hear me out."

He sat back in his chair.

"We now have enough hard evidence of criminal activity to get
the state and federal law enforcement folks involved. With their
help, we could take down the whole operation in a matter of days,
without bombs."

Fuentes stood up and spoke directly to me.

"We have already mentioned these things and why they cannot
succeed. The Americans will send the
Los Cinco
workers back to
Mexico and my mission will fail. Do you not see this?"

I remained sitting and spoke calmly.

"First of all, it’s not guaranteed that those Mexicans working at
the lab would be sent to Mexico. Perhaps some are already
American citizens. Or the U.S. may decide to prosecute the drug
operation as an act of terrorism. Those cartel members may end up
in Guantanamo Bay, or at least in a U.S. prison, for life.

"Secondly, if we follow your plan, we could all join them in
prison for our parts in the bombing, or our advance knowledge of it.

"Thirdly, I still cannot agree with the potential loss of innocent
lives."

Fuentes remained standing. I was not persuading him in the
least.

"Sergeant Fuentes," Beth said. "Please sit down so we may
continue to talk about this situation."

Fuentes sat.

"I agree with my husband, Sergeant Fuentes. I agree for all the
same reasons."

Beth turned to Bull.

"What do you think, Bull?"

Bull looked at Fuentes, then Beth, then me.

"They’re right, Sarge. No bomb."

I was greatly relieved that Bull had sided with Beth and me
over his military comrade. Until this minute, I had not been sure
where Bull’s loyalties lay.

Fuentes stood again.

"Say to me, Señor Beck, where is this drug factory? I will not
involve you further."

"I’m sorry, Sergeant. I can’t tell you that."

Both of us knew what he would do if he had this information.

"Then I have no more talking to say."

He strode across the room and left via the front door.

"I’m glad he doesn’t know where the lab is. Otherwise, he’d
probably be on his way there right now."

"He knows," Bull said.

"What? He knows where the lab is? How do you know?"

"I saw him go there."

Oh, crap!

"Then somebody’s gotta follow him to make sure he doesn’t
blow it up."

"He wants to blow it up. But he’s not ready yet. I’ll watch him.
You don’t worry."

That was asking a lot.

"Okay, Bull. You watch him. If you need any help, let me know
and I’m there. You got it?"

Bull nodded.

"You talk some more now."

"Right. Back to how we take this place down."

I laid out a plan to involve the authorities in the drug bust.
Gunner would take the lead in speaking to law enforcement. Bull
wanted no direct contact with them.

"And Beth, if you have a computer . . ."

She made an "are you kidding?" face.

"Okay. So I’ll contact my FBI guy in Washington. Then Beth
will send him some pictures I’ve got for him to run through their
facial recognition databases. Maybe the FBI will have more info we
can use to get the other lawmen to take us seriously – though I
think the dead guy and his bound buddy will go a long way toward
that on their own.

"If you all agree, I’ll call Gunner and give him the coordinates
of the
Los Cinco
cabin. You’ve got those, right, Beth?"

She spread her arms, palms up. Okay. I needed to stop asking
her dumb questions.

"In the meantime, Bull can keep an eye on Fuentes and a watch
for additional vindictive Mexicans. Sound okay to you, Bull?"

"Okay to me." He stood up and followed Fuentes’ trail out the
door.