His handler set up our meeting, and to be cautious, it’s happening outside the city at an abandoned farm. It takes me thirty minutes to get there from the airport, which is time I hate to waste. Unfortunately, he’s my best opportunity to find Greer. However, I have to take his information with a grain of salt. He’s been the CIA’s lapdog for four years now and still hasn’t been reunited with this family, so he may be more loyal to his gang than to the US government at this point.
When I pull onto a narrow dirt road with high vegetation on either side, I have to travel a good fifty yards to see that Orellana has already arrived. He’s leaning against the side of an old Buick, so rusted I’m surprised the doors are hanging on.
He’s a wiry man, a good foot shorter than I am, I note, as I exit the Jeep provided to me at the airport. Orellana twists his neck, left and right, as if he’s expecting someone to jump out of the bushes at us. He looks cagey and ready to take flight. By the hostility in his eyes, I can tell he’s not happy about this meeting.
I don’t bother offering my hand. Just a curt nod. “Thanks for meeting me, Frankie.”
His eyebrows shoot high in surprise that I speak Spanish. I also speak Russian, but I’m nowhere as good as Greer. She’s one of those people with an aptitude for languages.
Frankie replies in Spanish, but the petulant tone is universal. “I don’t want to be here.”
Not going to waste time trying to assuage his feelings. “I’ve got fifty thousand US dollars for you in that Jeep if you have good information for me.”
Now it doesn’t seem all that off-putting to meet with me. Frankie’s eyes cut to the Jeep, and I can read the shrewd expression on his face as he looks back to me, sizing me up. “Before you even think about reaching for that gun in the back of your pants, I want you to know I’m faster than you are. You’ll be dead before you get your hand on it. Furthermore, if you don’t help me to the best of your ability, and I don’t check in with your handler after this meeting, you’re never going to be reunited with your family. Are we clear?”
Frankie glares at me, but nods. “Clear.”
“Good. Anything you say here stays between you and me. It goes no further, not even to your handler.”
Again, Frankie blinks at me in disbelief.
“I’m not US government,” I explain. “I’m private, so I don’t report to anyone.”
It’s the reassurance the man clearly needs because he relaxes, shoulders lowering a bit. “What do you need to know?”
“Hugo Mejia kidnapped an American woman this morning. The newspaper reported her as a spy, and they’re saying she’s being held in your local jail. We know that’s not true, and I’m positive Hugo has her somewhere else. I need to know where.”
Frankie again looks around the area, and he rubs at the back of his neck.
“Do you know anything?” I ask, a bit harshly to get his attention.
His eyes snap back to mine, and he admits, “I think I know where she’s at. I don’t work directly for Mejia, but some of my friends do, and he’s called in a few to head out to his warehouse, just south of Tonacatepeque.”
“Is that the warehouse where he stores his arms?” I ask for clarification.
Frankie nods. “Guns, munitions, and some explosives. He has another warehouse for the larger stuff, but since he’s ordered some of the Vecindario 18 to go there, I’m guessing that’s where she is.”
“Word is he has more protection around his home, most of it military-trained forces. Any chance she could be there?”
Frankie shakes his head. “No, the man keeps up a respectable appearance as a legitimate business and family man. He wouldn’t bring illegal stuff to his residence.”
“You’re sure?” I press him.
“I’m only sure he’s asked for more support at the Tonacatepeque warehouse. If you give me a few days—”
“I don’t have a few days. I’ve got minutes. How far is that from here?”
Frankie shrugs. “Twenty-five minutes, give or take.”
I have no choice. I’m going to have to reconnoiter the area and hope to God she’s there.
Efficiently, I dole out the fifty thousand I promised, keeping a careful eye on his hands and body positioning. I wouldn’t put it past him to try to take me down for whatever other goodies I have in that Jeep. If he knew I actually had another fifty grand in there, I’m sure he’d make a play for it, but I didn’t let him have a peek.
With our business finished, I deliver a dire warning. “Just as I promise to keep this meeting to myself, if you tell anyone about me being here or that I’m looking for this woman you’re going to have a lot more to worry about than getting to see your wife and kid again. Understand?”
The man nods vigorously, and that’s all I need.
I wait for Orellana to leave first, then I’m on my way to Tonacatepeque. During the drive, I remember the first time I met Greer.
A bullet blew through the window, knocking out the small bit of glass remaining in the abandoned building. My back against the wall, I offered up a silent prayer of thanks that it was made of thick concrete. Of course, if my pursuers had a grenade launcher at their disposal, the walls wouldn’t be enough to protect me.
I glanced down at my watch. I was late for my ex-fil, so I started making plans to go on the down low until I could contact my handler. Surely, I could survive in the jungle amongst the drug lords of Colombia for a few days.
Figuring there was a rear exit door, I belly crawled toward the only other doorway available. Bullets screamed over my head, striking the far wall and spraying bits of concrete.
I snarled when I felt a stinging sensation in my backside—more particularly, my right ass cheek, closer to the hip. I didn’t pause to look but knew without a doubt a bullet had nicked me. I also knew it wasn’t bad, but it hurt like a son of a bitch.
I made it into the hallway relatively unscathed where, mercifully, the bullets couldn’t reach their target. I started to push into a standing position when, all of a sudden, a pair of black boots were standing before me. My eyes traveled up a pair of long legs clad in black fatigues, up to the most beautiful face I’d ever seen.
Honey-brown eyes stared down and she offered a lopsided grin. “I’m Greer, and I’m here to save you.”
She held an M4 rifle across her body and didn’t seem put out by the need to rescue me.
Still flat on my stomach, I smiled back at her. “I’m glad to meet you, Greer. I’m Ladd.”
“Figured that one out on my own,” she replied dryly, and then glanced down the hallway from where I’d just come. The echo of pinging bullets filtered toward us.
She turned on her boot and hustled in the opposite direction. I jumped up and followed.
“You missed your ex-fil,” she said, holding her rifle in a way that would cut down anyone who came at us.
No shit, I missed my ex-fil. “They usually don’t send somebody if you miss it.”
“I guess it’s your lucky day that I happen to be willing to bend the rules, isn’t it?”
Lucky day, indeed.
Greer had come in and swept me off my feet in a very unromantic way. We had made a mad-dash run for it, the bullet graze to my ass not slowing us down in the slightest.