Page 38 of Secrets Beneath the Waves
Cops didn’t like private investigators on the best of days. Ramon wasn’t doing them a favor working their case for them. They would see it as him trying to undermine their work.
He pulled the rear door of the SUV open for Zeyla.
Special Agent Alvarez said, “You get back there, too.”
Ramon figured that would enable him to whisper to Zeyla or communicate silently in some other way. He climbed in, and the fed shut the door a little too quickly. The toes of Ramon’sboots bumped a clear plastic plate behind the front seats, floor to ceiling.
“Buckle up.” Alvarez pulled out fast, shifting both of them back in their seats.
Zeyla pushed against the glass. “This is great,” she muttered under her breath. “We’re trapped back here with this psycho at the wheel.”
Ramon clipped his seat belt in. “Buckle up,” he whispered. “Just in case.” Louder, he said, “Hey, Alvarez? What’s going on?”
The special agent hit the gas, taking the corner hard with both hands on the wheel. Ramon caught a glimpse of the look on his face in the rearview mirror and the smirk curling his lips up.
Ramon slapped his palm on the Plexiglas. “Where are we going?”
“Doesn’t matter,” the agent said. “It’ll be over soon, so maybe say your prayers.”
Zeyla growled under her breath. “He’s gonna kill both of us?”
He leaned over and whispered, “I’m not going to let that happen.”
“Yeah, duh. You thinkI’mjust gonna let it happen?” She tossed his words back at him, then said, “We need to overpower him. What do you still have on you? I probably have a couple of knives.”
“You don’t know for sure?”
“It’s been a long day. I landed on one of them when that kidnapper guy hit me.”
Ramon’s head swam with what was going on, but one thing rose to the surface. “We saved that girl.”
“We hope.” Zeyla didn’t look so happy.
“What do you mean? She’s off to the hospital. Her parents will come and pick her up. Her life will go back to normal, and she’ll be safe.”
“Maybe.” Zeyla shrugged one shoulder.
Two streets over, the agent pulled off to the side of the road behind another car and got out. Miguel emerged from the car and the two men switched places with a quick chin lift.
Miguel got in the SUV and they set off again.
I’m going to kill you.“This was all a ruse.”
Zeyla said nothing.
Ramon took a quick inventory of everything he still had on him, trying to decide if the tools in his lock-pick kit counted as weapons. They were too small to do much damage. But if it came down to it, he’d rather have them than nothing. He’d already stabbed Miguel once this week, and the guy didn’t seem to be suffering much. Except for the grunt when he climbed on the stool at the bar.
What had he said?
Zeyla was the job. Ramon wasn’t. And the client was…precise? Something like that. Implying he couldn’t kill Ramon even if he wanted to, which was probably why he’d chosen to rattle Ramon instead. Throw him off his game.
Now it seemed like all bets might be off.
Miguel drove to some kind of park area with a wooden sign and maps for hiking trails. He drove through the gravel and dirt parking lot to an exit road at the far end that climbed up the hillside—a narrow dirt track that was probably built for access during fire season, when crews needed to reach the terrain.
The car bumped and jerked over the ground, and at points, the landscape dropped off entirely on one side.
“He’s going to bury us in the middle of nowhere.”
