Page 26 of Zero
We all piled into our vehicles and got back on the road.
“Tex.” Rei called when the Texan picked up. “I’m going to need some supplies, including a laptop.”
“How much time I got?”
“Not much.” Rei replied. “Also, I want you to run a check on the name Marlon Ortega.”
“Marlon Ortega?”
“Yeah. Know the name?” I asked.
“I might.” Tex answered. “Listen, if the guy is who I think he is, I might know what this is about. Beast called through and we were going to send Benny, but if Ortega is who I think he is, I’m going to need to send Dude.”
“Tex, talk to me, man.” Rei pushed. “You’ve never held things back from me before.”
“Look man, if this is the Marlon Ortega we’re talking about, he’s a lieutenant in the Hougan.” Tex explained.
“Hougan? Are they a terrorist group?” Rei asked.
“Kind of.” Tex replied. “Over the past ten or so years there has been a spike in cocaine and marijuana coming from Haiti. Hougan is a drug cartel out of Colombia. You see, the drugs aren’t from Haiti.”
“So where is it from?” I asked.
“Colombia.” Tex replied.
“Huh?” I pushed.
“It’s genius, really.” Rei told us. “Because Haiti shares Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, it makes drug trafficking between Colombia and Puerto Rico easy. All they have to do is loop it through Haiti.”
“Are you saying my brother is into drugs?” My lips trembled. “Oh my God.”
“No.” Tex spoke seriously. “Don’t jump to conclusion. This may explain what your brother was doing in Haiti. This drug problem affects Jamaica as well—heavily. The number of cocaine overdoses has gone up in recent years. It would make sense that drugs are coming in from another island. Dude has a contact in Haiti. We’ll reach out.”
I sighed and shook my head. “This is bullshit.”
“Okay.” Rei pulled into the hanger before Eton alighted from his vehicle and closed the massive door. “Let me know when you get a hold of Dude’s friend and when he gets on a plane.”
“For sure…”
“Hoshi, can you call Patrick to meet us here?” Rei asked.
I nodded and after saying bye to Tex, I climbed from the vehicle while heading over to Eton to get the phone number for Patrick. A part of me knew that Rei merely wanted me to get be out of earshot of whatever other questions he wanted to ask Tex. But another part of me didn’t feel ready for them either.
Once I got the number from Eton and called Patrick with Rei’s message, I stood behind his car, staring at the trunk, wondering if they had enough air in there.
They couldn’t die before telling us what they knew about my brother being missing.
Rei joined me and Eton with staring at the trunk. “Eton, what did you find?”
“Justice’s days aren’t anything to write home about.” Eton replied. “His bank runs are normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. He has savings, checking, investments, bill payments.”
“They told you all this?” Rei arched a brow.
“I have a pretty face.” Eton chuckled proudly. “The furniture store was new—he was asking about a new mattress. The only one that looks iffy is this place just outside St. Ann’s bay. It’s an old mansion that looks as if it hasn’t seen traffic in a few years. I took these pictures.”
Rei accepted the cell, looked at it then handed it over to me.
“It’s Brailin Mansion.” I told him. “It was built back in the middle of Napoleonic Wars around eighteen ten. It doesn’t make sense my brother would go there.”
