Page 28 of Zero
“There was a bust.” Ortega confided. “They picked up a whole bunch of our guys. But they weren’t any high-ranking ones. After that, boss went on a rampage.”
“Who’s your boss?” I asked.
“Come on, man. He’ll kill me.”’’
I laughed and swerved on him again. Rei caught me around the hips and set me aside.
“You can either tell us or I can leave you in here with her.” Rei frowned. “And trust me, she’s a lot scarier than I am.”
“She doesn’t scare me.” Ortega made a face.
Rei stood and removed the Glock from his holster. He handed it to me and moved to stand behind the chair. I removed the safety and aimed at Ortega’s right leg.
“This room.” I told him as I hunched down and pressed the business end of the weapon into his knee. “I could set off a bomb in here and outside, they wouldn’t hear a thing. So, let’s see how many bullets you can take before you either bleed out, or die from the pain of it. If you can’t answer our questions, you’re no use to us. But rather than just killing you, I’m going to make it hurt.”
“Luis Morena!” Ortega shouted. “Get her away from me!”
“I thought you weren’t afraid.” Rei teased. “Was that a lie, Ortega?”
Before Marlon could speak, Rei continued. “Yeah, yeah, fuck me. No thank you.”
Rei set to work cuffing Marlon to a pipe that ran all the way up the wall and cemented into the ceiling. We then headed over to where Patrick was sitting and joined him.
“What did you find out from the bunk?” Rei asked.
“Nothing much.” Patrick shrugged. “Justice doesn’t usually sleep on site but a while back, he started living there.”
“Yeah.” I replied. “He couldn’t stay at the beach house because of the breakup and he didn’t like his place. He said it was too quiet there.”
“Well, he has very little in the way of possessions. But there really isn’t anything there—no work files, nothing. What stuns me is—Justice is such a family man, but he doesn’t even have a picture of you, Bailey.”
“That’s weird.” I muttered. “He always kept a picture of us there. It’s one where he was graduating from basics and I was on his back. It’s not at the beach house.”
“So where is the picture?” Rei asked.
“Can I be honest, Zero?” Patrick asked.
Rei nodded. “Of course.”
“It’s almost as if someone knew we’d go looking.” Patrick confided. “Like they went in and took everything they thought would lead us back to them.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” I frowned. “I thought this base is secure.”
“Doesn’t mean people can’t get in when they’re not supposed to.” Rei told me. “People are dishonest. And most often than not, they always do what they aren’t supposed to. Even if they have to—”
“Pay someone to do what needs to be done.” I finished for him. “Son of a bitch. Someone here is in on this.”
“That’s what I was thinking my entire ride over here.” Patrick glanced toward Ortega. “Anything?”
“Yeah.” I replied. “My brother did something in Haiti that is now coming back to bite him in the ass. It’s something that was personal to a drug lord and now he’s on a vendetta.”
“It’s a woman.” Patrick blurted out. “It has to be.”
“How do you figure?” I asked.
“Think about it.” Patrick glanced to where Ortega was still trying to break free. “You said it was a personal thing, right? Let’s go with that. In the drug world, nothing is taken personal. It’s business to them and they would gut their mothers if it meant everything will work out. Why is this man now after Justice in a whole other country if it was simply something to do with the business?”
“Patrick’s got a point.” Rei patted the young soldier’s shoulder. “They go through busts all the time—there are always contingencies on contingencies for that kind of emergency. They wouldn’t risk going after Justice here because of some low-level men that were grabbed. It has to be something more than just drugs.”
