'The Alero's going to have to be towed,' Easy said. 'And Dave's car is still at the Claim Jumper. I'll have one of my guys load you into a Suburban and take you back. The rest of us have one more stop before the evening is over.'
'What stop?' Ali asked.
'In the Old Las Palmas area of Palm Springs,' Easy replied. 'That's where Lucia Joaquin lives. She and her granddaughter, Amber, are the only ones still at large. We've had Lucia's place under surveillance all night long. There's been no unusual activity, so we're hoping she has no idea we've managed to roll up her entire operation in the course of the last several hours. And now we're going to nail her.'
'She's the one who ordered Paul's murder?' Ali asked.
Easy nodded. 'I believe so.'
'Then I want to go, too,' Ali said. 'I want to be there.'
'You can't,' Easy objected. 'It's impossible. I'm not allowed to put civilians in danger. It's absolutely against regulations.'
'I've been in danger all night,' Ali pointed out. 'So has Dave. So has Chris.'
'Yes,' Easy agreed. 'But that wasn't my fault.'
'Please,' Ali said quietly. 'After all we've been through tonight, shouldn't I be able to be there to see her taken into custody?'
Easy Washington shook his head. At first Ali was convinced he was turning her down, then he called over his shoulder to one of his men.
'Hey, Sal. Does anyone here have a couple of extra Kevlar vests? A small and a large. We've got someone here who's going to need one.'
CHAPTER 21
The Kevlar jacket was bulkier than Ali could have imagined. And hotter, too. Minutes after donning it, she and Dave climbed into the backseat of Easy Washington's black Suburban.
In the rush of donning the vest Ali had lost track of her son.
'Where's Chris?' she asked. 'I thought he was coming along.'
'He's on his way to an ER in the ambulance,' Dave answered. 'The EMT insisted his ankle has to be X-rayed and refused to take no for an answer. By the way,' Dave added, 'did anyone ever tell you Chris is one hell of a kid? Really used his head tonight. He did a great job with your dad and us on the phone.'
'Yes,' Ali agreed. 'He is one hell of a kid.'
In the front seat, Easy was on the radio and cell phone both, coordinating his troops. At the rest area Ali had caught sight of several officers she had met in the course of the previous several days, cops she knew from L.A. and Riverside, in addition to Easy's own crew from the DEA. This was clearly a complicated, task-force-style operation with Ezekiel Washington calling the shots.
'I've never been to Palm Springs,' Dave said, studying a map Easy had handed him. 'We're going to a street called Via Hermosa.'
Via Hermosa was a name-brand Palm Springs address, and Ali remembered visiting several of the venerable old mansions there years earlier as part of various charitable functions. She took the map from Dave long enough to point to the general area.
'Old Las Palmas is part of old Palm Springs,' Ali explained. 'Big houses. Big lots.'
'Big bucks?' Dave asked.
'That, too, but I would guess Lucia Joaquin can afford pretty much anything she wants.'
Ali thought about the other massive old places she had seen in old Las Palmasthe eight-or nine-bedroom luxury homes with their many-car garages, their lush furnishings and equally lush grounds. She didn't know which house Lucia lived in, but it had to be one like that.
And the more Ali thought about it, the more the whole idea of Lucia Joaquin offended her. She resented the idea that a woman, clad in pink from head to toe and closeted in absolute luxury, could sit at home in total comfort and safety while sending her minions off to do her biddingup to and including committing acts of cold-blooded murder. While one of her worker bees had left a trussed and helpless Paul Graysonwho she merely suspected might go to the copsto die on the train tracks, Lucia had been a few miles away, probably sleeping peacefully in her bed.
'Where do people like Lucia come from?' Ali asked Dave finally.
He shook his head. 'They're vermin,' he said. 'They crawl out from under rocks.'
They had turned off I-10 and onto Highway 111. As they sped through the night with the blue and red lights pulsing overhead but with no siren, Ali tried not to look at that particular part of the desert, but she couldn't help it. Her eyes were drawn to the black pool of unrelieved darkness where she knew the train track ran. What a desolate place it waswhat an awful place to die.
Easy returned his radio to its holder. 'Okay,' he said, 'here's the deal. We have yet to locate Amber, the granddaughter, but we're pretty sure Lucia is inside the Palm Springs house. It's possible she's there alone, but it's also possible there's a caregiver with her. The place sits on an acre and a half, and the whole thing is surrounded by a twelve-foot rock wall with only one gate. Since Lucia isn't in the best of health these days, she's not going to be climbing over that fence. As long as we control the gatewhich we dowe also control access.'
Dave nodded. Ali said nothing.
'I've got a trained tactical team in place and primed to do the heavy lifting,' Easy continued. 'These are guys who know what they're about and we're going to let them do it. I've put my second in command in charge. Since the two of you are here on my say-so, I'm not letting either one of you out of my sight for even so much as a minute. And you're not going any closer to the action than I say, got it?'
'Got it,' Dave said at once.
'Ms. Reynolds?' Easy asked. 'I don't believe I heard a response from you.'
'Got it,' Ali said.
'Good. I know you're anxious to see the takedown. Considering the circumstances, I can't say that I blame you, but you're not to go near that woman until my guys have the situation under control.'
'Yes,' Ali said. 'I understand.'
She looked at Dave. He sat there alert but seemingly at ease, with the palms of his hands resting squarely on his knees. If he was concerned about the coming confrontation, his impassive face betrayed none of it. But then, Ali realized, he was a Marine. Clearly he would be accustomed to going into potentially dangerous combat situations. She was not. Her heart pounded in her chest. Sweat dribbled down the back of her neck and soaked her shirt under the arms. Despite the fact that she had said she wanted to be here and see Lucia taken into custody, it was clear to Ali that she wasn't ready at alland probably never would be. And she missed having her Glock, missed it more than she could have imagined.
'How long before it all starts?' she asked.
She had aimed her question at Dave, but Easy Washington was the one who answered. 'Depends on how long it takes us to get there,' he said.
Ali had always been under the impression that it took approximately forever to drive from the Palm Springs turnoff on I-10 into the city itself. Tonight it seemed to happen in the blink of an eye. Long before Ali had managed to prepare herself, Easy was already turning off Palm Canyon and headed toward Old Las Palmas. Ali closed her fists and let her fingernails dig into the flesh at the base of her palms. She may have been petrified about whatever was coming, but she sure as hell wasn't going to show it.
As they approached Via Hermosa, cop cars and roadblocks seemed to be everywhereall kinds of cop cars from all kinds of jurisdictions. But Easy and his Suburban had the secret code or maybe it was a magic charm. Every time the Suburban came close to stopping, they were waved on through the barricade.
When they finally came to a stop, it was on the far side of a wrought-iron gate with a massive wall on either side that seemed to stretch out of sight in both directions. The sky was starting to brighten almost imperceptibly on the far horizon while the view in through the gate was nothing short of idyllic. A lit fountain, spilling water, was the centerpiece of a bricked courtyard. Curtains of blooming bougainvillea framed a pillared front porch. The massive
