wanted to dismember and kill his own father.
A guard rushed ahead to open the double doors to the shed that hadn’t changed much over the years. The innocent exterior of this two-story building hid soundproof walls and Durand’s blackest secrets.
When Carlos stepped inside, he followed the wide-eyed gazes of the silent guards. Two hideously bloated bodies hung inside a glassed-in box that had frost on the glass. Carlos had heard stories of how the infamous shed had been used after he left home. The hanging bodies accounted for the residual smell of death that no cleaning would remove.
The guards moved Carlos to where a thick metal hook dangled from a chain attached to the ceiling.
“Lift his hands,” Julio ordered. When the guards complied, Julio caught the hook between the handcuffs and nodded at someone, who engaged a motor, lifting the chain until Carlos’s feet barely touched the ground.
Durand’s phone jingled. He answered, then said, “Bien.” He pressed a button that put it on speaker. “Here is your call, Alejandro.”
“We are on board and…all is set,” Maria said, using the code to let him know Gabrielle made the call. “Vaya con Dios.”
May God go with you.
Carlos doubted God would want to join him here. “And you.”
“Touching,” Durand said, closing the phone. “Now, who is Mirage?”
“Me.” Carlos forced his mind past everything he’d just learned about the past and focused on saving Gabrielle. “Who else would have known as much about the Anguis?”
Durand asked Julio, “What you think?”
“Possible.” Julio’s eyes shifted toward the box with the two bodies. “He would have known how to contact Ferdinand.”
Carlos pushed up on his toes to relieve the strain of his body weight hanging and the handcuffs cutting into his wrists. That confirmed the two dead men were Ferdinand and his son, but they obviously hadn’t given up Gabrielle.
“We’ll know the truth soon enough.” Durand walked across the room to a bowl-shaped fire pit like the one Carlos had seen on outdoor patios. Heat rose from this one, making him think it was full of hot embers.
Durand lifted a metal stick and walked back across the room. The end of the rod had a cutout design shaped as a circle with a line across the middle. A branding iron.
The emblem at the end glowed red.
“You don’t need that,” Carlos said. “I’ve agreed to tell you everything.”
“This is no to make you talk, Alejandro. You can no longer wear the sign of an Anguis on your body. This will mark you as the traitor you are for all to see when I hang your carcass next to Ferdinand and his son.”
Carlos clenched his teeth tight, preparing to have his skin burned to the bone.
Durand’s radio hissed, then a voice said, “Don Anguis, there is an emergency call for you on the office line.” He handed the branding iron to Julio and lifted the radio, depressing a button when he spoke. “Who is calling?”
“Vestavia. He says he needs to tell you who Mirage is.”
“Forward his call to my cell phone.” Durand handed Julio the iron, then turned to Carlos. “We’ll both know soon if you tell the truth or if your girlfriend dies.”
Had someone discovered Gabrielle was Mirage?
TWENTY-SIX
HELLO, VESTAVIA,” DURAND answered, then fingered the button on his phone to put it on speaker, placing them both on video feed. He preferred to see this man’s face when they spoke.
“I have a lead on Mirage.” Vestavia’s face filled the screen.
“Really? What?”
“We think it’s the man who killed your people in France. The photo Julio finally sent”-Vestavia paused, allowing his annoyance at Durand’s delay to come through-“matches one we’ve confirmed that Baby Face and Turga were after for one thing.”
“How are you sure?” Durand should thank Vestavia for corroborating Alejandro’s claims, but this man was trustworthy as a rattlesnake.
“Took a while, but my people were able to cross-check every flight out of Europe each day after Mandy was taken. Our computers finally narrowed images from security cameras. We know who he is. Carlos Delgado.”
Durand gave Vestavia credit for that, but he still had issues with the man. “That is good. Now, tell me the reason for these kidnappings.”
“We agreed I’d explain tomorrow.” Vestavia sounded testy, but he added, “Mandy served one purpose-to draw Mirage out, which worked. Mirage hasn’t been online since then and he’s clearly on the run. If Mandy could identify any of your men, the authorities would have visited you by now. Have you sent enough men to watch over the meeting in Columbia as we agreed?”
Durand mulled over Vestavia’s evasive answer. The bastard’s information was impressive. “I told you no question me. I agreed to send the men so they are in place.”
“Don’t get upset,” Vestavia chided. “This will all pay off soon. We’ll find Mirage any day now.”
“Do no waste more time.” Durand smiled at Vestavia’s frown on the small monitor of his cell phone. “Mirage is hanging in front of me.”
The silence stretched until Vestavia said, “Send me a picture of this man.”
“I’ll do one better.” Durand turned the phone to face Carlos, whose eyes narrowed, then widened with recognition.
Dios, Carlos knew Vestavia.
Durand flipped the phone back around in time to see Vestavia’s shock when he yelled, “What were you thinking to show him my face, you fool?”
“Take care with your words, Vestavia. You wanted to see Mirage,” Durand warned quietly, danger percolating in his words. The video feed disappeared, leaving the usual “unknown caller” ID in its place, indicating the phone call was still active.
“I want my people to interrogate Mirage, so don’t kill him,” Vestavia ordered.
“Mirage belongs to me,” Durand answered in a tight voice, and silently swore to kill Vestavia with his bare hands one day. “I will do as I please with him. As I told you before, you can have what is left when I am through, but I doubt a headless corpse can talk.” Durand hung up, cursing Vestavia.
Carlos couldn’t believe whose face he’d just seen on that phone display. Vestavia was former DEA agent Robert Brady, a fugitive BAD believed to have been connected to the viral attacks last year, and possibly the Fratelli. Carlos had just seen confirmation. He had to tell Joe, but doing so would be damned hard considering his predicament.
The single positive thing to come from that phone call was that Vestavia confirmed what Carlos had told Durand about Gabrielle. He had no reason to go after her.
“They’ve been setting you up,” Carlos started, buying time in case he came up with a brilliant escape plan.
He could dream, right?
“What do you know of Vestavia?” Durand said, waving off Julio and the branding iron. “Put that back in the fire.”
Carlos had at least piqued Durand’s curiosity. “He’s not someone you want to do business with. He uses people, then gets rid of them. Don’t you wonder why he had you kidnap those teenagers who are now in D.C.?”
Durand fell silent for several moments, no doubt wondering how Carlos knew so much. “What do you know of that?”
“Mandy can’t finger your men, so he’s right about her not being a threat.” Carlos didn’t want Durand to have any reason to go after Mandy. She had enough nightmares to work through once she regained consciousness. “The other three are part of an attack he has planned for D.C.”
“What kind of attack?”
