Rocha held a gun to the man’s head.
“Are you carrying a phone?”
“Sure, man.”
“Do you know how to contact Bene?”
The head nodded.
“He wanted you to call once you had us in the car?”
Another nod.
“And he would tell you then where to bring us?”
A third confirmation.
“Remove the phone, slowly, and make the call. Tell him you have us. Keep to English. No patois. I want to clearly understand what you say and what he says to you. Any problem and you are dead.”
He saw a hesitation in complying, and Rocha jammed the gun farther into the man’s temple.
The phone was found and dialed.
Zachariah stepped close and angled the unit so he could hear. The man’s chest was thin, arms hairless, and he reeked of coppery sweat.
Three rings and Bene Rowe’s voice answered.
“We have ’em,” was the report.
“All good?”
“No problems.”
“Bring them to Falcon Ridge. It’s on the map, in St. Ann Parish. Come up A3, then west at Mahoe Hill. Get here fast.”
“We on our way,” the man told Rowe.
The call ended.
“You did good,” Zachariah said.
He motioned for Alle to enter the car.
He walked around to the passenger’s side.
Rocha used the moment to slip the hand holding the gun around the man’s neck. His arms locked, right hand came up, and the head was jerked to one side, snapping another neck.
He entered the car as Rocha dragged the body into the trees.
“What’s happening out there?” Alle asked.
Rocha returned and retrieved the other body.
“We just prevented Mr. Rowe from harming us,” he told her.
“You killed them?”
“Not at all. Just unconscious. That will give us time to leave. But, remember, Alle, those men are gangsters. They would have hurt us.”
Rocha returned with the keys to the car, two weapons, and two cell phones, which he handed over.
Zachariah said, “Now let us see if we can maintain our luck.”
Rocha drove with Alle in the backseat.
Her questions and fears were no longer relevant.
If all went right, by dawn she’d be dead.
———
BENE CLICKED OFF THE CELL PHONE AND STARED ACROSS THE truck at Thomas Sagan.
“Simon is here. I have him.”
“And you just told your people to bring him to Falcon Ridge.”
“I want him there. I plan to deal with him. You have your priority and I have mine.”
“And if Simon is one step ahead of you?”
He chuckled. “That happens all the time, but I’m real good at catching up. Not to worry. We’ll beat the Simon there by a good hour. Plenty of time to look around and be ready.”
His phone rang again.
Halliburton.
“There’s a cave at Falcon Ridge. A big one called Darby’s Hole. It’s sealed off. The geological society categorizes it as ultra-hazardous. Three people have died in there over the past fifty years. The society’s website says to stay out.”
“That’s all I needed to know.”
