probably before they hit the American border. She was taken on another truck, and Andres was taken by boat. He remembers being crammed into a hold with dozens of other boys from eight to sixteen years of age, but doesn’t remember how long. Days. They gave him fresh water and one small meal daily. He thinks there were four meals. They were not allowed on deck. At one point, the boat was boarded-probably by the Coast Guard, based on what he heard-and their captors threatened that if any of the boys made a sound they would all be killed.
“After that, Andres found a hatch off the hold and hid inside-mostly because it gave him a little more room to move around. When the boat docked and no one came for him, he realized he couldn’t get out. A day later he was discovered and brought to Jones’s house. I’ve shown Andres pictures of Vega and everyone else on Jones’s staff, but he didn’t recognize anyone.
“Until this morning.”
Sonia opened a file and took out a photograph of a forty-something man with short-cropped dark hair graying on the sides. He looked younger than Dean remembered, but just as hard.
“Jones’s driver,” Dean said.
“His name is Charlie Cammarata. He’s a former Immigration agent.”
“Former?”
Sonia’s eyes glistened, but when she blinked the pain was gone. She was all business. “Yes. He was my training agent. He went rogue. I turned him in, testified against him, and he was fired and stripped of all commendations and his pension. He disappeared-though I’ve heard from him a few times. He likes to feed me information, and frankly, it’s been damn good information. But …”
“But what?”
“Nothing.”
“Sonia.”
Dean waited until she looked at him, then continued. “But what?”
“I wish he would leave me alone. I don’t want his help and I don’t want to talk to him. Yet the one time I could use good intel, he decides to play undercover spy and go deep into Jones’s operation without giving me a heads-up. I was hoping he was working for you.”
“He’s not.”
“I didn’t think so. You and he wouldn’t get along.”
“You’re right, I don’t think we would.” Dean didn’t like what Sonia wasn’t saying. He had a feeling there was far more to this story than she’d told him. But instead of pushing her, he asked, “He called you about Andres?”
“Yes. And when I talked to Andres today, I found out that Charlie Cammarata intentionally let Andres go. It was no accident. He probably knew what was going to happen to the boy, and Charlie wouldn’t be able to let him die. Not a child.”
Sonia continued. “I need to get to Charlie. I have to talk to him and find out what he’s doing, but I have no way to approach him without setting off warning bells with Jones. I don’t want Charlie dead, I just want to cut him out. If I go in and arrest him, Jones may think we’re getting too close and cancel whatever is going down in the next couple of days. I’m hoping you can help me.”
“You want me to slip him a note or something?”
She shrugged. “Or something.” Her intention was clear.
Dean nodded. “I can do that.”
Sonia continued. “We have to be extremely careful how we handle this. If we push Jones, he could cancel or divert the suspected shipment and we lose the victims. They’ll be sent underground so fast that even if Jones told us everything he knew, we’d never be able to find them. I have to have solid confirmation as to their location before we arrest Jones.”
“I understand,” Dean said.
Sonia glanced at her phone and frowned. “Hello?”
As Dean watched, Sonia’s face paled, and her bottom lip quivered, then her jaw tightened and she stood up, moving toward the door. “I’ll on my way.”
She snapped her phone shut. “Someone tried to kill Ann tonight and stabbed my brother. I have to go.”
“I’ll drive you.”
“No-”
“You’re shaking.”
“I am not.” She stared at her hands as if she couldn’t believe they had betrayed her fear.
Dean took both her hands and squeezed. They were icy cold and he rubbed them between his palms. “If it were my brother, I’d let you drive.”
“Thank you.”
Sonia could scarcely breathe until she saw Riley.
It took pulling her badge and pitching a fit before a nurse let her look through the window of the surgery where Riley’s leg was being stitched. A bag of blood dripped into his arm. “Why the blood?” she demanded.
“I’ll explain in the lobby,” the nurse said.
Dean took hold of Sonia’s arm and led her back to the waiting room. She was grateful for the support. She didn’t know if she was going to lose her temper or collapse. Every nerve ending burned. Riley was not just her brother, he was her best friend. If he died … she didn’t realize she was shivering until Dean put his arm around her shoulders. She took a deep breath and asked, “The blood? And why does he have a bandage on his cheek? When-”
The nurse, Tina according to her name badge, interrupted. “He lost a lot of blood. He was fortunate that no major artery was severed, but the cut was four inches long, and deep enough to cause extensive blood loss. We got to him quickly. A couple days’ bed rest and he should be up and around.”
“And Ann?”
“Ann?”
“Ann Charles-the Jane Doe he was protecting-where is she?”
“Detective Black supervised her move to another wing. I can take you.”
“Please do.”
“Thank you,” Dean added.
Sonia glanced at him. He was a rock, which calmed her tremendously. “Thank you for coming with me,” she whispered.
“No thanks are necessary,” he said.
They passed at least a dozen cops and detectives between surgery and Ann’s new room. Whether they were there because of the attack on Ann or to check on Riley, Sonia didn’t know, but she appreciated the strong police presence.
Outside Ann’s room were four uniformed officers and the towering Detective Black. He approached when he saw her. “Let’s go in here,” he said, opening the door to an empty room. “I had them clear this wing. We’re going to have a rotation of six officers-two on the victim, two on the grounds, and two roaming.”
“I should have done that from the beginning,” Sonia said, critical of herself.
“You?” Black said, dark eyes showing some of the pain that Sonia felt inside. “This isn’t on you.”
“What happened isn’t on anyone,” Dean said. “Someone wants that girl dead, which makes me believe that she knows who tried to kill her. She can I.D. him.”
“Exactly,” Sonia said. “What happened, John?”
“Someone tried to get into the room dressed as an orderly. He acted suspicious, distracting Riley, then another man slipped through the door. Riley tried to Taser him, but he had a vest on. He stabbed Riley with a scalpel, then made a move toward the victim with a syringe-we now know it was liquid arsenic, which would have killed anyone with a fraction of the dose in the tube-Riley tackled him, I came in, and we subdued the perp with no further incident.”
“Who is this guy? Her rapist?”
“We don’t know, but we have his DNA and we’ll find out damn quick. He tried to kill a cop, he’s not getting off.”
