Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6
Casey climbed into her SUV. “Do you want to get your vehicle, or will mine do for now?”
“Yours will do.” Jacob pulled out his cell phone and punched in Hank’s number.
“Where to?” Casey asked as Jacob made his call.
Jacob raised his hand. “Hold steady. I need to talk to Hank.”
She waited with her hand on the shift, her foot on the brake.
Ray had gone into the Big Wave, leaving them alone in the back parking lot.
“Fowler, here,” Jacob answered. “Yeah, Hank. I just talked to Ray at the Big Wave.”
Casey leaned close to Jacob, straining to hear what Hank had to say.
Jacob took the cell phone away from his ear and put it on speaker so they both could hear. “You’re on speaker,” Jacob said.
“Good. I have a little information.”
“We do, too. Not much, but anything could be better than nothing,” Jacob said. “Ray didn’t know Camila’s last name, but two guys appeared in the bar about the same time as she did. They had tattoos of black hands and the letters E.M.E on their arms.”
“Gang members,” Hank said, his tone flat. “Hang on. Texting the information to Swede.” A moment later, he said, “That’s perfect.”
“What do you mean, perfect?” Casey asked. She could think of lots of adjectives to describe the situation; perfect wasn’t one of them. “I can’t imagine gang members being a good thing.”
“No, but it might narrow down the search by connecting that info with what I heard from my data guy. Did you know there are over a thousand Camilas in the Honolulu area? Fortunately, Swede hacked into the airline flight manifest databases and came up with only three Camilas who flew into Honolulu over the past couple of days. One of those Camilas’ flights originated in San Diego two days ago.”
Casey held her breath.
“Camila Torres,” Hank said. “She’s a U.S. citizen with ties to the Cartel Tijuana Nueva Generación out of Mexico.”
Casey released the air from her lungs. They had a name, and it wasn’t good.
Jacob whistled. “Hawk picked a winner when he slept with her.”
“Swede also managed to track down the license plate of the van that left the hotel,” Hank said. “It’s registered to a linen laundering service that picks up and delivers to a number of major hotel chains around Honolulu. The service is thought to have connections with the Jalisco Nueva Generación . The Honolulu PD has yet to catch them laundering money or transporting drugs. They think the cartel has an insider in the police department feeding them information about raids. Hold on, I’m getting a text from Swede.” Hank paused. “He says the tattoos you mentioned indicate a connection to the Tijuana cartel. E.M.E. is the letter M in the Mexican alphabet and represents the Mexican Mafia, as does the black hand.”
“Great,” Casey moaned. “Hawk’s been kidnapped by the Mexican Mafia?” Getting him back before the wedding seemed less and less likely. How was she going to break it to Kalea?
“Swede has the address of the head of the laundry service, who just happens to be Camila’s uncle,” Hank said. “He’s forwarding it to you now.”
A pinging bell sounded on Jacob’s cell phone. He brought up the text and the address of Oscar Jimenez. He entered it in his GPS map application.
Casey glanced at the directions, shifted into drive and headed for Jimenez’s residence.
“Anything else?” Jacob asked.
“If Camila is who the web says she is, her closest relatives are her brothers, and they’re some nasty hombres,” Hank said. “I’ve got calls out to a number of Navy SEALs I’ve worked with in the past. I hope to hear back within the hour. I take it you’re headed to Jimenez’s?”
“We are,” Jacob confirmed.
“You might want to wait until I can send backup,” Hank warned. “If those bruisers brought Hawk to Jimenez’s place, they might still be there.”
“We’ll recon the place and report back without moving in,” Jacob promised. “I doubt they would’ve taken him there, but if Jimenez is home, he might shed some light. For all we know, we could be way off on our assessment of the situation.”
“I doubt it,” Hank said. “It’s too much of a coincidence that the delivery van is connected to a Mexican cartel in Hawaii and Camila is also connected to one in California.”
“And I don’t believe in coincidences,” Jacob said.
“Neither do I,” Casey agreed. “This has to be the right wild goose to chase.”
“We’ll let you know what we find.” Jacob ended the call and looked at the road ahead.
“You don’t happen to have a gun on you, do you?” Casey asked softly.
“No. It’s in my truck back at the Big Wave.”
“Should we go back?” Casey asked, slowing her SUV.
“No.” Jacob nodded toward the road ahead. “We’re just looking. If we need to, we’ll call in reinforcements. I won’t endanger you by taking you into a hostile situation.”
Casey nodded. “From what I’ve read, cartels play for keeps. I hope they haven’t hurt Hawk. Kalea will be devastated.”
“If Camila wants him,” Jacob said, “I don’t think they’ll hurt him.”
“We can hope so. But why else would she have them take the tuxedo unless she plans to force him to marry her?”
“He won’t do it,” Jacob said, his lips pressing into a tight line. “Let’s just hope he leads her on long enough for us to rescue him.”
“Yeah. I’m afraid that if he tells her no way in hell,” Casey gulped, “Camila’s family might terminate him.”
Jacob sat up straighter, staring at the road ahead. “We’ll just have to get to him before that happens.”
Casey focused on the road. Jacob gave her the directions, indicating each turn well before she had to make it. The homes were close together and built into the sides of the hills, with views of the ocean.
As they neared the address, they descended into a neighborhood where the homes were not as well cared for, and they didn’t have the views of the ones high on the hills.
“Slow down,” Jacob said. “Jimenez’s is three doors down on the right.”
The house he indicated had a high stucco fence surrounding a terracotta one-story house. A solid wooden gate didn’t invite strangers to enter. A package lay against the gate, and mail spilled out of the mailbox. When they’d rolled past the address and several more doors down the block, Jacob said. “Stop.”
Casey hit on the brakes. Though she was already moving at a snail’s pace, she hadn’t expected him to want to stop.
Jacob rocked forward and then back against the seat. He didn’t say anything but got out of the vehicle.
Casey’s pulse leaped. She leaned across the console toward him. “Where are you going?”
“Doesn’t look like anyone’s home,” he said. “I’m just going to look around to make sure.” He captured her gaze. “I’ll be all right. But it wouldn’t hurt for you to drive around the block.”
“I’m not going anywhere without you,” she said. “Get back in the vehicle.”
He smiled. “I’ll be all right. However, you look really conspicuous in that vehicle.” He tipped his head toward the road ahead of her SUV. “Go. Ride around the block. I won’t put myself at risk.”
“And if you don’t come back out?” Casey shook her head. “Don’t go,” she pleaded.
“Really, I wouldn’t go if I didn’t think it’s a non-issue. He’s not home.”
“Yeah, but his neighbors might be. They might take exception to a stranger poking around Jimenez’s house.”
“I’ll be careful.” He shut the door and walked away.
Casey glanced in the rearview mirror as she drove slowly away. Jacob was walking down the side of the street toward Jimenez’s house.
When she reached the stop sign at the end of the street, she put her blinker on to turn left and looked back. Jacob had disappeared. Her heart leaped into her throat.
She craned her neck around, searching for him, with no luck. He’d ducked behind a bush, a vehicle or a house.
A horn honked in front of her. An angry driver shook a fist at her and drove past her, shaking his head.
Casey made her turn and hurried to the next block, which was farther than she’d expected. When she finally was able to turn left again, her stomach had knotted, and her hands were sweating. Was Jacob all right? Had he run into trouble?
Damn him for getting out of her car. Didn’t he know the cartel didn’t mess around? They’d just as soon shoot you as look at you.
By the time she got back around to the street Jimenez’s house was on, Casey was in a full lather of worry.
She turned onto the street and crept along as slowly as she could go without actually stopping.
Four men stood beside an older model car that had been converted into a lowrider and painted a dark purple with orange and black flames running the length of the sides.
Casey was so intent on finding Jacob that she didn’t notice one of the guys step out in front of her.
She turned in time to slam on her brakes and come to a complete stop, inches away from hitting the guy. “What the hell?” she said out loud, her heart slamming into the wall of her chest.
“Hey, pretty lady.” Another one of the men stepped up to her window. “What’s a chica like you doing in the barrio ?” He sneered. “Get lost?” He switched to Spanish and turned to the others. “Look what I caught. It must be my lucky day.”
Casey let the man think she couldn’t understand him, but she was fluent in Spanish since her babysitter had spoken Spanish to her for the first twelve years of her life. She understood every word and innuendo. Her belly clenched, but she put on a blank face and forced a smile to her face. “I’m not lost.”
“Didn’t you drive through here a few minutes ago?” One of the other men stepped up to her window. “And a man got out.” He looked around her SUV. “Where’d he go?”
Casey shrugged. “I don’t know. My boyfriend got out because he was mad at me. You haven’t seen him, have you?”
“You don’t need him when you can have me, chica ,” the first man said. He had a tattoo of a buxom woman on his right shoulder, a black hand tattooed to his neck and he wore a wife-beater shirt. The waistband of his pants hung low enough that Casey could see his black, gray and red boxer shorts.
She wanted to tell him to pull up his pants before they fell off. Clamping her teeth shut, she resisted and shook her head. “Trust me, I don’t want him back until he apologizes to me. It’s just that he left his cell phone in my car. I wanted to return it to him.” She gave them a faint smile. “I’d better get back to work before my boss misses me.” Casey eased her foot onto the accelerator and let the vehicle roll forward a little at a time, not wanting to hurt the men. The one who’d stepped out in front of her to begin with was still there and not moving.
Casey jammed her foot on the brake again, stopping before hitting the guy. If push came to shove, she’d run the bastard over. She hoped it didn’t come to that, but she wasn’t stupid enough to stick around when she was outnumbered. And she wasn’t dumb enough to get out of the vehicle.
“Don’t leave now, chica .” The guy at her window reached in to touch her hair. “Things are just starting to get interesting.”
Casey jerked back, glad her doors locked automatically. “Gotta go.” She started to roll up the window when the man standing at the rear of the others came at her car with a wooden baseball bat in his hand. He cocked his arm and started to swing when a shout sounded behind them.
The four men all looked behind her vehicle, their brows dipping.
Casey’s gaze shot to the rearview mirror.
Jacob jogged toward her, his biceps flexing, his thick and powerful thighs encased in denim. He appeared to be someone who was fit and capable of defending himself against his foe. But four against one would be impossible odds.
Casey glanced down at the locking mechanism on the door handle. She could unlock the SUV long enough to let him in on the passenger side, but to do that, her side would be unlocked for the second it would take for him to get in.
Instead of coming up on the passenger side of the vehicle, Jacob charged right into the thick of the men gathered around her.
She rolled her window down again and thought fast. “Have you come to apologize to me?” she demanded.
His brow furrowed as he stared into her eyes. Hesitating for only a moment, he nodded. “Yes, ma’am.” He dipped his head, appearing contrite. “I’m sorry.”
“Is that all I get? A simple I’m sorry ?”
He smiled. “I’m sorry, darlin’. How can I make it up to you?”
She narrowed her eyes, wanting to get him into the car and drive away as fast as she could. “These nice men were more than willing to be with me without being rude to me about my mother.”
He turned to the men. “Clearly, their mothers all taught them how to treat a lady.” He dipped his head toward them. “Thank you for looking out for my woman. I promise to be a better man for her.” When he started to go around the men and the car, the man with the baggy pants stepped in front of him.
“What were you doing in the barrio, white man?” He stood so close to Jacob there was no going forward.
Jacob took one step backward. “I considered walking home, and I’d started that way when my girlfriend came back. I assumed it was to give me another chance to do right by her.” He shot a glance her way. “Is that right, hun?”
“If you’re big enough to admit you were wrong,” she said, “I can be big enough to forgive you.” She tipped her head toward the passenger seat. “Get in.”
Jacob cocked an eyebrow at the man with the saggy pants blocking his path. “Excuse me,” he said.
“You got someplace you wanna be?” the man asked.
“Yeah. With my woman.” He puffed out his chest and looked down at the man standing in his path. “You got a problem with that?”
“I don’t, but mi amigo might,” he lifted his chin toward the man standing by Casey’s window.
The other men closed in on Jacob.
Casey shifted into park and started to get out of the vehicle.
“Stay in the car,” Jacob said without looking her direction, his tone brooking no argument.
Casey automatically sat back in her seat, her pulse racing. Four against one .
Jacob shoved the sleeves of his shirt up his arms. “I don’t have a lot of time, so I won’t be able to go easy on you.” He clapped his hands together. “Who’s first? Come on. I’ve had Hell Week instructors who scared me more than the lot of you.”
The men exchanged glances at the mention of Hell Week. Anyone who lived in San Diego or Coronado knew what Hell Week was—one of the most grueling weeks of Navy SEAL BUD/S training. But these guys weren’t necessarily from San Diego.
The man who’d stood beside Casey’s vehicle door snorted. “You gonna let one pussy scare you?”
The others looked from their apparent leader to Jacob and back.
Casey prayed they’d back down and let Jacob go without throwing any punches.
The three men stood silent.
Their leader snorted again and approached Jacob. “Come on. Just because you sound tough doesn’t mean you can fight.” He kept coming, cocking an arm as he closed the distance between him and Jacob.
As the man swung, Jacob ducked, drove his fist into the man’s gut and shoved him hard, making him fall backward, landing hard on his back.
“Next.” Jacob brought his hands up and curled his fingers in a come-hither motion.
The man closest to him held up his hands. “The girl ain’t worth the trouble.” He bent, pulled his leader to his feet and shoved him toward the other side of the road. “Let’s go.”
The others followed, leaving Jacob standing in front of Casey’s SUV.
He waited until they were far enough away that he’d have time to react if they changed their minds. Then he rounded the vehicle.
Casey hit the unlock button as he reached for the door handle.
Once Jacob was inside the SUV, she locked the doors, shoved the shift into drive and hit the accelerator. She ran through the stop sign at the end of the street and left the neighborhood behind.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to leave you exposed to those jokers,” Jacob said, rubbing his fist.
Casey wanted to rail at him for putting himself in danger. Instead, she tamped down her adrenaline-pumped anger and asked, “Did you find anything?”
“I jumped over the fence around Jimenez’s place and got into his house.”
“That’s breaking and entering,” Casey said. “It’s a crime.”
“And kidnapping is a crime.” He shrugged. “I was able to get a piece of his mail with an address from what appears to be a relative on Kauai.” He pulled the envelope from his pocket and held it up. “And I know that’s stealing. I figure we don’t have time to play by all the rules. So, I bent a few of them. If they’ve taken Hawk off the island, this address might help us find him.”
Casey drew in a breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. I can’t fault you there. I’m sure we’ll be breaking a few more before the day’s out.”
“I hope not,” Jacob said. “But, if it means getting Hawk back, I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Though she balked at breaking laws, Casey was glad she had Jacob helping her recover the missing groom. The SEALs were a tight-knit band of brothers. They had each other’s backs.
If anything ever happened to her, she’d be out of luck. Casey had no doubt that Kalea would turn over every stone in the world to find her but to have an entire Navy SEAL team at your back…well, that was pretty powerful. She hoped it would be enough to bring Hawk back alive, and more…in time for his wedding.