Chapter Juliette #2
Yvette conferenced Smith in, who took detailed notes on all Ruiz said.
The Digital Team would be busy. They wouldn’t take anything Ruiz said at face value.
Running down the intel would prove out how valid the information was.
For the next forty-five minutes, Ruiz spoke about his operation.
He gave them the names of the Interpol official, of every dirty agent and officer on both sides of the border, every customer, and every destination his product was trafficked to.
His product was not only humans but also drugs and weapons.
“Jimmy and Claudia Perez from San Antonio, who you had dinner with tonight?” Mac asked when Ruiz appeared to be done.
“One of the transportation hubs in my network. Sorry, I forgot about them,” he said.
Lambchop punched him in the abdomen.
Ruiz gasped and doubled over. “I didn’t lie. I honestly forgot,” he said when he could suck a breath in.
“You just had dinner with them,” Garcia sneered.
“They are in a special category. Our dinner may have seemed civil, but they are not providing me with their services of their own free will. I bankrolled their operation at startup, for which they still owe me a lot of money.”
“Why are they here? Why the dinner?” Mac asked.
“They made a payment on their balance owed. Far too much business is being conducted these days without the primaries sitting with each other, don’t you think?”
Yvette just stared at him in disbelief. He had to be lying. Face-to-face meetings brought increased risk. In this digital age, face-to-face meetings were unnecessary. Something more was going on.
Mac shook his head. “No, I don’t. You’ve had a parade of people through here for the last several days. Unless this has all been about stoking your over-inflated ego, which I don’t think it is, something else is going on.”
“Coop, you and Xena need to pick the Perezes up and interrogate them. Let’s see what they have to say.”
“They’ve just turned around and are heading back towards the resort. We’ll follow them and take them down as they enter their hotel room and conduct the interrogation there.”
“Perfect, Coop,” Yvette broadcast. “Keep us informed.”
“Roger that,” Cooper responded.
“Who else might you have forgotten about?” Mac asked Ruiz.
“No one, that’s it,” Ruiz said.
“Who is personally picking out product tomorrow? Where and when?” Mac asked.
“You have been busy, know a lot more than I would have given you credit for,” Ruiz said, dodging the question.
“The man with the New York accent who called you this afternoon,” Garcia brought him back on topic.
“Right, him,” Ruiz said. “He slipped my mind. He’s a new customer, a referral from a regular customer, that honestly, I wouldn’t have agreed to see if I wasn’t under the gun, so to speak, from Solomon wanting an expedited payment.”
“What do you mean by an expedited payment?” Mac asked. This guy was infuriating, dropping little morsels of info like breadcrumbs. The problem with Ruiz was deciding whether that trail of breadcrumbs was actually leading somewhere or not.
“I wasn’t due to pay him until next month, but then all of a sudden, poof, he appears wanting an expedited payment within the next twenty-four hours.”
“And if you don’t pay him?” Mac asked.
“I’m sure he would inform my cartel friends of all the info I’ve shared on them and their activities with him over the years.”
“So, let me get this straight,” Garcia began. “Not only are you feeding the DEA intel on cartel activities, you’re also being blackmailed to pay cash for doing it?” He wasn’t buying it.
“And I’m being given a very wide berth to conduct my own business in the process,” Ruiz said.
“Let me break this down to a level that even you can understand. Nothing and no one are moved, bought or sold in Mexico without cartel approval. Nothing crosses north without cartel approval and them profiting from it. The U.S. agencies, such as the DEA and CIA, know the score. They know they cannot stop all cartel operations because, let’s face it, it’s a matter of supply and demand.
As long as there is demand for drugs and people on the U.S.
side, the supply will be there. So, certain players have learned to capitalize on the system.
Why not collect intel and cash from me while allowing my operation to flourish?
With the info I supply them, they take down rising, lower-level thugs.
This helps the established cartel leaders.
The DEA gets some product off the streets to look like heroes in their jobs, and everyone makes a lot of money in the process. ”
“You’re playing everyone against each other?” Mac said.
“Not against each other,” Ruiz said. “It’s a symbiotic relationship. There is a status quo that we all operate under. As long as everything is equalized, there is peace. It’s only when something gets out of whack that we see cartel shootings and chaos.”
“You pay the DEA agent protection money to allow you to continue to do business,” Garcia said, disgusted.
“Protection money is one cost of doing business on both sides of the border,” Ruiz said.
“Your business is destructive. You traffic people, human beings. They are not product,” Lambchop spat.
“People are a commodity, just as drugs or weapons are. They are a product desired by people who can afford to pay for them, be it for slave labor or for sexual gratification,” Ruiz answered. “You’re not going to stop it. Me not providing the product will not stop the demand.”
Lambchop’s hands were fisted at his sides. Yvette was sure he wanted to take a swing at Ruiz. She didn’t want to stop him.
“How did Moreno and Christy Dyer fit in? And what were your plans for her this evening?” Mac asked.
Ruiz shot him an incredulous grin. “Isn’t that obvious?
You people really are thick. The cartel leadership has excellent intel.
Do you really think the familial relationships of Colombian political leaders are not widely known?
Bella Sanguino disappears, and the following week Moreno, her uncle, is reaching out to me, an expert in making people disappear.
You don’t think that I knew what he was up to?
Had he come to me wanting to buy her back, that would have been less suspicious than pretending to all of a sudden to want to become a dirty politician.
And Christy Dyer, dangling a pretty American girl in front of me, well he couldn’t have been shocked when I took what I wanted. ”
“You do know who her father is, don’t you?” Mac asked.
Ruiz laughed. “Walt Dyer is no longer a problem for me or anyone else. Some friends of mine in Colombia have taken care of him.”
Yvette closed her eyes for a moment. She didn’t want to be the one to tell Christy they believed her father was dead. She only reopened her eyes when Garcia spoke.
“Can you explain why the two whores were recording your sexscapades? There was a camera hidden in one of their bags. Who ordered that?”
Ruiz laughed again. “A camera, really? Now that is interesting. Someone was trying to upset that balance I was talking about. Undoubtedly, someone looking for proof of what took place in my room tonight. Their boss wanted to squeeze me too,” he said, his anger rising.
“He will get an equal response,” Ruiz swore under his breath.
“Let’s get back to Bella Sanguino,” Yvette said, speaking for the first time. “When is the Delphi Princess supposed to make contact with the boat she’ll be transferred to?”
“Oops, didn’t I mention that transfer is to happen tonight?”
“What time?” Lambchop asked in a voice that was too calm, chillingly calm.
“What time is it now?” Ruiz asked.
“Ten-thirty,” Mac said.
“You'd better drive fast. You might make it. She’ll be pulling out of the Marina Aquatours in thirty minutes,” Ruiz said.
“Coop,” Yvette transmitted.
“On it, calling my contacts now!” He and Madison broke into a run the second Ruiz had spoken.
He also dialed the contact phone number for the DEA Team that waited nearby.
They passed the Perezes as the contact answered.
“Get to the Marina Aquatours. The target is a boat named the Delphi Princess. It’s due to leave in thirty minutes.
It has to be stopped. We’ll be ten minutes behind you! ”
“Six will fit in the car,” Garcia said. He pulled two rifle cases from under the bed.
Lambchop grabbed the third. “Mac, Lambchop, Mother and Crash, you’re with me and Coop.
Xena, I need you with Control to cover Ruiz.
MP, you and Lah-lee can handle the two you each have.
Everyone stays put. We break off from the Perezes for now. ”
Everyone rushed to the door.
“Mother, grab my medical backpack and the rifle case from under the bed,” Roth transmitted.
“Already have both,” Mother answered.
Yvette un-holstered her Glock 19 9mm and pointed it directly at Ruiz. “Do not think for a moment that I won’t pull the trigger if you so much as flinch. If that was a diversion, sending them on a wild goose chase, I will end you. Have no doubt.” Her voice was chillingly calm and quiet.
“No diversion. And I do believe you.”
“Smith, are you still online?”
The text box displayed Smith’s message.
Affirm, Control. Shall we continue taking his statement?
Roger that.
“I believe we were at that man with the New York accent you took a phone call from who wanted to pick out his own product,” she said to Ruiz.
Just as he began to speak, Madison entered the room, still dressed in a floor-length sundress. Her long blond hair was wavy and flowed down her back.
“I get guarded by the two lovelies,” Ruiz said with a grin when Madison entered the room. “I do so enjoy two women at once.”
Yvette groaned aloud and rolled her eyes.
Madison grabbed his lower jaw tightly in her hand and yanked his head up.
“If you want to stay alive to collect the deal of immunity and protection, I’d suggest you watch what you say.
I hate traffickers. You are the lowest, vilest criminal on the face of this planet, causing misery to all you touch. Give me a reason.”
Yvette stifled a smile that formed on her face. Ruiz had no idea what Madison was capable of. He couldn’t know that Madison had rescued her young daughter from being trafficked, adopted her, and brought her home from a foreign land. To him, she was just another pretty blonde.
“I believe you had more to give in your statement.” Her gaze shifted to Yvette. “Is Smith still on?”
“Yes, he is, and we were just about to resume taking his statement,” Yvette answered.
“Start talking,” Madison told Ruiz.