Chapter Nineteen
RAVEN
On the flight back to the States with Miguel softly snoring on the seat beside me, I reflected on the last twenty-four hours. Listening to the firefight happening in Castillo’s plantation house had been terrifying. With rapt attention, I’d watched the tiny dots moving through the house. I hadn’t known which grouping of agents Miguel was in until they’d been told that the home had been cleared of everyone but the men they sought, leaving only the wine cellar where the hostages had to be.
After that, I kept all my attention on the agents going downstairs, huddling by what must be the entrance to the cellar, and then I’d been horrified when I’d heard them say they were looking at a thermal imaging camera showing one person lying on the ground, probably dying. If I hadn’t heard the agents planning the operation to breach the door with explosive devices, picking out Sorensen and Mac’s voices, the small fireball which lit up the screen a few minutes later, would have come as a complete shock.
I’d been holding my breath and then the “All clear,” from Sorensen was followed by the “All hostages safe, Castillo is dead.” I’d sorely wanted to scream “Where’s Miguel? What about Miguel?” until I heard his voice asking about Alex Filmore then Sorensen again. “Alex Filmore is dead and we’re gonna need a medic. Willis is down.”
In the next few minutes, I’d realized that the man down in the wine cellar with Castillo and the hostages, was the dangerous killer we’d been chasing for months now, hopefully the final man in the rogue CIA cell of jewel thieves. I was hopeful that now that we appeared to be safe, the interviews with whatever bad guys had survived the siege on Castillo’s compound would lead to more clues. I was counting on Gregory Aston to provide us with all the details we’d need to close out the case including the location of the jewels.
Miraculously, none of the DEA or Spec. Ops FBI tac team members had been killed in the siege. Sarah, Jarrett, and the FBI sniper had been instrumental in taking out many of Castillo’s sicarios patrolling the grounds. The DEA tac team had cleaned up the rest of the trash. I’d heard—though it was still unconfirmed—that there had been more than twenty outside and another twenty inside the property. As far as I knew, all of them were dead along with Oscar Castillo. The Sanchez Cartel would most likely continue, but for now, the head of the snake may have been cut off. We still had no word on his half-brother, Rafael.
We landed in Houston almost three hours after taking off from Grand Cayman, leaving Aston under heavy guard at the George Town hospital. But also Tawny, Brian, and Trevor were there under heavy guard for their own safety. When we took off, Trevor was in surgery, fighting for his life. Miguel wasn’t optimistic he’d survive. He’d lost a lot of blood. According to Tawny, he’d been shot in the stomach after being tortured in front of them. The placement of the bullet, courtesy of Alex Filmore, had been deliberate. He’d wanted him to die slowly, suffering. I was glad the animal was dead, only sorry that his end had come quickly.
I suspected poor Tawny had been raped. Brian was a basket case, and in my opinion, Gregory Aston deserved everything he got. I prayed Special Agent Trevor Willis would pull through.
“Are we in Houston?” Miguel asked as the plane touched down and the tires squealed on the tarmac.
I glanced over as he sucked in a deep breath, wiped his mouth, and sat up. I reached over and took his hand. “Yeah, baby. Get some sleep?” He looked so worn out and I was simply grateful he was sitting beside me looking alive and well. I’d make sure he slept when we got home but for now, I was just happy that he’d made it through the ordeal alive.
“A few winks at least,” Miguel said, smiling lazily over at me. “You?”
“No, I can’t stop replaying that final firefight in my head. Not being there to see that you were alive and unhurt with my own eyes, unable to hold you in my arms, almost drove me out of my mind.” I knew I probably shouldn’t be putting voice to my fears, but I had to.
Miguel smiled at me, lifting my hand and kissing it. “I know, Sunshine but now it’s over and done with. All the bad guys are dead. I have to go to the Federal Building tomorrow to do a thorough debrief with the FBI, but after that, I think we’re done.” I stared at him, wondering if I should ask him what was really on my mind. “Go on,” he said, smiling, “tell me what’s on your mind.”
“Do you really think it’s all over? How do we know there aren’t any more CIA guys coming after the jewels?” Something suddenly occurred to me. “What about Mancuso? He’s still out there, right?”
Miguel looked at me, eyes wide. “Hang on a minute.”
I watched him get up and walk to the back of the plane where Lincoln and the rest of the tac team were sitting. He leaned over Lincoln’s seat talking to him for a few seconds. Lincoln bent and showed Miguel something. He pulled out his own phone and pressed buttons before handing Lincoln’s phone back to him. When he climbed over me to get back into his window seat, he held out his phone. On it was a picture of a very dead Salvatore Mancuso. He was lying in grass which meant he’d probably been killed by the DEA outside. I breathed a sigh of relief and passed it back.
“Good to know, but how do we know we’re safe from what’s left of the cartel?” I asked.
“In short, I’m mostly sure it’s over. Bannister confirmed that one of the guys killed outside the house was Rafael Sanchez, Oscar Castillo’s half-brother, so there’s really no one to inherit the family business. That doesn’t mean another cartel won’t just swoop in to fill the void. That’s how these bastards work, and we all know nature abhors a vacuum. I’ll know more when I talk to the FBI tomorrow. By the way, you’re a part of this, so they’ll probably want to talk to you to get your account.”
“Snow didn’t say anything to me,” I said, blinking as the lights in the cabin came on.
He nodded. “He will, though. If you failed to notice, he had kind of a lot of shit going on back in the Caymans.”
“Yeah. When do you think we’ll hear something about Trevor? I know SAC Bannister stayed at the hospital back in Grand Cayman.”
He smiled, squeezing my hand harder. “We’ll get an update on that tomorrow too and if there’s bad news, I’m sure we’ll hear something sooner, maybe while we’re on the ground in Houston.”
I nodded and looked around the cabin. The plane was still taxiing toward a jetway. Once we lined up at the gate, people behind us started moving. I sensed it when someone came up behind me, stopping next to my seat, and looked up at the face of Candy Sorensen. He smiled then looked at Miguel. “Hey, ah , the SAC of the Houston office wants to talk to you. Can you speak to him for a second?”
“Now?” Miguel asked. “Candy, I told you, I’m not gonna take the job. I appreciate the offer, though.” He gave me a look of devotion before glancing back up at the man. “Really, I’m not leaving Los Angeles.”
“Yeah, I know, which is why he wants to talk to you.” Candy held up both hands. “Please, just hear him out.”
Miguel looked at me. I swallowed hard. If he left our agency and went to work for the FBI, that’d completely suck but I didn’t say anything.
Miguel broke eye contact and looked back at Sorensen. “When? When and where am I going to have this conversation?”
“Right now, if you want. After everyone deplanes, he’ll board and talk to you for a second before you guys head back to L.A. What do you say?”
Miguel shrugged. “I guess. But it’s gonna have to be a quick conversation. I know the FBI wants their teams back in L.A. to rest up for the grueling debrief they’ll all undergo in the morning.”
“Good.” Candy Sorensen grinned widely before reaching out to shake Miguel’s hand. When he was done, he reached for mine, giving my shoulder a squeeze with the other at the same time. “You take care, Mathis.”
“You too, Sorensen.”
Candy shouldered the duffel he’d dropped on the ground and walked off the plane, ducking as he went out the door. One by one, the team walked by and reached for Miguel’s hand. While some reached for mine, others settled for patting me on the back. I understood why Miguel used to work on a team the way these guys did every day of their lives. When they were working, they operated like a well-oiled machine. In off hours when they weren’t exercising or putting themselves through a punishing run or other training, they were socializing with wives, girlfriends, children. They were a happy, cohesive group.
I wanted Miguel to be happy whatever he did, not worried about money all the time, the way he was now.
We sat in our seats until everyone exited, waiting for Houston’s SAC to board the plane. In a few minutes, a barrel-chested man came on board. He looked around and seemed to spot someone he knew at the back. He motioned to him and I turned to look. Lincoln got out of his seat and came down the aisle toward us.
“SAC Snow?”
“That’s me,” Snow said.
The man stuck out his hand. “SAC Kevin Waters,” he drawled. “I wanted to take a moment to talk to you and Mr. Huerta.”
Lincoln nodded at me. “This is Miguel Huerta and his partner, Raven Mathis.”
Miguel held out his hand. “Miguel Huerta, sir. Nice to meet you.”
“You, too.” He held out a hand to me. “Raven Mathis.”
“Yes, sir. Nice to meet you,” I replied, perplexed as I shook his hand. I really hoped Sorensen had conveyed Miguel’s wishes about joining a Spec. Ops tac team. If he hadn’t, this conversation was going to be embarrassing.
Kevin Waters smiled genuinely. “Mind if I sit? Take a load off, Snow.”
Lincoln sat across the aisle from us in the empty seat, and Waters took the one in front of that, turning to look back at us.
“You probably think I’m here to make the same offer Candy already did, Miguel. Is it okay if I call you Miguel?”
“That’s fine, sir, and yes, that’s what I was thinking.”
“Well, it’s not.”
“Oh?”
“Actually…” He turned to Lincoln. “This hasn’t been announced yet, so y’all will be the first to hear, but the Spec. Ops team is movin’ from Houston to Los Angeles.”
“I didn’t know that,” Lincoln said.
“Well, it came as a bit of a surprise to me two months ago when the director made the decision. Actually, he’s had me workin’ to recruit a whole new team for Houston because in his mind—and I suppose I have to agree with him on this point—there’s more crime in L.A. than Houston… At least more of the type of crime where a team like our Spec. Ops team is best utilized. Those boys are specialists, as you witnessed firsthand over the last couple of days. Hell, they’re the closest thing the U.S. has to a military unit operatin’ domestically. Most cities have SWAT teams that are built similar, but an FBI tac team in any field office in the nation, ain’t as good as these boys are.”
“They’re very effective, yes, I have to agree,” Lincoln said. “We’ll sure be happy to have them in Los Angeles.” Lincoln glanced at Miguel before looking back at Waters. “Sir, you do realize Miguel doesn’t work for the FBI, so I’m a little confused as to why you wanted to talk to us both.”
“Candy didn’t tell you?”
Lincoln shook his head, frowning. “No.”
“Well, he told me that Mr. Huerta comes with a Marine Recon pedigree and Candy feels he’d make an excellent replacement for one of the men who can’t make the move from Texas to California.”
“I honestly didn’t know about the offer.” Lincoln turned to me. “Does this mean you’ll be joining the FBI, Miguel?” He darted a glance at me for a few seconds, obviously picking up on the fact that if Miguel did make that choice, he and I wouldn’t be partners anymore.
I felt a little sick to my stomach. It felt wrong for me to be standing in Miguel’s way if he really did decide to take the offer. But I wouldn’t blame him if he did.
“I already turned Sorensen down, Lincoln, which is why I didn’t mention it. Raven and I have a lot of friends in the Bureau and as you and McCallahan know, I appreciate all the help you’ve been, but Raven and I just opened Trackers. Helping out on the breach with Sorensen’s team was a one-time deal, an opportunity to fill an empty spot when we went in to find and rescue the hostages.”
Waters cleared his throat. “I understand your hesitation, Miguel. However, I wanted to explain just what you’d be required to do should you decide to join the FBI.” Miguel no doubt opened his mouth to protest. “Please. It’ll only take a minute, son.”
Miguel nodded. “Okay, a minute.”
“I suppose I should tell you that the man lost—the man who chose to leave the team and stay behind here in Houston—well, he was our tracker, you see. Full blooded Navajo. Lived on the reservation all his life until joinin’ the Army in 2010. When Sorensen met you and learned what your specialty had been as a Recon Marine, I realized that you might be just the type of man who could take his place. Really, all you’d be doin’ is cashin’ a check from the U.S. government, otherwise, your job is the same as the job you do with your partner, Raven Mathis, at Trackers.”
My eyebrows climbed all the way up as I exchanged a surprised glance with Miguel who looked equally as confused. Miguel frowned at Waters.
“Mr. Waters, it kind of sounds like you’ve been doing your homework on me.”
Waters smiled and nodded. “I have. I already had an idea about you. But after you killed Castillo, and I got the full rundown of how you worked side by side with Captain Sorensen on the takedown of the Sanchez Cartel headquarters, I knew—well, we both did—you’re the kind of man we need on this team.”
Miguel was silent for a few minutes. He didn’t look at me but addressed Waters directly. “SAC Waters, I appreciate that Sorensen choosing me to be his partner on this mission was intentional—a job interview—but I can’t leave my business.” He reached for my hand before saying, “Because, you see, I have a partner of my own. And I don’t think I’d be the kind of recruit you’d really want to take your man’s place, if I agreed to leave my partner behind just because it sounds like fun to collect my paycheck from Uncle Sam once again. This man is the only partner I need. Thank you for your offer but I really hope I’ve made myself clear. Oh, and by the way, please tell Sorensen I appreciate the vote of confidence. I enjoyed working with him too.”
Lincoln snorted, and Miguel and I both turned to look at him. He wasn’t looking at us. He was looking at Waters and when we turned back to the man in question, he was smiling. He nodded to Lincoln and then focused on Miguel.
“That was nice—what you said there—real nice. It’s good to know that you have a partner you put so much trust in. I admire loyalty like that. Aside from your skills in the field, it no doubt made you a superior Marine.”
“Thank you,” Miguel said.
“One last thing.”
“Okay.”
“Because you didn’t quite let me finish before you gave that heartfelt answer to my offer.”
Miguel nodded. “I’m sorry. Please, go on, sir.”
“Because I was about to sweeten my offer,” Waters said.
“You mean something other than the fact that I’d be working with men I greatly admire and getting my checks from the FBI?”
Waters actually chuckled. “Yes, that’s right. What I was goin’ to add was that I’d like to hire you both on…as a team.”
I felt my jaw drop. When I turned to look at Miguel, he was frowning at Waters. “I’m…sorry?”
“I want to hire both you and your partner, Miguel.”
“What?” I asked.
“I want to hire you and Mr. Huerta to join the team, Mr. Mathis.”
I finally managed to snap out of it long enough to laugh. “I don’t have any kind of military training, sir.”
“Do you know how to track, son?”
“Yes.”
“Are you any good at it?”
“Yes, I’m damned good. I’ve been doing it for years.”
“Good. You’re hired,” Waters said.
“I don’t—” Miguel squeezed my hand, and I met his gaze. “What? I don’t know how to shoot or—”
“Later, Raven,” Miguel said. He dragged his gaze away from me and looked back at Waters. “SAC, thank you for the offer. We’ll talk about it and get back to you.”
He grinned and slapped both of his knees, standing up, holding out his hand to me as Snow got up too. “Good. I look forward to talkin’ with both of you about it on Monday.”
“We’re going on vacation!” I blurted, twisting around to give Miguel a pointed look. He nodded before turning back to Waters.
“We’ll be back in about ten days during which time, I promise you we’ll be discussing your offer if it’s still good until then,” Miguel said.
Waters smiled. “Actually, the team won’t be transferrin’ to the West Coast for about six weeks. Understandably, they have family obligations to wrap up, lots of packin’ to do, and homes to sell and whatnot here in Houston, so ten days is more than enough time. I’ll look forward to talkin’ to you then.” Waters shook my hand and then Miguel’s. He nodded at Lincoln. “Thank you, Snow. Sorry I kept your plane on the ground as long as I did. I’ll be talkin’ to you.”
The two men shook hands and Waters turned to leave the plane. I looked at Lincoln but before I could say anything, he put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “We’d be lucky to have you, Raven. You met Noah. He doesn’t spend time in the field very often.”
“But Noah is a computer genius, Lincoln. You don’t need him in the field.” I looked ashamedly at Miguel. “Besides, I barely know how to use a gun.” Miguel squeezed my hand harder as I turned back to Lincoln. “What good would I be on a Spec. Ops team?”
“You heard the man. A good tracker is very hard to find, Raven. It has a lot more to do with instinct, and I know you have that in spades. Working with you over the last six months proved that to me, if nothing else.”
“You’re really giving us the hard sell there, Snow,” Miguel said.
He laughed. “The FBI isn’t a bad place to work. Just think it over and get back to me when you return from your vacation.” Before I could say anything else, he held out a hand, and I shook it. Miguel shook as well. Lincoln returned to his seat.
I glanced at Miguel. “Are you seriously going to consider the offer?”
He shrugged. “Don’t know, Sunshine. But I can tell you one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Waters should’ve been a recruiter for the U.S. Marine Corps.,” he muttered.
I smiled as Miguel’s eyes closed, and I relaxed back in my chair as the flight attendant closed the door to the cabin and the pilot started the engines. The offer was something I’d never expected to get. Miguel was well suited to the job but me? I was far from certain of anything at this point. My partner and I had obligations to not only our clients, but to Judy Mendez. She was the one the FBI should be recruiting.
Still, Lincoln was right. I did have talent and skills in finding things. Maybe I could be of some help to a team. I glanced over at Miguel. As much as he denied that he would even consider the offer, I could read him like a book after all these months. Working on a team again had been a heady experience and the bottom line was, I needed him to be happy. I sighed, closing my eyes for the return trip, knowing that we had time to make the decision. Right now, though, exhaustion was creeping in. I gave myself over to it only moments later.