CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Remy took a seat at the small outdoor café on Magazine. There were men across the street doing yardwork on an old Garden District mansion. Trevon was easy to spot but he knew there were two others wandering around with the lawn crew as well.
“Can I get you something to drink?” asked the waiter. Remy stared up at the man and smirked. “Say a word and I’ll throat-punch you right here.”
“Luke is it?” he grinned. “Well, Luke, I’d love a nice cold glass of lemonade, maybe with some berries or something in it.”
“You’ll get plain lemonade and you’ll love it,” he growled. “Anything yet?”
“Nothing. The contact said they’d be here at noon and it’s already quarter past. I don’t like this.”
Luke went back inside to retrieve the lemonade and Remy fidgeted the spoon back and forth on the table.
A woman started walking toward him with an outrageously large sunhat and he thought for a moment it was the contact.
But when she passed him and walked two doors down to the ladies boutique, he felt frustration building.
Still waiting, Luke brought the lemonade and then went back inside. After another twenty minutes, Remy stood and tossed a five-dollar bill on the table. Before he took another step, his phone pinged with a message.
“You didn’t bring the child.”
“I wasn’t aware I needed to bring my son. He’s still very young and I worry he’ll get sick. I thought we were talking about what you could provide.”
“Keep talking. I’m tracking everything.” The calm voice of Ace made Remy feel a bit more secure.
“I need to meet the child to be certain we can help. I’ll text another location for tomorrow. I can’t come right now.”
“But I’m here now. I’m not sure I can get off work again tomorrow. I’m a single father with no one to rely on. If I lose my job I have nothing left.”
“If you bring the child tomorrow you’ll have enough money to quit your job, I assure you.”
“Fine.”
Remy walked across the street and down three blocks, turning left, then right, and then back one black to the alleyway where the SUV was parked.
“No one followed,” said Sly. “The drone picked up nothing.”
“I think it was the woman in the hat that went into the boutique,” said Remy. “Can’t tell ‘ya why. Just a feelin’.”
“She was smart with the hat,” said Sly. “I couldn’t see her face. What do we do about meeting her again tomorrow with a baby?”
Luke looked at Cam, Eric, and Hex, shaking his head.
“We can’t use a real child. It’s not okay. Do we have any dolls that look natural enough? They won’t pass an examination but they might be close enough to satisfy them.”
“Hey, Luke?” frowned Sly. Luke turned from the front seat to look at Sly’s face. “There’s a call coming in for you and you’re not going to believe who it is.”
Sly placed the caller on hold then patched it through to Luke’s phone. The others in the vehicle remained silent, just listening intently.
“Benji Madsen,” he said calmly.
“I go by Benjamin now, Luke. Hope you’re doing well,” said the voice calmly.
“Do you? If I recall the last time I saw you, you left my SEAL team hanging outside of Accra. I didn’t appreciate that.”
“I couldn’t stay, Luke. You know that. I’d have blown my cover.”
“Your cover? But fuck a U.S. SEAL team? What do you want?” he growled.
“I want to make amends,” said the man.
“Amends? Brother it’s been more than thirty years. I think the time for amends is done. We all got home, no thanks to you. If you’ve got guilt on the brain, fix it with God, not me.”
“I’ve done that. Or at least with someone I thought was God,” he muttered. Luke stared at the others, frowning. “Listen, Remy Robicheaux.”
“What about him?”
“I know he’s one of you. One of your cousins or some shit.”
“So?”
“Look, I’m trying to help you. The woman you were asked to meet is probably the most malicious human being I’ve ever known, and that’s saying a lot. They’ll draw Remy in, take his kid, and kill him.”
“Remy’s pretty resourceful. But why would they want his kid? And who is they?” he asked knowing full well. At least they knew who the ‘other’ man was now. Damn black ops agent Benjamin Madsen.
“Look, the woman’s name is Judy Moore, she’s the daughter of the late Colonel Weston Moore. And she’s just as sick, if not sicker. She and Dr. Paul Jericho have picked up Moore’s experiments with some strange pink powder and they’re placing it in formula and milk.
“When the kids drink it, when deaf or mute kids drink it, it does something to the part of their brain that stimulates creative ability. They’re hoping to sell it, allowing countries to create these kids that they can show like they’re in a circus.
Some of the kids don’t make it because Jericho opens their skulls to study what’s happening in the brain. ”
“Where are they?” asked Luke.
For a long moment, there was silence on the other end of the line. He worried that Madsen may have changed his mind.
“He’s working out of an office building in Poydras on Bayou Road. Sometimes they sleep there, sometimes they get hotel rooms. I’m not sure what they’re doing now.”
“You were part of this, weren’t you?” asked Luke.
“I was. It’s the only thing I’m ashamed of and I can’t even explain what made me do it.” He let out a long breath and then spoke again. “That’s a lie. It was Judy. We were in love once and as we all know, love makes us stupid.”
“Not that stupid,” growled Luke.
“Look, I did what I wanted to do. I warned you and I hope you’ll stop them. They have enough. They don’t need to torture another kid.”
“I appreciate the call, Madsen but you need to know that I will come for you as well.”
“I know. I’ll look forward to it, Luke.”
“No, you won’t. Because you know when I come for you, you won’t see me coming.”
Luke ended the call and stared at the others. Sly tapped on the phone and immediately on the screen in the vehicle, came the faces of their hunting party. Before they could give the address or location, Trak spoke for the team.
“We’re on our way.”