Page 87 of Bound By A Promise
“I don’t know. He stays under the radar, likePadre.”
“LikePadre,” Aléjandro said slower. “Does Herrera have a boat?”
“If he does, it’s buried under multiple corporations. If he’s been in the US, he’s supposed to report to CBP, but we knowPadreavoids that. I’d assume Herrera would too. Let me ask around. If anyone’s heard rumors, I’ll let you know.”
We disconnected the call.
“The museum is right up there,” I said, pointing through the windshield.
My phone rang through the speakers. “I’m ready to throw this out the fucking window.” Dario’s name appeared on the screen. I hit answer. “What?”
“We’re all in the parking lot around back. Come to us.”
I looked to Aléjandro, who nodded.
“We’re almost there.”
My heart seized at the sight of Catalina, Mia, and Valentina. Their hair blowing in the wind. Catalina was talking with Dario while Armando, Giovanni, and other soldiers stood by. Valentina appeared to be crying. Aléjandro pulled my car up to their grouping.
I opened my door before he even cut the engine. “Why are you back here?”
Armando stepped forward. “Lorenzo is tapping into the museum’s surveillance. They have an extensive system with all the priceless artwork in there.”
“I don’t give a fuck about the art.”
As Aléjandro went to Mia, Dario came closer, dressed in his designer suit. His diamond cuff links glistened in the sunlight. “Camila didn’t come out of the bathroom or wasn’t seen coming out. That could mean she was disguised or carried out.”
“How the fuck wouldn’t you have seen her?”
“I read an article,” Mia said, walking with her husband, the two joining our group. “It was about people stealing children.”
Camila wasn’t a child.
After covering her midsection, she went on, “I want to know the possible dangers before our baby is born. Anyway, the article said many children are abducted in plain sight. They use wigs, hats, change their clothes…and sometimes, they drug the child, so it looks like it’s sleeping. They can walk right by a parent whowon’t even recognize their own child. They say to look at shoes. Usually, they don’t have shoes with the disguise.”
Shaking my head, I ran my hand through my hair. “Camila isn’t a child. No one carried her out of the bathroom.”
“She’s petite,” Armando said. “The only thing that Lorenzo has seen outside the bathroom was a cleaning cart, one of those big ones with supplies and trash containers.”
Dario pointed to the loading dock. “If someone took her, drugged her, put her in a trash container, it would make sense that they would use the loading dock to take her away.”
I was fucking ready to vomit.
“I will kill the motherfucker…”
Dario laid his hand on my shoulder. “That goes without saying. Lorenzo is checking the cameras by the loading dock. If they haven’t moved her yet, she could still be there, somewhere in the museum. We have six men searching.”
“And if she’s gone?” I asked through clenched teeth. “Then we’re fucking wasting precious time.”
“If she’s gone, we will get a license plate.”
“This all goes back to Herrera,” I said. “I know it in my gut. The attacks in California. Kozlov was behind the sharpshooter that’s MIA. The bratva doesn’t do brazen, but Herrera would. The bigger and showier, the better. He wants to make a statement to Jorge and to you.” I went on to tell Dario about the informant, the person who reported Emerald Club.
“Your KSPD informant isn’t very bright if he thinks we’re working with the Herrera cartel.”
“We don’t exactly advertise,” Aléjandro said. “And to your cracker cop, we all look the same.”
Mia held tight to her husband’s arm. “Camila can’t be too far away.”