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He smiled and nodded. “I have a hefty family legacy riding on my shoulders. My dad is an admiral, we have family members, medals, ships named after my family, and untold decades of service and history all tied up with the name and DNA of Jackman. I reconciled with my dad on my deployment to Niamey. He knows I want to be my own man and he accepts it. I have a limited number of missions with this team, and it will tear my guts out to give it up. All of them are good sailors and exceptional SEALs. But I’m proud of where I come from and proud of where I’m going. I know I want my wife, children, love, duty, and honor in my future. What do you want, Kat?”
His cell rang, and he rose and took the call.
Kat’s stomach cramped, and she closed her eyes, thinking immediately that Joker made some valid points. She had gone from administration back to the field and there were times when she and Wicked just couldn’t mesh their time to be together. She missed him deep in her bones. Maybe it was time for a change?
Her cell rang, and she grabbed it off the table. “Cross.”
“Ma’am, this is Dr. Ellsbeth Montgomery calling regarding your case. I have some information.”
“Go ahead.”
“The man you found on the Good Earth Plantation has been ID’d as Juan Barrantes. He was employed by the Navarros as their shipping manager for sixteen years and lived alone.” She rattled off an address. “He was bound, gagged, and tortured, specifically water-boarding, suspension by his wrists, evidence of tearing in both wrist, shoulder, and back muscles, beatings on his face and torso, resulting in numerous cuts and contusions, broken ribs, jaw in two places, nose, and eye socket. His cause of death was a bullet to the back of the head.” All the information was delivered in a clinical tone. Kat didn’t have to imagine what Juan had gone through. She knew it all firsthand.
“Do you have any hits on the bullet?”
“No, it’s still being analyzed, but I thought you might want his identity to get you started.”
“Yes, that’s a good place to start. Time of death?”
“He was murdered approximately three days ago between nine and nine-thirty p.m., but not where you found him. He was executed somewhere else and transported to the crime scene. If Maritza Navarro hadn’t found him, he would have decomposed rapidly between the hot, moist environment, predation, internal microbe decomposition, and insects. In fact, body parts were missing, and after an exhaustive search we discovered a femur that had been gnawed. He was scavenged immediately, and the discovery of the remains gave us vital information that would have been lost over time, scattered and nearly skeletonized.” Kat didn’t want to be suspicious of the family, but the facts were stark and irrefutable. Mr. Barrantes had worked for them, he’d been murdered and dumped on the property. “I’ll be in touch with information as it surfaces. Call me if you have any questions. The local police have been very cooperative and helpful.”
“Thank you, Doctor.”
“What’s up?” Joker asked after taking one look at her face.
“We have an identity. Let’s get the guys in for a brief.”
Once everyone had been assembled, Kat started off the discussion with the pertinent facts. She laid everything out. “This is looking bad for the Navarros. Do any of you have anything to add?”
Buck’s deep voice broke the silence. “Yesterday, when Mari told her brother about the tour, he got squirrely, ordered us not to go near his greenhouses and to stay away from his new plantings. I could tell by her face that it wasn't characteristic of her brother’s personality. She was thrown and confused about his behavior.” He leaned forward, his face expressionless, but Kat had the feeling he was churning internally. “When I questioned Mari about who oversaw their shipping, she told me it was Juan, but he had disappeared a month ago. She’s under the impression that he just up and left with no word.”
“After sixteen years of service. That seems unlikely.”
“And it was during the height of their harvest.” The natural question to follow up that answer was on Kat’s tongue, but Buck already supplied the person she was going to ask about. “Diego took over the shipping.” Buck released a sigh. “He protested, but his dad insisted. She said he’s done a great job.” Kat was deep in thought when Buck asked, “Do you want us to pick him up?”
“No, not just yet. You go and talk to him, keep it casual and friendly as the guy who’s interested in his sister. See what you can find out.”
* * *
After leaving Mari this morning, he hadn’t seen her, and wanted to avoid her for the time being. Mostly because it would be easier to talk to Diego without her present, and secondly, he’d given himself a lot to think about. His guts twisted, thinking about avoiding her, knowing that she must still be feeling shaky about what had happened yesterday. He ached to comfort her, but the duties of his job had to come first. She would understand that. He was sure of it.
She’d wanted him last night, wanted him to make love to her again, but it was a convenient excuse that she had been through enough for one day. He meant what he said. He wasn’t going to be intimate with her again until this mission was resolved, or she knew about his undercover assignment.
The truth was he was here to protect the family, but that would become null and void if any of them were mixed up with Barrantes’s abduction, torture, and murder. What had been done to Barrantes was a calling card for the cartels, but what they needed to narrow down was the gang who was assisting which cartel—Mexican or Colombian? There were three players in the area and more joining the fray everyday, which accounted for the uptick in violence in recent years.
His first guess would be the Siachoque Cartel. He had a feeling that Nacho was here, sheltered by his gang partner. It felt like Nacho’s grubby drug-trafficking fingers were all over the place.
He crossed the main plantation compound, heading toward the three greenhouses in the back, set behind the house and the production and shipping buildings. As he approached, workers were busy setting maturing coffee plants into a cart while less mature seedlings were being transferred from the second greenhouse to the first.They were small, with shiny, evergreen leaves. There were quite a few of them in the cart. Looked like another major expansion which made total sense if they were going to be opening up the Golden Grain coffee shops all up and down the West Coast.
He stopped one of the bustling workers, and he indicated that Diego was in the farthest greenhouse.
Buck headed over to the glassed-in structure and opened the door. It was hot inside, the sun streaming through the glass above. The place was full of growing seedlings. Diego was moving down one of the beds making notes on a tablet, deep in thought.
“Diego,” Buck called out, and his head snapped up, and he turned to look at Buck. His whole body tensed.
“Hey, how’s it going?” he said, coming over and shaking Buck’s hand. He looked tired, but he did have a full workload with a wife and two children.
“Pretty good. We didn’t get a chance to tour the greenhouses yesterday after all the commotion.”
