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CHAPTER 68

JOE SAW DOUGHERTY and Ruiz leaning against the outer wall of the terminal building, waiting for them as planned. Ruiz was forty but looked ten years younger in a bright-green LIFE IS GOOD T-shirt, jeans, and high-top sneakers. Dougherty had put on a few pounds and his hair was streaked gray, but he still looked like he lifted weights and took a three-mile run most mornings.

Ruiz shouted to Joe and embraced him. “What’d you do, man? Walk here?”

Joe grinned. “Close enough.”

Introductions to Bao were made during the walk to the short-term parking area, where Dougherty exchanged a ticket for a key to a well-used black Mercedes. He opened the doors with a few chirps of the key fob, and all four agents clambered in. Ruiz said of the car, “Don’t be put off by her looks. This baby has been retrofitted 007 style.”

Joe laughed. Dougherty insisted that he wasn’t lying as he adjusted the driver’s seat.

“Don’t push any random buttons,” said Ruiz. “You could launch a grenade or signal a satellite. But here’s the exception. When you and Bao get into your vehicle, turn on the radio and leave it on. Mick and I will do the same. With both radios on, we’ll be in constant contact.”

Dougherty drove the Mercedes out to the service road, changing lanes as traffic merged toward the Federal Highway 40 exit. Ruiz and Dougherty talked to Joe and Bao during this drive and interrupted each other, taking turns describing the upcoming meeting in the town of Cadereyta Jiménez, just outside Monterrey.

“It’s a one-stoplight town, and they’re lucky to have the stoplight,” Dougherty said. “You heard of this place, Bao? Forty miles southeast of Monterrey, a city of 56,000 people, and a history from hell.”

Bao and Joe knew and had discussed that history—a massacre that had taken place a dozen years ago on the outskirts of Cadereyta Jiménez. At least sixty-eight people had been beheaded, their bodies dismembered, their heads, extremities, and organs left at the sides of the road.

There was silence in the car as the four agents recalled that tragedy, remembered photos of the horrific scene. Long seconds passed in silence, then Ruiz started afresh.

“We’ll be spending twenty minutes or so with a guy named Gustavo, no last name. If he gives up what you need on Judge Orlofsky’s killer, we’ll make him rich enough to quit his stinking job as a first-class snitch. This should be an in-and-out transaction, Joe. Any delay or nonsense, we get the fuck out of there.”

Dougherty told Joe and Bao, “You’re going to drive 3.2 miles north on this road. We’ll be ahead of you with our coms on. At 3.2, you’ll see a church on the corner of the block, right-hand side. Just past the church, there’s a no-parking zone. Park there anyway, but stay in the car and talk to us. We’ll show up to officiate the meet once Gustavo arrives.”

“What do we know about Gustavo No Last Name?” Bao asked.

Dougherty said, “Not very much. He’s Mexican. He rarely speaks, but you get the idea that he knows everything. His gang looks up to him. When he does speak, his word is final.”

He pulled off the road and parked behind a silver Honda SUV. He said, “There you are. That’s your ride.”

Ruiz got out of the Mercedes and handed Joe a car key and three weapons: two loaded semi-automatic handguns and an AK-47.

Then Ruiz got back into the black sedan as Joe and Bao settled into the SUV, with Bao at the wheel, Joe riding shotgun. Slipping one gun into his shoulder holster, Joe passed the other handgun to Bao. She placed it on the seat beside her. Joe checked out the AK, then stood it on its butt end between the two front bucket seats.

As Dougherty pulled up slowly, Ruiz shouted out the window: “Turn on your radio!”

Joe did and Ruiz’s voice came through, if a bit crackly.

Voices were tested as the Mercedes moved on down the road.

Bao started up the SUV, then followed Ruiz and Dougherty from a distance, watching everything—traffic, pedestrians, and the dashboard—while looking for a church on the right and a no-parking zone just beyond it.

A dog suddenly appeared, limping across the road. Bao jerked the wheel to avoid the dog and hit the AK with her arm, knocking it to the floor.

That’s when Bao turned her eyes away from the road.