Free Hide Away by Iris Johansen Page A

should be more respectful of both our friendship and the fact that my sources are not limitless. It should have taken me days, not hours. You’re fortunate that I have a forgiving nature.”
    â€œAnd that you want to bring Salazar down with a solid crash.”
    â€œI’d prefer Castino, but Salazar will do. If you can’t arrange a double event.”
    â€œRight now, I need you to focus on Salazar’s group. Did you find a Kevin Roper.”
    â€œNo.” He paused. “But I found a Ramon Franco. You would find him interesting.”
    â€œOne and the same?”
    â€œYou tell me. I’m sending you a photo.”
    â€œSo tell me about him.”
    â€œA very nasty predator who pretends to be a follower, but I’d bet we’ll have to contend with him in the upper echelons of the cartel in a very short time. The word out is he’s very ambitious and willing to take out anyone who gets in his way.”
    â€œHe’s just a kid.”
    â€œNineteen, almost twenty. Did that make you less lethal when you were his age?”
    â€œGood point. Give me his history.”
    â€œGrew up on the streets of San Diego, father a drug runner, mother a prostitute. Ramon was acting as her pimp by the time he was ten. But he had a temper, and he caught his mother stashing some of the money for herself. He pushed her down a flight of stairs and broke her neck.”
    â€œCharming,” Joe said dryly.
    â€œHe lost a meal ticket, but he learned from it. No more whores and no more losing his temper. Instead, he ran across the border and started trailing after the drug runners from Salazar’s cartel, doing errands, making himself generally useful. By the time he was twelve, he’d graduated to collecting debts for Salazar. He became a sort of protégé of the mob. From then on it was straight up the chain. He dedicated himself to learning everything a good assassin should know, from explosives to poison, to his favorite, the machete. At last report, he’d killed at least fourteen, and that was business. He’s smart and not shy of showing muscle to anyone in the cartel who causes him trouble or might get in the way of his rise to the top.”
    â€œFaults?”
    â€œTemper, he likes to torture his victims if it doesn’t get in the way of completing the job, and vanity, he believes he can talk anyone into doing what he wants.”
    â€œHe may be right about that. Very smooth.” He heard a ping and accessed the photo. Ramon Franco was gazing up at him, smiling recklessly. “You hit it,” he told Manez. “It seems Salazar turned loose his pet tarantula on Cara.”
    â€œGod help her.”
    â€œHe has so far. Eve and I are attempting to offer a little assistance in that direction.”
    â€œShe’ll need it.” He paused. “You’ve verified through that reconstruction that the child found in that grave was Jenny Castino?”
    â€œIf I said yes, you’d be obligated to tell your superiors and they’d be obligated to take action about returning her sister, Cara, to her native country.”
    â€œTrue. But it might also cause Castino to take down Salazar. Or Salazar to take down Castino. Either would be beneficial for us.”
    â€œI’m not prepared to sacrifice Cara to do that. We’ve already lost Jenny.”
    â€œI sympathize.” He was silent a moment. “But we have a war down here. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep silent.”
    â€œYou’re warning me.”
    â€œI’m telling you that unless you can figure out a way to give me the result I want without bringing back Cara, I’ll have to reconsider going to California and officially verifying Jenny’s identity myself.”
    â€œHow much time are you going to give me?”
    â€œA week should give ample time to someone of your capabilities.”
    â€œHardly ample.”
    â€œAll I can afford.