Allison Brennan - Fatal Secrets

“I want to make a deal,” Dean said. “But I have two questions and I need you to answer them truthfully, okay?”

She nodded.

“Where are the young women your son brought from Hong Kong earlier this week?”

“I don’t know. I swear, I don’t know!”

“Do you have a good guess?”

She nodded, eyes wide and her nose leaking as much as her eyes.

“Please, Victoria. If we find them in time, I will personally go to the judge on your behalf.”

She sniffed, wiped her face with the back of her hand. Her spotty hands showed her age. “I don’t know exactly where, but George told Jordan Weber to take them to the mine.”

“The mine?”

“That’s it. That’s exactly what he said. I don’t know where it is. I don’t know, I swear, I don’t know. If I knew, I would tell you.”

Sam had said there were mines all over the Sierra Nevadas. Could there be one on Rio Diablo land?

“I believe you.”

“You do?” She smiled. “Thank you. I’m telling you the truth.”

“One more question.”

Dean took out the photograph of the traffickers. “You said this man was Noel Marchand.”

She nodded. “Yes. I’ve known him for years. But that fishing trip was the first time we met.”

“Where was this taken? Our analysts believe Acapulco.”

“Near Acapulco. It’s a small town, Tres Palos. Noel lives in a fortress there.”

“What was this fishing trip about?”

“I–I think,” Victoria said, her chin held up, “I’ll wait for my attorney before I answer any more questions.”

Dean left the room feeling ill. He didn’t want to tell Sonia the news, but he had to. Better to come from him than anyone else.

Cammarata said, “You did pretty good.”

“You sound surprised,” Dean said.

He shrugged. “Sonia doesn’t like idiots.”

Sonia knew something was wrong the minute Dean stepped into the conference room with Sam and Charlie right behind him. “Sam, you and Cammarata find out if there’s a mine on or near Rio Diablo land. Sonia, can you step out here for a moment?”

Dean led her down a long hall past closed doors and wide openings with eight to ten cubicles set back in a work group arrangement. He opened a back door and led her outside to where the garage was bustling with activity around a burned-out SUV.

Dean took her hand and walked her around the side of the garage to where they had a modicum of privacy. It was dark; the sun had completely set. Sonia hadn’t realized it was nearly ten at night. External lamps lit the entire area.

“Victoria Christopoulis is going to cooperate in exchange for immunity.”

“Thank God. It’s about time we had a big break. Does she know where the women are? What did you say about a mine?”

“She doesn’t know the specifics, but she said they were taken to a mine. If we are right in our analysis and they are on Rio Diablo land, we’ll have some major issues, but-”

“Homeland Security has jurisdiction in matters of national security. I’ll take the heat. I’ll take anything if we get to them in time.”

“No need to do that. I think we have cause, and at this point, I’d rather ask for forgiveness than permission. I’m going to play with the time line a bit, contact the tribal council as we approach Rio Diablo boundaries, tell them what’s happened and hope the council doesn’t have huge loyalties to this little tribe.”

“Charlie came through?”

“I hate to admit it, but yeah, he scared her half to death. It put her in the right mind-set to cooperate.”

Sonia took Dean’s other hand and squeezed. “We’re close, so close, why the long face? She didn’t tell you they were already gone?” She tensed. “Or worse?”

He shook his head. “No, no, no. Not that. I have every reason to believe they’re still alive. It’s about your father.”

Sonia stifled a cry. “My dad? What’s wrong? Is he okay? Is it his heart-”

“No, not Owen. Sergio Martin.”

“Oh.” She glanced down, breathed deeply. She was going to have to get used to this. Once it all got out-She’d just have to develop a thicker skin, a stronger spine than she already had. She looked Dean in the eye. “Just spill it. I need to know.”

“He’s Noel Marchand.”

Sonia stared at Dean blankly at first, then the information-the name Noel Marchand -sank in.

She slowly shook her head. “I don’t believe you. Marchand is the most notorious human trafficker in the hemisphere. Some people in ICE don’t think he exists, at least as one individual. Some think the name represents a gang, not a person. It’s not-not-not possible,” she stumbled over her words.

“Victoria Christopoulis confirmed it. She met him that day in the photograph. She’s scared to death of him, believes he’ll kill her. Believed he was capable of killing Jones and Greg Vega. I’m sorry, Sonia, but I wanted you to hear it from me.”

She turned and dry heaved, covering her mouth to hold in a sob. No. No!

Her father had sold her. Why was she surprised that he was infamous? But the knowledge that his blood ran through her veins chilled her, humiliated her, made her feel tainted and dirty. How could she face his victims? How could she look at herself in the mirror?

She braced herself with both hands on the cinder-block wall of the garage and took deep breaths as silent sobs of anger and sorrow wracked her body. She wanted to forget, she wanted to disappear. Self-pity invaded her mind. Why me?

“Sonia, you didn’t know. You couldn’t have known. But I had to tell you, even if you hate the messenger.”

She shook her head wildly back and forth, her chest tight. “Why would I hate you? I hate myself. Hate that I didn’t know!”

Dean took her by the shoulders and spun her around. “I never want to hear that again. You’re not God. You’re not all-knowing. You are Sonia Knight, a top-notch investigator, a compassionate cop, a beautiful woman. You are Owen Knight’s daughter, and that man is a damn good dad. Don’t forget it.”

She wrapped her arms around Dean and held on tight. She sobbed, releasing the pain and anguish. Dean absorbed it, shared it. She loved him for it. He had reminded her of what was truly important. Her family wasn’t the man whose genes ran through her cells, but a mother and father who wanted her, who’d taken her into their home and loved her unconditionally, treated her as much as their own as they did their two sons. Owen and Marianne were her true family.

She whispered into his chest, “Thank you … for reminding me.”

“I love you, Sonia.”

She breathed in sharply, holding his declaration inside, felt his love and devotion. He’d already shown her how much he cared. She’d shared her secrets, her fears, her frustrations, and he not only understood but made her stronger by telling him. As if he’d made her past his own. She never realized how much she needed to have someone in her life to trust explicitly, to love beyond family. That she could be this lucky amazed her, but she wasn’t a fool. She wasn’t going to turn Dean away.

They heard voices in the courtyard around the corner. “Has anyone seen Hooper?”

Dean called, “Over here, Sam!”

Sonia let him go.

Sam ran around the corner. “We found it. I’m certain it’s where they are, if Christopoulis can be believed. It’s an abandoned mine right on the edge of the Rio Diablo property. And get this: it’s not tribal land. They bought it along with several other adjoining parcels over the last few years, probably with Jones’s illegal money.”

“Good work, Sam. Let’s go.”

Mr. Ling approached Noel as he finished loading his favorite gun.