Haunted

CHAPTER 51

FROM MY VANTAGE POINT AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRWAY, I can’t tell if the control is still broken and if the door was forced back or if it’s been removed. I can see into the great room but can’t hear the mechanical whir of the generator. I don’t sense any human presence, either. There are no heartbeats, no familiar smells associated with females, no deodorant, perfume, pheromones.

The place feels deserted.

Before I call Max and tell him to bring Culebra and Adelita here, I’d better make sure.

Once I make it to the bottom of the stairs, it’s obvious how the door was opened. It’s been removed, bolt by bolt, and lies on its side just inside the entryway.

Could Maria have done it? I heft one corner. I doubt it. The thing must weigh two hundred pounds.

I make my way quietly across the great room and check out the hallway and bedrooms. Empty. All Gabriella’s things are gone as are Maria’s. Only Ramon’s clothes occupy a half-empty closet.

So much for standing vigil.

With the generator turned off, the air in the cave is still, stuffy. The faint smell of pine that gave the place its open-meadow freshness is gone.

When I check out the kitchen and dining area, the pieces of towel I used to bind Maria lay in a heap next to the chair she was tied to. The broken cell phone is where I tossed it on the counter. Other than that, the only thing out of place is the slightly rancid smell of food from a refrigerator whose power has been turned off.

And the missing artwork that adorned the walls.

Maria took the valuables.

How long has she been gone? More importantly, who helped her with that door?

I run back up the stairs and call to Max. No need for caution now. He disappears for a few minutes and returns with Culebra, Adelita and Luis.

Luis is as dumbstruck by Ramon’s elegant hideaway as Max, Culebra and I were when we first saw it. Adelita just stares. I’m sure she’s never been inside a home like this, let alone a narco’s secret safe house.

Max sniffs. “We need to get that generator turned back on.”

“Any idea where the controls would be?” I ask.

Max heads for the kitchen and begins opening cupboards and cabinets. Culebra shoves Luis onto a chair and hands Adelita his rifle.

“If he moves, shoot him,” he tells her.

Only she and I know she has no idea how to fire that rifle. Culebra doesn’t. Luis certainly doesn’t. The way she scowls at him, the rifle pointed at his chest, Luis hunches his shoulders and sits still. After what she’s done to him, with what he knows she wants to do to him, he’s not taking any chances.

Neither am I. I stand beside her and keep watch.

Culebra joins Max in his search. Finally, in a corner of a pantry, Max spies a metal panel. He pulls the latch and points to what looks like a computerized circuit board.

“Jesus, Max. Do you know how to work that thing?”

He grins. “How hard could it be?”

Culebra puts out a hand and grabs Max’s before he comes in contact with the circuits. “Wait. Ramon may have booby-trapped the place.”

Max jerks his hand back. “Like a self-destruct function?”

Culebra nods. “He was a clever bastard.”

Max takes a step back. “Well, we’re not going to be here that long, anyway. We’re getting air from the open stairway. That will have to do.”

Luis has not said a word since entering the cave. Now he straightens in the chair and says, “What happens now? Do you call your DEA buddies to come get us? Do you think I will tell the American police any more than I tell the Federales? I will tell them nothing. Pablo’s lawyers will have me out in an hour if we cross the border. You have no authority. You are kidnapping a Mexican citizen. My government does not look favorably on such a thing.”

Max smiles. “You are right, Luis. Which is why I have no plans to take you with us when we leave. It’s your brother we want. It’s your brother who has the bounty on his head in my country. You are going to tell us where he is.”

Luis’ battered lips curl in a sneer. “I will never tell you. Even if you threaten to kill me.”

Max shrugs. “Okay. Adelita? Shoot him.”