Failed State (A James Winchester Thriller Book 1) (James Winchester Series) - James Samuel (top novels of all time .txt) 📗

gripped the newspaper in his healthy hand. James couldn’t help but smile too as they relaxed in the middle of Dr. Silva’s mansion.

The newspapers had had a field day over Rosher’s ordeal. They’d lambasted the cowardly governor. A ranchero had found a confused Rosher cowering in his field, covered in his own urine. The interview with the ranchero about the condition of the governor had been even more damning.

“Finally, Rosher has got what he deserved. Even a fixed election and the threats from Quezada could never get this man elected now. Cowardice goes against everything we value in our culture,” said Diego.

“How’s the arm?”

“Good enough. A few more days and I should be able to shoot my gun. That’s all I need.” Diego paused. “I can still feel it hurting in the night, though.”

“What do you know about Vargas?” asked James.

Diego’s expression darkened. He leaned back in the chair and pressed the back of his head against the red stone wall of the doctor’s courtyard.

“Vargas is one of the most vicious men in this part of Mexico. A lot of the massacres in Celaya have been traced back to him. Not that anyone can prove anything and not that the police have taken anything seriously, though, but everyone knows it’s him. He leads most of the attacks on Quezada’s behalf.”

James nodded. “Not a man to be taken lightly then.”

“He’s a man who can take care of himself.” Diego’s arm twitched. “Vargas wouldn’t rely on a lucky shot to take someone down.”

“So how would we go about finding him?”

Diego crossed one leg over the other as James waited with bated breath. He didn’t know where to look for Jessi Montoya and Sinclair hadn’t been in touch at all after he’d kidnapped the governor. There had to be a way to find her, but without one of Quezada’s lieutenants, he had no clues.

“Vargas is an animal, but he isn’t stupid. He’s not going to come out into the open for any reason. Quezada will have put his lieutenants on high alert. The problem we have now is Rosher’s wife knows who we are, even if she doesn’t know you by name.”

“Which means?”

“The war is going to get worse. Keep your head down.”

Dr. Silva appeared in the doorway, a worried look on his face. “You boys are in trouble. I just read online that a small bus has been attacked outside of León. One of the third-class buses.”

James turned to him. “Who?”

“Santa Maria, I think. There’s not much information on this yet, only rumours.”

“Why is it important to us?” asked Diego.

“The same as always in this country. They attacked the bus, killed everyone on it, and then set the bus on fire. You boys have unleashed something you can’t control.”

James chewed his tongue. He didn’t want to imagine how many innocents were on that bus, or how many of them were women and children. Quezada had escalated matters, and it was all his fault. All because he’d not taken the precautions needed to ensure the governor and his wife didn’t squeal.

“Miguel,” said Diego. “I don’t think James should go home again, do you? How much do you want to keep him here?”

Dr. Silva muttered something unintelligible under his breath. “Keep him here? I’m not sure you should even be here now. If they find you, they’ll kill me too.”

“Anything you want, Miguel. Tell me what you want, and we’ll get it for you.”

Dr. Silva made a strange growling sound deep in his throat. He no longer looked at Diego but focused on a point above his head as he considered the proposition. James wanted to intercede. Dr. Silva had done more than enough to aid them. He didn’t need to do anything more.

“I want to leave Mexico,” said Dr. Silva. “This land is cursed, and it won’t get better during my lifetime. Even now, I fear for my life whenever I leave this house.”

“I thought you said you didn’t need the money,” said James.

“Money has never been the problem. Getting visas to retire somewhere else is.”

James narrowed his eyes. “An esteemed doctor like you?”

Dr. Silva stepped away from James with his hands clasped behind his back. “Not so esteemed as you might think. I worked in the United States in the ’80s. Illegally. I crossed the border with Texas and worked as a private doctor. They deported me after seven years.”

Diego chuckled. “You see, James, not everyone is as good as they seem.”

“In any case, America is the only place I would want to go. My brother lives in California. He’s old, but I’d like to go to him. But they would never give me a visa after being deported.”

“We could arrange that,” said Diego.

James snapped his head to Diego. Could they really arrange a visa for someone who’d committed a crime?

“How?”

“We have powerful friends who don’t need to worry about ordinary regulations. That’s all you need to know. You let us use your house as a base and you can fly into San Diego, Los Angeles, or wherever you want to go. I could even get them to give you a green card.”

Dr. Silva didn’t look impressed by those fantasies, but apparently, the romantic desire of spending his final years as a legal resident in the US won out. He gave a slight nod and departed into the house.

James lowered his voice to barely above a whisper. “How are you going to do that? We don’t know anyone who can give him a residence permit to stay in the US.”

Diego laughed. “Oh, James, you don’t know who I know. I could get a drug lord a green card if I wanted to.”

James folded his arms and threw his mind back to the task at hand. He’d lost the element of surprise. Quezada knew