Primary Valor by Jack Mars (booksvooks TXT) 📗

a Mary Kay saleslady, you’d be dead now.”

Bowles shrugged. “You don’t knowme very well.”

“Anyway, there’s still one left,”Ed said.

Bowles went into the kitchen andstared at the man on the floor. He nodded, more to himself than anyone else. “Helooks about seventeen. I’m sure he’ll know all the secrets we want and have alot to say about them.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

10:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time

FBI Miami Division

Miramar, Florida

 

 

The man did have a lot to say.

They stood in an observation room,watching him through one-way glass. Speakers were mounted just above the glass.Four people were in the observation room—Luke, Ed, Bowles, and a young man whowas a simultaneous translator from Spanish to English.

Through the window, the prisonersat at a long wooden table. He wore the same T-shirt and jeans they had foundhim in. He took a long gulp of what appeared to be water. Then he leaned back,smoking a cigarette. There was a half-empty pack and a lighter on the tablenear his left hand. He seemed relaxed enough, maybe because he could smoke asmuch as he wanted.

“What’s his name?” Luke said.

“No confirmation on that,” thetranslator said. “He wasn’t carrying identification. He says his name is DanielCruz. They’re waiting for fingerprints to come back. Hopefully, he’s beenarrested somewhere, for something.”

Two Hispanic men stood across thesmall room from the prisoner. They were sharp dressers, dark business suits,slicked back hair, expensive leather shoes. They looked more like young WallStreet types than FBI agents. They looked like they should have their own TVshow.

One of the interrogators saidsomething, too fast for Luke to understand. He heard the name Camilo Ortiz. Heheard the phrase El Tigre. The prisoner started speaking.

“What do I get?” the translatorsaid. From there, he began to translate both what the prisoner said, and whatthe questioners said.

“What do you want?”

“Freedom. I want to go home. I’mdone in America.”

“I have a hunch,” Bowles said. “Heisn’t going home any time soon.”

“Where is home?”

“El Salvador.”

“What is your hometown?”

The young guy shrugged. “Whereelse? San Salvador.”

“How old are you?”

“Twenty years. My twenty-first isnext month.”

“Have you done something we shouldknow about? Something that makes it hard to give you your freedom?”

The man stared at them.

“You know what I did.”

“No. We don’t.”

He took a deep drag on hiscigarette, held it, and blew it out.

“They’re killers, okay? The Tigeris a killer. These other men. Dangerous people. What you are asking from me isa lot. If I tell you anything, I will be marked for death. This is not soterrible, I guess. I am not afraid of death. But I want something in return.”

“We will keep you safe,” one ofthe interrogators said. “I can promise you that. You can get a new life. Maybeyou can go home. We’ll have to see.”

“What about my family?”

“In El Salvador?”

“No. Here. I have a girl and ababy.”

“If you cooperate, we can keepthem with you. We have a program called Witness Protection. You will be safe. Theywill be safe.”

The promise of safety seemed to beenough.

“The Tiger was with us, yeah. Hewas staying at the house.”

“Well, at least now we know heexists,” Ed said. “That’s something.”

“He is a bad person. He andCienfuegos took a job up north. They went away, flew I think, came back thenext day.”

“Where did they go?”

“I don’t know. North. Carolina,maybe. Virginia. They didn’t tell me. And your friends killed Cienfuegos. Sonow we will never know.”

“Where is the Tiger?”

“He left again. I don’t know wherehe went. He and I are not friends. We don’t talk that much.”

“You know very little, it seems. Ifyou know so little, why do you say he and Cienfuegos went to Carolina together?”

The man tapped the side of hishead. “I listen. I hear things. You have to be careful in this line of work. Peoplewho are not careful die too soon. Listen more than you speak. That’s my rule.”

“What is this line of work?”

The man shook his head, tookanother drag of his smoke. “I don’t know. If you don’t know, then I also don’t.”

“You say the Tiger took a job upnorth. Who was he working for?”

The prisoner sighed.

“The man from Jupiter. The islandof Jupiter. A very rich man. Very connected. He has powerful friends. How doyou say it? He is untouchable.”

“What is his name?”

“I don’t know. You will knowbetter than me.”

“What were they doing for him? Hewas paying them to do something, so what was the job?”

The prisoner eyed the questionersvery carefully. He seemed to be on a knife’s edge about what he said next. Fallingon either side of it had consequences. Those consequences were unpredictable.

The situation was far out in frontof him. A look, possibly resignation, came over his face. He wanted out. To buyhis way out, he had to say things he didn’t want to say. He nodded. He haddecided.

“The man likes girls. You knowthis, I am sure. Young. Teenage girls. He likes a certain kind. Special. Fresh.Clean. He brings them to his big house in Jupiter. Makes them his slaves.”

The man indicated his wrists, makinga motion like he was slapping steel handcuffs on them. It was a pretty goodpantomime. Luke got it right away.

“Bingo,” Ed said. He said itbarely louder than a whisper.

“He gives them to his friends,”the prisoner said.

They were close now, and they bothknew it. Jupiter Island was right up the highway from here. Call in a TACsquad. It was still early. They could have the girl back tonight.

“Wait,” Bowles said. “Stop theinterview.”

* * *

“What’s the matter?” Luke said.

Bowles was walking down thehallway as if he was planning to leave.

Ed took several running steps andgot in front of him.

“You don’t just walk out likethat, friend.”

Bowles was big. Not as big as Ed. Butnot afraid of him, either. They stood toe to toe, face to face.

“You’re about to make a bigmistake,” Bowles said. “If you think you can assault a fellow officer…”

Ed raised both hands, as if Bowleshad pulled a gun on him.

“We just want to talk.”

Bowles shook his head. “There’snothing to talk about. We’ve stumbled across an ongoing joint investigationbetween the FBI and other agencies and organizations, including, for starters,the Miami-Dade Police Department and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.I happen