“If you read the file, you know pretty much everything I know. As far as we know, Los Lobos has been active for about a year. Because of their fierce code of silence, we’ve never had much to go on.
“The members of the group don’t even know one another half the time. Everyone has a code name. The Wolf is the guy in charge, hence the name of the gang, and he seems to be the only one who knows who’s who. By keeping disassociation going, he keeps control. And he keeps such tight control that everyone’s afraid not to follow instructions to a T. He orders someone or maybe a couple of people to do something. If they don’t follow orders, or if, God forbid, they fail, he calls in someone else, someone they don’t know, to take care of the situation. He has members killed to warn other members. They’re wary of one another all the time.
“Last October, an ancient Peruvian chalice was smuggled out of a museum in Lima and found here in an abandoned building. Apparently one of the gang members messed up and that’s why it was discovered, because soon after, a man was found dead—shot execution style—on Stock Island.
“The Coast Guard found artwork from Venezuela when they ran down an unidentified boat close to shore last January. After that, two men—shot in the head—washed up in Miami. Jose Rodriguez was the first man we had who managed to get anywhere close to the Wolf. He had made contact through a cell phone given to him by a man he’d befriended at a bar while pretending to be a petty criminal with aspirations.”
“And now the one man to get a toe into the operation is dead,” Raintree mused. “As for the woman who drowned, is it possible it was an accident?”
“It’s possible, just not likely. There will be an autopsy, of course. The body is already on its way up to the morgue in Marathon,” Dallas said.
“If we only had more information,” Kelsey murmured.
As she spoke, Dallas felt as if something in the room had changed. He looked toward the kitchen doorway and stiffened.
No one had come in—they would have heard. And yet something had him on the alert, ready to draw his weapon.
Then, slowly, the form of a dead man began to materialize.
Jose Rodriguez had joined them.
9
Jose was leaning against the kitchen counter, looking thoughtful and a little tense, just as he would have when he was alive and attending any tactical meeting.
Except for Dallas’s momentary reaction, no one else in the room appeared surprised to see him.
Of course, Hannah had always known that Kelsey saw what she saw; she’d assumed it was something that certain people in a family inherited—just like blue eyes or dark hair.
“I’ve been all over the city,” Jose said. He looked at Hannah and smiled. “Since I left you, I’ve prowled every venue on the island—I haven’t seen a single one of the men I was with the night I was attacked. Of course,” he said, and hesitated, looking at them sheepishly, “I’m just getting used to this new way of life. No, not life. Death. I’m just learning how to exist on this different...plane. Time disappears on me sometimes. I try to appear to you, but I fade. I’ll get there.” He grinned at Dallas. “It’s like going through a different kind of academy. Plus,” he said apologetically, looking around the room, “I had to be sure of who you all were first.”
“Of course,” Hannah agreed.
“We’re going to find your killer,” Dallas said, a hard edge to his voice. “We’ll take all the help you can give us.”
“Thank you. So here’s what I have. There are about five gangs here on the island, mostly teens, guys in their early twenties. I followed them all, tried hanging around every known drug-dealing site in the city, and I couldn’t find the guys I was with that night.”
“Do you remember anything that could help us?” Dallas asked.
“One of the guys goes by the name Blade. He’s about five-eleven, dark-haired—from Colombia, I’m pretty sure. I was allowed to use his phone and talk to the Wolf, who told me the rules. Basically, absolute loyalty and obedience. I told him I was in, that I needed the money and wanted to rise up in the ranks, and I was willing to do anything. He told me I’d get my own phone and my orders as soon as I checked out.” Jose paused.
“You never got the phone,” Dallas said.
Jose looked over at him. “No. I thought I was getting it that night. I got it, all right,” he said drily.
No one said a thing.
“Someone was onto you,” Dallas said after a moment.
Jose nodded. He looked at Hannah. “I heard about that woman who was killed diving. I’m so sorry, but I never saw her. I don’t know why she was killed.”
“We don’t know yet that she was killed,” Logan said.
Jose offered a rueful smile. “Not that diving accidents don’t happen,” he said, “but I think we all know she was murdered.”