“That’s exactly what I didn’t want to hear,” she said, her voice stone.
“Only a little,” I said. “When I threatened to castrate him, he folded pretty quick.”
“You would really have castrated him?” Her eyes were as hard as her voice.
“If he didn’t, I would have,” Sylvester said.
“So, here’s the deal,” I went on. “We were right on two counts. The Rodriguez family has been laundering money through someone in Coronado County. Joaquin doesn’t know who that is. Only his father and his father’s closest adviser know this.”
“Who’s his closest adviser?” Mondragón asked.
“Since Miguel was killed, it’s the son-in-law, a guy named Ernesto Rivera.”
“I’ve met Rivera,” Mondragón said. “Very smart. Educated at Stanford, the business school there. A bit of a ladies’ man, considers himself charming. But with the scruples of a hyena.”
An interesting characterization, I thought, especially considering that I would have described Mondragón in much the same way.
“But why him?” Mondragón said. “Why not Joaquin? He’s truly family.”
Rainy frowned. “And a son-in-law isn’t?”
“Only technically,” Mondragón replied.
“Joaquin’s father believes that his remaining son”—I looked down at the blindfolded man, who’d made it clear to me that he considered Ernesto Rivera a usurper. I thought about speaking the conclusion I’d come to myself, that a man who yielded secrets as easily as Joaquin was not a man to be relied upon, son or no. Instead I finished with—“has more important duties.”
“And the other count we were correct on?” Mondragón said.
“The stash of drugs. They’ve been using an old mine site for a while. They create a significant stockpile on this side of the border, then fly it out in one big shipment. But the most recent stockpile has disappeared. At first, they didn’t know who to blame. Then they found out Peter had filed on the old claim. Just like us, they couldn’t locate him. Until someone leaked the information about Peter and the Desert Angels and the rendezvous with the Guatemalans.”
“Who?” Peter asked.
“He doesn’t know. Miguel Rodriguez took charge of intercepting Peter, but his father insisted on being there, too. And we all know how that went down.”
“How do they fly the product out?” Mondragón asked.
This news was hard for me to deliver. “They use Jocko’s landing strip.”
Peter looked stunned. “Jocko? I don’t believe it.”
“Believe it,” Joaquin Rodriguez said.
There was a look of smug satisfaction on Mondragón’s face when he said to his son, “How many times have I told you, trust no one but family.”
Peter knelt and leaned close to Rodriguez. “If it’s true, why beat him up?”
Rodriguez shrugged. “I can’t say. A warning, maybe, to a man whose feet were getting cold.”
“Jocko.” This betrayal seemed to do a great deal more harm to Peter than anything physical he’d suffered. He stood up, looking just a little dazed. “Why?” It wasn’t a question addressed to any of us.
After a moment, I said, “Marian Brown used some of that stashed product to entice Royal Diggs into recruiting White Horse for the ambush.”
Rainy said, “I’d bet my last dollar that she filed the claim in Peter’s name in order to throw blame on him.” The tone of her voice told me that if Brown had been alive and male, Rainy might have been tempted to castrate her.
To Rodriguez, I said, “Her murder, was that your father’s doing?”
“Maybe. Or maybe Ernesto. With my father recovering from his wound, Ernesto is making decisions without seeking his approval first. Cabrón,” he said and spit on the tunnel floor.
“The stash of drugs?” Mondragón said. “Do you know where Brown moved them?”
“No,” I said.
“Maybe whoever killed her got that from her before she died,” Sylvester suggested.
“You have any idea who that might be?” I asked him.
The old-timer shook his head. “So many possibilities.”
Mondragón said, “We have much to discuss.”
I glanced down at Joaquin Rodriguez. “Let’s talk outside.”
Rodriguez said, “My arm is killing me. Can you help me, lady?”
He may not have been the bravest of men, but he’d picked up quickly that Rainy was his only hope for any compassion.
It was Mondragón who answered. “Be thankful you aren’t dead. Cabrón.”
But Rainy added in a dispassionate tone, “Pain clears the mind and sometimes cleanses the spirit, Joaquin.” Then she joined us as we headed outside.
We stood in the heat of the July afternoon. Above us, I could see clouds beginning to gather, mottling the blue of the sky. Another monsoon rain on the horizon, I figured. I thought about how tough it might be getting down off that mountain in a storm. Whatever we decided to do, we’d have to do it soon.
“I want to talk to Jocko,” Peter said. “If he really betrayed me, I want to know why.”
“If he betrayed you?” Mondragón looked coldly at his son. “How much more evidence do you need?”
“I need to hear it from him.”
“That won’t happen,” Mondragón said.
“You’re my father, but you don’t speak for me.”
They faced each other. I could see the father in the son, the same aquiline nose, dark eyes, firm-set mouth. In the silence of their confrontation, I heard the grating caw of a crow from somewhere above us.
To my surprise, a smile graced the lips of Gilberto Mondragón. “You know, I spoke almost those same words to my father when he forbid me to marry your mother.” He stepped back and nodded. “You’re right. You are your own man.”
“Can you take me, Cork?” Peter asked.
“Yes. But there are still bodies at the El Dorado Mine that have to be dealt with.”
Sylvester said, “I’ll take care of that.”
“How?”
“I’m thinking maybe an anonymous call to the Coronado Sheriff’s Office. I’m guessing they won’t be much surprised to learn that Sanchez’s been killed in a shoot-out with some Mexican drug hoodlums. You deal with that kind of low-life, your days are bound to be numbered.”
I gestured toward the mine. “What about Joaquin Rodriguez?”
“I think it’s time we dealt with his father,” Mondragón said. “We have leverage now.”
“What are you thinking of doing, Berto?” Rainy asked.
“We have Joaquin call his father and we meet for an exchange.”
“What exchange?” she asked.
“He gets his son back in return for a promise that our son will no longer be hunted.”
“You’ll accept his word?” Rainy didn’t hide her skepticism.
“Offering him his son is significant. And what I’ll make clear to him when we meet is that if our son is ever harmed, I will see to it that every member of the Rodriguez family is hunted down and killed.”
“You would really do that?” Rainy stared at him. “I don’t know who you are now, Berto.”
Mondragón said, “Perhaps you never did.”
CHAPTER 37
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