The Beasts of Juarez, R.B. Schow [books to read for self improvement .txt] 📗

I’ve heard him talking to Camden and the girls on the phone from time to time and honestly, that sounded just like him.”

“They found Callie,” he said, forcing himself to speak. Just saying the words, however, brought tears to his eyes. Even worse, Atlas looked over at him at that exact time and saw his emotions breaking through.

“And?” Sydney asked with so much tension in her voice, the woman was ready to crack.

He only shook his head. There was no way he could tell her this information with Zoey and Maisie in the car.

Sydney’s shoulders began to shake, and then she started to cry, and when this happened the girls understood they would never see Callie again. Soon, they began to cry as well. Leopold turned away from Atlas, the only calm one in the group. But when he glanced over at the former SWAT commander, Leopold saw there were tears in Atlas’s eyes as well.

“Still human,” Atlas said under his breath.

By the time they returned to the Chevy Spark, Sydney had stopped crying. Emotionally, however, she was gone, her body just a shell that couldn’t let go of her daughters.

“While we’re here,” Leopold said, “we should gather whatever valuables we can from Santiago’s house. We may need cash to cross the border. And who knows, maybe the scumbag’s got more weapons stashed somewhere.”

“Kiera and I will tie off the connection at the maquiladora,” Atlas said. “We’ll take Zoey if that’s okay with Sydney.”

Something passed through the woman’s eyes. Sitting up, she said, “Maisie and I will come with you. I won’t let these two girls out of my sight again.”

“I would do the same, Mrs. Fox,” Atlas said.

After they left, Leopold dialed Scotty, who answered right away. “It looks like we’re all done here, Scotty. Please send me the pertinent information on the people you found, every detail if you would. You can write a formal report when you get back.”

“Sounds, good,” Scotty said.

“How important is it that you chase that last lead?” Leopold asked.

“Hard to say,” Scotty said. “I think if we pull enough threads here, we may find something to go on. It’s loose though, mostly us hunting and hoping.”

He nodded his head and said, “Thanks, Scotty. Do you have anything in the pipeline outside of this job?”

“Honestly, not really.”

“Okay, then,” Leopold said. “I may or may not have you jump back on this. I haven’t decided yet. But if I put you back to work right away, it will be for the duration.”

“That would be good, sir. It really sucks not being able to get closure. She may be Atlas’s little girl, but she’s starting to feel like ours as well.”

“I have been feeling the same thing,” Leopold said. “I’ll talk to you in a few days.”

“Thanks, Boss.”

Chapter Forty-Three

ATLAS HARGROVE

Atlas used what Zoey had remembered about the street signs to hone in on a rough location. It took a little driving around, but eventually Zoey got them to the warehouse where she and Maisie had been forced to work.

“Are you ready?” Atlas asked Kiera. She nodded. “Zoey?”

“Yes,” the twelve-year-old said.

“I’m coming, too,” Sydney said, unbuckling her seatbelt.

“You’re not going to want to see this,” Atlas warned, “and even if you do, what’s about to happen, that’s not good for Maisie to see.”

After a moment, she seemed to be okay with this. Atlas assured her of their safety, something that took a long minute to accomplish.

When they entered the factory, Zoey walked the two of them inside and pointed to the man’s office. Kiera kicked open the door, shot the guard in the face, then looked at the boss where he sat behind an old desk.

Atlas had Cira’s XD9 in hand, ready to put this bitch to bed when Zoey stepped forward and said to the man, “I want to tell you a story. There was this jerk who worked kids too hard, didn’t feed them enough during the day, and told them scary stories. He died. The end.”

She looked up at Atlas and Kiera, nodded, and then stood back while Atlas emptied half his mag into this human stain.

Atlas looked at her and said, “I thought that was a nice story.”

“I liked the ending best,” Zoey said.

When they walked out onto the factory floor, Atlas said, “El jefe is dead. If you don’t want to work, you don’t need to.”

They all met back at the hotel where Cira was arranging to rent an extra room for Sydney and the girls. Leopold said, “It’s not a nice place, but that’s the point. I hope you understand.”

“I do,” Sydney said. “Thank you anyway.”

Inside Santiago’s house, they had found cash, weapons, and clothes. Leopold handed the cash to Estella then looked at Atlas, Kiera, and Yergha. “The four of you will need that money to cross the border.”

“Why can’t we just come with you?” Yergha asked. “I don’t understand why you’re making us do this.”

“He just doesn’t want to get his hair wet,” Esty said under her breath.

“I’m not a good swimmer,” he said.

Leopold audibly cleared his throat then said, “All four of you have issues that would get flagged at the border. Some of you aren’t technically alive, one of you is supposed to be somewhere else entirely, and all four can be tied to the Fox family if we’re traveling together. This cannot happen. Even if we can get an escort at the border, they will surely check our IDs.”

“Coming back isn’t the same as going in,” Atlas said like he wasn’t all that excited about illegally crossing the border.

Leopold looked at Atlas and said, “When you get to the other side, I have some important news for you about Alabama. There has been some significant progress there.”

“You’re just trying to keep me