Retribution Road, Jon Coon [top business books of all time .txt] 📗

and got a report from the somewhat stunned officers. Yes, they had seen Paul. Yes, Paul was wounded. No, they had no idea how badly.

By Adriana’s body was her cell phone, and in the Corvette the police found more pot and a SIM card on the car floor. Paul had done his best to leave a trail for them to follow.

“We need to call my dad,” Carol said. She was in full nurse mode, keeping her emotions in check. But just barely.

“He just answered,” Gabe said, phone in hand.

“I want to talk to him first.”

Gabe handed her his phone. “They shot him, Dad,” she cried. “They shot him and took him in a plane.”

Flying low to stay off radar, and yet above the waves on the Gulf, the Aztec headed south, cruising at 210 knots. Estevan examined the two small holes in Paul’s back and put pressure on the wounds with a bloody towel. “You’re going to be okay,” Estevan said. “She missed your lungs or there would be frothy blood coming up. Try to relax, and if the pain gets too bad, I can give you something. We’ve got a ways to go.”

Paul nodded his understanding and slouched back in the seat. He was nearly unconscious, but something told him to stay awake, so he fought off sleep and focused on what Chica had said: they were going to use him to get at his grandfather. Not if he could stop it, they wouldn’t. That just was not happening.

“They’ve taken Paul,” Carol sobbed.

“Slow down, honey. Who’s taken him?”

“Men in a plane. They killed his girlfriend after she shot him and dragged him off to their plane.”

“Who did she shoot?”

“She shot Paul!”

“Okay, and then they shot her and took Paul in the plane?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Here, talk to Gabe. I’m too upset and I’m not making any sense.”

Gabe took the phone, and Carol dropped to her knees sobbing. Gabe knelt beside her and pulled her against him with one hand while he held the phone with the other.

“Hello, Captain. It’s drugs. We found Paul’s truck submerged in a quarry with a dead girl. Apparently an OD, and there was evidence in the house where they’d been living. The girlfriend was South American. It doesn’t look good.”

There was a disappointed silence on the phone.

“Captain, are you there?”

“Sorry. I’m afraid ‘they’ is a Mexican cartel, and they set Paul up to get to me. They’ve been targeting family members of our drug task force. But how would they have found Paul?”

There was another pause. Then Captain Bright said, “You need to bring Carol and Emily here now. I’ll make arrangements with your department to borrow you for a while. It’s funny, I was going to call you today. I’ve got a diving job for you. Pack your gear and I’ll fly over and get you tomorrow. Don’t let those girls out of your sight, not for a minute. Understand? I’ll call you as soon as I’m in the air.”

“Yes sir, we’ll be ready.”

“And, Gabe, one more thing. If you’re a praying man, now’s the time.”

Chapter 7

THE CONCRETE BLOCK WALLS WERE painted lime green, and there was only one window. Too high to look out of but large enough to flood the room with daylight. He was in a hospital bed with an IV stand close and a plastic bag with a hose hanging from it. As his eyes tried to focus, he realized the line was connected to a needle in his arm, held in place by fabric tape. He’d been shot. He’d been shot and he should feel the pain. But there was no pain. In fact he could hardly feel anything except the sensations of floating and being unable to focus. It was a good, warm and fuzzy feeling, like the time he intentionally drank too much cough syrup trying to get high.

“Whatever this is, I like it,” he said, then fell back into a deep sleep.

He didn’t see the dark-haired girl in white shorts and a green scrub top who came in to check on him a little later. He didn’t see the snakes tattooed on both her arms as she reached over to take his pulse and then gently move the hair back from his face so she could examine him more closely. And he wouldn’t remember her smile, once beautiful, now an embarrassment with decayed and missing teeth. He wouldn’t remember any of those things, but she wouldn’t forget anything about him. She made the sign of the cross over his forehead and then left him in his narcotic stupor.

Gabe helped Carol up and kept an arm around her as they walked back to the chopper. The ambulance crew had bagged Adriana after the CSI team finished with taking photos and carefully searching the grounds. The Corvette was being loaded on a flatbed, and DEA had claimed it for detailed examination. Gabe made sure they had Adriana’s phone and the SIM card Paul had left on the passenger-side carpet. Gabe also made certain any and all information garnered from the body, the crime scene, or the phone would be passed immediately to Captain Bright. Having done all he could think to do, he climbed into the chopper beside Carol.

Carol alternated between detached nurse mode and emotional mom. “It’s because of my dad, isn’t it? He made those big drug busts, and now they’re coming after him and after us.” She took his hand and leaned against his chest. He could feel her quiet sobs.

“I believe that’s what he said.”

“I thought after Emily was kidnapped and you saved her, when I moved out of your trailer, away from the threat of being involved with another cop . . .” She paused and blew her nose. “I thought we would be safe.”

He wiped tears from her face and gave her his handkerchief.

“Thanks.” She leaned against him again and held on as if he were a life ring.

“I don’t think any