ago was when Hunt had been extradited to the U.S. He’d been located in Sayulita, close to Puerto Vallarta, living quite well while in hiding.
They didn’t have the time to run a full background on Ortiz, but they learned enough—including the fact that she’d been a waitress in Sayulita up until two years ago and was currently thirty-one years of age. So Hunt gave her what? Money? Contacts? Had she moved here on her own … or had Hunt set her up? How loyal was she?
“I have an idea,” Jack said. “What if we can gain her cooperation?”
“What incentive?”
“Hunt is more than twenty years her senior. What if she hooked up with him to get out of a crappy life? She’s been on her own for two years, living well, enjoying her club and her freedom. Let’s approach this differently.”
“Or she could play along and shoot us in the back.”
“I’ll do the talking, you listen.”
“Don’t get dead.”
“Not today.”
They approached the property. There were no external cameras, but the house had a security system. If she called the police, they were screwed—though they could probably disappear faster than the cops could arrive. It was a risk, but between what they’d learned of her past and from their local contact, Jack thought this was the right approach.
It was early in the morning—six o’clock now, the sun just starting to creep up on the horizon. He left Kane in a closer hiding spot, hid his own weapon, and rang the bell.
Several minutes later, a sleepy female voice said through a speaker in the door, “It’s the middle of the night! You think I’m stupid enough to open this door to a strange man?”
“Ms. Ortiz, my name is Jack Kincaid, and I have a proposition for you.”
“I’m not interested.”
“I’m friends with Raul Gomez.”
Gomez was Kane’s contact. He owned a resort and was one of the wealthiest people in town. Plus, his brother was a priest at the local church and between the two of them, they did what they could to keep the cartels out of the area.
“You have thirty seconds. I’m not opening the door. I have a gun.”
“Yes, ma’am. Your friend Jimmy Hunt has claimed that this is his safe house. He hired a man by the name of Peter Blair to kidnap my partner and bring him here, and Jimmy is supposed to arrive later today. He broke out of prison, so we have every reason to believe he’s telling the truth. Blair failed in his mission and is currently in the custody of U.S. Border Control and will be turned over to the proper authorities.”
“What’s all this to me?”
“The question to you is this: do you want this house and your club all to yourself, or do you want Jimmy Hunt to share in the fruits of your labor? Because we can take him off your hands the easy way or the hard way. Easy? You help us, we don’t care how you got this house or the club. Hard? We take him anyway when he arrives, and notify the authorities that his illegally gotten gains bought this place and your club, in an effort to hide his money from the U.S. government.”
There was a long pause and for a moment Jack thought she might be calling the police. Then two locks clicked, and the door opened. Portia Ortiz was a stunningly beautiful woman.
She smiled. “I always like to do things the easy way. I have one request.”
“Of course.”
“You take Jimmy, you take his insane daughter, too.”
* * *
Thirty minutes later, Kane and Jack were having coffee in Portia’s kitchen. She put out fruit and pastries as well.
“You don’t have to feed us,” Jack said.
“Nonsense,” Kane said. “I’m starving.”
Portia laughed. “I don’t work Sundays; it is my day to sleep. But this is more interesting.”
“When was the last time you talked to Jimmy?”
“He sent me a message yesterday. After he escaped. I know he’s still in Texas, said he had to be paid the rest of his money, then he would be down later today.” She sat down and poured herself fresh-squeezed orange juice. “I do not know why Jimmy has not returned my message. He always does.”
Jack had asked her to send him a message—something that wouldn’t arouse his suspicion.
“Will this put you in a difficult situation?”
“No. Jimmy is a … what do you say, a buffoon. I would have left him, but he had his moments. And he was very generous.” She smiled slightly. “So, he liked sex