haven’t I heard about these?” Ms. Almont asked.
“The newspapers won’t write about them,” Jonathan said. “A few of the stories get printed, but mostly they get quashed by the editorial boards.”
“I guess they don’t want to scare off all the tourists,” she guessed.
Jonathan laughed. “Clearly you’ve never been to Ciudad Juárez. No, that’s why they quash the stories about the growing number of murders in Aruba and the Mexican Riviera. Bloodbaths and spring break make bad partners. The reason they suppress the stories in the northern areas is to keep their own families from being targeted.”
He could hear the shock in the lawyer’s voice. “Is it really that bad? The cartels are running the newspapers?”
“And the television stations and the police force and the army. Well-orchestrated intimidation is a powerful weapon, Counselor.”
“So, are you suggesting that we pay the ransom? I thought you specialized in hostage rescue.”
“I specialize in returning hostages to their loved ones,” Jonathan corrected. “If I can accomplish that by paying off the bad guys and not get shot at, I’m happy.”
“And you think that will work?”
“I think we need to plan that it will,” Jonathan hedged. “But we prepare for the possibility that it won’t. They may be businessmen, but they’re also murderers.”
“That’s why we need you,” she said.
“Whether you need me or not is your decision. I’m telling you what we bring to the table.”
“And I’m just supposed to trust you with three million dollars? I don’t even know who you are.”
While Jonathan understood her hesitation, he didn’t have patience for it. “You called me , Counselor,” he said. “Not the other way around. Hire me or don’t hire me. Just don’t waste my time.” One fewer opportunity to put his life on the line for strangers wouldn’t bring a tear to his eye.
Almont said, “I’ve never been in a position like this before. Everything I know tells me that this is a matter for the State Department and the Mexican police.”
“And I’m telling you that’s the biggest mistake you can make. Word travels at the speed of light, and bullets aren’t a whole lot slower. Do not expect hesitation from these people, and don’t expect mercy.”
The lawyer took her time weighing options. “How do I know you’re really the best?”
“You’ve seen my fee,” Jonathan said, “and I assume you heard about me from someone you trust. The fact that I’m still alive to be talking to you must say something.”
“I don’t even know your name.”
“Sure you do.”
“Scorpion is not a name. It’s a cartoon character. You could be anybody.”
Jonathan reached the end of his patience. “Okay, Ms. Almont, I’m done with you. If I get word in the next two hours that my fee has been deposited in my account, I’ll get back in touch with you. If I don’t, so be it. Either way, best of luck.”
Then he hung up. Twenty minutes later, he heard from his bank. Four days after that, here they were on the tail end of it all, and the kidnappers had won on every count.
And now this.
“You know, we’ve still got a perfect record,” Boxers said. “For rescues.”
Jonathan appreciated the effort to make today’s outcome somehow less shitty than it really was, but he wasn’t buying.
Boxers read his expression for what it was. “I’m serious. They executed the hostages before we were even part of the game. That’s not on us.”
Then Jonathan understood that the Big Guy wasn’t trying to make Jonathan feel better; he was trying to make himself feel better.
“Something to talk about over some scotch when we get back to the World,” Jonathan said.
“Can’t happen fast enough for me,” Boxers growled.
Jonathan’s earbud popped, startling him. “Scorpion, this is Mother Hen. There’s a problem. A big one.”
Jonathan exchanged looks with Boxers, whose radio carried the same traffic as his. The law
Kami García, Margaret Stohl