Covert Warriors (Presidential Agent 7)

“You were friends?”

“Yeah. We were friends. Is that so hard to believe?”

Castillo hesitated a moment before saying, “Now that we’re now telling each other the truth, no.”

“Danny understood how things work here.”

“And how do they work here?”

“Like I told you the first time I was here, the bad guys are winning. Anybody who thinks the drug cartels can be defeated is a fool. The best that me and people like me—and the other three or four honest cops—can do is fuck them up from time to time. Danny and I hit it off right away, when I first met him . . .”

As Pena spoke, Castillo glanced at Max and thought: How could I ever have doubted your infallible abil

ity to judge human character?

“. . . and believed me when I told him how things are. After that, from time to time, I used to slip him information. Between us, we caused the bad guys to lose a lot of money.”

They locked eyes for a moment.

I believe him.

“One of the reasons I wanted you out of Dodge, Carlos—aside from keeping you alive—is that I didn’t want you getting in the way of my dealing with the guys who whacked him.”

Castillo’s eyes narrowed. “You know who the sonsofbitches are?”

Pena nodded. “The Zambada cartel. They used to be in our special forces. The cartel’s run by a really nasty guy named Joaquín Archivaldo. I was surprised that Joaquín was in on the whack/ kidnapping—he likes to keep his distance—but he was, and I think I know why. And so was his number two, another nasty guy by the name of Ismael Quintero.”

“How are you going to deal with them? More important, if you know who they are, why haven’t you locked them up?”

“Because if I did, they would escape within two weeks and then come after me with even more enthusiasm than they are coming after me now.”

“So how are you going to deal with them?”

“How do you think, Carlos? Just as soon as I can set it up so that somebody else gets the blame.”

When Castillo didn’t reply, Pena said, “Am I shocking you, Carlos?”

“He’s wondering what will happen to Colonel Ferris,” Svetlana put in, “after you eliminate these people.”

“That, too, sweetheart,” Castillo answered, “but also why Juan Carlos wants to take these people out.”

“Because Danny trusted me, and because he did, now he’s dead. Somehow Archivaldo found out what Danny and I had going—I may have done something stupid, or he just put two and two together—and decided to whack him. And once he decided to do that, he figured, ‘What the hell, I’ll try to get my old pal Félix out of Florence while I’m doing that. And then I will go after Juan Carlos Pena.’ I’m not going to let him get away with either one.”

Castillo exchanged glances with Svetlana.

“Tell him, Carlito,” she said.

“Tell me what, Red?” Pena asked.

“Everything,” Svetlana said. “Tell him everything, Carlito. Or I will.”

Castillo looked at her for a long moment.

I don’t have any choice.

I know both that look and that tone of voice.

She’s made her decision that Juan Carlos is telling the truth—and that he has to be told.