“I don’t think you’re hearing me.”

“No, it is windy … and these birds are very noisy, but it is okay, I can still hear you.”

Damien looked at Lance, who shook his head in disbelief.

“So what can I tell my new boss?” asked Miguel. “Are you interested in going into business with us?”

Damien glanced at the seagulls squawking around them and smiled and said, “I’ll tell you what, wait here and I will confer with my colleague for a minute before giving you an answer.”

As soon as Lance and Damien walked up the stairs to the top of the seawall, Damien said, “Find out where the closest cops are.”

Lance walked over to another member of Satans Wrath and returned a moment later and said, “The young couple who are sitting on the park bench down from us.”

“The ones holding hands, looking like they’re on their honeymoon?”

“Yup. They were both in a white Ford Taurus and followed the guys all the way from the car wash to here. At least two other cars were involved, as well.”

Constables Helen Fraser and Darcy Cummings both sat on the park bench. It was Helen who first suspected their little charade wasn’t working.

“Crap, I think we’ve been burned,” she said. “Damien is pointing right at us and it looks like he’s coming over.”

“Be cool,” cautioned Darcy. “He’s probably only guessing and trying to see what our response is.”

“Hello, officers,” said Damien with a smile as he approached. “Make any busts under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act yet today?”

“I’m sorry,” said Darcy, looking confused. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“Then let me explain it more clearly and help you out,” replied Damien. “The two Mexicans you were following this morning in your white Ford Taurus … you know, the two guys who led you to Wet Willy’s Car wash?”

Neither Helen nor Darcy answered.

“Well as it turns out,” continued Damien, “they wanted to see me. I had met them for the first time yesterday when they came uninvited to one of our clubhouses. They say they want to go into business with me.”

“Uh, we don’t, uh know what you’re —”

“Forget it, Darcy, he knows,” interjected Helen.

“Thank you,” said Damien. “Now, they are both waiting for my answer as to whether we should go into business together.”

“And what business would that be?” asked Helen.

“There is some confusion on that issue. All I know is it was a business agreement that Corporal Jack Taggart of your Intelligence Unit was trying to arrange. You can ask him about it.”

“I see,” replied Helen, “but as things stand, do you think you might be going into business with them?”

Damien glanced back at the seawall and saw where Lance was standing watching him. Lance gave him a nod and Damien turned back to Helen and Darcy and said, “You’ll find the answer to that on the other side of that wall.”

“We will?” asked Helen.

As Damien turned to walk away he said, “Oh, one more thing. Tell Taggart if he wishes to remain above ground, not to pretend he belongs to our club ever again.”

Helen and Darcy looked at each other a moment, then hurried over to the seawall and looked down.

“Oh, Christ,” muttered Helen. “Call an ambulance.”

chapter forty-eight

The flight Jack and Lily took back to Vancouver went as scheduled and Jack used the time to prepare his report. They cleared customs at the Vancouver International Airport Friday night.

Jack was acutely aware of the psychologist’s recommendation about keeping Lily’s ordeal away from the media. He knew the reunification between Lily and her mom would be an emotionally charged event that could draw unwanted attention, so he had made arrangements to drive her directly home to her mother instead.

Jack and Lily were greeted at the airport by Natasha and Mikey. After a quick introduction and hugs, they drove Lily home.

Upon arrival at the house, Jack saw the tree in the front yard was adorned with a large yellow ribbon. He had not yet shut the engine off when Lily burst from the car and ran to hug her mom, who appeared on the porch in her wheelchair. Marcie, standing under a “welcome home” banner strung over the door, anxiously waited for her own hug.

Jack was right in his prediction about it being an emotionally charged moment. The only one who didn’t have tears in their eyes was Mikey, who remained asleep in his car seat.

Monday morning saw Jack back at the office. He gave a copy of his undercover notes to his boss, Staff Sergeant Rose Wood, along with his report. She read them carefully while he sat across from her desk.

“Basically what you said when you called me Friday afternoon,” she said, leaning back in her chair and nodding at the report.

“That’s about all there is to say,” said Jack, gesturing to the report.

“All there is to say? I think not,” she said firmly.

“Oh?”

“It goes without saying I’m pleased everything turned out okay, but why the hell didn’t you call me before Friday? You went into Mexico totally on your own, without authorization and without so much as even a phone call to me or anyone else to get permission.”

“Three reasons,” replied Jack. “First of all, there wasn’t time to sit and wait for Ottawa to make a decision … and even if they did make it in time and give authorization, policy dictates the police in Mexico would have to be informed. That would have jeopardized both Lily’s life and my own.”

“You might be right, but Ottawa will still be furious. You could be facing disciplinary action.”

“I feel what I did was right.”

“There is no moral servitude in Ottawa. They dance to what the politicians want, no matter the cost. If they think you upset some Mexican politician they’ll land on you with both feet.”

“I’m aware of that, but nothing they could do to me would take away how good I felt Saturday night when I brought Lily home. Let them take their best shot — it was worth it.”

“What were your other two reasons for not seeking permission?”

“If I called you and gave you the details, you would have come to the same conclusion about Ottawa as I did, leaving you with two choices. Tell me I couldn’t go, knowing Lily would die because of it, or give me permission to go on your own and risk both Lily and myself being murdered … which really would have put you in hot water.”

“I would have given you permission. I know you would have gone anyway,” said Rose.

“I know. That was the third reason. You would have been in trouble from Ottawa for something I was going to do, anyway.”

Rose drummed her fingers on her desk for a moment. “I don’t need you to judge what is in my best interest. Should something like this ever occur again, let me make that call.”

“Will do. Is that all?”

“No, it is not all. Besides the fact you went into Mexico without authorization, I have no idea what Ottawa or Isaac will think of all this,” she said, gesturing to Jack’s notes and his report. “You’re basically saying you went down there, found the girl, and escaped with her when the bad guys were fighting amongst themselves.”

“Timing was fortunate,” replied Jack, being careful not to use the word coincidence, which had been used all too often in his past investigations.

“Then the next day the police discover there are a total of seven bodies. Was that all good timing … what the hell … a coincidence, too?”

“No, that was not a coincidence. Five of those men were killed by the cartel for letting me escape.”

“I see. So it is only two out of seven who died coincidentally with you being there?”