“What's that?”
“One of the two biggest drug trafficking organizations in Mexico today.” Breisgau set a tablet PC on his desk. It displayed a map of Mexico, with areas highlighted near the United States border. “The largest is the Juarez cartel, smuggling into Texas, run by a man named Pablo Toscano. The second largest is the Tijuana cartel, smuggling into California, run by a man named Ricardo Angel Calderon, or 'Papa' Calderon. The two cartels are mortal enemies.”
“Okay,” Seth said. “And the zombie master guy works for the...Calderon...people in Tijuana.”
“Right. Now, we had an associate in a Mexican intelligence agency reach out to him. This associate is familiar with players in the underworld down there. And our associate actually had a sit-down with this man called El Brujo.”
“And what happened?” Seth wished the guy would hurry up. “Did you find Jenny?”
“He admits that Jenny is with him,” Breisgau said. “But he will neither accept a ransom nor provide anything to show that she's with him of her own free will. It looks to us like she's been kidnapped, but the man has no intention of ever returning her home.”
He probably wants to use her power, Seth thought. Out loud, he said, “What do we do?”
“Frankly, there aren't a lot of options, Mr. Barrett. He won't let Jenny communicate with the outside world.”
“I understand that. She's his prisoner.”
“That would seem to be the case.”
“So now what? You guys are supposed to be the experts on kidnapping.”
“And normally that ends with a ransom solution,” Breisgau said. “In only a few cases do we need to consider the next step.”
“Which is?”
“Forcible extraction.”
“That sounds dangerous,” Seth said.
“It is. And highly expensive. But it looks like the only option we have left.” Breisgau touched something behind his desk, and large plasma screen mounted on the wall came to life. He stood up and began to pace. “Here's what we can do. We can put together a team of six to eight men, all highly trained—former Green Berets, Navy SEALs. We raid the house where he's keeping Jenny, and we helicopter her out of there.” On the screen behind him, some kind of Hale corporate marketing video played, the sound turned off. It showed men in black armor stamped with the Hale logo leaping from a helicopter, in a desert somewhere. They surrounded some men in turbans, who quickly held up their hands and surrendered. They escorted a white woman in a business suit back to the helicopter.
“You know where he's keeping her?”
“We have a pretty good idea that it's a property belonging to Calderon, via a dummy corporation, here in Chiapas.” On the digital tablet, Breisgau pointed to the extreme south of Mexico, near the Guatemalan border. “He must be watching the pipeline for Calderon. Cocaine flows up from Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, through Guatemala, into Mexico. From there, it goes to Tijuana, and then California.”
“So we just raid his house? That can't be legal.”
Breisgau grinned. “That's where you're in luck, Mr. Barrett. Chiapas does not exactly have a stable system of governance. The Zapatistas—local rebels, Communists—asserted themselves in the early nineties and took over several chunks of Chiapas. The Mexican national government has failed to regain control of these areas. As you can see, the government of the state of Chiapas is a very loose affair. A few well-placed bribes will be sufficient to turn any necessary heads away from our actions.”
“So that's the plan?” Seth asked. “We just go in and take her.”
“That appears to be the only way to bring her back,” Breisgau said. “We could, of course, try to get the local police down there to help us, but they are likely to be in the pay of the drug cartels, too. What I'm offering will be efficient and effective. You could have her back very soon...if you're willing to pay for it.”
Seth thought it over. He was sure his college trust account did not have the kind of money Breisgau was talking about. On the other hand, he did know where to find the index card in his father's desk drawer in the Fallen Oak house, the one where his father jotted down passwords. Seth could access his father's accounts and steal however much money Hale Security wanted for the rescue operation. Obviously, his father would kill him for it, but that hardly mattered.
“Okay,” Seth said. “But I want to come along when they go in.”
“Not a good idea,” Breisgau said. “We'd have to add an extra security detail to keep you safe. Any number of things could go wrong.”
“I know that. But I want to be there.” Seth was eager to see Jenny, but beyond that, he doubted whether Hale would be ready to deal with the supernatural aspects of this mission. If the man who'd kidnapped Jenny wanted her for her powers, it was possible that he'd tracked down others of their kind, too. Seth didn't know what they might be facing.