Chapter 37

My head was thumping, and my cheek was throbbing as I came awake. Visions of what had happened in the café came to me as a flash of pictures making me sit up suddenly. That was a mistake and only made my headache worse, but I wasn't going to lay down and submissively accept where I was. As my eyes focused, I was aware of movement and flinched when something cold touched my cheek. A young girl was stood next to me smiling as she held something against my cheek. To be honest it did help but I still moved back to see what it was.

"Frío, ayudará"

I was looking at a white towel that seemed to be wrapped around something and that was when I thought I understood what she was saying, okay maybe the gist of it. The cloth was cold and wet, so I assumed there was ice inside intended to cool the redness of my cheek. Looking past her, I was surprised at where I was. This wasn't a prison cell or dirty room, there were no concrete floors or even anything tying me up. Instead, the room was bright with painted walls and pictures hanging up. Fine drapes covered the window and carpet covered the floor. There were couches, one of which I seemed to be laid on, and a coffee table and TV. I couldn't even compute what the hell was going on.

"Ven, el señor querrá verte"

This girl seemed very insistent that I moved, pulling my legs over the edge of the couch, before she helped me to stand up. Okay, a bit of dizziness, so standing stil I waited for my head to settle and gladly accepted the girl's arm for support. I suppose if it meant getting out of this room and finding out who was responsible for my current predicament then I'd cooperate with her.

The door wasn't locked and opened out onto a short hallway with a large kitchen area ahead of us. We didn't stop there, and I found myself outside on a huge decking area overlooking a beautiful garden. The girl turned me and guided me to a table, a table that had men, women and children sat at, eating. One of the men saw us and started to talk in Spanish which resulted in a chair being placed next to him. I sat down, holding the cold towel to my cheek, I suppose dreading what was going to come next.

"Senorita, are you feeling better?"

I looked at the man next to me, not really knowing what to say. Hell, one of his men had knocked me out and brought me here, so how I was I supposed to feel? What was I supposed to say? I stayed silent instead with the ice pack held tightly in my hand against my cheek.

"So, Senorita Stephanie Plum. Why in the world are you here?"

That took me by surprise, how could he know who I was? I was in deep shit now and just stared back at the man. Hopefully he'd get the message that I wasn't going to answer him. I saw the twitch of a smile as he looked back, he was amused by me, just like Ranger could be and to be honest he had a similar look to Ranger. Dark skin and black hair that touched the collar of his bright white shirt. His eyes though weren't hard, the brown seemed to sparkle with flecks of honey.

"I'm sorry, maybe I need to introduce myself. My name is Miguel Corbino and this is my wife, Andrea and our children"

I almost felt chastised as he told me that and seeing as I was sat with his family wondered what he expected of me.

"I'm sorry Mr Corbino, but I'm a bit confused as to why I'm here and"

I was going to say how he knew who I was but decided not to corroborate what he thought he knew.

"I'm responsible for what goes on around here and I won't tolerate some of the, how do you say, insubordinate behavior to happen. I was made aware of trouble at that café and the intentions those men had for you. So, I sent some of my men to deal with it"

At least he wasn't involved with what had happened at the café and had removed me from there, but for what reason? His words had me thinking that he was an important man around here, did that mean that I was now in the company of the boss of the Gulf cartel? Had I been removed from one bad situation to find myself somewhere worse? I don't know why but I was beginning to get annoyed, the tactics of being nice to me didn't sit well with me and I was waiting for the shit to start to happen. I took a moment to look around the table at the two boys and two girls. I judged them to be between five and maybe ten years old. They were good looking kids, well dressed and well behaved, all of them with characteristics from their father.

"You have beautiful children Mr Corbino"

I said as I remembered the possible fate of Aida. His children were safe and probably well looked after, loved even. What fate would Aida have or any other children have that were being stolen and sold? Maybe that thought was what prompted me saying what I did next.

"It must be nice to have your children with you, knowing that they are safe and cared for"

Did I say that with a hint of sarcasm? Definitely, because I wanted him to know that I was feeling pissed off.

"Senorita, Stephanie, you sound bitter. Why, have you lost a child?"

I was surprised at his answer, was he such a good actor to cover up what was happening?

"Someone has, a few parents are sat at home struggling with idea that they've lost, no had their children taken away from them. Nice business you have going here Mr Corbino. A monster who sells other people's children for profit"

His attention was drawn away from me to his wife who was talking quickly in Spanish. As she finished, she said something to the children sat opposite to me which had them getting up and leaving the table. This was it, I'd called him up on what he was doing so now he would be looking at ways of dealing with me. Why the hell did I have to open my big mouth? I wondered what had happened to Lizbeth and where Ethan, Ellie and Stanley were. As I thought of them my left hand went to my ring finger with the intention of pushing the panic button.

It wasn't there, instead my knuckles were red and swollen, maybe I had got in some punches at the man in the café, but where was my ring?

"Stephanie, my wife is upset that you are implying that we steal and sell children. I have a strict code that I work to, and trafficking children is not something that I would tolerate happening here in Monterrey"

I almost backed away at the tone of voice that was directed at me, but it had the effect of making me frown.

"It is happening"

I shouted back. Did he think that I was going to believe the lies that he was telling me? So now it was his turn to frown at me. Maybe I'd been wrong about who this Corbino was.

"There's a van full of children and one special girl being held at Los Mirasoles"

His response was to pull out his phone and make a call, how I wished that I could speak Spanish and then I might have known what he was saying. Had I just tipped them off that I knew, was he going to move them sooner than planned? I dropped my head so that the hand holding the iced towel was propping it up. I was feeling pretty dejected now. I'd gone and got myself kidnapped and then told them about me knowing what was going on up at Los Mirasoles. I'd well and truly fucked up. I'd let the rest of the team down and was probably responsible for losing Aida forever.

"Stephanie, do not worry. I've called in a favor from an informant. He is going to find out what he can and get back to me. In the meantime, you never did tell me why you were here"

Could I believe what he was saying? I didn't have much choice really. I mean a scan around me gave me the view of a very tall wall and several armed men stood looking like they were trying to blend into the trees, like that was going to happen, they were probably wider than the tree trunks. I needed to salvage some of the mistakes that I'd made by telling him so much so went with a change to the conversation.

"How do you know who I am?"

I was curious as to how a man like Corbino knew who I was and what else he knew about me.

"I had my assistant run a face recognition on you and then a search on your background while you were unconscious. I needed to know who I had inside my home. Interesting results Stephanie. People seem to be interested in you yet there is nothing for the last few months about what you've been doing"

I sighed at that. I suppose I knew that the FBI and maybe other agencies would still want to find me, but I'd hoped they'd have given up by now. There was no way I was going to tell Corbino anything about what I was involved with or what had happened, so I had to come up with a plausible story, one not far from the truth.

"I had an ex boyfriend who tried to trick me into going away with him. He was kind of possessive, even though I didn't want anything to do with him. He ended up getting killed, so maybe those people want to talk to me about that. Though I have no idea what happened to him"

That look of amusement crossed his face as though he knew more than I thought, but surely he couldn't, could he?

"Why here?"

Damn he kept repeating the same story.

"I'm trying to get a little girl back to her mother and family"

There, I'd said it.

"Is she in the van that you mentioned?"

"No. She's being held in a small house close to the compound, but I'm worried that she'll end up with those other kids"

I was glad of the sound of Corbino's phone going off, meaning that there'd be no more questions flying at me, but was interested when Corbino was just listening to whoever had called and didn't say anything. Then he was calling someone else and this time his voice was low, authoritative with no gaps for anyone to reply to him. I was beginning to worry what he was organizing. As he replaced his phone in his pocket a nod to his wife and she was soon leaving us alone. Okay, no witnesses now, so maybe I should just try running into the house, they wouldn't shoot me if the children and mother were there would they?

"You are a very interesting woman Stephanie, you have a fire in those vivid blue eyes that I admire. Henri is going to take you to the airport where you will wait for me. I have some business to attend to"

And just like that Corbino stood up and left the table and a man came and stood behind me. Henri, I assumed that was who he was, led me through the house and out of the front door to a waiting car. He got in the back seat with me while another man drove. I was scared, the most I had been since this morning because I had images of being taken somewhere remote and being killed, assassinated I suppose with my body left, never to be found again.

Henri never said a word to me or even looked at me as we travelled. I was trying to work out if I could open the door and make a run for it, but the locks looked to be engaged. Then I was trying to figure out if I could get a hold of his gun from his holster.

Imagine my surprise when I started to see signs for the airport. I was still in shock as the car came to a halt in front of the departure area and went for the handle of the car door, only to have it confirmed that they were in fact locked. The driver opened the door and I had Henri by my side as he guided me inside and through to a waiting area.

I actually began to hope that Corbino was letting me go, that didn't dull the ache in my heart concerning the children though, especially Aida. We waited and waited with me not daring to move far from Henri, not that he allowed that to happen. Hell, he even stood outside the restrooms when I went inside. I almost regretted going there because it meant I could see my reflection in the mirrors over the sinks. In the harsh lights I could see the swelling above my cheek and the beginnings of bruising against my paler than usual skin. My hair was sticking out all over the place, so I retied it back into a ponytail. I dreaded to think what people would think of me if they saw me.

Four hours, that was how long I had to wait. I watched people as they came into the airport with their cases and disappeared through the security ready to board their planes. It was seeing Henri stand up that had me standing up and turning around to see why he'd moved. I think I was speechless at the sight in front of me because walking toward me was Corbino and he was holding Aida's hand.

"I have taken care of the problem Stephanie. It will not be happening again. Everyone knows what will happen if they do. If you ever need my help then please contact me, I owe you"

Aida's hand was pressed into mine and we both watched as Corbino turned and walked out of view. Even Henri disappeared. I honestly didn't know what to say or even think. I mean what the hell had just happened? Turning to Aida I bent down to her level to check how she was. She looked clean and tidy with new clothes on, and her hair was tied into a neat plait. As I looked at her about to ask if she was okay, she let go of the stuffed toy with one hand and held out her hand to me. In her palm she was holding my ring.

"The nice man told me to give you this"

I wasn't confident enough to walk out of that airport on my own so pressed the stone on my ring and waited. It wasn't long before Ethan and Stanley walked in, their eyes scanning the area as they approached me. I saw surprise on their faces when they noticed Aida stood next to me, but I suppose they were keen to get us out of there so there was no time for any explanations.

It wasn't for another five hours before I could blurt out what I wanted to ask. It seemed an unsaid understanding that we said nothing in front of Aida for fear of upsetting her. She was now with her mother, Jasmine, on their way to Calgary, on their way home to Italy.

"What happened?"

"I have no fucking idea Steph. I think that maybe you know more than we do"

I couldn't believe what Ellie had said. I'd been knocked out and stuck in a house or an airport so why should I know more than they did.

"Steph, I'm so sorry, I couldn't get back into the café and by the time I walked around the block you'd gone"

"Some guys tried to grab me, but I got knocked out. When I came around, I was in some man's house, a Miguel Corbino"

"Shit Steph, he's the boss of the Los Zetas cartel"

I stared at Ethan shocked at that revelation. He never told me that, though I suppose his behavior and actions should have had me working that one out.

"He knew who I was, and, in the end, I told him how disgusted I was that child trafficking was going on and what I thought about the men who would do that. I may have called him a monster"

I looked up to see Ethan shaking his head at me, as though he couldn't quite believe what he was hearing.

"Only you Steph could come face to face with a cartel boss and have him helping you"

That was not a fair comment, it wasn't as though I'd planned on that happening.

"Now your side of the story"

"When we got back to the hanger Lizbeth was going frantic with what had happened to you and then we got a call from Stanley to say there was a lot of movement up at Los Mirasoles. We went up via the riverbed to see if we could work out what was happening. There were trucks arriving, one stopped at Alessi's place, and the rest continued up to the main compound"

"I stayed to keep an eye on Aida while Ethan and Lizbeth tried to get closer to the compound. Three men and a woman went inside and there was a lot of shouting followed by gunshots. The next thing we knew Aida was being taken out to one of the trucks and they drove away"

I raised my eyebrows at Ellie waiting for her to finish because I was damn sure there was more to her story.

"Okay, I took a look inside when everything went quiet. Alessi and that other guy we'd seen in the house, they were both dead"

I should have felt something when Ellie told me what she'd found. Sad maybe, but I didn't. Was that part of Corbino taking care of the problem and emphasizing that if it happened again that everyone would know what would happen if they did?

"The men in the trucks had everyone rounded up, on their knees. One man, who I think was Corbino was very explicit with his anger for what was going on. He shot one man before leaving and the van was opened. The children inside were distributed through the trucks and left"

I think that I was pretty sure that Corbino would make sure that those children were cleaned up and returned to their parents. He may be a drug boss, but it seemed he did have lines of business that he wouldn't cross. It did make me wonder though why he'd done that search on me and why he'd listened to me and believed what I'd said. I hated to admit it to myself, but I actually liked Corbino.