Page 141 of The Fixer

“I so sorry, Mr. Charlie. You be good to me, and I … I …”

Charlie folded his hands and rested his forearms on the table. “Then why, Felix?” he gritted out in Spanish.

Felix switched to his native tongue. “My brothers and I brought our families here to get away from criminals in Venezuela. We paid a lot of money, all we had, and we traveled far. When we crossed the border, they gave us work permits so we could find work and support our families. But somehow this one man found out about us. Maybe they told him, I don’t know. He is a bad, bad man. In my home country, he was a gang leader. Very dangerous. He came to my house and told me I must steal for him. I said no. He threatened to take my wife, my children, and sell them to traffickers. I still said no. Then he visited my brothers, their families, and scared them. The next time he came to my house, he brought three men. Bad men like him. They took my wife into the bedroom. I …” He gulped. “They held my daughter at knifepoint and told me what her life would belike when they sold her. She is only twelve! The same for my son. He is six.”

Charlie sat back. “Your wife. Was she … hurt?”

“No. They did it to shake us up, and they did. Believe me, I would not have taken from you otherwise. But I didn’t have a choice.” He dropped his head and sobbed.

The wrenching noise doused the rest of Charlie’s fury. “Why didn’t you come to me? To Deputy Shane?”

“You would have found out the permit was fake and sent us back. We had no money, no future. And we still wouldn’t have been safe from him and his thugs.”

“Who were the men with you tonight?”

“My brothers. They helped me do what he ordered. He wanted us to steal, to substitute materials, to break things so you wouldn’t pass inspection.”

“Why?”

“There’s another man higher up that he’s working for. An American. The orders came fromthatman. He wanted to set you up.”

“Who is that man?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t tell me. I’m not sureheknows. There’s one more thing. I also cut your tires.” He hiccupped on another sob. “I had to slow you down that day so my brother had enough time to foul up the electrical panel before the inspector arrived.”

This is nuts!

Charlie tugged at his hair. “Wait. Who does the dark truck and trailer belong to?”

“I don’t know. Someone would leave the rig at a meeting place and collect it when we were done moving things around. That’s all I know.”

Stunned, Charlie stood and knocked on the door, leaving Felix crying miserably. Shane opened the door and locked it once Charlie was outside.

Charlie shook his head. “I’m … I don’t know what to say.”

“Yeah, I feel you. What do you think?”

“I want to help him, but I don’t know what that looks like. Do I write a letter? Show up at a deportation hearing? Sponsor him and his family?”

“I’m not sure, but I’ll pass your wishes along. This is new for me too, but we’ll figure it out and go from there.”

Charlie’s eyes popped wide as a thought struck. “Am I in danger?” Someonewasout to get him after all.

“Don’t think so. Sounds like someone wanting to mess with you. Know who that might be?”

“I have no fucking idea.”

“Well, if you come up with a name, you let me know right away.”

“You’ll be the first.” Charlie stared at the floor and followed Shane out.

What. The. Actual. Fuck?

Back at the tavern, Charlie sat in Noah’s office, his mind reeling. Reece poked his head in. “Shane pulled Noah and me aside and gave us the bullet points. You okay?”

“No. I can’t figure out who hates me so much that they’d go to all this trouble. I’m also mad as hell they’re pulling this kind of shit to begin with.”

“Yeah, I get it. Listen, I’m going to take off, but I wanted to find out if you need me tomorrow.”

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