Page 39 of Operation: Silent Angel
“It varies,” she answered.
“If a girl was taken, say two weeks ago in Colombia by him, could she possibly be here in Cancun still, waiting to be shipped?” Mac asked.
She frowned. “Unlikely, unless she was a special order, but generally, someone from Colombia wouldn’t be any more special than a girl from Mexico.”
Briana frowned upon hearing that through comms. It sounded doubtful that Raphael Moreno’s niece would be rescued before she was sold and delivered. Her heart ached for that poor girl and what had probably already happened to her.
Yvette documented everything Mariella told them. Then, Mac and Lambchop returned her to Ruiz’s room and left her hands bound and gagged her as well. Mac and Crash brought Moreno to Mac’s room next. They sat him in the same chair.
“We’ve already gotten Christy Dyer’s statement. If yours matches, you’ll be reunited with her. If not, you’re both in trouble,” Mac said.
Moreno spilled it all, giving more details, but mirroring what Christy had told Briana. His niece’s name was Bella Sanguino. Her father was also a government official in Bogota. Moreno had first enlisted Christy’s father, who was an old friend, for help.
As far as Moreno knew, Walt Dyer was still in Colombia chasing down leads. Dyer already identified a high-level cartel thug who’d been the one to grab her, to pressure her father to call off the authorities who were getting too close to the cartel’s operations, which he did. Not intending to release her, Bella had already been sold to Ruiz the day after he’d snatched her. It was then that Moreno approached Christy for help as well, after Walt Dyer had tracked down Ruiz to this resort.
“So, Dyer believed him that he’d sold Bella to Ruiz?” Mac asked.
“By that point in the interrogation, the man was no longer lying. Yes, Dyer believed him.”
“Does Walter Dyer know you’re here with his daughter?” Mac asked.
“Yes, of course.”
Mac showed him a picture of the American man who’d visited Ruiz earlier that day. “Is this Walter Dyer?”
“No. I have no idea who that man is,” Moreno said.
“Someone who visited Ruiz by the pool today, and by the sounds of it, Ruiz owes him a lot of money that he’s promised he’ll pay tomorrow.”
“That’s why he tried to grab Christy tonight, I’d guess. A pretty American girl will bring a big payday with the right people.”
“And that’s why you brought her, isn’t it?” Yvette said accusingly.
“Yeah, I had to have something to offer him to get a meeting with him.”
Yvette’s gut tightened. She wondered if Christy knew she was being used by Moreno as bait. “Well, he took the bait, literally, she nearly got raped and you damn-near got killed in the process.”
“I would never have put her in that kind of danger,” Moreno said. “Ruiz must be under a lot of financial pressure. He doesn’t have a reputation for killing his suppliers and shirking what he owes. He wouldn’t have lived this long if he did.”
“I’m so glad to hear that he’s normally honorable,” Yvette said.
Juliette
Ruiz sat in the chair, silent and defiant. He’d endured several blows compliments of Lambchop, who knew where to hit and how hard to hit, to not do permanent damage to any internal organs.
“Bella Sanguino,” Mac repeated. He showed Ruiz the picture of her on his phone again that Moreno provided. “We know you trafficked her. Where is she?”
Moreno and Christy Dyer were with Briana Woods and Mother in Briana’s room. Cooper and Madison still followed the couple from San Antonio as they took a stroll down the beach, but they were on comms and listened to the interrogation of Ruiz.
Ruiz gazed at Mac with a bored expression on his face. This time, Lambchop’s fist made contact with his shoulder with the rightamount of force to dislocate it, as planned. Ruiz grimaced and groaned out in pain, his teeth clenched tightly.
“That’s one joint,” Garcia said. “There’s countless more on your body he can dislocate before he goes to work on your organs. Bella Sanguino.”
“Long gone,” Ruiz bit out. “Next topic?”
Mac grabbed him by the hair and yanked his head up. “Gone where?”
“To a rich fucker in Dubai. Long gone and unretrievable,” he repeated.
