LITMIR.BIZ

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they were and he’d come after them, tribal land or not. Kellen had to kill them now. Novak preferred not to have to worry about it; he already had enough to worry about.

      Black agreed. “I think this is better, too. Novak and I will be with Claire the whole time. What do you say, Claire?”

      Claire hesitated. For a moment, Novak wasn’t sure if she was going for it or not.

      “I’m good with them staying on the boat. But really, you guys need to stop worrying about me. I feel good, and I’m not going to do anything irresponsible. Remember, Black, you’re the one who asked me to take on Eloise’s case.”

      “Yes, I did, but it’s getting more complicated than I had reason to believe it would.”

      “True, but I know what I’m doing.”

      “That’s true, too.”

      Novak had heard similar banter between the newlyweds before, and it was always about the same thing: Claire’s safety when investigating dangerous criminals. He doubted that Black’s constant worry would ever change. Black had learned a long time ago that he couldn’t tell her what to do, and vice versa. Marriage hadn’t changed that, but as usual, their disagreement didn’t last long. They were already smiling at each other.

      Claire turned back to Novak, raring to go. “Okay, let’s figure out our first move. Eldon, do you have suggestions? Anybody we need to tail and/or question?”

      “Max Kellen should be number one, but you know that. My wife thinks he might use his law office to place these children. Apparently, that’s one of his specialties. Arranging legal adoptions, that is, but we think he does the illegal ones, too. He’s smart enough to make his contracts ironclad, without loopholes. She’s nosed around as much as she dared, so we already have some dirt on him. I don’t know if he’s the head dude or running this out of Fort Myers for someone else.”

      “Then it’s up to us to figure out a game plan, Novak,” Claire said, parroting his own thoughts. “I say we pay a visit to this Max Kellen guy after we scope out the area.”

      “We can see where he lives and works. See which is the easiest to get into. I can do that, if you like, while you and Black rest up from your flight.”

      “No need. I slept on the plane. I feel absolutely wonderful. You too tired to go with us, Black?”

      “If you’re going, I’m going.”

      “He’s so sweet,” Claire said to Novak. “All right then, let’s get this show on the road.”

      They left Miccosukee around the same time that Jeff and Pooch took off for Novak’s boat. It took around two hours to drive back to Sanibel Island. When they reached the condo, Novak left the couple to have a look around the resort while he took a quick shower and cleaned up. Once he was dressed in a clean white T-shirt and jeans and had swallowed down some more of Black’s painkillers, he felt a hundred percent better. The three of them sat at the kitchen table and made some initial decisions.

      “I like this place,” Black told them, looking around. “I’ve got a hotel in South Beach, but I wouldn’t mind a place over here on the Gulf Coast.”

      That was another habit of Black’s; he collected hotels. He had the money and liked to spend it, just the opposite of Novak’s reluctance to touch his offshore and French bank accounts. “Eldon says his father bought this place back in the 1960s. Don’t think they’ll ever want to sell it.”

      As usual, Claire had only one thing on her mind: the case. “Okay, tell me again exactly what happened out here on the beach?”

      They’d already discussed it on the drive up, but Novak related details of the attempted drowning again, and everything else he could remember up to the point where Jake Osceola clubbed him in the head.

      “Somebody should have warned those goons who you were before they accosted you. How many of them did you put down before they got you?”

      “Not enough, but now we’re dealing with them all, so we’ll need to scope out their hangouts and history around the city. Maybe we can get a bead on how many there are and how tough they are, because they’re going to come at us sooner rather than later.”

      “It sounds like they might be Kellen’s only muscle, but we don’t know that for sure,” Black said. “Could be that they’re the abductors. They seem the types.”

      Claire nodded. “Eloise told me she believes somebody here hires street thugs in Guatemala City to take these children and bully the villagers down there. We need to get a look at Kellen’s files and phone records. See if we can’t nail down his contacts down there.”

      “He’s not going to keep that stuff at his office in Fort Myers. That would be careless, and I don’t think he is. One search warrant from ICE or the FBI and he’d be in jail for the rest of his life.” Novak shook his head. “No, if they exist, he’s got them hidden somewhere else.”

      “He could have a hidden safe at home,” Claire said. “Well, let’s go and find it. Right now. We’ve wasted enough time, and every minute we sit here, little Rosa suffers. Let’s take our rental and scope out Kellen’s office building. I’ve never been down here in Fort Myers or on Sanibel. It’s beautiful out here on the island, but I want to check things out on a Google map.”

      “That Lincoln might be noticed.”

      “Nobody here knows Black and me. In fact, he might be able to get us inside Kellen’s office as clients. How about a referral, Black? Have you had a look at his office yet, Novak?”

      “No, I’ve been too busy saving Guatemalans, nursing a concussion, and sitting around waiting for you. Kept me sort of busy the last few days. Except for my size, I don’t think Alcina’s attackers will remember what I look like. It was dark on that beach, and it all was over in a matter of minutes.”

      “They’ll remember the way you took them down,” Black said.

      “Actually, I did have Harve do a little background check on Max Kellen the other day,” Novak told them. Harve was Claire’s old friend, and an internet researcher and headhunter. He was the best Novak had ever seen.

      “Great. What did he find? I tried, but we were in the middle of court proceedings in Rome, so I didn’t get very far.”

      “His real name is Maximilian Emilio Ramirez, but he changed his last name to Kellen when he was twenty-one. His family kept the Ramirez name. They emigrated from Cuba in 1981. The rest of his family appears to be good loyal American citizens, law-abiding but unexceptional. Max went to law school at U of Miami, worked as an accountant on the side during his school years. Harve found out a few things he did in Little Havana that got him in trouble with the police. Not bad enough to revoke his law license, but bad enough that he left town. Purportedly, he didn’t want to embarrass his parents.”

      “Why Fort Myers?”

      Novak shrugged. “No idea. He formed his own law firm here, a small one that didn’t amount to much at first. Then about five years ago, surprise, surprise, he suddenly had all the money in the world and a thriving law firm in one of the best office buildings in town. Anything about that sound suspicious to you guys?”

      “Hell, yes,” Black said. “You think that’s when he got mobbed up?”

      “That’s exactly what he did,” Claire answered.

      “Let me put a call into Jose. See what he can tell me about this guy.” Black got up and moved out onto the screened porch. Once the door slid closed, Novak looked at Claire.

      “You think Jose will help us?”

      “You know he will. He’s Mr. Big over in Miami and loves Black like a son. Black loves him, too, but Rango can be brutal, believe it. My bet is that he’ll know what’s going on over here. He’ll know how connected Kellen is to the big guys and which ones. And he’ll be an ally to us if we need him.”

      “All

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