LITMIR.BIZ

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a lawyer there. Claire Morgan found out his name and thinks he is the one who brings the babies up here.”

      She had relaxed some, a lot more than Novak would have been relating the story of his lost child. “How’d Claire figure that out?”

      “I do not know.”

      Novak wasn’t surprised. Claire could find out things nobody else could. “What’s the lawyer’s name?”

      “She calls him Max Kellen. Dr. Eloise said she suspected he was a bad man.”

      Novak had never heard of him. “What interest do the Osceolas have in this? They’re getting mixed up with some dangerous people.”

      “They feel gratitude to Dr. Eloise. She worked here with them for a long time. She is a good person.”

      Novak blew out his breath. This thing could get ugly fast. It already was. Bad news was: he’d already run into a buzz saw and Claire hadn’t even shown up yet. Those thugs were gunning for him and they’d barely gotten started.

      “Dr. Eloise says that you and Claire Morgan are good at your jobs. That you will get my baby back. I know you will.”

      “Well, I can’t promise you that. Maybe you should go home to Guatemala. I think you’d be safer there. What happened on that beach tonight will happen again, if you stay here.”

      “I am Rosa’s mother. I should be here.”

      Novak couldn’t deny that. One thing he did know, she and her brother shouldn’t be duking it out with brutal criminals. “Then you need to stay out here, or somewhere safer than that condo. Let these guys protect you on the reservation. They won’t make the same mistake twice.”

      “Eldon will protect us at his condo.”

      “He lives there?”

      “No, he owns those buildings.”

      “He owns Ocean’s Edge?”

      “Dr. Eloise says he is a good businessman.” She leaned forward. “Is this Claire Morgan strong and brave enough to find Rosa?”

      Novak almost smiled but couldn’t dredge one up. “Yeah, she’s pretty much got that tough thing going on. One thing, for sure, she never gives up, never, no matter what, no matter how bad it gets. That ought to make you feel better.”

      Alcina smiled a little.

      What didn’t make Novak feel better was the fact that Claire was going on six months pregnant now. She did not need to take an active role in this kind of investigation, and her husband was going to have to convince her of that. Claire had a mind of her own, but she wasn’t the kind of woman who’d put her own baby in jeopardy. She would listen to reason this time.

      “Do you think she’ll be here soon?” Alcina asked.

      “I hope so. Tell me something. Those guys from last night? Do they work with this Kellen man?”

      “Eldon says they are bad but we don’t know much.”

      That was true. Although Novak had heard of them, he hadn’t run into them before. He knew they’d had a chapter in New Orleans until the DEA busted it up. “This lawyer? You think he sent them in last night to murder you and your brother?”

      “Yes, they found us there. We don’t know how. We were very careful not to be seen. You are our guardian angel.”

      “I’m no angel, but I’ll help you as much as I can. What else do you know about the lawyer?”

      “Eldon says he is a mobster.”

      “If these guys are in with the mob, we’re in trouble.”

      “All I want is Rosa back.”

      “You can’t be a part of this. They’ll kill you next time they get you.”

      Her face fell, and along with it, her burst of bravado. “Please help me, please.”

      “We can’t do much else until Claire gets here, but that should be soon. Then she and I will look for your baby and deal with whoever’s got her. But you need to keep your head down, either out here or somewhere else where they can’t find you. You and Pedro are witnesses to attempted murder now. So am I. Both of you need to stay in hiding. Are you willing to do that?”

      She nodded.

      Novak glanced around. “Do Kellen and his men know about this place?”

      She shook her head. “Eldon’s boys guard the entrance and make sure they don’t get in. They will call the tribal police if they come around.”

      Novak glanced back at the men around the fire. They looked young and green and were probably inexperienced, but they’d managed to take down him and five other guys without much effort. They were pretty good, but they weren’t going to win any war waged against a murderous motorcycle gang backed by the local mob. This woman and her brother would end up dead if the bad guys thought they could endanger their business interests. Now Novak was involved up to his neck, and the Skulls on that beach might be able to identify him. It had been dark most of the time but they knew he was big. That took away Novak’s anonymity somewhat and made it a good bet that they’d grab him the moment he showed up anywhere near Fort Myers. That could put Claire in danger, as well, and Novak was not willing to take that risk.

      “I’m going to help you, Alcina. So is Claire. Just keep your head down and stay out of sight.”

      And he would, not that it was the smartest thing he’d ever done. Still, Claire would insist they take the case because Claire was Claire and she had a high sense of justice and got off on making criminals pay for their evil deeds. What’s more, she’d be right to take it, of course, just like she usually was. This poor woman had been through enough. It was time to let somebody else fight her battles for her. More to the point, he did not like bullies, and these guys were the worst kind. He looked out into the darkness pressing up against the illumination of the fire, not sure what lay out there. “Are you sure we’re safe out here? That fire could be a beacon bringing them to us.”

      “They lock the entrance gate at night. No one is allowed in here without their permission.”

      That wouldn’t stop the killers, but being on a Seminole reservation just might. “So we’re close to the Everglades? There are some dangerous animals out here.”

      “Yes, they told us. Big alligators and snakes, we have seen them. We have them in our jungles and rivers back home.”

      Novak stood up, and his head started hammering. He had a concussion, all right, but not bad enough to kill him. He’d had them before and was still breathing. “Which one of those guys clubbed me?”

      “Jake. He is sorry, though.”

      “I really need to talk to Eldon.”

      “He said he’d talk to you tomorrow. He said to be careful because they will come for you and kill you for helping us. They will take you somewhere and beat you with hammers. Then they will harm your family.”

      “I don’t have a family.” Not anymore, he thought.

      “I am sorry.”

      Yeah, so was he. He’d lost his wife and their young son and daughter on 9/11 when the World Trade Center came crashing to the ground with all of them trapped inside. That was the worst day of his life, and the nightmares he had every single night never let him forget it. He looked into Alcina’s sorrowful face and understood her pain. But he could get her little girl back for her. He would never see his babies again.

      “The cut on your head is deep. You can sleep here until Eldon gets back. He wants to talk to you,”

      She was right. His headache was not going away. Now that he was on his feet, he felt dizzy again. “Okay, show me where I can lie down.”

      Novak stepped down off the chickee and followed the tiny woman around the fire pit. The men

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