Rosarito Beach: A Kay Hamilton Novel - Softcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

M.A. Lawson is the pen name for award-winning novelist Mike Lawson, a former senior civilian executive for the U.S. Navy, and creator of the nine novels in the Joe DeMarco series, including House Odds, House Divided, and The Second Perimeter, as well as the Kay Hamilton novels Rosarito Beach, Viking Bay, and K Street.

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***This excerpt is from an advance uncorrected proof.***

 Copyright © 2013 by M.A. Lawson

1

Kay checked the time. Again. Maria Delgato was forty minutes late. If Maria had decided to blow her off, Kay was going to invent a rea­son for arresting her tomorrow.

Kay was sitting alone at a splintery wooden picnic table near a taco stand that was closed for the day. Two middle-aged men in an unmarked Ford Crown Victoria were parked fifty yards away. If Kay hadn’t been so pissed at Maria, it would have been pleasant sitting there, enjoying the view of the Coronado Bridge and the skyline of San Diego across the bay. Kay had just decided to give her five more minutes when Maria swung into the parking lot in her boyfriend’s BMW convertible.

Maria stepped from the car, hesitated briefly, and started toward Kay, then stopped when she saw the two men in the sedan.

“Come on,” Kay said. “Those guys are with me. They’re okay.”

Maria Delgato was eye candy: twenty-four years old, long black hair, a heart-shaped face, a coffee-and-cream complexion. She had an in­credible body. They had surveillance photos of her sunbathing topless on Tito Olivera’s yacht, and there wasn’t a DEA agent in San Diego who hadn’t seen those photos. Kay was surprised they hadn’t been posted on the Internet.

“Are you the one who called me?” Maria asked when she reached the table. She was probably surprised that Kay looked only a few years older than her.

“Yeah. I’m Kay Hamilton. Sit down.”

“Let me see your ID.” Maria’s English had just a trace of a Spanish accent.

“Sure,” Kay said. Kay was wearing a blazer, and she made sure Maria could see the .40 caliber Glock in the shoulder holster as she took her badge case from an inside pocket. The Glock intimidated most people, but probably not Maria. She was used to being around men who were armed. Kay flipped open the case and showed her credentials. “Now, sit down.”

Maria sat. “Okay. What’s this all about? What happened to my brother?”

“Did you tell Tito you were meeting me?” Kay said.

“No. Of course not. He’d kill me if he knew I was talking to a DEA agent.”

She was probably right about that, Kay thought.

“So where did you tell Tito you were going?”

“I told him I had to go see my mother, that she’s not feeling well. I see her three, four times a week.”

“Good. After you leave here, make sure you go see your mother.”

“Just tell me about my brother. You said he was in trouble.”

“He is. I arrested him this morning,” Kay said. “He was carrying an unregistered weapon and four eight-balls of cocaine. Dealer’s weight.”

Miguel Delgato was a year younger than Maria and almost as pretty. He sold coke to college kids at San Diego State because he looked like a college kid himself. Kay didn’t think he was a bad guy; he just didn’t know any other way to make a living.

“Miguel’s now looking at a minimum of five years in the federal pen at Victorville,” Kay said.

“Ah, Jesus,” Maria said.

“Yeah, that’s right. When he gets out of jail, he’ll be infected with AIDS and God knows what else, and he’ll look like those washed-up hookers you see on El Cajon Boulevard. You know, Maria. The ones who look like zombies, all the life gone from their eyes.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Kay didn’t answer the question. “To make matters worse, you, your brother, and your mother are all illegals. You’re not U.S. citizens.”

“Bullshit. I was born in Arizona and I got papers to prove it. Birth certificate, social security number, all that shit. So does Miguel and my mom.”

Kay shook her head like she felt sorry for Maria. “You have forged papers, Maria, and they’re bad forgeries. You were born in El Salvador, and you and your mother and your little brother snuck into the U.S. twelve years ago, right after your father died. Maria, I know more about you than I do about my own sister.” Kay didn’t have a sister, but she did know everything there was to know about Maria Delgato and her family.

It looked for a moment like Maria was going to continue to argue that she was a bona fide citizen, but she gave up. “What are you saying? You’re gonna deport me?”

“That’s right. Your mother, too. ICE is going to drag her out of her nice little apartment in National City, stick her on a plane with only the clothes on her back, and ship her back to El Salvador. You’re going to be on the plane sitting next to her. Then I’m going to make sure you never get back into this country again.”

“Why are you doing this? All the crime in this fucking country, and you’ve decided to destroy my family. Why?”

“Because you’re sleeping with Tito Olivera.”

“So what? That’s not illegal. I don’t have anything to do with the things he does.”

“You’re right. Fucking Tito isn’t illegal, and I know you don’t have anything to do with his business. But you see, Maria, my only reason for living is to put Tito Olivera in prison, and I’ve decided that you’re the one who’s going to help me do it.”

“You want me to snitch on Tito? Do you know what the Olivera cartel does to snitches?”

“Yeah, I know what they do. So we need to make sure you don’t get caught.”

“I’m not gonna get caught, because I’m not gonna help you. That would be suicide.”

Kay stared at her for a moment, then shrugged. “Okay. Have it your way.”

Kay rose from the picnic table and made a Come here motion with her right hand. Maria turned to see who she was waving at, and saw it was the two guys in the Crown Vic. When they got out of the car, Ma­ria could see they were two serious-looking white guys wearing suits and aviator sunglasses. They started walking toward the picnic table.

“Who are they?” Maria asked.

“ICE. They’re taking you and your mother to a detention center to­night, and tomorrow you’ll be on your way back home. As for your gorgeous brother . . . Well, there’s no point repeating myself.”

“Wait a minute!” Maria said.

Kay held up a hand and the two men stopped walking.

“My mother’s got a heart condition,” Maria said. “She could die if you send her back to El Salvador.”

“Not my problem, Maria, but I’m sure they must have some kind of medical system down there.”

“Look. I need some time to think about this.”

“There’s nothing to think about. You’re either going to help me or I’m going to deport you and your mother, and I’m going to do it so fast that you’re not going to have time to get a lawyer or anybody else to stop me.”

“But I can’t help you! I don’t know anything about Tito’s operation. He doesn’t tell me what he’s doing.”

“Maria, we can’t get recording devices into Tito’s house. We’ve tried half a dozen times, but there’s always someone there. I’ve got warrants to tap his phones, but even as dumb as Tito is, he knows better than to say something incriminating on the phone. What you’re going to do is put a few bugs in the...