“Don’t be such a prude,” he said. “Loosen up and celebrate.”
“Why? What’s there to celebrate?” Leanna slid onto a barstool and nodded at Scabby and Pimply.
“We have a bead on the brothers Carmelita ran off with,” Scabby Goatee said. “You have the cash?”
“Down payment only,” Leanna said.
“Drink for the lady?” the bartender asked.
“A bottle of Corona. Unopened.” Leanna had heard of people being roofied and either robbed or worse. She opened her purse for the money and activated the sound recorder app on her cell phone. “Now, before I give you the down payment, here are the terms. I must be able to verify your information after each payment. I won’t be carrying any more cash, but I can Western Union the money to you. You have to keep me and Carmelita safe, because the final payment will be wired to you in two parts. One half at the border before we cross, and the other half after we are safely on the American side.”
She counted out five Benjamins and fanned them in front of her chest.
“It’s supposed to be a grand,” Scabby Goatee said.
“My husband has the rest.” She was bluffing, but so what? They were in this for money, and she had to let them know she was the boss by not giving them everything they wanted. “Besides, you haven’t given me actionable information. Who are these two brothers? Names? Where are they right now?”
“No names,” Scabby said. “They deal with human cargo, especially women.”
“Will they hurt Carmelita? Can you get a picture of her from your contact? Make sure she’s okay?” Leanna swallowed to keep her heart from exploding with worry. “Did she pay them to smuggle her? How does this work?”
“She’s friends with them.” Pimply Toad looked up from his tablet computer. He pointed to an image. “She uploaded this to FacePlant.”
Leanna reached for the tablet, but Pimply was surprisingly fast for his bulk. “Pay up, lady.”
“Only if you forward the pictures and her FacePlant profile to me so I can follow her on social media.” Leanna slid one of the hundred-dollar bills to Scabby.
“Number?” he asked, and she gave it to him.
When the images and text message hit her phone, she gave Scabby another bill. “Now, I want a plan on how we will catch up with them. Where are they?”
“I have their route mapped out,” Pimply said. “Our guy who spotted them has a tracker on his phone.”
“Let me see,” Leanna said. She peered at the map. “They’re not that far from here. We can catch them.”
“Here’s your beer,” the bartender said, sliding her a Corona. “I’ll open it in front of you. Lime?”
“That’s fine, thanks.” Leanna paid him, but her attention was on the tablet. Idly, she squeezed the lime over the rim of the bottle and took a swig. “We can catch up to them, right? Looks like they’re walking.”
“Not in the hot sun, they’re not.” Pimply laughed. “Those selfies are all for show. You really think people are pushing strollers for hundreds of miles? They got air-conditioned buses.”
“Who’s paying for all this?” Leanna set the bottle aside and browsed through the photos. She blinked to hold back tears, and her heart skipped like a girl jumping double ropes at the images of her little girl—well, not so little with the way she was made up.
But still, Leanna could see the youth and eagerness in the bright smile—well, actually, purple-black lipsticked smile—of the teen who looked like she was on a grand adventure. The two men with her flashed gang signs, but other than having troublesome tattoos, they seemed protective of Carmelita and had their arms around her like best buddies.
Leanna’s heart warmed at the thought she would soon see the baby she gave up. What would she say to her? How could she explain how lost and empty she’d felt? Would Carmelita forgive her?
She plucked the beer bottle from the counter and sipped, realizing Pimply was explaining the process.
“Money is paid for each leg of the journey,” Pimply said. “Thepollospay like you pay. Western Union from relatives arrive at each stage.Pollerosarrange transportation, housing, food, pass them on like batons. If the money stops, thepollosget dumped.”
“Or they wait it out for the next caravan,” Scabby said. “You want to get on board and find this kid, you pay just like apollo.”
“Why did they travel with the caravan?” Leanna asked. “Seems like if these two brothers are smugglers, they’d have their own private network.”
“They infiltrated a caravan of migrants,” Blue Skull said. “They don’t need to be with these fools, but the brothers are looking for opportunities.”
“What opportunities?” Leanna took another swallow of the cold beer and wiped her lips with the back of her hand. It tasted a bit strange for a Corona, but then, maybe they had a different recipe here.
