The Territory (Josie Gray Mysteries #1)(76)

“I got to make money. Can’t make it around this hellhole.”

“I thought you went to New Orleans to visit.”

“I went to N.O. for a lot of reasons. Pegasus is capable.”

“Is that why you’re out here teaching her how to shoot?”

“You bet it is. You got to be prepared.”

*

Kenny provided plenty of banter but no information, and Josie left. He had said he planned to leave the next morning. Josie didn’t like him, but she had no reason to keep him from leaving. As she walked down the hill that ran beside Red’s house toward Winning’s trailer, she saw a black stretch sedan with tinted windows coming down the road, traveling fast. It appeared to be an Infiniti or some other foreign luxury car. All the windows were up, and the car was throwing a wake of dust behind it. Even at a dead run, she couldn’t make it to her car before the sedan reached her. With images of the gunmen from her bedroom in her mind and her adrenaline surging, she pulled her gun and clicked the safety off. Sweat beaded on her upper lip as she considered her next move. She had already called Lou and canceled the call for backup. She remembered she had the key to Red’s house still in her pants’ pocket and fished it out as she ran the rest of the way down the hill beside Red’s and put the key into the sliding door. Bulletproof glass, she thought. The car was heading down the driveway toward Red’s place as she pushed the door open, entered, and locked it again. She stepped back away from the door and knew she could not be seen through the tinted glass.

The car pulled to a stop directly in front of the door as she radioed Lou again to ask Otto’s location. Lou said he had stopped for a stranded motorist, and Josie requested immediate backup from anyone in the area. She told Lou to call Border Patrol and request immediate assistance.

The feeling she’d had at the trauma unit, trapped inside the operating room with gunmen prowling outside, was back.

The driver of the sedan, a muscular white male dressed in a black suit, opened his door and didn’t even bother a glance toward the house before opening the back door. A large well-dressed man with a barrel chest, a dark pockmarked face, and a long, neatly trimmed mustache exited the car. He wore white linen pants and a pale blue linen shirt with a cigar in the pocket. His face was heavily lined below his tinted sunglasses, and his hair was jet black and oiled back in a manner she associated with trouble. Josie figured he was about six foot two and 250 pounds. Two other men, both wearing dark suits, white shirts, and sunglasses, exited after him and converged behind him next to the driver.

Josie spread her feet slightly in a shooter position and held her pistol firmly in her right hand.

The large man smiled and bowed slightly, dipping his head toward her, even though she was certain she couldn’t be seen. She had seen pictures of the Bishop, and she had no doubt it was him.

“Chief Gray? Please, let us have a civil conversation, man to woman. Please.” He spoke loudly, and she could hear his muffled voice through the glass. “Please, you offend me. Your safety is assured. I would never dream of hurting a lady as lovely as you.”

Josie kept her attention focused on the men in front of her and hoped Pegasus and Kenny wouldn’t walk down the driveway into the middle of it.

Josie moved to the right of the door, where she was still protected but could talk more easily. “What are you doing on Red Goff’s property?” she yelled.

“Mr. Goff and I were acquainted. I came to pay my respects.”

“To who?”

He tilted his head, gave a dismissive gesture. “To the place. To the spirit of Mr. Goff.”

The sun was setting, but it was still over ninety degrees. The Bishop looked cool and unfazed in his sunglasses.

“Maybe I was looking for you,” he said.

She felt the familiar burn in her stomach. “I’m listening.”

The Bishop turned from her and faced one of his men. Several seconds later, the cell phone in her pocket rang. She pulled it out of her pocket as he retrieved a cell phone from his bodyguard. It was her police number, a restricted number, and he had access. She opened her phone in spite of her fury.

“Let’s be civil, Ms. Gray. You won’t come out here and talk with me? We’ll talk by phone. You run a nice town here. Good people. You want to keep the town safe. I have no problem with that. Your little town has no interest to me, no—” He stopped, struggling to find the right words. “I want no more than a road into Texas. A simple access, uncomplicated. You and I, we can have a mutually acceptable agreement. I provide you with security, with the tools to keep your town safe. You need guns and weapons, a new jail? I provide that. You need a house with security, a place where you go home at night and feel secure? I provide that. Everyone benefits.”

Josie stared at him and wondered how easily Hack Bloster had sacrificed his principles for this man. How long had it taken Bloster to sign away his career for a pile of blood money?

“Mr. Medrano, you may have bargained with others in my town, but you won’t bargain with me. I abide by the rules, and I enforce them. I won’t negotiate with you. You can cross the border legally in Presidio, just like all the other Mexicans.”

He smiled with condescension and wiped a handkerchief across his forehead. “You give up your town’s security, just like that? No thought to what this could mean to your citizens? Life can be a very dangerous proposition when you have no protection.”