Deadly Holiday (Southern California Violent Crimes Taskforce #6.5)(6)
The air became trapped in his lungs like he’d been sucker punched in the chest. Of all the things he expected to hear tonight, that wasn’t one of them.
“Why did her daddy take her away?” he forced himself to ask, noting that Celina had inched a step closer. She must have overheard Avery’s request.
“I don’t know, but she won’t get better if she doesn’t have her surgery. Look,”—she lowered her voice—“I know you aren’t the real deal, but I’m desperate. Jana needs help, and no one else can do it.”
Throat tight, Cooper slowly nodded, already knowing he was going to do everything he could to help this little girl’s friend.
But warning bells were going off in his head. Jana Ortega—the name rang a bell.
Could Jana be the daughter of Basilio Ortega? The cartel leader was on the run from US authorities, and had only recently been moved to the top of their priority list. Basilio’s wife had been killed a week prior by a rival gang looking to take over in Basilio’s absence, and the SCVC Taskforce had been briefed by Director Dupé to be on the look out for the man. Bas had a daughter—a sick one, from what Cooper remembered.
Fuck. If Jana Ortega was the man’s daughter, it would make sense he would fear she would become a target as well and pull her from treatment.
Adrenaline spiked in Cooper’s veins. He needed to talk to Celina, and now. “I promise, I’ll do everything I can to help Jana. Now you do me a favor and enjoy the party, okay?”
Avery threw her arms around his neck, squeezing as tightly as her weak arms would allow. “Thank you, Santa. Thank you so much!”
Her mother helped her hop down and Cooper stood from his chair, making a big show of stretching his arms over his head. “Boys and girls, Santa needs to take a break and check on his reindeer. If you promise to be good, I’ll come back soon and hear all of your Christmas wishes.”
There was an audible groan, and parents led their children away, heading towards the crafting tables. Mitch’s face morphed into a look of sheer panic as he was mobbed by kids. If he didn’t already have a fire to put out, Cooper probably would have stopped to enjoy the other man’s distress. Instead, he cupped Celina’s elbow and steered her into the kitchen, letting the doors swing shut behind them.
“Does Basilio Ortega, the cartel leader, have a daughter? He does, right?”
Celina frowned, wracking her brain. “I don’t remember. Why?”
“Because Jana Ortega was recently an inpatient here and was pulled from treatment. I think Basilio may be her father.”
“I wonder if that’s who Amber was upset about?” Celina’s eyes widened. “She was just telling me about a patient who was checked out AMA several days ago. She’s worried sick about her. It could be one and the same. If it is Basilio’s daughter, he’s probably protecting her.”
“Hey, are you really taking a break or just making out in here? I’ve got a bunch of kids who aren’t too happy that Santa skipped out.” Ronni pushed her way through the kitchen doors, hand on hip. She had a slightly frazzled look that said it was probably a good thing she wasn’t packing tonight. All the taskforce members had been asked to not carry weapons under the circumstances, though Cooper was fairly certain they had something hidden on them. They were his agents, after all.
“We think Basilio Ortega’s daughter was an inpatient here, and that he recently withdrew her from care.” Cooper waited while Celina filled Ronni in, watching her eyes turn from frazzled to serious in a heartbeat.
“Have we confirmed this?” Ronni whipped her cell phone out, thumbing through her contacts and pressing a number.
“Not yet,” Cooper admitted.
Ronni spoke in clipped tones to the person on the other end of the phone. A few tense seconds later, they had their answer—Jana was Basilio’s daughter. She suffered from a rare bone cancer and had been undergoing pre-surgical treatment in preparation for her blood and bone marrow transplant that was supposed to take place the following morning. Only Ortega had pulled her from treatment after his wife was murdered, and the girl hadn’t been seen since.
Cooper’s gut twisted. If there was anything he couldn’t stand, it was a case involving a kid.
“Do you think we need to alert the team?”
Cooper knew what Celina was really asking; did he think this was a threat. Novia was there, as was baby Jett, along with a room full of guests. If there was a chance that these people could be in trouble, they would need to act quickly.
“I need to talk to Amber, find out the details, and then bring the director up to speed since the Ortega case has been high-priority for the past week, but yeah, the team also needs to know so we can follow up.” He rubbed at his fake belly, nerves in his stomach making it cramp.
What he really wanted to do was grab their daughter, clear the room and make sure no traces of Ortega were left behind. The man was bad news times a thousand.
But he couldn’t do that, not when they had no evidence of a clear threat. Jana was no longer a patient there. In theory, Ortega would have no reason to come back to the hospital. It was just the idea that he had been here, around all these innocent kids. “Just be discreet, we don’t want to cause unnecessary panic. There’s no threat, I just need to find out the details from Amber and see if we can get a lead on—”