Wise Moves

Police officers Jack Mendez and Nancy Rogers were the Miami officers assigned to guard Elena until the FBI detail picked her up at seven. The police officers’ voices and the click of cards shuffling drifted out from the kitchen.

Both Rogers and Mendez had called this operation a routine gig, but there was nothing routine about any of this. The officers, like everyone else involved in her brother’s murder trial, knew how much rode on her testimony. The Feds had been after Antonio for years. But they’d never been able to pin anything on him until Elena had told police she’d witnessed her brother kill six members of a local Miami church.

The “Churchmen,” as they were known by the press, had effectively stopped the drug trade in their neighborhood with peaceful sit-ins and a neighborhood watch program. Angered by sagging profits, Antonio had decided to send all he knew a message by murdering the men. He’d forced Elena to witness the killings because she, too, was being taught a lesson: Never run from me again.

Elena had begged for the lives of the men, but Antonio had showed no mercy and shot each in cold blood. It had taken her another nineteen days before she’d found another opportunity to escape Antonio. This time, when she ran, she had gone to the police. She had identified her brother as the shooter and he had been arrested.

She moved silently through the house to the open kitchen door. Mendez stood at the kitchen sink as a coffeepot brewed. His white Guayabera shirt accentuated rich brown skin. “My old lady was talking about buying a bigger house.”

Nancy sat at a yellow Formica kitchen table and shuffled a worn deck of cards. The room’s pineapple wallpaper and appliances dated back to the fifties. “Her high-dollar tastes are gonna break you, Mendez.”

Mendez’s full mustache twitched when he smiled. “Nah, I can handle her.”

Nancy dealt two hands. “That’s what they all say.”

Floorboards under Elena’s feet squeaked as she crossed the threshold. Immediately the officers’ gazes whipped around. Nancy was already reaching for her gun.

Elena rubbed smooth hands over designer jeans. “I’m sorry. I just wanted a glass of water.”

Nancy clipped her gun back in the holster and smiled. “Sure.”

“I’ll get it,” Mendez said.

As Mendez filled a glass with tap water, Nancy stood. “Is everything in your room okay?”

Elena hugged her arms around her chest. “It’s fine.”

There was softness in Nancy Rogers’s eyes when she nodded. “It will all be over soon.”

Elena tried to take comfort from the officer’s words, but found the ominous dread in her would not stop growing. “Yes.”

“You’re doing the right thing,” Nancy said. “Your brother is a monster and he needs to be put away.”

Elena had never expected that doing the right thing would be so hard. “It’s what must be done.”

A sound from the street caught Nancy’s attention. “Did you hear something?”

Mendez shut the tap off and set the glass on the counter. He peaked through the kitchen’s miniblinds. “Looks like the transfer team arrived early.”

Elena’s fingers trembled as she pushed back the cuff of her silk blouse and checked the Rolex on her slim wrist. “They’re four hours early.” She suddenly felt cold, as if Death had brushed past her.

Nancy’s hand slid to the holster clipped to her jeans. “I don’t like it.”

“He’s here,” Elena whispered as she stepped back. She hated being afraid, being a coward. “He’s come to kill me.”

Nancy shook her head, puzzled by Elena’s words. “Who? Antonio? He’s not here.”

Elena shook her head, unable to deny the feelings in her. “He’s sent people to kill me.”

“Don’t borrow trouble, Ms. Benito. It could be nothing,” Nancy said.

Instinct whispered differently.

Nancy switched off the living room light and moved past Elena into the dark room. She peeked out thick curtains covering the picture window. “It makes sense they’d change the schedule. I just wish they’d told us.”

There was no tension in Mendez’s face when he came into the living room and looked out the same window. A gold signet ring on his pinky caught the moonlight. “Varying the pickup time just means tighter security, Ms. Benito. The car looks like Miami D.A. issue. No need to worry.”

Nancy flipped open her cell phone. The light of its screen cast a faint blue light on her angled faced. “I’m calling the lieutenant to see if this is legit.”

Mendez rubbed the back of his neck. “Man, I hope this gig is ending four hours early. I haven’t slept in my own bed in two nights and I’m missing my old lady’s loving.”

Elena stepped back toward her room. She glanced at the side window in her bedroom that led to a back alley.

“Remember the plan,” Nancy said to Elena as if reading her thoughts. “If there is any trouble, climb out the window. There is a car parked in the alley. Keys are under the mat and the gas tank is full. Go straight to the central office.”

Mendez looked surprised. “Who put the car out back?”

“I did. Just in case,” Nancy said.

He cracked his knuckles. “You’re so anal, Rogers.”

“Better anal than dead, as my brother says,” Nancy shot back.

Elena didn’t want to be a coward, but raw fear churned in her gut. “Do you think it’s Antonio?”

Nancy looked calm, too calm, as if she didn’t want to spook her witness. She held her phone close to her ear. “Chances are it’s like Mendez said. They’ve changed the pickup time.”

Mendez moved toward the door. “You two are worrying over nothing. It’s FBI. This time tomorrow Benito will be in—”

Nancy snapped her fingers, signaling Mendez to stop talking as someone came on the line. “Hello, Lt. Grasser, this is Officer Rogers at the Benito safe house. I need a confirmation on an early pickup. We’ve got men who look like FBI in our driveway now. Right. Okay.” She muttered an oath. “The guy put me on hold.”

There was a loud knock at the front door. “Mendez and Rogers open up. FBI.”

Mendez looked through the peephole. “He’s holding up a FBI badge.” He reached for the handle.

“Don’t open that door!” Nancy shouted. “Wait until I get a confirmation.”

Mendez smiled at his partner.

Elena froze. His was the same oily smile she’d seen on Antonio’s face before he’d killed the Churchmen.

Elena felt sick. “He’s going to betray us.”

Shock registered on Nancy’s face but before she could react, Mendez turned the deadbolt.

“Mendez, don’t,” Nancy shouted.

“I’ve got to,” he said. “There’s five million on her head and I want it.”