Ambush

Chapter 27

Alex Martinez drove her Chevy Silverado pickup truck from the parking garage near the El Dorado airport, in the northern section of Bogotá, all the way to her ranch outside the smaller town of Melgar, about two and a half hours to the southwest.

She could smell some of the animals at the Zoológico Cafam Melgar as she passed by. The simple municipal zoo carried a much different odor from her ranch. She attributed some of the smell to the presence of primates. Whereas she appreciated the smell of a horse, a primate was just a little too close to human.

Alex could barely contain the excitement she felt about returning home. All the major cities — New York, Paris, Mexico City — were just too crowded. The more time she spent in these places, the less human she felt.

The front gate to the ranch was open. They were expecting her.

She waved from the truck without slowing down as the families in the first two houses stepped outside to wave to her. She found a way to employ both husbands and both wives as well as provide an education for all six of the children. Sometimes it wasn’t easy.

A mile later, she slowed down in front of the main house. She could see the broad shape of her housekeeper, Maria, and her rail-thin husband, who handled all the maintenance around the house. Right next to them were the two people she really wanted to see.

She slipped out of the pickup truck, and her feet had not even touched the ground when tiny arms wrapped around her waist to give her a hug. She dropped to her knees to embrace both her daughters at once.

Clemency was six and liked to conduct herself with some dignity. Her neatly brushed hair hung straight back, as usual. Her little sister, Gabriela, who was just turning four, had her usual disheveled look, which warmed the heart of every adult she met.

Alex just took a moment and got lost in the emotion of her two girls hugging her. Every time she left, she felt she had been gone too long.

She walked toward the house with a girl hanging on to each hand. She wanted to hear everything that had happened and all that they had learned.

Maria embraced Alex and kissed her on the cheek as if she were her own daughter. Maria’s husband gave a stately bow. The older man had spent many years in the military before being forced out under suspicion of being associated with a drug cartel. She’d asked him about it once. He’d laughed and said, “If I worked with a drug cartel, would I be fixing your toilets now?”

The other six men and women, who worked in the stables near the house, kept their distance but gave Alex a polite wave. She was home, and she felt it. She didn’t think anything could dampen her mood.

As soon as Alex was inside and the girls were dutifully running one of her bags into her bedroom, she felt her phone vibrate. When she looked down at the text message, she immediately recognized the number. It was her contact with the Mexican drug cartel.

The text message was simple and to the point: Michael Bennett is alive.