“Chase, it’s my job to question things. I wouldn’t be doing right by you if I didn’t ask the question.”
“She loves me,” I said quietly as I sat back down.
“Okay, let’s move on. How much do you owe Escabar? What were his terms for letting you live?”
“I owe him a quarter of a million dollars now, and his black book. But I doubt he’ll let me live even if I give him those things.”
Captain Bastrop wrote down the number I gave him. He didn’t seem very positive that I was going to get out of this whole thing in one piece. His face was glum as he looked back up at me. He seemed to be weighing a tough question.
“So, your father knows nothing about this?”
“Yeah, I couldn’t disappoint him. I thought I could handle things on my own. But it has gotten too out of control.”
“Your father is a good man, Chase. I bet if you asked him for the money, he would give it to you.”
“It’s not about the money anymore. Escabar is going to kill me for stealing his black book. There is no way around it. It doesn’t matter if I give the book and the money to him. I know him – I know he plans to kill me.”
“Okay, Chase. Let me talk things over with my boss, and we will get back to you,” Captain Bastrop said as he stood up and opened the door. “You’re free to go. We will get in touch with you.”
My mind swirled with what he was saying. He didn’t plan on protecting us – he wasn’t even offering to let us stay at the police station.
“Where are we supposed to go?”
“Well, somewhere out of sight would probably be a good idea.”
“He’ll find us and kill us. You can’t do anything to protect us?” I said as my anger started to rage inside of me.
“Chase, so far, all I have is a black notebook with writing in it. I don’t know if it’s Jose Escabar’s book. All I know is what you have told me. There are always at least three sides to a story.”
Captain Bastrop seemed unusually cruel in his words toward me. I wasn’t sure what exactly I had said that had pissed him off so much, but it certainly didn’t feel like he was on my side.
Maybe I had become paranoid. Perhaps his comments about Jordan had just put me on edge, and I was projecting those things back onto the Captain. I didn’t feel safe leaving the police station, that was for sure. Even if we had not been followed, it was highly likely we wouldn’t last past the end of the week. I couldn’t risk Jordan’s well-being like that.
“What do you need? I’ll help you get it. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep Jordan safe,” I begged him.
“We need him to admit to a few things. You see, Jose Escabar has been involved in a huge cartel operation for years. Drugs and money have passed through international borders and ended up here in Atlanta, all because of him and the people he works for. If you want us to keep you safe, you’ll need to wear a wire and come back to us with some real proof on tape.”
“What are you talking about, George? I can’t get that kind of information out of Escabar. He knows I have the book. He won’t confess anything like that around me. He’s not that stupid.”
“I’m sorry, then. I don’t think we can help you. At least, not right now. Come back if there’s an immediate threat against your life.”
Just like that, Captain Bastrop turned and walked down the hall.
“You can sleep for a bit in the bunk room if you’d like,” he said when he reached the end of the hall.
I was too angry to respond. I had finally gotten up the nerve to go to the police, and they weren’t going to offer us any kind of protection at all. In fact, just knowing that we had come to the police was enough to get us killed. Luckily, we were still driving the vehicle from my friend’s store, so I doubt Escabar’s men would be able to find us too quickly. But still, we had no money and no place to go.
My mind worked through all the possible scenarios. I just couldn’t think of one possible conclusion that ended with Jordan and I being safe. I had really done it. I had finally found some sort of stability in my life, and it was all going to be gone. I was going to be gone.
“Jordan,” I whispered as I opened the bunkroom door.
“Yeah, over here.”
I climbed into her bunk with her and just lay with her in my arms. I couldn’t find the strength to tell her what was going on yet. I didn’t want to ruin her night of sleep. Instead, I held her close to me and stroked her hair with my hand as she drifted back to sleep. It was the only thing that made sense for the moment. We were both so tired. We both needed sleep desperately and at least there, at the police station, we were safe.
The only thing left for me to do was get some sleep as well and hope that in the light of morning, I would have some sort of clear answer. Because, at that moment, I couldn’t think of a single thing that would save us from our situation. I couldn’t imagine how we would get through the next few days. Perhaps, we would have to take off and leave the country. Maybe if Escabar knew I had turned the black book over to the police, he would leave my family alone. Or maybe he would still hunt them down? I didn’t know.
Nothing about my future was known. Anything could happen.