Family Matters Read online

  FAMILY MATTERS

  A LAZARUS SOLARIS THRILLER

  A NOVEL BY

  ROBERT ULLRICH

  BOOK TWO OF THE LAZARUS CHRONICLES

  EDITED BY

  VIRGINIA (GINNY) BROOKS

  OTHER works BY

  ROBERT ULLRICH

  ~NOVELS~

  EVOLUTION OF A KILLER

  A LAZARUS SOLARIS THRILLER

  family matters

  a lazarus solaris thriller

  MEMOIRS OF THE (NOT-SO) GRIM REAPER

  IRREVERENT RAMBLINGS OF THE LONG-TIME;

  DEADLIEST SERVANT OF THE GODS

  ~SHORT STORY~

  RADAR LOVE

  100 VOICES – VOLUME THREE

  ~POETRY~

  LIFE AND DEATH IN A SINGLE BREATH

  VOLUMES ONE AND TWO

  Advanced Release Copy Reviews

  “FAMILY MATTERS”

  A Lazarus Solaris Thriller

  (Book Two of the Lazarus Chronicles

  Mary O.: I devoured this book like a hellcat breaking in a new credit card with all day at the mall to do it! I couldn’t put it down. Fast-moving action: I laughed at some points, I cried at another, the only time I stopped biting my nails was to turn a page. The only issue I have with the author? YOU NEED TO WRITE FASTER!!!!!

  Nick F.: Family Matters is as good if not better than Evolution of a Killer. Robert has created a character you want to follow. I’ve said it before; “If you like Jack Reacher, you are going to love Lazarus Solaris!” So, grab a copy today and you’ll be like me – waiting for the next installment!

  Michelle C.: Lazarus is back, and he brought hell with him! I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the new Lazarus novel, Family Matters. I’ll leave a full review later, after processing the emotional impact. I LOVE this book. Kudos to the author!

  Tim F.: Ullrich has stepped up his game in this second episode of The Lazarus Chronicles! Laz is back at it again in this tour de force, with the usual cast of “suspects,” and a lot of new “friends”, as well. A can’t miss! I’m already looking forward to the next installment.

  cover design by

  phantom scorpio produtions

  PUBLISHED BY

  PHANTOM SCORPIO PRODUCTIONS

  STEVENS POINT, WISCONSIN

  Copyright 2019 by Robert M. Ullrich

  Published in the United States of America

  WITH KINDLE DIRECT PRESS; AN AMAZON.COM DIVISION

  All Rights Reserved,

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents

  are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used

  fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons,

  either living or dead, businesses, companies, events

  or locales is entirely coincidental.

  * DEDICATION *

  “Family Matters” is dedicated to Becky and Paul Zieser;

  longtime friends I rarely see.

  To Becky for allowing me to use her name as one of my secondary characters, and to Paul…for allowing me to exploit Becky as one of my secondary characters. Read “Evolution of a Killer”; you’ll understand why I’m thanking Paul as well as Becky.

  I tucked away a little surprise for Paul in “Family Matters”.

  (No, Paul, it isn’t Lee Child’s autograph – you’ll just have to live with his latest Jack Reacher novel, “Past Tense” for now.)

  * ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS *

  My Wife Kim, who endures my angst and her contributions improve my stories and my life.

  Michaelbrent Collings, Best Selling Author, for the support and encouragement to press on.

  The U. S. Air Force for the extensive information about the AC-130 Spectre Gun-Ship.

  I would also like to acknowledge the support I’ve from my readers. They encourage me to work harder and write better.

  Advanced Release Copy Reviews

  “FAMILY MATTERS”

  A Lazarus Solaris Thriller

  (Book Two of the Lazarus Chronicles)

  “

  Nick F.: Family Matters is as good if not better than Evolution of a Killer. Robert has created a character you want to follow. I’ve said it before; “If you like Jack Reacher, you are going to love Lazarus Solaris!” So, grab a copy today and you’ll be like me – waiting for the next installment!

  Mary O.: I devoured this book like a hellcat breaking in a new credit card with all day at the mall to do it! I couldn’t put it down. Fast-moving action: I laughed at some points, I cried at another, the only time I stopped biting my nails was to turn a page. The only issue I have with the author? YOU NEED TO WRITE FASTER!!!!!

  Michelle C.: Lazarus is back, and he brought hell with him! I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the new Lazarus novel, Family Matters. I’ll leave a full review later, after processing the emotional impact. I LOVE this book!

  reviews of

  “Evolution of a Killer”

  A Lazarus Solaris Thriller

  (book one of the lazarus chronicals)

  If you like James Patterson, you will love Robert Ullrich!

  5-Stars: M. Grimsrud on April 17, 2018

  LOVED this book and looking forward to Book 2. This book has the suspense of a murder, mystery and thriller. I couldn't put it down. The author is a talented writer.

  If you want a great read and a fun ride this is the book ...

  5-Stars: Mary Beth McGee on March 8, 2018

  I was hooked from the beginning and can hardly wait to read Robert's next book. If you want a great read and fun rides, this is the book for you!

  Murder, mystery, sex, adventure, laughter, this book has it all!

  5-Stars: Mary Kathryn on March 8, 2018

  I love this story-line. I got to know Lazarus and some of what makes him tick. It also showcases his friends and cohorts in both his personal and professional life. The first of hopefully many more adventures begins with a plot winding its way through surprise twists and turns. Who knew it was possible to cheer for an assassin!?!

  It kept me turning the pages for more.

  5-Stars: Ginny: on April 24, 2018

  A wonderful development of characters and what makes them who they are. The characters draw you in and keeps you waiting for the next twist in story. I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

  If you like Jack Reacher, you’re going to love Lazarus Solaris

  5-Stars: Nick Fischer on March 9, 2018

  I couldn’t put this book down. I was hooked in the opening pages. Lazarus is an interesting character. He is truly a nice guy but a badass champion when someone he cares about is being wronged.

  pART ONE: THE RESCUE

  ~1~

  November 11, 2016

  7:15 AM - CST

  Derek Grimsrud never saw it coming. How could he, since it was a fellow CIA agent who set everything in motion? Regardless, he was caught completely unaware for the first time in his life. In CIA circles, he was referred to only as Mr. Black for security reasons. Only a handful of people outside his team knew even his first name. The reason; he commanded a black ops team of specialists, operating out of Fort Bliss Army Airfield. He was also one of less than a dozen that knew the international assassin – code name: The Chameleon, on a personal level. The Chameleon had saved Derek’s life several years ago, and from that grew a closeness that defied logic.

  Derek sauntered out of Charros Mexican Restaurant rubbing his very satisfied, very full stomach, headed for his black Jeep Rubicon. He’d eaten too much, so he decided to blame it on his chopper pilot, Craig. They usually ate breakfast together, usually at Charros. Derek ‘forced’ himself to eat both little fresh apple pies Senora Alvarez prepared especially for the duo. They’d been coming there for years and it was her way of t
hanking them. Derek rationalized that he HAD to eat Craig’s portion or Senora Alvarez would be offended. Logical or not, that sweet cinnamon topped pie with crust so flaky it melted in your mouth, had to be eaten. There was no way around it.

  Charros was a small family owned restaurant on the West side of Laredo, Texas, across the border from the Mexican city of Juarez. Juarez had been turned into a warzone by the Drug Cartels. Trafficking in everything from pot to humans was the norm in the northern Mexican City. It was also known for its many factories that supplied parts to American automobile manufacturers. Many of the plant employees lived in El Paso, commuting daily across the border.

  Derek heard a young girl scream as he was clearing the restaurant door. His head snapped to the left, immediately picking the girl out of a crowd. Two men were dragging what appeared to be an 8 to 10-year-old in a bright yellow sundress towards a brown, late model Ford F250 van. Derek sprang into action out of reflex; running towards the two men. He was so focused on the girl he didn’t see another man in the alleyway next to Charros.

  “Hey!” he shouted at the two men. “Let her go!” His Kimber .45 was already coming out of his holster as he skidded to a stop. That’s when he was hit from behind with a leather sap, dropping him to his knees. Two of the men scooped him up as he fell and tossed him into the waiting van. The girl ran up the street, her part in the deception completed.

  The Ford laid rubber as it pulled away from the curb, catching the attention of Senora Alvarez. She jotted down the license plate as the van sped off. She called the El Paso Police department for the umpteenth time with information about a speeding vehicle in front of her restaurant. The desk sergeant explained to Senora Alvarez, for the umpteenth time, they couldn’t send a patrol car out every time she called about a someone she thought was speeding. Had she known Derek was in the back, it might have made a difference, but she didn’t. The officer took the information and promised to investigate, mollifying Senora Alvarez enough to get her off the phone. It didn’t matter to Isabella Alvarez. She put the license number in her little card box, organized by plate number for future reference. It was her way of trying to help keep the neighborhood a little safer.

  *****

  The first thing Derek noticed when he came around was the smell of potatoes. He opened his eyes to slits, not sure what he would find, and realized he was under a pile of old burlap bags. That explained the potato smell. The vehicle he was in was moving at a steady speed with few bumps along the way. They were on a main highway; they had to be if they were in Mexico, and of that he had little doubt. The conversations he could hear were all in Spanish; Mexican Spanish and not the mix of English and Spanish found in South Texas. It made sense. If someone was kidnapping a CIA agent, in broad daylight no less, they needed to get out of the US. El Paso was almost perfect with Juarez just across the border. It wouldn’t have taken more than a hundred to bribe a Mexican border guard, but the US side would be more difficult, but not impossible. The Cartels used more than money for leverage and many of the guards on the US side had family in Juarez.

  Derek knew it was about 8:20am when they jumped him. Although he didn’t know how long he’d been out, he estimated two hours. Whoever hit him did it right; enough force to knock him out, but not crack his skull, for which he was grateful in an ironic way. Training dictated 90 to 180 minutes for a similar blow, so Derek split the difference, calling it 10:30am. He would keep track of the time mentally with his internal clock. It wasn’t perfect, but it would do until sundown. Sundown was a fixed time, so it would give him a solid reference point.

  Derek could see one man well through the burlap. He was sitting to the right, on a folding chair in the back of what had to be a full-sized van. It was too roomy for a mini, and not big enough for a cargo van. He spotted a tattoo of a shoe on the man’s left earlobe; Los Zapatos de la Muerte Cartel insignia.

  Derek wasn’t surprised. Six months ago, he’d led an off the book’s operation for the hit-man known as The Chameleon. It was a rescue mission; an extraction of three innocent civilians from the small town of Los Trios, southeast of Juarez. It went off without a hitch; if you don’t count the two SUV’s that his pilot Young Bear took out with their Sikorsky CH53-E and four well placed rockets. Derek could have let them go, except as an ex-Navy Seal, who had lost eight of his operatives to the Cartels in the last 18 months, it was an opportunity to thin the herd. He took it. He wouldn’t regret it in retrospect.

  Nothing the crew was discussing was of any intelligence value, so Derek decided to sleep, saving his strength for later. The bags were comfortable enough, and the floor was smooth. He also had the secure knowledge of the GPS locator embedded in his sinus cavity. He might not know where he was, but sooner or later someone would.

  *****

  Camacho’s men were under strict orders to keep the CIA agent alive under any conditions. Otherwise, there wasn’t much they couldn’t do to the operative.

  Andres Camacho was the new head of Los Zapatos; taking over after the Chameleon executed his uncle, Carlos Torano. Torano had gone to Argentina expecting to recover over 12 million dollars of Cartel money from his half-brother, Enrique Garza. Garza had embezzled the funds from the money he laundered through Gulf Coast Bank and Trust while president of the Corpus Christi location. Neither got what they were expecting. Enrique had paid the Chameleon to relocate him, and Torano had been sent to Argentina to get his money back at the behest of the same man.

  The Chameleon wanted both men dead; eliminating any potential threat towards Angelique Shaloub, the woman who had captured his heart. They died when over twelve pounds of Semtex detonated; the two pounds in the laptop Torano was holding and the ten pounds L. J., the Chameleon’s associate, had packed into the stove and a brand-new BMW sitting in the garage.

  The death of Torano created a vacuum that Andres quickly filled; eliminating any competition for the position. He was ruthless as his uncle, having proven his loyalty to the Cartel by killing his own father, Carlos Torano’s first cousin, Reynaldo Camacho.

  Reynaldo had been selling cocaine through alternate distribution lanes, skimming product from the pipeline to feed his new suppliers. He managed to keep it going for over a year before Torano figured it out. Torano called Andres to the compound, not certain that the boy wasn’t involved, even having been told otherwise. It didn’t stop Torano from torturing the 19-year-old. In the end, he was satisfied that Andres wasn’t involved, ordering the boy to execute his own father to prove his loyalty.

  He learned a lesson the hard way from the experience. Torano denigrated and humiliated him in front of his peers for killing his father while the man slept. “A woman can kill a man in his sleep,” Torano had shouted at him. “It takes a man to kill a man face to face, mano y mano.” As punishment, he made Andres a mule for the man who replaced his father, rather than giving Andres the position he had been promised. Resentment grew in Andres until he eventually reached out to Phillip Weaver, a well-known CIA agent operating out of the American Embassy in Mexico City, his cover being a cultural attaché. Andres cultivated a relationship with the agent, becoming an informant. He provided information undermining his enemies wherever possible, all the while plotting revenge on his uncle. In the end, the Chameleon took care of his vengeance for him when he killed Torano in Argentina. Andres quickly took over control of the Cartel.

  Andres avoided mentioning what he had in mind for Derek Grimsrud. He knew there was no love lost between the two men, but CIA is CIA and he didn’t want Weaver interfering in his plans. Perhaps if he had been a little more devious, he would have learned of the GPS locator, but such was not the case. Weaver had no knowledge of the actual kidnapping of Agent Grimsrud. If Camacho had told him of his plans, Weaver wouldn’t have been all that unhappy to hear of Derek’s position. Weaver was a decent agent, but he carried grudges, and the one he carried against Derek would never be forgiven, let alone forgotten.

  It wasn’t like Andres didn’t have Intel on Grimsrud. Weaver o
ften spoke of the ex-Seal’s abilities and habits when drunk. The agent made little effort to disguise his feelings about Derek, but Camacho didn’t believe Weaver. He found it difficult to comprehend any man could be that good at warfare and not be hardened in his heart. Andres thought of Derek as he thought of himself; ruthless, cunning and willing to go to any length to complete the mission. He was wrong on several counts which one day would come back to haunt him.

  *****

  Camacho’s men whiled away the hours as they traveled south. They understood Andres’ reasons for taking the gringo to the jungle but wondered about the wisdom – though never aloud. It was Carlos Torano who started the tradition with Los Zapatos; the tradition of the hunt.

  The hunt was something that appealed to the men in the van. Each of them had lost one or more family members to the Sikorsky’s rockets outside of Los Trios. The fact they had been ordered not to kill the gringo left a sour taste in more than one mouth, not that anyone had voiced their objections directly to Camacho. One of the men, Marcos Martinez, wanted Derek dead despite orders from the Hefe. Marcos lost two brothers that fateful day outside Los Trios and he wanted blood for blood.

  Camacho had placed his most trusted man, Ben de la Sedro, in charge of the operation. Ben would make certain orders were followed, no matter his personal feelings. Yes, Ben had lost a relative in the attack, his nephew Jorge, but that was business to him. He had spent 20 years in the Cartel knowing that death was as much a part of the business as anything. He didn’t want revenge on the gringo, but not for any reason related to the attack. His nephew was dead. Many of his friends were dead, too. It was life in Cartel – few if any, got out alive unless they went to prison.