“Yes. Archer, what’s going on?”
“We’ll be there—”
“Archer!”
He paused.
“Please. Is something wrong with Noel?” My nerves couldn’t take the not knowing what was going on.
He sighed. “We’ve gotten word that he’s been arrested for human trafficking. He’s in jail and all his assets and Saint Security assets are frozen.”
“What?” I jumped up to move into action but all I could do was pace.
“We’ve got lawyers working on it and a team mobilizing to get you out.”
“Me? What about Noel?”
Archer put on the voice he used with me when he was exasperated but trying to stay calm. “We can’t barge into a Mexican jail and help him escape.”
Why not? Noel would.
“We’re using legal channels.”
“Archer, Noel might have done some questionable things in the past, but he’d never be involved in human trafficking.”
“I know.”
“If you know that, then you know that his arrest isn’t real.” I didn’t know what he was doing, but from my end it wasn’t enough.
“We’re doing everything we can.”
“Where is he?”
“Harper—”
“Where is he?” I practically yelled it into the phone.
He said the name of the jail and I quickly scribbled it down on the pad of paper on the bedside table.
“Don’t do anything crazy Harper. This isn’t like your stalker. If you don’t listen to me, then know that Noel wouldn’t want you to do anything to make our job harder—”
I hung up the phone and dressed. I called down for a car, meeting it out front of the hotel. I handed the driver the slip of paper.
“This is not a place for an American woman,” he said in a thick accent.
“That is where I need to go. Are you going to take me or not?”
He shrugged and put the car in gear. “It’s not a good place,” he said as he pulled into traffic. “Most people don’t ever come out except when they die.”
I shuddered at the thought Noel wouldn’t survive. What was going on? How could they have arrested him for human trafficking? What proof did they have?
I had to help him although I didn’t know how short of offering a bribe to let him go. I wondered if that was one of the crazy things Archer was warning me not to do. The last thing I needed was to end up incarcerated as well.
But I knew Noel’s arrest was bogus. Either the police were corrupt, or someone had manufactured evidence against him. At the very least, I could see him and perhaps hire the best lawyer in Mexico. Bran knew important people. Maybe he had a connection to someone with influence in Mexico. Bran’s head would explode if he knew I was down here about to visit Noel in jail, especially for human trafficking. I didn’t care. Bran would just have to deal with it.
Traffic moved slowly, making me agitated. “Please hurry.”
The driver looked at me through the rearview mirror. “Whoever you want to see will still be there whenever we get there. I told you. No one gets out of there.”