Bikini Baristas: Ted Higuera Series Book 4 Read online

  Also by Pendelton C. Wallace

  Blue Water & Me, Tall Tales of Adventures With My Father

  Blue Water & Me is a high-adventure true story of author Penn Wallace's magical first summer fishing with his father, Blue Water Charlie, off the coast of Mexico at age eleven.

  Christmas Inc.

  Amazon.com’s #1 best selling political satire.

  What would happen if Santa decided to go public and sell shares of Christmas on the NASDAQ? What would happen to the elves if he outsourced toy making to China?

  Warning: This is not a children’s book. Exposure to children under 12-years old may cause child to stop believing in Santa Claus or take a cynical view of Christmas.

  The Inside Passage (Ted Higuera Series Book 1)

  Somewhere on Canada's Inside Passage, terrorist plot to destroy a cruise ship filled with celebrities and VIP’s. Ripped from today's headlines, a group of Canadian-born terrorist plan to bring their war to the Western Hemisphere.

  It’s also the story of a young Latino man coming of age in an Anglo world. Ted Higuera and his friends stumble upon the al-Qaeda plot to blow up the cruise ship and the clock starts ticking.

  Can Ted and his friends act in time to save the thousands of people aboard the Star of the Northwest?

  Hacker for Hire (Ted Higuera Series Book 2)

  If Clive Cussler had written Ugly Betty, it would be Hacker for Hire.

  Hacker for Hire, a suspense novel about corporate greed and industrial espionage, is the second book in a series about Latino computer security analyst Ted Higuera and his best friend, para-legal Chris Hardwick.

  When you’re already in the top 1% of the country’s money makers, how much is enough?

  Ted and lovely PI Catrina Flaherty are led deep into Seattle’s Hi-Tech world as they stalk a killer. But the killer is also hunting them. Can they find the killer before the killer finds them?

  The Mexican Connection

  In The Mexican Connection, the third book in the Ted Higuera series, Ted and Chris are lured to Mexico by an old nemesis. They are dragged into Mexico’s drug wars and have to confront the corruption of Mexico’s law enforcement. They meet a colorful cast of characters as they search from border towns to the cosmopolitan Mexico City to ancient Aztec ruins.

  You will meet old friends, make new ones and encounter new villains as our heroes cut a wide swath through our neighbor to the south. Throw in a magical Jaguar and an Aztec god and you have a rollicking adventure tale.

  Mirror Image

  Based on a real-life tragedy, Mirror Image is a heart-stopping tale of horrific abuse.

  Female PI Catrina Flaherty tackles one of her most difficult cases. Cat specializes in women’s issues: infidelity, messy divorces, spousal abuse, sexual harassment, etc. But her newest client, Mandy Alcott, has an unusual problem; her abusive husband is the chief of police.

  What do you do when your abuser is The Law?

  You call Cat Flaherty.

  Review Contest

  Thank you for purchasing this copy of Bikini Baristas. As a special reward to you early birds, I’m holding a drawing for people who post reviews on Amazon.com. If you post your review by August 14th 2015, I’ll enter your name in a drawing for a thriller package. I will send you four thrillers by other authors I admire, plus a $40 gift certificate from Amazon.com. Just send me an email with a link to your review and your address. We’ll hold the drawing on August 15th 2015; I will notify the winners and send the prizes immediately.

  To write a review on Amazon.com, go to the Bikini Baristas page. On the bottom of the page there is a section labeled “Customer Reviews.” To the right of the bar graph showing the ratings the book has received is a button labeled “Write a customer review.” Click on the button and it should be self-explanatory from there.

  Once again, thank you for your participation.

  Bikini Baristas

  The Ted Higuera Series Book 4

  by

  Pendelton C. Wallace

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental

  Copyright © 2015 Pendelton C. Wallace

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For permission, contact Victory Press at www.pennwallace.com.

  Visit Pendelton Wallace’s Web site at www.pennwallace.com

  Contact the author at http://www.pennwallace.com/contact-penn.html.

  Cover Design by Brandi McCann

  Table of Contents

  Table of Contents

  Acknowledgements

  Author’s Note

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Post Script

  Author Bio

  Acknowledgements

  I need to first thank my better half, Dawn Tift. Dawn worked with me from the start of Bikini Baristas to shape the story and develop the characters.

  I must thank my writers group, San Diego Wednesday Night Meet-Up. They helped me hone this book into a finished product. A special thanks to David Larson, author of The Last Jewish Gangster, for allowing me to use his name in this book.

  Marsh Cassady was my editor. He did a great job in helping me fine tune the manuscript.

  Brandi McCann designed the cover for this book. She did her customary outstanding job in taking an idea and bringing it to life.

  Donna Rich was my proofreader and copy editor. If there are any errors left in this book, they are wholly my fault.

  Chris Jahrman, who I worked with a life-time ago, helped me understand how life insurance works. Thanks Chris.

  Mike Gibbs, a retired San Diego police officer, was my mentor and helper in shaping the police scenes. He corrected my errors and helped me write the cop-speak dialog.

  I must thank my beta readers who saw the first draft of the manuscript and helped me smooth out the rough edges. You know who you are.

  I have to thank Mama. She’s been in my corner from the beginning. She encouraged me when the night seemed the darkest. I would not be publishing my sixth book without her. Muchas gracias.

  And finally, I have to thank you, dear reader, especially those of you who have taken the time to write to me with your thoughts and comments. Without patrons, artists don’t last very long. The fact that you read and enjoy what I write drives me onward. Like Thomas Jefferson, I believe that a free society must read to maintain its freedom. You are all freedom fighters.

  Pendelton C. Wallace

  7/16/2015

  San Diego, California

  Author’s Note

  I am often asked where I get the ideas for my stories. Bikini Baristas is no different
from any of the other Ted Higuera stories, I read the newspapers. Both the Bikini Barista story line and the Fly Away Bandit story line are true. To paraphrase the old Dragnet TV show, the story you are about to read is true, the names have been changed to protect the stupid.

  Both of these stories happened at about the same time in 2010. I have taken literary license with the truth in some places, bending facts to fit my story line. When people tell me that they can’t believe that Clayton Johnson-White could teach himself to fly an airplane from an old manual and some video games, I just point them to the Seattle Times articles chronicling his exploits. The most unbelievable parts of this story really did happen to real people. It’s the little, easy to believe things that I made up.

  We know the end of the Fly Away Bandit story; we don’t know what really happened to Dick Randall. I needed to bring that story to closure, so I made up an ending. Could it have happened that way? Why not? We may never know the real ending, so you’ll have to live with my imagination for now.

  I get a lot of mail about Catrina Flaherty. Is she based on a real person? No woman could do what she does.

  I’m here to tell you that she really exists. I based Cat on a female PI I did some consulting work for back in the 90’s. She was the scariest woman I ever met, but she had one of the biggest hearts I’ve ever known. She really did rescue women from abusive husbands, track rapist and make jobs for women trying to get back on their feet. Of course, I changed her name to protect her privacy, but when you start thinking Cat couldn’t really do all the things that she does, think again.

  Speaking of mail, I’d love to hear from you. I’ve already gotten a couple of ideas for future books from readers like you. I’ve also had several people point out proof-reading errors that I will correct and publish in future editions of the Ted Higuera books. Most of all, I get praise from people who have been to the locations I write about. I also get a lot of questions. Why did Ted do this? Was Chris really thinking about that? I’d love to hear you thoughts and I promise to answer each one of your emails.

  You can contact me from my web site, www.pennwallace.com, using the Contact Penn tab.

  As Dean Martin used to say (am I giving away my age here?), “Keep those cards and letters coming in.”

  Chapter 1

  Jimmy could hardly wait for the bell to ring. He had been receiving text messages all afternoon. The pictures his cousin, Jake, posted on Instagram were outrageous. There was a link to their website too. There was happenin’s goin’ on at the Beach Hut Bikini Barista stand.

  When the bell did finally ring, Jimmy and Dave piled into Jimmy’s beat-up Camaro and burned rubber out of the Mariner High School parking lot. They were on a mission.

  It was only a few minutes’ drive up Evergreen Way to the coffee stand, but traffic slowed to a crawl when they got to within a couple of blocks of their destination. Jimmy saw that cars were backed up for blocks and they weren’t waiting for coffee.

  He pulled into the line.

  “Hey man, how long’s this gonna take?” Dave asked.

  “Who cares? Did I show you the picture?”

  “Yeah, it was sick, man, but I gotta go.”

  “Get out; go behind one of those buildings.”

  Dave rejoined Jimmy a few minutes later. Jimmy’s gold Camaro had only moved a couple of car lengths.

  It took almost an hour to get to the front of the line, but man, was it worth it.

  “What can I get for you boys?” The heavy chested woman with long curly black hair asked.

  “Uh… “ Jimmy had a hard time making his tongue work. “Uh...cap-oo-chee-no.”

  “Is that two cappuccinos?” the woman asked.

  “Yeah.”

  Jimmy just stared. The woman was pretty enough, but who was looking at her face? She was only wearing a G-string and red, sparkly pasties with long red tassels on them. Her heavy hooters jiggled and swayed when she moved.

  She turned to her espresso machine and worked like she knew what she was doing. With only a few movements she drew the espresso then she steamed the milk like a pro. It only took a minute or so for her to prepare the two drinks.

  “My cousin says you can swing them things,” Jimmy finally stammered.

  The woman stared at Jimmy for a moment and smiled. “That’ll take a twenty dollar tip, Sport.”

  Jimmy handed over a twenty.

  The woman wrapped her arms around her abdomen and began flexing her pectoral muscles. Her boobs bobbled and the tassels jumped around.

  “Oh man,” Dave said. “The guys’ll never believe this.”

  After a few attempts, the woman got the tassels twirling in a circle.

  Jimmy pulled out his cell phone and started recording. “This’ll go viral, man.”

  “Move it along boys,” the barista said. “Video costs extra.”

  She stopped, picked up the two cardboard cups, handed them to Jimmy and slid the window shut.

  “Have a nice day, boys,” she said from behind the glass.

  ****

  Ted Higuera needed to clear his head. After a summer scouring Mexico for her in the scorching heat, he needed to cool down and let his spirit run free.

  He took the Burlington exit off of I-5, just north of Mount Vernon, Washington. The late August sunshine bathed him in a sense of well being. With the top down on his BMW Z4 roadster, he reveled in the open road.

  He followed the signs to Highway 11, the world-famous Chuckanut Drive. The two-lane road wound north through picturesque farmland then followed the shoreline of Samish Bay. One of the most scenic roads in America, it followed the base of Chuckanut Mountain, along the rocky cliffs with dramatic views of the Salish Sea, all the way to Bellingham. The blazing red and yellow leaves of the maples and alder reminded him that summer was winding to a close. Maybe a little faster here in the far north than in Seattle, but fall was on the way.

  Fall meant football. Ted had spent nearly every fall of his life donning the pads and helmet. He was a whiz at LA’s McKinley High School. His prowess on the field not only won him all the female attention he could handle but it was the key to his future.

  A last minute offer for a scholarship at the University of Washington lifted him out of the barrio. Now, after five years of helping his father run his restaurant in East LA, Ted was back in his adopted home town of Seattle.

  Ted needed the solitude, to clear his head so he could think. He had spent the whole summer chasing her, and hadn’t found a trace.

  “Computer, open Internet Explorer,” Ted said.

  There was a slight whirring sound in his head. His wrap-around sunglasses gave the tiniest vibration. He would have preferred aviator style glasses; these were a little feminine for his taste, but this is what you got when your CEO was a woman.

  Delphi was the brain child of Millennium Systems CEO Alison Clarke. Ted, and his partner, Catrina Flaherty, had done a job for her a few years ago. They bailed her out of a jam when the police suspected her of killing the company’s chairman of the board. In gratitude, she gave Ted one of the astonishing computing devices to beta test, that and a pretty hefty fee.

  A computer screen appeared before Ted’s eyes. It just sort of floated in the space between him and the windshield of his black-on-black roadster. His Yahoo homepage appeared on the screen.

  “Search: Maria Gonzales and Anthropologist,” he said.

  The sunglasses whirred and vibrated again. A listing of possible links appeared, her LinkedIn page, her Facebook page. He stared at the Facebook link and blinked his eyes rapidly two times.

  The screen changed to Maria’s Facebook page. He looked at her picture, her red hair, fair skin and green eyes. Not what you’d expect for someone named Maria Gonzales.

  Maria was a striking example of womanhood. She stood eye-to-eye with Ted’s five-foot-eight- inch frame. Her long red hair, green eyes and pale skin spoke of her Irish heritage. With a Mexican father and an American mother, she had dual citizenship. She spoke English with e
ase and her cultured Spanish put Ted’s street Spanish to shame.

  He pictured her in his mind’s eye. She moved with the fluid motion of a dancer, which she was. She didn’t walk so much as she sort of floated down the hallway.

  No new posts today.

  Linked In and Twitter also were dead ends. He’d checked these sites a hundred times and found nothing. She had dropped off the face of the earth.

  Ted negotiated a curve then turned his attention back to his problem. Where was Maria? He hardly knew her. She helped him locate a major arms dealer in Mexico and find his kidnapped brother. She watched over his wounded brother in the hospital while he, Cat and Chris went after a drug cartel in Baja.

  What did I do wrong? Ted had badly misjudged her. He thought of himself as a modern male, a sensitive man, up there with the best of the equal-rights types. How had he so completely misread her?

  Then she disappeared without a trace. Was she running away from him?

  Her office at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City was empty, her apartment deserted. He searched Mexico City then her home-town of La Paz, Baja California Sur. He drove up and down the Baja Peninsula and all over the mainland. After three weeks of searching, he gave up and came home.

  He heard the ringing inside of his head. The holographic screen hanging in front of his eyes showed the caller ID as Chris Hardwick, Ted’s best friend since college.

  “Computer, answer phone,” he said.

  “Hey, amigo, where are you?” Chris said inside his head.

  “Hi, Chris. I’m out driving. Just had to clear my head.”

  “When are you coming back? We’ve got some work to do for your sister. You promised her, remember?”

  Caramba. Where was his head? He had promised his little sister, Hope, to help her with the cleaning and restoration of her new restaurant on the east side of Lake Union in Seattle.