Bus to Beulah by E.C. Hanes

Release date: May 10, 2022

Subgenre: Crime thriller

 

About The Bus to Beulah:

 

On her way to a new job in America, Maria Puente accidentally discovers a human trafficking ring. Fearing exposure, the American company that manages the operation with the help of their Mexican partners kidnaps Maria.
 

Maria’s disappearance triggers a desperate search, by her family and local law enforcement, to find her before the kidnappers can permanently dispose of her. As the investigation unfolds, long-time Hogg County high sheriff Will Moser confronts Albert Waters, a powerful businessman who Will suspects knows about Maria’s disappearance, but Albert and his Mexican cartel partners prove to be brick walls.

 
At the urging of his wife, Lana, Will calls on Elijah Kahn, a man he got to know while serving in Vietnam who now runs one of the largest international security firms in the world. The idea of working with men who are rightly known as mercenaries troubles Will, but he knows he’ll never find Maria without Elijah’s help and when Lana reminds Will of the debt they owe to Tomas Delgado, Maria’s uncle, his hesitation evaporates.
 

Organized in an hour-by-hour structure, The Bus to Beulah is a taut thriller that culminates in a massive, heart-pounding chase to save Maria before she disappears forever.

 

Excerpt:

 

Jared, seeing the anger on Albert’s face, said, “Ruff, I’m sorry. I should have filled you in yesterday, but we were both so busy that I just forgot. After our call the other day with Gabriel, when we told him about Luca’s fuck-up, he called me back and said that they’re sending one of their top guys to see if he can help. I think they feel bad since Luca Castro was their choice to start the prostitution business.

Anyway, a guy named Dante Sandoval is getting here some time tomorrow or early Friday. He’s taking a plane from Monterrey to Toronto and then to Charlotte. I told him that if he’d let us know when he was getting in, we’d pick him up at the airport, but he said no, that he’d get a car. He’s traveling under the name Robert Major.

“I know you haven’t been keen on the prostitution business, Albert, and especially their ideas for drug distribution, but I think when he explains what they have in mind, you’ll be more enthusiastic.”

Albert replied, “I doubt that. And busy or not, you should have told me about some hotshot cartel guy coming to town. I still run this fucking show, in case you forgot.”

“You’re right, Albert. I’m sorry and I know that it’s your show, but you need to understand the pressure I’m under in dealing with these people in Mexico.” 

The more Jared discussed the Mexican connections and the drug distribution idea, the more nervous Albert got. “Jared, you know how I feel about this shit. I never wanted to expand our visa program into prostitution, much less drugs. I don’t know why you insisted on these businesses!”

Jared took a long swig of his beer, then sat down opposite Albert, looking him in square in the eye. “Albert, I’ve told you all this before. It’s not me. You gotta understand Mexico. At the top of the heap, you have about a dozen major corporations which control everything from oil to telecommunications to food to heavy manufacturing to pharmaceuticals and to technology. The owners and managers of these monopolies effectively own the government. They control who will run for office, who wins, and what they’ll support when elected.

“Next you got the cartels. These control all the illegal drugs, prostitution, and human trafficking in the country, and they’re damn near as powerful as the corporations. The difference is that the guys who run these businesses didn’t go to Harvard Business School. They’re stone-cold killers and are afraid of nothing. They maintain their power in Mexico and Latin America the same way Stalin did  in Russia…murder, intimidation, blackmail, and purchased loyalty. The Mexican citizens, who are by their nature patriots and decent people, are terrified for their lives.

“The big corporate guys isolate themselves behind heavily armed  private armies, but even they have to deal with drug money and the dealers at some point.

“Albert, we started Manpower Solutions in order to meet the demand for cheap labor here, but I couldn’t do that without the help of some well-connected people. Only one group in Nuevo Leon State has the right connections and the muscle necessary to maintain them, and they’re ‘the Olmecs’. They control a large part of the State of Nuevo Leon and a good part of Tamaulipas State. For me, an Anglo, to find pickers in the numbers we need would have been impossible without local partners; so, I formed a relationship with the Olmecs.

 

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About E.C. Hanes: 

Eldridge C. Hanes — Redge to his friends, was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and graduated from Woodberry Forest School in Orange, Virginia, and then from Duke University in 1967 with a BA in Economics. He graduated from the Army Combat Engineering Officer Candidate School at Fort Belvoir in June of 1968 and served three years of active duty, the last of which was in the Republic of Vietnam and earned him
the Bronze Star. After the army, Redge worked seven years for Hanes Corporation and then left to start Xpres Corporation, which eventually became The Russ Companies, for whom Redge served as chairman for three years before retiring in 2011. In addition to his business interests, he has served on a number of boards in the education, environmental
and arts fields. Redge has published two novels, Billy Bowater and Justice by Another Name, in addition to contributing essays and articles to various publications. His essay “Helen of Marion” appeared in the recent UNC Press anthology, Mothers and Strangers: Essays on Motherhood from the New South. Redge has been married for fifty years to Jane Grenley Hanes. They have a son, Philip, and a daughter, Lara, and are grandparents of five lively and beautiful grandchildren.

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