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Okay, that meant it must be Brett Salazar, Rita’s boss, a drug smuggler, and, apparently, the man who’d abducted their mother.

“Yes, I understand.” She forced the words out. She looked to Nate, and when he mouthed, “Salazar?”, she nodded.

“Good,” Brett said. “Tell your sister to bring my shit to the warehouse at eight.”

“Tonight?”

“No, next Thursday. Of course tonight, you stupid bitch.”

Her temper sparked, but she kept it in check, because she didn’t dare do anything that might jeopardize her mother’s safety.

“Baby, no,” her mother’s voice pleaded in the background. “Don’t give them—”

“Shut up!”

Another slap, and Mamá cried out again, and rage set up shop in Dorcas’s mind.

“Eight o’clock,” he repeated. “No cops. No phone. No weapons. If you call the police—”

“Yeah, I know. You’ll kill my mother.”

Rita gasped.

“Good girl. If you’re late, I put a bullet in her brain.” He hung up before she could respond.

Dorcas stood there, the phone still pressed to her ear, her mind racing, heart pounding, as the full weight of the situation sank in. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. She couldn’t stop her hands from shaking.

Nate’s face filled her vision. “Babe, talk to me.”

Her stomach lurched. “I think I’m going to throw up.”

Gentle hands guided her to a chair in the conference room. A small trash can appeared between her feet. Through the haze, she heard Nate’s voice. She couldn’t make out the exact words, but the tone was soothing, and she clung to it like a lifeline. Little by little, her stomach settled, and her heart no longer felt as though it was about to punch through her chest.

“Can you tell me what he said?” Nate was crouched beside her, his hand on her arm, his expression purposefully blank.

Dorcas nodded. She took a deep breath, let it out on a shuddering exhale, and recounted everything Salazar had said, to the best of her memory.

“What do we do?” she asked when she finished, and then thanked Nina for the glass of water she offered.

“We give him what he wants,” Nate said, matter-of-fact. “And we get your mother back.”

Austin stood and paced the length of the room. “Do you think Carfano or Aranza is involved?”

Nate shook his head. “If they were, things would have escalated days ago. He probably wants to take care of the problem before they find out he’s double-dipping.”

“Is that why he’s so determined to get the flash drive back?” Rita asked.

“Could be.” Larissa typed something into her laptop. “Or it could be he doesn’t have a backup copy of the data and can’t access his money without it.”

“Seriously?” Dorcas looked over at her. “Who does that?”

“You’d be surprised.”

“Hostage exchanges are touchy.” Austin stood by the window, one hand rubbing the side of his neck. “Tempers run hot, and people get nervous about being tricked or ripped off. Fortunately, he gave us time to plan and prepare. That’s the sign of an amateur. We can use that to our advantage. You got any ideas, Wade?”

He didn’t respond right away, just watched them all with those moss-green eyes that seemed to stare into forever. “Even if you do everything Salazar wants, he’s not going to let her live.”

Nate’s jaw dropped open. “Jesus, Wade!”