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“Shit,” Cole huffed.
“Yeah,” I rubbed my tired face, “then Bruno showed up, and he had a scrambler on him. I didn’t hear her say her code word, and he got his hands on Nicole. It was just one mess after another. But she knows something, and once she gets her head back on straight, she’ll be out to share it.”
Nicole appeared a few minutes later, freshly changed with towel-dried hair. I closed the laptop and reached for the bag of food. “I thought you might want a cold, nine-hour-old burger.” I handed it to her with a shrug. “Sorry, but it’s the best we could do.”
“How’d you know?” She tried to banter back, but I could tell something was really bothering her. “Thanks.”
“So, how was the party?” Mark asked as he kicked up his feet at an attempt to relax the room.
She tugged at her sleeve, and it was hard to miss the raw marks on her wrist. My guess, it was Bruno. “Eventful.” She tore at the wrapper and started in on the burger. She swallowed and wiped her mouth. “I better share this now, so I don’t forget anything.” She put the burger down on the table.
“All right.” Cole nodded, and all attention was on her.
“Turns out Bruno has Sully and me both looking for the child. He’s playing us but doesn’t realize that Sully and I go way back, and we talk. I have no loyalty to any Cartel members, of course, but if I did, it would be with Sully. He held that party to attract the attention of Rafael, but he couldn’t get close enough to him to do what Bruno ordered.
“As I’ve mentioned before, Rafael has a type, and it’s not men. So, I worked him, and he let me in a little, baited me with some possible new stories.” Her face dipped, and I wondered what kind of stories he offered. “I got his attention and pulled him away from his friends then did my thing. I told him how I had the media basically in the palm of my hand and how useful that could be to him. He got cocky and started to brag about this new business deal he had going on.”
“Do you think he thought you already knew about the child?” John asked.
“Not positive, but I think so because I made sure he knew Sully and I worked together from time to time. The fact that I’d been invited to the party may have helped. I played it cool. I made sure to act more interested in him than what he was sharing.”
“Smart,” I chimed in.
“Thanks.” She gave me a quick glance. “He told me that his girlfriend got her hands on something that would be worth a lot of money to some people. He wanted me to help spread the word that this something is up for sale, and the highest bidder wins. The auction, for want of a better word, closes in two days.”
“Anything else?” Cole probed. “Did he give you any idea of where this item, obviously the child, is being held?”
“No, but he did make an off-the-wall comment about how the prize would become fish food if he didn’t get what he wanted. He laughed and said he’d get his cash either way.” She looked over when we all went silent. I knew she caught the sympathetic looks John and Keith threw my way. “I know. It’s terrible, isn’t it? He has no regard at all for human life.”
“He’s an animal,” John agreed, “but the fact there’s a deadline means we need to work fast.”
“Nicole,” Cole leaned forward from where he sat on the couch, “can you tell us what Bruno was doing at the party? I thought Sully told you he wasn’t going to be there.”
She had just picked the burger back up, but at Cole’s words, she dropped it on the table, unfinished. “Sully had no idea, and I could tell he was just as blindsided as I was that he showed.” She seemed about to say something, then paused as if she didn’t want to share the rest.
“And?” I encouraged her.
“And he reminded me that I worked for him, which is a joke. I’ve never worked for Bruno. He’s delusional.” She rubbed her face. “Though you’re definitely on his radar now.” She looked at me. “Be careful, Paul. There’s something bigger going on here. I can feel it.”
I glanced at John then back to her. “Meaning?”
“Bruno’s got bigger plans for me. Sully hinted at it. I have no idea what because he got pulled away before I could press him on it. I’ve been thinking about it.” She bit her lip. “Sully knew about Ben being chipped and how furious Bruno was about the tracker not working. He’s up to something, and Sully thinks it’s to do with getting revenge for his uncle’s death.”
John looked at Cole. “We need to find out what Sully knows about Bruno.”
Nicole’s face fell, and I wondered what she hadn’t said. She rubbed her neck and looked tired, and I decided not to push.
“We leave before sunup to sweep Selena’s place.” Nicole looked at me. “I need to see it for myself. We may find something they missed,” I explained. “For now, why don’t you get some sleep?”
“Yeah,” she stood in a zombie-like state, “I think I need to.”
SEVENTEEN
BRUNO
I watched the party from the back of the room. Some of the guests began to retire for the evening. It wasn’t lost on me that Sully had avoided me the whole evening. When I saw Nicole would be there, I knew I had to leave my meeting with Mama early to drive down and deal with the situation myself.
My phone buzzed, and I read the screen.