Page 54 of Matrix

“Those places are no fun. This is much better.” She flashes a seductive smile, but all I can think about is Daisy. She’s so beautiful; this girl couldn’t even hope to compete with her.

“Come on,” Reaper says, ignoring her.

We snake our way through the tables, moving toward the huge stage in the center of the room. A gold-colored rail runs around the bottom of the stage, separating the dancers from the men tossing money at them. Several men drape dollar bills over the rail while gawking at the dancers. I start throwing twenties at the stripper on the stage. That gets her attention. She’s on her back with her legs splayed, but I couldn’t care less. She’s also not my type at all. I remind myself that I only have to play the game for a few hours. Or at least until someone from the cartel invites Talon to Lulu’s.

Discretely looking around the room, I spot several armed men. They blend into the darkness, but they don’t fool me. They’re definitely watching everyone. We need to catch their attention.

When a new girl gets on stage, I whisper to Talon, “Get a lap dance and ask forextras. That should tip her off that you want to pay for sex.”

“Got it.” Talon waits until the second song ends, and the girl is picking up her tips before making his move. “Can we go somewhere private?”

“You want a lap dance?”

“Yeah.”

“Come with me.” She grabs his hand and leads him to a booth near the back of the club.

“Don’t watch them,” I warn Reaper.

“Wasn’t born yesterday,” he growls.

Out of the corner of my eye, I keep an eye on Talon. He’s definitely enjoying the dancer, but he hasn’t lost focus. I can tell the minute he makes his move because the girl glances at the cartel members. She leans over and whispers something into Talon’s ear before walking away. She briefly stops to have a conversation with one of them. He glances at Talon before looking over at us.

“Shit. Don’t look,” I tell Reaper. “We’re on their radar. We need to tell Talon we’re leaving without him. Ready?”

“Let’s go.”

We walk over to where Talon’s sitting. In loud, drunken voices, we inform him the club sucks, and we’re going to leave. He tells us to go fuck ourselves and that he’s not leaving until he gets his dick sucked.

His flawless performance worked. As we’re walking out, I glance at the mirror behind the stage. A cartel member hands Talon a white business card. Talon’s grinning like an absolute fool because he got what he came for. Our work here is done. Now we just have to wait for the results of his trip to Lulu’s.

Chapter 14: Daisy

“You did what?” I sit up in bed and stare at Matrix like he has two heads. He just informed me that he spent the last few hours in a strip club. Without me. Not that I would want to go to one of those places, but he should’ve let me know before he left.

“I didn’t want to wake you,” he says sheepishly. Oh, he knows he’s in trouble. Good thing I’m more interested in their interaction with the cartel than I am in what he did at the strip club. He doesn’t seem like the type of guy who indulges in lap dances, but that’s an assumption I have zero interest in challenging.

“Well? What happened?”

“I didn’t touch any of the strippers.”

“Okay. And?” I slide out of bed and pull on my shirt and pants. If he thinks he’s getting any tonight, he’s dead wrong. I check my watch. It’s two a.m.

“Talon’s at Lulu’s right now looking for your sister.”

After he explains the plan in detail, including what did or didn’t happen at the strip club, anxiety replaces my anger. “Have you heard anything yet?”

“No. But he’s only been inside for a few hours.”

“How do you know he’s safe? Maybe they made him and killed him.”

“Not a chance. You’re not the only one who’s good at undercover work. One time, we sent Talon to work at the Motor Vehicle Department because we needed a certain person’s address.”

“You couldn’t hack their system and get it?”

“I mean, I could, but breaking into anything related to the government isn’t the best idea. They’ve got fairly good tracking abilities. Getting a job at the MVD was much easier.”

“I see.”