Page 7

Chapter Four

Esteban

“My sister asked about you.”

I glance over at Enrique as I steer my boat into the center of Lake Guatavita for the second time in a week.

I stepped out of the restaurant restroom as Lucy walked past me.

I ducked in there to text Enrique what I learned from the Hierro brothers.

I got a name. I didn’t plan a hookup. I knew they’d notice her if she went back out to Domingo, and that was the last thing I wanted.

The moment I touched her, I was done for.

She felt so damn right as I guided her to that storeroom. Then the way she felt against me. The way she tasted. The way?—

For fuck’s sake. You’re going to get hard in front of the woman’s brothers. How the fuck will you explain that without them thinking you’re a perve toward her or hot for one of them?

“I talked to her to keep her away from Paco, Chuy, and Cokie. I realized they’d spot her as she left the restroom since I’d gone in that direction to text you.

I walked back into the dining area, looking like I was on the phone.

I ended a pretend call and kept them distracted while she went back to Domingo.

The brothers didn’t notice them until they walked past the window on the way to Domingo’s car. ”

Luis stares as me for a moment before he speaks. “Did they say anything about her?”

“No. I didn’t give them a chance to.”

“Grrmmmpphhrrr.”

Enrique, Luis, and I look down at the man bound and gagged on the deck.

Luis kicks him in the ribs, but Enrique and I ignore his garbled sound.

We’re near the center of the lake, and it’s overcast, so there are next to no stars shining.

It’s far darker than it was the other night.

I lower the anchor, then turn off the engine.

Enrique grabs the man’s hair and pulls him to his feet.

He brings the tip of his blade to the corner of the guy’s right eye and trails it down his cheek, leaving a faint line but not breaking the skin.

The man pisses himself when Enrique slips the knife beneath the gag.

Enrique, Luis, and I laugh as Enrique cuts the gag in one slice.

“Now I’m going to have to scrub the fucking deck. I should make you do it before I keelhaul you.”

I’ll have to scrub more than just piss after we’re done with him. Enrique cuts through the zip ties securing the guy’s hands behind his back. Luis pulls a mini machete from his belt, and Enrique pushes our captive’s hands onto the boat’s rail.

“You like to wear a lot of jewelry. Perhaps we shall offer them as sacrifices to El Dorado .”

Luis raises his knife as he speaks. He’s about to bring it down over the man’s left pinky when he squeals and tries to pull away. All that does is make him back into my pistol’s muzzle.

“We can’t leave without offering something to Chie. The water goddess won’t be ignored.” I push him forward until Enrique and Luis each have a hand pressed against the boat.

This guy—Miguel Rojas—is descended from the ancient Muisca people who inhabited this area. This lake is one of their most sacred spots. I’m not superstitious like Miguel, but I don’t like to linger here if I can help it. We’re using his fear to our advantage.

“Tell us what we want to know, and all you’ll lose are your rings, bracelets, and necklaces. Don’t answer, and I’ll cut off your fingers, your hands, and then your neck to make our offerings. Your jewels will sink to the bottom just like the parts of you I lop off.” Luis lifts the machete again.

“No! No! I’ll talk. I’ll give the offering, and I’ll talk.”

Whether it’s a healthy fear of the deity or us, the man’s made his first good choice since getting into bed with Humberto.

“What’s Humberto planning?”

Miguel looks at Enrique as he mulls over what to say.

Luis presses the blade against his pinky, and Miguel trembles.

He’s weak, but at least that means we won’t be out here long.

The whole only-one-boat-out-here thing is making me anxious.

No boats are supposed to be on the lake, and the few that come on here are usually little more than rafts or canoes.

It’s why this is a good place to meet Enrique and Luis.

No one’s going to overhear us. But none of us love being on sacred water.

We might not believe in the goddess Chie because we’re all lapsed Catholics, but we have a healthy fear of desecrating any faith.

“He thinks he’s—” Miguel tilts his head toward me and looks over his shoulder.

“—at home with his parents in Medellín. Humberto wanted him—” He jerks his head toward me this time.

“—to kill your father, but now he’s ordered me to do it.

I’m supposed to be at the airport, hiding just outside the hangar when your family arrives to meet you.

Humberto knows el jefe won’t let the senora or senoritas out of the car before him.

I’m to shoot him the moment he turns toward the plane as it taxis into the hangar.

I have a driver to go with me to get me out of there. ”

“He’s assuming our father gets out of the car before the plane enters the hangar. What if he waits until Luis and I get off the plane?”

Miguel’s already pissed himself. Now he looks like he’s going to shit himself.

“I’m to shoot all three of you.”

“You’re willing to die for our tío ?” Luis sounds skeptical.

“Do I have a choice?”

“Yes.” Enrique’s quick to answer, which makes Miguel shift his attention away from the machete pressing against his finger.

“Is it a choice of how I die? I don’t want to be keelhauled. Just cut my head off instead. I can’t hold my breath that long.”

I roll my eyes. For starters, I’m not keelhauling him in this lake.

I still have limits beside not harming women and children, and we’re already pushing them being out here to torture the fucker.

My boat isn’t even wide enough to do more than keep him under water for thirty seconds.

I can’t do it lengthwise because of the outboard engines.

The worst that would happen is he gets some water up his nose.

“You work for me now. You’re going to make your home in la alcantarilla .”

The sewer. It’s the worst prison in Bogotá.

The most hardened criminals go there. If it weren’t for the Diaz family, it would be a survival of the fittest in there.

Fucking Lord of the Flies . Josue ensures the rival gangs understand they keep their turf wars within the prison because he allows it.

Any of them step out of line, and he sends Luis in to remind them that what Josue gives, he can take away.

Los Diaz run contraband through there. They make a shit ton manipulating guards to get the prisoners addicted, then keeping them hooked, but not dead. They also monopolize all sales and distribution of cell phones and cigarettes into the prison. Those are the two most coveted items besides drugs.

To outsiders, it sounds like nothing but a massive criminal operation.

There’s no doubt it is, but it also keeps the peace.

When there’s open hostility in the prisons, then there’s open hostility in the streets.

With the Diaz family—with Josue—in command, there’s a balance of power among the gangs that ensures innocent people aren’t caught in the crossfire.

With the tight rein Josue keeps on the prisons throughout Latin America, no one dares test his reach.

No one but his maldito pedazo de mierda —motherfucking piece of shit—brother.

“I won’t survive la alcantarilla !” Miguel looks ready to piss and shit himself while puking over the edge.

“You better figure out how to. When I say jump, you’ll beg to know how high.

When I say grovel, you’ll crawl on your belly to lie beneath my boots.

When I tell you to take it up the ass, you’ll spread your cheeks.

You’ll smuggle whatever the fuck I want into that jail and do it with a motherfucking smile.

If you don’t, Luis’ll toss you into the yard like a piece of steak to a lion pride.

They’ll tear you apart while you’re still breathing.

Do you have any idea how painful it is to be disemboweled? ”

“Fine. Fine. I’ll do it.”

Nothing about Enrique’s tone or expression makes any of us think he’s exaggerating.

Luis won’t think twice about following that order since the man cowering before us was prepared to attempt to kill their father.

There’s no way he would succeed, but he’d try.

It’s more convenient to have him on the inside than in a pool of blood in the hangar where their mother and sisters could see or get caught in crossfire.

“Check in tomorrow at seven a.m. Don’t make me wait.”

Enrique speaks as though Miguel’s going to a hotel not a penitentiary.

Luis draws back his fist and slams it into Miguel’s temple.

The man crumples to the deck. He won’t wake before Enrique and Luis’s men dump him outside the jail when we get back into the city.

We remain silent as we head back to shore.

I swab the deck and wipe the rails to remove any traces of us.

The brothers help me attach my boat to the trailer and wait for me as I tow it out of the water.

I have a place a few miles away where I store it alongside their boat.

“We may have ended that threat, but tío won’t take the hint. He needs to go.” Enrique’s gaze bores into me as he speaks.

“I know.” He wants me to do to Humberto what Humberto wanted me to do to Josue.

The brothers turn toward their armored SUV as I walk to my truck. It’s far bigger than most vehicles on the roads here, so it sticks out. I only drive it when I have to haul something. Usually, I stick with a less conspicuous sports car.

“If anything goes wrong—if you can’t finish the job or something comes up, I’m trusting Matáis to get Catalina to safety, and I’m trusting you to do the same for Luciana. Mamá knows what to do. Fail me, and there’ll be no forgiveness.”