Page 31

SIXTEEN

PAUL

T he radio in my ear suddenly crackled loudly, and I fought not to react to it as I made my way across the room.

That was strange. I picked up a plate and added a few pieces of fruit to it and carried it with me.

I hated to leave Nicole so quickly, but I spotted a guy I’d once been close with when I was Eric.

I lipread him say my friend Chili’s name in conversation with another man.

I had to get close to them in a hurry. They seemed intense, and my Spidey sense tingled.

When I heard them mention Chili again, my hackles went up and I got closer.

I fished around the serving sets on a side table to find a fork as I tuned them in.

“Something is not right.” The man I knew was definitely on edge. “Chili has never worked this far south before.” He spoke English, as most of the guests were speaking Spanish, but they kept their voices low.

“Maybe he’s moving his operation down here?”

“No way,” he shook his head, “not since Noah died and he took over the tunnel. He wouldn’t risk losing that territory. Besides, Bruno would kill him.”

“Then what do you think he’s doing here?”

I kept my back to my old friend but was able to see his face through the top of the shiny serving tray cover.

“I’m not sure, but he’s poking around in places he shouldn’t.

The fact that he’s been seen has kicked up dust, and there is now a target on his back.

The Canoses have put someone to watch his next run.

If there is something going on they don’t like, they’ll take him. ”

“That’s smart.”

Fuck, I needed to warn him.

I glanced around and couldn’t spot Nicole or Sully.

Time was ticking, and I had to reach Chili before he was caught.

I told him what was going on and had sent him to check out a few places my son might be.

I spotted a lady’s purse hanging on the back of a chair, the top open.

Her phone was visible, so I put my plate on a table and walked toward her table and bumped it with my hip.

“Oh!” The lady jumped, and I dropped to my knee, snatched her phone, and tucked it up my sleeve.

“My apologies. Are you all right? Did I hurt you?” I asked in Spanish while I held her hand.

Her face immediately warmed, and she smiled and patted my shoulder.

“Good.” I didn’t wait for a response. I headed for the stairs and slipped out of view.

I checked a few doors until I found one that wasn’t locked and carefully let myself in.

It was some sort of guest room, and once I cleared it, I locked the door behind me.

I went to the window and peeped out through the curtains then held up the phone and prayed the reception would be good.

I couldn’t hear any crackling. I breathed a sigh of relief as I silenced the ringer.

It had been a while since I texted Chili in code, but it came to me easily.

Unknown Number: 5579

A moment later, the phone buzzed and once it connected, I spoke.

“Your order has been cancelled.”

Silence. “Understood.”

I took a deep breath as I crushed the phone against the sill then tossed the remains into a planter.

“I said enough!”

The voice was familiar, and I peeked through the curtains again to try to spot her. I couldn’t see anything.

“Let go,” I heard her snap.

I wasted no time and eased the double patio doors open and crossed the balcony. I saw Nicole struggling with a man, and I made a beeline to where they were.

“Bruno, please, I told you everything. You’re hurting me.” I heard fear in her voice.

“Don’t make me repeat myself.” He lifted his hand as if to hit her, but I grabbed it and twisted it backward. Nicole’s eyes widened and she immediately backed away.

Bruno yelped and swung around to face me. If he only knew who it was who stared right back at him.

“You touch my girlfriend again and you’ll deal with me,” I threatened then ducked when I saw his fist coming.

I shoved him back, and he flew into the same pillar he had just pushed Nicole into.

He whirled around and touched his lip then casually wiped the drop of blood from his finger with a tissue.

He removed his jacket, laid it over a chair, and put his hands up to fight.

I would have loved to indulge myself, but I didn’t have time for it, so when he lunged at me, I wrapped my arm around his neck and pressed into his kidney, slowly putting him to sleep.

I lowered him to the ground, waited for a beat, and looked up at Nicole.

“You okay?”

“Your judgement calls are way out of whack.” She rubbed her arm where he’d held her. “You took your sweet time,” she spat. “What the hell happened? Where did you go?”

“Not now.” I stood and shook my head then took her hand and whisked her down the stairs. “Where are you?” I asked Keith through my radio.

“East gate.”

“Copy that.” I changed direction, and we circled the property using the shadow of the fence as cover. I pushed her ahead of me and helped her slip through the tiny garden gate. Once outside, I cautioned her to keep low, and we made it to the road where Keith waited with the car.

“You good?” he asked as we crawled inside.

“Define good.” Nicole snickered, but I signaled we were, and Keith took off. I tossed my head back and took a deep breath.

“So?” she asked.

“So?” I pulled out my phone.

“What the hell happened back there?”

“I had to follow up on something.”

“Which was?” She wasn’t letting it go.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. I wasn’t used to explaining myself. “I heard something, and I needed to deal with it.” At her expression, I continued. “It was someone’s name I knew from a long time ago. I had to know if they were connected to this shitstorm.”

“Were they?”

“No.” I glanced at her and saw she was seriously angry with me. “What are you really upset about, Nicole? That I left you alone for a few minutes? You said you could handle yourself, remember. Or are you still mad that I interrupted Rafael while he gawked at you?”

She looked ready to punch me. “What I’m upset about, Paul, is that you guys assured me that you’d watch my back. You told me to use a safe word if I was in trouble, I said that safe word, and you didn’t show up for another ten minutes.”

“What?” I hadn’t heard her use the safe word.

“We were all unreachable for eleven minutes,” Keith said, and I glanced at his face in the mirror. “Seems pretty convenient that Bruno showed up right when our coms went offline.”

“He must have had a scrambler.” That was why my comms had crackled in my ear. I should’ve caught it. My mind was a mess, and I realized my skills were less than they should have been. I pushed the fog away and changed the subject. “What did Rafael say?”

“We have company,” Keith cut in before she could answer. He quickly pulled his wig back on and grabbed his pair of thick glasses. It was doubly difficult to do our job since most of the Blackstone team’s faces had been leaked to the Cartel families.

My hand fell heavily on Nicole’s bare thigh to catch her attention.

“Keith is going to speed up, and when he turns the next corner, he’ll slow as much as he can, then we’re going to jump out.

” At her shocked expression, I raised my brow and shrugged.

“Then we’re going to walk along the water back to the cottage.

” She didn’t answer, but she didn’t protest either.

“Ready?” Keith called. “One, two,” I waited for Keith to swing around the corner and slow, “three, go!” I swung her over my lap, kicked the door open, and we rolled out together.

I held her tightly to me until we stopped then hauled her up until we had our backs flush to a concrete wall.

“Just wait,” I warned as tires squealed and a black car zoomed past where we huddled in the shadows. They had followed the bait. “Come on.”

I helped her over the low wall and down the bank to the sand where she took off her heels and hiked up her dress.

I held a finger to my lips and motioned her to follow.

We waded waist deep into the water so our footprints couldn’t be tracked.

She didn’t speak as we made our way along the rocky sea floor.

She fell behind a few times, and I waited for her to catch up.

It was a long, exhausting walk, as we were both fully dressed, but we didn’t dare shed an article of clothing that could give away our location.

I put my hand in the air when I heard a boat engine. She had already stopped dead in her tracks.

“Do you hear that?” Her whisper was shaky, a dead giveaway that she was cold and scared.

“Get down.” I dropped until my chin hit the water, and she did the same.

“Do you think they’re Bruno’s men?” she whispered as the boat slowed and they started to use a big spotlight to scan the water’s edge.

“Can you hold your breath?”

“Yes.”

“Good. When I say, go below the water, and I’ll tap you when you can come back up.” I hoped she could do this. I waited for the light to get closer, and when it was a few feet away, we both took a deep breath and submerged.

The moonlight was filtered from the salty sea, so everything was black.

I felt Nicole touch my hand, and I threaded my fingers through hers.

I needed her to stay calm. Their strong light slowly moved over us, and for a moment I thought we would be seen.

Perhaps they saw the ripples and wondered what had caused them.

She squeezed my hand, and I saw she had to go back up.

We resurfaced, only to come face to face with the side of the boat.

She dove back down, and I did the same, but I lost track of where she went.

The ocean floor dipped, and I dropped lower as the boat engine roared to life again, and I could barely make out anything in the foam it created as it moved away.

I kicked hard and shot up to take in a deep gulp of air as I spun in search of Nicole.