Page 6

“Stop!” I kicked at whoever I could reach and was rewarded with a clip to my head.

I went limp as black spots threatened to drag me down.

I fought through it and tried to focus. I was thrown into a vehicle and shoved from side to side as they climbed in next to me.

The vehicle took off so fast my neck snapped.

I found that strange. Normally, they had the local police so well paid off that they could move through the streets without a care.

So, why were we in such a hurry? A glimmer of hope was that my military team might be on their heels.

Of course, hope was just a dream in these situations.

Hope was reserved for me to save myself.

I settled my mind and focused. The bag over my head was thin, and I could somewhat make out the two men in the front and one on either side of me. I couldn’t see the road, only the bright sunlight.

I was trained for these kinds of situations, and it wasn’t the first time I’d been taken. This somehow felt different.

One of the men put his hand on my knee, and a million nasty thoughts pushed through my mind on how I was going to kill him, but I knew better than to react. They wanted a reason to hit me. The Cartel were savages, and it was my duty to show the world just how savage they were.

A trickle of warmth went down my temple, and I knew I had a cut from the punch. Great, just what I needed, an open wound to get infected. I wondered if I could negotiate a doctor’s visit with whoever had taken me. I practically laughed at the thought.

I finally lost track of how many turns we’d taken and how far we drove. I could only tell the sun was lower, my head was tired, but I knew I couldn’t risk falling asleep with Touchy Toucherson next to me.

Just as sleep began to win, my head snapped back as we headed up a steep hill then stopped with a jerk.

I was yanked like a rag doll from the vehicle and dragged inside what I assumed was a house.

The grooves in the tile floor tripped me more than once as I fought to find footing.

Then I was tossed down on my knees. The painful impact vibrated through my bones.

“Ouch!” I shouted and ripped my arm from the hold of whoever had it in a tight grip. “Get your nasty-ass hands off of me!” My temper often showed itself at the worst of times. It could be a blessing and a curse, according to my mother before she left. She carried the same trait.

“Tsk, tsk,” someone said from in front of me. I tried to balance on my throbbing knees as I peered at a shadowy figure through the thin fabric. “If she can’t walk, what good is she to me?”

His accent was heavy and pulled at a terrifying memory.

I knew that voice, and my first instinct was to run.

He had disappeared for quite some time but sadly was back.

I was so screwed. At least if I’d been brought here for him, I figured I wouldn’t be killed right away, and that only made it scarier somehow.

I hoped he wanted me as a tool he could use.

It wouldn’t be the first time, and I could work with that.

“Bring her to the chair.” Of course, Bruno spoke in English.

He wanted to be an American so badly. He saw himself as different from everyone else here.

Then something hit me. Maybe Sully Sanchez needed my help with something and had sent this worthless piece of shit to grab me. Sully should have known better.

Sully wasn’t the best human being in the world, but he was still one of them.

I’d put in a lot of effort to win that man over, and I felt he trusted me, and it gave me a little leverage within this tier of the Cartel.

That was, after all, an important part of my job, to work my way into their lives and report back whatever I could.

He seemed open to helping me, and I had long ago planned to use him in any way I could.

Stay calm and see what he wants.

I was lifted off my feet and dropped onto a chair, then the bag was ripped off and I fought to fast-blink my way to a clear focus. Once my eyes adjusted, it was like a bomb ignited inside me. Though I already knew it was him, he was the last person I ever wanted to see again.

“Ms. Winter, I’ve been waiting for this day. It’s been a while.”

“Bruno Perez.” I hated to even say his name. My insides still reeled from the psychological blow at the sight of him. “I wish I could say the same.”

“Do you still wear that perfume that smells like lavender?” His eyes danced as if from the memory of the first time we met. My skin shivered over my bones and tried desperately to slither away.

“I believe I smashed the bottle when I was finally free from your claws.” My words dripped with venom.

Bruno was a sick narcissist who had too much power at too young an age.

He shoved up his sleeves, and I saw his left arm had been badly burned.

The skin was rough and wrinkly. I wondered who got close enough to do that to him and if they were still alive.

“Lucky for you, I have some more.” He snapped his fingers, and a man handed him the same brand that I used to wear. He squeezed the pump, and a spray of that haunting scent burst into the air. He closed his eyes and inhaled like some psychotic bastard while I fought the memory it brought.

He pulled back my hair and sprayed the perfume on my neck and shoulders. The tiny droplets clung to my skin. It felt like tiny pinpricks as it absorbed into my body.

“It’s sad, really,” my anger was at full throttle, “that you hung on to someone who despised every single part of you.” He then grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head back. His eyes widened, but I refused to show fear. Not with him; he fed off it.

“When people don’t submit to me, I enforce it, Nicole, or did you forget?

” I shoved his hand away as he muttered something I didn’t care to hear.

He moved over to a table and fixed himself a drink.

Then he turned, leaned on the table, and sipped the amber liquid.

I fantasized about smashing the glass and ramming it into his neck. I would be doing Mexico a favor.

“You have a reputation for finding people. No?” His anger dissolved from his voice.

“Do I?” I pushed my shaky hands between my thighs to hide my nerves.

Bruno was undoubtably the most ruthless and youngest Cartel member ever to climb the ranks of their world.

I knew it was all thanks to his mother and who her older brother, Martin Castillo, once was.

He’d grown even worse after his uncle’s empire was torn down by an elite group of soldiers.

I’d never met the famous Team Blackstone or Team Dark Water, but everyone knew who they were and what they’d done to Castillo.

I’d also heard rumors that they dabbled in some dark stuff to get the job done.

As someone who had once had to do the same, I fully respected them for it.

“Apparently, you found Sully Sanchez, and he had been, how do you say, underground for a long time. I hear you are,” he thought for a moment, “ amigos .”

“Ha! Friends isn’t what I’d call it.” I scoffed and tried to settle the tremors I felt in my legs.

“We have an understanding and a mutual agreement about some things, but that’s where it ends.

That’s where the line is drawn.” I didn’t need him getting any ideas.

My luck, Bruno would get jealous and kill off Sully, and then I’d really be screwed.

I’d worked so long to gain Sully’s trust.

“ Sí , lines were drawn…” He huffed and waved me off like he thought I was lying about how close I was to Sanchez. “Regardless, Sully says I can trust you, so I trust you. I want your help.”

My fear turned to anger, and my temper picked up as I caught his drift.

“You’ve never had to ask anyone for help before, have you?

” His brows pinched together at my outburst. “I’m just trying to understand the way you went about this.

” Why was it my brain screamed at me to shut up, but my mouth just kept going?

“If your men had just said you wanted to talk to me, I would’ve come.

” That was a bold-ass lie, but I’d fake it ’til I made it.

“Instead, you shot a child’s mother, bagged me, and dragged my ass here, without so much as an explanation.

Now you stand here and ask for my help? Seriously?

Let’s try this again, shall we?” I clamped my jaw shut and died a little inside.

Christ, Nicole, you’re asking to be killed.

So many emotions ran over his face, but to my surprise, he flung his head back and laughed.

“Sully said you had a temper and a mouth on you. It’s a shame you never showed that side of you before.

I’d never have let you leave.” Christ, he was crazy.

“I had no idea you were this entertaining.” Great, I just caught his attention for the second time in my life.

“ Tienes cojones .” He laughed then stepped forward and handed me a photo of a pretty woman with brown eyes and a big scar across her chin. She held a baby.

“They are?” I raised my eyebrows at him.

He pushed his hands into his pockets as he walked over to the window and looked out. “The two people you’re going to find for me.”

“Why are you looking for them? Are they your family?”

“No.” He shook his head. “ Hay una recompensa por su cabeza. Entiendes? You understand?”

“A bounty.” I repeated what he said. I felt I must have gotten something wrong in translation, he said a bounty on his head. Meaning the baby?

“ Senorita ?”

“There’s a bounty on them?” I repeated to get clarification.

He didn’t answer, so I changed the direction of the conversation.

“Something tells me you don’t need the money.

” I snickered, then reined it in when he looked over his shoulder at me.

“Why would Sully recommend me, anyway? I don’t do that kind of work. I’m a reporter, not a bounty hunter.”

He rubbed his chin as he turned. “You have a way to find people.” He slitted his eyes. “If you want Ben Bale to live, you’ll do this.”

That stopped my mouth from firing off again. He knew where Ben was. My cameraman wasn’t just anyone. He was a friend, a fellow man in the fight for truth, one who always had my back, and I his. I studied the photo and hated that Bruno had just won.

A fellow war correspondent who had joined the Washington Post when I did and arrived three months after me flashed in front of my eyes and spiked my temper. “Like how you dangled Elise Manny in my face all those years ago and she still ended up dead?”

“Let’s not get into semantics,” he grunted. “She could have avoided her fate but chose not to.”

I cleared my throat and pulled my temper back. “I say again, this isn’t what I do.”

“You will find a way.” He smiled down at me.

I licked my lips as my brain flew in all directions. I didn’t have much choice, especially if I could help Ben. “If I’m doing this, I need to fully understand what this is about,” I pointed at the photo, “and who they are.”

“I will tell you what I know.”

“And you will let me leave when this is over.” I needed him to say it.

“As you Americans say, we will cross that bridge when we get to it.” I started to protest, but he stopped me. “ Senorita , you will listen, as time is not on my side.” He sat down and started to fill me in.

By the time it was over, I had a totally new mindset on what needed to happen. More than anything, I needed to get to this woman before anyone else did.