Page 33 of Kidnapped By the Boss
Katya sucked in a sharp breath and whispered, “So young.”
“Tell us about Antonio,” Devrick coaxed.
“His name is Antonio Portages, but we all call him Ant. He’s originally from Spain, but he came here to the states about three years ago. He was the youngest of six boys in a cartel clan over there and knew he’d never see power, so he came here to start The Wreckers and claim power for himself,” she explained.
Devrick crossed his arms. “And how did you come to meet him?”
“He saved me,” she said in a reverent tone. “My folks are those old-fashioned, Bible-toting types, like the kind that wouldn’t even let me watch Harry Potter or listen to music other than the Christian station, and even then, anything that sounded even remotely modern as opposed to an old church hymn or something, they were reluctant to let me listen to. Said they didn’t want it to be a gateway. I was homeschooled and wasn’t allowed to have friends outside of church—it was miserable. But then I met Ant. He told me that the way my family treated me wasn’t natural, and that, if I wanted, he would give me a much better life. When I turned eighteen and graduated high school, I ran off with him and haven’t looked back since.”
Sounded to me like “Ant” came over and looked for the first naive girl he could find to take advantage of. “Did he ask you for anything?” I interjected.
“No.” She shook her head. “Just wanted me to be his queen.” Then she eyed Katya. “But then he saw you. And that’s the thing about Ant; he thinks he’s entitled to the best the world has to offer. Thought you were the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, so he told me that he was picking a new Queen, but that if I wanted, I could still be a part of The Wreckers. I’d just move down. Broke my heart, but I only wanted what’s best for him, so I agreed. Next thing I know, I’m in that trunk.”
“What about your parents?” Katya asked. “Do you think they’re looking for you?”
“Hell if I know,” Lyn said. “They really couldn’t stand me much. I was their rebellious child. Notfor the lord. It was probably a huge relief when I left. They still have my sister who is going to marry the pastor’s son. They’ll be fine.”
“Imagine we’re going to kill you within the next sixty minutes,” Devrick said suddenly and Lyn’s eyes widened with fear. “You can sayanythingto save your own life. What do ya got?”
“I can give you the names of everyone in The Wreckers crewandwhat they do,” Lyn said. “I know where some of ‘em live too.”
“Where would Antonio go?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I swear. He has a house away from the base, but henevertold us about it. The only place any of us ever saw him was at the base.”
“The one we raided?” I asked.
She shook her head again. “Yeah.”
I narrowed a gaze at her. “Now that it’s compromised, where do you think the other members will go?”
“I promise you, I do not know. I’m sure he’ll reach out to them and determine a new place to start meeting, but I wouldn’t know where that is since I’m here with you.” She stood up off the cot and walked over to set her hands against the clear wall of her cell. “What do you want? I can lead you to any of Ant’s underlings so you can take ‘em out. I have no allegiance to those people. I don’t even like them.”
Devrick turned his head sideways to glance back at me and I gave him a small nod. He then looked back at Lyn and instructed her to, “Tell me the names of all the members of The Wreckers.”
Lyn walked back and sat down on the cot again. “Well there’s Ant, of course, he’s the King, and then I’m the Queen. Next in line is the Ace, Henry. He’s responsible for carrying out hits and disposing of bodies. He likes to hang out down at the track. Riverhead. He’s got abadgambling problem. Round about two in the morning on race days, you can catch him wandering out of there flat busted and drunk off his ass. He’ll take just about any reason to go down there though. Kids big-wheel races, those weird monster truck races. There’s someone who’ll take a bet on just about anything. He’s dumb as a box of rocks. You would even need to send someone real high up to take him out I imagine.”
“Okay,” Devrick said. “Who else?”
“Well, the new Queen over there met Shaina, the Jack. She’s our schmoozer. Works over all the politicians and big wig CEOs to get Ant into important inner circles. She used to hang out at The Pharmacy, so I don’t know what she’s going to do now. Shelovesattention, and money. I imagine it wouldn’t be too difficult to buy her, honestly. I never liked her. I always thought she was going to betray Ant one day for someone with a bigger pocketbook,” Lyn said. “Last is Tanner. He’s the Joker, and for good reason. His sole job is throwing the cops and any other pursuers off The Wreckers’ trail. He’s a wanderer, wouldn’t do good for his job to be known for being in one place too long, but Idoknow he’s got abadsweet tooth for honey traps. Ant said that. So he can’t interact with the cops because if they dangle a pretty woman in front of him, he’ll melt like butter. I’d be willing to bet he could be found slinking out of some brothel or red-light district somewhere if you waited long enough.”
“And you wouldn’t be sad in the slightest if we dumped them all to the bottom of the Hudson?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Not even a little bit. We’re not a family like you guys. We’re just a bunch of people who are all afraid of the same guy.”
Katya leaned forward a little bit. “So you wouldn’t even expect any of the others to be loyal to him either?”
“Couldn’t say. They’re loyal to him now, so there has to be a reason,” she concluded, in what was honestly a pretty astute observation for someone so young.
“This is enough for now,” I said. “Leave her here. Give her one meal a day around noon and she can use the bathroom in her cell. We’re going to lay low, follow the breadcrumbs she gave us, and if, within a few weeks, it seems she’s been honest, I’ll reassess what we’re going to do with her.”
“Thank you so much! Thank you!” She walked up to the glass and leaned against it, now looking me right in the eyes. “If you need anything else…anything. Just let me—”
Katya was up out of her chair within a second, with her gun pointing through the open pass-through window. “I really don’t want to have to kill you after I advocated to save you.”
Hearing the fierceness in her tone and seeing that protective look on her face sent a jolt of arousal down south, but I swallowed it. We’d deal with that in our marital bed later. For now, I needed this person to believe she had something more to offer me.
“What should I do right now?” Devrick said.