Liza already suffered from terrifying nightmares, and I hated the damage Castro’s text had done to her psyche. I’d held her close all night, waking whenever she moved or made the slightest noise.
Somehow, though, she made it through the night without waking up in a panic, but the dark circles under her eyes told me she’d been wrestling with the text even in her sleep.
After we ate a quick breakfast, I took Liza’s phone from her and invited one of the security guards into the house to stay by her side. “Don’t let her leave without you.” I didn’t know if she would try, but if she did, I expected him to stop her or find a way to make sure he was with her.
With the phone in my pocket, I drove straight to Zephyr’s tech shop, hoping he could work his magic and trace that fucking asshole Castro. If he couldn’t, I didn’t know what we would do. We’d have to wait for Castro to make a move. More than anything, I didn’t want that.
Zephyr, with his nerdy, black-rimmed glasses and messy hair, stumbled from the back room, scratching his chest, mumbling something about an all-night gaming tournament. “Sorry. If I’d known you were coming, I would’ve cleaned up, Ty. It was a rough night.”
I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t have cared less how he looked as long as he could do the job I was about to pay him to do. “I can’t believe you’re still caught up in the gaming world.” A grown man sacrificing sleep and apparently hygiene to play games? I didn’t get it.
“It’s much more interesting than reality. Safer, too.” He gestured for me to follow him back to his office.
Shaking my head, I pulled Liza’s phone from my pocket. “I’d say reality is pretty damn interesting enough for me. A little too interesting, in fact.” I pulled up the text and handed the phone to him. “Castro is back from the dead, so to speak. This is the text he sent Liza last night.”
Zephyr took the phone from me and scrolled through the message. “Damn. He’s not mincing many words, is he?” I wasn’t sure if it was a sarcastic comment as to the length of the text, or if he was speaking about the veracity of the threat. Didn’t matter. He was right.
“No, he’s not. Though, I would have liked it better if he said,Hey, I’m here. Come get me.” I shook my head because life was seldom so easy. “Do you have any way to track him down from that text? I realize it’s an unknown number, but surely you can get an idea of his location. Right?”
He hooked the phone to his computer and transferred information from the main screen to one of several larger monitors hanging over his desk. Then he typed rapidly. After several minutes, he shook his head. “That number is bouncing off more towers than a damn basketball.”
I frowned. “What the hell does that mean?”
Zephyr spun his office chair around to face me. “It means whoever sent that text used a high-tech scrambler device, making it damn near impossible to pinpoint their location.” He cocked his head and shrugged. “It’s sophisticated tech. I tried to bypass it, but every time I get close, the tracker seems to reset.Castro either has some serious tech skills or he’s hired someone who does. Either way, this is impressive.”
I stifled a growl. This was Liza’s fucking life. I needed him to take it seriously.
My frustration soared to new heights. Yet again, Castro had the upper hand. “So, there’s nothing you can do to track down Castro or block him from contacting Liza, is that what you’re saying?” I hated to be so short with Zephyr since I was sure he was doing his best to help me, but I didn’t have time to try and wade through the technical jargon.
He spun back around and started typing again. “I’ve managed to salvage some data from Liza’s compromised phone, but tracing that number is a lost cause.”
Zephyr handed me a new phone. “I’ve downloaded the security app on this one, and she should have access to all her normal apps, contacts, and such. This is a burner phone, so Castroshouldn’thave access to the number. However, with what I’ve seen today, it’s only a matter of time before he or one of his tech bitches finds her number again. Sorry, Ty.”
Shit!I wanted to find that fucker and put an end to this once and for all. One way or the other, I was going to kill him, but I had to keep my cool for Liza’s sake. I thanked Zephyr for his time, slipped him a wad of cash, then sped back to Liza’s house.
I walked through the door to see her pacing the living room floor. The assigned security guard stood on the opposite side of the room, watching her closely because he knew I would kill him if anything happened to her on his watch.
When I appeared in the doorway, she jumped a little, her hands flying to her chest. “Crap, Ty. You scared me. I didn’t think you’d be back that quickly.”
I couldn’t blame her for being on edge.
“I didn’t have much luck with Zephyr. Apparently, some kind of tech wizard bounced the text off towers or whatever.” I pulledthe new phone from my pocket and handed it to her. “This is a new burner phone. As of right now, Castro can’t get the number, but I wouldn’t put it past him to figure it out.”
She tossed the phone onto the couch. “Thanks.” Her hands shook as she lifted them to smooth her hair back. “I have several clients today. As much as I’d rather stay here, I can’t cancel on them. It’s bad for business.”
“No, you’ll have to cancel.” I couldn’t let her out of my sight, not for a fucking second. The situation was more dire than I’d originally thought. “You need to stay with me.”
Liza stepped toward me, her cheeks flushed red, her nostrils flaring slightly. She was anxious, angry, and just as frustrated as I was. “Castro was very clear in his text last night. He isn’t coming after me… not until you find him or fail miserably at finding him..”
Liza was trying to keep a calm façade, but I knew her well enough to see the jitters dancing beneath the surface because we were playing with fire, and the flames were licking at our heels.
“Are you silly enough to actually trust Castro, of all people?”
She glared at me.
Calling her silly probably wasn’t the best move.
“It’s not about whether or not I trust him, Ty,” she said through gritted teeth. “Castro is a sick, twisted fucker. He’s meticulous and calculating and chooses every word carefully. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he spent hours composing that text.” The ire in her eyes cut right through me. “He gets off on playing mind games. He won’t step out of this role he’s crafted for himself. If he says he’s gonna wait to take me, then I have no reason to believe otherwise.” She sighed, her chest deflating. “We’re just pieces on his twisted board game.”
