“What’s wrong?”Jake demanded.
I sent him a mental picture of the parking lot.“Doesn’t it seem a bit odd to pick such an isolated spot for a meeting?”
“Dammit! Those are Mexican plates. We got intel that the Sinaloa cartel was meeting with the Sonoran Mafia. Get out of there,”Jake growled.
My psychic radar went on red alert. I was surrounded by heavily armed men.“Too late.”Drawing on my limited acting skills, I moaned and fainted under a convenient Palo Verde tree.
Someone took my Glock and jabbered something in Spanish.
All I understood was El Jeje and Siren. El Jefe was Spanish for boss. I should have paid more attention in class instead of flirting with Oscar.
A man reeking of body odor and tequila picked me up and grunted.
I smothered a grin. I was six feet tall and weighed one hundred and seventy pounds. Bet, I just gave him a hernia.
“Pretending to faint is the best plan you could come up with?”Quinn groused.
Jake interjected,“Enough Quinn, she’s surrounded by gunmen.”
Mister Stinky huffed and puffed as he carried me inside the cantina and dumped me on the bar.
Cracking an eye open, I took a quick look around. There were about twenty men inside the bar and all of them were armed to the teeth.
“Why did you bring her inside?” A harsh voice asked in English.
Mister Stinky held up my right arm and tapped my bracelet. “She’s a Siren. You said you wanted one.”
“I do. Wake her up.”
The ass dumped a pitcher of water on my face.
Sputtering, I sat up and went into my not-too-bright bimbo act. “Where am I? What happened?”
“You passed out,” Mister Stinky replied.
I frowned in confusion. “I did?”
“How did you get here?” El Jefe was an ugly Hispanic man in a ten-thousand-dollar suit.
“My... My… My truck broke down,” I stammered. “Could I use your phone to call a tow truck?”
El Jefe looked at Mister Stinky. “Check it out.”
Mister Stinky nodded and left.
“You’re a Siren?”
I beamed at him. “I am. I just finished my training and I’m being assigned to Siren headquarters.”
“You work for me now,” El Jefe snapped.
Pasting a bewildered look on my face, I gasped, “I do? Central Command never said anything.”
El Jefe backhanded me. “You will do as you are told.”
“We are five minutes out. Don’t do anything stupid,”Quinn commanded.
Wiping the blood off my busted lip, I dropped my eyes submissively and nodded. “Yes, sir.”
