“What do you mean?”
“Isolating yourself to just a few people. Keeping your circle small insulates you. You always know what to expect, so no surprises.”
“You were definitely a surprise and not part of my circle.”
She laughed and gave him a soft shove. “But was I really? You kept that phone all these years. Why? The thing had to be ancient. I mean, I suppose you could have transferred the number to a newer phone, but I’d be willing to bet you didn’t.”
“No,” he admitted. “It was the same phone.” He scooted down in the bed, low enough to rest his head on her shoulder. “Tripoli and Francesca said something eerily similar. Maybe I was hoping you’d call, even all these years later. Holding onto the old phone was holding onto a physical representation of you.”
Her body swayed into his as she leaned down to kiss the top of his head, and her arm went around his neck. Her fingers twined in a curled end. “I’m so glad you did.”
Silence held in the room for a long while, and when he felt her fingers stop moving, he finally looked up at her. Eyes closed. Dead asleep. Smiling, he slipped from beneath her arm and lowered her to the mattress. She was so exhausted she didn’t even stir.
RULE #2
Glennon
Two days later,she woke up to Triumph moving around with purpose, and a light in his eyes she hadn’t seen before.
All day yesterday, they’d been like cats on a hot tin roof, waiting for something to happen. The club was closed on Tuesdays, so rather than allow Glennon to fret upstairs with him in the apartment, he’d invited his circle of friends over to meet her. Their friend, Fereh, was in Washington, DC, and she’d already met Tripoli and Francesca, but he was able to introduce her to Elyxandre and her partner, Lucas, as well as Panama and Cosmos. Downstairs, several of Cosmos’ men guarded the building.
It had been overwhelming to see more new faces, but she had a sneaking suspicion that it had been his plan. If she was distracted by them, then she couldn’t be worried about Guillermo and Cesar. His plan had worked, and for a while, the group was able to forget about what was going on.
When she questioned him about whether he worried about putting his friends in danger, he said, “Do you know who’sgoing to be in that room with you? A former Navy medic who was assigned to the Marine Raiders. A former FBI agent. A guy who runs a bodyguard company. A school liaison police officer. Nothing is getting past them. Not to mention you, a CIA agent. Hell, you’re going to be protecting Lucas, Panama, and me if anyone got in here.”
His demeanor, so relaxed then, was anything but that now.
She rolled lazily onto her side to stare at him as he dressed. “What’s going on?”
“Tripoli called. Guillermo’s got Francesca, and he’s offering a trade.”
Instantly, she sat up, fully awake.
“What? How did Guillermo even know about her? That doesn’t make sense.”
Hurriedly, he stuffed his wallet into his back pocket, grabbed his keys, and stalked over to the bed. He sat down to put on his boots and start lacing them. “They must have been watching the club last night and recognized her. She was undercover at one point with another cartel in Houston. Trip said they woke up in the middle of the night, and there was a fight. They threatened the baby.”
She put a hand to her stomach, attempting to quell the pitching and rolling that began. “Oh my god.”
“Francesca managed to get herself switched out for the baby. Reminded them she’d be quiet, versus all the yelling and screaming the baby would do, not to mention changing and feeding it. Tripoli, as pissed as he is, said he thought he actually saw relief on one of the goons’ faces when Cesar agreed to the switch.”
Steel’s face swam up from the depths, a memory of him talking about allowing adults to step up and do the right thing by taking the “punishment” of the children to avoid him and his men taking on the worst of the violations committed againsttheir victims. Francesca would be a woman who put herself in harm’s way for an innocent. Cesar and Guillermo would have seen the advantages of taking Francesca instead, even though the baby would be a more vulnerable victim.
Francesca was thirty-eight, but a young, beautiful thirty-eight. She was strong and a fighter. Despite her age, she’d bring a good price in the skin trade, especially if they could find a client looking for someone like that.
She’d proven she could bear children. There was always the breeding market, which was growing by leaps and bounds in the underground world.
And she was former FBI. Even though she was no longer an agent, everyone had their breaking point. And when they found hers, she could spill all kinds of information to them. Some of it would be bullshit. She knew that from her own experience. Agents had all sorts of garbage information to give to captors for when they hit the torture threshold, but some of it would be real and valuable.
In short, she was the perfect target if they somehow didn’t get Glennon out of their proposed “trade.”
“They called a short while ago. Sent proof of life for Francesca. Made their formal offer of her for you.”
His eyes, devoid of their usual, telltale sparkle, held hers. He gripped her hand, kissing her knuckles and holding it to his mouth as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath in. Then he let it out as he opened his eyes to look back at her, pulling the hand he held to his chest. “Cosmos and the crazy cousins are working on a plan to rescue her, but they need me to look into the video. See if there’s anything I can see so that we can find her before Cesar and Guillermo…”
He didn’t have to say it.
“I can be ready to go with you in two minutes.”
