AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His lips tightened into a smile at the greeting and he nodded. “Cross. What can I do for you?”
“Max said you came in asking questions about a cartel. Did you have a specific one in mind or were you just fishing?”
His posture went stiff and I knew he would go on the defensive because, well, cops. “I already told Max I wasn’t trying to jam you up.”
I sighed and took a deep breath. “I didn’t come here to fight, Dodds. I just want some information. Did you have a specific cartel in mind?” He shook his head and I felt a little more hope fade away. “Gunnar and Stitch are missing and we have reason to believe the Salinas Cartel has him.”
Dodds whistled, his eyes wide with disbelief. “How did you get mixed up with those guys? They’re crazy as hell.”
“We didn’t,” I admitted with a frustrated groan. “As far as I can tell, this started over a woman.”
Dodds barked out a laugh. “Isn’t it always over a woman?” He shook his head again and scrubbed a hand down his face, looking every inch like the overworked law enforceme
nt officer he was. “Salinas don’t fuck around Cross. They kidnap kids and sell them to the highest bidder. Adoptions, sex trade or worse. The ones they can’t sell, they turn them out and put them on the streets of cities around Mexico and the U.S. until they overdose or get killed.”
“That’s basically what my source said, too.” Only with a lot less detail which I made a note to myself to thank Vivi for later. “But that’s not their bread and butter, right?”
“Hell no. Drugs. Pot used to be their cash cow but with all the border states but Texas legalizing it, they diversified.” He said the last word with a snort. “Heroin is always a good money maker, but the South American cartels have that sewn up pretty tight. So they started manufacturing and selling synthetic drugs. Ecstasy, speed, Oxy. A lot of money and a lot of deaths, both from drug overdose and murder.”
“Shit.” Vivi had definitely sanitized the picture for our benefit and while I appreciated it, now I couldn’t stop thinking about what my guys were going through. “Do you know where they operate out of?”
“Mexico mostly but I suspect they have connections in more than a few American cities.” He eyed me carefully, weighing if I was about to do something really fucking stupid that would make his life harder. “What are you planning?”
I pulled the lone cigarette I kept on me since I quit from behind my ear and lit it, inhaling deeply, ignoring the pang of conscience at what Moon would say when she inevitably smelled it on me. I’d worry about that later though because this little stick of nicotine was the only thing keeping me sane in the moment. “You know the answer to that. I’ll do what I have to do to get my guys back.”
He nodded, unhappy about my words but resigned to my decision. “Be careful, Cross. Salinas combines all the worst of the groups. They rape for punishment, kill for sport and do it in the most gruesome ways possible. Look up what happened to the former Mayor of Mexico City.”
“I will, and thanks Dodds.”
“No problem.” I turned to my bike, thinking that was another fucking thing to come at the club. I was sure after the shit that went down last year with Detective Haynes and Pacheco that we’d have a year or two of goddamn peace. “Hey Cross?”
“Yeah?” I looked back over my shoulder.
“Call me when you need me. I’ll offer whatever help I can.”
“Thanks, Dodds. You’re all right.”
“Thanks,” he snorted. “Tell that to my precinct.”
I could only imagine what it was like for him, the guy who took down a dirty cop, in a building full of cops who strongly believed in the thin blue fucking line. “Fuck’ em. You’re a good man, Dodds.”
He nodded and I hopped on my bike, eager to get back home and see my woman and my kid.
Chapter Sixteen - Stitch
I didn’t know how many days had passed since we made the devil’s deal with Carlito, but it felt like weeks since I’d last been in my bed. My apartment. With my club. Hell, I hadn’t seen or heard one peep from Marisol since Gunnar killed one of Carlito’s men and laid Guapo out. “How long do you think it’s been, Gunnar?”
“At least a week, maybe more. Why the hell you so concerned with how long we’ve been here? You should be more worried about when we’re getting the fuck out. If we’re getting the fuck out.”
As usual, he was a grouchy fucker only this time I couldn’t blame him. We hadn’t had much to eat since we got here because Gunnar was sure Carlito was trying to poison us.
I didn’t believe it, but I wasn’t dumb enough to risk it. No matter what Gunnar thought. “I’m just fucking curious, man.”
“Sorry,” he grunted out. “We have to do something, Stitch. If I stay here another day, I’ll lose my shit and murder everyone.”
“Say the word,” I laughed, “and I’ll be your partner in crime.”
“Always, kid.” He flashed a smile in my direction and I didn’t know if that smile was Gunnar being nice because he thought we were about to die or because he actually didn’t hate me the way he seemed to all the damn time.
