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“That was my first reaction, too.”
“And you’re saying he ratted his family out? For what? Money?”
“Most likely. That’s usually what it comes down to. But this isn’t a normal family, Slim. This is the biggest crime organization in all of southwestern Mexico.”
Lauren wasn’t sure she liked the way he called her Slim again. It seemed so . . . impersonal. When they’d made love, when he’d said her name . . . something about the way he’d said it had felt . . . right.
She told herself what he called her was the least of her worries right now. Snuggling back into Finn’s chest, she tried to make sense of what had happened. Nothing about what she knew of Javier matched the picture Finn had just painted.
“He gave it to me,” she said softly.
“Gave you what?”
“The necklace.” When he pushed her back again, she reached down and touched the tear-shaped red gem the size of a quarter. “At Palladium. After I came down from the stairwell with you. Just before”—she swallowed—“just before they killed him. He pulled me aside, slipped the necklace around my throat and asked me to keep it safe for him.”
Finn’s brow pulled together. “Did he say why?”
She thought back to that last moment with Javier. She’d been so upset over what had happened with Finn in the stairwell, she’d barely paid attention to Javier’s ramblings. “No, he just said it was a pain in his ass. The family devil or something like that.”
Finn sat up, the low light reflecting the muscular planes of his chest, the dark stubble on his jaw. His face took on a serious look. “Devil? He used the word devil? Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” she said, easing up herself, clutching the sheet to her breasts. “What now?”
He fingered the gem. “The new improved drug the Cárdenas Cartel’s unveiling used to be called red devils.”
She glanced down at the gem nestled just above her cleavage. “Are you saying you think this thing contains—”
“No.” He turned it in his fingers. “There’s nothing inside this. I took a close look when you were asleep. It’s some kind of transparent stone. Could be colored glass, I guess. But . . .”
“But what?”
He shrugged. “I’m no expert, but the way it sparkles, it almost looks . . .”
“What?”
“Real.”
Lauren looked down again. “A real ruby? No way. It has to be fake. Costume jewelry. You can get stuff like this at Macy’s, for crying out loud. Besides, if it was real, what would Javier have been doing with a ruby this size in Palladium ? And what would a ruby have to do with those gunmen or the Cárdenas Cartel?”
“I don’t know,” Finn answered. “But it’s one more piece of this puzzle worth looking in—”
The phone on the bedside table blared. Finn tensed beside her, but leaned over to pick up the receiver. He didn’t say hello, but the heavily accented rapid-fire voice on the other end of the line came through loud and clear. Finn glanced Lauren’s way as he tossed back the covers and pushed to his feet. Before he could say anything to her, a loud popping sound echoed over the line, and he tore the phone from his ear.
“Sonofabitch.” He dropped the phone as if it had burned him. “Get dressed. Right now.”
She scrambled from the bed. “What happenedan>
Finn was already in his jeans by the time Lauren came back in the room, clothes in hand. He tugged on the shirt she tossed him, checked the magazine on his handgun. “That was the motel owner. They found us.”
Fear burst in Lauren’s throat. Hands shaking, she dragged on her dirty clothes and hustled across the floor to the window Finn was already prying open. “Come on, Slim. Hustle.”
That popping sound had been gunfire. Again. Was the motel owner dead now? Swallowing the bile rising in her throat, Lauren gripped the window ledge with one hand, put the other on Finn’s shoulder, bracing herself as he helped her up. Before she could get all the way out the window, gunfire exploded behind them, tearing apart the door to the small motel room.
“Go!”
Finn shoved her out the window. She hit the ground on her shoulder, groaned at the stab of pain and rolled to the side. Seconds later, Finn was beside her, hauling her up by the arm and dragging her across the dirt-strewn back lot. “Run!”
She didn’t have any other choice. Pushing her legs as fast as she could, she didn’t slow until they reached the old beat-up truck behind the office. Finn cranked the door open, pushed her inside. Shouts echoed behind them. Finn slammed the door, shoved the key in the ignition. “Please, baby. Start.”
