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Aimon Lozano’s sentence was cut short by the butt of a rifle being jammed swiftly into his ribs. I saw it through my peripheral vision.
“Go on,” the man in the hat said. His voice showed renewed interest. His eyes were glued to my phone. “Show me your ‘source.’”
Fifty-Two
CODY
We were all still aiming guns at each other when the recording played. Two voices floated down from Brynne’s phone, loud and clear. The hand that held it shook almost as much as the fingers that had pressed the ‘play’ button.
“The Ancellas are nothing!”Javi’s voice snapped on the recording.“A bunch of reckless savages; no brains, all brawn.”
There were gasps of astonishment all around. Aimon whirled on his brother.
“You’ve done something that you’re trying to hide,”Brynne’s laugh crackled across the phone’s speaker.“And when they catch you—”
“They’ll know nothing,”Javi snarled,“because you and your rats won’t tell them a thing.”
From one side of the warehouse, Aimon Lozano screamed into his brother’s face.
“WHAT THEFUCK!?”
Somebody grabbed him. One of the taller goons cracked him in the head with the butt end of a heavy-looking pistol, and he went down holding his face with both hands. His brother wasn’t a threat, even remotely. He stood as still as a mannequin, his expression one of complete terror. His complexion had suddenly gone whiter than milk.
“Half their connections have gone over to our side,”the recording of Javi’s voice went on.“and the ones that haven’t—”
“When did you record this?” the man in the hat demanded.
“Two nights ago,” Brynne replied.
The cartel boss shook his head in disgust, but also in complete dismay. “Unfuckingreal.”
Abruptly I realized I was the only one still holding a gun — probably because Silas had placed his hand over the barrel and pushed down. Everyone else had dropped their arms on both sides. The situation had been deescalated.
“Crisco’s ours,”Javi said on the recording. Even on the phone’s tinny speaker, his voice came across as especially smug.“But Lucas Almon. He’s ours now, too. They might not know it yet, but we’re putting a cap on the cartel’s influence. Paring down their leadership to better suit our needs.”
“Capping our influence!” the man in the hat laughed out loud. “Pairing down our leadership?”
He motioned to Brynne, indicating he’d heard enough. The voice that accompanied the motion was pleasant, even grateful.
“That’s all for now, thank you.”
Brynne pressed the STOP button, then slipped the phone back into her pocket. The only sounds in the entire warehouse came from Aimon Lozano’s broken sobbing. I noticed there’d been a shift again, and movement around us. Lucas Almon had disappeared. No doubt dragged backward into the shadows, at some unknown signal from the man in the hat.
I should’ve been relieved, but I wasn’t. The man was still dangerous. There was still some signal he could make that would be bad for us, and I wasn’t waiting around for it.
“We both have what we came for,” I spoke loudly. “We have her brother,” I nodded to where Evan and Brynne stood. “And you have the truth.”
The man in the hat didn’t seem to like me at all. Regardless, he turned to answer me anyway.
“You don’t have anything,” he said coldly. “I’ve given you nothing. I’ve promised nothing.”
An arm shot out, grabbing Evan and pulling him away. I heard Brynne scream.
“WHY?” she cried, trying her best to keep it together. “He means nothing to you! Why would take him bac—”
“Because that man has done work within our innermost circles,” the cartel leader interjected. “He knows our operation. He belongs to us.”
Brynne looked horrified. Her expression was breaking my heart.
