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“The gap wouldn’t bother me except when she reappeared, all her information was different. Different last name, different address, no relatives.”
“Shit,” Brute and I blurted at the same time.
“She’s gotten rid of any liabilities,” I went on. “There’s no one anyone could use to hurt her or break her. She’s got her own agenda here.”
Gabe and Deo were both nodding.
“You think she’s working Domínguez?” Brute asked, scrubbing his hands through his hair. It always seemed to faze him when he ran out of hair. It was probably a good thing he’d cut it, though. With longish hair to frame that chiseled jaw and those sculpted cheekbones, the man would’ve looked like a damned Greek god.
Gabe and Deo were nodding again, focused on the problem at hand while I was drooling over a blue-eyed biker god.Jeez, Greta, get it together.
“If she headed toward Mexico when she took off,” I said, getting my damn head back in the game, “she was probably taken in by one of the cartels there, maybe worked her way up the ladder. Now, whoever she’s really with could be using her to get intel on Domínguez.”
Gabe sighed. “Climbing the cartel ladder? Domínguez is rumored to have killed his last girlfriend. I’m not sure that’s a ladder I’d want to climb.”
Brute shook his head. “If she’s working Domínguez, why’d she send the box of pictures to me?”
Double shit.
I sat down hard in the armchair next to Deo.“She could be in over her head; it could have been her way of reaching out for help.”
And I’d just walked away. In truth, I’d been more than happy to part ways with the prickly cactus.
“We’ve got to go back,” I said, surging back onto my feet.
Gabe shook his head. “Not without a plan.”
“I’ve got a plan.” Okay, not a “plan” per se. More like an idea that could either go a long way in helping or completely blow up in my face. So… my kind of plan.
Gabe cocked an eyebrow. He might have had a little bit of experience with my “plans”.
I turned to Brute. “Those symbols… runes on Leeri’s arm, she said they were Dal… dal-something runes. Did she know how to read that shit or just those particular letters?—or whatever they are.”
Brute chuckled under his breath. “She learned about Egyptian hieroglyphs in school when she was eight. Ever since then… old symbols, cryptographs, runes… the little brainiac was obsessed with them. If anyone’s ever thought it up, she could read it.”
“That’s exactly what I needed to hear,” I said, looking over at Gabe triumphantly.
He didn’t look any more impressed. I don’t think he was following the conversation here.
“I can send her a message,” I explained. “I had no ink on my arms the last time we were there. If I do this time, it’ll catch her attention. She’ll read it.”
“And if we’re wrong about her motives?” Deo asked, making me wish I could shoot out death rays at him. The last thing I needed here was for him to make Gabemoreskeptical.
I shrugged. “If we’re wrong, then we’re wrong. I’ll keep the message simple. No giving away any deep, dark Costa or Luciano secrets. Just… something.”
Brute shook his head. “This isn’t on you, darling. I’ll take care of Leeri.”
“No,” I snapped.
Three heads swiveled in my direction.
“I read it wrong. I just walked away from her, Gabe,” I said, knowing that if anyone here could understand what I was feeling, it was him. “I was so pissed off when she told me what the symbols on her arm said, I didn’t think it through. I didn’t even try to see the bigger picture. Thatison me.”
Gabe sighed, shaking his head. “We’re flying blind here, Greta.”
Maybe. “Ever since I got into your car and found your bag of torture goodies months ago, I’ve followed along. I’ve taken orders and played my part. I might have made the occasional call on my own, but ultimately, you’ve been the one calling the shots. And I’ve been okay with that. You have the experience, the money, the manpower. I have… me,” I said, shrugging. “But I can’t just walk away from this. Brute’s sister or not, she was practically crying out for help with that goddamned tattoo, and I just walked away from her. Tell me you could live with yourself if you were in my shoes.”
The room was silent as Gabe stared back at me, his eyes caught up in thought. I’d worked with him long enough, though, that I recognized it the moment he’d come to a decision.
