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“Police are still searching for Blanco cartel member Carillo Mesa, who escaped after a hospital visit when he was being transported back to the correctional facility where he was serving thirty years…”
* * *
“It’s hard to say, Anne. Right now, we have experts claiming there’s another organization involved—that this is much more than an in-house turf war. There are others who raise good questions. For instance, where are the closest family members of the three people who were kidnapped? Where is Blake Hayward’s father? We’ve heard her mother plead for information on the evening news. We’ve seen footage of Shay Tenley’s distraught aunt walking into the police station in San Diego, and shortly after the kidnapping, we saw Marisa Ortega’s husband, who has now vanished. According to some sources…”
* * *
BREAKING NEWS: MALIBU ATTACK LINKED TO CARTEL WAR
CHAPTER 3
River Tenley
2019
Maybe I could get used to this.
The sun was setting, but the backyard was filled with plenty of warmth. Shay and TJ were out on the lawn, with the older brother teaching the younger some martial arts techniques. It was good to see. Shay was happy. TJ was eager to learn.
Levi was more interested in sitting with us at the table on the patio. If he wasn’t reading his book about paleontology, the kid was listening to Melanie feeding Reese and me stories from Shay’s childhood.
I smiled to myself and took a sip of my coffee.
“…and he was so cute, and he tried to be stealthy,” Melanie was saying. “He held up his first trophy and whispered to his mom and me, ‘I know Dad says I can never use martial arts outside the dojo and competitions and stuff, but let’s just say nobody will ever mess with my brothers.’”
Reese chuckled. “Sounds very him. He’s a sweetheart.”
I glanced out at Shay on the lawn. It didn’t come as a surprise that he’d always been protective of his kid brothers. When we’d first met him mere weeks ago, he’d thought it was a good idea to save up money for his brothers’ college funds by participating in illegal cage fights. Nothing too serious, but far away from the safety of official tournaments and matches. This was…straight-up underground cage fighting against juiceheads and small-scale thugs.
I’d rather see him like this, goofing around with his brother.
Christ, I really loved him. It was such a foreign feeling for me, yet so distinct and recognizable. I just knew. All this time, Shay had been the missing piece for Reese and me. It was as if we’d merely been waiting for him to come along.
Waiting without any hope.
Under the table, I grabbed Reese’s hand, and he gave mine a squeeze.
He felt the same thing. Shay was it for us.
* * *
Reese Tenley
2023
Fuck me, I couldn’t deal with any more headache-inducing updates from the rest of the team.
So, what, Crew was in fucking Colombia with the FBI agent?
I rubbed my forehead and kept reading the wall of text Elliott had posted in our secure chat server.For chrissakes, kid, what’re you doing?No wonder Ryan wanted to call Crew’s dad. I was with him. Let Cullen give his son a come-to-Jesus talk when this was over.
Elliott was incredibly fond of the boy—so was I—but it was clear that Elliott was pissed. And he wasn’t the only one. Ortega, Joel, and Willow were bitching up a storm about waiting a few days for more intel. Because Crew evidently sat on some information about Carillo’s whereabouts, and if he spilled the beans too soon, it would put the agent, Adrien Mercier, in danger.
I sat down on the dropped tailgate of the truck and scanned the rest of the message. Technically, Crew had, in a way, chosen Mercier’s side. He was putting Mercier’s mission, whatever that was, before ours. But maybe I was removed from the situation enough that I didn’t give a flying fuck about when and where Carillo Mesa entered Europe—when Shay was being held hostage right here in California.
Carillo was going to get his. I wouldn’t rest until that fucker was six feet under, but finding Shay came first.
