AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“El Escorpión’s son.”
Shit.Gray suppressed a groan. Looked like their work in South America wasn’t done yet. And the bastard who had ordered his team’s demise was still out there.
Chapter Four
Gray dropped his head in frustration and uttered a curse. Thanks to a late minute change-up, the mission was only half-accomplished which meant that bastard Mesa got away. Again. It frustrated Gray to no end, but there was nothing he could do at the moment.
The team decided to hunker down overnight at a nearby safehouse Hunter had prearranged while they came up with a new plan of action. With Yusuf Bashar no longer a threat and nothing more than a pile of ashes, taking outEl Escorpión was their priority. His son, César Mesa, hadn’t been the goal, but it was probably a good move to weaken Alvaro and the future of the cartel.
Once they arrived at the safehouse, they were famished. “I vote for the new guy to grab us some grub,” Saint said. He’d already ransacked the nearly-empty pantry and didn’t look too thrilled about the box of bran cereal and packets of dry chicken noodle soup.
Gray knew there wasn’t a chance of him being recognized and no one was privy to the fact he was now part of Ex Nihilo. “That’s fine, I’ll go,” he offered. “We passed a few places in town.”
“Thanks,” Braxton said and slipped him a wad of Colombian pesos.
After pocketing the money, Gray turned toward the door. “Any special requests?” he asked over his shoulder.
“Yeah, hurry up,” Saint said, and the room chuckled.
“Otherwise, Saint here might gnaw his arm off,” Inda teased.
“Yeah, if you haven’t noticed, he gets grumpy when he’s hungry.” Ryland punched his fellow team member in the arm.
“Damn straight.” Saint pulled a cigarette out of his pack, stuck it between his lips and followed Gray outside. “You run into any trouble, turn around and walk away.”
Gray paused and arched a dark brow. “You think I will?”
The other man shrugged and pulled deeply on the cigarette. “With the rebels and warring cartels, trouble is always brewing.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Saint extended his fist. “Good job today, Demon. You didn’t hesitate.”
Gray’s chest expanded as he bumped his teammate’s knuckles. “Appreciate it.”
It surprised him how much that small gesture, earning Saint’s trust and approval, meant to him. How it took him one step closer to feeling like a vital part of the team.
“Now hurry the fuck up before I eat the rest of my cigarettes.”
Gray’s mouth edged up a fraction and he would’ve chuckled, but he hadn’t genuinely laughed in a year. He didn’t remember how.
Trudging up to the road, Gray started hiking toward the small town. He remembered seeing a couple of shady-looking bars, a few restaurants and a hotel called The Rosario or Rosarito or something. It took him ten minutes to reach the dusty main drag and he paused, eyeing his slim choices. Deciding to follow his nose, he sauntered up to the cantina cooking beef and chicken out front on a grill. Damn, it smelled good.
Mouth watering and stomach growling, he walked into the place. It was packed. Lots of locals sat around drinking and eating, talking and laughing. A few tourists, too. The sight tugged at some lost emotion deep in his gut. Gray had forgotten what it felt like to just hang out with friends. He’d give anything to experience it again. Let go of his past. Create new memories to replace the nightmares he couldn’t let go of.
Sidling up to the bar, he ordered a beer then sat down and skimmed the menu. It was all in Spanish and other thancerveza, his Spanish sucked. Squinting, trying to figure out if he could decipher anything more, he suddenly caught a whiff of flowers and glanced up, expecting to see a vase of them nearby.
Instead, he found himself looking into the most stunning eyes he’d ever seen. They were a deep blue, almost a little violet. Indigo maybe? The unique eyes belonged to a gorgeous woman with long dark hair sitting at the end of the bar. And the moment his gaze connected with hers, she looked away.
Just as well. Gray knew he was a mess and, until he got his shit together, no woman in her right mind would want anything to do with him. He wasn’t even ready for a one-night stand.
The bartender came back with Gray’s beer and presumably asked for his order. “Ahh…” Frowning, Gray struggled to find a familiar word written on the menu. “Chicken?”
Either the man spoke zero English or decided to be a dick because he acted like he had no idea what Gray was talking about. Relegated to charades, Gray folded his arms and flapped. “El chicken?”
After stumbling through the rest of his order, Gray took a long drink of his beer. His attention inevitably drifted back over to the attractive woman. She was finishing up her own drink. It looked like she’d also ordered an appetizer, but that was gone.
A normal man would slide down a few stools and offer to buy her another drink. But Gray didn’t feel normal anymore. Instead, he felt like a glass that had fallen and shattered into a million little pieces. Maybe he would eventually find all the big pieces and glue them back together, but the break had been so disastrous, so catastrophic, that too many tiny shards had been lost. He would never truly be the same, and no amount of glue or therapy or self-help books people recommended would fix him. He’d tried and failed.
