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He reached up and touched the bandage on my temple. “And your head?”
“It’s getting better. The doctor said it will heal kind of ugly because it should’ve had stitches, but at least it didn’t get infected.”
He dropped his hand. “Have you talked to the police?”
My eyebrows rose. “Not recently. The last time I talked to Luke, he said they hadn’t found whoever did this.”
“You remember anything else?”
I frowned. “No, not really. I remember hearing metal scraping and being lifted, but then, like I said, I don’t remember anything else until I woke up in that basement.” My eyes searched his face. “Do you know who did this to me?”
It was obvious to me that he did, but he didn’t want to answer. He closed his eyes briefly before focusing on me again. “No one else knows this, and I understand why the department is keeping a lid on it, so you have to keep it to yourself.” When I nodded, he continued. “The DEA has taken over this case.”
“The DEA? Why?”
“Because they think it has to do with an ongoing investigation into a man named Manny and the drug cartel.”
“Drug cartel?” I drew my eyebrows together. “Why would someone in a drug cartel target me?”
“We think he owes the cartel money and thought you would bring the biggest payout.”
My shoulders fell. “Because of my family.”
“Yeah.” He put his hands on his hips. “And because of the club.”
“Why the club?”
“He’s obviously been watching and saw that you were spending time at the club. Probably figured your family and the club would be willing to pay the ransom. If not both of us, then one at least.”
It seemed strange to me that someone would be watching me so closely when something occurred to me. “Does this have anything to do with whoever was targeting you?”
His face fell. “I thought it might. We put out some feelers and finally found the kid who hit me.”
“But it wasn’t him?”
“He didn’t know anything about you.”
“But he was targeting you?” When he jerked up his chin, I couldn’t help but ask, “Why?”
Tank ran his hand over his forehead. “Says he’s my kid.”
“Your kid?” My eyes widened. “You didn’t know you had a son?”
“No.” He shook his head, but I could see the tension around his eyes and mouth. “But he could be. The timing works out. I knew his mom. We had sex a few times months before I left for the Army. Never went back to that town, so I never saw her again.”
“She didn’t try to contact you?”
“No, and that part doesn’t make sense. She would’ve gotten a hell of a lot for the kid because I served.”
“None of this makes sense to me, though. Is it just a coincidence that he hit you, and then I got taken?”
“No,” he said sadly. “According to the kid, the man who grabbed you was using the kid to target me and the club for money. Once he got the kid here, he called him up and told him he didn’t need him anymore.”
“Because of me,” I surmised.
“You were a more likely payout.”
“Except that didn’t happen.”
