Total pages in book: 218
Estimated words: 215412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1077(@200wpm)___ 862(@250wpm)___ 718(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 215412 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1077(@200wpm)___ 862(@250wpm)___ 718(@300wpm)
“So they treat their vigilante secret like contraband. Got it.”
“I’m the only outsider who knows the true nature of their operation.” My heart hammers. “And now you.”
“Why does the Capo of Consequences want me to come with you?”
“He collects deadly skill sets.”
“I kill bad family members. My mother. Dove’s father. Is that my flex?”
“You took down Adrian Crowe with a hidden razor blade in your mouth.”
“Sure did.” He brushes imaginary dust off his shoulder.
“As much as I hate it, you’re dragged into this, and I need you to be prepared. I want you to read the inner circle’s histories, memorize their faces and aliases, and know their weaknesses. Because keeping you in the dark isn’t protection. It’ll just get you killed slower.”
“I hear you.” He refocuses on the screen, seeing the implications clearly now. “Say it again for my sanity. They won’t hurt Dove?”
“They won’t touch her. Most of them have been tortured by the worst monsters imaginable.” I take control of the keyboard and pull up a diagram. “This is the org chart of the inner circle. Twenty-two trauma-bonded members, each with their own horror story.”
He scans the chart I painstakingly compiled over the years, his attention landing on the unexpected anomalies.
“What does this mean?” He points to the labels attached to nine of the members. “They all say Quiso Slave, followed by a number.”
“Van Quiso is a former human sex trafficker. Over the span of his inglorious career in Texas, he had nine sex slaves. They’re all active vigilantes in the cartel’s inner circle.”
I flip through the photos of each member and pause on Van Quiso’s scarred face.
“Oh, I know him.” He waves a hand at the screen.
“What?”
“He was there. In the VIP lounge at the nightclub. Looking all tall and scary, chewing the hell out of a toothpick.” He narrows his eyes at me. “You don’t look surprised.”
“The cartel does not want me in enemy hands. They would’ve been there running surveillance and sketching a retrieval plan. A clean, patient retrieval. Then you walked in. Wearing a bomb.”
Wolf lets out a quiet breath.
“You didn’t follow a playbook,” I say. “Didn’t wait for permission, backup, or other options. You saw the problem and cut straight through it.”
“I skipped a few steps.”
“You showed them how it’s done.”
“Bad Boy Supreme wasn’t bothered.” He nods at Van’s photo. “He flashed me a sexy little smile on his way out.”
“I’m sure he did. He’s a terrible flirt but also deeply devoted to his wife.” I steeple my fingers against my mouth, thinking. “This is the play. We’ll get Dove. That part’s non-negotiable. After that, they’ll try to bargain for you, but I’ll secure your freedom.”
“Yeah, that’s a no from me. We’re not splitting up.”
“You want to stay with me? With the cartel?” I hold his gaze until the heat burns. “What about Dove?”
The silence is instant.
He opens his mouth, closes it, and looks away.
“You don’t have an answer.” I drop a hand on his thigh and squeeze. “And that’s the answer.”
His jaw works, his frustration loud.
“The Russians can’t stay on the island.” I turn back to the keyboard.
“I’ll handle it.”
“Tomorrow, when I call Restrepo back, I’ll line up our meeting and go from there. Until then, you need to sleep, eat, and study those profiles. In that order.”
“And you?”
I don’t look away from the screen. “I’ll run through every contingency and plan accordingly.”
“Do you like it?” He watches my hands move on the keyboard. “The hacking? The coding? All of it?”
“Yeah. I do.” I stare at the streaming algorithms. “But I’ve always wanted to use it differently. For people who don’t have power. The innocent ones who get taken and killed because no one’s watching.”
“You know… If you hadn’t joined the cartel, that fake video of Dove would’ve been real. Crowe would’ve taken her. Not the cartel.”
“I know.”
“That’s what you’ll be doing with them. Bigger missions. Rescuing more girls like Dove.”
“Yes.”
“But to do that…” He sighs. “You have to give up Dove.”
“And you.” My chest hurts. “There’s no way out of this.”
“The ultimate sacrifice.” He watches me carefully.
“That’s the cost.”
“We’ll see.” His eyes narrow. “Speaking of your special skills… How did you know what I did to the doctor? When we first met, you were very specific about the details.”
“I bugged the tattoo parlor.”
“Yeah, I found your camera in the new sheetrock.”
“Before that. When I bought the place. I wired it so I could keep tabs on it while I lived in California.” I lick my lips. “When you started working there six months ago, I watched. And listened. A lot.”
“Pervert.” His mouth twitches.
“One night, you were there late, working alone, and Monty came in. He tried to get you to talk about the doctor.”
“I remember.” He closes his eyes. “I told him I cut the bitch into pieces, and there was nothing left to discuss.” He opens one eye and looks at me sideways. “You’re such a creepy stalker.”