by J. L. Drake
“Enough, Catalina. Go now.” His warning had me pushing back into the chair. “Your freedom has an expiration date.”
“So does yours.” I tossed my napkin on the table and ran from the room.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Mike
I slammed the truck door behind me and ran a hand over my aching head. My entire body felt as though it was turning itself inside out.
“Irons.” Cole’s tone was all business as he ordered the guys to give us a minute.
“Logan, I just need a second to get my head on straight.”
“I know it was hard to leave, but…”
“But what?” I rubbed my face and tried to keep my mouth from stepping over a line. “If Savannah was in that house, you would have burnt that place to the ground by now.”
“Yeah, I would have.” He made me look over. “But you’re forgetting the basement full of innocent people.” He stepped closer. “We have a chance to get both Catalina and Elena out safely without any casualties.” He paused and cleared his throat. “We were ordered to shoot first and ask questions later when we saved Savannah, but this is different. I know you know that. You’re just in shock, so give yourself the night to breathe, and we’ll recap tomorrow.” He stopped before he left to go call Frank with an update. “We’ll get her back, Mike, but it seems to me she has a way out. Sal and she are oil and water, and she could be a loose cannon around any actual buyer. You’re in shock—shit, so am I. That nearly tossed me off my game, but this is a gamechanger. You saw what happened at the table. She knows Elena. She might be able to help us.”
“She’s one of them.” I was pissed at that. “She’s a fucking Esteban!”
“No, she’s not.” Cole stepped closer, sensing my internal meltdown. “She told you that at dinner. You just couldn’t hear her. She might have their blood, but she isn’t any part of that family.”
“So you could love Savi, even if she had direct roots to the cartel? You could still love her?” My eyes burned.
“I loved Savannah before I even met her.” His face hardened. “If she left me for a member of the cartel, I wouldn’t stop loving that woman.” He sighed. “You don’t see it, Mike, because you hurt right now. But, brother, you love Catalina. Let the sting wear off before you make your mind up because I can promise you that battle,” he pointed to his head and heart, “is not going to be pretty.”
I covered my face and wanted to scream in frustration. I was so confused and hurt. “Would you let her stay at the safe house?” That stopped him in his tracks. “Would you let the woman I love be in the one place you guard with your heart and soul?”
I wanted a fight, and he saw it, and to my surprise, he didn’t give it to me. Instead, he landed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed as he spoke.
“Mike, you’re the smartest person I’ve come across yet. You always think and rethink before you make any move. You’ve saved our Blackstone asses on countless occasions. If you love this woman and if you trust this woman, I would figure out a way for you to be happy.”
I broke and was beyond thankful it was only Cole who witnessed it. This was uncharted territory for me, and I had zero clue how to navigate it.
When I turned the corner on my way to get changed, John was sitting on the hood of the truck, holding his weapon like he was ready to go fight. I snagged my bag off the ground and started to walk away when he jumped off and grabbed my shoulder.
“Whatever you need.” John held my gaze, unsure where my head was, and so was I. “Whatever you’re thinking, I’m in.”
“Thanks.” John always had my back, and we were equally crazy and got that about each other.
Dusk was buzzing when I swung open the front door. Cole had ordered the guys to hurry up with the transforming the off-road buggies to fit eighteen bricks of cocaine on each side. Normally, we’d be doing most of this work at Shadows, but Daniel was in the middle of a huge renovation, so Dusk was the main headquarters for now.
“Sir?” Crawford stopped me at the kitchen. “I was wondering if you could teach me how to deal with explosives.”
“Don’t get blown up,” I muttered but stopped myself when I realized he was asking for help. “Look, I will. Let me just through this job, and I’ll give you some tips.”
“Okay.” He grabbed an apple. “Sir?”
“Yeah?” I dug some Advil from the drawer.
“Lopez was telling a story the other night about how you disarmed an entire room that the Blackstone team was locked in. He said shots were fired, and one of the walls was on fire.”
“What’s the question, Crawford?”
Mark came in and started to drink from the bottle of orange juice. He looked as drained as I. The word about Catalina had spread through Blackstone quickly, and we all tried to process it.
“That’s a lot to deal with at once, sir. Doesn’t that scare the shit out of you?”
I swallowed the lump that wedged itself in my throat and blinked back the pain from my migraine. “No,” I answered truthfully, “that doesn’t scare me.”
Mark looked over and gave me a grim look.
The next day, I tried hard to pay attention to the mission details, but the more I tried to focus, the more I let thoughts of Catalina pull my head away. I’d picture her face when she spotted me, and the way Salvador loathed her, and how Elena seemed to have a connection with her.
“Mike,” Cole snapped my attention back to him, “John will be with Elena, Mark and Keith will pose as drivers number three and four with whoever else they give us. We pick up the drugs and girls here.” He pointed to the end of the Baja race. “We have fifteen minutes to load each vehicle, then we drive from here to here.” He slid his hand across the map. “John, you will cross the border first. Once he checks in, Mark, you go, and so on and so on. We’ll have North Rock as our eyes, here, here, and here. I spoke to Steve this morning, and they understand the plan and are ready to move when we are.”
I felt a sense of relief knowing North Rock was still close to the compound. We were playing with fire, and at any point, the prison guards could allow Denton to have his phone rights back, and we’d be finished.
“We move out in two days.” Cole glanced at me. “No one moves unless I say otherwise. Dismissed.”
“Mark?” I snagged his arm. “Is she home?”
“No,” he shook his head, “not yet.”
I pulled out my phone and called my sister.
“Hey, big bro, nice to hear from ya.” Once again, that little spot in my chest heaved when I went to mention her name.
“Has, ah…” I choked on my own words. “Has Catalina touched base with you lately?”
“No. I’m worried about her too, but I’m sure she’ll be back soon. By the way, Kyle and Lizzy got into it last night at the Brew, and it was hysterical…”
“Charlotte,” I snapped, “sorry, but…”
“What’s wrong, Mike? Are you okay? Is Cat okay? Have you heard anything?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “No, but when you talk to her, when she shows up, will you let me know?”
“Of course. But, Mike?” I paused before I hung up. “Whatever is going on, just know she loves you. I’m sure it was that brother of hers got into trouble or something. I have honestly never seen her this happy before.”
“Just let me know.” I hit end.
The next night came and went, and I paced a pathway through the hardwood floor in my room. When I couldn’t take the silence anymore, I grabbed my keys and headed out to my truck and tore off down the road.
The old, winding road that led to his shop was cloaked in fog, much like my brain was. Flashes of Catalina popped up in front of me, and my patience was like a rubber band, stretched too far. I grabbed the coffees I had picked up in town and kicked the door closed behind me.
“I didn’t know you were back yet.” The crow’s feet around my father’s eyes rose but fell when he caught my mood. “Are the boys okay?”
I nodded, u
nsure of how to start this conversation.
“Mike?”
“Catalina,” I choked out. “She’s not…” I couldn’t even say the words.
My father took a few unsure steps toward me and then wrapped his arms around my neck and pulled me to his shoulder.
“Her father is the man we’ve been hunting for years.” I tried to hold my emotions down. “I love her, Dad, but how can I deal with her, knowing this?”
“We’ll figure this out, son.” He sniffed. “Come on inside and help me understand it all.”
By the time I filled my father in, he was as blown away as I was.
“I mean, she did mention a little about her family to your mother, but not much.” His flannel coat was full of wood chips and pine needles. He brushed away the ones at the bottom while he mulled his thoughts. “You can’t be mad at her for who her family is, son. That’s not fair.”
“Why?” Hate filled my veins again, not for her, but for her father.
“Mike, your own mother doesn’t know where you travel off to.” He closed his eyes. “You both carry secrets, some worse than others. How was she to know that she was going to meet someone who chased the cartel? The odds of that are extremely thin.”
“So what?” I tried another tack. “We’d get married, and they’d show up at the wedding?”
He gave me an understanding smile, and I knew he was right. Still, I needed to get the shit out.
“Just because you were dealt two parents who care about you and a loving sister doesn’t mean others get the same.” He shrugged. “Look at Mark. You wouldn’t judge him for the horrible things his mother did, right? No, because you love him like a brother. Seems to me Catalina left that life to make a better one. She’s not strapping drugs to those women. Sounds like she’s making friends with them. Son, see past this,” he rubbed my American flag tattoo, “and see that not all people who are laced with the enemy are bad.”
I closed my eyes and took a long breath and let it out as much as I could.
“I’m nervous, Dad.”
“That’s because you love her. Any time the heart’s involved, the stakes get higher.”
“She hasn’t come home yet.” I tried to rub some tension out of my neck, “what if her father doesn’t let her leave?”
“There’s always a chance of that happening, especially if she gets mouthy with her father again.” I noticed he seemed entertained by the idea.
“She’s got fire.” I glanced at him.
“I rather like that.”
“Yeah,” I leaned back, “me too.”
Again, we sat and thought. The loons on the lake sang a sad tune, and I tried to control my next thought, but before I could say anything else, his eyes suddenly moved to mine, and I saw it. “What about asking…”
“I thought about it too.”
“Well?”
“Cole wouldn’t like it.”
“Son,” he leaned forward in his chair, “sometimes it’s okay to bend the lines between good and bad when your intentions are in the right place.”
We sat next to the warm cast iron fireplace and finished off our coffees before I went behind my brothers’ backs and made a call. I wasn’t proud of it but figured they’d do the same.
I went for a long walk in the woods and gave things a good once-over in my head before I pulled my phone out and hit dial.
“Hey.” Trigger sounded like he was on his bike.
“Good time?”
“Yeah.”
I took a deep breath and tried to figure out where to start. “I’ve got a problem.”
***
Dad convinced me to have dinner at home that night. Mom could tell something was up, and Charlotte hovered around me a little more than normal.
“Hey.” She handed me her plate to wash and started to dry the one I handed her. “Any chance the reason you’re so quiet is because Catalina dumped you?”
“What?” I shook the fog. “No.”
“What the hell happened between you two, and where is she?” She looked worried. “She’s going to lose her intern spot soon as well.” I didn’t answer; I couldn’t. I wouldn’t put that secret on her. “Mike,” she reached for my arm, “is she okay?”
I held her gaze, and her face fell.
“Mike? You are kind of scaring me.”
“Don’t ask me questions like that right now.”
“What does that mean?”
“Charlotte,” I pressed my palms into the counter and dropped my head, trying to cool my emotions, “I can’t answer that right now.”
“Okay.” She nodded, but I could see a million questions on the tip of her tongue. We went back to the silence and finished cleaning up.
Later that evening, while my family watched TV, I headed down to the water’s edge. I couldn’t help but glance between the boards where I first got a taste of the woman I fell head over heels for. With my feet hanging over the edge of the dock, I waited with my phone in my hand for what my friend had found out.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Catalina
“Where is she?” I found Abel in the kitchen the next morning.
“Who?” He bit into an apple, spraying juice through the rays of sunshine.
“Elena,” I whispered. “I need to speak with her.”
“Catalina,” he started, but when I shot him a pleading look, he closed his eyes and cursed. “She’s getting prepped with the other girls.”
“He’s sending her, then?” Though I knew Abel would never hurt me, I knew his loyalty was to my father.
“What’s going on in there?” He pointed to my head.
“When do they leave?”
“Tomorrow.”
“What are the chances the girls will be returned safely?”
“About the same of you loving your father again.”
I glared at his example. That wasn’t funny. “Abel,” I looked at him, “does it not bother you that they leave and don’t come back?”
“It bothers me that you left and never came back.”
The squeeze in my chest returned. “You could have left.”
“Yeah?” He grinned darkly. “Your father would never have allowed it.”
“If you really loved me, you would have fought for me, not fallen into line with the rest of those monsters.”
We would never be on the same page. He stepped forward and handed me a card with a number on it. “Think what you want about me, I know I watched the girl I loved drive off to a different life without so much as a glance over her shoulder.” He held my gaze a beat longer than I would have liked. “Despite our past, if you get into trouble here or over there, call me.”
I kissed his cheek as a thank you and tucked the card in my pocket before I left in search for Elena.
“Arms up!” Roman’s demand drew me to the top of the staircase that led downstairs. Removing my heels, I hurried down the polished marble and peeked around to see the entire room coated in white powder. A package must have broken. I caught Elena’s terrified eyes and nodded for her to make her way in my direction. There were fifteen pretties who lived in this house, and thirty who lived at Bash’s. Only five were leaving with Mike, so I needed to know if the others were leaving with someone else or not.
“What are you doing here?” Her eyes were wild and fearful. “He’ll kill you.”
“Elena, do you trust the girls who are going with you?”
“Yes,” she nodded, “I really do.”
I glanced over her shoulder to make sure Roman was still busy. “Do exactly what they say, and don’t try to escape.”
“I can’t tell them not to run, Catalina. This is our only chance to get out of here.”
I took her face in my hands. “Elena, your freedom is with them.”
“What?”
“I know you have no reason to trust me.”
“I do.” The way her eyes softened around the edges, I knew she was telling the truth.
“I will see you on the other sid
e if you just listen to everything they tell you to do.”
Her chin started to quiver, but I shook my head. She needed to keep her state of terror at the surface so she didn’t send a red flag to Roman or anyone else.
“Do you understand me?”
“Yes.”
I dropped my hands away and smiled. “Okay, if you trust them, share it.”
“You need to give her wings back.”
“Huh?”
She smiled through some tears. “Your angel.” She sniffed. “You’re not a prisoner anymore, Catalina. You’re free.”
I tossed myself in her arms and hugged her hard. “We will both be free soon.”
“Where’s Elena?” Roman barked, and we both jumped.
“Can you give this to any one of the men? Try, if you can, to give it to the biggest one with lots of tattoos.” I handed her an envelope, and she tucked it in under one of the bricks of cocaine. “Thank you.”
Though I didn’t bring anything with me when I came here, when I returned to my room, my mother had a new suitcase on the bed, full of clothes. She folded a sweater and placed it on top before she sensed my presence.
“You need to leave.” She wouldn’t look at me. “It’s much too dangerous to be here.”
“You didn’t need to do this, Mama.” I stepped into the room and closed the door.
“Yes, I did.” Her voice was low. “You’re my daughter. It’s the least I can do.”
Moving onto the bed, I saw by her worried face something was about to happen, so she wanted to make sure I wasn’t in the crossfire.
“What’s going on?”
“I never thought he’d do it,” she muttered to herself. “How can the person you lay with most every night destroy you so deeply?”
Coldness washed over my skin, and my heart quickened. “Did Papa hurt Javier?”
Her face snapped up to mine, and I saw the look in her eyes.
No.
She reached for my hand, but I stepped back, not wanting the comfort. Pain ripped through my heart. Blood rushed to my ears and drowned me a swell of white noise.