They went eight blocks up and four blocks over. No real need for the wheels and the blindfold had been no use whatsoever, not that he was going to tell them.
Hunter pretended to scratch his head with his shoulder and was able to move his blindfold enough to watch as they pulled up in front of an auto body shop. One of the young men jumped out of the back seat, and someone appeared out of the shadows inside the gate. They talked a moment, then the guy from the inside unlocked and opened the chain link gate, and Pablo drove inside. They were locked back in.
“You can take off his blindfold now.” Hunter rolled his eyes as the guy next to him did. For fuck’s sake, he had his hands tied in front of him, he could have done it himself. LL needed a better crew.
Hunter looked around and saw they were at an auto body shop.
“The car doesn’t look like it needs body work,” Hunter noted.
He was met by silence. Seriously, these guys needed to buy a sense of humor. How did LL stand them? Just one more thing that went in the ‘Con’ column.
They all got out of the vehicle, Pablo untied him and motioned for Hunter to follow him. The guy who let him into the gate had it all—bald head, bandana, and neck tattoos—he couldn’t be more ‘gangy’.
“Howdy,” Hunter said in English. This guy actually grinned.
“Hey, Tex,” he replied in English. At last, a sense of humor, he could see why LL kept this one close. “You from Texas?” the man asked Hunter.
“Nah, just spent time with Texans. It rubs off,” Hunter replied.
Gatekeeper switched to Spanish. “Let’s hope you continue to keep LL amused, or you can deliver on your promise. I kind of like you. I’d hate to have to kill you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Hunter replied in Spanish.
Gatekeeper turned to Pablo, “I’ll take him in to see LL. You wait here.”
“But―”
The gatekeeper shut him down with a look. It was a good look, something Gray had perfected over the years. Hunter could do it with new recruits too.
“Follow me.” Hunter followed him from the car bay doors into one of the grungiest garages he’d seen in a while. They bypassed the office doors on the left and went up the narrow staircase. At the top of the stairs, the gatekeeper knocked on the door.
“It’s open.”
He opened the door, and it was night and day. Except for the absence of a window, it looked like a high powered executive office. The desk was sleek glass and steel. There was a marble bar inset in wood-paneled walls. The floor was slate. There was a small conference table over to the side, and the seats all looked like leather. Hunter looked over at LL, who had an enthusiastic grin.
“Pretty swanky, right?”
“I’ll say. You’ve moved up in the world.”
“It pays to make a good impression. You wouldn’t believe what kinds of fools I have to deal with. One look at this office and they immediately realize I know things they don’t. They listen and fall into line.”
It wasn’t a bad idea on LL’s part.
“What’s your territory up to?”
“Took down The 15th Street Gang, The Machine, and took over El Fuego.”
“What happened to Herman? I can’t imagine you and he are co-managing the Las Nuevas Espadas unless of course, he got a lot prettier since I last saw him, and your tastes have changed.”
The air in the room turned ominous. “You know, sometimes you’re not as funny as you think you are, Man, you hearing me?” LL said.
“Got it. Now I know where the line is drawn. You still with Rita?” She and LL had a son before Hunter had left to join the Navy.
“Yeah,” LL smiled. “You remember Lorenzo Junior? Well, we have five more kids now. God’s blessed us.”
“Lorenzo in the life?”
“Damn right. He’s learning how to handle the girls. They love him.”
If he was anything like his father, Hunter didn’t doubt it, but it still made him sad. He couldn’t be any more than seventeen. What kind of life was he living, handling a bunch of prostitutes?
“I see that look. You think you’re all that because you’re a SEAL?”
Hunter stilled.
“What, you didn’t think I would keep track of my boy? You came in second in your BUD/S class. What was your problem? I expected first.”
So had Hunter. Still pissed him off that Dalton had beat him.
“How d’you find out about that?”
“I told you, we’ve been busy. For a while, we did a little credit card fraud, so we had a hacker. I had him look you up.” Hunter didn’t like the feel of that, he’d have to put Dex on the case.
“LL, I’m not judging how you’re raising Lorenzo.” Hunter paused. “Scratch that, maybe I am. Don’t you want your son to have something better? Something outside of this life?”
“Look around you.” LL waved his arm. “I’ve made something of myself. What more could the kid ask for? He’s loving it. He’ll have a great life.”
“Or end up in prison or dead. You know you have a huge target on your back.”
“Quit your preaching. That’s not funny. You know I like it best when you’re funny. Or when you have information. So be funny or give me information.”
“How about this, you give me information, and I take down Los Demonios for you?”
LL looked at him, sizing him up. “Is this shit they say about SEALs for real?”
“We have our moments.”
“Damn, you should have never left. You and I could have ruled this city.”
“Again, you’re not hearing me. I looked it over, the odds were I would be in prison or dead. Where is our old group, LL?”
The man got quiet and sat back in his chair.
“Come on,” Hunter prompted. “There were seven of us. You ruled us. I was your second, we were little shits who reported up to Red Blade, but you led us. I got the fuck out, but what about the other five? What about Luther? Can you tell me what happened to him?”
“He’s dead. He OD’d.”
“What about Luis?”
“He’s serving thirty over in Lancaster.”
“The others?”
“Felix was shot, he’s in a wheelchair. Alberto, he died in prison. But Bautista is still going strong, he’s one of my lieutenants, just like you could have been,” LL said it like it was something to celebrate.
“Great odds, LL. Great fucking odds.” Hunter’s words dripped with disgust. “Aren’t you even sad about the others?”
“Aren’t you? You left them? Maybe all that shit wouldn’t have gone down if you’d been here to watch their back, you ever think about that?”
Fuck. Not this again.
“LL, it was their decision to stay. They could have left, same as me. As a matter of fact, I asked. No, I begged every fucking one of you to get the fuck out. To leave the life.” He had. He’d begged LL the hardest. He’d been like a brother to him.
“Yeah, you were crazy.”
“Sure I was, look at where they are today.”
“Tell me, what are the odds of making it home as a SEAL? Last I heard, each and every one of you has a bounty on your head.”
What the fuck? How did this guy know that kind of shit? It rarely made it to the public.
“I told you, I’ve been keeping tabs on you, Man.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to see if what you said was true. I wanted to see if you really would make a life for yourself.” LL eyed him, all humor gone. “Man, you only made half a life for yourself. Yeah, you’re all that as a SEAL, but where’s your woman? Where’s your kids? Where’s your family? You hardly even come home to see your grandmama.”
“My team is my family.”
“Do you fuck ’em?”
“Now who isn’t being funny?” Hunter growled.
“Just saying. You need a wife. You need kids. You’re missing out. That’s why I checked on you, I cared.”
God this trip was biting him in the
ass.
“Well, if you’ve been keeping tabs on me, then you know that with a little help from some friends of mine, I can take care of your little rival gang.”
“God, you always were a cocky bastard.”
This time it was Hunter’s turn to laugh. He kept laughing. LL joined in.
“Okay, we were both cocky,” LL finally admitted. “Didn’t you miss us a little?”
“Maybe to begin with, but I wanted to do the right things, LL. I wanted to be on the side of the angels. I wanted to serve my country. My teammates I served with are my brothers. The other teams we go on missions with, those men I would lay my life down for. The things we do, LL, they’re important. We save lives.”
“Tell that to Osama Bin Laden.”
“And how many innocents are alive today because he’s rotting at the bottom of the ocean?”
“Fine, you’re a big bad SEAL. You’re kind of still funny. I’m kind of believing you can help me with my Los Demonios problem, so I won’t kill you.”
“I need more than that.”
“Want, want, want. Need, need, need. It’s never-ending.”
“I take it you have daughters?”
“Yep, you guessed it,” LL laughed. “Five of them. Lorenzo is my only boy. So, what do you need?”
“I need all the information you have on a guy named Mateo and how he fits into Los Demonios hierarchy.”
“I can get that information. I should have it tomorrow night, Friday at the latest.”
“Sounds good.”
“Do you need a ride somewhere? You grandmother’s place?”
Hunter hated that LL knew where Mamie lived, but that was the problem when you had people who’d known you since grade school. “Yeah, I could use a lift.”
“Martin!” LL yelled. The door immediately opened. The gatekeeper walked in, he must have been standing at the top of the stairs. “You drive my friend Hunter to where he wants to go. I don’t want those other idiots knowing too much about my old friend.”
“Got it, boss.”
“Hunter, give me your number. I might have some information about you, but that I don’t have.”
Hunter rattled it off, and LL gave him his.
“I’ll be calling,” LL said.
“Appreciate it.”
“If you come through, we’ll be even. Even for your desertion fourteen years ago.”
How was it that LL saw it as desertion, and Hunter saw it as the smartest move he’d ever made? The one in the wheelchair? The one in the state pen? The dead one? Or God forbid, LL’s lieutenant. Nope, it was the smartest move in the world.
Chapter Six
Oh God her head felt like it was inside a church bell on Sunday morning with Quasimodo ringing the damn thing. She did not have a concussion. She did not have a concussion. She did not have a concussion.
She raised her head off the pillow and realized it was probably for the best her grandmother had checked on her as often as she had throughout the night. Dammit, she didn’t like this, but the doctor said this would be the worst day, and by Saturday, she should be feeling better.
Okay, now where was the aspirin? She got up gingerly from the bed and tiptoed down the hallway to the bathroom. Opening the medicine cabinet, she found some extra strength Tylenol. Thank the Lord. She didn’t even bother going to the kitchen, she swallowed them dry.
She tiptoed past her grandmother’s room on the way back to her own, laid back down, and considered yesterday’s events. First had been the calls with the police detectives and the insurance adjusters. Then, she considered the call with her principal, Bill, they just discussed when she would return to work. She had plenty of sick time, and Bill wanted to wait for her bruising to clear up. When she protested, they agreed she could call in, and they would send over a new laptop since hers was destroyed in the bombing, so she could work online. That conversation was pretty mundane. But the conversation with Hunter? That was an earthquake.
She’d replayed those minutes in the kitchen over and over in her head all night long, which is probably the real reason for her headache, she hadn’t gotten any sleep. During the night she’d made up her mind to talk to Hunter about Nicolas. She needed to protect her mother and grandmother and she knew in her heart that Hunter would figure out a way to help her help the young man as well.
But that wasn’t the real reason she couldn’t sleep. Now that she had decided to rely on Hunter, that meant that he would be in her life for the time it took to resolve things, and it scared her. She’d told him to leave, just like she had thirteen years ago, but he wouldn’t listen. She knew the woman he would eventually find beneath the surface, and she was a hell of a lot more scarred than the one her dad had found to be such a unimaginable hardship. She really wanted Hunter to leave with good memories of her. The fact that he saw her as beautiful told her how flawed his thinking was. What was she going to do?
“Láska, do you want breakfast?”
“I’ll be out in a moment, Babička.” She got up and dressed. Thank God Lottie had finally come to her senses and brought over something loose for her to wear.
It wasn’t until she was down the hall and face-to-face with Hunter that she realized her grandmother had been speaking in English.
“Hunter?” It was as if her thoughts had conjured him.
“I told you I was going to stay and watch over you and your grandmother. I’m going to look in after your mom later on today.”
“But―”
He took a step toward her, and she held her ground.
“Cariña, I told you I wasn’t leaving. Not this time.”
“Why?” she burst out softly, so her grandmother wouldn’t hear.
“I left part of me when I left you.”
They stood there staring at one another. Aliana didn’t know how to respond.
Her grandmother broke the silence. “I’m making waffles, with marionberry jam. I made the jam myself.”
“That sounds wonderful, Mrs. J. What can I do to help?”
“You could take out the trash.” Her grandmother pointed to the cupboard under the sink. Hunter bent to it and pulled out the trash bin.
“Is there anything else? Recycling?”
“Yes, that’s near the washer and dryer. The trash cans are under the carport.”
“Got it.”
Aliana watched his economical movements that had his muscles bunching under his gray T-shirt. As soon as he was safely out of the kitchen, she turned to her grandmother.
“When did he get here?”
“I called him in when I was making coffee this morning.”
“What do you mean, you called him in?”
“He spent the night in his car, watching our house.”
“Actually, I didn’t,” Hunter said as he came back in the door. He smiled, and Aliana remembered his smile from years ago. So white in his dark face. His dimples showed. She’d always loved his dimples. She shook her head to clear it.
“So you weren’t watching over us?” She felt let-down.
“I had to go search for Mateo, so I had one of my teammates watch your place. He’s a SEAL too, so I trust him.”
As soon as Mateo’s name was mentioned, Aliana couldn’t catch her breath. How in the world had Hunter found out about him?
“How do you know about…?” Her voice trailed off.
“You had some visitors yesterday evening. I think it was the Los Demonios’ version of the welcome wagon. We had a friendly little talk, and they mentioned that Mateo was looking for you.”
“They came here?” She took a shallow breath. “To my grandmother’s house?”
He came and stood in front of her, gently placing his hands on her shoulders. Looking into his warm brown eyes calmed her.
“I’m sorry Alia, but yes, they came here. We talked about that possibility yesterday, remember?”
“I was hoping you were wrong, stupid of me, wasn’t it?”
“Not stupid. Maybe naïve.”
&nbs
p; “Don’t placate me. I screwed up, admit it. If I run around with my eyes closed while my home is blown up and my grandmother’s house is being watched, I’m useless. I can’t stand that. I need the truth.”
His warm brown eyes darkened. “Well, so do I. Why the hell didn’t you tell me that you’d been attacked?”
“Because I wasn’t supposed to.” Sakra, she didn’t mean to admit to so much.
“You need to tell me, you and your family’s lives are at stake.”
She blew out a deep breath, “I’m going to, I promise. Just give me a minute to catch my breath.” She gave him a pleading look.
“My God, you’re stubborn. Well fine, it doesn’t matter, I am planted firmly in the middle of your shitstorm, no matter what.”
She looked up when her grandmother giggled.
“What?” she asked. “What’s funny?”
“I learned a new idiom. Shitstorm. I like this one.”
Aliana looked to heaven. God help her, everyone had gone crazy.
“Babička, I appreciate that you’re going to learn great new terms from Hunter, but he needs to leave. Actually, we both do. We’re going to check into a hotel.” Why hadn’t she thought of this yesterday?
“No. I’m not leaving my home. I want to stay.” It was a bad sign when her grandmother put her hands on her hips.
“You don’t understand―”
“I understand just fine,” the older woman cut her off in Czech. “You’re afraid of Hunter. Something has been broken in you since your father took his life. Hunter can fix it.”
“What are you talking about? Hunter can’t fix anything.” She didn’t address the part where she was broken or her father.
“No, that’s not the truth, granddaughter. You’ve been living a half-life for too long. I’m not going to allow it anymore. You have to face your past and move on. This is a good, strong man who will keep you safe. You need him. Face your demons and walk into the light, beautiful girl.”
Tears threatened to fall.
Her Passionate Hero Page 9