CANARY

by Tijan

  I answered, knowing it was one of Raize’s burners. “Are you okay?”

  Loud and harsh wind thundered over the phone first, then I heard him shouting. “You need to move. Now! Marco has men on the US side and they’re looking for you.”

  I bolted upright from where I’d been sitting. The phone was clenched against my head, but I drew both Jake and Cavers’ attention. I stood. “What’s going on?” I didn’t wait, already waving to both of them and pointing to our bags. I said to them, “We have to go now.”

  “Now?”

  “Now!”

  Jake clipped his head, but Cavers hadn’t questioned me. He immediately grabbed a bag and threw open the door, running the bags out. I needed to free up a hand, so I plugged in a bluetooth earpiece that Jake had insisted we buy and stuffed my phone into my pocket.

  “I’m here,” I said to Raize as I ran to grab my things, and what items he left behind.

  Gus started barking in the background.

  I asked, “You got you—her?”

  I winced, looking, but Cavers wasn’t in the room and Jake didn’t seem like he’d noticed I almost slipped. I didn’t know when or how or where or even if Raize was going to fill them in, but that was not my decision.

  “We got her, but as soon as we went through the border, an alert sounded. Abram’s phone went crazy with texts. They know you’re in Nogales and I’m sure they’re thinking she’s with you.”

  We had a cartel team heading our way. Lovely.

  I was finishing grabbing the last of the weapons he’d left behind, my bag thrown over my back.

  Cavers dashed in, grabbed what bags were left and Jake took Gus.

  I stood in the opened doorway, and turned back. “We need to clean this room.”

  Cavers came back in, throwing bleach everywhere. He yelled over his shoulder, “Go! Get in the truck.”

  I did, hurrying in.

  Jake was in the driver’s seat. He saw my bluetooth. “Is he still there?”

  I nodded.

  Jake ripped the earpiece from me and put it in his. “Boss. What’s going on?”

  Since they were talking, I stashed my bags into the back area.

  Gus was standing in the truck's bed, his head through the opened window. He started licking my face.

  Then Cavers ran out, threw himself into the back with Gus, and pounded the side. “GO!”

  Jake bit out a curse, but punched the acceleration and we were off.

  He started yelling, driving at the same time. “Where?”

  He swung through a parking lot, and soared over another one and then we were fishtailing and going in the opposite direction.

  I cursed, seeing police. “Stop, Jake!” I pointed him out.

  Jake cursed, too, but immediately hit another alley just as the cop was turning the corner. We were far enough up he might not have seen us, but just in case, Jake swung into another parking lot and turned onto the next street, going in the complete opposite direction. This time, he was moving at a more normal speed.

  Cavers hit the window behind us.

  I turned around to see him shooting Jake a glare. “What the fuck?” He had a tight hold on Gus, who was trying to break free.

  “Cop,” I told him.

  He nodded, moving back and settling in once more.

  Jake mouthed to me, “Sorry” but he was still listening to Raize. Ten minutes later, he said, “Okay. We’re on the freeway.” He motioned for me to take the piece. “Boss wants you now.”

  I fitted it back in my ear. “Where are you?”

  “We’re outside of the city. You guys are meeting us north of town, at the second rest stop. It’s a drive so tell Cavers to settle in. No cops. Nothing. Got it?”

  “Got it.”

  He hung up as I was turning around to relay to Cavers what Raize said.

  A moment later, he was sliding down so no passing cars could see a guy holding a dog in the back of a car and call it in for state patrol.

  I put the bluetooth piece away, glaring at Jake. “Dude.”

  He grimaced. “I know. I’m sorry. I heard Cartel and panicked.” He tossed Cavers a quick look. “You think he wiped that room down adequately?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know, but we didn’t do anything. Let’s hope it gets missed.”

  He frowned. “Are we talking cops or cartel?”

  “I don’t think cartels can wipe for any DNA traces.”

  “You’d be surprised what they can do.”

  True, but I didn’t want to know.

  I said, sliding down and trying to get comfortable, “We’re in one piece. Raize said they’re in one piece. Let’s just get there and figure out what to do.”

  “He said, ‘We got her.’”

  “What?”

  Jake was watching me, studying me before he turned back to the road. “He said ‘we’ when it should’ve been ‘I got her.’ Who’s with him?”

  I got quiet. But, dammit. “Why are you asking?”

  He frowned again, then his eyebrows shot up. “You kidding me? We’re back to this paranoia shit? I thought we were over that.”

  “If it’s someone coming with Raize, then that’s all you need to know. So I gotta ask again, why are you asking?”

  “I’m asking to see if you know, and it’s evident you do. You knew before he took off or are you just as surprised as me? Our boss isn’t one to work with someone random.”

  I still didn’t know why he was asking. “Interrogate Raize when we see him. I might know who it is, but I don’t know any of the specifics and I don’t feel comfortable about you asking me all of this. You either trust Raize or you don’t.”

  I was studying him as I said that last part, and he got tight around the mouth.

  That was it.

  He didn’t trust Raize.

  Why didn’t he trust Raize? When had this changed?

  Then a different thought occurred to me. “Is this because of your woman?”

  He jerked, his head whipping to mine. “What?”

  It was about his woman.

  This wasn’t good, not at all.

  “Are you not going to cut her loose?”

  His jaw clenched, and his hand tightened over the steering wheel. He jerked up a shoulder, roughly. “I don’t know. It’s probably the wrong time to be having this conversation, considering we’re running from a cartel. You know?”

  “Just don’t do anything stupid. Please talk to me or Cavers before you do?”

  He sent me a restrained grin. “Gus count?”

  I grinned. “Maybe.”

  He chuckled, but it was strained.

  We got to the rest stop, parking on one side of the building.

  Jake started to reach for Gus’ leash, but I got there first. “I’ll walk him. You guys go ahead.”

  Cavers shot me a frown, but headed inside right away.

  Jake was looking around. “Single woman looking like you out here isn’t a good idea.”

  “Go. I’ll be fine.”

  Jake had no clue what Gus was capable of. I did.

  He nodded, his hand massaging the back of his neck as he went after Cavers.

  I took Gus to a patch of grass, set up on a small hill so I could see who was coming in and out.

  It wasn’t long before I saw Raize was heading toward me from the opposite side of the hill. I hadn’t noticed them parking.

  Abram and a girl I was assuming was Raize’s sister were walking for the rest stop. Abram had his arm around her, tucked into his side.

  I watched them, seeing how her head rested against his chest a second and his hand dipped, rubbing a spot on her back.

  That was… interesting.

  “Guys inside?” Raize got to me, and bent down, brushing a kiss over my lips before straightening, Gus’ leash now in his hand.

  I nodded and went back to watching Abram and Raize’s sister.

  She was tiny. Petite. Long black hair. She was in a dress and sandals.

  I would
n’t expect those kinds of clothes if she’d been planning on running.

  Raize looked where I was looking, and guessed accurately what I was thinking. “You got extra clothes she could borrow?”

  I had to laugh at that, too. “Yeah.”

  “Why’s that funny?”

  “Because not long ago, I was the girl you had to take shopping when I had nothing.”

  “Oh. Yeah.”

  I gave him an appraisal. He sounded tired, and he looked tired, but there was more. “What is it?”

  He focused on me again, blinking a few times. “What?”

  “Something extra is going on with you. What is it?”

  He didn’t answer right away, his eyes trailing ahead even though Abram and his sister were inside by now. Cavers had come out, and he was heading our way.

  “Just… we didn't have time to talk. We got her and took off right away. There was the car ride, but she was sobbing the whole time. And she wouldn’t let me comfort her so Abram held her while I drove. I have no clue how to handle her.”

  Oh.

  I reached for his hand, giving it a squeeze as Gus squatted to poop.

  I ran my thumb over the back of his hand. “She’s not thinking clear. That’s all.”

  He tried to smile back, but it was taking effort from him. He ran his thumb over the back of my hand instead, and our hands fell apart as Cavers got to us.

  “Boss. Nice to see you alive.” He gestured to Gus. “Want me to take him?”

  Raize handed over the leash. “We’ll be a bit.”

  “Got it.”

  I didn’t know if I should mention Jake, but then it didn’t matter. Jake was coming out of the restrooms. Seeing us, he headed right for us. He skimmed over Raize, then looked for his truck.

  “Boss,” he greeted with a small upward chin lift.

  Raize’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Give us a second.”

  “Okay.”

  That was the exchange, but I looked back, noting Jake’s tension. His shoulders were rigid. When I turned back, Raize had been watching me. “You want to fill me in?”

  I opened my mouth, but then Abram was coming our way.

  I shut it, just as he got to us, looking toward the women’s restroom.

  “Hey,” he breezed, then did a slight twitch as he realized who I was. His eyebrows dipped in. “You look different.”

  “Different hair.”

  “Ah.” His eyes lit up with comprehension. “No offense, but I liked the blonde.”

  I grinned. “Me, too. I’m going back.”

  Raize gave me a soft grin, before losing it. He asked Abram, “How is she?”

  Abram gave him a wary and tired look, a very tired look. “It was bad for her at times.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Abram was eyeing the women’s door. “Let’s talk later, yeah? Get to safety and then start debriefing all this shit because bruh, it’s a lot of shit we gotta digest.”

  Raize grunted, then nodded to me. “Check on her, but don’t approach.”

  “Got it.”

  He went his way and I went mine, and when I went in, I almost walked into the wall.

  The girl standing at the mirror, staring at herself, was Raize’s twin. Or the female version of him.

  She was smaller, which I already knew. Her hair was dark and it hung limply down to the middle of her back, but her eyes were dead. Her cheekbones were gaunt. She had beautiful brown eyes, the same full lips as her brother, but her face was a little more rounded than Raize. His was hard with a firm and square jawline, but with the eyes, the mouth, the cheekbones, she was Raize’s blood.

  The guys would figure it out the second they saw her. All hell would break loose after.

  I suppressed a shiver, not wanting to get ahead of myself with those fireworks.

  I forced myself to keep going, into a stall and sat, but I didn’t pee. I didn’t know why I was waiting, but she hadn’t moved when I went past her. She choked out a sob before the water turned on, but when she turned it off, she didn’t let out another sound. She washed her hands, grabbed a towel, and slipped outside. All quiet-like, or as quiet as she could be.

  I thought back.

  I had stopped and stared at her. She hadn’t noticed. Those eyes weren’t even seeing herself, I didn’t think.

  Was the dead staring thing a family trait?

  I was thinking it wasn’t.

  55

  Ash

  No fireworks happened after I came out of the restroom.

  Cavers, Gus, and Jake were in our truck.

  Abram and Raize’s sister were in theirs.

  Raize was waiting for me, studying both trucks. His attention moved to me as I came to his side and he touched under my chin. “You want to explain Jake’s attitude toward me?”

  I sucked in my breath. “I thought you’d wait.”

  His eyes barely flickered. “What's up?”

  “I don’t know. You said ‘we’ when you were referencing that you got your sister out and Jake asked me who was with you.”

  “Did you tell him?”

  I shook my head. “He knows I know who was with you, but nothing else.”

  “You told him about Abram?”

  “No, just that I thought I knew who the person was that was with you. That’s it, literally. I didn’t know, you know, but Abram made sense.”

  He started to step back, but I caught his shirt, holding him in place.

  My chest tightened. I didn’t like what I was about to do, but… Raize had to know.

  “He hasn’t cut off his woman.”

  Raize tensed. “What?”

  “He called her, told her the lie about his mother, but he’s been talking about her.”

  God.

  What was I doing?

  Had I just signed her death warrant? Because Raize would not let it stand, especially now with his sister in the mix.

  “And he’s pissed, thinking I’ve been lying to him?”

  “Well. Yeah.”

  Raize cursed under his breath, then sighed. “We’ll deal with this later. Go with them.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “There’s a safehouse I know in Colorado.”

  “Why Colorado? That’s like, a twelve-hour drive.”

  He scanned over me, his mouth growing tight, but then he sighed. “Because I want to be as far away from this border as I can be, and somewhere that’s nowhere close to the East Coast or Texas.”

  “Well. Then. That makes sense.”

  He grinned, his eyes softening before he patted me on the ass. “Get going. Sleep if you can, alright?”

  I gave a small grin back. “You too.”

  He ran a hand over his jaw. “If my sister doesn’t freak out that her arm might touch mine, I’ll try to get a nap in.”

  He leaned down, giving me another soft kiss, before we parted.

  SOME GUY

  That girl…

  A man stared at her. She was pretty. She looked like she knew the guy she was with, and he leaned down to give her a kiss. She smiled at him.

  But then she turned and he saw her whole face.

  He rocked back, stunned, but yeah.

  He stared at the missing girl’s poster pinned to the board in front of him. It was her.

  Well, golly gee, his aunt’s bee in a bonnet.

  He pulled out his phone and dialed the number, hoping there was some sort of reward.

  56

  Raize

  Verónica either slept or sobbed.

  We stopped to fill up with gas, but she remained inside the car. Abram tried to get her out. She wouldn’t go, kept saying in Spanish that she didn’t need to go to the bathroom. We left her alone, and when she realized Abram was going to spot me, let me try to sleep, she scooted as close to him as possible. A bag was wedged between her and myself.

  At that point, I started wondering why I got her out, and then Ash’s face flashed in my mind right away. She did more than this for her si
ster, and she hadn’t even seen her sister once Brooke was pulled out. Then again, there was no newsflash there. Ash was ten times the person I was.

  Abram caught my look and said under his breath, “Mantén el calmo mi compadre.”

  I grunted. “Si, si. Solo estoy cansado.”

  Verónica settled after that, and I caught her sneaking a look at me a couple times.

  I did what Abram told me to do. I calmed down, and what I said was true. I was tired enough where I was able to ignore my sister’s constant tension and get some sleep. I needed it from the drive to Nogales, then to Guaymas, and we’d been on the run since.

  When I woke, it was an hour later.

  Verónica was passed out, her head resting against Abram’s shoulder, and I took care when I stretched my legs. I studied her a bit, seeing traces of my sister in her face.

  “I don’t want to alarm you, but we’re following a car.”

  “What?” I straightened.

  There were two vehicles between us and Ash’s truck. A small green compact and another truck, one that looked beat up. Two males were inside, both wearing cowboy hats.

  Abram was speaking softly, and indicated ahead. “The green compact. It was behind us for a while, then when I fell behind, it went around. It’s following your girl.”

  I took out my phone.

  “I thought it was just local authorities looking for her.”

  He grunted. “Thinking it’s not so local anymore. She’s pretty. She still sticks out.”

  I knew what he meant, but I was dialing Ash’s number.

  “Did you get some sleep?”

  “A bit, but listen. Put me on speaker.”

  I heard a button get pressed. Her voice sounded louder, “You’re on.”

  “Who’s driving?”

  “Me.” Cavers.

  I frowned, looking at the back of their truck. “Where’s Gus?”

  Ash started laughing. “We brought him in. He’s half on Jake’s lap and mostly on mine.”

  “You’re by the door?”

  She was quiet.

  Jake came on, more serious. “What’s going on, boss?”

  “You’re being followed.”

  “I thought we were,” Cavers added. “They came up on us thirty minutes ago, but haven’t been moving anywhere. Just looks like a single guy. Can’t tell if he’s talking to someone else or not.”