Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 59119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
To my instant relief, he snorted a laugh.
“He really pissed me off,” I said in my defense.
“As long as he lives, it’s fine,” he chuckled. “Maybe don’t shoot him again, though.”
I’d do my best.
I exhaled, feeling better now. And it turned out I couldn’t be mad at Ryan or anybody else for not being more forthcoming about Squeezy, because apparently they hadn’t known either. Ryan was still shocked to know his sister might be working with Hillcroft or, who knew, the Feds, maybe.
“Does your sister actually know Mercier?” I asked.
“No. She was very firm on that,” he replied. “But they appear to have an associate or acquaintance in common.”
All right. I was sure Mercier had only wanted me to send his “warmest regards” so he could shove that knowledge in my face anyway.
He’d warned me. He’d said the list of people who could know so much about him was very short. I guessed he was right.
“Listen, son.” Ryan cleared his throat. “Are you doing all right? Do you think you could sit tight a couple days on your own?”
Oh shit, yeah, he wasn’t coming back, was he? He’d remained in Nice for a reason. “Don’t worry about it,” I said quickly. “Gimme an update. What’s happening on your end?”
“A fucking shitshow, that’s what,” he grumbled. “We need every man we can spare, because Elliott and Joel have run into problems in Valencia. Not a single Carillo associate, but instead, we’re dealing with a rival organization.”
That was exactly what we needed. Goddamn. “So what’re you gonna do?”
“We’re gonna cause some mayhem and create a few headlines,” he answered. “That’s easier than clearing the area. The way we figure, if we create a big enough buzz, Carillo won’t even try to enter Europe via Valencia—he’ll come through Marseille instead, and we’ll be waiting for him.”
I was gonna talk to Mercier about that. Maybe he had clues he was willing to trade for something else? Our theory was that Carillo would arrive by ship and not air. Because creating fake identities today just wasn’t like it used to be. You could score a decent driver’s license, maybe even a passport—I mean, I had—but it would only take me so far. At most, I could travel domestically because security wasn’t as tight. In short, we didn’t believe Carillo could’ve come up with the fake papers to travel between continents. Additionally, he was on our most wanted list. The odds of him taking that risk to go through airport security…? Nah.
“I’ll see if I can dig up more information from Mercier,” I said.
“That’s good. We should talk again tomorrow—I wanna touch base as frequently as possible. Do you have any information you can give him in return?”
I shrugged to myself and scratched the side of my head. “There’s no point in maintaining a cover he saw through in two seconds. I guess I can be a little more open about who I am and what our plans are—just leave out the details that might give him any kind of leverage.”
“Solid plan.” Gramps approved. “And you know how to reward a prisoner, Crew. The more he gives you…”
“Yes, sir.” Once shit had been verified, I could grant Mercier minor freedoms.
“Hold on. Squeezy’s calling.”
“Okay.” I scrubbed a hand over my face and then looked out over the parking lot. Had I forgotten anything? I felt like there was something else I was supposed to run by Ryan.
He was back within seconds. “That was final confirmation. She found a photo. It’s him.”
Well, all right…okay. Right. I had a Fed locked up in the woods. Wonderful.
“Got it. I, um…I’m gonna ask him for Gomez,” I said. “If he wants me to loosen the restraints or whatever, he should give me the number to Gomez’s people. Maybe Squeezy could trace that.”
“Yeah. Fuck—I should’ve thought of that. That’s—yeah. Great job, Crew.”
I smiled. Maybe I wasn’t a complete screw-up.
“Okay, cool. So, uh, you want me to call you the same time tomorrow?” I asked.
He hummed. “Let’s go with later in the afternoon. Four should be good. We won’t make any moves until after dark, but we’ll need time to finalize our strategy.”
“Copy that.”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t call in an emergency,” he told me. “If shit gets outta hand for whatever reason—don’t be a hero. Run up the road and call me. I’m not a fan of leaving you alone with him. He could be a saint for all I care.”
I chuckled. Eh, things could be worse.
There was that fraction of a second, when I jogged up to the house, panting like a madman, when I wondered, did he escape?
But he hadn’t. Mercier was still there.
I went straight to the kitchen, throwing off my tee in the process, and grabbed a bottle of water before I went back to the living room and collapsed on the bed.