Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 49215 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 197(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49215 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 197(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
On the other hand, low-men knew better than to ask questions. If they were given an address to attack someone, they just went. But this meant the guy in front of us might not be as valued to Carillo as he hoped, if he knew Elliott only as Frank Rivera.
“And you don’t wanna upset your boss,” River concluded. “But you don’t necessarily agree with Carillo’s plan either. Do you?”
Luiz jutted his chin. “He needs to give me a chance to show him I should be his California leader. I was ready to take Vincente out for him.”
Boy, was he chatty now. River and I needed to tread carefully.
“So you give up Jorge now, and that’s one of the old-timers down, and one to go?” River guessed.
Luiz shrugged, a movement that had to hurt. He winced and cursed. “I can’t show Carillo I’m his best choice if I’m dead, can I?”
I narrowed my eyes. The puzzle pieces had come together for little Luiz. He wasn’t strong, mentally or physically, but he’d spotted an opening with Carillo going rogue. A chance to climb ranks without putting in the work. Not by lifting himself up, but by killing the competition. Carillo’s organization was doomed if he let lazy, conniving little cockroaches like Luiz hold any important positions.
Then again, if Luiz didn’t know Elliott’s real name, chances were Carillo wasn’t impressed by Luiz yet.
Which made me curious… “What have you done to prove yourself to Carillo?” I asked.
Something in his expression shuttered. “I am willing to give you my uncle—if he doesn’t have Shay Tenley at his safehouse, he at least knows where the guy is. Will you let me go?”
River nudged me, then tilted his head at the exit.
I nodded and followed him out into the sun.
“Whether he’s lyin’ or not, we have to check things out,” he said quietly. “Who do we know with the Federales?”
“I think Vásquez is still on the job,” I answered. “You want me to ask him to take a look around?”
River and I didn’t cross the border unless we had to. Much like Elliott, we’d racked up a fair number of enemies over the years, and they were starting to get out of prison at this point. It was the only downside to us being twins; we were too recognizable in the wrong circles. Especially in Tijuana.
“If he can go to one of the addresses, and Emerson and Danny to the other, we’ll know within twenty-four hours,” Riv responded.
I nodded. “I’ll call Emerson.”
“I’ll go back in.” He jerked his chin toward Luiz. “I wanna dig into his willingness to impress Carillo.”
That gave me pause. I’d thought briefly about it earlier, and now I could see my brother had a plan. He had a theory too, didn’t he?
“What’re you thinkin’?”
He squinted at nothing and scratched his forehead. “The way he talked before… I think he’s just stupid enough to pull a stunt without approval—and stupid or not, he’s been around long enough to have connections. The Mexican gang that attacked Vincente’s joint in Cozumel…?”
I rubbed my jaw, nodding slowly. Yeah, I could see it. It definitely fit Luiz’s profile to orchestrate that fuckup, and those guys had been affiliated with Carillo, to boot.
“Fingers crossed that was Luiz,” I said. “I’ll take that any day over a rival cartel.”
“Amen.”
I felt a shift in the atmosphere the moment Luiz gave us the addresses. We moved on the double to make shit happen quicker, and it finally felt like we were on our way. Like we were getting closer. While Luiz enjoyed a bottle of water and an oxy as a reward—along with the promise that we’d set him free once we got Shay back—I headed out to meet up with Emerson and Danny.
Luiz would be an idiot to believe our promise, but we’d pushed the envelope to make it more realistic. We weren’t letting him go merely in exchange for his uncle—we wanted our boy back. And he seemed to accept that.
In his situation, he didn’t have much of a choice, and the pain he was in had been extreme enough to just go with it. He’d agreed while staring at the water and the bottle of painkillers River had picked up.
My brother and I weren’t safe from the mindfuck of torture either. We didn’t know if we believed Luiz; we didn’t know if the addresses were good for fucking anything, but having a next location to go to fired us up. We couldn’t sit still.
Neither could Emerson or Danny, it seemed. I’d barely gotten my question out over the phone before Emerson had agreed and told me to meet them at a gas station north of Malibu.
On my way there, I sent Willow a request to add Emerson and Danny to our secure chat server. We needed to be able to communicate without having to meet up.