“That’ll be all,” Tony said to the crisply uniformed maid who nodded deferentially and murmured a response in Spanish. When the door had closed behind her, Tony turned his attention to King and his woman, gesturing for them to partake of the coffee and pastries the maid had left.
“Must be nice living the high life,” King teased.
“She’s part of the family, man. You know how we roll around here. Can’t work for us unless you’re willing to be blood loyal.”
“Then maybe I’ll get a job here,” King chuckled.
“You’ve already got one -- and a good one, at that,” a deep voice drawled. Antonio Wayne was standing in the doorway, his assessing gaze locked on King and Harley.
He strode into the room, nodding at Tony as he poured himself a cup of coffee.
“Harley, this is Tony’s uncle, Antonio Wayne Ramirez,” King said, never taking his eyes off him. He’d known this confrontation was going to happen eventually, but he wasn’t expecting it to happen today. This could go either way.
Harley stuck her hand out in greeting. Antonio Wayne merely looked at it as if she had leprosy and pointedly took a sip from his coffee cup.
“I’m Harley…Davidson,” she said as she awkwardly let her arm drop to her side.
“I know who you are. And I know who your parents are. What I don’t know is what your intentions are.”
“Antonio Wayne...” King’s voice held a sharp edge of warning to it.
Harley placed her hand on King’s forearm. “It’s alright. I’m a big girl.” When she turned her head back in Antonio Wayne’s direction she could have sworn a flicker of amusement lit those dark eyes. “I don’t have any intentions. I’m simply spending time with a man who works for you.”
At her casual characterization of what, to him, was a life-altering love affair, King scowled and turned sharply toward her. “The fuck?!”
After another soothing look in his direction, she continued. “With all due respect, sir, I grew up around bikers so I learned how to keep my mouth shut at an early age.”
“So I hear. I’m here to remind you of the cartel’s expectations. Keep your mouth shut and you’ll live…a happy life with our King, here.” He gave her a small smile that stopped far short of his eyes. And with that, he set his coffee cup down and left without saying another word.
“Relax, my man. You know my uncle’s never going to pass up an opportunity to bust balls.”
King’s voice came out low between clenched teeth. “Well, now that we have his macho bullshit out of the way, let’s get down to business.” He looked down at Harley’s hand where it stroked his forearm soothingly. He slowly raised his head, meeting her gaze with fire in his eyes that belied his All-American surfer boy looks. It was one of the things the Ramirez brothers valued most about him: he was often underestimated so the element of surprise was always on his side.
Tony got right to the point. “I want you in on this job Blue is doing for us. She may need help. She’s been checking with her street contacts and word is there’s a new pimp causing trouble. Operates a solo operation away from town, heavily into bondage – brutal, nasty stuff. Looks like he’s using just one girl.”
“Who the hell would sign up for that?” King asked.
“Nobody would. That’s the thing: we think he’s taken one of our own. Kat’s a friend of Diego and Brook’s. She used to work at The Club; got mixed up with drugs and Diego had to let her go. But we’ve kept an eye on her from a distance, so we know she went missing right around the time this guy showed up. Blue just got a tip from one of the working girls who heard there’s a steady stream of men coming and going all night at an old, ramshackle house on River Road. If he’s got a stable of one with that kind of traffic, she won’t last long. I haven’t shared this beyond the two of you yet because I was hoping for confirmation before I start stirring shit up around here. But either way, we can’t wait.”
King held out his hand for Harley’s phone and she handed to him. “A lot of things are starting to make sense now. I think we’ve got your confirmation. Here, listen to this.”
He played the voicemail Harley had picked up on her phone that morning. A drunken voice threatened Harley and ranted about Valentina and the cartel’s role in the hit on Luis Jimenez. Then a woman screamed for help in the background. Just before the caller hung up, the woman could be heard weeping. Tony’s head jerked up in alarm when she sobbed a name and started saying she was sorry.
“Yeah, I know. It’s pretty intense,” King said as he handed the phone back to Harley.
“Shit, that’s Kat’s voice, alright,” Tony said in dismay. “She’s calling out for Diego. He and Brook haven’t spoken to her since she got kicked out of The Club. Tough love that didn’t turn out the way he’d hoped, I guess. Fuck…I’ve got to let him know what’s going on.” He leaned his head back and scrubbed his hands over his face. When he straightened, his face was flushed. “This is gonna kill him.”
“Well, I guess he’d rather hear it from you. I don’t envy you, man.”
“Yeah, me either,” Tony agreed. “You know, there are a couple of things going on here, and they seem to be intersecting in odd ways. Blue’s sources have been working overtime since she checked in with them last night. Word is this asshole works at the hospital.”
“What?!” Harley blurted as she perched on the edge of her seat. “Shit. I know who it is. I thought he sounded familiar, but I didn’t want to believe it.” She turned to King. “It’s our new janitor, Stan. Creepy guy. He started out really shy around me, not able to even look at me. Now he just stares at me whenever he thinks I’m not looking.”
“Well, it gets better, folks,” Tony chimed in. “He’s a namedropper and has bragged about working on the Telenovela set with Valentina before she and Victor got together. With the way the guy’s going on about Valentina in that recording, it looks like Luis wasn’t her only problem after all. The cartel may have some unfinished business with this guy. Somehow the guy flew under the radar until now, but he seems to be growing more confident. Here’s my theory: when he found out he couldn’t have Valentina, he moved on and abducted Kat. Stalkers stalk; it’s what they’re born to do. But sometimes, when they’re convinced they can’t have a particular woman, they’ll move on and find another victim, either because they’ve truly given up or they want to make an example of the new victim to get the previous victim’s attention. Crazy shit, either way.”
“It sure the fuck is; but that’s not all,” King said grimly. “There’s something else. Harley’s also got the husband of a domestic abuse victim threatening her.” King scrolled through her texts and showed him the threatening message she had received from the unknown number. “What are the fucking chances of her having two maniacs pissed at her at the same time?”
Tony leaned back in his office chair, his eyes on Harley. “Looks to me like your woman is going to fit right in, King. She’s getting a crash course in cartel life and seems to be holding up fine, which is more than I would say about most civilians.”
They all laughed, and the previous tension was soon all but forgotten. King, however, was determined to get to the bottom of things by doing what he did best. “Tony, I appreciate you reaching out to Diego since you’re close to him. But I need your help with Harley’s situation; I need to know what makes this wife beater tick. The best approach is psychological, I think.”
“Usually is,” Tony agreed.
“What’s he afraid of? I’d rather not kill him, if possible. I’ve had enough of that for a while. I do, however, want to ensure he stops beating his wife, and leaves my woman alone.”
Harley looked over at King and shook her head skeptically. “I don’t know if you can ever stop an abuser from abusing. But what if we could set the stage for her to kill him in self-defense and get away with it? It would be in her best interests if we could do that without her realizing it. She already knows me; I’ll befriend her and find a way to give her the gun. Problem solved.”
“I don’t like it.” King’s answer was immediate and just as adamant as hers had been moments before.
“The way I see it, you want to help karma along; I want to keep him from killing his wife. We both get what we want.”
“There’s no way I’m putting you in the line of fire. I feel sorry for the lady, yeah, but she’s not my responsibility. You are.” King’s forbidding demeanor made it clear: she would have to think of another way to save her patient. At her expression of dismay, his eyes softened. “You can’t save everyone, Harley. You’re a nurse; it’s in your nature to help, to heal. I get it. But some people can’t be saved, no matter what you do.”