CHAPTER THIRTY
Grace
Dallas was anti-climactic. In retrospect, we probably should have retrieved the flash drive first and then spent time at Ida’s Inn. My anxiety that had hung over our three-day interlude turned out to be unfounded ,and it was my faith in Matt that let me relax enough not to ruin our time together by bitching about getting to Dallas.
I knew it was irresponsible, treating this flash drive as a thorn in my side, when all I wanted was to ask Matt to take me away from all this madness. Priorities changed when you loved someone and you were responsible for a life growing inside you, but people died to get this information to me.
Antonio Escobar’s cousin wasn’t really his cousin which was why it was hard to link them. He was another distributor for the Carillo Cartel who wanted out. He’d made a good life for himself going back to college and was finishing his law degree, working part-time as a bank teller at The Veritas Bank of Dallas. In exchange for helping Escobar, his name was taken off the list. These were the stories I wanted to hear. I realized people made mistakes, but they needed to prove to me that they were willing to walk the straight and narrow afterward. Escobar’s “cousin” lost his older brother to the Carillo Cartel and made the decision that his remaining younger siblings weren’t going to live a life dictated by the criminal underworld. So, he moved his family from El Paso to Dallas and started a new life. Apparently, this whole plan between Escobar and his “cousin” had been two years in the making.
His “cousin” was saddened by the accountant’s death. It had been a Hail Mary plan to begin with. Escobar still had family in El Paso. His “cousin” said he would send word to the accountant’s family about his death.
Our flight from Dallas back to Atlanta was uneventful. Lucas and Colt met us at the latter’s Atlanta condo so we could backup the memory stick to a repository on the Dark Web.
I removed Troy’s name from the list on the flash drive much to Matt and Colt’s objection, but I argued that I had the unedited one stored away, so I still had leverage until I figured out if Troy betrayed me. After I had time to calm down, I realized it could be any of his men, but I knew they’d been with him for a long time. Still, not all of them wanted to get out of moving drugs for the Carillo Cartel. That much Troy had told me.
All I had to do was contact the DEA Administrator and the Attorney General and relieve myself of this burden, and The Reaper would come for me. No more cat and mouse. Matt and I would be ready.
We should have expected the shit storm that awaited us in Misty Grove.
*****
“Your boss showed up the other day.”
This was the first news that greeted us when we pulled up at the garage on Sunday evening.
“Elliot showed up here?” I verified. Roger nodded, but I was more alarmed at the bruises on his face, which my husband immediately addressed.
“What happened to you?” Matt demanded, stepping down from the pickup and rounding the vehicle to get to my side of the door. His eyes never left Roger though.
“Cristiano and some of Troy’s crew demanded to see Grace,” Roger replied, lightly touching his jaw where the bruise was darker. “I told him I didn’t know where you were. That’s the truth anyway.”
“And he beat you up for that? That son of a bitch,” Matt growled, yanking his phone from his back pocket and thumbing through his list. He opened my door as he held his phone to his ear. I jumped down from the pickup and leaned against it, anxiously waiting for his call to go through.
“Boss, it’s no big deal.” Roger tried to appease Matt. “I was a bit of a smart ass.”
“I’ll decide what’s a big deal or not,” my husband snapped. “Troy. Foster.” He listened for a while before he cut the biker off. “I don’t give a shit what you’re thinking, but Cristiano laying a hand on Roger is an offense to me.” He paused again. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Fine. Get your ass over here, and we’ll talk. Alone. Not sure if it’s a good idea to bring Cristiano with you because I might shoot him on sight,” Matt threatened, then ended the call.
“You need to calm down, boss. It’s just a few punches and Axe stopped him.”
“Where’s Axe? In fact, where’s everyone?” Matt asked, grabbing our suitcases and walking into the garage.
“It’s Sunday, boss,” Roger reminded him.
“You’re right,” Matt muttered, dropping the luggage on the bottom of the stairs leading up to the loft. He turned to me. “Grace, I’m sorry if you don’t want to talk to Troy right now, but he’s on his way.”
“I figured that,” I replied dryly.
“If you want me to stall, I will,” Matt said. “But it’s no use denying anything. Someone spotted us at the Dallas airport.”
“What?”
“I’m not surprised,” he shrugged. “The moment Troy realized we’d disappeared, he probably called out surveillance from his contacts.”
“Damn. Does that mean El Segador knows, too?”
“Probably,” Matt said. “That’s why we need to get Troy on our side. Somehow, I don’t see him setting you up. He’s got too much to lose.”
“Cristiano?”
Matt nodded grimly, looking at Roger. “Tell me everything.”
We were all gathered in Matt’s office when Troy arrived. He came alone as Matt requested—or rather—demanded. I was sitting in Matt’s chair while my husband half-sat on his desk. The biker came in, sprawled into the chair across from me, then looked at Roger who was standing at the far end of the room.
“Sorry about Cristiano,” he offered. “He was a bit too enthusiastic.”
“Why send your second?” Matt asked.
“I knew you guys snuck out of town,” Troy sneered instead of answering him. I’d never seen this contemptuous look on his face before. I was suddenly uncomfortable with the whole situation. Matt sensed my withdrawal.
“Grace?” Matt turned his head to me in concern. “Want to do this some other time?”
“Hell no,” Troy growled. “If you have the memory stick in your possession … Damn it, Grace, we had a deal!” The biker slammed his palm on the desk sending Matt to his feet—anger written all over my husband’s face.
“You.” He speared Troy with a menacing glare. “Do not fucking speak to my wife that way.”
The biker’s jaw tightened, then he cracked his neck as if to relieve tension. “My apologies.” Then through gritted teeth, he continued. “But would someone tell me what the fuck is going on?” His voice rose with each word.
“I remember everything, Troy.”
“Fuck,” the biker swore softly. “I figured as much. The accountant?”
“Escobar is dead,” I stated flatly, and judging from the way Troy closed his eyes and lowered his head, I was almost a hundred percent sure he did not betray me.
“What happened?”
I recounted the events of that day—how we were intercepted at the Jericho Airlines counter when all hell broke loose.
“You think I sold you out?” Troy asked calmly.
“That was my first conclusion,” I acknowledged. “I’m not so sure now.”
“That’s why you guys ran.”
“We did not run,” Matt interjected. “We got married and went on our honeymoon.”
“Some short honeymoon,” Troy snorted. “Grace, you really should have picked me.”
“I wouldn’t push it, deLamar,” Matt warned softly. “I’m psychotic when it comes to my wife.”
Troy’s smile turned wolfish. “Consider myself warned. Now, where’s the memory stick?”
“I have it,” Grace confirmed. “Our deal didn’t include you looking through it, but you can be assured you’ve been taken off the list.”
“And I’m supposed to take your word for it?” Troy asked with a brow raised.
“Yes,” Matt said. “Now you’ll go back to your compound and find out who sold us out.”
“We can do it right now,” Troy responded, standing up. “You’re forgetting two of my men lost their lives as well.”
“We think it’s Cristiano,” Matt announced our suspicions.
Troy froze, then he swore viciously. “It’s possible, but he’s been with me for years. I don’t see him betraying his brothers and getting them killed.”
“Money will do that to you,” Roger spoke for the first time. “You didn’t see him when he showed up, Troy. He was not the stoic Cristiano that we’ve always known. He lost it when I refused to tell him where Matt and Grace were.”
“He was biding his time,” Matt concluded thoughtfully. “The question is, where does his loyalty lie? The present cartel leadership or Hector Vargas.”
“I’m going to find out right now.”
“I’ll go with you,” Matt offered.
“No. My men, my problem.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Matt said incredulously. “If it’s Cristiano, I want first dibs in kicking his ass for what he did to Roger.”
“And you’ll get it,” Troy said. “But right now, I need you to stand back.”
The two men locked eyes for a while. I was afraid Matt was going to force the issue, but he nodded slightly, every line of his body indicating how hard this was for him.
Roger and I exhaled in relief.