Generation Lost (Gray Wolf Security #17)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“You’re getting slow, old man,” smirked Nine, watching as Cruz put the last of the stitches in. Wilson gave him a tetanus shot and brought him some antibiotics.

“Just in case,” he said, handing them to him. Trak frowned at the bottle, wanting to toss it in the garbage. He would have had Lauren not been standing in the doorway.

“I wasn’t slow. Alvin was slow. He was supposed to be there already.”

“Don’t you dare blame this on that sweet alligator!” said Lauren. “He took care of those men. You got cocky, and you know it. You thought you were invincible, and you’re not!”

“Little one,” said Trak in a soft voice.

“Don’t you call me little one! You risked your life when you didn’t need to! You said you were going to slow down. You said you would take it easy. All of you!” She let out a long breath, and they could almost see the fire and smoke coming from her ears. Nine held back on any further comments as she turned and walked away.

“I’ll speak with her,” said Wilson.

“Leave her,” said Trak. “She has a temper and will cool off. Once she knows this is minor, she’ll be fine.”

“She is right, Trak. It could have been much worse,” said Cruz. “Another inch into your flesh, and we would have been hitting organs.”

“But it wasn’t. Do you think I didn’t know what he was doing? He wasn’t skilled. He was just forceful. The three brothers were very different, don’t you think?”

“The man said they weren’t all brothers,” said Gaspar.

“He lied. They were brothers. Did you notice something different about them?”

“What do you mean?” asked Nine.

“One was very tall and lean. The other, the one who did most of the talking, was shorter and wider. The third was darker and more muscular. It’s strange to see siblings so very different.”

“Do you think they weren’t actually blood-related?” asked Cruz.

“I don’t know. We won’t know now that their DNA is gone,” he smirked. “But it could mean that Marie Rizzoli is a woman who enjoyed a lot of male company as a young woman. Perhaps she’s always been in charge, and she did it by controlling other men.”

“I’m not sure she’s the snakehead we want,” said Nine. “I think she’s dirty, and she’s a fucking cheat and liar, but I’m not sure she’s at the top of this food chain.”

“She’s not,” said James. “I came to see how our patient is doing. I heard he couldn’t move quickly enough.”

“Do you wish to test me, boy?” frowned Trak. James laughed, shaking his head.

“No, sir. I do not. Marie is not the head of all of this. I think that’s evident by the mistake she made with her own home loan. She was so sure no one would figure it out. She didn’t care that it was a generic loan agreement.

“As for her sons, you were right about that as well. Her husband died more than fifty years ago. Her sons were all under the age of fifty. In fact, they were forty-seven, forty, and thirty-two. That’s quite a spread in age.”

“Does she know they’re dead?” asked Nine.

“Not yet. But when they don’t return, she’ll know. It seems your friend, Alvin, enjoys chewing on phones as well. We tried to take it from him, and he was quite upset. We’ll get nothing from the device now.”

“I’ll have to ask him to not do that,” said Trak, sliding off the table.

“Ask him? You ask an alligator not to use cell phones as chew toys, but you train him to eat the bad guys?” said James.

“Of course. What else would I do?” Trak started to leave the room, and Nine gripped his forearm, staring into his eyes.

“Tell me you’re alright. Tell me you weren’t slow.” Trak gave a small grin to his friend, appreciating his concern.

“I am alright. I was not slow. Trust me, old friend.” He walked away, and Nine looked at Wilson and Cruz.

“Well?”

“I don’t know, Nine. Usually, he would jump back from something like that or stop it before it ever started. Maybe he was just distracted in the moment,” said Wilson.

“He’s never distracted in the moment.”

“Nine, we’re all getting older,” said Cruz. “It stands to reason we might get hurt more often, especially when we continue to take on these big cases. Maybe we should just worry about building those homes and do as we’re told this time. Leave the other shit for someone else to figure out.”

“I’m not sure I can,” he said, shaking his head. “Weapons manufactured and brought into the U.S. and sold here? The drugs, human trafficking, counterfeiting? It’s like one huge nightmare rolled into one small ball.”

“Maybe that’s it,” frowned James. “Maybe someone is making this roll into one ball for a reason.”

“But what’s the reason?” asked Cruz.

“That’s for all your beautiful minds to figure out,” he smirked. “I’m scheduled to go fishing with Matthew and Sven. I can’t refuse.”

James left the men standing there, smiling at him as he walked back toward the docks to get to the other island and Matthew. Nine nodded at them.

“He’s right. Let’s get all these beautiful minds together and see what we can come up with.”