Chapter Nine Ryder
Chapter Nine
Ryder
A few minutes before
“Did she really just go in there?” Reed parked and immediately went for his phone at my orders to google the name of the place we were outside of now. “What in God’s name is she doing at a fight club?”
“She skipped the line, so they either let her in because she’s a smoke show or because they were expecting her.” At Alex’s words, I pivoted inside our rental SUV to face him.
I grunted something. I wasn’t even sure what I mumbled as he slid farther back in his seat.
“What’d I say?” He smirked.
Not a good idea to piss me off when this woman was doing a bang-up job of giving me an ulcer by going inside a place packed with enough testosterone to fuel a war.
“Ah, so only you can think she’s hot? Enough said. Copy that, brother.” He went for the door handle but didn’t open up. “Are we going in, or what? We didn’t chase her all the way down here to sit around in the parking lot, did we?”
“Of course we are, but we need to know what we’re walking into first.” I twisted back around, realizing my rage was misplaced. Alex was trying to lighten my mood before I lost control and went inside unhinged, without a plan.
The man knew me well. The problem was that nothing would work to calm me down when Seraphina had slipped from our reach for the second time tonight.
We’d found her hotel just as she was getting into a taxi. I didn’t think she saw us hovering in our SUV by the valet service, which meant she had no idea she’d managed to evade us again by hurrying inside the club before I could stop her.
It wasn’t like I could jump out and yell her name, not with twenty-plus men standing outside the club. She didn’t need that kind of attention, and neither did we. A more subtle approach to getting inside was needed.
“Well, fuck.” Not inspiring words from Reed. “Based on what I can tell, this place is cartel owned.”
“Cartel?” I hissed, seconds away from that ulcer now. “Tell me you’re fucking with me like Alex was.”
Reed shook his head and handed me his phone, letting me read the bad news myself.
The cartel here were competitors with Ezra Sokolov. “This makes no sense.”
Although my team had quickly narrowed our search to Mexico within a day of Lainey assigning us the case, Seraphina had not been sloppy in covering her tracks.
We were damn good at hunting people down, but due to my extreme sense of urgency, once we landed in Mexico City, I called in a favor. A former Delta operator. Someone who colored much farther outside the lines than I did.
I knew Carter Dominick, who’d once gone rogue from the CIA to avenge his first wife’s death, would have ten times the contacts and resources here in Mexico. I’d been right to play the phone-an-old-friend game. He’d found her for me here in Puebla, right down to the hotel she was staying at.
But we were a few seconds too late, and now, dammit, I had to go into this club unarmed. I removed the Glock tucked at the back of my jeans and handed it to Alex.
I needed to breach the club somehow so I could first protect her. Then I’d confront her about what in the hell she was doing down in Mexico in a cartel-owned club.
“If there are cameras inside, I can try and hack them so we have eyes on the place.” Reed, finally saying something I wanted to hear. “Hand me my computer,” he requested of Alex.
“In the meantime, I’ll try and bribe my way inside.” I opened the glove box and retrieved our comms, which looked like hearing aids but were really wireless transmitters. “Stay in touch.” I positioned the device in my ear, then handed one to Alex. “You’re coming with me, I assume?”
He nodded and accepted the comm, then stowed his Glock next to mine, and we went outside into the parking lot. We walked past the line, and my frustration grew when money didn’t seem to entice the bouncer.
“Now what?” Alex cursed as we walked alongside the line to get to the back. “We just wait?”
Tearing my hands through my hair, I contemplated our options. Waiting outside for her wasn’t one, because what if something happened to her while she was alone inside? I tapped my ear, unmuting the comm. “Tell me you have eyes on her.”
“I do,” Reed confirmed.
“And?” I set my hands on my hips, trying to slow my heart rate down and focus.
“She’s sitting with someone who ... Hold on.” I could hear him typing before Reed announced, “She’s with ángel Morales, the owner. Just the two of them at a booth. Drinking tequila.”
I closed my eyes, trying to come up with reasons why this woman would be here.
The only conclusion I could draw was that she’d lost her mind, because I refused to believe she’d chosen to go to the cartel for help over the DEA.
No. Damn. Way. But the dark corner of my mind reminded me that people weren’t always what they seemed.
My former friend sleeping with my girlfriend in my bed was a sharp reminder I’d have to carry with me.
“Based on what these men are saying in front of us, it’s too full for more people to get in,” Alex let me know. Thank God one of us was fluent in Spanish.
While I spoke four languages, I was seriously regretting never having learned Spanish. I opened my eyes, catching sight of a man in a suit outside talking to those in line. “Wait, what’s that dude saying?”
Alex stepped around me. “Morales is searching for a new fighter. The main contender up against their champion didn’t show.” He turned to face me and issued a quick, “Don’t even think about it.”
Too late. I’d already made up my mind. “If it’s our only way to get to her, I have no choice.” I lifted my hand, waving the man over. “Translate for me, and don’t fucking argue. I’ll be fine.”
The guy in the suit made eye contact, thankfully acknowledging me, and he started our way.
“Have you ever been in a fight like this?” Alex challenged, opting to be the voice of reason I didn’t want to hear, because Seraphina was inside a cartel-owned club, taking shots of tequila with a Morales, of all people. And the Moraleses weren’t the most likable fuckers on the planet.
“Of course I have,” I grunted.
“CQB is different. This is MMA stuff.” I didn’t need that reminder, and I’d be fine. “Plus, you’re getting old. These kids all look to be in their twenties.”
I continued to ignore his parenting, lowering my arm once the man came over. “I can fight,” I let the man know, hoping Alex would correctly translate.
“I speak English.” The guy looked me up and down, his brows drawing together. “You’re old.”
I rolled my eyes and stepped back to peel my black tee over my head, letting him know age was just a motherfucking number. My body would tell a different story.
His gaze flitted over my chest, abs, and arms, which I’d had to work twice as hard to keep at thirty-eight than when I was twenty-eight.
“Maybe,” was all he said. “Come with me. The both of you.”
“You sure about this, brother?” Reed asked. Great, the two of them were ganging up on me.
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I kept that thought to myself as we followed the man past the line and around the bouncer who’d snubbed our money.
The second we were inside, a prickle of awareness fell over me that she was in there.
“Names,” the man in the suit prompted.
“Alejandro.” Alex provided his given name, and I offered my middle one, David, since Ryder was too uncommon.
“Stay here. Don’t move,” he ordered before walking away, disappearing through the crowd gathered around the empty cage at the middle of the joint.
“I don’t like this.” Alex shot me a worried look. “Maybe I should fight instead.”
“You’re a lover, not a fighter,” Reed jabbed. At least I wasn’t the only one he thought shouldn’t step into the fight. I felt slightly less insulted.
“Fuck you very much,” Alex returned in a semi-amused tone despite the gravity of the situation.
“I gotta go dark,” I let Reed know, making a pass with my hand by my ear to remove the device and hand it over to Alex.
“You’re clear to fight,” a different man said on approach, gesturing us his way. “No shoes. Keep the jeans on.”
Wasn’t planning on taking them off, but thanks. We followed him over to the cage, where I stripped down to only my jeans.
A flood of heat rushed through my body and rolled over my skin at the feeling I had eyes on me. Where are you ?
I turned to locate her, to find the woman who’d done a number on my sanity this past week.
That ulcer I’d been expecting to happen didn’t. Just a heart attack instead.
I palmed my chest, feeling the dull, sharp ache there the moment we locked eyes.
The loud noises, the distinct chatter as people placed bets ... then everything stopped when she pierced me with her brown eyes.
She dropped back down to sit, stealing my view of her.
“Don’t let her out of your sight while I’m in this ring,” I ordered Alex.
“You think she’s going to be a flight risk? Take off again?” he asked instead of confirming he’d heard my order. He was glancing around the room—and knowing him, probably contemplating an exfil plan to get us out unseen.
“No, I don’t think so, but she’s clearly going to be a serious pain in my ass.” Already is.
“Well, I say we cut and run with her now instead of you getting into that ring.” Alex pinned me with a hard look. “I think I have a plan to get us all out of here.”
“Your Houdini shit won’t work for the three of us with all these people in here.” I shook my head. “I’ve got this, and after I win, I have a feeling the owner will offer us a seat at his table, where she is. This is the best play.”
We could get to the bottom of why she was there while also keeping an eye on her. But if she refused to go with us, then we’d need an escape plan. One thing at a time. First: not get knocked out in the ring.
“And you’re also forgetting something else that matters.
” I expelled a deep breath, trying to ignore the feeling of being caught up in a storm without protection.
“I’m highly motivated to win. Her life might depend on it, which means I’ll fight in this ring like mine does.
” And based on the size of the man in that octagon, it might.
“Send you with a rifle downrange against twenty fighters, and I have zero doubts you’d come out unscathed. But you can understand this is different, right?”
“Okay, now I really am insulted by your lack of belief that I’ve got this.
” I slapped a hand over his shoulder. “Remember the quote we used to tell the new guys about to pop their cherries for the first time in battle? When we have a cause to fight for, we can fight like demigods. ” I let go of his shoulder.
“Now, quit your worrying about me and remember who the fuck I am: your boss.” I sent him the typical wink he’d offer me, relieved to finally see him smile.
“Hell, maybe it’s the other fighter I should be concerned about. You have to be careful you don’t accidentally kill him. He’s just a kid.”
Well, that so-called “kid” was a twentysomethin g -year-old looking to make bank—but yeah, I got his point. I was older and had a kill count longer than my arm. Those deaths weren’t on me, though. Well, that was what I told myself to sleep at night.
“Just take him down to the mat quick. You’re a good grappler. Choke hold him so he taps out.” At least he’d stopped lecturing me on my age and my lack of MMA experience.
“ But if he does kill me in there, be sure to get her to safety, all right?” I joked, but he didn’t seem amused, so I circumvented him to climb up into the ring before he switched back to parenting mode.
Once I was inside the cage, I had a better vantage point of Seraphina. She was now walking alongside the man I assumed Reed had pegged as the club owner, a Morales, and they were heading straight for the ring.
I bounced around on the balls of my feet, ignoring the champ, realizing I didn’t even have a mouthpiece or a cup.
Seraphina clutched the chain-link fence, staring straight at me with parted lips.
I took a breath and a beat, then forced myself to look away from her so she wouldn’t distract me, and I focused on the champ.
The second the fight was announced, the guy smiled and flicked his wrist, inviting me to come at him. And so I did.