Chapter Thirty-Two Seraphina
Chapter Thirty-Two
Seraphina
“Pull over.” Ryder was sitting next to me in the back of the Tahoe, and when Alex didn’t do as he asked, he leaned forward and tapped his shoulder. “ Pull. Over. ”
Alex swore in Spanish but did as he was told, easing the SUV off to the side of the back road. Once in park, he undid his belt and swiveled around. “We agreed to the meeting, to the plan.”
“Something doesn’t feel right about this,” Ryder said in a low voice. He had his 9mm in one hand, resting it on his jeaned thigh. “This whole thing is too fucking perfect. Too neat. I don’t like it.”
“Would you prefer it be sloppy?” I countered, unbuckling to twist around in the captain’s chair and face him.
“Ezra’s still airborne, and the Moraleses should still be in Mexico.
We’re heading to a car-repair center, which is part of a chain that ángel owns, and only ángel and two other guys are inside with him waiting for us. ”
“Which is why it feels too perfect,” he growled. “Like a trap.”
My eyes had adjusted to the dim lighting, but it was still too dark to make out his facial expressions. I reached for his free hand and squeezed.
The man became a human wrecking ball when it came to my safety, determined to knock down anything and anyone that might endanger me—including his own teammates right now, from the sounds of it.
“ángel has a SCIF in the back of the shop, which is why he chose this place, and I’m good with ensuring no one can record us as well,” Alex said.
I’d had to google that word after he mentioned that at the villa.
SCIF, which was pronounced skiff , was a secure room meant to protect against electronic surveillance and data leakage.
After ángel had texted the location, it’d taken quite a bit of convincing on my part to get even Alex to agree to the meeting, but at least he had.
Ryder, though, whooa, that man. More stubborn than me.
The three of us had to pull our collective energy together to get Ryder to commit.
And now there we were, probably three miles away from the meeting with ángel, and he was on the verge of putting a stop to it anyway.
“We can’t go in on comms. You’ll be sitting in the parking lot while the two of us are inside, and we’ll have no way to communicate with you if something goes wrong,” Ryder pointed out.
It was an issue I couldn’t argue with, because he was right.
“You won’t be able to give us a heads-up if we have incoming, either. ”
I pointed to the laptop on Reed’s lap. “That view is in real time, right?”
The satellite feed on the screen was courtesy of Carter; he’d helped us access an overhead shot of the repair center via “hacking” for the meeting. Without that, I knew I’d never have been able to get anyone on board with the plan.
“Yeah,” Reed confirmed. “Thermal-heat imaging still suggests there’s three bodies currently inside the building, one SUV in the parking lot.”
Ryder pulled his hand away from mine. “There could be other armed tangos waiting to move that we can’t detect. Ready to infil once we’re inside.”
“How far out can you see? If there are people waiting somewhere, wouldn’t you notice using the thermal thing? Or have enough time to come inside the shop and warn us if you spot people moving our direction over the satellite?” I asked Reed.
“I can position the view anywhere I want and see what’s happening.
It’s like having one giant camera in the sky,” Reed said, which was what Ryder needed to hear.
I hoped Reed could do a better job at getting through to him than I could.
“Which means we should have time to personally alert you both if there’s incoming, yes. ”
“And you’re allowed to go in armed,” I reminded the grump.
“Just not armed with a phone or comms. You can protect me in there if need be.” Not that I believed that would be necessary.
When Ryder refused to even look at me, I continued, “I need you to believe me when I say we can trust ángel. Martín knows the cartels inside and out, and he’s promised me that ángel is safe.
” I reached for his hand again, and at least he didn’t reject my touch.
“We’re so close to the truth, I can feel it. I need you to trust me now.”
“And I need you to trust me ,” he shot back, finally turning his head. “I’m not bulletproof. So even if I throw myself in front of you if shots are fired, you could still catch a round.”
“Are you suggesting we reschedule?” This isn’t a dentist appointment. I kept that thought to myself. No sense in pissing him off even more. Can’t fight fire with fire.
“Yes,” he said without hesitation. “We’ll pick the place and the conditions. And that gives us time to pull in additional backup.”
“Ezra will be local by then,” I reminded him. “The rest of the Moraleses could also be here soon. ángel wants to meet with us before they get here to keep us safe.”
“Why are you so trusting of a man you barely know? Just because Martín thinks ángel will come through isn’t a good enough reason for me.” Ryder let go of my hand, shooting his gaze out the side window.
“I sat across from ángel at the club and looked him in the eyes,” I said softly, speaking my truth, hoping he’d hear it and believe me. “I know evil when I see it. I had to work with evil for over nine months. And he’s not that.”
Ryder spun his finger in the air like a directive to move. “I’m sorry, but it’s not happening. I’ve changed my mind. We shouldn’t have ever left the villa.”
“But you’re not in charge right now.” I hated pulling that card, but I hadn’t worked my ass off for this long and come so far to turn around now.
“You mentioned trust,” Alex began, drawing my attention his way, “and I trust Ryder’s gut.
He’s never been wrong before.” He faced forward and shifted the SUV into drive but didn’t pull back onto the road yet.
“Ryder’s saved my ass more times than I can count.
I have a habit of placing the mission above my own life, and he doesn’t let us do that. ”
Well, that was ... Shit. “I, um ...” It was one thing to endanger myself, but was I seriously placing my desire for revenge over the lives in this vehicle?
Had I become that person? I had a man next to me ready to fight the whole world to keep me safe, and there I was, prepared to risk his life and ... I cupped my mouth and closed my eyes as guilt punched through me.
“Who have I become? What has working with Ezra done to me?” I hadn’t meant to verbalize my thoughts, but out they came. “I’m so sorry. Revenge would be meaningless if anything happened to any of you.” Tears slipped down my cheeks. “I’m so freaking sorry.”
“Hey. No, don’t talk like that.” I could feel Ryder leaning closer; then he reached behind my head, gently urging me to face him. “We do this every day. We’re good, so don’t go there. You hear me?”
I resisted looking at him, not ready to face the truth, to face the facts. “I was selfish and not thinking about—”
“I never want to hear you call yourself that again,” Ryder remarked in a steady voice, still holding on to me. “That’s not the case, so don’t start with me on that nonsense.”
Reed spoke up. “Hate to interrupt, but I have to. Lainey’s calling your phone.”
Ryder let me go, and I opened my eyes as he took his phone from Reed.
“Yeah?” he answered. “Tell me you have something.” He was quiet for a moment, listening to whatever his ex had to say.
“Thanks for letting me know. If you hear more ... Yeah, yeah, okay.” He ended the call and gestured for me to buckle up and pointed forward, signaling to Alex to drive.
“We need to head to the villa now. Make sure we don’t have a tail. ”
“Why? What’d she say?” I fastened my seat belt, and Alex turned us around, heading in the direction we’d come from.
“Lainey’s still at the office, and she overheard chatter. She learned Beth’s in Costa Rica,” he shared in a hesitant voice.
Who was Beth?
Alex cursed in both English and Spanish, hitting the heel of his hand against the steering wheel. “This is a trap.”
“Someone going to enlighten me on why?” I asked them.
“It means the CIA’s in town,” Reed answered blankly. “We have incoming. Satellite is picking up three SUVs hot on our asses,” he added a moment later. “Thermal-heat imaging shows eight bodies total.”
“They had to have been tracking ángel, and they’re also using thermal-heat imaging and marked our position,” Ryder hissed.
“And now she’s calling me. Fuck,” Alex swore again, probably glowering at the phone mounted to the dashboard that had the name Beth flashing on the screen.
“So, who’s Beth? CIA?” That was the only thing that made sense.
“Yes,” Alex gritted out while taking a sharp turn down a side road, not answering the call. “And she’s also my ex-wife.”