Chapter 16 #3
She blinked in surprise. She’d had no idea why she’d been snatched out of the garage, but that wasn’t what she thought the man would say.
When she didn’t respond, the man tilted his head and studied her. After a moment, he asked, “You have no idea who I am, do you?”
Gillian shook her head.
“Does the name Salazar mean anything to you?”
Gillian wracked her brain, but couldn’t think of anyone she’d ever met with that last name, and she eventually shook her head once more.
The man chuckled, but it wasn’t exactly a humorous sound. “I think you’re the only person living within a thousand miles of Austin who hasn’t heard of me,” he said.
Gillian hated feeling at a disadvantage.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Salazar, I’m usually very good with names and faces. If we’ve met before, I’ve forgotten the circumstances.”
If anything, her apology seemed to amuse him more.
“My name is Alfredo Salazar.” He paused as if gauging whether knowing his first name would jog her memory. When she didn’t say anything, he continued. “I’m the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel here in Texas…and really, all of the southern US.”
Gillian’s eyes widened. Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit. She didn’t watch the news much, it was too depressing. But she’d recently had a very thorough education on the Sinaloa drug cartel, thanks to her plane being hijacked and a few internet searches.
“I see that’s ringing some bells,” Salazar said. “Let’s start again. I have it on good authority you’ve been talking to the Feds and the DEA about us.”
Gillian tried to swallow, but her mouth was too dry.
“I want to know what you told them. What you know. And if I think you’re not being honest with me, then I’ll have to have my friend here,” he nodded to one of the men who had walked behind her to stand at her right shoulder, “remove one of your fingers. Then if I think you’re still holding back, maybe I’ll take an ear.
Or a toe. I can play this game all day,” he said, and Gillian had no doubt he’d do what he threatened. “So…what did you tell them about us?”
“No-Nothing,” Gillian stammered. “I mean, they didn’t really ask about you, about your organization.”
Salazar nodded at the man standing behind her and before she could blink, he’d grabbed her hand and had a huge knife pressed against the base of her thumb.
“I’m told it hurts like a son of a bitch,” Salazar said matter-of-factly.
“I swear, they didn’t ask about the cartel at all!
” she cried. “They wanted to talk to me about the passengers on the plane. That’s it!
I had to look at pictures of every single passenger and tell them what I remembered about them.
They’re trying to figure out who the seventh hijacker is. That’s all!”
The man with the knife still held it against her thumb; he hadn’t cut her yet, but Gillian knew she was only one second from losing a digit.
The cold steel against her flesh was tricking her brain into thinking he was cutting her, especially since she couldn’t see her hands where they were bound behind her.
“And who do you think it is?” Salazar asked.
“I don’t know,” Gillian wailed, scared out of her skull. “Maybe Leyton. He acted really weird and gave me the creeps. But as I told them, I didn’t spend any time with the men so I couldn’t tell them much.”
“But you spent a lot of time with the women, didn’t you?” Salazar asked.
Gillian nodded. “Of course. They kept us separated.”
“You think maybe it’s Alice? Or Janet? Maybe Maria Gomez?”
Gillian had no idea how this man knew who the other passengers were, but it shouldn’t have surprised her. Whoever the seventh hijacker was had obviously passed along the information about what went on inside the plane.
“I don’t know,” she said again. “I’m just an event planner. Not an investigator.”
Salazar studied her for so long, Gillian was afraid to even breathe. The man holding her hand had an iron grip, and she knew she couldn’t do a damn thing if Salazar decided to cut off her thumb.
“What were you doing in Austin today?” Salazar finally asked.
“I had a meeting with a client to decide what kind of cake to serve at her parents’ anniversary party.”
“You weren’t meeting with the Feds again?”
“No! I haven’t heard from them since I met with them a month or so ago,” Gillian said.
“And I suppose you don’t know that the caterer you visited is located smack-dab in the middle of drug central, downtown Austin?” Salazar drawled.
Gillian blinked in surprise. She hadn’t known that. She had no reason to know that little fact.
“Christ,” Salazar said with a shake of his head. “You’re like the epitome of white privilege, aren’t you?”
Gillian had no idea what he was talking about, so she didn’t agree or disagree, feeling that was the safer thing to do at the moment.
“You live in your lily-white world, never worrying about being shot at because of the color of your skin. Never having to bother your little head about finding yourself in the wrong part of town because your blonde hair and green eyes will save you somehow. Even in the middle of a fucking hijacking, you came out on top, being picked as the chosen one to talk to the authorities.” He shook his head. “You ever done drugs, Ms. Romano?”
Gillian shook her head.
“Not even smoked a little pot?” Salazar insisted.
She shook her head again.
“Ever been tempted?”
Again, she silently answered in the negative.
“There’s always a first time,” Salazar said smoothly.
He crouched down a few feet in front of her, not touching the plastic sheeting that had been laid at her feet.
“Everyone says that drugs make you feel like shit. That they’re bad.
But what you don’t know is how fucking amazing a little cocaine can make you feel.
It’s the best feeling, euphoric. There’s nothing like that first high.
You’ll spend the rest of your life chasing the feeling you got the first time you shot up. You don’t want to feel good, Gillian?”
She hated the way her name sounded on his lips.
On the outside, Alfredo Salazar was good-looking.
But she could feel that he was evil through and through.
He wouldn’t hesitate to have her killed.
He loved money and power, that was it. All she could do was stare at him in terror.
She didn’t want him to force cocaine on her.
Or any other kind of drug. She didn’t want to be addicted.
Not when everything in her life was going so well.
“Look at you, your heart is beating out of your chest. You’re like a feral dog, too scared to move, but terrified to stay where you are as well.
You honestly have no clue who the bad guy was on that plane, do you?
Out of all the people you befriended, you have no idea who wants to see you and everyone else dead. ”
“No,” Gillian whispered.
“And you told the authorities that too, right?”
She nodded.
“Bet that pissed them off,” he muttered.
“They weren’t thrilled,” Gillian said hesitantly. She’d hated letting them down, but she’d told them everything she could think of. She knew nothing she’d said had helped in the slightest. They’d been polite and thanked her for her insights, but deep down, she was aware she’d disappointed them.
Salazar shook his head and muttered more to himself than her, “Fucking bitches and their drama.” Then he lifted his chin at the man holding the knife to her hand and he let go.
Gillian breathed a sigh of relief. But it only lasted a heartbeat, because the man behind her then wrapped his hands around her head and tilted it backward.
Gillian lost sight of Salazar and struggled in the man’s grip. But with her hands tied behind her and her legs immobilized, she had no leverage. No way to protect herself.
“Relax, chica,” Salazar said. “I believe you. I apologize that you were inconvenienced today. I should’ve done a bit more looking into the situation before believing one of my falcons. But that doesn’t change the fact that I can’t simply drop you back into your world of ignorance.”
“Please, don’t kill me,” Gillian whispered as she stared up at the ceiling. “I won’t say anything about what happened. Hell, I don’t even know what happened, or why.”
She heard Salazar chuckle. “I’m sorry, but I don’t believe you.
You’ll tell someone. A friend, a boyfriend, the cops, someone, then I’ll have to worry about that shit, along with all the other crap piled up on my plate at the moment.
But…I can’t help but be intrigued by the innocence and goodness you wear like a fucking cloak. ”
Gillian shivered as she felt a finger trace along her vulnerable throat.
Salazar had obviously gotten up and approached her.
With her head forced back like it was, she was completely at the mercy of this man.
“I was like you…once. But that ended on my ninth birthday when I was introduced to the way my life was going to be. I saw my first man killed that day. He deserved it for snitching on the Sinaloa, but it was…jarring, to see a man’s blood spurt out of him and watch as he writhed on the floor, begging for mercy. ”
Gillian couldn’t stop the tears that fell out of her eyes. She wanted to be brave. Wanted to be the kind of person who could kick ass like the ones in the books she read. But she wasn’t. She was tied up and helpless. She had no idea if Walker or anyone even knew she was missing at this point.
“In a second, you’re going to be offered a drink. You’re going to drink it without fuss. All of it. Every drop. Understand?”
She didn’t want to. She knew whatever was in the cup was probably poisoned and this was literally her last seconds to live.