Rule #2
Glennon
Two days later, she woke up to Triumph moving around with purpose, and a light in his eyes she hadn’t seen before.
All day yesterday, they’d been like cats on a hot tin roof, waiting for something to happen.
The club was closed on Tuesdays, so rather than allow Glennon to fret upstairs with him in the apartment, he’d invited his circle of friends over to meet her.
Their friend, Fereh, was in Washington, DC, and she’d already met Tripoli and Francesca, but he was able to introduce her to Elyxandre and her partner, Lucas, as well as Panama and Cosmos.
Downstairs, several of Cosmos’ men guarded the building.
It had been overwhelming to see more new faces, but she had a sneaking suspicion that it had been his plan. If she was distracted by them, then she couldn’t be worried about Guillermo and Cesar. His plan had worked, and for a while, the group was able to forget about what was going on.
When she questioned him about whether he worried about putting his friends in danger, he said, “Do you know who’s going to be in that room with you?
A former Navy medic who was assigned to the Marine Raiders.
A former FBI agent. A guy who runs a bodyguard company.
A school liaison police officer. Nothing is getting past them.
Not to mention you, a CIA agent. Hell, you’re going to be protecting Lucas, Panama, and me if anyone got in here. ”
His demeanor, so relaxed then, was anything but that now.
She rolled lazily onto her side to stare at him as he dressed. “What’s going on?”
“Tripoli called. Guillermo’s got Francesca, and he’s offering a trade.”
Instantly, she sat up, fully awake.
“What? How did Guillermo even know about her? That doesn’t make sense.”
Hurriedly, he stuffed his wallet into his back pocket, grabbed his keys, and stalked over to the bed.
He sat down to put on his boots and start lacing them.
“They must have been watching the club last night and recognized her. She was undercover at one point with another cartel in Houston. Trip said they woke up in the middle of the night, and there was a fight. They threatened the baby.”
She put a hand to her stomach, attempting to quell the pitching and rolling that began. “Oh my god.”
“Francesca managed to get herself switched out for the baby. Reminded them she’d be quiet, versus all the yelling and screaming the baby would do, not to mention changing and feeding it.
Tripoli, as pissed as he is, said he thought he actually saw relief on one of the goons’ faces when Cesar agreed to the switch. ”
Steel’s face swam up from the depths, a memory of him talking about allowing adults to step up and do the right thing by taking the “punishment” of the children to avoid him and his men taking on the worst of the violations committed against their victims. Francesca would be a woman who put herself in harm’s way for an innocent.
Cesar and Guillermo would have seen the advantages of taking Francesca instead, even though the baby would be a more vulnerable victim.
Francesca was thirty-eight, but a young, beautiful thirty-eight. She was strong and a fighter. Despite her age, she’d bring a good price in the skin trade, especially if they could find a client looking for someone like that.
She’d proven she could bear children. There was always the breeding market, which was growing by leaps and bounds in the underground world.
And she was former FBI. Even though she was no longer an agent, everyone had their breaking point.
And when they found hers, she could spill all kinds of information to them.
Some of it would be bullshit. She knew that from her own experience.
Agents had all sorts of garbage information to give to captors for when they hit the torture threshold, but some of it would be real and valuable.
In short, she was the perfect target if they somehow didn’t get Glennon out of their proposed “trade.”
“They called a short while ago. Sent proof of life for Francesca. Made their formal offer of her for you.”
His eyes, devoid of their usual, telltale sparkle, held hers.
He gripped her hand, kissing her knuckles and holding it to his mouth as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath in.
Then he let it out as he opened his eyes to look back at her, pulling the hand he held to his chest. “Cosmos and the crazy cousins are working on a plan to rescue her, but they need me to look into the video. See if there’s anything I can see so that we can find her before Cesar and Guillermo… ”
He didn’t have to say it.
“I can be ready to go with you in two minutes.”
“No.” Caging her in with his arms planted on the mattress on either side of her, he stared into her eyes. “Do not leave this apartment for any reason. Do you hear me?”
“Triumph, take just a minute—”
“I’m not fucking around, Glennon. I don’t trust them not to have men out front or along the road, waiting to snatch you or worse. This could be some sort of trap, and I need to know you’re somewhere safe if it all goes to shit.”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you. This has to be a trick to get you to leave me here alone.”
“You’re not alone. Atlas, my assistant, is downstairs.
He’s former military. There are also a handful of security employees watching over the handful of kitchen staff who are doing prep for this week.
We’ve told them, under no circumstances, to open any service doors, answer any delivery bells, let in any technicians, anything.
Not even if it’s the cops. They’re only to open if one of us three tells them to do so.
If they need something, they’re to call Cosmos, and he’ll take care of it.
And no one should be able to get in on their own because they don’t have a bracelet to scan against the security. ”
“If Guillermo shows up, they’ll be in danger.”
“Wes is bringing some friends here in a couple of hours to help keep an eye out, so it will be fine. As long as you don’t leave the apartment, you’re as safe as you’re going to be. I’m locking you in and locking the elevator so no one can come up.
“I’ve disabled the fire escape outside so no one can bring it down from the alley.
You can get down if there’s a fire or something like that, but it can only be triggered from the top.
If a fire alarm goes off, though, call Atlas on your phone—I put his number in there—and make sure there really is a fire before you leave the apartment.
Wouldn’t be the first time someone triggered an alarm to get to somebody as they flee a building.
“Worse comes to worst, if someone does manage to access the apartment, you know how to work the panic room.” There was a tinge of fear attached to his words. “Do. Not. Leave.”
A shiver went through her. Staying here felt wrong. “Take me with you.”
“I would love to take you with me, but it’s more dangerous to do that. You’d be out there, exposed on my bike. I can’t protect you out there.” He leaned in and kissed her mouth hard. “Rule two. You are not allowed to leave this apartment until I, Tripoli, or Cosmos tell you it’s clear.”
What he said made sense. She would be exposed physically on the back of his bike, where a single bullet to the back could be the end of her.
Not only that, but it would be far easierto stage a fatal motorcycle accident than a car, which offered some protection on all sides. Still, she had a bad feeling.
At least he and his friends weren’t blind to this being a potential trap. The threat to Francesca was obviously real, but Guillermo wouldn’t hesitate to use someone else to flush her out.
One last kiss. When his lips left hers, and they sat forehead to forehead, it felt like the end.
“I love you, little spy. This ends here. This will be the last act Guillermo gets to use against you.”
She nodded jerkily. “I love you too.”
And then he was gone, striding out of the room without looking back, off to try to help save his friend and, in the process, her.
It was several minutes before she was able to get out of the bed. She felt strangely numb, as if what was happening wasn’t happening to her. She should feel anger. She should feel sick. Instead, she felt… nothing.