The Castillian (Dark Heroes Trilogy, #1)

Chapter Eleven

Selena

Grabbing a bag from next to mine, I handed it to him.

“What’s this?” Carlos asked.

“A few outfits for you. A couple pairs of shoes, socks and some… undies.” I beamed at him.”

He took the bag from my grasp. “How did you…?”

I shrugged. “It wasn’t magic, Carlos. Back at the Executor, I ordered them online when the doctor said you were coming around.”

“Oh, darn. I like the magic scenario better.”

I shook my head at him. “I figure you’d like to meet your friend while wearing a decent outfit. Like he might take exception to those boxers.”

He laughed. “Yes, Henry is a man of the finer things in life. Gracias, mi amor.” He stood and went into the bathroom.

I sat down and put my sandals on. I didn’t pause at his, my love statement.

I sort of liked it actually. His voice had purred when he said it and I did feel some tingles.

Who knew! Who would have guessed I would be so attracted to a Castillo?

I never had a boyfriend before. Well, I did have one in high school before I joined the Diego Cartel.

Once I found out the truth about Alex, I left my small town area.

I trained to become a badass as they call it.

Because I knew I was going to join a cartel.

I particularly chose an enemy of Santiago.

And yes, I planned to kill the man after I found the kids.

I stood and went over to check in the mirror to be sure my ponytail was straight.

I didn’t care about wearing makeup. In my line of work, the more you tried to look good the more bad men you had to threaten.

I smirked. But I loved doing that anyway.

I’d taken some down in hand to hand combat just to show the others who was the best fighter in the room.

And yes, I had dated since high school. Men that weren’t cartel of course. No way would I go out with one of them.

I dated a banker for a month and then a fireman of all things.

I liked him, so it lasted longer than I planned and we could have gotten serious.

But like Carlos said, we couldn’t have a significant other.

I had to give him up and literally disappeared on the fireman.

I felt like I had to do it that way or he would fight to keep me.

Guilt over doing that still dogged me to this day as the man never deserved it.

But I figured it was better for him to be broken-hearted than dead.

Then here I was with a man from a cartel, an enemy no less and he was Carlos Castillo!

My phone beeped, I grabbed it up and saw the camera had spotted this knight guy.

I didn't have to wonder if this was him.

I recognized him. He was indeed a bodyguard.

I researched everyone I ever heard of if I could.

I wondered about his reaction to me. I certainly did not plan on fooling him.

I would tell him straight out who I was and why I was here.

The knock came and I went over to open the door.

He stood there tall and broad shouldered. Built like a tank. With his deep, green eyes blinking at me, he took a step back. “Pardon me,” he stated with a slight accent. “I must have the wrong room.”

I smiled at him and stepped back. “You have the right room, Henry.”

He hesitated. “Do I know you?”

I shrugged. “Sort of.”

He kept staring at me.

“Get in here, Hotspur,” Carlos called from behind me.

Henry looked over at him, then he did come in.

I closed the door, glad to shut out any potential watchers.

Henry immediately turned to face me as if he didn’t trust turning his back on me.

I gave him a nod. “First of all, Yes…I am Selena Vargas.”

“Oh, shit,” Henry swore as he glanced over at Carlos “The effin Blade? What the fuck did you get me into here?”

Carlos raised his hands. “It isn’t like that.”

“Oh?” He backed up to the door. “Then what is it like?”

“She is Alex’s sister.” Carlos stared at him.

Looking back and forth at us, Henry looked spooked. “Are you sure?”

“I am absolutely sure.” Carlos nodded. “She grabbed me from the hospital and I came out of my coma.”

Henry sighed. “I heard about that. The coma I mean. I was saddened, mate. Most hate your guts. But I knew you.”

Carlos smirked at him. “And?”

“So I sort of liked you. Not like gay or anything but you play a mean game of poker.”

Carlos laughed.

Henry stared at him. “Damn…I have never seen you um… happy before.”

“Let’s say that the whole thing caused a change in me. The coma I mean.”

“Yes, that’s what happens when you play ‘tag, you're it’ with trees, mate.”

Carlos kept grinning and motioned at him as he looked over at me. “He was with me part of the time I was recouping from the spleen shot.”

I nodded and tried to explain part of this mystery to Henry, “I took Carlos from the hospital he was at. I hoped he would wake up and it took a month or so but he did. I had to find out if he knew where the kids were.”

“Why now? After all this time?” Henry asked me.

“I found a recording on the net.”

“The one with the reward?” Henry asked.

“You’ve heard it?” Carlos asked him.

“It came out during your long nap.” He shrugged. “I knew who made it. Not that I would go near the Mancinis.”

“And why not?” I asked him.

“Some knew of my friendship with him.” Henry motioned at Carlos. “The Mancini family aren't big fans of yours, mate. Like you kept trying to take those cute Mancini sisters. Pretty stupid if you ask me.”

“You knew the truth of that.” Carlos shook his head.

“Yes, I did. But how far would that get me? Your daddy would have shot me just for visiting you there.”

“Yeah, I know.” Carlos nodded. “But I’m free of that now.”

“I mean I wanted to bring you flowers and sit by your hospital bed.” Henry grinned at him. “Just sit there then talk and talk. I figured you would hate that and wake up just to tell me to stifle it.”

Carlos grinned back at him. “That might have worked too.”

“I know. But I kept my ears open and I did hear that you had disappeared from that hospital. I felt relieved as I thought you finally got away from that hellspawn family of yours.”

“No, I didn’t escape by myself. I was still out of it but she took me away from them.” Carlos motioned to me. “And I can tell you one thing. I will never go back to that life.”

“Good on you, mate. Good on you. So, what's next?”

Carlos’ phone rang. “Just a minute.” He tapped the screen and put the phone to his ear. “Yes?” He paused and listened. “How the fuck?” He exclaimed then he smiled. “Damn.” Turning, he stepped around me and opened the room door.

Surprised at this abrupt move, I reached for my weapon.

“No Selena,” Carlos warned. “I know him.” He moved over to allow someone into the room.

Large and wide, a man stepped in. He had the most striking blue eyes. He carried a laptop case as he looked around and paused when he saw Henry. “Nu chert voz'mi!” Well, hell. He exclaimed in Russian.

“Nice to see you too, arshole,” Henry retorted.

Carlos shut the door. “Wey, play nice chicos.”

I stared at the large man as I recognized his accented voice from the phone call. “You found us?” I admit I felt utterly amazed.

“Da, it wasn’t hard.” He shrugged.

Carlos kept shaking his head and then he exclaimed with a snort, “The best fucking tracker in the world!”

“At your service.” The Rainmaker gave us a short bow.

“Always full of yerself,” Henry complained.

“I am afraid I have to agree,” I said. The man had one call from a burner phone and we had moved from the Executor to here. Yet, he managed to find us? I was all kinds of confused. I made a mental note to find out as this was considered to be a major breach in my own security measures.

They all looked over at me.

I laughed and explained, “I mean about being the best tracker. But I would like to know how you did it?” I stared at the big Russian.

“Net…I cannot divulge that.” He shook his head.

“Bien, I know one thing now,” Carlos exclaimed as he looked excited. “I really believe we will find the twins.”

Rain now trained his gaze on me. “Why are you here?” he asked though he looked over at Carlos. “Do you trust this woman?”

Carlos nodded. “I do.”

“Proklyatiye, are you stupid?” Rain asked.

Carlos tucked his head back in surprise.

I stepped forward and said, “I do not know if he told you about the kids.”

“He did, but he never said he had a girlfriend who does hits for the Diegos.” Rain stared at me.

“Girlfriend?” I asked, wondering how he knew about Carlos and I.

Rain slowly shook his head as he looked disgusted.

“Did you know that the first real trackers were Native American Indians who had the keenest sense of smell? They could smell smoke a mile or two away, they could even smell horses. Or why they used hounds in the South to chase down runaway slaves? The scent.”

I felt a little confused at his statement. Indians and hounds?

“It was because of their sense of smell,” Rain answered his own question.

Carlos tossed his hands up. “De qué estás hablando?” What are you talking about?

“The scent of sex,” Rain muttered. “This room is full of it.”

“Oh, shit!” Henry exclaimed as he covered his laugh.

I glared at the large Russian. “Alex was my brother. The kids are my family members. I grabbed Carlos from that hospital to see if we could find the kids.” I stepped over to him and added, “The rest is not any of your business.”

“The Diego Cartel are fucking killers.” Rain glared at me. “Blyat, that makes it my business.”

“This is personal,” I replied. “My bosses have no stake in this.”

“Oh, yeah?” Rain snapped. “To grab those kids would give them carte blanche, lady.”

I couldn’t argue with that. It would be the ultimate weapon, although I hardly believed Carlos’ family would care if another cartel had them. However, I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t need this man to be our or my enemy.

“She wants what I want,” Carlos cut in.

“And that is?” Rain asked him.

“To return the kids to their mother,” I replied.

Rain stared into my eyes for a long tense minute. Then finally, he turned to Carlos and asked, “Are they in the USA?”

Carlos waved his hand at both men. “Have a seat at the table.”

They both went over to sit down.

I hid my smile as the chairs were barely large enough to hold the big men. They had a bit of trouble but they sat on the edges of the seats. And no, I had no resentment against the Russian man, he had good points and to me…his suspicions were just plain smart.

Carlos gave me a nod and he sat on the bed.

I sat on the other side.

“Santiago hid them well,” Carlos announced. “They are in Mexico.”

“I thought so,” I added. “Santiago Castillo would not trust them to be in America. He had more control and influence in Mexico.

Carlos glanced at me. “Maybe you did guess that, but you are never gonna guess where.”

“I hope it’s Belize,” Henry spoke up as he nodded his head repeatedly. “White sandy beaches and cute little bikinis.”

“Net, that is not a part of Mexico,” Rain told him.

“It’s close to it though,” Henry argued.

“Bein, Henry,” Carlos cut in. “It is not Belize.”

Henry replied with, “Booo.”

Carlos clasped his hands together as he paused. He seemed very hesitant to divulge this location.

“So it’s like that, is it?” Henry asked.

“Pretty much,” Carlos still seemed to hesitate. “You need to wait and hear me out before you jump to—”

“Oh, bloody hell,” Henry swore. “Look, there are lots of poverty stricken places in that country. But I don’t think Santiago would do that.

Not because he cared but it would not be smart.

The place has to be out of the way and have a danger sign out front.

Like beware this is…” His voice fell away as his eyes widened as he seemed to realize where they were hidden. “No way, mate!”

“Catemaco!” Rain cut in as he nodded. “The witchcraft capital of Central America.”

I looked over at Carlos.

He gave me a slow nod.

I paused at this for sure. “Holy mother of—”

“You can say that again, lady.” Henry stood from the chair. “I was so hoping it wasn’t by that creepy ass, gator filled lake. That place is notorious. Dark arts. Demonic crap.”

“Now Henry,” Carlos said.

“Don’t now Henry me!” the knight exclaimed as his green eyes flashed with anger.

I shook my head as I didn't know what to feel about this. “Congreso Nacional de Brujos de Catemaco.”

Rain nodded at me and repeated that in English, “National Congress of Sorcerers.”

Henry shot his gaze over to him. “Do not tell me…”

Nodding, Rain smirked at him. “I have attended it, yes.”

“It fucking figures,” Henry groused. “You are a demonic fucker for sure.”

Rain shrugged as he didn't seem to feel insulted. “It is my go to event.”

Henry looked disgusted. “Go to? They have the black arts there. Some say they do that sacrificial crap too.”

I leaned forward to ask Rain, “So you know this place well?”

He nodded his head. “It is my vacation spot.”

“It figures.” Henry rolled his eyes. “Like most people would go to the Bahamas, motherfucker.”

“Bueno, Rain!” Carlos cheered ignoring their arguing. “That means we will have an advantage.”

Rain nodded. “I have people there who know me and trust me.”

“Well, that is rare!” Henry laughed.

“Don’t push it, Lancelot.” Rain raised a brow at him.

“Mate, he wasn’t a real knight.” Henry sniffed arrogantly.

“And neither are you,” Rain retorted.

I chuckled.

Both men whipped their heads over to stare at me.

“You remind me of brothers.” At their glares, I raised my hands in defense. “Jab, jab, jab. Then one day you are both rolling around on the floor punching each other. Finally, after you duke it out, you are friends again.”

Rain scoffed. “Blin, we were never friends.”

“Besides, I would win,” Henry said.

“Hey,” Carlos interjected. “When I was laid up from that bullet, you both showed up for me and we had some good times. Card games, pizza and smoking cigars. The only good time I’d ever had with anyone really.”

They both looked over at him.

“You deserved a better life than the one you inherited, my friend,” Rain admitted quietly.

Henry agreed, “Born into the dark life when deep down, you are a hero.”

The room went quiet.

I looked away as I didn’t wish to stare at them in a moment like this.

I had learned a few things since these two men arrived.

Each one was probably the best at what they did.

They loved to argue and they were very intelligent.

But one fact stood out. They truly cared about Carlos and they thought highly of him.

This made them a lot more acceptable to me than most men would be.