9. Miguel
9
MIGUEL
I lost her. Isabel didn’t just weasel away from me at that club.
She’d tried to disappear.
I refused to admit that she had disappeared. She couldn’t be that good. But for all intents and purposes, it was as though she’d vanished. As if she’d only been a fantasy of mine, an unfulfilled one that was cut short far too soon.
After I searched through the crowd outside the club, I walked back to her hotel. She’d already checked out. That was how good she was. That was how quick she was to react to our first meeting—to distance herself.
It still galled me that she’d even known that I was following her. I wasn’t an amateur at this shit. I knew how to cover my bases, and it was a surprise that she could as well.
I’d tracked many targets, and half of them were paranoid fuckers who would try to go underground and hide from the inevitable. When they fucked around and realized they’d gone too far, they’d freak out and try to lose me or anyone else wanting to eliminate them.
So if you want to try to run and hide, sweetheart…
It could only mean one thing.
She was guilty of something. Or she knew something.
But what?
She was a fucking artist, a mural painter who seemed to travel quite a bit to do work for nonprofit organizations. What secrets could she have? What crimes could she have done?
Everyone had layers to them, and this game of chase she was initiating by hiding from me only spurred me on to peel hers away, to dig deep and learn even more about her.
If her only “crime” was to be born Louis Flores’s daughter, that wasn’t her fault.
Her fault? I huffed a laugh and shook my head slightly, amused and surprised by my turn of thoughts. I never put this much thought into a target, whether they deserved to die or not. I never invested this much attention into any man or woman I had to kill. They were just a job. I learned just enough about my given targets to do my job well, and then I moved on to the next job that would pad my bank account.
Isabel was the exception. For the first time, I wanted to dive deeper under the surface and know why she had to be killed. To lure Louis out of hiding. Sure. That was the motivation that was being orchestrated. Her father was the target, and she was supposed to just be collateral damage.
Of all times to grow a conscience, now should’ve have been it. This was supposed to be one last gig before taking off and maybe quitting this shit. Taking out Isabel was going to be a done-and-dusted thing.
What bothered me was how last-minute the plans were changed on her. While I’d been stalking Louis and counting down the time to kill him, someone, somewhere, was planning to use her as a chess piece in all of this.
Why did he change it from kidnapping to killing her?
Without any thought or any reasons…
It nagged at me, and not just because I was growing attached to finding out all I could about her. It seemed sloppy. It led me to suspect something fishy was going on. Or something far more complicated than the hit job it seemed to be on the surface.
If they wanted her alive but captured, why change to wanting her dead?
Just because I protested that I didn’t deal with kidnapping, only killing?
Did Drago change it so swiftly just to appease me?
If the purpose was to use Isabel as a target, I supposed it didn’t matter if she were dead or alive. The strange conditions about it all kept my mind running, though. Adding in the fact that she ran made it even trickier to figure out and unravel.
“You a cop?”
I didn’t flinch or react to the old woman’s gnarly voice. Standing hunched behind a vendor cart that sold the gimmicky junk that tourists wasted their money on, she cleared her throat and arched one white brow at me. Wrinkles lifted as she narrowed her eyes.
“Hmm?” I feigned innocence, looking past me and around this area near the ocean. I’d been leaning against a railing that separated the beach from the paved walkway, hoping that Isabel might show up near what seemed to be a graffiti contest. I searched for artsy things and events, thinking she might gravitate toward them.
“You a cop?”
I shook my head. Fuck no. I started out in the military—on the “good” side—only to quickly learn and realize how corrupt they were. They screwed me over when I wouldn’t lie, and because of that, I was scorned to ever play nice or team up with the law enforcement side of violence again.
She huffed a laugh, squinting her rheumy eyes closed even more. “Is that right?”
I nodded. “Why would you think I’m a cop?”
“Because ain’t no man standing around looking thoughtful like you are without scheming or being on the lookout. You with the Cartel?”
I grinned at her. “The Cartel ?”
She didn’t follow along with my charm or joking tone. Staring blankly, she put me on the spot.
“I’m just a man enjoying the view.” Brandishing my hand at the waves crashing on the shore, I shrugged.
“Better to enjoy a view with a lady, ain’t it?” She tipped her chin at the others on this section of the boardwalk. Her indication of the three couples leaning against the railing—all of them displaying a variety of public affection with kisses and hugs—was plenty of emphasis.
Yeah, I was the odd one out over here at this scenic spot.
But so what?
Screw this old woman, watching me too closely for her own good.
Fuck, am I slipping again? First, Isabel was noticing me as I stalked her, and now this ancient vendor was picking up on the cue that I wasn’t merely sightseeing but spying?
“My lady’s unavailable at the moment,” I told the woman.
Turning away, lest she get any nosier and ask me what I was looking for or watching, I tried not to get more annoyed.
Isabel was unavailable to me at the moment. I would not admit defeat and agree that I’d lost her for good.
My phone rang as I walked along the path. Seeing that it was Drago, I winced and answered. I was already pissed that Isabel had gotten away. I didn’t need any shit or attitude from him now.
“Hello?”
“What’s taking so long?” he asked as a gruff greeting.
“It’s been two days,” I replied drolly.
“Three, since it was originally for Louis.”
“Yeah, originally. You changed the contract, so the delivery is changed too.” That should’ve been obvious. But I internally cringed. I never took too long. Since Isabel was here in Acapulco, this should’ve been over with already.
If I hadn’t gotten carried away with wanting to soak up her exotic and alluring presence, maybe it would’ve been.
“What’s the hold up?”
Like I’d tell him that. I wasn’t answering that question because I’d be damned if I admitted I’d lost her. Temporarily lost her. And there was no way in hell I would ask him—or anyone else—for help or more intel. No one else would find her if I couldn’t. She was that good at going off the grid.
“We’re getting reports of her out and about.”
What the fuck? Where? I bit my tongue and didn’t ask, letting him assume I was on this.
“I just got a call that she was window shopping, in broad daylight. Even in the rain.”
I furrowed my brow, stopping short in the middle of the boardwalk. The rain? I looked up at the clear blue sky, feeling the familiar heat of the sunshine on my cheeks. It hadn’t so much as sprinkled since I’d landed here at the beginning of the week. What rain?
Dread filled a pit in my stomach.
If Drago was getting reports about Isabel being spotted somewhere it was raining, that had to mean she wasn’t here.
Fuck! Did she fly out of here without my notice? I didn’t see how. I had agents at the airport who always gave me tips, and I’d reached out to my guy about her being flagged on any flights.
Flying wasn’t the only way to leave the country. I wondered—worried—if she could have driven away.
“I’m working on it,” I replied. That line was a staple in my dialogue. It was both true and false in this case. I was working on finding her again, but I wasn’t sure what I’d want to do once I did.
“Work faster. Fuck, you’re supposed to be the best of the best.”
Go to hell.
I hung up without another word and turned at the intersection to head further into the city. If he said she’d been spotted near the shopping district, I’d check out that area. His comment about the rain didn’t add up, but I had to go with what I could.
A couple of blocks over, I scanned the streets laden with tourists, vendors, and construction barricades. It didn’t matter where one was in the world. Construction sites were always a constant.
Nothing.
She wasn’t anywhere around here. I didn’t know what Drago was talking about or what these reports meant. Isabel wasn’t window shopping.
I spun in a one-eighty, scanning the opposite side of the multi-lane street. It was congested with traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian. With the cones and barricades circumventing the flow of honking cars, mopeds, and buses, my view was blocked of the other side of the street. No shops or boutiques lined that side—not that she’d be likely to peruse high-end fashion. She seemed too original and unique for designer items.
Hotels and convention centers stood opposite me, all modern and tall with glass and sharp edges in the architecture.
Smoking and jerking, a bus finally had the right of way to slog on down the road. Once it passed, I had a clear visual of the café on the other side of the street.
A direct line of sight to her.
Found you, sweetheart.
My heart beat faster, and I hurried to cut through the traffic. Others had given up on the official strip of the pedestrian crosswalk too.
Isabel Flores was right there, sitting at a bistro table and wiping her lips from whatever she’d had for lunch. Lips I wanted to taste and suck again. To see them glistening wet and parted as she fought to catch her breath from what I did to her.
Horns honked and blared. Metal crushed and people shouted.
I stopped short, looking to the right at the accident. An impatient biker had swerved around a van, and the car next to them braked so hard they’d an accident, rear-ending a truck.
More cars stopped. Others slammed on their brakes too late. It wasn’t a tragic pileup but a mess of too many fender benders too close together.
Dammit. Move. Move! I dodged and wove around the stopping vehicles, rushing to cross over and find her.
By the time I set foot on the sidewalk in front of the café, she was gone.
Fuck!
I was pissed, but I didn’t lose hope. Craning my neck to look up and up and up, I registered the name of this hotel and knew she had to be nearby. She had to be.
She hadn’t flown out of the country. She was still here. Drago was making it sound like she wasn’t, but I had my proof now.
Isabel was within my reach again, and seeing her eating here would narrow down the area I’d need to search.
One step closer to her again, I let the first genuine smile of the day lift my lips.
Don’t stray too far this time, sweetheart. Because I’ve got my eyes on you.
And I wouldn’t give up on this hunt. Not until I had her in my arms again.