NAOMI
Her mind raced as she stared at the notes in front of her.
She’d kept her promise and contained herself to the dining room table, though she might have to get a second pad of paper soon.
She was running out of room as she tried to recall all the places her father would frequent. All the hideouts he used to tell her.
But were those tests? Had he been telling her those places to throw her off? Maybe it was in case Diego ever asked, he would find out if she kept her mouth shut.
It was a dangerous rabbit hole to wander down.
The possibilities were endless. Her father was a master manipulator.
She’d figured that out the moment he talked to her after selling her to Diego.
He’d never loved her, only seeing her as a tool to exploit for his own gain, and from then on, he worked hard to stay a step ahead of her, throwing tests her way.
He always forgot her brain liked patterns, and he had one.
She stilled. That was it. His pattern. Her father might try to change locations, but he’d keep to his pattern. A pattern known only to a few.
Her and her sister. Because they’d grown up with it.
She jumped to her feet, running for the door, notepad in hand. She had to tell Glitch and Code. They could figure it out for her. She couldn’t access electronic records, but they could.
Taking the stairs two at a time, she raced for the clubhouse.
She ignored the curious looks as she hurried inside, heading straight for Code and Glitch’s office.
Throwing open the door, she barely noticed their state of almost undressed.
Or the curses and screeching coming from them at being interrupted.
“Sex later,” she barked. “I need your help. I know I can find him.”
“Jesus Christ, I’m getting a fucking deadbolt for that door,” Code barked, annoyed as he quickly righted his clothes. Glitch laughed, yanking her shirt back over her head.
“Babe, you have shitty timing,” she said, with a shake of her head. “I didn’t even get more than a few pets.”
Naomi shrugged. Maybe later she’d be embarrassed she’d burst in without knocking, but this was too important. “You and I can both be sexually frustrated, because I teased Ink and made him leave with Asher.”
“Poor bastard.” Code huffed. “Apparently, blue balls are going around here.”
“You’ll survive, Caveman,” Glitch admonished. She sat down in her chair and lifted her brows at Naomi.
Naomi took the other one, ignoring Code’s squawking. Glitch’s eyes danced with mirth.
Slamming down the notebook, Naomi started explaining.
“My father has a pattern. He might try to do things that make people think he’s doing one thing when he’s doing another, but he’s not the best at it.
He used to do it all the time when we were kids, but it became more apparent when I was held at Diego’s and he’d come talk to me.
And he’d test me. He’d tell me he was going to a certain place when he was going somewhere else to see who I’d tell. ”
“And you didn’t tell anyone, so he figured it was safe to start telling you his actual routine?” Glitch mused.
She gave a quick nod. “He’d still test me.
Dropping juicy little tidbits that anyone with a brain would tell Diego, but I knew better.
So I started recording them in a code sheet of my own.
Anyone who saw it would think it was just another calculation sheet.
I even kept it in the books Diego gave me so it wouldn’t appear odd. ”
“And you’re going to recreate that sheet? That will tell you where he is?”
“Not exactly. Over the years, my father would get rid of some and add new ones. But he always picked a specific pattern. North, south, north, east, south, west. He’d move around, thinking he was random, but if you pay attention, you can figure it out.”
“And how does this equate to you knowing where he is?” Code asked, moving to stand behind Glitch.
“It means as long as I know where he was then I can figure it out, but I need a computer and a map to figure it out.”
Glitch turned to her computer, fingers flying over the keys.
Soon, all the wall monitors were covered with a map of the country, while the one in front of her had a file and her father’s picture.
“According to this, the last known whereabouts of your father, were seen on a street camera in Austin, Texas. Facial recognition confirmed it. They tracked him to an apartment building, but he disappeared. They waited and he never came out.”
“Any secret tunnels or other ways out?” Code asked, fully invested now.
“Nothing in the blueprints, but the building belongs to a Samuel Ramos.”
“That’s Diego’s supplier,” Naomi said, looking at the map, mind spinning.
“He runs money and drugs over the border but also owns stash houses all around the state. He’s the contact person between Diego and the head of the faction just over the border in Mexico.
He’s perfected his ability to get things over the border without anyone finding them. Even the search dogs.”
“I’m going to want to know more about that,” Glitch muttered. “Alright, so it’s safe to say that the building he went into has a secret stash house or location that’s close enough for him to get to without anyone seeing him.”
“Wouldn’t the Feds have figured out it was in there already?”
“He’s good at hiding shit, so it wouldn’t surprise me that he can hide that too without them finding it,” Glitch said. She glanced at Naomi. “Unless you know how he’s doing it?”
Naomi nodded. “There’s a special compound a scientist in Romania created.
The cartel purchased it for a pretty penny and has used it to coat the inside of walls while also using lead on the other side of the wall to block out any scanning equipment and distort animal scents.
If dogs sniff it for too long, they’ll get sick and possibly die, so they don’t use enough to make law enforcement suspicious.
Mostly, it will make the dogs lethargic, but most cops take that as they were working too hard and not question it. ”
“Fuck, these assholes are getting smarter,” Code muttered, shaking his head.
“We’ll put that on the back burner to look into later. If that shit is being sold on the black market, Simba is going to want to know about it. It could be used to hide people when they’re trying to traffic them.”
“If my father is in that building, they won’t find him. But he won’t want to stay there too long. How long ago was it that they saw him there?”
“Two weeks ago now,” Glitch said after checking the report. “How long does he stay in one spot.”
“No more than a day. Can you pinpoint the locations on the map that the Feds have spotted him since I escaped?”
“Might take me a minute, but yep, I can do that.”
Silence filled the room as she worked, and Naomi was impressed. Her fingers flew over the keys in a blur of speed, and Code beamed at her, not even trying to interfere. This was a man who was comfortable being happy with how good his woman was.
When she finally finished, Glitch had over twenty locations pinned on the digital map. “I don’t see a pattern, but I’ll number them for you just in case.” After a few more taps of the keys, Naomi had what she needed.
Grabbing her pen and the notepad, she set to work.
Ignoring Glitch and Code as they talked until they finally left her to work. Tuning them out when they eventually came back to check on her. She was so close to figuring it out, but still something was missing.
One coordinate was missing. So where was it? What could it mean.
“Alright, babe, talk to me, you look like you’re going to lose your shit,” Glitch urged. “I’m not as smart as you, but I’m sure we can figure it out.”
Naomi blinked at her, trying to drag herself out of the myriad of thoughts rushing around in her head.
“He’s deviated from his pattern, but not enough that I can’t figure it out.
Instead of doing his normal, he switched the orientations for east and west. He’s moving through the states, but he’s still doing them in ways that you can mostly track them.
North, south, north, west, south, east. That’s the new pattern.
Austin is the southern part, and that means he’ll be heading north again if he sticks to the pattern. ”
“And do you think he’s done that already, or he’s still in Texas planning his next move?”
Naomi shrugged. “It’s hard to know until I can figure out what I’m missing. Because I’m missing something.”
She looked at the map again, but it still eluded her.
What was it? What couldn’t she see?
“To me, it looks like a bunch of dots, but I can see what you mean when you say that he’s moving around. Why is he moving through so many states? I mean, wouldn’t he want to stay near the base of operations if he’s running things for Diego?”
“Or he’s looking to shore up his claim by visiting other factions and getting men in place in case of more raids.
He’ll have to answer to the home base and Diego if he manages to see him in prison.
” Code looked at her. “Would he get any kind of plastic surgery to make sure no one would recognize him if he was that worried about it? Texas has some big surgeons, especially ones that will do anything for a price.”
She shook her head. “Nah, he’s always prided himself on his looks. And he won’t risk people questioning him if he thought they might doubt who he was.”
“What about the places he hasn’t been?” Glitch wondered. “I mean, you can see that he’s been a bit sporadic, but what would make him avoid those states?”
“He won’t want to stay in one spot too long. Going many states over will increase the distance between him and anyone who might be following him or looking for him.”
“What about Mexico?” Code asked, eyes narrowing.
“I mean, you said that he’s staying with someone who could possibly smuggle him over and no one would be the wiser.
If he’s not overseeing Diego’s area, or maybe it’s looking to assert his control of it, he’d need to make an appearance to the powers that be in Mexico, right? ”
“He wouldn’t dare do that until after Diego was sentenced and out of commission,” Naomi stated.
“He might be behind bars, but he has plenty of ways to get things out to his men and order a hit if he thought my father would dare to try and take his place so quickly. Running it for Diego and taking it over are two very different things.”
“Do you think the men would support that takeover?”
“Some might, but far too many are scared of Diego. He’s brutal, and he kept brutal men around him for a reason. He wanted them to fear him. He never gave second chances, and his men will act on his behalf.”
“You think he’d get those orders out through his lawyer? No one else has contact with him, and they check him and the lawyer every time they meet.”
“They’ll be verbal orders. Diego sent four of his smartest men to university to become lawyers for him.
It was his insurance that they would stay loyal, and they had to be very good at what they did to secure their freedom and that of their men.
He’s going to be counting on whoever it is to get him out and fast.”
Code snorted. “I’d like to see him try. The Feds are working overtime to keep him there and make sure nothing derails the case.”
Naomi didn’t feel like arguing with him.
She’d seen it far too often. Hell, when her sister got arrested for possession after being the mule for them, they planted evidence that the DA was dirty, and it stuck like glue.
The man was disgraced, disbarred, and ended up killing himself months later from it all.
Diego and her father had no conscience and would do anything to win. And her sister wasn’t that important either. She probably wasn’t on the Feds’ radar for any of this …
Her brain locked in, and she straightened, eyes widening. That was it, wasn’t it? That was what was missing. Her sister. Where was she? She would help their father no matter what, and she’d worked her way up to their father’s personal right-hand man. She did whatever he told her.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she rasped.
“What is it?” Glitch demanded, eyes wide. “What did you figure out?”
“I need you to search up my sister and her last known whereabouts. Nina. She’s the missing piece.
She doesn’t do anything unless my father tells her to.
She’s gonna be on a list somewhere, but she’s not the big fish, so they won’t be looking for her.
She’ll either be scouting out places for my father to lie low or looking for Asher and me. ”
A few tense moments later, Glitch cursed. “You really are a genius.” She laughed humorlessly. “Your sister has been located in all the places just a day or two ahead of your father.”
“Can you overlay where they spotted her? If she’s going to be ahead of my father, we might be able to figure out where he is.”
Glitch nodded, but the image that popped up on the screen froze them all.
Naomi’s blood froze, and fear slid like ice through her. “They’re here,” she breathed, voice shaking as she got to her feet. “They’re here in town.”
“Don’t panic,” Glitch told her, but Naomi caught the worried frown she couldn’t quite hide. “Just because they’re in town doesn’t mean anything. I’ll see if I can find her cell phone and ping it.”
“She won’t have anything but a burner,” Naomi whispered, trying to calm her breathing.
“I’ll still … Shit!” Beeps and sirens filled the room. “Fuck!”
Code moved quickly, taking the seat next to Glitch. “I’m on it.”
Naomi stared with tears in her eyes as they brought up the camera screens, and she saw them. Asher with Ink and Ice at the edge of the property. Asher played close to the woods while Ink and Ice talked nearby, looking at their bikes.
Then she saw them. The shadows coming out of the forest, ready to grab her son. Even the cameras couldn’t hide their confidence.
Her father and sister were here and were going to take her baby.
“No. No. No!” She rushed through the door, even as Code and Glitch ran after her, barking orders.
She had to get to her son and Ink before she lost them both.