11. Dominic
Dominic
The scent of tropical flowers permeates the humid air outside San Juan. As the sun lowers below the horizon, evening insects hum in the brush. Marco, Nico, and I hide, hovering low in the undergrowth.
“I swear to God, if I see a fucking snake . . .” Marco swats at something buzzing past his ear.
“If you get bitten, I’ll find you an antivenom,” Leo says over our earpieces. “Just stay where you are. Kozolva’s plane is two miles out.”
Marco grunts but remains in place.
“No sign of Perez,” Nico whispers, despite the fact that the few men on the tarmac wouldn’t be able to hear us even if we were screaming. He lifts binoculars to his face, scanning the airport again.
Propped on one knee, I do the same, but the chain-link fence a few feet away makes it difficult to recognize faces. “I’m getting closer.”
“Careful,” Leo warns. “I was able to hack into the security feed. There are guards on the lookout by the air hangar to the north.”
Heeding his warning, I creep forward and take partial shelter behind a thick palm. The sun is nearly set, allowing me to hide in the shadows despite the runway lights.
Overhead, a telltale rumbling disturbs the jungle’s rhythm. A jet engine is coming our way.
“Is this him?” Nico’s voice lifts as he speaks into his earpiece.
“Should be,” Leo replies.
On instinct, the three of us crouch lower as the plane approaches, flying only yards above. I close my eyes and cover my head as the brush whips side to side and palm leaves threaten to fall.
I open my eyes in time to see a puff of smoke following the plane’s tires when they hit the tarmac. The aircraft slows to a crawl before turning off the runway and toward the hangar.
“Shit,” I mutter, raising my binoculars. “They’re going to deplane inside.”
“Are you fucking serious? We hiked into the jungle for nothing?” Marco scoffs as he throws his hands to the sky.
“We hardly hiked.” Nico shakes his head. “Leo dropped us off a hundred yards back.”
“There could be fucking tigers out here,” Marco continues his rant, searching side to side as if a large cat is about to pounce.
“There are no tigers in Puerto Rico,” I snap. “Now, shut the fuck up and watch for Kozlova and Perez.”
We fall into silence, attention back on the activity at the airport.
I’m beginning to lose hope as the plane turns into the structure, but before the doors close, a caravan of three Mercedes sedans appears around a corner.
One waits for the plane to park, then enters the hangar behind it; the other two wait outside as the large metal doors shut.
“Perez?” I ask, trying to get a view of the men climbing from the two remaining cars.
Leo whistles. “Medina Cartel, for sure. I recognize a couple of them.”
“What’s our game plan?” Nico asks, dropping his binoculars to his side.
I weigh my options, standing. “I say we follow them. Leo, how far out are you? Can you get us to the airport exit before they leave?”
“I’ll be at our meeting spot in two minutes. Whether or not we can catch up with them depends on how fast you can get to me.”
“Then let’s get the fuck out of here,” Marco says, already headed in the direction we came. In response to his heavy footsteps, a creature runs past, rustling the undergrowth. Marco’s scream has Nico and me cringing and lunging forward to slap some sense into him.
“What the fuck was that?” Marco hisses after my hand connects with the back of his head.
“A goddamn iguana,” Nico snaps. “Now will you shut up and keep walking?”
Using flashlights, we find our way back to the unkempt road where Leo waits. Marco stumbles from the brush first, batting at nonexistent creatures he’s convinced are covering his skin. He mutters, “Never again,” as he throws himself into the backseat of the nondescript SUV Leo rented for our trip.
I join Leo upfront as Nico glares at Marco from his spot in the back.
“Jump on it,” I command. Leo doesn’t hesitate, tires sliding as he whips the car in a U-turn and shows no concern about the broken asphalt.
“Dominic, look at that iPad, it will show you surveillance of the airport. Have Kozlova and Perez left yet?” Leo asks.
I lift the device and search the screen. “The hangar is still closed, and the cars are waiting out front, so I think we’re good.”
“Keep an eye on it and tell me if anything changes.”
I grip the iPad in one hand and the safety handle in the other as Leo takes a sharp turn onto the thoroughfare that runs along the airport.
“They’re on the move,” I say when the hangar doors open and the third Mercedes emerges.
“We’re almost to the entrance,” Leo promises.
As we approach the front of the airfield, Leo slows and begins to pull to the side of the road.
“Wait.” Nico leans between us, pointing through the windshield. “They’re coming. Keep driving, we’ll fall in line right behind them.”
Holding pace five miles per hour under the speed limit, Leo follows Nico’s direction. Just as predicted, the line of Medina cars pulls onto the road in front of us.
“Holy shit. We couldn’t have timed that better if we tried.” Marco laughs.
“Now we have to remain undetected.” Done with video surveillance, I turn off the iPad and place it at my feet. “Do we have any clue where they’re going?”
“Unfortunately, no,” Leo says. “Lucas and I searched the best we could, but we didn’t find a clear location.”
“Maybe they’re changing spots each trip,” Nico offers. “They could be renting.”
The caravan turns toward the city, and Leo lets another car merge between us in an attempt to remain inconspicuous.
“They’re headed downtown.” Leo taps his fingers against the wheel as we stop at a light. “I would have thought they’d be going somewhere more private.”
“It’s possible that this isn’t their final destination,” I say. “They could be meeting someone or catching dinner.”
“Or pulling up to a residential building,” Nico responds as the light turns green and the caravan turns into an underground parking garage for a condominium building.
We look at each other. Of all the places we expected Kozlova and Perez to meet, a condominium was not on the list.
“Are we sure neither owns property here under any of their shell corporations?” I ask.
Leo shakes his head. “I can’t find any evidence that would point us in that direction.”
“Like I said, they could be renting.” Nico places his elbow on the backseat as he watches the building pass by.
I purse my lips, considering. “Or what if they’re staying with someone they know?”
“Or using someone else’s property,” Marco adds.
Nico and I look at him, then raise our brows at each other.
“You could be on to something,” I say, turning to Leo. “Get a list of all the owners in that building.”
“On it.”
I sit back as Leo places a call to Lucas, asking him to get started on the task, rattling off the building’s name and address.
If nothing else, at least we know where our adversaries are.
The suite Leo rented at a nearby resort has a spectacular view of the Caribbean Sea. Early in the morning, as the sun rises, I find myself seated on the balcony with an espresso in hand.
I make a note to bring Cassandra back here once we’ve eliminated the Bratva and Medina threat. She deserves to travel the world, and there’s no one else I’d rather share the beauty of the Caribbean Sea with.
Especially not my cousin, who comes out, slurping on his espresso and scratching his stomach. Nico is still in linen sleep pants and a black T-shirt, his hair in disarray, falling into his eyes.
“Sleep well?” I ask and cringe as he takes another noisy sip of his drink.
“Fucking fantastic.” He takes a seat next to me. “It’s gorgeous out here. I might be living in the wrong city. What do you think the family would do if I decided to leave Chicago and set up shop down here?”
I laugh. “Lose their minds.”
“Damn it.” He grins and pushes his hair out of his eyes. “Così è la vita.”
“Such is life,” I repeat.
The glass door of the balcony slides open, and we turn to see Leo, laptop in hand.
“We found something,” he says, closing the door behind him.
“What?” I place my espresso on the table next to my chair as Leo crouches between us so we can see the laptop.
“Here’s the list of all the owners in the building. Tell me when you see a familiar name.”
I scroll the list—Rodriguez, Hunter, Miranda, Santos. I stop.
Santos. Jorge Santos.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I grab the laptop and double-check the name, phone number, and secondary address listed for him.
Leo nods. “We confirmed everything, it’s definitely the one and only Jorge Santos from the Angeles de la Misericordia.
Lucas dug in and found that he bought the condo for a mistress whose abuela lived in San Juan.
The mistress got in some trouble a while back, fought with Santos, and ended up going to the authorities.
She disappeared shortly after, but Santos held on to the condo. ”
“That mother fucker is in bed with Kozlova and Perez?” Nico seethes, hands curling into fists.
“Sort of,” Leo says. “As far as we can tell, he’s not heavily involved in what they’ve got going on. He’s just lending them the space.”
“Stronzo.” Nico’s jaw ticks. “When will we have enough evidence to move into Miami and take the bastard out?”
“That’s not our focus,” I sigh. “I’m not happy about this either, but going after Santos isn’t going to help us right now.
As far as I’m concerned, we should keep him close.
He’s our strongest link to Kozlova and Perez.
Leo, I need surveillance put on Santos. Let’s see if his involvement extends beyond sharing a meeting place. ”
“Got it.” Standing, Leo retrieves his laptop. “What do you want to do now that we’re here and know where Kozlova and Perez are?”
“Let’s keep an eye on them while they’re here, see if they move locations, meet with anyone else, etc. As soon as they’re gone, we need to find a way into that condo. It would be ideal to get listening devices and video surveillance in there.”
“I’ll start gathering equipment,” Leo says before slipping through the door.
I finish my espresso while Nico stares out over the water.
“I want to kill Santos,” he finally mumbles.
I chuckle. “Let me end Kozlova and Perez first, then Santos is all yours.”
His lips curl with a smirk.
“Holding you to it.”