Chapter 8
Omar
The phone on the nightstand was ringing. And ringing. And ringing. I groaned and grabbed it, pressed the green “answer” button, and held it to my face. “What?” I snapped.
“What do you mean what?” It was Lili, and she was pissed.
My body jerked like a live wire. “What’s the matter? Is it Angel?”
“He’s the same,” she said. Her words were soft now. “He’s not worse…but he’s not getting much better either.”
I rubbed a hand through my hair, wincing as my fingers found the snarls formed by the pillow.
Even though it had been more than twenty-four hours since we got here, I still ached all over and my shoulder was burning beneath the bandage.
I was going to need Helena to check for infection.
“So, beyond the obvious, what’s happening?
” I wanted to go back to sleep, but that wasn’t likely to happen.
Now that I was conscious, my body hurt too much to relax.
“Ademir called this morning for Angel.”
Fuck. Ademir was one of Angel’s business associates from South America, and part of the Corazón Syndicate. “What did he want?”
“He’s got a shipment of guns heading his way from the Vitalis, but the boat is experiencing some kind of issue. It’s close to the island, and he was hoping to get some assistance in fixing it…and maybe storing some of the product.”
“What did you say?”
Lili went quiet, and I knew exactly what she’d told him. “Now who’s the stupid one?” I demanded. “Why the hell would you tell him yes?”
“He’s Angel’s biggest business connection! What was I supposed to say? It’s not like I can say no to them and expect us all to live.”
She was right, of course, but it didn’t do a thing to calm the jagged way my heart was beating against my ribs. “How far out are they?”
“Ademir wasn’t sure — just that their coordinates put them near the island. When they get there, do what you can to help and don’t let them know about Angel.”
I scoffed. “I’m not a total moron, you know.”
“You are,” she argued. “We’ve had this discussion already.”
“I know how to protect Angel.” My voice was harsher than I had intended, but keeping Angel safe had been my job for most of my life. It was one of the only things that I did well, and Lili was not going to take it away from me with a few flippant words. “Okay?”
Lili sensed the shift in my tone, and while she didn’t comment on it, she did drop the attitude. “Let me know how it goes,” she said. “Ademir wasn’t all that happy with you being who his people were going to deal with. He kept asking why Angel couldn’t meet them at the island to coordinate.”
“How’d you cover? So I know?”
“I told him that Emma was far enough along that she didn’t want him so far away.”
It was a good excuse, a plausible one. “Okay, that’s good. It’ll keep it simple, then.”
We ended the call, and I ditched the burner after cracking it in half.
I probably didn’t have much time, but I jumped in the shower long enough to work out some of the stiffness from my body.
I did my best to keep my stitches out of the water—it was too soon to get them wet—but didn’t bother applying a new bandage, leaving it for Helena.
By the time I got downstairs, Helena had breakfast ready for me.
“I’ve already taken food to your guest,” she said as I sat down.
“Don’t call her a guest.” I tucked into my eggs and immediately burned my tongue…then everything tasted like nothing. Fucking perfect.
“Fine,” Helena hissed. “I fed your hostage.”
I grunted. “She’s still alive, I’m assuming.”
“Of course. Like I’d let anyone die under my watch. She’s a timid thing, isn’t she?”
Conejita. “I’ve already told you, it doesn’t matter what she’s like. She’s temporary.”
Helena rolled her eyes, and I dutifully ignored it. “My brother’s business associate contacted the compound this morning. They have a boat in need of repair and some crates that’ll need to be stored until they can be moved to the mainland.”
She barely batted an eye and started loading plates into the dishwasher. “Should I get lunch prepared for our guests?” Helena looked at me. “Or are these ‘not guests’ too?”
“These are VIPs,” I said. “We’ll wine and dine and do anything we can to avoid talking about anything happening on the mainland. Understand?”
“Of course, jefe.”
After Helena finished clearing up the breakfast mess, she had me take off my shirt so that she could reapply the dressing on my shoulder. She prodded at the wound and made hmm-ing noises. “Having fun?” I griped as her fingers dug at my tender flesh.
“Oodles,” she deadpanned.
“If Angel heard you talking like this…”
“What? You think I’m afraid of him?” She pinched the back of my arm and laughed when I cursed.
“You and Angel think you’re so tough, but we all know that housekeepers hold the real keys to the kingdom.
” She patted my uninjured arm. “It looks good. No redness or swelling, no discharge…you probably won’t lose your arm. ”
“Gracias.”
I hurried out of the kitchen, and called Efrain and Pascal to the drydock to explain about our impending visitors. “Did they say if it was the engine giving them trouble?” Pascal asked.
“Lili didn’t say. The only thing Ademir relayed to her was that the boat wouldn’t make it to his usual pick-up spot in its current state.”
“What’s it carrying?” Efrain asked, the far more serious one of the pair.
“Armas from New York,” I said. “Knowing Ademir, probably big ones.”
Both men tensed. Drugs weren’t necessarily easier to deal with, but a lot of weapons in one place could get really ugly really fast. “We’ll get their boat fixed as quickly as possible,” I said.
Around midday, a boat drifted into view. It was definitely struggling. Through a pair of binoculars, I could see that they were basically paddling along. “Get the dinghy,” I told Efrain. “We’ll tow them in.”
They ran to get the dinghy and lowered it into the water; then we all climbed aboard. It skipped across the waves, rough from the tearing wind. But it didn’t take long to reach the boat. “We’ll tow you in,” I called to the men. “You’re not taking on water, right?”
They confirmed that they weren’t sinking, and Pascal threw them the rope. Once everything was secure, we turned for shore.
When we reached the dock, Pascal helped a couple of the men unload their cargo while Efrain went to check the engine. “Can you fix it?” one man asked as he returned to the dock, obviously anxious.
Efrain made a humming sound. “Shouldn’t take more than a few hours,” he declared.
“No overnight?”
As if I would allow that. “No,” Efrain assured him, glancing at me.
The man also looked at me. “Ademir mentioned that we could store the load here? Our timeline is off for delivery. It’ll be a few days before we can arrange another boat without it being noticed.”
I nodded. “Yes, we can accommodate that.”
“It will be…safe here?”
“We regularly use this island for storage. We’re in international waters here, so the worry about the Coast Guard is next to nothing.”
“And will we be seeing Angel while we’re here? Ademir wishes for us to extend a greeting.”
Angel was in the process of building an alliance with Ademir’s Syndicate and Lorenzo Vitali. It was a delicate balancing act, not looking weak while also not offending anyone. The Castillos could not appear to be crumbling right now when everything was finally coalescing.
“He’s back in Miami, unfortunately,” I said. “His wife is expecting, and she hasn’t wanted him too far from home.”
The man rolled his eyes. “And is Angel Castillo so whipped for his wife that he would miss a business opportunity?”
I clenched my jaw, aggravated. “Did Ademir share what happened to my brother’s wife?”
He nodded, largely unimpressed. “She was taken. It’s not so uncommon...and he got her back, so all’s well.”
“Maybe,” I conceded, “but the man who took her was obliterated. Angel’s wife and their child are the most important things to him; I wouldn’t be so flippant when talking about them. Even if he’s not here to hear you, I can hear you.”
I fully expected the man to say something else derisive, but he must have decided to take me at my word. Instead, his dark eyes were studying me, taking in the bruises and cuts. “What are you doing here, so far from your brother?”
I gestured to my face. “Obviously, I’m licking some wounds.” I jerked my head toward the house. “I brought a friend with me to help with that.”
I didn’t want to mention Lyse at all, but if they happened to hear her while in the house, I had to have plausible deniability.
The man’s face broke into a grin. “Sly dog. Angel approves you doing this?”
He was fishing: the number of times he brought up my brother’s name wasn’t a coincidence.
“Angel and I have had free use of this island since we were children. He doesn’t begrudge me a vacation when I need it.
Now, let my man work on your engine, so you can be on your way.
My housekeeper will have lunch ready for us, I’m sure. ”
Thankfully, the promise of food distracted the man, and by the time we finished the meal, Efrain had their engine purring. They hopped aboard and said they’d be in touch about when they would return to pick up the crates.
“Crisis averted, jefe?” Pascal asked.
I nodded. “But now we have a metric fuck-ton of guns in our dry dock.”
“One problem at a time,” Efrain said.
Ain’t that the fucking truth.