37. The Cartel Princess #2
“Get up.”She struggled to her feet.He kept one hand around her upper arm.Camila looked down.Keys clipped to his belt.Phone in back pocket.Handgun left hip.Knife right.
Interesting.He pulled her into the hallway.Camila looked.Really looked.Not like a terrified hostage.Like Chris.Left.Long corridor.Exterior door at the far end.Right.Storage rooms.Staircase.A loading area beyond it.She caught a glimpse through an open doorway.
Black SUV.White pickup.License plate.She repeated the last four characters in her head.
Again.Again.Again.The guard shoved her forward.“Move.”Camila stumbled.“Asshole.”
“Keep talking.”
“I plan to.”They reached a bathroom.He opened the door.Camila looked inside.Window.
Small.But larger than the one in the room.“Door stays open.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I need privacy.”
“You’re kidnapped.”
“I’m aware.”He stared.Camila stared back.Finally he stepped outside.“Two minutes.”
The door stayed cracked.Fine.Camila entered.Immediately searched.Window.
Painted shut.Vent.Too small.Sink.Metal pipe.Mirror.She looked at herself.Hair tangled.
Bruise beginning along one cheek.Eyes red.Terrified.But alive.Her hands moved toward her stomach.
“Your dad is coming.”She whispered it.“But we’re not waiting around helplessly.
”Camila looked beneath the sink.Nothing.Cabinet.Cleaning supplies.A small metal nail file.Her eyes locked on it.Footsteps outside.She grabbed it.Slid it into the waistband beneath Chris’s sweatshirt. “Time.”
“I’m throwing up.”The nausea finally cooperated.Camila bent over the toilet and vomited.
The guard groaned outside.“Jesus.”Camila almost smiled.Good.Let him think she was weak.Sick.Scared.Pregnant—No.Her smile vanished.They could not know that.Nobody could.Diego couldn’t know.She flushed.Washed her mouth.Then looked at herself again.
“Think.”Chris’s voice lived inside her head.Not something he’d literally said.Something he’d shown her.Observe.Wait.Don’t panic.Know your exits.Know where the weapons are.Know who is watching.Know when they’re not.Camila stepped into the hallway.
The guard grabbed her arm again.She let him.This time she counted.Twenty-two steps back to the room.Turn.Nine.Door.She memorized it.The guard shoved her inside.Camila stumbled deliberately.The door closed.Lock.She waited.Ten seconds.Twenty.Thirty.
Then pulled the nail file from beneath her sweatshirt.She looked at the zip tie around her wrists.Slowly, she started working.Somewhere across the city, Chris Walker was looking for her.Camila knew it.He would be studying traffic cameras.Vehicles.Vargas properties.Diego’s habits.Anything that could bring him closer.But Camila understood something now.She couldn’t rely entirely on Chris.Not because he wouldn’t come.
He would.That was the problem.Diego knew it too.Chris would walk directly into hell for her.Especially now.Especially because of the baby.Camila’s hands stopped.
Diego didn’t know about the baby.That was her advantage.She started working the nail file again.Slow.Quiet.Plastic scraped.Her wrists hurt.She kept going.She thought about every time she’d watched Chris.His apartment.Gun under his pillow.His eyes checking mirrors.His hands steady on the steering wheel.The driving lesson.Where did you really learn this?
FBI.All of it had been right in front of her.She just hadn’t understood what she was seeing.Now she did.Minutes passed.The plastic weakened.Not enough.Yet.Camila stopped when footsteps approached.She hid the nail file beneath her leg.The door opened.
Camila looked up.Diego walked in holding a phone.Not hers.He shut the door behind him.
Camila stayed where she was.“What?”Diego smiled.“You’re going to make a phone call.”
Her stomach dropped.“No.”He laughed quietly.“I didn’t ask.”Diego walked toward her and held out the phone.Camila didn’t take it.“Who?”His smile widened.“Chris.”Every part of her went cold.“No.”
“Interesting.”Diego looked down at the phone.
“You don’t even have to ask which Chris anymore, do you?
”Camila stared at him.Diego tapped the screen.
“Special Agent Christopher James Walker.”He said the name slowly.Mockingly.
“Special Agent.”Camila’s jaw tightened.“Fuck you.”“There she is.”Diego stepped closer.
“Mateo’s little princess finally learned how to swear. ”
“Mateo’s little princess is going to enjoy watching the FBI put you in a cage.”Diego laughed.“Maybe.”He held the phone toward her again.“But first, you’re calling your boyfriend.”Camila didn’t move.“Why?”
“Because he’s looking for you.”
“Good.”
“And I want him to find you.”That was when she understood.This wasn’t about proving she was alive.This wasn’t ransom.Diego was setting a trap.Camila shook her head.“No.”
Diego’s expression hardened.“Take the phone.”
“No.”He stepped closer.Camila instinctively put a hand over her stomach.Diego’s eyes dropped.She immediately regretted it.His gaze slowly returned to hers.“Oh.”Camila went still.Diego stared at her hand.Then smiled.“No fucking way.”“Don’t.”
“You’re pregnant.”She said nothing.Diego laughed once in disbelief.“Walker’s?”Camila’s eyes hardened.“Don’t fucking look at me like that.”His smile grew.“Jesus Christ. This just keeps getting better.”
“Leave my baby out of this.”
“Then make the call.”Camila stared at him.Diego held the phone out.“Tell him you’re alive.”“No.”
“Tell him you need him.”
“He already knows.”Something flashed across Diego’s face.“You really believe that?”
“I don’t have to believe it.”Camila looked directly at him.“I know him.”Diego’s smile disappeared.Camila continued.“You think you need me to make Chris come?”She shook her head.“You don’t understand him at all.”
“Then explain him to me.”
“You took me.”Her hand remained protectively over her stomach.
“And you threatened his child.”She leaned slightly closer.
“Chris is already coming.”For the first time, Diego didn’t look amused.Then he shoved the phone into her hand.
“Call him anyway.” Diego again.He walked in holding a phone.Camila looked at it.Diego smiled. “Time.”“For what?”
“To call your boyfriend.”Her heart jumped.Chris.Diego crouched.“You’re going to tell him you’re alive.”Camila said nothing.“You’re going to tell him you’re scared.”Nothing.“And then you’re going to tell him where to come.”Camila stared.“You think he’s stupid?”
“No.”Diego smiled.“I think he’s in love.
”He tapped the phone.“Which is considerably more useful.”Camila’s pulse raced.Because Diego was right about one thing.Chris would come.But Diego had made a mistake.He thought the phone call would only give him something.Camila looked at the device.Make.Model.Cracked upper corner.Burner.
She looked toward the open doorway.Generator hum.Train horn somewhere far away.
Truck reversing outside.Beeping.Industrial property.Vargas property.White pickup.
Black SUV.Long corridor.Loading area.Twenty-two steps.Nine.Exterior door.Chris had taught her to notice.Now she needed to tell him everything she could—without Diego realizing she was doing it.Diego held the phone toward her.“Ready?”Camila looked into his eyes.And smiled.That made him pause.“What?”
“Nothing.”His eyes narrowed.Camila straightened.Inside, she was terrified.Outside—she became the cartel princess everyone had always assumed she was.
“Call him.”Diego studied her.Then dialedThe phone rang.Once.Twice.Camila’s heart pounded.Three times.Then a voice.Low.Controlled.Familiar enough that Camila nearly broke.
“Walker.”Her eyes filled.Chris.Diego smiled.Camila closed her eyes for half a second.Alive.He was alive.
Diego held the phone closer.“Say hello.”Camila opened her eyes.And for the first time since she’d been taken—she wasn’t afraid.Because Chris Walker was on the other end of the phone.And Diego Serrano had just given Camila a direct line to the FBI agent who knew her better than anyone.Now she only had to tell Chris where she was—without actually telling him. ” Chris…”