Chapter Eighteen I-Spy
Maya
After the kids left, I wiped my tears away.
Henry patted my hand.
“They will be fine,” Michael told me. “The whole family loves them already.”
“I can see that and I am happy for it.” I nodded at him. “This is all I ever wanted for them.”
Michael came over, took my hand into his and shook it gently. “It was good to meet you Maya Angel. And remember, we are family now. So drag his sorry butt back here to visit, ok?” He nodded his head at Henry.
All I could do was smile at him. I was not in charge of Henry but I did not point this out.
Michael gave Rain a nod and left.
“Khorosho,” Ok. Rain spoke up as he set his cell down. “I have our new identities set. Then our flight is tomorrow.”
Henry nodded. “If we intend to be there in time, we need to get going.”
Rain stared at him. “Do we use the same ruse as we did for the festival?” He smirked at Henry.
I looked back and forth at them then asked, “What ruse?”
Henry shook his head as he didn’t look very happy. “Selena came up with an idea that…” He didn’t finish.
“That what?” I got really curious since he didn’t wish to talk about it.
Rain laughed as he set his hand on his hip and spoke, “We were gay as all get out.” His voice sounded effeminate.
I stared at him as I blinked rapidly, then looked over at Henry again.
He rolled his eyes. “She bought us all these crazy clothes and shoes. You know… outfits.”
“That made us look gay,” Rain clarified. “Lots of pinks and pastels. Tight jeans.”
I tried to picture this in my head and I just couldn’t. Then I finally got it and laughed. “Yes, and no one would suspect you of being tough guys.”
“Nope. Then since we squabble all the time anyway. It…sort of fit.” Henry again shook his head.
“Besides, we weren’t even there for two days. We only got to act that way at the airport then the hotel really,” Rain pointed out. “So she wasted her money. But now…”
“We can make that pay off,” Henry finished for him.
“So what about me?’ I asked them. “I do not have a disguise.”
Rain smiled at me and stepped over as he tapped his cell then raised the screen up for me to see.
I leaned in to look. It was me on a passport…only with blonde hair and… I gasped. “Blue eyes?”
Rain nodded. “Contacts.”
“And where do I get those?”
“From my kit,” Rain replied.
“You have a kit?” I asked him.
“Yes, he does,” Henry answered for him as he chuckled. “Disguises. Like I-Spy or something.”
“Ha-ha, tupitsa. Laugh it up,” Rain quipped.
“Did you just call me stupid?” Henry demanded to know.
“No, he did not,” I interjected.
Henry raised a brow at me.
I smiled and shrugged. “He called you a dumb…” I glanced at Rain as I added, “…ass.”
Rain laughed then he stood from his chair. “You are a little tattle tale, Miss Maya.”
I laughed too. “I only tell the truth.”
He smiled at me and glanced at Henry. “So we’d better get busy now.”
“Busy?” I asked him.
Nodding, Rain explained, “Maybe busy is the wrong word. Time is very short. My things are still packed in the SUV we drove here.”
“Mine are too,” Henry said.
“We might as well just leave them here.”
I looked at them both. “I have two outfits. The clothes I was wearing when you rescued us then Selena loaned me the other one.”
“No problem, we can shop for them,” Henry suggested. “And the blonde wig you will need.”
“When and where?” I asked.
“Online with a three-hour delivery.” Henry grinned at me. “I can use my laptop to make the order. That bag is already here.”
“What?” I felt confused.
“There’s someone here in town,” Henry explained.
“At least there used to be. Give them your sex as in male or female. Then the size and idea of outfits, along with possible colors. Then a description like a jumpsuit, jeans, blouse or whatever. They shop for them and deliver them to you the same day.”
I stared at him in shock. “Ma dai. That must be expensive!”
Henry turned to ask Rain, “We have a… what is it called?”
“Black Card.”
I shrugged not knowing what that really meant and asked, “So, it is like carte blanche?”
“Yes, something like that,” Henry replied with a grin.
I opened my mouth to ask how they came to possess such a card.
Henry raised his hand and explained it, “Selena told us to keep it. She got it from her boss.”
I stared at him. “She just let you have this expensive credit card?”
Both men nodded.
“Her and Carlos will be leaving soon,” Rain informed Henry. “They told me at breakfast. They said they were literally going off the grid to live a new life.”
“I got that part from the way they were talking on the trip here,” Henry replied. “Neither one of them wants the old life they had.”
Rain nodded his head at this summation. “Who can blame them? This is their opportunity to just disappear. The Castillo Cartel is gone. Selena told me her boss stepped down and the new one doesn’t believe in female hitters. So we need to say our goodbyes.”
“Like a forever goodbye?” Henry asked him as he looked troubled.
Rain slowly shook his head. “I don’t think so. Carlos has our numbers. But remember, we have a meeting later today with Houdini to see what he has come up with,” he reminded him. “I’ll call you.” He smiled at me then he went out.
Henry took my hand and led me out. We took the elevator up.
“I saw the way you looked about not seeing Carlos again,” I mentioned to him.
Henry squeezed my hand. “He saved my life once. That’s something a person can never forget.”
The lift doors opened and we stepped out. Heading down the hall, Henry took me to his door.
“This is your room,” I pointed out the obvious.
“You’re going to be with me all the time, Maya.” He led me through the door.
“Even if Rain is your boyfriend?” I teased him.
“Yeah, even if.” He chuckled as he shut the door.
I sat down on the sofa.
Henry sat beside me.
“Are you going to share what happened?”
“What?” he asked me.
“With Carlos. Like how he saved you.”
“It was right here in this town. I did jobs for different crime family’s protection back then.
Among other types of people. But they just paid so well that I saw it as a quick way to build my nest egg, so to speak.
The only thing was it was a dangerous occupation.
So, in this case I was helping to protect another cartel head.
Carlos was ordered by his father to take this guy out.
The shootout killed like a dozen men and the Castillo men just kept pushing closer until they were right at the suite I protected.
In fact, there was me and another guard left.
He did not make it as they busted in. Then I got shot in the head. ”
I gasped and covered my mouth with my hands.
“Of course, I made it through that, Maya!” Henry laughed and raised the hair from his temple to show me a scar. “It just grazed me.”
“So that’s how he saved you?”
“No.” He sighed. “One of the other Castillo men went to pop me in the head again as I was down. I was trying to stay still with my eyes closed. The man said this guy isn’t dead.
Carlos stood closer to me than he did and he saw my eyes open for a few seconds.
He checked my neck for a pulse then waved the man off, saying I was dead.
He ordered the men to get the hell out before the cops arrived.
After they ran off he looked down at me.
He said, take this second chance and get out of the cartel business. ”
“órale!” I exclaimed.
“Later on, like a month later I spotted him as he sneaked into this coffee shop, alone. I instantly recognized him. I just had to thank him for saving my life. I sat down in the booth with him and he held a gun on me. Of course he did, he lived a dangerous life. I told him he saved me in that hotel shooting. He then lowered his weapon and laughed as he said, yeah, he recognized my green eyes.”
I nodded at him. “They are… memorable.” I smiled.
“I think they saved my life that time, because he told me something about the color made him pause or he might have just allowed his guy to pop me.” Henry laughed.
“So we exchanged numbers. I told him if he ever needed anything to call me. When he got injured pretty badly months later, he was holed up in the mountains in Tennessee of all places. He called me and Rain, asking us to come. That’s how we all became friends.
We spent a few months there. It was…” Henry looked up at me.
“One of the best times in my life. See, I never had many friends. Like guy friends. My dad was an ass. He never allowed me any freedom. Then after he was caught, I led my own life. But by then I had no social links, so it was a solitary life.”
“I could tell that you three men are close. Even you and Rain. Like he knows you so well.”
I chuckled. “The man has an uncanny sense of things. That is why he is a tracker. That is his calling per say.”
“So why did you leave here?” I asked him. “Michael said you just up and left.”
“When I stepped away from doing security for the crime machines here, one of them was not happy. He was the kind who thought money could buy anything. That he owned people. I learned my lesson when I got that scar I showed you. It was also practically a promise I made to Carlos. He said he could not get out but that he did not save me so I would stay in the life.”
I felt afraid suddenly. “D-do you think this mobster might…”
Henry took my hand and assured me calmly, “He’s not here anymore. He went to Chicago.”
I sighed in relief. “So I have another question.”
Henry raised my hand and kissed my knuckles. “Ok, ask.”
I loved that he did this. It seemed to be a habit of his…
a very sweet habit. Like he loved holding my hand and kissing it.
I never knew a man before him who did this.
“Michael and you mentioned this woman that… made you not trust females.” I smirked at him.
“I have no real history to share about dating, but you do.”
He chuckled again. “I only had two steady women in my life. The first one was in college and she ended up…well, being very affectionate with too many guys at once. I was young and learned my lesson. Or so I thought.”
I squeezed his hand. “It happened with the second one too?”
“Not in the same way. She was my girlfriend for about six months. The mobster that I pissed off here in New Orleans then paid her a lot of money to set me up.”
“Set you up? For what?”
“Claiming rape and abuse. So that I would be thrown in jail then he would have me killed there. Only thing was she messed up and told her friend about it in a text. Then the man she paid to mess her up, shall we say. He turned evidence on her because he got caught with drugs or something. Michael helped to get me free. He gave the evidence to another cop since he was my brother and could not get involved. I saw her at the police station after she beat herself up and had paid to have violent bad sex with some stranger for nothing. I was not allowed to talk to her. But when she actually yelled at me to help her with the mobster, I did have the last laugh then. I made it a point to laugh as loudly as I could as I walked away while she was held in jail on several charges and screaming at me. Then I left town.”
“Santa Madre, Henry. I do not blame you for not trusting women after that.”
“Until I met you, Sweet Angel.”
I looked into his eyes and replied, “I am honored.”
He again kissed my hand. “The honor is all mine and I cannot wait to meet your family.”
I knew he was serious and meeting the parents in my country meant he was very serious about the relationship.
I was not sure about this being true in his country.
I felt a pang at the thought of seeing my family again.
I had waited for almost three years and soon, we would find out if they were even alive.
“I can see that you are afraid, Maya. Just know that …I will be there with you all through this.”
Tears filled my eyes. “Thank you, Henry. You know what?” I asked as I sniffled through my tears.
“What, sweet girl?”
“You are a knight.” I leaned forward and kissed his lips.