That made sense. Inside Tierra Caliente, Emilo had been a guppy. Geraldo was a shark.
Trees had a suspicion that the elder Montilla had given the splinter faction to his son in the hopes that he’d grow a set of cajones big enough to run the entire cartel someday. Now that his son was dead, Geraldo was too much of a narcotics king to turn over any part of his operation to Emilo’s underlings.
Zy nodded. “Do we know where Valeria is holed up?”
“No,” Trees answered. “I have a number to call. When we get to Orlando, we need to arrange a meet.”
“And we’re certain she still hasn’t heard from her sister?”
“Yeah. She’s had calls from an unfamiliar number, but she’s been afraid to answer it. I’ll tell her she should next time her phone rings.”
Zy nodded. “Keep me posted.”
The powwow was about to break up when a phone buzzed.
One-Mile pulled his mobile from his pocket. “Walker.” A frantic, high-pitched voice on the other end had him frowning. “Wait. Wait! I don’t speak Spanish.” He pulled the phone from his ear and glared at the rest of them. “Who the fuck speaks Spanish?”
“Who is it?” Zy demanded.
“Laila.”
Thank God. Hopefully, the woman had gotten free, and Valeria would have one less death to grieve.
“She’s crying and too upset to speak English, so I can’t understand a fucking word she’s saying.”
Trees was about to volunteer since he knew un poquito Spanish, but Kane beat him to the punch.
“I do. I’ll talk to her.” The new guy held out his hand.
“Thank fuck.” Walker pressed the phone to his ear again. “I’m going to give you to another guy. He’s one of us, so he’ll help keep you safe.” He slid the device into Kane’s palm.
“Find out where she is,” Zy murmured.
Kane raised the phone with a nod. “Bueno?”
The former small-town sheriff exchanged rapid-fire Spanish with the clearly distraught woman. Trees and the other operators watched, waiting impatiently until the new guy ended the call.
“Well?” Zy prompted.
“Laila escaped with one of her assailants’ phones. She’s got Valeria’s son with her. They ran to a women’s shelter. She didn’t know where else to go.”
That had been a resourceful move. The shelter’s management wouldn’t ask too many questions, and if cartel thugs showed up, the police would be called. “She needs to dump the phone.”
“She turned off location services, but yeah, the longer she holds on to it the more of a liability it becomes. She’s concerned that she’ll be without any way to contact her sister once she trashes the device.”
“Where did you two leave things? Did she tell you where to find her?”
“Not exactly. She wanted to know about Valeria. Laila was panicked because she’s been calling her sister, who hasn’t picked up.”
That explained the unknown calls to Valeria’s number.
“I assured her Valeria is fine and suggested she try calling her sister again. I also told her it wasn’t a good idea for them to hook back up until we roll into town. I hope she listens.” Kane shrugged. “By the end of the call, she seemed calmer…but she’s still rattled. We need a plan. Let’s put our heads together, gentlemen.”
Orlando
After nearly twenty hours, Laila would soon be reunited with her sister. But she didn’t like how this was unfolding.
First, Pierce Walker wasn’t involved. His friend, whom she’d spoken to on the phone, had come to Florida with a different operative to take them elsewhere. Both men were strangers. What assurance did she have that they were who they claimed to be? What did she know of their character?
Second, EM Security had relocated her to safe houses twice since they had helped her escape Emilo—and both had been breached. Obviously, they had a problem keeping their clients’ locations a secret. Why should she believe relocating a third time would end any differently?
She needed a longer-term strategy. Valeria seemed happy to pay these men to hide them from their enemies. Her sister swore they were the best. Laila disagreed. True, they had freed her from captivity last September, but almost nothing had gone right since. She didn’t trust them.
Then again, she trusted no man.
Beside her, Jorge played fitfully with a stuffed animal she had found in his diaper bag. He was bored. He was running out of diapers and food. There hadn’t been even a bite to spare for her, and she refused to ask for charity. Night had fallen. Hiding in one place for so long made her nervous. Hector and Victor weren’t stupid. They would guess—rightly—that she had not gone far with her nephew in tow. Undoubtedly, they were looking for her and Jorge. Valeria, too.
If she only had herself to worry about, Laila would have disappeared. But she wouldn’t abandon her sister.
Glancing again at the phone she’d swiped from her attacker, Laila resisted texting Valeria. If her assailant logged in to his cloud account, he would see her messages. She didn’t dare say anything that might give away her location or their plans.