“Now, I’m a weapons designer. There is nothing technological I can’t make or tech weapon I can’t combat, but whoever El Diablo has working for him has managed to work their way around everything I do, seamlessly. He’s disabled my systems, made viruses that copy and replicate to cover up what I should see and blindsided me. He’s done things to counteract everything I do even when I get back on track. So, no, I’m no longer an asset to you.” He clenches his hands. “That’s why I called in the guys. I think something is coming, something is happening. Things are moving fast again. We thought we maybe had three months until this Camorra membership intake as a timeline, but I don’t think we can rely on that either.”
My shoulders slump. “Who the fuck could he be? And how did El Diablo get a hold of him?”
“That’s exactly what’s been on my mind. I don’t want to sound big-headed, but there’s only a handful of known people in this world who can do what I can. One of them is Dominic Agostino, and even with him, our specialties vary marginally. This guy is something else, which leads me to this.” He holds up the paperwork. “I checked out a few things looking for traces of anything that looked like his work, and I found this.”
He hands it to me gingerly.
When I see Lucia’s name on the top, I still. My being slows, and I find I can’t read on.
“What is this, Eric?”
“Her medical records. I don’t know what this means, and I’m not implying anything because I don’t know how this guy operates. But I found the same Chameleon virus attached to her medical file. I wouldn’t have seen it when I looked before, and no one else would have seen it either. Not unless you were looking for the virus, and I had to go through hell to find it. When I removed the virus, I noticed something was deleted from her records. That’s what this is. Details of her being in rehab for practically a year.”
“Lucia was in rehab?” My gaze darts to the paperwork with the details before me. All I need to do is read it, but I can’t.
“Drugs. It was drugs. The real bad stuff that nearly killed her. She OD’ed twice. The second time got her in rehab because she nearly died. The timeline is nine months after her brother died.”
All I can do is stare at him as I think of how I’ve had my sneaking suspicions that there was more to Lucia. Estelle said there was something off about her, and I refused to listen.
The same thing speaks to me now, and it’s not because of the drugs.
Eric’s looking at me, knowing I’m on the same page.
“If you found this computer virus only a select few can make and you had to go through hell to remove it attached to her medical files, that’s not going to be a coincidence, is it?”
“No, Alejandro. It is not. Sure, the virus covered up her rehab stay, but I don’t think that was what it was supposed to cover up.”
My judgment…
Maybe it was supposed to cover up my judgment.
I stand, and he does, too.
“Alejandro… don’t lose control. We don’t know anything.”
“She has my daughter.”
His eyes widen, and I realize that’s the first time I’ve referred to Mia as my daughter to him.
“Mia is your daughter?”
“Yes… I can’t go into it now.” Again. I told Lucia about Pricilla. I told her about the legal arrangements for Mia.
It doesn’t make any sense that she would do something to hurt me or Mia, but what does this new finding mean?
“Alejandro, calm down and listen to me. Yes, it can’t be a coincidence. Neither of us believe in shit like that, but I believe there’s something more at work here, and I don’t think you should just pounce on her.”
“Why? Why shouldn’t I?”
His face softens. “Because I think she genuinely cares about you and Mia.”
I thought so, too, but I’ve been wrong before. I got it so wrong before, even I thought I was a fool to fall prey to love.
Love…
I’m supposed to be avoiding the plague of love. It’s never done anything for me besides cripple me in ways that took everything out of me to find myself again. It made me weak, and I’m not weak.
Yet look at me.
I’m too old to lie to myself and admit what I feel for her is exactly that—love.
I fell for her.
“I’ve been at the house and seen her,” Eric adds. “I see how she is with Mia and how she is with you. I’m a man who trusts what he sees before what he feels. What I saw in her is not something you can fake. I suggest you act normal and approach the subject to her with caution. It looks like she went through a lot. More than we probably know. That’s as much as I can say in relation to her. The guys will be here late tomorrow night. Let’s use the time until then wisely.”
“Okay.”
I’m agreeing, but my head and my heart are a mess. If there’s something amiss with Lucia, I would have been blindsided by love again.