We sit in silence. He doesn’t complain about me wasting his time or the goosebumps that pop up on his skin when the air turns colder.
“How did you find me?”
I hate to be the one to break the silence, but he doesn’t taunt me for losing the game.
“We ran into each other a few months back.”
I nod. “I don’t remember you.”
“Kind of the point, isn’t it?”
Sand filters from his fingertips. He’s composed but diligent, I realize, as I catch him clocking every person walking around.
“It was in Guadalajara on the Pinkett case.”
“How does a white boy go unnoticed in Mexico?”
His face is serious when he looks back at me.
“People see what they want to see. You have to know that some of the fastest growing trafficking rings are being led by white guys.”
He isn’t telling me anything I don’t know. The man that was standing in front of Lauren when I found her at the house weeks ago was as Caucasian as they come.
What does surprise me is that this guy just said all of that in perfect fucking Spanish.
His grin tells me I must not have hidden my shock as well as I would’ve hoped.
“Besides,” he says, going back to English. “Aren’t horny white men the ones buying all the abducted women?”
“For the most part,” I agree. “You were in Guadalajara for the Pinkett job?”
He shakes his head. “I was there to watch you work.”
I take stock of who is around me, and what my chances would be of slicing his throat and getting out of here before anyone noticed.
“How did you know I was going to be there?” He’s looking more and more like a fed to me.
“A friend told me.”
“I don’t have any friends.”
He doesn’t look flustered. He doesn’t start jabbering like most do when caught in a lie, and the man is lying. I can tell.
“Want to tell me the truth?” I challenge.
“I searched for you on the dark web.” He turns to look at me. “Actually, I just bumped into you in Farmington a few weeks back.”
My skin feels like it’s on fire despite the cool ocean breeze.
“Okay. I saw you a couple of weeks ago in Kansas.”
This motherfucker is following me, and I didn’t even know it. I realize I’ve been distracted since the second I walked into the Cerberus clubhouse and saw Lauren standing there, but he’s been keeping an eye on me for much longer than that. He’s gone unnoticed, undetected by me, and that’s cause for concern.
“Which one of those is true?”
All humor leaves his face when he looks at me again.
“All of them.”