“Then I have nothing to worry about.” She steps onto the table surface and clears her throat. “Excuse me! Everyone? May I have your attention, please?”
A hush falls over the bar, half a dozen pairs of eyes suddenly honing in on her. I’m tense as hell. I hope Willow knows what she’s doing.
“Hi, everyone,” she says politely and clearly. “My name’s Willow Allegra. My mother was Liana Allegra. I’m hoping to find a member of the Marrones Cartel. If any of you have any information, me and my, uh—husband—are going to be seated in that booth over there. Thanks!”
Willow hops off with a proud smile on her face.
I nod, glaring at every other man who dares look in her direction. “Well, that’s certainly one way to do it, I guess.”
“The only thing my father taught me was that word travels fast. I’m sure we’ll hear back fromsomeone. It’s not everyday someone randomly asks to be put into contact with the cartel in such a public manner.”
“You’re very efficient,” I say with a chuckle.
Willow shrugs. “Yeah, well… I figure time isn’t really on our side, so I might as well take the chance.”
Our booth is in the back corner of the bar. As far as meals go, nothing looks particularly appetizing. Our waitress is a tough older woman, her gray hair thin and pulled back into a bun so tight it actually lifts her brows.
“What’ll you have?” she asks gruffly, her voice hoarse from years of smoking.
“Can I get a cheeseburger with fries?” Willow asks.
“Nah, we’re out.”
“Oh, uh… How about the fish and chips?”
“We’re all out of that, too.”
I eye the woman up and down, sensing something’soff. “You’re out of everything, aren’t you,” I say, not so much a question as it is a statement.
Our waitress slides a piece of paper across the table toward me. “They’ll see you in fifteen minutes,” she says before promptly walking away.
Willow leans forward in her seat, intrigued. “What does it say?”
I unfold the paper and decipher the woman’s chicken scratch writing.
Alley out back.
“Looks like your little stunt worked,” I say.
Willow beams. “Told you it would.”
Chapter 24
Willow
The alley is cramped and full of discarded trash bags and little critters scurrying about. A health violation if I ever saw one, so it’s a good thing we didn’t actually get anything to eat. Either way, my biggest concern isn’t food but the woman standing at the other end of the narrow pass.
She has at least four guards with her, all of them big and burly and intimidating. I’m not as scared as I probably should be, but I’m so used to being surrounded by Esteban’s guards that this hardly feels out of the ordinary. The woman herself is quite beautiful. She has long black hair, dark brown eyes, and eyeliner so sharp she could cut someone with it. She’s dressed casually in a black turtleneck and equally dark jeans, a standard issue Beretta holstered at her hip.
“You’re Willow?” she asks, her voice low and sultry.
“Yes. Who are you?”
“Natalia Marrones. You’ve got some balls asking to meet with my family.”
I put a hand on my hip. “I would have looked you up in the phonebook, but I have a feeling your number’s not listed.”
Behind me, Zane chuckles to himself.