“Oh, I will, but not yet.” I slash his exposed forearm, twice. He whimpers like a baby. It takes everything I have not to sink the knife into his gut, but he’ll bleed out too quickly.
“Who are you working with?” I ask.
“Nobody,” he replies, but with much less bravado.
I step back and hand Cristiano the knife. “String him up and bring in the vat. I’ll be back after I’ve had my breakfast.”
“Don’t bother,” he mutters. “I’m not telling you a fucking thing.”
I turn around and smirk. “We’ll see.”
62
ANTONIO
Itake the elevator up to the apartment. It won’t be long before whoever Tomas is working with realizes he’s disappeared. I want to double-check the security leading to Daniela myself. With any luck, she’ll be fast asleep.
I pass armed guards all along my route, nodding at each man who I expect to protect Daniela with their very life, if it comes to it.
When I unlock the door, Alvarez is there, gun drawn, and I begin to relax.
“SenhorAntonio. I wasn’t expecting you.” He holsters his weapon.
That was the point.Only Cristiano and Lucas know Tomas is here. He was shuttled into the building in a shipping container, much the same way he’ll go out. My men are trustworthy, but this requires a level of trust only my two childhood friends have earned.
There’s a noise from the kitchen. “Is my wife up?”
“No,senhor. Alma is here.”
“It’s four a.m.”
He shrugs. “She arrived shortly after you left the apartment.”
Some days she gets here at an ungodly hour, but this is insane, even by her standards.
“Why?” I bark. Alvarez opens his mouth to say something, but I wave him off. I’ll ask her myself. I almost half expect her to tell me she had a premonition of some kind. For as long as I’ve known her, God, or the angels, or some dead person has been sending her messages.
“Bom dia,” I say, entering the kitchen that looks like it’s set up to feed an army.
“Bom dia,” she replies, not surprised to see me. Alma knows I don’t keep banker’s hours. “I tried to be quiet so I wouldn’t wake you andSenhoraDaniela.”
“You do realize it’s four o’clock?”
“I went to bed early, and I don’t need much sleep anymore.”
God help me.
“We’re only two people, and even if I take food down to Cristiano and Lucas—that’s only four.”
“I’m making meals for the freezer so that there will be good food for you to eat while I’m gone. Even newlyweds have to eat.”
While I’m gone?What’s that about?She never goes anywhere, except to visit my mother, and my mother is at Samantha and Will’s.At least she better be.“Where are you going?”
“Cristiano didn’t tell you?”
I would have remembered if he told me. “No.”
“I’m going to visit the US. I’ve always wanted to go. Cristiano is sending me, and his sisters, and the children. We’re all going.”