Kade: Santanas Cuervo MC (20 page)

“Any luck?” Winter mumbled. She hadn’t slept well the last few nights, sick with worry over Kade and unable to rest without him in the bed with her.

“Nothing,” he replied as he snuggled in close.

She rolled over to face him. “Maybe they aren’t running drugs this way anymore.” She hoped that was true.

“Maybe,” he sighed, sleep already pulling at him.

“Then what?”

“Don’t know. We need to give it at least a week. We didn’t run drugs every day. No reason to think that’s changed.”

She touched his face. “You’re killing yourself. You need to take a night off.”

“Can’t. There aren’t enough of us to go around.”

“Then take a day shift so you can sleep one night.”

“Can’t do that either, not for another few weeks. I have two more wells to sink, then I’ll be caught up again. It’ll be easier after that,” he mumbled.

She was silent for a moment, then heard his breathing become deep and regular. She’d been trying to harden her heart toward him since he and the Santanás Curevo had come up with this harebrained scheme, but she’d had a good cry while he was out tonight and realized she couldn’t do it. She tucked herself in tight against him and smiled as his arm closed around her in his sleep.

***

Kade and Winter were enjoying a quiet dinner when his phone rang. He was following her advice and staying home tonight. He needed the sleep and he also wanted to spend some time with her to ease the strain they were feeling.

“Kade! We’ve got a hit,” Tryst said the moment the connection was made.

“Can you handle until we get there?”

“Yeah. He’s still waiting on the next set of mules.”

“Where are you?”

“Flat Rock.”

“I’m rolling! Bag him but don’t do anything stupid!” he said as he hung up and stood. “This is it,” he said giving her a quick kiss. “Wish us luck.”

“
Be careful
!”
she called as he hurried out, her hand, and her heart, at her throat.

***

Kade joined the other three Santanás Cuervos Tryst had called who were already there. They had captured their quarry and whisked him away to this abandoned gas station so they could have a quiet conversation without being interrupted.

“We have a message for Señor Suárez,” Kade said, stopping in front of the mule kneeling on the ground with his hands zip-tied behind his back. “We’re going to let you go and I want you to deliver a message for me. Tell him we have his drugs. We’ll give them back, but I need to talk to him first.” Kade pressed a piece of paper with a phone number on it into the man’s pocket. “Have him call that number and we’ll tell him where his drugs are.”

“You have no idea who you’re messing with, you stupid gringo fuck. We’ll kill you all.”

“Of course I do. You’re a mule for the Escorpión Cartel. In fact, that’s the reason we’re having this conversation. I need to get a message to Señor Suárez and, lucky you, you drew the short straw.”

The mule spit on Kade.

Kade looked at the glob on his shirt a moment then calmly punched the man in the face as hard as he could. He nodded and Nolan hauled the bleeding man back to his knees. “Don’t mistake my willingness to let you go as fear. I just as soon kill you here and now and bag another mule. Then he’ll get credit for not only saving the drugs he was muling, but recovering your shipment, as well. I have no interest in the drugs and all you have to do is get that phone number to Señor Suárez.”

“Why should I believe you?”

Kade shrugged. “Why would I lie? If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead already.”

The man spit blood out, but not on Kade this time. “Señor Suárez may just kill me.”

“Which is why I wrote the number down with the words ‘Call this number for the return of the merchandise.’ I don’t really need you tell him anything. If he calls, he gets his drugs back. If he doesn’t…” Kade shrugged. “One less shipment of drugs makes it into the United States and there is one less mule to worry about.”

The mule glared at Kade a moment then glanced down. “Okay. I will do as you wish.”

“Smart man,” Kade said. “Cut him loose.” Tryst pulled out his knife and cut the zip-tie with a flick of his wrist. “Your car is outside.”

The man, rubbing his wrists, backed slowly toward the door. “We’re going to kill you,” he sneered. “We’re going to kill you and your families.”

Kade pulled his weapon, pointed it at the man, and pulled the trigger. Everyone in the building flinched or ducked with the roar of the gun. “Then perhaps I should kill you now. This can end with everyone getting what they want. All you have to do is be smart. Are you smarter than you look?”

The mule nodded and started backing out again, his hands up in front him. “I’ll give Señor Suárez your message.”

Kade returned the weapon to the holster in the small of his back. “You can come out of this a hero. All I want is a few answers from Señor Suárez and, in exchange, he can have his drugs back.”

The man nodded again. “I’ll get the message to him.”

The five brothers waited until the car was out of sight before pulling the pantyhose from their heads. “You think Señor Suárez will get the message?” Tryst asked.

“We’ll know in a few days.”

Nolan chuckled. “You scared the shit out of me. I thought you really shot the guy.”

“I didn’t like his attitude,” Kade grinned. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

The five men loaded the fifty two-kilo bricks into a pair of large totes that they then slid into the back of Kade’s truck. It was too late to do anything with them tonight, but he’d dump them tomorrow morning, first thing.

***

Winter fell into Kade’s arms the moment he opened the door after she’d nearly paced a hole in the kitchen floor waiting on him.

“Thank God! I’ve been so worried!” she said into his chest.

“It’s almost over now. We’ve sent the message. I expect we’ll hear something within the next couple of days.”

“Everything went okay?” she asked as she pulled out of his arms.

“Nothing to worry about. He spat on me and punched his lights out for that, then I threatened to shoot him, but that was it. Just another day at the office.”

“This isn’t funny!” she snapped.

“I never said it was. I put the drugs in the shop for tonight, but I’ll be waiting at Staley’s when they open in the morning.”

She melted back into his arms, taking a deep breath as his arms went around her. “Do you think you can find out what they want and get the hit called off?”

“I don’t know. But we have to start somewhere.”

She nodded into his chest. He’d done it again. He’d risked his life for hers, all the Santanás Cuervo, had. She’d never be able to repay the debt she owed them. She’d tried to push him out of her life, tried to harden her heart so if something happened to him she wouldn’t be hurt, but she couldn’t do it. She was beginning to fall for him. Tears began to well in her eyes as she thought of losing him, of him forfeiting his life for hers.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

He pulled her in a little tighter. “For what?”

“For being a bitch. You, and your brothers, have done so much for me, and for the last few days I have been treating you like shit. I was afraid for you, but that’s no excuse. Will you forgive me?”

He tipped her head up and kissed her gently. “Already done. You were right to be scared. I’m still scared. If the cartel is actually coming after you, I can’t protect you. Not forever. Eventually I’ll make a mistake, or they’ll simply overwhelm me, and kill you. If there is any chance to get this stopped, I have to take it.”

She placed her head back against his chest. “Will you take me to bed and just hold me? The world doesn’t seem so scary when you’re holding me.”

He sniffed out a laugh. “Funny, I feel the same way.”

***

“You have something of mine, and I want it back,” the heavily accented voice on the phone said.

“Señor Suárez?” Kade asked as he waved Winter over. He pressed his finger to his lips to indicate silence then put the phone on speaker so she could hear.

“You’ve made a serious mistake, my friend.”

“Your drugs are safe and ready to be picked up by one of your men. All one hundred keys.”

“Where?”

“First, I need a couple of answers.”

“I don’t cut deals,” Suárez growled.

“No deals. You’ll get your drugs back. I just want you to answer a question. Do that and I’ll tell you where your drugs are.”

“What question?”

“Why do you have a hit on Winter Kelly?”

There was a long pause. “Who is Winter Kelly?”

“She’d a geologist for Kelly Oil.”

“Geologist? That’s someone who looks at rocks, yes?”

“That’s right.”

“Why the fuck would I put a hit on a geologist?”

“That’s what I want to know.”

There was another long pause. “Where?”

“Houston, almost two weeks ago. But there were four other attempts over the preceding two weeks.”

“Houston?” There was another long pause. Suárez was obviously consulting with someone. “There is no hit in Houston.”

“Señor Suárez, I saw the tattoo myself. A scorpion on the back of the man’s neck.”

“And these other attempts, they all had the tattoo?”

“I can’t say. They were hit and run jobs. Three from long distance with a rifle, one up close and personal with machine guns. But I think it likely they were your people, as well.”

The phone was silent for several long moments. “We don’t know this Winter Kelly. There is no hit on her by the Escorpións.”

Kade stared at the phone a moment. “Your drugs are in the trunk of a black ’95 Chevy Impala in Staley’s Wrecking Yard in Eagle Pass. The car is in the last row, near the south end. You’ll find the key to the trunk taped under the rear bumper. The drugs are in two totes along with the mule’s gun.”

“They’d better be there.”

“They’re there. I put them there myself not two hours ago. Nobody knows where they are except you and me.”

“If they’re not there, you’re a dead man.”

“Señor Suárez, I’m not interested in starting a war with you. Your drugs are there. Send a man you trust.”

There was a long pause. “I admire you. You’ve got
cojones
,
but if you ever try something like this again, I will find out who you are and I will kill you. Have I made myself clear?”

“Crystal. You’ve told me what I need to know and I have no need to bother you further. But a piece of advice, if I may, Señor Suárez: you and your Lieutenants may be unaware of these hits, but I suggest you investigate it. The man in Houston was no amateur. Someone in the Escorpións may be working against your best interests.”

There was another long pause. “I will investigate. But if these men were mine, and you killed them before they could complete their assignment, I may be interested in offering you a job.”