Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45785 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45785 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
What the—
“You wanna grab dinner later? There’s a place not far from here that doesn’t check IDs.”
—hell?
Chapter Three
I’d just stepped out of the shower when I heard Crew letting in River and Reese.
I toweled off hurriedly, then pulled on a new pair of boxer briefs before I pressed the towel to the wound on my thigh. It was possible I was still bleeding, albeit slowly.
Actually, I was fairly certain it’d stopped at some point, and showering had reopened the wound. I was going with that. The rest of me… I glanced briefly at my reflection in the semi-fogged-up mirror and then shook my head and limped out. Cuts and blotchy little burn marks all over my back. I had a longer cut on my cheek too, so I must’ve hit something when the blast knocked me over.
“Whoever wants to go next…” I trailed off when I came face-to-face with River and Reese.
The anguish in their eyes mirrored what we felt, same with the barely contained rage.
Tensions were high, and we were all ticking time bombs waiting to go off.
I felt my jaw tick, and I exchanged a look with Reese. I’d never seen him desperate and so close to the edge before. He was ready to kill anyone who stood in his path.
We’ll find them.
“Right, so I’ll be your medic tonight.” Crew tried to lighten the mood. “Reese, you’re just a sweaty mess, so you can wait. River, you got shot too, yeah?”
River cleared his throat. “I’m fine.” He wasn’t fine. He was pale, and the entire right side of his gray tee was covered in blood.
“I swear to Christ,” Reese snapped under his breath. “Go shower off so Crew can examine you.” He turned to Crew. “He’s lost a lot of blood. Bullet went straight through his side.”
“That’s good news,” Crew replied. “I’ll give the boss a temporary dressing while you wash up, River. Go on.”
“I’ll help you.” Reese cupped his brother’s elbow, but River shook his head.
“Fill them in on what we found,” he gritted out quietly. “I’ll be back in two.”
“Clean towels under the sink, buddy.” I gave his shoulder a squeeze as he passed me.
The silence hung heavy in the air as River disappeared into the bathroom, with everyone lost in their own personal hell. I gnashed my teeth, hearing the projections of Blake’s fear. What she must be feeling, how scared she had to be. Fucking focus.
I met Joel’s gaze across the room, then looked away.
Crew gestured for me to have a seat.
“River said you found something?” I walked over to the chair and sat down with a grunt and a wince.
Crew got started right away.
“We got so fucking close at one point,” Reese confirmed hoarsely. “We lost the vans in the city, but River noticed a motorcycle following us, so we drove out to an industrial area, where we managed to box him in.”
I raised my brows. That was impressive.
“I thought the little son of a bitch had balls at first, but it looks like it’s more of an I’m-dead-either-way situation,” he went on. “My gun to his head was clearly not enough to get him to talk, so River started throwing accusations to see what the guy reacted to.” That was how River operated. He extracted information from what went unsaid. “I try to stay up-to-date on the who’s-who over here, but—” He blew out a breath and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Rafael Delgado was the only name we got from him.”
I immediately met Ortega’s gaze. We’d heard that name before. No idea what he looked like, but he was definitely associated with Carillo.
“…and the fucker was laughing when I brought up Hector,” Reese was saying.
Crew looked up from my leg. “Probably because he lost his power six years ago and died last April. Vincente Blanco has been the regio since then.”
“Oh.” Reese furrowed his brow. “Well, anyway. I managed to convince him that we’d let him go if he gave us one name that we could look up on-site. He eventually gave us Delgado, and we think he was honest to a degree, at least. Delgado appears in two searches, no picture, both related to the Blanco Family. He attended a court hearing in Texas at some point, and he’s done time too, so I’m thinkin’ it shouldn’t be hard to get his information.”
“I’ll make calls at first light,” Ortega said. He walked over to the whiteboard and added Delgado’s name to the list. “Rafael Delgado is a big lead in one way and absolutely nothing in another. We know he’s close to Carillo Mesa. If Carillo wants to put out a hit on someone, it’ll likely go through Delgado. But…that was before this spring.”
I cleared my throat. “What we know about Delgado is that he’s a freelancer with tornado responsibilities. He—”