Page 67 of Keeping Astrid

“No. But I’ll be keeping an eye on it.” Cass moved the pointer to the grainy image. “This is the car that Astrid was bundled into.”

She tapped again at the screen, and the image became crisper.

Growler clenched his fists at the picture of Astrid being shoved into a familiar black van. The same van that had dropped off the package to Astrid’s house. “Fucker. I’m going to kill him.”

No one touched his woman like that and got away with it.

“Don’t worry,” Cass smiled. “Pedro Gonzalez is already dead.”

The screen cleared, and then another screenshot from a chat appeared.

Issue has been dealt with. Won’t be a problem again. We can move forward with your plans without repercussions.

As far as Growler could tell, that message didn’t say definitively that the person who had taken Astrid was dead. “How do we know it’s Pedro who’s been dealt with? Could be anyone else.”

“Because that message came from the phone of Javier Cortez. The grunt man for the leader of the Ramirez Cartel. He comes and cleans up messes. Best guess is, Ramirez was angry that Pedro had ignored his wishes when it came to Astrid.”

Growler’s sleep deprived mind was taking a few minutes to catch up with everything. Ramirez had taken out his own man because he’d kidnapped Astrid against his orders to leave her alone. It almost seemed too good to be true.

“I wish we knew why they decided not to bother with Astrid anymore. It seems so out of the realm of how things normally work. Had Pedro been acting on orders from the cartel once it became clear that Astrid had seen the argument and then heard the gunshots to eliminate her? Or had the cartel never been after her and Pedro was doing it all himself?”

Even saying it all out loud, it sounded like a lot of exaggeration to Growler’s ears—no matter how many times he said it. If he kept repeating it, maybe it would sink in.

“The fact the cartel put a message out saying to leave her alone suggests they were after her initially. I’m going to dig around and see if I can find out what I can on Pedro Gonzalez,” Cass said and sat back, taking her glasses off and rubbing her eyes.

“At least we know who sent Astrid that package. I imagine it was a message from Pedro to freak her out,” Ox pointed out.

As much as Growler wanted to puzzle out the pieces, his main concern now was to find Astrid and bring her back home. He could puzzle it out after Astrid was back in his arms.

“I guess so. Still wish I could make the fucker pay for scaring my woman.” He made a fist and squeezed, imagining it was Pedro’s head. “We have to find Astrid.”

“And we will,” Ox reassured him.

Silence fell around the room again, and it was doing Growler’s head in. In the past, when they’d been working toward going on a mission, his head was in the game, his focus was on the reports he was reading. Now though, nothing could keep his attention—all he wanted was Astrid. In his arms. In her house. In their bed.

“I’ve got her,” Cass announced. “This is where she is.”

It took a moment for the words to sink in, even when a small cabin surrounded by scraggly trees popped up on the screen, but it did.

Cass had found Astrid.

“Where is it?” Growler demanded, wishing he could climb through the screen and be standing out the front of the structure, instead of fuck knows how far away he was.

Simultaneously, four phones pinged. “You have your co-ordinates. I’ll arrange for a jet and pilot to be waiting at the airport for you.” Cass pounded away on the keyboard as she spoke.

Adrenaline steamrolled the tiredness away, and Growler pushed away from the table, anxious to get moving. “Let’s roll!”

They all headed for the exit, and Growler whispered quickly, “Hang on, Comet. I’m coming.”

Chapter Thirty-One

The black expanse of road they were driving on gradually faded from smooth to full of ruts and potholes.

“How much farther?” Angel asked.

“Just over the top of the rise, according to the map,” Ox relayed to him.

Growler’s knee bounced up and down in anticipation of what they were going to find. The drive from the small airport where they’d landed to the cabin should’ve taken about ninety minutes. With Angel behind the wheel, they were going to make it in under seventy.

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