Page 11 of Rami

Rami rubbed his eyebrow. Whatever the hell had gone on between August and their client was giving him enough headache to rub the tattoo from his face. “Fine,” he grunted. “We’ll convene at 10:00p.m. Try to catch some sleep. If we get anything hot, we’ll need to move fast.”

“I’ll get the med supplies ready,” August said, his tone heavier than an avalanche.

Rami closed his eyes for a beat. August’s medic training was an asset to the team, but they had no clue what kind of physical shape Ivy would be in if they found her.

And if they did find her, there was a slim fucking chance she’d be in one piece.

CHAPTER 4

Rami polished off the last bite of his burger and tossed the wrapper into the trash bin. It was well after dinnertime and August and Toth would arrive any minute to go over their findings.

Despite having worked tirelessly on the case for the last seven hours, he wasn’t much farther ahead. He hadn’t taken his own advice and napped, but thankfully fatigue hadn’t set in yet.

He’d called Gigi and told her about the lead they’d gotten from the police department, and the hope in her voice had given him more fuel.

If they failed at this, or worse, Ivy was already dead, he couldn’t imagine the effect it would have on Gigi.

There was a gentle rap on the door. “Come in,” he called.

Pearl, his receptionist, opened the door and popped her head through the crack. “I’m turning in for the night.” Her creamy-blue eyes sharpened on him. “You should get home, too. It’s late.” The slight chastising note to her tone almost made him grin—something he hadn’t done much of the last seven years.

“Got a high-priority job. You know how it is.”

Pearl was old enough to be his mother. Out of all the people they’d interviewed, she’d had the most experience and best work ethic. Last thing he needed was some Gen Z chick flouncing around his office making all his single, asshole guys swoon.

Nope. Pearl was perfect for the job. She kept the place clean, well-run, and orderly. Her husband had died five years prior, and she’d worked for his PI firm for twenty-five years. As far as receptionists went, she was overqualified. Rami made sure to pay her accordingly.

“Ah, yes.” She smiled fondly. “This must be about that woman who was here today? Poor thing looked like she’d lost her soul.”

Rami grunted. “With any luck, we’ll find it.”

“If anyone can, it’s you,” Pearl said with a wink. She glanced toward the hallway. “Oh, the boys are here. I’ll let you get back to work. Just send me an email if you need me to cancel any meetings tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Pearl.”

She disappeared into the hallway, and he heard her greet August and Toth. A beat later the two oafs walked in.

“Whaddya got?” Rami asked.

“Gimme a sec,” Toth said, as he opened his laptop and connected it to the projector. “Dim the lights,” he commanded August.

August adjusted the switch, lowering the overhead glow.

“Took a few hours, but I got Joshua Hilliard’s phone records. There’re a few frequent numbers, so I searched each of them. One in particular was harder to trace. I think this is Marty’s.” He moved the cursor to a nine-digit number circled in red.

“Good. Location?”

“I was working on that just before I got here. It came up as Tijuana, Mexico. Didn’t get the chance to search any deeper.”

August guffawed. “Bingo.”

“Hold up,” Rami cautioned. “Tijuana’s a big city. We need coordinates and we need to find out who’s behind this. I’m sure Marty isn’t the brains of the operation. She’s working for someone. We can’t go in blind.”

August opened his computer. “Keep going,” he said, waving to Toth. “I’m going to see what I can find in the area.”

Rami nodded and turned his attention back to Toth’s findings. “Let’s see if we can get some coordinates on the phone number.”

Toth grunted, already punching away at his keyboard. “It’s populating. Should take about fifteen minutes. Did you talk to Gigi?”

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