Page 179 of When Lies Unfold

My hands are soaked in his blood, so I use the bottom of my tank top, stretching it to reach the knife’s grip. Wrapping it around the handle, I’m able to get a better hold and pull the blade from his wretched body.

His mouth gapes open like a fish, eyes wide with shock. I wish I had time to carve my name into his skin, but I can’t afford the delay.

I jump to my feet and race to the set of doors leading to the kitchen. They fly open, and I find myself staring directly down the barrel of a gun just as more guards fling open the main doors behind me and shots are fired.

I barely register the pain along the side of my head before my vision sways, and everything goes black.

83

SANTIAGO

Shortly after the explosions

It’s a shitshow at the remnants of what used to be Hidalgo’s compound even after the fire crew put out the blaze.

We made our way onto the property as Juarez was securin’ the site and requestin’ an additional crew to help process the scene.

The scent of burnin’ flesh is pungent as hell. Smoke still wafts in some areas, ashes coverin’ most everythin’ around. Bodies scatter the ground. Some are dismembered while others are horribly charred.

Nobody can tell me a damn thing about whether or not Lola’s body was found. There’s still no trace of her, and I’m about to lose my fuckin’ mind.

Juarez’s face has a permanent scowl as he barks orders to his crew. “I don’t care what you have to do—find me that goddamn book and her body and bring them to me now!”

The exhausted-lookin’ twenty-year-old man mutters, “Yes, sir,” before turnin’ around and ploddin’ off. His protective jumpsuit’s already blackened with soot and whatever other shit he’s had to sift through in this mess.

Juarez pins me with a sharp look. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

“Not supposed to do a lotta things, but here I am.”

When he surveys my vest, his suspicion is potent. “What are you wearing that for?”

“Protection.” That’s all I say, ’cause I don’t owe him an explanation.

Not anymore.

He looks like he’s about to lash out at me when someone else calls for him. “Agent Juarez! I think we found something.” Another young guy in a jumpsuit rushes forward. His eagerness for approval stains the air, his body vibratin’ with excitement.

If he only knew what kind of motherfucker he’s dealin’ with. If he only knew what Juarez does in his downtime.

Juarez barks out, “What is it?”

The younger man’s eyes bounce cautiously from Juarez to me, then Gordo, and back to his boss. “We found an escape tunnel.”

Juarez is smart enough to know somethin’s changed between us. I’m not botherin’ to hide it, either. But he’s too obsessed with findin’ even the barest remnants of Hidalgo’s book and Lola’s body that he ignores Gordo and me taggin’ along to see the tunnel.

“Holy shit.” Juarez mutters this under his breath as we stare down the openin’. His head snaps up, eyes locked on two particular members of his evidence cleanup team. “Anyone head down there to clear the area?”

“Uh, y-yes and no.” The female and male glance at each other before the female says, “We just discovered it and are in the process of clearing it. Agent Kerrigan reported that the tunnel seems lengthy, but we haven’t found where it ends yet.”

Juarez’s hand impatiently cuts through the air. “You better find out where the hell it leads!” His frantic eyes search the scene, his voice boomin’ over those siftin’ through the rubble and others’ conversations. “And where the hell is Agent Garcia?”

Gordo and I exchange a look, ’cause Juarez’s never been this rabid in the years we’ve worked together. Somethin’s got ’im spooked…and bad.

“I don’t know, sir. She was here earlier, but?—”

“I’m here.” A woman approaches, her long legs movin’ in confident strides. Smears of ash and blood decorate her face, along with scrapes and bruises along her arms and jawline. She’s dressed in Hidalgo’s employee uniform, her white blouse and black knee-length skirt ripped and bloodied.

She looks like shit, so it makes sense she’s the one they had on the inside who got caught in the blast.

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