Page 95 of Scarred Souls

She hummed as though considering my threat. “What if I told you that’s exactly what I want?”

“Then you’ll get what’s coming to you. But first, we need to talk.”

“This sounds serious.”

I pressed my lips to her neck. “It’s about the phone call you overheard earlier. I need to fly to Puerto Escondido tonight for a meeting with el Capitán.”

Hope glanced over her shoulder. “Miguel Torres?”

“Yeah. You know him?”

“Only what Carlos has told me. The Red Hand has been doing my father’s dirty work for the last ten years.” Her brow furrowed as she glanced over her shoulder. “Are you nervous about the meeting?”

“Not about the meeting. I can’t leave you here unprotected.”

She rolled to face me, and I flinched before realizing her hands were still beneath the covers. If Hope noticed my reaction, she didn’t say anything.

She pressed her lips together. “Then reschedule.”

“That’s not how this works. Standard procedure is for them to call with little warning so there’s no time to plan an ambush. As it is, I won’t know exactly where in Puerto Escondido the meeting is being held until thirty minutes before. There isn’t time to move you to Montana or to bring someone from the team here.”

“I’ll go to Mari’s house and stay with her.”

I squeezed her tighter. “I’m not comfortable with that.”

And it wasn’t only because leaving Hope unprotected was unacceptable. The inconvenient truth was that I’d turned into an obsessive stage-five clinger and couldn’t stand the thought of letting her out of my sight. I’d sooner skip the trip to Puerto Escondido than leave her side.

“How important is the meeting?” When I hesitated to answer, she added in a stern tone, “Tell me.”

I sighed. “If Brandon can’t find the compound with your intel, getting inside la Mano Roja could be our only chance at securing a new lead. Plus, there’s the cargo they want me to ship.”

“What cargo?”

“He wouldn’t say over the phone, but it’ll be women and drugs. I haven’t done a job for el Capitán in years. When our intel found that his shipments were getting larger and more frequent, I reached out to a few connections to let them know I was back in the game and that I had a large transport plane at my disposal. It would’ve been suspicious if I ran straight to Torres chasing work, so I had to wait for him to approach me. If he gives me this job, there’s a chance the trafficked women will be moved directly from my plane to the cartel compound, leading our team straight to it.”

“Then you have to go to the meeting.” Hope wore a resolute expression. “What if I come with you to Puerto Escondido?”

“And I stash you somewhere while I go to the meeting? I’d rather leave you here.”

“Then take me with you.”

I frowned. “To the meeting? No fucking way.”

She couldn’t be serious.

“Why not? They won’t know who I am. Just tell them I’m your girlfriend.”

“Miguel Torres knows your father. What if he’s seen a photo of you on his desk?”

She scoffed. “Carlos isn’t sentimental like that. And even if Miguel has seen an old photo of me, I look nothing like I did three years ago. The scars. The hair. You saw the image in my file and almost didn’t recognize me. Besides, everyone thinks I’m dead.”

“Just…no. All right? I’d be going out of my fucking mind with you there, and I wouldn’t be able to concentrate.”

“Will you be able to concentrate if I’m not there?”

I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead to her shoulder. “This idea is crazy.”

“You said you know Miguel from jobs you did for la Mano Roja years ago. Are you expecting trouble when you see him?”

---