Page 26 of The Bait

“Daris,” Asher said. “This is my Harry.”

My Harry.

Suddenly Harry wasn’t feeling so jealous.

Daris looked Harry up and down, approvingly, noting the scratches on Harry’s neck. Then he lifted Asher’s chin to see the not-quite faded finger bruises on Asher’s neck. “A good match, I see,” Daris said with a smirk.

“In every way,” Asher replied.

Harry felt the need to clear his throat again. “Nice to meet you,” he said.

“Likewise,” Daris said, but then he looked back at Asher as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He put his hand to Asher’s cheek. “Look at you. You got old.”

Asher laughed. “You can talk. Is that grey hair?”

Daris sighed. “We never thought we’d see it, did we, huh?”

Asher shook his head and whispered, “No.”

“And I take it that’s not the happy reason you’re here now?”

Asher shook his head again. “No.”

Daris nodded, and looking back at the desk, he gestured to the seats. “We should sit, I have a feeling this might take a while.”

They sat, and Asher cut straight to the chase. He gave a bullet point rundown on Yunho and Lucas being taken. He showed him photos in his phone of the three dead Croatian men being their only lead, and the reason they were here.

“I need guns, ammunition, and any information you can find out,” Asher said.

Daris winced and sighed. “I run a legit business now. And I have a daughter, Asher. I can’t go back to that life.”

“But you know people,” Asher tried. “Give me names. I’ll ask them.”

Daris studied him and then Harry before he turned his attention to the window, but seeing what, Harry couldn’t guess. He had a far-off look in his eyes.

“How old is your daughter?” Harry asked.

“She’s nine,” Daris replied quietly. His smile was genuine and warm when his eyes met Harry’s. “And she’s my entire world. And my wife. I have a life I don’t deserve, and I can’t bring them into this. I just can’t.”

Harry looked at Asher as he stood. “We’ll find another way,” Harry said. Then he looked at Daris. “Thank you.”

Asher clearly wanted to argue, but he stood and conceded a nod. “It was good to see you, Daris. And for what it’s worth, I’m happy for you.”

They headed for the door, but Daris sighed. “Wait. Asher...” He shook his head. “I’ll... I’ll see what I can find out. Give me your number.” He mumbled something under his breath and blew out a long frustrated breath. “Goddammit.”

Asher shook his head. “No, it’s all good, brother. Stay out of it. I don’t blame you.”

Daris stared at him and a dozen emotions crossed his face. “Look, there’s a guy. Ivan Cosic. Works out of a bar on Splitska in Kovacici. He’s small-time, but he can get you what you need. But you didn’t hear it from me.”

Asher gave him a nod. “Thank you.”

“Asher,” Daris murmured. “You’re asking the wrong questions. Forget Croatia. Those men might have spoken Croatian but that doesn’t equate to loyalty. To some people in these parts, borders don’t matter.” His eyes flinched. “I think maybe you should be askingwhyYunho?”

“What do you mean?” Harry asked. What Daris had asked wasn’t really a question, more like he wanted them to think about the why, not the who.

“We don’t know why they took him,” Asher said. “That’s why we’re here. The three Croatian men gave us nothing. My guess is they were contracted out, paid a bunch of money they never got to spend. Yunho had a lot of enemies; the kind of enemies you don’t want. Before now, they didn’t know who he was. He was always ten steps ahead of them.”

Daris shook his head. “That’s my point. How did they find out who he was and where he was? And how did he not know they were coming?”

---