Page 60 of Devil's Bride

“What you heard could be true,” he said. “There are some Falcons in town according to some people I talked to.”

“Who do they work for?” I moved toward the desk, tossing the file and sitting down on the edge. Sitting was better than falling down at this point.

“Jamal Fassi.”

Antonio and the other men hissed.

I had no freaking clue.

“Explain,” I told him.

“He is bad. Very bad. Moroccan scum. He runs a terrible cartel. Many soldiers. Always new ones because he finds a reason to kill them.” Pedro seemed nervous, which shocked me.

“O-kay. Are you saying these Falcons are scouting for this Fassi dude?” I always fell into using more American slang when I was nervous. This had to be the son of a bitch responsible for the death of my father.

Dear God, it made me anxious.

“Yes.”

“For women, drugs, or property?” I asked.

“All of the above.”

I took a deep breath, forced to hold it so I wouldn’t make any sound.Think. Think like Papa.I glanced away and had an idea.“Do you think you can locate one of these Falcons and bring him to me?”

There wasn’t a man in the room who didn’t act surprised.

“That is dangerous, Madame Morales. Very much so.”

“Meaning we don’t have the skills to capture this man, or I don’t have the balls to torture him if necessary?” I threw it out casually, but the thought of being watched as I interrogated someone wasn’t on my bucket list.

Both Antonio and Pedro had the good graces to open their mouths just enough I could tell I’d shocked them. Hell, I’d shocked myself. Who was this woman? I was pretty certain if I looked into a mirror, the bitch staring back at me would keep mum.

Damn her.

“Oh, we can capture him, but if we do, Fassi could bring the entire Moroccan army down on us,” Antonio answered.

“Geography wasn’t necessarily my strongest subject in school, but isn’t Morocco something like twenty hours away?”

They looked at each other again. I guess they hadn’t learned anything about dark humor or watchedSaturday Night Livelike ever.

“The point is, gentlemen, that capturing him and trying to decipher the plan might not only buy us some time to adjust our security measures but also allow us a better understanding of their method of attack.”

Antonio took a few seconds to look over at Emiliano.

“The boss has a point,” he confirmed. “We can’t just sit by and do nothing. The best way of discovering information is to try and obtain even a few details from an interrogation.”

Antonio sighed and turned toward Pedro and the others. “Find one of them. I don’t care how you do it. Just make it happen.”

“Good.” Although at this point, I wasn’t certain there was anything good about the situation whatsoever.

“I’ll have another security detail head to the estate,” Antonio added.

All I could do was nod. Anything else would give away how terrified I felt.

The men filed out, but I sensed their apprehension from where I was standing. If they only knew how close my teeth were to chattering.

Once they were gone and only Antonio and Emiliano remained, I grabbed the file once again. “You’re sure about the numbers?” If Antonio’s documentation was on point, I’d been right about my father’s sense of business. He’d worked quietly and tirelessly under the radar for years, building additional wealth few knew about. That upped my power significantly.

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