Page 38 of Wicked Ambition

“There are women who write love letters to serial killers,” Ayla said. She might not know exactly what they were talking about, but the character of the men under discussion was clear.

“There you go,” Baggs said.

There was another silence, but this time she knew both men were thinking things through. She took the opportunity herself. While she had less information and no experience making sense of this type of thing, she categorized what she had.

“Let me get this straight,” Ayla said slowly. “The possibilities include mistaken identity, that the woman works for Oz’s drug lord, a rival drug lord, a group expelled from the rebel troops and gone rogue, and who else? The mob?” She considered that and added, “Although there were mobsters in the café, and she was on her own.”

“Don’t let that throw you,” Oz said. “Those men were flunkies. The woman would be high-level. They might not be aware she was on their team, but I don’t think she works for Petrova or Ivanov.”

“Why not?”

“When those men tried to grab you at the hotel, they used your sister’s name. They want her badly. The only people following us were the flunkies, and they decided it wasn’t worth their time when the rain hit.”

“If you were only watching for the flunkies?—”

“I wasn’t, Pollita. I had my eyes open for anyone tailing us. If the woman worked for Petrova, she would have called in reinforcements.”

“Maybe she didn’t have time to call because Baggs was following her.”

“She shook him off her ass in about two seconds. She had plenty of time to call.”

“It wasn’t two seconds.” Baggs sounded aggrieved.

“Two minutes, two seconds. Same difference,” Oz shot back.

Ayla rolled her eyes at the byplay. “What about traffic slowing down the reinforcements? We can hardly move with how congested the streets are.”

Oz shrugged. “That’s a possibility, but my gut says no.”

His gut. Right. “Your gut? Would that be psychic woo-woo shit?”

He turned to look over his shoulder at her. “That’s different.”

“Only because it’s you.” She waved off whatever he was about to say. “How accurate is your gut?”

“Accurate enough that I trust it.”

It didn’t tell Ayla much, but didn’t soldiers develop instincts? Oz would have been in the US military before becoming a mercenary. He must have reliable instincts to survive in Puerto Jardin. “If I trust your gut, you should be able to trust my link to Io.” She frowned at his expression and changed the subject. “What you’re telling me is that we don’t know if that woman was interested in me, you, or Baggs.”

“Probably not Baggs,” Oz said.

“Why not Baggs?”

“He just got down here a few weeks ago and this is his first time in Puerto Jardin.”

“Unless it’s the rebel rejects,” Baggs said.

Oz’s sigh was loud and long, and if Ayla could see his face, she’d bet his eyes were closed. “Dude, please. We both know while it’s a possibility, it’s not the most likely one.”

“I might be new, but I’m aware that ruling out options without evidence is a great way to fu—mess things up. Sorry, ma’am. As far as I’m concerned, all factions are suspect until there’s concrete proof otherwise.” A car nearly took off their front end. Baggs tapped the brakes and laid on the horn again. “That includes groups you haven’t named yet,” he continued as if they didn’t almost get hit by another driver. “We don’t know who Io ran across while searching for Fuentes.”

“Fuck,” Oz muttered as the car drew to a stop at another light. “That means we can’t cross anyone off the list.Ifit wasn’t just a mistake.”

Ayla’s thoughts swirled. All she’d asked about was the woman, and now her head was swimming. She went to push both hands through her hair, ran into the wig, and froze before she knocked it off. This was going to be a pain in the ass if she couldn’t do simple things, but she kept her mouth shut. If she complained, she could see Oz dumping her somewhere he deemedsafeand looking for Io without her. She wasn’t allowing that to happen, not when her link to her sister could be the only way to find her.

The light went green and Baggs inched forward. “I don’t think there was any mistake. She lost me like a pro, and pros don’t fu—mess up like that. Her visit to our table was calculated. You can lay money on it.”

Ayla’s heart beat faster. “Do you think she knows something about Io?”

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