Page 3 of The Hero's Bride
“I’m grateful to know that someone’s looking after him, and caring for him is a time commitment, so I’m more than happy to pay Kenny the same amount as I would to hire someone else who wouldn’t do half as good of a job.”
“You’re too sweet. It’s a wonder you haven’t found a woman to take care of you.” She smiled down at the lizard and stroked his head. “And my Tiny, here.”
“I’m not sure lizards are the same magnet for women as babies and dogs.”
“Oh, don’t listen to that,” she said directing her comment to the iguana. “He’s just not looking in the right places. I just cut up some fresh mango. I bet you’d like a treat, wouldn’t you?”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’m all set,” he joked at the question that was clearly not intended for him.
Mrs. Foster laughed and brushed off his comment with a wave of his arm. “You always were a clown, young man.” She turned back into the condo with Tiny on her heels. Despite only having three legs, the lizard was fast when food was around, and where Mrs. Foster was, a treat was most surely nearby. He reluctantly followed them into the condo and waited while Mrs. Foster indulged Tiny, feeding him slices of fruit and crooning over him. He was sure Tiny spent quite a bit of time in the Fosters’ condo unit when he wasn’t home, even though the lizard had a room to himself in his unit with specialized lighting, basking spots, and even a shallow pond. Yes, the reptile was certainly a commitment, but he couldn’t deny that he loved Tiny. He’d had him for nearly twenty years, making the lizard a senior citizen.
Finally, with the mango eaten and several more doting comments, he took Tiny back to his condo unit and picked up his go-bag, ready to help his friend Iron, and his new woman, locate her best friend.
*
“So, what dowe have?” Red asked as he opened the refrigerator and wrapped his fingers around two bottle necks, perfectly at home in his teammate Sully’s apartment. He deposited a beer in front of his friend and sat across from him at the kitchen table. Papers and maps were strewn over the oak surface.
“The woman, Thalia Flores, began working as a housekeeper at the estate of a wealthy family in Southlake, Texas. She befriended Iron’s woman, Vivienne, the one he helped rescue from a modern-day arranged marriage. She reports that Thalia was the same age as her, sixteen, when she started working for her family.”
Red had heard her name before, but he still sucked in a breath, his mind wandering to the image of the green-eyed girl who had helped him long ago. Of course, Thalia was a popular name in the region but that didn’t stop him from wondering what had become of his small but mighty rescuer. “Didn’t she find that strange? The age of the girl?”
“I asked Iron the same thing and he said Vivienne did question why Thalia didn’t attend school with her. The father put hands on her and the housekeeper begged her never to mention it again.”
“Bastard.” Red lifted the bottle to his lips and took a long drink. “Maybe Thalia thought she could get in trouble for illegally crossing the border and looking for work, but the dad’s reaction to his daughter’s simple question makes me think he has something to hide.”
Sully stretched back in his chair, the wood creaking with the weight of his large frame. At nearly six and a half feet, he was a large man himself, but his teammate was even bigger, earning him the nickname Sully after some blue monster from some kid’s movie. “Me too. Added to that, Vivienne last saw Thalia being led from the room by her father, Donald Day, before her fiancé told her she was in the country illegally and would be deported. Traffic cameras caught the same car stopping before the interstate and a woman fitting her description was moved from the trunk of the vehicle.”
“Fuck.” Maybe it was the woman’s name or perhaps her dire circumstances, but a bolt of urgency shot through him.
“My thoughts exactly. The last suspected sighting was in Round Rock just outside of Austin.”
“Jesus, that’s nearly three hours from where she was last seen in Southlake. If she was abducted, they did a shit job of staying off the radar.” It was clear to him that someone had prioritized time over the execution of the abduction.
“According to Vivienne, Thalia distracted her mother to allow her to get a note to her sister the day of her rehearsal dinner. The message is what tipped off her sister Hannah that Vivienne was in trouble.”
Bravery must be synonymous with the name Thalia and that made him want to rescue the woman even more. “So, maybe they rushed to get Thalia out of the picture, and planning was sloppy.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking.”
A phone rang, and Sully leaned to the left to reach into his pocket for his phone. “It’s Jude.” He set his beer on the coffee table and answered their friend, a former teammate who ran a special task force for the Department of Homeland Security dedicated to human trafficking—specifically from Mexico to the United States.
“Here with Red. I’m putting you on speaker.”
“Good.” Jude’s deep voice, always serious, filled the room. “I cleaned up the grainy photo Iron forwarded to us and sent it to both of your cells.”
Red’s phone vibrated against his outer thigh, and he reached into his pocket to retrieve it. With a few clicks, he had the photograph open. He sucked in a breath and stared down at the image on the screen. Holy shit. A slight smile graced the woman’s face, but it didn’t quite meet her eyes. Large, olive eyes. He shook his head and glanced back at the image. So many years had passed since he was lost in Colima, but the woman he was staring at in the picture had an uncanny similarity to the girl who saved him.
“Red? Did you hear that?” Sully cocked his head and looked at him, brows creased.
“No. Sorry. I just…” He just what? He couldn’t be sure the woman in the photo was his Thalia. The odds of that would be like getting struck by lightning and attacked by a shark on the same day.
“Just what?” Jude asked.
The room was silent as he considered how much he wanted to say.
“If you say nothing, that’s bullshit.” Sully narrowed his eyes. “We both know you better than that.”
“I’ve told you about the time I was lost in Colima. How I came to have Tiny. It’s been years, but hell, the woman in this photograph looks just how I remembered the girl who helped me, except all grown up. Then there’s her name.”
