Page 62 of Lethal Vengeance
A few articles pop up with his name. Most of them are focused on Armando, but they mention his friend, a local businessman named Hugo Ramirez. Sterling zooms in on the pic.
My stomach tightens. “That’s him.”
While he scans the articles, Margot picks up the phone. “One thousand. Same account.” She hangs up.
“Lived here all his life. Has a wife and kids,” Sterling spits out nuggets from the articles. “Reported income of fifty thousand a year.” He snorts. “Someone isn’t reporting all their income.”
Cruz zooms in and snaps a picture of Hugo with his phone. “I’ll head over to his house. Text me any additional information you find.” He grabs his backpack and leaves.
Sterling absentmindedly nods and points to the screen where numerous dots are now displayed. “The video traced back to a phone. It matches Armando’s number.”
He clicks on a cluster. “He was everywhere last night. All over the city.” A single outlying dot lies east, close to the city. “Now that we have his address—his home.” With a slide of his mouse, he circles two dots about an inch apart. “The facility, where they grabbed Raider, and a second location, where they must have made the video.”
“So, we know where he is?” I ask.
He pulls up the location on Google maps and heaves a sigh. “They’re smart. It’s the middle of nowhere.”
“I don’t like relying on one option,” Zane spits out, pacing back and forth behind us. “Did you finish searching the list of properties the other day?”
Sterling taps a few keys and brings up a document. “Most of these are local businesses he owns.” The mouse pointer slides down the list. “His home. Two empty lots. And a warehouse.”
Zane stops. “Is the warehouse one of the location dots?”
Sterling googles the warehouse address, right clicks on it, and grabs the coordinates. He converts the dots on the map to coordinates and compares the two. “Not a match, but maybe he didn’t go to the final destination.”
“I’ll check out the warehouse,” he replies. “Is there anything else?”
Thinking back to the last night, I try to recall what he said before they started my punishment. “Armando took the cartel leaders out to dinner last night. I don’t know where. Nor do I know their names.”
“Can you describe them to me?” Zane asks, grabbing a notepad. “I might have a contact that can reach out.”
I describe them to him. “Sorry it’s not more. I wasn’t around long enough to get more information.”
Zane’s hand wraps around my shoulder and squeezes. “It’s fine. Every little bit of intel helps. We have two starting points. It’s enough.” He grabs his gear. “Sterling, he spent quite a bit of time in the city. See if you can pick up some images from nearby cameras. It might help narrow down the list of cartel candidates for our friend.”
Cartel. “If your contact doesn’t know, could you reach out to Raider’s brother… Paulo?” If his father was a cartel leader, and they took him out, somebody had to take over. It obviously wasn’t Raider.
Shocked, they stare at me.
Defensively, I shrug. “He told me about Camila.” When they continue to stare at me, I raise my hands. “What?”
Zane grabs an untraceable phone. “Call me if you find something. I’ll call Paulo on the way to the warehouse.” His grey eyes flick to me, speculation in their depths, but he says nothing before he leaves.
Margot glances across the room at Thomas. “I’m going to listen in on the attack plans.” She heads over with a determined look on her face.
I wonder what that’s all about?
“Raider never talks about his family,” Sterling states softly. “It surprised us.”
I frown. Are they upset because Raider and I became closer? Or is it because I slept with Cruz, and they’re worried it might cause problems in the group? They haven’t told me they know about us, but I’m sure they do.
“Keep me company while I search the footage.” He carefully maneuvers me onto his lap.
Embarrassed, I try to get up, but his words stop me.
“I need to hold you for a bit. Reassure myself you’re here and not a prisoner somewhere,” he admits, without looking away from the screen.
With a sigh, I relax into his arms. “Would you be my driver tomorrow night?”
