Page 16 of For the Love of Animals

“According to my informant, somebody tastes every meal before he eats it, just in case. Lozano was paranoid even before the hit went wrong.”

“You have an informant?”

“Not since Sunday.”

“He died?”

“Unfortunately.”

So Nate was in the dark. I still had my own intelligence resources to utilise, which perhaps gave me the upper hand, although I wasn’t sure I wanted it anymore. Yesterday, my whole focus had been on winning, but if I’d taken the time to think straight, I’d have made sure to miss with every shot.

“Yes, that is unfortunate. My research says Lozano uses the mornings for meetings. Everyone comes to him. He used to travel a lot, but since he got caught up in an ambush six years ago, he prefers to stay at home.”

“He lost part of the sight in his left eye afterwards,” Nate said.

“That was never confirmed.”

“Maybe not to you, but it happened.”

How did he know so much?

“And he has a hygiene fetish,” I said, eager to prove that I’d been thorough too. “Everything has to be spotless, he showers three times a day, and he wears gloves whenever he leaves his home.”

“Agreed. He also refuses to set foot in public bathrooms and uses so much hand sanitiser he bought shares in the manufacturer of his favourite brand. He’s actually invested well over the years. If he hadn’t gone into the drug trade, he could have had a decent career on Wall Street.”

“You sound as if you admire him. How can you?”

“I don’t admire his ethics, just his business sense.”

“He’s a monster. They all are.”

“And we’ll kill him, but you need to focus and lose the emotion.”

“Sorry. I…” A lump formed in my throat when I thought of Juliana, and I swallowed it back down. “Lozano has no wife, no girlfriend, no boyfriend. If he wants female company, he has a stable of women to call upon, but none ever stay the night.”

“Hey, what’s wrong?” The bed dipped as Nate sat beside me. “You sound all choked up.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Bullshit.”

I opened my eyes and found him looking at me, his expression a mix of nervousness and concern. Not something I’d ever expected to see from him.

“My sister died in the drug war, okay? It’s why I joined the army. There was a shootout between two rival cartels, and she got caught in the crossfire.”

“You wanted revenge?”

“Drugs—I don’t care about them, or the money, but I want to stop more innocent people from getting hurt. I promise the past won’t affect my work. I can squash the emotions away, compartmentalise, stop—”

Nate’s hug surprised me, but it had been so long since anyone comforted me like that, and I just… It felt nice. Safe.

Dangerous.

I shoved him away.

“We’re here to work. Nothing more, nothing less.”

If I didn’t know better, I’d have said the fleeting look in his eyes was hurt, but then I reminded myself that Nate was an asshole and he didn’t do empathy.

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