Page 14 of Extraction
Grim Gates was covered nearly head to toe in tattoos. Not like his Uncle Mike’s, whose were all colorful. No, Grim’s were black, gray, and white. Plus, Grim had this whole mafia feel going on and carried himself with a level of power that would make most people uncomfortable, let alone a child.
“It’s okay,” I assured Easton as he crawled under the table to sit next to me. His hand clamped down on mine, and I gave him a light squeeze to show it was okay.
“Hello, there.” Grim, to my surprise, gave Easton his attention. I knew he’d recently become a new father himself. “I’m Grim.” He held out a hand, and Easton looked at me. I gave a nod to shake it.
“Your hand’s like a drawing.” Easton admired it as they shook. “Uncle Mike has color in his. Why don’t you?”
Grim gave him a lopsided smile. “I don’t have a lot of room for color.”
“Hmm.” Easton shrugged and instantly relaxed. He dipped one of my fries into the whipped cream on top of his milkshake and became absorbed in the food. Grim turned back to me.
“I have my contacts, and I used them because I needed to speak with you. It’s not something I wanted to talk about over the phone, and I’ve no idea where you live, so it was my only option.” He paused, and his upper lip curled a little with distaste as he glanced around. “So here I am in Sunny Ridge, North Dakota.” He lifted the edge of the sticky menu with the tip of his finger and then nudged the napkin wrapped fork and knife slightly toward the middle of the table. “Lucky me.”
I’d run into Grim Gates off and on over the years, and we had a little history, but I’d never been able to get a good read on the man. However, he’d helped me out of a very difficult situation once back in Mexico, and I knew I could trust him. The fact Mike, one of my brothers, had told him where I was spoke volumes. I still had a lot of questions, but curiosity as to why he wanted to talk to me made me put my concern of how he found me aside.
I handed Easton my phone with a wink and opened it to a game I knew he loved but knew his dad didn’t approve of. He grinned and began to play.
“All right, Grim, what’s so important that you came all the way here from your fancy hotel in Vegas to tell me?” He glanced at Easton then back at me. I nodded and knew the boy would be checked out for the most part.
He reached into his breast pocket, pulled out a white envelope, and slid it across the table to me. “I was asked to give you this. You can read it later.” He shifted in the booth and unbuttoned his vest. “Look, Paul, I know you thought Talya and I dated back then, but like I explained to you before, we were merely friends with a common goal, that of deceiving her parents.” I was instantly uncomfortable with the mention of her name. “She needed me as a buffer, and I needed the in with Jerry and Elva. She was in love with you.”
“That was a different life, Grim.” I hated that her name pricked at my armor. “She’s not a part of my life now. It’s easier to pretend she’s gone.”
“Yes, well, that’s why I’m here.” He cleared his throat as if what he was about to share was hard for him too. “The night my brother was killed in New Orleans, Talya came to see me.” He gave a glance at my face, and my skin grew cold. “She told me that she needed to get away from her parents.”
“That shouldn’t surprise you, Grim. We both know she didn’t agree with the business they were in.” He nodded and tilted his head at me.
“Shall I continue?”
“Okay, sorry.”
“She went to stay with her cousin, then her best friend in Mexico City, but later they moved to Campeche. They had to keep their whereabouts quiet, given…” His voice trailed off as someone came into the diner. We waited a beat, but it was just a mom and child, so we both relaxed.
“Why was she keeping her whereabouts hidden?” I prompted Grim to go on.
“Because she was pregnant.” His face was neutral as I stared into his dark eyes. “She was pregnant with your baby, Paul.” He used my real name, and that got my attention.
“Ahh.” I couldn’t speak. I was too busy doing the math on how that could be. Fuck, the last time I saw her…Oh, my God. I covered my mouth as everything hit me. “I need to see her.”
“You can’t.”
“Who the hell are you to tell me I can’t see her?” Anger pushed through my shock. “Give me her address.”
“Uncle Paul, is everything okay?” Easton looked concerned.
“It’s okay, son.” Grim smiled at him. “Your uncle just doesn’t understand something.” Easton looked at me again, and I pulled myself together and gave him a reassuring look.
“Paul,” Grim said quietly as he pointed to the letter, “I had made a promise that night I saw her in New Orleans, that if anything happened to her, I’d give you this.” He pushed the letter closer to me. “All I know is that she was keeping the baby hidden from her family, because she didn’t want it raised in the Cartel life. She did it so someday you could be part of the child’s life, and not as enemies.”
“Wait a minute.” I looked at him hard as something he said clicked. “You said if anything ever happened to her. Is Talya in some kind of trouble?” He puffed out his cheeks and slowly let out a breath.
“Talya’s dead, Paul,” he said with a quick glance at Easton, who was busy with the game. The blood from my head drained into my stomach and threatened to make me pass out. “I don’t know much, but I can tell you what I heard from Chili when I called him this morning.” I blinked a few times and couldn’t believe what was happening or that he and Chili, my old undercover friend, had spoken. “Jerry knows about the baby, but so do some other very powerful people. That child is going to be used as a bargaining chip for power, and then…” He looked away but continued. “Talya was a dear friend, so if you need anything,” he dropped his card on the envelope, “call me.”
“I, ahh—” I couldn’t form a sentence.
“Just so the lines are clear, I’m not doing it for you. I’m doing it for her.” He stood and looked down at me as my world spun off its axis. “Her father’s desperate to find his grandson, so much, in fact,” he ran his thumb along his bottom lip with a small hiss, “he had the nerve to ask me for help, and Jerry Canos never asks anyone for help. He even tried to push a million-dollar reward at me.”
I pulled in my chin and thought how crazy that was when you considered it was Jerry Canos who tried to burn down Grim’s hotel not long ago.
