Page 68 of Extraction
“I’m sorry your mom left,” she whispered. “I promised myself that whenever I have kids, if I ever get to, I’d do everything I could to let them know they were wanted and loved.” She patted my knee with her warm hand, and a calmness washed over me. “There’s this—” She started to say something but stopped herself. I covered her small hand with mine and gave it a squeeze to urge her to say it. “Well, there’s always this one breath I take at the end of the day that reminds me of how alone I am. It scares the hell outta me.”
I let out a long breath. “I understand.”
She leaned her head to the side and closed her eyes. “I’m so tired.” I flexed my hand over hers where it still lay on my lap and studied how pretty her slim fingers were. Her breathing evened out, and her hand started to slip away as she relaxed. I caught it as it fell away and inched my fingers through hers. I liked it.
“I should mention,” she murmured, half asleep, “I don’t date soldiers.”
NINETEEN
NICOLE
“Look what you made me do, Nicole.” Bruno’s nasty smile broke out as he proceeded to punish me for not doing what he wanted. “All this pain was your fault.”
My eyes popped open, and my stomach took a violent roll as the memory faded. I tuned in to the spicy smell of his aftershave. Then everything clicked back into place when I felt movement.
“Oh.” I sat up and threw an embarrassed look at the wet spot on Paul’s shoulder where I had apparently fallen asleep. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He grabbed his bag from between his legs. “We knew you’d need the sleep, but we’re here now.”
“Did you sleep?”
“No. I don’t need much sleep.”
“Oh, well, thanks.” I quickly gathered my things. I was embarrassed that he’d probably sat there not moving while I slept on his shoulder, and now I was probably holding them up.
“Must have been some nightmare,” he grunted as he slid over and opened the door. I ignored his comment and finger-brushed my hair before I got out to join the others.
“Morning, Sunshine.” Mark beamed at me. “Fuel up. We need to be sharp.” He tossed me a protein bar.
“Thanks.” I wasted no time and swallowed it down. The calories and the little burst of sugar would perk me up in no time.
Cole went over the plan and where we were to meet Adan’s brother, and one more location if we were to get separated. It was rather interesting to work with Blackstone. I thought the other teams I’d worked with were great, but none of them even came close to being as thorough as these guys were. The way they knew each other’s movements was almost eerie, they always knew exactly where the other guy was. They really were one big working wheel. I was teamed up with Paul and John again, which I liked. John and Paul had a special connection, and I noticed John often watched out for Paul. I tucked that interesting fact away, as I’d noticed a higher degree of stress in Paul compared to the others.
“You see anything, radio it in.” Cole looked around. “Let’s move.”
I noticed Paul slipped on aviator sunglasses and a dark ball hat. He had a bit of a five o’clock shadow, just enough to darken the skin around his mouth. He could have walked right by me, and I don’t know if I would recognize him. Not that I wouldn’t have looked anyway because the man was attractive as sin and carried a level of confidence most didn’t. That must be a requirement to work on Blackstone. I huffed a silent laugh. I needed to pay attention to where we were going as we threaded through the tourists.
“Here,” Paul pulled a dress off a stand and handed the shop owner some cash, “put this on.”
I took the white sundress from him and thought how pretty it was. “Why?”
“We need to blend, and you’ve worn that shirt in too many pictures online. We’re one Google search away from your fan club recognizing you.”
“You lookin’ me up?” I teased, but the way he stared at me from behind his shades made my skin heat. “Give me a second.” I asked the store owner if I could change, and he pointed to a small private area. The sleeveless cotton dress fit like a glove. It had buttons down the front and looked clean and crisp. The bottom of the dress hit mid-thigh, so I snagged a pair of flats from a mannequin. I wished they were heels, but if I needed to run, I wanted to have a fighting chance. As I stepped out, I pushed my hair back into a small ponytail and felt like I could play the cruise ship tourist well. “Will this do?”
John slapped Paul’s shoulder with a grin. “Yes.” That was all Paul offered me. I shoved my clothes in my bag. We kept moving through the sea of people who waited for the ferry to get over to the island.
“I’m going to check something out.” John shot off in a different direction, and Paul never broke stride. I wouldn’t ever admit it to Paul, but it was hard to keep up. He had long legs and the endurance of a bull.
Suddenly, someone grabbed my arm and swung me around. “Nicole?” Agustin Ruiz, one of the cousins in the Ruiz family, stared down at me.
I turned to look for Paul, but he’d disappeared, and I was scared he might not have noticed I had stopped. “Agustin.” I tried not to show how nervous I was to see him again. He had a reputation, as did a lot of the Cartel, but Agustin had caused a lot of problems between Bruno and me. “Hi, how are you?” My voice shook, and I was sure he could spot my fear.
“Why are you here?” Shit. I weighed my options if I should lie or tell the truth. “Where’s Bruno?”
“Dead in a ditch somewhere,” I joked. “One can dream.”
“Yes, one can.” His normal smile broke through at the mention of any of the Perez family being killed. “You look fantastic.” He moved closer, and I fought not to step back. “Last I heard, you were in Mexico City.”
