“Where’s the wife?”Hectorasked.
“She’s downstairs withGiovanniand, from whatIcan hear, putting up quite a fight,”Matteoanswered with a smirk on his face.
Motherfucker.I’dkill him if he touched her.
“Good,”Hectorbroke in. “I’mgonna take him downstairs.Maybelet him watchGiovannifuck his wife in front of him beforeIkill him.”
Matteo laughed. “Sorryto miss the fun, but it appears my brother needs to be bailed out, soI’mheaded out to get him a lawyer.Afteryou kill him, leave these near the body.”
Matteo handed him aZiplocbag with two cell phones inside.
“You want me to leave the body here?”Hectorasked, seemingly confused.
“Yes.I’llsend someone else to clean it up,”Matteoanswered. “Justkill him, and then you andRoccoleave as soon as you can.”
Hector nodded back at him, and thenMatteoand his men left.
I looked up to seeHectorwatching the men leave.Hisface was devoid of emotion, but he was clearly working through something in his head.
“Let’s go get this done,”Roccosaid, walking toward a small closet.Whenhe opened the door,Isaw another door inside it, a secret entrance of some kind, leading to a set of stairs.
Before we walked down,Hectorshouted toRocco, who was now halfway down the stairs. “Hey, shit,Ileft my kit in the back of the car.Willyou go grab it whileItie him up downstairs?”
Rocco nodded and came back up and walked around us, presumably to the car.Oncedown the stairs we opened a door and walked into a small ten-by-ten room.Nowindows and only the one door.
The first thingIsaw wasAcesitting on the floor inside a chain-link-fence cage.Herhair was messed up, but she looked calm.Angry, but calm.
BeforeIcould say or do anything,Inoticed movement to my left.Therewas a portly looking man in his mid-fifties with a giant cut on his face, blood dripping down his cheeks.Hehad his cell phone in front of him as though he was using his camera to see his gash.
“The hell happened to you,Giovanni?”Hectorasked the man in front of me.
“Bitch kicked me whenItried to fuck her,”Giovannisaid, andIsaw red.Ijerked forward but feltHector’sarm pull me back.Hegave me a quick nod and moved me toward the cage.
“I’m putting him in here with her untilRoccogets back with my stuff,”Hectorsaid toGiovanni. “Where’sthe key?”
“On the table,”Giovanniresponded, sounding pained as he used a handkerchief to wipe some of the blood off his face. “Becareful she doesn’t get you when you open the door.”
“She won’t if she wants her husband to stay alive,”Hectorannounced, grabbing the key off the small folding table in front ofGiovanni.Thesame folding table with a cell phone, a roll of duct tape, and a gun with a suppressor on it.
As he walked me to the caged cell with the gun still pressed to my side,Ifelt something slide into my front pocket.
“You get three minutes to say goodbye to your wife beforeIput a bullet in your brain, so make it count,”Hectorsaid, unlatching and opening the door and shoving me into the cell withAce.
He closed and locked the door.
I made my way toAceand pulled her into me asIwhispered in her ear, “It’sgoing to be okay.”
I reached into my pocket and felt whatIassumed was aSwissarmy knifeHectorhad just slid in there.
“Archer,”Acewhispered to me, butIlooked at her meaningfully asIheld my finger up to her in the universal be quiet sign.
I looked over to seeHectorengagingGiovanni, soIfigured now was my chance.
I pulled out the knife to show her, and she turned to her side soIcould cut the ropes off her wrists asIstood behind her for cover.Iused that time to lean forward and whisper in her ear.
“Pedro—the man who just put me in here—is on our side.He’sthe agent who went dark.Colemansaid to follow his lead.”
She didn’t say anything in return but nodded to confirm she heard me.
