“I’ll be right back,” Duke said as he headed down the hall.
“I should get the ball rolling and call Tito.”
Dillon slid his phone over to me. “Use mine. I know you don’t have one anymore.”
I hadn’t had a chance to get a new one since Tito cut me loose.
I wasn’t sure if Tito had the same cell number he’d had when I’d last been a free man, but I gave it a shot.
Tito answered on the first ring. “Who’s this?”
I put the call on speaker. “Duke is willing to listen.” I pictured the twisted look on his face as surprise barreled through him. If I knew Tito, he hadn’t had faith I would come through.
After two beats of silence, he said, “You work fast, Hart.”
“I want you off my ass. Do you have a problem with that?”
Tito growled. “I liked you better before you got all reformed.”
He liked me better when I was obeying his brother and following orders, or better yet when his brother would put him in charge.
“Do you want in or not? Because this is your only chance.”
“Fucker,” he mumbled. “Give me two days.”
I was tempted to use Travers’s line and tell him he had one, but I had some things to take care of, including getting Jade from the hospital and to a safe place. “Do you have that big bone I suggested?”
“That’s none of your concern,” he said in disgust.
“I beg to differ. My ass is on the line here, and I need to prep Duke. If your bone doesn’t involve guns, Duke walks.” I assumed Tito knew that, but I wasn’t taking a chance. He had mentioned the Colombian cartel, drugs, and guns. But Travers wanted guns.
“I know what Duke and his associates are looking for, asshole. I’m not a fucking idiot. We’ll be in touch.” The line went dead.
Duke strutted in and resumed his spot across the island from Dillon and me.
“Tito wants to meet in two days,” I said. “And it seems he’s working on a gun deal.”
Duke’s eyebrows climbed to his hairline. “Is that so?”
Dillon picked at the label on his beer bottle. “Why are you surprised?”
“Tito only deals drugs,” Duke said. “Unless…”
“Well, the suspense is killing me,” I said.
Duke took a swig of his beer. “McCauley and I believe Tito has been trying to broker a deal with the Mexican cartel to get a foothold in the gun trade.”
“Does your organization deal in just guns?” I asked. I’d never known Duke to dabble in drugs.
Duke gave me a cocky grin. “Sorry, bro. The less you know, the better.”
He was probably right. With my luck, the Feds would string me up and torture me until I talked.
Dillon nursed his beer. “We’ll meet with Tito, find out what he has, and then what?”
“You’re not coming,” I said.
Dillon narrowed his brown eyes. “Fuck if I’m not.”
