“Yet Miss Donovan is alone.”
I frown at Inez. “You said talk. Not threats.”
“This is the Aguillera Cartel we’re talking about, Rev. Talkisthreats.”
“You think they’re onto her?”
“Is it worth assuming they’re not?”
I growl. “Fuck.” I toss my bag across the room. “Sloppy.”
“Complacent, more like.” She holds my gaze. “They don’t forget. Not ever.”
“I’ll go get her.”
“Good plan.” She pauses. “Rev, unless they’re…dealt with…you’ll never have what you saw in North Carolina.”
“I fuckin’know.”
“Does she?”
I have no answer. Only questions. “I swore an oath. How am I supposed todealwith them? And anyway, I’m just one man. They’re a whole cartel. I ain’t the fuckin’ Punisher.”
She waves a hand in a broad gesture at my quarters, everything. “This was meant to protect you from all that, Rev. Life and love found you anyway.”
I hold her gaze. “Will he help me?”
She arches an eyebrow “He’s a businessman, not a warlord.”
“He recruited a bunch of stone-cold killers and made us swear to never do the one fuckin’ thing we’re good at.”
A shrug. “I’m not privy to his plans, Rev.”
“Fuck.”
“Just bring her here. We’ll deal with the rest one step at a time.”
“Fine. I gotta go.”
“Yes, you do.”
I push past her and jog for the parking lot.
Drive almost recklessly to her motel.
Pound on the door.
She opens it, confused but happy to see me. “Rev, hi.”
I look past her.
And my gut rips open. Heart cracks. Shatters.
She’s packing.
I have flashes, images. Memories.
Home from school, my shit packed—meaning thrown in a garbage bag. Means I’m leaving. Again. New home. New people.
