He pushed the door shut and lunged for the punk, grabbing him by the arm. “You dare touch my wife. I’ll kill you.”
“I didn’t do nothing.” The kid snarled, baring his crooked teeth. “Your wife came to me.”
“To do what? You better speak.”
“Nothing. Let me go, or my homies are going to kill you.”
“Your homies ain’t nothing,” Axe said. “I pay bigger bucks. You tell them, I’m the man, and no one messes with my wife.”
“All she wanted was to find her daughter,” the kid said. “I didn’t mess with her.”
“I don’t believe you.” Axe lowered his voice to a hissing, threatening tone. “You’re lying. You don’t know who my friends are.”
The kid’s eyes widened. “Nobody hurt your wife. She’s the one who came to us.”
“Because you tell her lies.”
“No lie. She was looking for her daughter, and we were only helping.”
“Then you’re dead. You know El Bardo. Yeah, I bet you do. He’s the boss, and you were supposed to say there’s no girl.”
At the mention of Pablo’s street name, El Bardo, the kid’s teeth chattered. “I didn’t know. It’s not my fault. I’m just a kid. No one told me.”
Axe let the kid go and gave him a push. “You’re supposed to keep your mouth shut if you don’t know anything. El Bardo has your number.”
The kid ran, and Axe got into the driver’s seat. Leanna was sitting with her arms crossed and a scowl as deep as the Grand Canyon.
“You didn’t have to be so mean to him,” she said.
“He’s not going to survive, spilling secrets like that.”
“I heard everything. You told this El Bardo character to tell everyone to lie to me. You wanted me to give up and go home.”
“It’s for your own good.” He started the car. “Put your seatbelt on.”
“Why? You don’t care about me.”
“On the contrary, I do. Wife. Smart of you to play along.”
“I want a divorce as soon as we get back to the motel.” She jutted her lower lip at him. “I only played along because of the gangs.”
“Smart of you to catch on.”
“Stop acting so superior.”
“You put yourself in danger.”
“For my daughter.” She slapped his shoulder. “You’re one big motherfucker to lie to me. Don’t you want me to find her? Or are you hiding something? Why did you come with me? Why are you even involved? Don’t you care that Carmelita’s in the hands of smugglers? Human traffickers? What if she’s being raped right now? I can’t believe you don’t care.”
“I care.” Axe made a sharp turn and gunned the engine toward the motel. “Since you blew your cover on day one, we’ll have to go to plan B. Stop yelling and let me think. This time, I’m really going to take a shower.”
“Fuck you. I’m going to take a shower, too.”
“Gladly.”
* * *
Leanna worked herself into a full sauna of steam. As soon as they were back at the motel, she shoved herself out of the sedan, slammed the door as hard as she could, kicked it, and stomped her way up the hidden staircase to her room.
