“And I tracked you down at that party so I could return your journal.”
“I…don’t…understand…. I asked you ifTyler was your real name!”
“My name is Daniel Tyler Sanders. Tyler is my real name and what my mom called me. I didn’t lie to you,” he answers.
“And the ‘T’ was for Tyler, and we all assumed it was for Thomas. You’re the reason we’re here!”
Ethan punches him in the face before I can process what’s happening. And he keeps hitting him.
Blood squirts from Tyler’s nose and he goes down into a crouched position to protect his face and body. Ethan grabs him by the throat and lifts him up against the wall. “I ought to kill you.”
I’ve never seen Ethan so angry.
Grabbing Ethan’s arm, I try to pull him away from Tyler, but he won’t budge.
“Don’t do this, Ethan. Think about this. We need answers. Let’s hear what else he has to say.”
Finally, I break through the rage he’s in and he lets go of Tyler, who slides down the wall. He’s moaning and bleeding and I try to find an ounce of sympathy for him, but I can’t.
Ethan squats down, getting in Tyler’s face. “Tell me his plan or I will beat you until you’re unconscious.”
Tyler spits out a mouthful of blood on the ground next to me. “Just like what he said. Mateo is after us. He’s using you as bait. He plans on killing him. He’s going to kill the head of the cartel who ordered the hit, Vega. He’s going to take over. I’ll tell you everything you want to know. Just let me catch my breath.”
“How does he plan on doing that?” I ask.
Tyler shrugs. “I don’t know. He doesn’t tell me everything.”
Ethan, Teeny, and I stand there forever, all of us trying to absorb what Tyler said. And then I remember what Thomas said to me in the woods,This is not about you, or really ever has been. You just found yourself in the middle of a very dangerous power struggle.
Ethan moves back and Tyler inches back up until he’s standing.
“Keep talking,” Ethan says.
Tyler looks at me when he finally speaks. “I didn’t know what was going on when he asked me to get close to you in Florida. I didn’t know anything…about his profession. Once I figured it out, I made him promise not to fulfill the contract. I never ask him for anything, but I asked for this.”
I move in closer to Ethan. The night air is cool but I’m freezing inside. I keep thinking this is a horrible dream and I will soon wake up.
And then it dawns on me. Tyler is the person who made Thomas promise not to kill us. Tyler is the reason I’m alive right now.
“When he got back from Arizona, he gave me your journal. Said you obviously liked me more than we both thought you did based on what you’d written about me. He thought I would want to keep it, but I really wanted you to have it back. I could tell how important it was to you.”
I feel sick.
“So I went to Natchitoches and followed you and waited for the right moment to give it back. But I didn’t think it through. I didn’t think you would tell the feds. When Thomas found out through his sources that they had the journal and were going to test it for prints, he knew they would find mine and he wanted to get the journal back before that. That’s why he broke into your house. Finding me would lead to him.”
“This is so screwed up,” Teeny says and for a second I want to laugh. Thisisso screwed up.
Ethan still doesn’t look convinced. “But how did his boss find out about all of this?”
“That agent put it through the system that there was an informant ready to flip and tell everything about Thomas. You don’t get to be in Vega’s position without having your own sources. He heard this and cut Thomas loose immediately and found a replacement. There is a line of guys waiting to take his spot.”
“What are you doing with him to begin with? Why does he trust you?” I ask Tyler.
Tyler is quiet a moment before whispering, “I’m his brother.”
Holy shit.
“Why did he bring us here, to New Orleans?” Ethan asks after he somewhat recovers.
