“Can you do this?” Wade asks.
“Yes,” I answer automatically. The truth is, I don’t have a choice. Ihave todo this. I need to find Brek, and I can’t wait. No matter what I find, I need to be there to find it.
“I can practically smell your fear,” Azlan says.
His voice is remarkably like Loren’s. The tenor is different, though the somewhat monotone inflection is the same. It took me years to decide that it was simply devoid of empathy. You don’t realize that within every conversation, your empathy and compassion are broadcast in your tone. It changes with each conversation, each sentence, each person.
Azlan’s doesn’t do that. Neither does Loren’s.
“Now that we’re alone, I can confess that my father was right to not let me go alone. I’m probably going to be more of a liability than useful in many scenarios,” I confess.
Azlan snorts. Wade grins.
“We knew that,” Wade says. “As did your father. I’m pretty sure he said those exact words when he approached us with this assignment.”
I glower. Goddamn father. Can’t hide anything from him.
“To be clear, I’m not… scared of the entire situation, but only because my fear of how I’m going to find Brek far outweighs the fear of what we’re walking into.”
“We know,” Wade says. “Did we ever tell you about the time Xan was kidnapped from us? Right in front of our fucking faces.”
I look at him with horror. “No.”
“Mm. More than anything, our fear was of the state in which we’d find her. If you’d been there observing, you’d have likely noted that we took very little precaution as we stormed in to find her. It was about getting to her while she was still alive,” Wade says. “We could have used someone impartial along with us.”
“That’s why you’re here,” I note, nodding.
“Yes. We don’t know Brek. Never heard his name. I couldn’t pick him out of a lineup. We’re here to keep you from walking into a gun range.”
“Well… thanks.”
“He’s sharing our experience with Xan to tell you we understand how you feel,” Isidro says. “No one could have stopped us from going after her. That’s why you’re running in blindly. We get it. We aren’t going to get in your way. We’re just going to clear your path.”
I sigh. “Thank you.”
“I’ll be following the truck,” Isidro says. “At a distance, of course. Out of their mirror. Probably twenty minutes behind them, so there’s no suspicion.”
“What if they go somewhere else?”
“Mm. Your family isn’t the only one who has access to the GPS signals on the three of you.”
“I feel like a damn dog,” Wade mutters.
Isidro laughs. “Well, darling, we’ll let you get on your hands and knees when we get home.” He winks as he looks at Wade in the rearview mirror.
Wade rolls his eyes. “You wish.”
I listen to them bicker good-naturedly and flirt. Their familiarity relaxes me. I stare out the window, listening to them laugh and tease. Azlan remains silent for the most part. Listening. Observing. Occasionally making a mic drop and sending both men into laughter.
So much like Loren.
We stop on the far side of the truck stop, and Azlan climbs into the back with us. Then we park right where the camera showed the car and truck meeting. The place where I found Brek’s phone in the trees. Then we wait.
My pulse increases the longer we sit there. I nearly jump out of my skin when the truck pulls off the highway.
“Ready to take a nap, boys?” Isidro asks, pulling the mask over his face.
Fear grips me as the back of the car fills with chloroform. No matter how stubbornly I fight it, the gas wins, and I sink into darkness.
