Eli swallowed, managed to stop shaking. “I don’t...don’t know who exactly. She’d only worked for me a few weeks. Tina come to Dallas from someplace else, I don’t know where. Back then, she belonged to somebody else.”
“Another pimp?” Jase asked.
“Not exactly.” Eli nervously shifted in the chair. “They find out I told, they gonna kill me.”
Bran held up the pistol. “Or I could do it now. Up to you.”
“Okay, okay.” Eli huffed out a breath. “You know that mark she had on her neck? The kiss? That’s their brand. They put it there so everybody on the street knows the woman is theirs. I shoulda turned her away, but she was young and still pretty and I wanted the money.”
“Go on,” Jase said.
“They must have found her, been keepin’ track of her. They followed us that night. Soon as I was gone, they killed her. They was sending a message.”
“Yeah, what message is that?” Jase asked.
“It was a warning. To me for taking her in. To the other women in their stable so they don’t try to leave, and anyone who tries to interfere.”
Silence fell. Jase flashed a look at Bran, who gave a faint nod. Both of them believed Eli was telling the truth.
“How do I find these people?” Jase asked.
“Don’t know. You try, you gonna wind up dead as Tina.”
Jase sliced another glance at Bran. They’d gotten the answers they had come for, though not exactly the ones they’d expected. “Looks like we’re done here,” Jase said.
Kate stepped in front of Eli. Jase’s eyes widened when she drew back her fist and punched him in the face. “If you’d left Tina in the center, she’d still be alive.”
Eli spit out a wad of blood. “You got that wrong. She was dead the minute she run away.”
Jase pulled Kate back. “That’s enough,” he said, though he couldn’t blame her for wanting a little payback for her sister.
Bran moved close to Eli, into the harsh overhead light. “You know who I am?”
Zepeda wet his chafed lips. He nodded. Everyone in the hood knew Bran Garrett was former special ops. It was whispered on the street he could kill a man fifty different ways and never leave a trace. Nobody wanted any part of him.
“You and your men—all of you are still alive,” Bran said. “If you don’t want trouble you can’t handle, this ends here.”
A bead of sweat rolled down Zepeda’s forehead. “No more trouble.”
“Make sure your men understand,” Bran said.
Zepeda flinched when Bran pulled a knife from his boot, but Bran just leaned over and cut the zip ties. “Ten minutes, then you can go down to the alley and cut your men loose.”
Bran strode out of the kitchen, and Jase urged Kate out behind him. They moved into the hall and Jase closed the door.
“Thanks for the help,” he said to Bran when they reached the alley.
“My pleasure,” Bran said. He waved as he headed for his Jeep.
Since it was always better to have a second means of escape, Jase walked Kate back to the Yukon. He could feel her shaking as he helped her into the seat. Not nearly as calm as she’d seemed.
“You did good in there,” he said as fired up the engine. “You handled yourself like a pro.”
Kate swallowed. Beneath the passing streetlights, her face still looked pale. “Would Brandon really have done it? If Eli hadn’t answered, would he actually have pulled the trigger?”
Hard to know for sure with Bran, but Jase didn’t say that. “We wanted the truth. I’m pretty sure we got it.”
“Who is he? I mean... I know he’s one of the Garrett brothers and they’re all filthy rich, but...who else is he? Zepeda was clearly afraid of him.”
