“Be right back.” He waits for me to release him, then limps out into the living room. Two minutes later, he returns with his tablet tucked under his arm. “Zephyr is…shit. I don’t know a damn thing about her—except she’s trying to ID a few guys I took pictures of today and the only manItrust trusts her.”
My heartbeat quickens, and I sit up. “You really do think there were people following us?”
Leo curses under his breath, sets the tablet on the nightstand, and sinks down next to me. “I won’t lie to you, Domina. The chance that all three of them just happened to be going the same direction we were is about as good as me winning an Olympic medal for the hundred-yard dash. But for all we know, they could be working for Muñoz, keeping tabs on every member of Cortez’s staff. They might not have anything to do with the break-in at your officeorthe man who attacked you.”
“Are you sure we’re safe here? Maybe we should go to a hotel…”
“We’re safe.” Opening the nightstand drawer, he pulls out a gun tucked in a black holster. “I have motion alarms over both the front and patio doors—loud enough they’ll wake everyone at least two floors away. No one’s getting in here without us knowing, and I’m a damn good shot.”
Before I can respond, his tablet beeps. “That’s Zephyr,” he says. “I’ll take this in the other room. You can get some sleep.”
“No.” I swing my legs over the side of the bed. “I want to hear what she has to say. Please…”
Leo offers me his hand and helps me to my feet. “Okay. We’ll talk to her together.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Leo
“What did you find?”I ask the moment Zephyr’s face appears on screen.
“Hello to you too.” She shifts her gaze to Domina and smiles. “Leo didn’t say who he was with today, but I recognize you from a couple of the pictures.”
“I’m Domina,” she says. “I work for Vice President Cortez.”
“Shit. Really? And you’re coming tomerather than working with…whatever Panama’s version of the Secret Service is?” Zephyr asks.
“We don’t know if we can trust them. Hell, Cortez isn’t even sure.” At my side, Domina stiffens. Dammit. I’m doing a bang-up job of reassuring her. “We’ll fill you in on everything, but were you able to get IDs for the guys in the photos?”
To Zephyr’s credit, she doesn’t blink at the notion the Vice President’s own detail might be corrupt pieces of shit. “Yep. Meet Larry, Mo, and Curly. Also known as Juan Alvarez, Umberto Vale, and Erick Romero.”
Three Panamanian driver’s license photos fill the screen. “Yep. Juan was sitting across the street from the restaurant when we had lunch. The other two took turns tailing us back to the apartment. I don’t suppose you found anything linking these jackoffs?”
The pictures slide away, and Zephyr shoots us an “are you kidding me” look. “It’s been less than an hour, Leo. Hacking into Sertracen for those licenses took some time. The U.S. DMV is a hell of a lot easier.”
“But you’ll keep digging?”
“If you tell me what I’m looking for...” She leans back in her chair, rolling her head around until her neck cracks. “The more I know, the faster you’ll get results.”
We tell her everything. The attack at Domina’s apartment, the break-in at the campaign office, and my conversation with Cortez.
“And the Vice President didn’t tell you what was in his safe?” Zephyr asks.
Shit. I’ve been out of the field too long. I’m losing my edge. “Cortez got an entire dossier on me in less than ten minutes. I was more concerned with ending up on the next flight back to the States—or in handcuffs.”
“I can ask him tomorrow,” Domina says quietly. “After the rally.”
Zephyr nods. “Good. Anything you find out will help. I’ll feed Daniel Pinzon’s info and these guys’ IDs into my algorithm and see what it spits out. But if this is politically motivated…”
I pinch the bridge of my nose, the headache that’s been brewing half the day pounding like a bass drum. “The chances of you finding anything are somewhere between zero and negative two million.”
With a delicate snort, Zephyr runs a hand through her teal locks. “Not that low. I’mreallygood at my job.”
* * *
It’s almost1:00 a.m. by the time I double-check the locks and motion sensors, slip my holster into a special pocket on the side of the mattress, and pull back the blankets.
Exhaustion weighs me down, but Domina hasn’t said a word since we finished talking to Zephyr. I don’t want to leave her for even a minute, but I’m still wearing my khakis and t-shirt. I sleep in my boxers, but the idea of exposing Domina to what those bastards did to me…she doesn’t need that. Not tonight.
