But Grace is inside that compound, and insane is the only card we’ve got left.
Zephyr’s voice is thin and tinny over the tiny earbuds. “You’ll have Reyes in three, two, one…”
I picture my wife’s face. The way she squints when she’s trying to make a joke land. How she rested her cheek against my chest that first night home, so relaxed I thought my heart would stop. That’s why we’re doing this. She’s why we’re doing this.
The doc answers, his voice low and measured. “Dr. Alejandro Reyes. Who is this?”
“Doc, it’s AJ.”
There’s a long pause. Long enough, I wonder if he’s going to talk to me at all. “Is Grace all right?”
I close my eyes for half a beat, because even through the crackle of the sat phone, I hear the worry in him. The man who cut into her skull in a clinic that had no business handling brain surgery, and who kept her alive long enough for me to get to her. “She’s hangin’ on. But she ain’t safe, Doc. The man who…almost killed her… He’s about to try again. And this time, he won’t fail. That’s why I’m calling. You saved her. You gave me my wife back.” My voice cracks, the desperation leaking through no matter how tightly I grit my jaw. “I need your help again. One more time.”
Hardison mutters beside me, “Cue the part where we dial up Satan’s second cousin.”
Connor cuts him a look sharp enough to peel paint, but I don’t flinch. “You know Miguel Sandoval,” I say, forcing my voice to steady. “You run his clinic. And you swore that he was a good man. That he’d never condone…anything that was done to Grace.”
Reyes lets out a short breath, half-sigh, half-laugh. “He is the head of the cartel, AJ. His hands will never be clean. But yes. He is, at his heart, a good man.”
“I ain’t askin’ for clean,” I say. “I’m askin’ for someone willing to straddle the line between good and evil…for the right cause. The Cordova Cartel is runnin’ a ghost gun operation out of land owned by a cult called the Blessed Flock. Their leader, who insists his devotees call him Prophet, has Grace in their compound now. Stole her right out of the hospital in Austin less than thirty-six hours after she’d had a craniotomy.”
“Dios Mio. Only a monster…” Reyes lets out a string of curses in his native tongue.
“In twelve hours, he’s gonna poison her all over again, then bleed her out so his flock can have eternal life. The cult’s lands run from Alpine all the way to the U.S./Mexico border. Right to Sandoval’s territory.”
“And this is why you want to speak to Miguel? You think he can…somehow put a stop to these zealots? Even though they are not even in the same country?” Reyes’s thin laugh grates, but he’s got a point.
“I think Cordova’s been sending a fuckin’ tsunami of guns into Mexico. Undercutting Miguel’s operations, making him look weak. You know the next step is to try and wipe Sandoval off the map.”
Reyes is silent for a moment. “Miguel does not want a war.”
“Cordova does. If Sandoval looks like he can’t stop one, he’s already lost.”
“What are you proposing?” Reyes asks.
“Sandoval shows up at the front gates tonight. Loud and ornery. Provide enough of a distraction, enough chaos, for us to get Grace—and Parker—out of there alive. Once we’re clear, he can go in, guns blazin’, and take all of Cordova’s manufacturing lines. All the 3D printers, supplies…everything.”
Static hisses while Reyes thinks, and I swear my heart’s gonna pound out of my chest.
“Do you understand what you are asking of me?” He sighs, the sound carrying years—if not decades—of weight. “To call him…to vouch for you? It is no small thing.”
“I know.” I ball my free hand into a fist. “Doc, you found her. Kept her breathin’ when I didn’t even know she was alive. I’ll never forget that. I got no business askin’ you for a damn thing. But I’m callin’—beggin’ you because I’m out of options. And Grace is out of time.”
“Miguel trusts me. Even though I hid Grace’s existence from him until you were back in the United States. I explained how fragile she was. But also, her strength. The purity of her soul.”
“Doc…please.” My chest is tight enough I can hardly breathe. If he says no…we’re fucked. Grace and Parker will die. And I’ll have nothin’ left in this world but a dog who’ll, once again, lose her person.
“I will make the call. He will listen, at least. But I can make no promise that he will be willing to help.”
“Alejandro—”
“Make no mistake, AJ. Miguel is not a savior. He is not a man you control. He is a man you unleash.”
Hardison leans closer to the receiver, whispering, “So basically, we’re trading one devil for another?”
I glare at him, then steady my voice. “Understood, Doc. Just give me a chance. Give Grace a chance to live. Again.”
There’s a soft rustle on the other end, followed by the sound of a chair scraping. “For Grace,” Reyes says at last. “Always for Grace.”
