Lynnette dipped her chin and stepped back. “Fine, but the minute you need it back, you call me.”
Jenna made a sound of agreement that was pure bullshit. Which was fine, because Jon would make sure she had access to his truck if he couldn’t be beside her directly.
They waited with Lynnette until the tow truck arrived, Jenna grabbed what she thought she might need from her SUV, and then she was back in Jon’s passenger seat as he aimed them for home.
They were still on the road when Dietz called him back, so Jon tapped the necessary buttons to put the call on speaker. “Go ahead.”
Dietz led with a disconcerting chuckle. “I always thought it was Lance with the bad luck, brother, but this is some shit.”
Jon rolled his eyes. “In his defense, heisin the hospital.” Which Dietz already knew.
“Right, right, takin’ a breather.” Voices murmured in the background, too low to carry. “Your friend with the questionable choice in ink was a good lead. Led us right to the answer, but brother, this is not civilian paygrade.”
Jon flexed his fingers around the steering wheel. “I thought they’d trained you out of hedging by now,Deets.”
“Fuck you, Sea-Man,” Dietz shot back with a short laugh. “I’m just sayin’. You said you’re in Oregon?”
“I am.”
“That’s way too far North for these assholes, Jon.” And just like that, Dietz was all business. “All those fuckers you sent me names for come from Veracruz, Mexico. I don’t even show paperwork for ‘em. And if those four are Veracruz, I’m bettin’ your mystery-man is, too.”
“So, you didn’t find anything on PJ?”
“Too fuckin’ vague,” Dietz replied. “Goddamn shit-ton of names that could fit that. But I’m still lookin’. In the meantime, you need to know—whoever the hell PJ is, he’s one guy, and he’s not the top dog. Although maybe the top dog doesn’t know about you.”
Jon didn’t like anything about the sounds of that. “What are you getting at, Dietz?”
“Intel says a new cartel’s popped up down in Veracruz,” Dietz replied. “The area was always lousy with that kind o’ trash, but this one just up and swallowed the others fuckin’ overnight. Far as any intelligence reports have said, one minute this crew was up-and-coming, and a month later they were king. But that was a couple years ago, Jon. They’ve got a real foothold now, and word is they’re expanding. These guys you’re mixed up with, they’re Veracruz Cartel. Guessin’ your PJ is, too.”
Jenna shifted in her seat, turning wide eyes over to him.
Jon ground his teeth and drew a hard breath. He really hadn’t wanted to hear that answer. “What the fuck is a Mexican cartel doing running around in Oregon?”
“They deal in all the usual shit. Drugs, guns, people—so you’d have a better guess than me, brother. You’re in the area.”
Jenna gasped.
A weighted silence followed, before Dietz asked, “Are we … not alone, Jon?”
Jenna clapped a hand over her mouth as if she could take back her miniscule noise.
“My girl’s with me,” Jon said before he could think better of it. “That crew of four came for her, it was a different pair that came for me. Same message from PJ.”
Dietz couldn’t contain his laughter. “Roll that back. Warrant Officer Johnson has a designatedgirl? ‘Scuse me, ma’am, can I get your name—”
“Thanks for the info, Deets,” Jon said, reaching for the phone. “Let me know if you learn anything about PJ.” He tapped the red button to the sound of full-bellied laughter.Fucker.
“Sorry,” Jenna whispered into the sudden quiet.
Jon laid his hand palm up over the console between them and waited, not speaking a word or taking his eyes from the road until Jenna laid her hand over his. He curled his fingers around her softer skin and cut her a brief look as he said, “You don’t have anything to apologize for, Jen.”
He saw her nod out of the corner of his eye.
“Do you think,” she said after a moment, “the cartel your friend mentioned … is responsible for Steph’s disappearance?”
He really wished she hadn’t asked him that. Jon slowed as the intersection for Misty Glades came into view. “Very few things in life are true coincidence,” he said. “If I were to place a bet, I’d say all these recent disappearances lead back to the cartel.”
She held tighter to his hand, her arm shaking. But her voice was reassuringly steady when she spoke. “We can’t tell Martha that. At least not until we know for sure. It’ll break her.”
