The corridor spills us into the citadel’s main artery, a massive atrium with white marble everywhere and floor-to-ceiling windows that offer cinematic views of a jungle so deep it could swallow entire governments.Or in this case, a sprawling cartel fortress.
I hear Wolf before I see him.
“Wait, you’re Ricky, and you’re Martin, right?All right, be honest.Everybody knows that ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’ is your go-to song when you’re fucking.”
I round the corner as Martin flips off Wolf, and Ricky groans.
“Also, I was told you share your woman.”Wolf scratches his jaw.“Which means I’m gonna need tips.Strictly academic.How do you decide on positions?Do you draw straws?Rock-paper-scissors?Hypothetically, do you rehearse?Or is it all improv?”He holds up his fist.“Poly kings.Teach me your ways.”
They bump him without hesitation.
Jag stiffens beside me, his protective instinct roaring to life.I barely have time to enjoy that before Matias appears at Jag’s side.
“A word.”He strides away, expecting Jag to follow.
“Stay here.”He trails Matias into the shadow of a column, keeping me in his line of sight.
I can’t hear what Matias says as he gestures and grips Jag’s shoulder.Jag nods once, looks away, and nods again.Then he’s back at my side, expression shuttered but resolved.
“What did he say?”I stare at Matias’s back as he strides out of the room.
“He’s giving me a couple of days to focus on you and figure out what we’re going to do.”
“You mean, whatIam going to do.Because you can’t follow me back to Alaska.This is your life now, right?”
He nods.
“Will they let Wolf and me leave?”I whisper.“Now that we’ve seen the inside of their citadel?”
“You’ve only seen what they allowed you to see.For all my intel, I couldn’t dig up the schematics of this place.Couldn’t even pin down a general location.It’s buried deep, deliberately unreachable, as hidden and impossible to find as Wolf’s cabin in Hoss.”
“You read his journal.”A flutter lifts my chest.
“Yeah.The night he left it with me.”
I let that sink in as men in dark clothes stream past us, their arms stacked with luggage.Bag after bag after bag.Hard cases, garment bags, duffels, the procession doesn’t stop.
“Did Wolf bring the whole island with him?”
“We had words about it.”Jag makes an amused sound, cutting through the strain.
“Words?”I glance at him.
“He said while I’ve been living out of a bag, he’s been living out of a rich daddy.”
“He’s ridiculous.”
“He brought his tattoo gear with plans to scar the cartel.Optimistically and artistically.His words.”
I snort, watching another tower of cases roll by.“Did you at least bring your computers?”
“No electronics.Cartel rule.They took our phones, too.Wolf complained.Loudly.”
“Of course, he did.”
Across the atrium, he moves from person to person, making friends and sending the entire room into laughter.
Then he sees Frizz.
