“That’s right, you did choose pepperoni first.Must be some residual brain lapses from overindulging.”He grinned.“And don’t worry.Pepperoni is my all-time favorite.”
The handle on the door to the suite jiggled.
Chase’s attention shot to the door.He held out a hand to keep Alana from approaching it.“Stay back,” he whispered and hurried toward it.
The door burst open, and Gina entered, followed by Carson, Trevor Anderson and Anderson’s pregnant wife, Lana.
“Look who I found.”Gina dropped her purse on one of the sofas and flopped down beside it.“Seems SEALs are like magnets.They gravitate toward each other.Carson spotted Trevor from across the lobby.”
“Hey, Chase.”Trevor grinned, guiding his wife to the other end of the sofa.“Gina tells me you’ve made an enemy.”
“Glad to see you made the flight safely, Lana,” Chase said.“And yes, I’ve acquired an enemy.I could use some help, but I’m not sure how involved I want you to be.You have a baby on the way.Now is not a good time for you to waltz into a cartel rumble.”
Trevor’s eyebrows shot up.“True, but then, I can’t let you go in by yourself,” Trevor said.“Cartel trouble, huh?Why don’t you skip it altogether?”
“Because I can’t trust that Raul Delgado will leave Alana alone.”
Trevor smiled and crossed the room to Alana.“Pardon my friend’s rudeness.”He stuck out his hand.“I’m Trevor Anderson.”He shook Alana’s hand and turned toward his wife.“And this is my beautiful wife, Lana.”
Alana smiled at Lana.“Nice to meet you.”
“Did you say Raul Delgado?”Carson stood behind the couch, his hands resting on Gina’s shoulders.“As in the Jalisco cartel’s leader, Raul Delgado?”
Chase nodded, his lips forming a tight line.“The one and only.”
Carson whistled.“I’ve been here long enough to know you don’t piss off anyone in the Jalisco cartel.”
“Yeah, well, he was hitting on my wife,” Chase said.
“Wife?”Trevor frowned.“What wife?”
“You just met her.”Chase’s lips twisted in a wry smile.“Apparently, I went on a bender last night, danced the salsa with this woman, closed down one bar and formed a conga line that stretched all the way down the beach to a twenty-four-hour wedding chapel where we tied the knot, and then ended up in La Casa Loca where I crossed Raul Delgado.”
Trevor’s eyes widened with Chase’s explanation.“Holy shit, man.All that in one night?”He shook his head.“I can’t leave you alone for a minute, can I?What are you going to do when I’m not around to bail you out of jail or trouble?”
Chase frowned.“Really, I don’t want you to bail me out of this one.I’m afraid it’s more than you or I can handle.”
“Delgado is one bad mother fucker.He’s known for stealing young girls and selling them into the sex trade.I hear he makes millions trafficking drugs and humans across the border into the United States.”Carson raised a hand.“That being said, you can count me in, if it helps.I’ve been bored since I got here.I could use a little action.”
“Thanks, but even three of us can’t go up against an entire cartel.”Chase paced the floor, head down, thinking.
“One of my specialties when I was in the SEALs was explosives.I can make things go boom with practically nothing,” Carson offered.“You don’t meet him until midnight, do you?”
Chase nodded.“Midnight.But we’d have to sneak in, plant the explosives and hope we didn’t hurt anyone else.He’s asked to meet behind La Casa Loca.That’s a pretty popular tourist spot.We could create a lot of collateral damage if we go around blowing up shit.”
“Not to mention, if you kill civilians and tourists,” Gina piped in, “the Mexican government would lock you up and throw away the key.”
“Or turn you over to the cartel,” Carson said.“They don’t like dealing with them any more than we do.Half the time, they pay them to leave folks alone.”
Chase met Alana’s gaze.“Like the bartender said.He pays the cartel to leave him alone.Without weapons, we don’t stand a chance.From what I’ve heard, the cartel has everything from semi-automatic rifles to submachine guns.They aren’t afraid to employ them in crowded tourist areas, either.”
“Cabo is dependent on tourism, as are lots of other places in Mexico,” Carson said.“They’ve lost a lot of business and millions of tourism dollars due to cartel shootings, kidnappings and hangings.”
“You’d think the government would clean up the cartels before they go broke,” Lana said.
Carson laughed.“Unfortunately, the men in charge of the government can be as corrupt as the cartels, and if they don’t go along with the thugs, they’re killed.”
“Why did we come here for our delayed honeymoon?”Lana pushed to her feet, her brow furrowed.“Should we catch the next flight home to Montana?”
