Aaron senses my difficulty and comes to my aid in heroic fashion. He reaches for the snaps on my shoulders and goes to work. Once I’m more human than sausage, he turns up that Rio charm to level infinity. “You good,mama?”
Have mercy on me.
He tucks the medieval torture vest under his arm and smirks diabolically. “No charge for that one. You did great, Lila. All safe now.”
Thank goodness he doesn’t have dimples.
He disappears into the background. Shep and Kri exchange heated looks before he vanishes. And we’re moving again.
When we enter the elevator, Kri passes my cell phone to Agent Romero. Which is interesting, considering I didn’t know she had it. Not only is she the toughest chick I’ve ever seen, but she’s a ninja thief.
“GPS is still off,” she tells him.
“Any contact with Jabali?” He shakes his head once and blinks, as if he’s cutting himself off. “I mean with Silas.”
Jabali? Huh?
Kri shakes her head. “Nothing yet. Reed asked us to wait before attempting to reach him.”
Romero checks his watch. “Hayes is about twenty minutes away. UnlessSilasinitiates contact first, we’ll wait.” He sweeps his teasing eyes my way. “Now that his cookie is here, maybe Reed will calm the fuck down.”
Oh yeah. Reed slipped during the undercover casino thing and called me ‘cookie’ while his teammates were listening.
Resisting the urge to preen, I counter, “I wouldn’t count on it. They have his sister.”
Frowning, he puffs his cheeks around his lips, holding back his words. Until he can’t. “Yeah. So about that...”
FIFTY-FIVE
Big balls
REED
Carnagedidn’t contactLila about Kenzie.
Nor did he respond to her texts or phone calls.
Nope.
That fucker messaged me instead. Color me impressed, he can hold a phone while hoisting up his giant fucking balls.
I’m willing to make a trade. Your sister for Lila. You have ten minutes to reply before I start carving up this bitch.
I know who to thank for giving my personal number to the southern general of the motherfucking STK Brotherhood. He either got it from Kenzie’s phone or her big mouth.
It’s a mindfuck to be hoping she’sinvolved. The alternative is he had to force my number out of her.
Brief flashes of Troy Hartley’s butchered body hit me. A shiver runs down my spine as I envision Kenzie meeting a similar fate.
I hadjustpulled my lips off Lila’s when the text came in. Only in the building for a few minutes, and I was hit with another shit storm.
Because we were entwined in a relieved embrace, Lila saw the text on my phone. After telling her I would handle it, I quickly fled to show the text to my team and plan the response.
To buy time, I replied to the sick fuck to let him know we agreed to meet for a trade. Now, it’s a race against the clock to find them before I have to choose between my sister and Lila.
We’re down to five hours.
If I’m being honest, the choice is easy. I’d rather burn alive than sacrifice Lila.
