“I would suggest that you not bother Adrik with rumors.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “I think he’d want the heads up on more shit hitting the fan before it actually does.”
“Sure. But until those rumors about the Feds upping their interest in us becomes more of a fact, I wouldn’t bother him about it.” I wasn’t saying that to be my brother’s gatekeeper, but truly, it was nothing new. The Feds were always getting hard about bringing us in or taking us down.
They hadn’t succeeded with that—ever. Generations of power had stayed in the Volkov Bratva line, and many more would yet.
Once Viktor was appeased, both with my advice not to take this to Adrik and also for getting it off his shoulders to tellsomeoneabout what he’d heard, he continued on his way to his house, further from mine and the others’.
That was two out of five, so far. Nikolai and Lev were likely off managing something else and had no reason to express their concerns with me. Adrik was no doubt staying up late at the mansion and dealing with more bullshit.
But we’ll always be ready.
Gregori wouldn’t catch us by surprise again. And so long as we could rely on the teamwork we’d always fostered, no matter our ranks and specific responsibilities, we would always stay strong.
Regardless of any plots from our loathed relatives who’d come back from the dead to fight again.
2
CARINA
Dusting red dirt off my knees sent a plume of rusty filth into the air. It didn’t matter how dirty my black jeans were. All that I cared about was that the vans and trucks heading into the States would deliver as expected.
“How come they don’t have the new trackers on them?” I asked the runner who stood nearest me in this open area of the Cartel’s compound. Behind me, the lavish residence my parents bought offered some shade. This far from the grounds and the ornamental landscaping that surrounded the Spanish-style villa, we were under the mercy of the Mexican sun. Hot and unrelenting, it beat down on my back. Yet, the discomfort would only be temporary.
Enrique, a runner my father personally selected before he was gunned down near the border, lifted his head and faced me.
“Señorita Carina,” he chided gently with a kind smile as he stood as well from checking under this specific truck. “You don’t need to be out here and getting all filthy.”
None of the Cartel men would ever dare to scold me or speak to me with any authority. Or they damn well shouldn’t. It didn’t matter that half of the Cartel had known me since I was a young girl, standing to my father’s knee. They’d all witnessed me growing up over the years. But they also had watched me disabuse the notion that I should look or act like a typical Cartel princess.
In a white top, black pants, and boots that were more for practical purposes of hiking out from the property than to look sexy or cute, I was dressed like I usually did. Dresseddown, in other words, because there was no way on earth that I’d let myself be excluded from personally touring this site and making sure our runners were equipped to succeed.
Enrique wasn’t as bad as the others. Younger recruits would scorn me for being present at all. New soldiers and runners would smirk and show disdainful amusement at the fact that I didn’t stay inside and worry about being pretty. But the older ones, the ones who’d known my father when he was the leader of the Garcia Cartel, they tolerated me well enough.
“I will decide where I need to be,” I replied, leaving out any bite in my tone since he wasn’t ridiculing me or being nasty about my quality check here. If anything, he was likely chastising me only because he feared what would happen if he didn’t.
This lot where the runners prepped their vehicles for a smuggling run wasn’t public property. This wasn’t an area where anyone on the Cartel compound could leisurely linger and stroll around.
That excludedme, though, and I wasn’t letting my question go unanswered. “Why are the new trackers not on these vehicles?” I asked again.
He shrugged then rubbed the back of his sunburned and leathery-tanned neck. “I’m not sure, Señorita. I was told to leave them off.”
I arched one brow, curious and annoyed. Those new trackers would enable us to ensure no vehicles were lost on the run. I’djustbought them and handed them to my brother, Arturo, to have them installed. “Who told you to leave them off?”
“The boss,” he answered, lowering his gaze.
“My brother?” I huffed, shaking my head. “No. That can’t be right.” Arturo had asked me to investigate which tracker could go undetected by the border patrol agents. After a few issues last year, he’d finally come to the conclusion that we needed something to track the vehicles when they were lost or captured. It was nothing more than insurance for our equipment, a tracking system for us alone, to better inventory what was where. While we didn’t run any legal kind of business here, this stillwasour business. Running drugs was how we stayed a true power in the region, and it only made sense to better our operations however we could.
Hence the trackers I’d researched and purchased.
Enrique shrugged. I’d get nowhere fast asking him to explain my brother’s choices. Ever since our parents were gunned down and Arturo took over as the main boss ten years ago, he’d wavered between terrible and impulsive choices and making level-headed decisions. I was often the variable that could sway him from his rash decisions. Unafraid to argue with my brother and never shy about pointing out why he wasn’t thinking straight, I was the principal check and balance on the Cartel leadership.
Except right now.I thanked Enrique for his explanation and left the runner where he was, checking the tire pressure. Then, I strode for the tall figure of my brother, my only sibling.
And sometimes, the stupidest idiot on the face of the world.
Anticipating an aggravating argument, I heaved out a deep sigh and approached him. The driver who was speaking with him nodded at me in deference before he turned away.
