Page 17 of Rescued

Yeah, what the hell was he going to do with her? “She’s okay for the moment. I’m working on a place to relocate her, when it’s safe.”

But when would that be? It was possible both her friend and the pickup crew were dead. Maybe tortured. Hopefully Thanatos had contacts somewhere for situations like this, or Switch was going to have a human millstone around his neck for fucking ever.

He needed to check into this Quentin Moreno and find out exactly what they were up against. He said to Marie, “Can you send me what you have on Moreno?”

“I’ll try,” she said. “Our communications might be compromised.”

“Do what you can. You know where to send it. And, Marie? Watch your back.”

“You too.”

Switch cut the call and sat for a minute, thinking. Then he picked up the internal communications phone and pushed the button for the Big House—Thanatos’s mansion on the hill.

It rang exactly three times—as it always did—and then Sugar answered. As he always did. Switch privately believed he was an alien or an android, because as far as anyone knew he never ate, slept, or got caught on the crapper.

As soon as Sugar heard who it was, he said, “Thanatos wants to know who’s paying for the repairs on that helicopter.”

Switch snorted. “He is. He’s like, a fucking billionaire, and I’m living in a cabin with half a screen door and a rain bucket in the middle of the floor. Your boss is a slum lord, and he can fix his own helo.”

“I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to hear it.”

That was probably a threat. Luckily, Switch gave no fucks about Sugar’s threats.

“Hey, he’s the one always helping the helpless. It’s what you all do, right? And I helped probably the most fucking helpless little human on the planet. She’s a model, for fuck’s sake. The only thing she knows how to do is put on makeup.”

“What’s your point?”

“Duh. She needs somewhere safe to go, and for us to get her there. This Moreno guy seems to have a long reach. And I’d bet money this girl has something more on him—maybe something she doesn’t even know she knows. He seems willing to go to a lot of trouble and expense to get her back.”

He told Sugar what little he’d learned from Marie—and also that someone among the shooters had yelled at them not to kill Breanna. They’d wanted her alive.

“Interesting,” Sugar murmured.

“Whatever. What I want to know is, can Breanna stay here somewhere for a few days? Preferably up at the Big House, so I can have my bed back? And what resources does Thanatos have for relocating her, when it’s safe?”

Sugar said, “Who said Thanatos was going to do anything? This is your mess, not ours.”

“Yeah, sure. Wait until he gets a load of the doe eyes. He’ll be putty.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’ll see. Just ask him, okay? Don’t make me come up there and annoy him.”

“And what should I say you’re offering him in return?”

“Not to come up and annoy him?”

Sugar said, “As delightful as the prospect of not seeing you is, I think Thanatos will want more. After all, as you’re so fond of pointing out, you don’t work for him.”

No, he fucking didn’t. Switch said, “From where I’m sitting, he owes me, for air surveillance and support during that little skirmish to the death with Rico de León’s cartel last year. And also, for bringing Gunn back alive after you so carelessly lost him in Illinois last month.”

When Sugar had let Gunn be pushed out of the helicopter he was flying, and didn’t bother to go back and get him.

Sugar said, “He would have made his way home eventually.”

“Before or after your wolf pack imploded?” They’d barely gotten back here in time to stop it.

Sugar sighed. “Fine. I will put the request before Thanatos.”