Page 35 of Tango

“He doesn’t need this shit in his head right now.” Cole didn’t turn around as he spoke.

“Agreed.” Mike added, “Get the fucker on the phone so we can all see what we’re dealing with.”

“Okay.” I took a deep breath and dialed.

I felt my stomach tighten as the ringtone filled the room, then suddenly Castillo’s arrogant voice snapped over the speaker.

“This better be good.”

“It’s Eric.” I added exhaustion to my voice with a mix of anxiety.

“Eric?” He frantically waved at Alejandro to get out of his sight. “Where the fuck are you?”

“Where am I?” I flipped the question around. “What the hell happened? One moment I’m transporting the girl, and the next I’m being shot at and hunted across the city. Fuck me, Castillo, was that your doing?”

He looked around then dashed into my office and slammed the door. Cole switched camera views.

“What?” His fucking pitch told me everything I needed to know. Let alone the way his hand flew to his chest like the dramatic asshole he was. I glanced at Frank and knew he’d picked up on it, too. The piece of shit was behind the ambush. “I’ve been working hard, trying to find out if my friend is okay, and-and you question if I was involved? Come on, Eric.” I rolled my eyes at his lame attempt to lie. “We made a deal. The money was transferred.” I sat up straight at his words. “All you had to do was drop off the girl.”

I caught him in his own lie. “It was two in the morning. How was the money transferred?”

“Be careful,” Cole wrote on a whiteboard in front of him. Frank shook his head for him not to worry. Eric always pushed Castillo, and I knew if I didn’t do it now, he’d pick up on it immediately.

“Erriic,” he drawled out my name. “he was your buyer. I knew the money was good. Because if not, I’d kill you.” He said it easily in a tone I knew. We were okay.

“Publicly, of course.” I egged on his dark side, knowing he loved when I did that. Especially at my own cost.

“What other way is there? If you find a rat has been living inside your walls for years, you got to make a statement.”

“Listen, Castillo,” I stood and carried the speaker phone with me. I needed to move as I struggled to get myself into the mindset of someone who was scared. I imagined myself in hiding, in fear for my life. It was important to get this right. “Whoever it was that came after us, they were gunning for the girl.”

“And did they succeed?” I watched him on the screen as he casually checked the time.

“No,” I paused as Lexi’s lifeless face stared up at me, “she’s here with me, alive.”

I saw Cole shift ever so silently in his chair and I knew as I played this last card, more questions would come.

“Let me speak to her.” His voice shook with excitement. I shook my head at his image on the screen and pulled the recorder from my pocket.

“Hey,” I pretended to talk to Lexi, “wake the fuck up.” I hated to even pretend to speak to her like that. I pressed play, and her voice rang out in a rush.

“Get your fucking hands off me!” I closed my eyes, hating how much it hurt hearing the tone in her voice. I heard an intake of breath behind me and knew it was Keith, but I kept going.

“Take the phone.” I pushed the words through my clenched teeth.

“Fuck you!”

I slipped the recorder away and tried not to look at the guys.

“Is that enough for you?”

“I want a video.” Sonofabitch.

“After all I’ve been through in the past few days, tryin’ to get this chick back to you, and you question me?”

“I want to post it publicly. I want everyone to know Blackstone never got her from me. They missed their mark again!”

I played along. “I highly doubt it was Blackstone. They’d never spray bullets like that trying to save one of their own. Way too dangerous for her.”

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