Page 53 of She's Mine

“I don’t have a car,” I lied, as we stepped out into the parking lot. Perez hadn’t seen which vehicle I’d come in, and I didn’t want him knowing I had a means of escape.

I might need it later, when I found Alyssa.

Perez shrugged. “Not a problem, we can take mine.”

He gestured towards the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and once we were both inside the car, he drove me back to the cabin by the Devil's Backbone Trail.

He took me up to the man at the entrance, and said, “This dude here’s after a speedball special. Said he wants to get in on the ground. Should we let him meet the boss?”

The other guy studied me for a moment, and then shrugged. “I can’t see why not?”

Perez left me with the doorman and got back into his Mercedes. I was escorted into the cabin, where all the gang members hung around, armed to the nines. I had my pistol with me but knew there’s no way I’d win a shootout with the whole cartel. Once I found Alyssa, we’d have to bemuchsneakier.

The doorman led me up a flight of stairs, and then to an office on the second floor. He knocked on the door, and a moment later, a smooth and controlled voice called out, “Come in.”

The doorman opened the door to a massive, modernly furnished office, and behind the desk sat Tomas Hernández.

As the door closed behind me, I suddenly realized howeasyall this had been. Then Tomas Hernández smirked and said, “Welcome, David Gordon. I wondered how long it would take you to find the place.”

FUCK! I’d fallen right into a trap.

“You knew I was coming?”

Hernández rolled his eyes. “When I instructed Miss Blythe to contact her father, and instead she sent that cute little message to you about the brook, I knew what she was up to. I decided to use it to my advantage. I know all about you, Gordon. I know if things had worked out differently twenty years ago, you might be onmyside, not theirs.”

“I’m glad Jeffrey Garcia found me when he did, and saved me from you and your cartel,” I snarled back, reaching for the pistol holstered at my hip. “Where’s Alyssa?”

Hernández smiled like a hungry wolf. “Put that gun away. Evenifyoudidmanage to shoot me, do you really think you’d make it out of here alive? But don’t worry, you and your lady love will be reunited soon. Together, you’ll make the perfect bait for me to draw inbothCharles BlytheandJeffrey Garcia. Then I cankilltwo birds with one stone.”

Maybe I should have been more concerned about walking right into Hernández’s trap, but instead, I was more focused on the fact I was about to be reunited with Alyssa.

After that, we could figure something out.

“Lay down the gun and raise your arms,” Hernández instructed.

Knowing if I did what he asked, no one would get hurt, and he’d take me to Alyssa, I laid down my weapon.

Hernández took my pistol and then locked it in a safe by his desk, before slapping a pair of handcuffs on my arms.

“That will keep you in line,” Hernández said, walking around me to the door. “Follow me.”

Getting to my feet wasn’t easy while I was cuffed, but I managed it, and then followed Hernández as he led me back downstairs. I carefully took count of all the men in the main area of the building, calculating there were at least thirty.

I didn’t know how the hell we were going to get out of this mess, but right now, the only thing that mattered was being with Alyssa. Once I could hold her in my arms, and I knew she was unhurt, we could figure everything else out.

Together.

Hernández led me down some stairs towards a cold, damp cellar. Outside the door, as if on guard duty, was Joseph Blythe. He looked like a shadow of his former-self, with dead eyes, and an almost wraith-like appearance.

He glanced at me briefly, then asked, “Who is this?”

“The boyfriend. Didn’t I tell you he’d come?” Hernández replied smugly.

Joseph stared at me more closely, then snorted derivatively. “For a security guard, you aren’t very clever, are you?”

“Or maybe this was all part of my plan?” I shot back, feeling foolish I’d fallen into the trap so easily, but not wanting Hernández and Blythe to know this.

Blythe opened the door to the cellar, and shoved me forwards into the damp, darkness.

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