Page 2 of Blind Justice

“Would you be willing to talk to me?” Duncan needed to get them to focus on the situation, not their petty squabble.

“We talk to you and we’re good as dead,” the man said. “Raul will eventually find us. He’ll always find us.”

“You could come with me. I can arrest you, so it doesn’t appear you both came willingly. Once we’re back in the States, I’ll hide you where no one can find you.” It was a long shot. He was only on loan to the FBI and didn’t have much pull. Still, if they gave information on the inner workings of the cartel and the club, their assistance would be immense in capturing and finally imprisoning Raul Iniguez. With the intel the FBI and R.O.O.T. gathered, if they stayed in Mexico, the chances of them surviving were slim and none. Raul would kill them to keep them from talking. Duncan had seen it one too many times over the years with different cartels.

“Fucking arrest us?” The man made a derisive sound. “Fuck that. I’d rather take my chances back in Cali.”

Duncan knew better. Going home alive might lead some to believe theydidsnitch on Raul. They were in a lose/lose situation. “It would be a show. I can’t promise you a lot of things, but I can get you out of here.”

The woman broke away from the man and stepped toward Duncan. “Where would we go? You say you were trying to prevent this from happening, but it did. What makes you think we can trust you?”

Duncan stared at her for a moment. “You can’t.”

She frowned. “What?” As tough as she sounded, Duncan didn’t think she’d hurt anyone. If anything, she reminded him of a caretaker. She wore a pair of brightly colored scrubs and had her long black hair pulled back in boxer braids. Across her brow and down to her temple were a smattering of heart tattoos with a red one in the middle. Like the man beside her, she had several, including a rosary and roman numerals. She had beautiful doe eyes and full bow-shaped lips. As he took in the rest of her appearance, he noticed the flower petals peeking out from the collar of her shirt.

“You can’t trust my words after this shitstorm. What’s the alternative though? The minute you walk out of what remains of this building, the Federales will arrest you, and you’ll rot in a cell before your trial ever begins. Worse, whoever initiated this little coup d'état will send someone to take care of any loose ends. And, if you think someone within the cartel will protect you, you’ve got another thing coming. Everyone is either saving their own asses or dead. Plus, your fearless leader, Raul, has fucked off to an unknown location. The minute he determines he’s safe, he’ll kill you too.” He went at them hard, maybe harder than he should have. He didn’t have the agency grace like Thomas, nor did he have the wherewithal to be ‘nice’ in situations like these. It wasn’t why he was brought into the agency.

The girl frowned while the man behind her hissed out a string of curses in Spanish. He couldn’t finesse them into coming with him. If he pushed any more than he already had, they might turn around and tell prosecutors he coerced false statements from them with the promise of freedom. Once the court heard that, Raul would be in the wind, and their case would be closed.

“We’ll go with you,” the man said.

“Enzo!” The girl pivoted. “What are you doing?”

“He’s right. We should’ve died today. We didn’t. Now, we have targets on our backs.” Enzo stepped forward. “If we go with him, we might have a chance.”

“At what?”

“Living another day,” Duncan said.

“What’s stopping you from killing us once we tell you everything we know?” She crossed her arms, drawing Duncan’s attention to her full breasts.

He lifted his gaze back to her whiskey-colored eyes. “Nothing.”

“Mantén a tus amigos cerca, pero tus enemigos más cerca,” she muttered.

“Yeah.” Duncan scratched his cheek. “Something like that.”

Bella narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“We’re going with you,” Enzo said, cutting his gaze toward the girl. “When can we leave?”

Duncan pushed into his hotel room in El Paso as the sun touched the horizon, bringing forth another day. He paid for a suite, so there was a full bedroom for Enzo and his sister Bella to use. Getting them away from the scene had taken a little finagling on his part. The Federales swarmed everywhere, along with their investigators. There were also state investigators in conjunction with those brought in by Asher. By the time he climbed into the SUV and drove away from the scene, the place had been crawling with people.

“Go through there.” Duncan pointed to a door. “Catch a few hours of sleep then we’ll begin the debrief.”

“Don’t you want to rest too?” Bella glanced up at him, hitching her finger at the bed. “We could take turns.”

It would be so easy for Duncan to join them. He’d been spying glances at the duo since they’d been on the road. However, he had to keep it professional, even if he found it attractive when Bella batted her eyes or when Enzo’s heated stare found his. “Why do you care if I sleep?”

She frowned. “You should rest, but if you’d rather be an asshole, fine by me.” She spun away from him and stormed toward the door he’d pointed to.

“She has a point.” Enzo shrugged, following her.

Duncan sighed. Of all the agents who could’ve found them, it had to be him. He wasn’t a people person. Being close to anyone other than Thomas created problems for him. When the door to the room closed, he tapped the comm in his ear and waited. Asher’s rough, sleep-addled voice answered a few seconds later.

Duncan jumped in with both feet. “I brought two people with me. They’re witnesses.”

“Fuck,” Asher snapped. “What kind?”

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