Page 96 of Wicked Intention

Finn tuned out the chatter as they took seats. The captain and chief had entered with a third man, and the three of them were headed to the bar. “Who’s that with BD and Cordy?”

“The new guy.” Ski’s voice held resignation.

“Yeah,” Lurch said, not sounding any happier.

The new guy. None of the men at the table had used his handle, which told Finn a hell of a lot. “Why’d they bring him?”

“Probably hoping he’ll figure it out,” Pruitt said glumly.

“We talked about this,” Ski reminded him.

Finn nodded as the memory came back. What had hisbuddy said? Something about the dude trying to adjust to covert ops?

When the men reached the table and settled themselves into chairs, the captain asked, “Did you come alone, Stony?”

“No, I have a couple friends near the bar.”

“Then, everyone needs to look happier. We’re seeing an old buddy for the first time in years.”

“You should have lost them,” the new guy said.

“And then I would have had to answer questions about what I was doing when I got home tonight.” Finn gave the man a flat stare.

“You’re calling the hacienda home?” BD asked, both eyebrows going up.

“It’s where my woman is.” It was that simple and that complicated. Home wasn’t a place for him. It never had been. Home was wherever Zo was.

Nodding his understanding, the captain said, “I got Lurch’s thoughts on how the meeting went yesterday, now give me your opinion.”

“It went better than I expected. He didn’t have his bodyguards put a bullet in me.”

“But he’s leery,” Cordy said. He wasn’t guessing.

“Very.”

“Do you believe his claims about not having the merchandise to sell to your host?” the chief asked.

Finn had spent a lot of time thinking about it in the past twenty-four plus hours. “No, he’s got them all right. I think he’s planning to take them to auction—that’s why he said what he did yesterday—but he’ll sell them wherever he can make the most profit.”

“An auction will slow down the return on investment,” BD said.

“It will, but above everything else, Silva and Torres are businessmen. They have the motherlode, and they’ll hang onto them for as long as it takes to maximize revenue,” Finn said with a half-smile.

His teammates grinned back as if he’d said something funny, and Griff raised his bottle in another mock toast. Except the new guy was a few beats late before he followed suit, and it looked strange. The slowness wasn’t good. Finn had some of Ramos’ A-team with him. Although not Vargas, thank God.

“It’s a rare collection,” Finn continued. “An auction guarantees a high return.”

“Can you convince him that Ramos will pay top dollar?”

“Can I? Yes. Will Ramos agree to that price?” Finn shrugged. “In the past, he decided the cost was too high on a purchase and tried to halve what he was paying without letting Torres know in advance. It didn’t go over well.”

“Fuck,” Ski said. “That complicates things.”

“I have another complication to throw in the mix.” This time, Finn raised his beer, pointing the neck at his friend as if he was acknowledging something that Pienkowski had said. “Someone unknown is selling arms to Bianchi, the drug lord Ramos is at war with. I tried to check it out today but hit dead ends.”

“Whoa,” Pru said. “What?”

“I heard a rumbling about competition in the marketplace two years ago but dismissed it as paranoia. Considering the source, it could have been, and who’d be stupid enough to challenge Torres? But I’m hearing the same rumor now, and it’s got some heft behind it. You want to check it out for me?”

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