Page 44 of Her Reluctant Hero
“He’s a really bad guy.”
“What makes you think I can help you?”
“You know this city. You have connections.”
“You think I have those kinds of connections?”
“Sir, with all due respect, I know you do. You were a detective in this city for twenty years.”
“Yeah, but son, it’s not like the Old West. There aren’t just a handful of bad guys. More come in and more leave every day.”
“How would I find out who’s coming and who’s leaving?”
The old man tilted his head, as if seeing for the first time that Alex was serious. “Who are you looking for?”
“Santiago Saldana.”
Danes blew a breath out through his nose. “When you say bad, you mean bad.”
“He’s pretty much scum of the earth.”
“Why are you looking for him?”
“He killed a DEA agent.”
“Son, when did you become DEA?” Danes asked, sitting back in the frail chair, making it creak.
“I’m not. I was on the mission in Honduras, he slipped through our fingers. We think he might have a kid with him.”
Danes raised his eyebrows. “Why the hell would Saldana have a kid? He’s no Santa Claus.”
“It’s his kid.”
Danes’s eyes sharpened. “What do you care about his kid?”
“The kid’s mom wants him back. I’m thinking we find the kid, we find Saldana. But I don’t know where to look.”
“That’s where you need my help.”
“Yes, sir.”
Danes leaned forward again. “Well, let me see what I can do. How can I get hold of you?”
Frustrated that Danes didn’t tell him what he could do right now, Alex scrawled his cell number on a napkin and passed it to the old man. “Whatever you can do, I’d appreciate,” he made himself say before he shoved back his chair and strode out.
He hadn’t even touched his coffee.
Alex returned to the hotel frustrated and empty handed. He knew it wouldn’t be easy to find Saldana in the city when they hadn’t been able to corner him in his own place in the jungle. Still he wasn’t accustomed to trying and failing.
He got up to the room before he remembered he didn’t have a key card. He knocked, but no answer. What was she doing in there? Sleeping? Showering? Damn, he was going to have to go get a key card. He headed back down to the lobby, slowed when he saw her stagger in through the glass doors, her face white, her body bent nearly double.
He raced toward her, grabbed her arms and crouched to look into her face. The pained expression, the parted lips, the glazed eyes, the shallow breaths. The video he’d just seen played through his head—what had she been through now? She gripped his arms and dug her nails into his arms, and he inspected the rest of her.
“Bella, are you hurt? Is it Saldana?”
She sucked in a breath and shook her head. “No. No.”
“Bella.” He gripped her wrists and guided her toward a chair in the lobby before he knelt before her.
