Page 15 of Pitbull
“I think I’m about due for a spankin’ so…” Tex had dropped his voice to a low, sultry hum.
Pitbull glanced over at Anke and though he shook his head, a smile spread his lips. “See? I can’t take these fools anywhere. Could we focus for a second?”
“Oh sweetheart. You’re no fun—I’m always focused. Give me something to obsess over, would you?”
Pitbull relayed the license plate number to Tex. Turned out the car had been stolen. “Well, there’s my reason to confiscate it?”
Tex laughed. “You be careful. I’ll tell the others.”
“Oh, and Tex, Anke and Claudia has this friend…”
“Ruby,” Tex said.
“How did he know that? How do you know that?” Anke asked.
Tex laughed. “Oh, Darlin’ – pray you never have to find the answer to that. I’ll get eyes on Ruby—make sure she’s safe.”
“While you’re at it.” Pitbull interrupted them. “Could you please look into Claudia’s background?”
“Pit…”
“I need to know what she’s been up to.”
“All right, brother. But I fear I should go on record as to say you may not like what I find.”
“Noted.” Pitbull hung up and pressed his eyes close. A part of him didn’t want to know what Claudia’s life had been since he left to join the academy. But if there was something in said past to help find her, he didn’t have a choice. If they wished to find Claudia they couldn’t leave any stones unturned.
“You think she was into something illegal?”
“I don’t know.” He lied while handing Anke the phone. “Stay here.”
“Are you kidding? You can’t just leave me here!”
“I have to have a word with the men watching this apartment. I don’t want to have to worry about you getting shot. Just—stay here.”
He could see she wanted to argue but he turned out the door again before she had a chance to. Quickly, he exited the way they’d come in then snaked his way around the building. Thankfully, he was a lot closer to the vehicle than he’d thought and managed to sneak up to the side of the window with his gun drawn. Using his foot, he tapped the side of the car. “Polizei!Ich will Ihre Hände sehen!”
The man reached toward the passenger seat but Pitbull cocked his weapon. “I don’t believe you heard me.”
The man stopped and shoved his hands in the air.
“Good boy. Now, stick them out the window.”
When that instruction was followed, Pitbull leaned forward and opened the door. He pulled the man out, twisted him and shoved him up against the side of the car. After he’d cuffed him, he patted him down and found a handgun shoved in the back of the man’s pants, a taser in a side holster and some weed.
“Want to tell me why you’re here?” Pitbull asked. He finally hit a wallet and pulled it out.
The man said nothing. There wasn’t anything in the wallet but some money, a matchbook from a strip club and a few foreign coins Pitbull had never seen before.
“No?”
The man said nothing.
“Doesn’t matter,” Pitbull put the wallet back into the man’s pocket then shoved him to his ass on the sidewalk. “You don’t have to say anything. Your face will give me all the information I need.”
After taking a picture of the man’s face with his cell, Pitbull sent it to Tex. He put in a call to the local police to have the man taken in then transferred to CIRO headquarters in Sankt Augustin.
With the commotion over, he searched the vehicle and found three cell phones, all burners, a wad of American dollars, a crumbled up map and a semi-automatic rifle in the trunk. It seemed his new friend had come prepared for war.
