“What now?” Tiny asked. “We could circle back around to get our rental car.”
“I’m thinking they’ve probably already clocked it.”
“Yeah. And if they’re who we think they are, they’ll already know who we are—and why we’re here.”
Reese straightened. “Who are they?” she asked as evenly as she could. She saw Tiny and Gus share a look. “Please don’t lie to me,” she pleaded. “I’m guessing since we went out a freaking window and people were shooting at us, they aren’t exactly the neighborhood welcome party.”
Gus stepped into her personal space and Reese looked up at him. “Best we can tell without knowing for certain, they’re cartel.”
Reese forced herself not to react outwardly. She wanted to be tough and strong. But inside she was freaking the fuck out. “Like, a drug cartel?” she asked.
Gus’s lips twitched, but then he got serious. “Yeah.”
Reese swallowed hard. “Okay. Now what?”
Gus stared at her for a long moment with a look she couldn’t interpret.
“What?”
“You aren’t freaking out?” Gus asked.
“Would it help if I did?”
“No.”
“If it makes you feel better, I’ll freak out later. Once we find Woody and Isabella and her brother and get the hell out of here.”
“Right. So…I’m guessing they’ll know who we are, and since we rented a room in the same hotel where you’ve been staying, it’s not going to take them long to figure out that we’re with the same woman who visited the apartment a couple days ago.”
“So it’s not safe to go back there right now.”
“Exactly,” Gus said.
“Then what’s the plan?”
“I’m thinking we go and get Woody and the others,” Tiny said from next to them.
Reese jerked. She’d almost forgotten he was there. With Gus so close to her, and watching her so carefully, she’d only been aware of him.
Tiny held up a slip of paper.
“What’s that?”
“It was inside a box with the drugs we found in Angelo’s room.”
“He had drugs in his room?” Reese asked.
“Yeah,” Tiny said grimly.
“That can’t be good,” she said, which felt like a total understatement.
“Where is it?” Gus asked his friend.
Tiny nodded at the cell phone he’d been using to look up the address. “In the woods outside Bogotá.”
“How far outside?” Gus asked.
“About thirty miles east of the city.”
Reese’s belly rolled.
“Shit. We need transportation,” Gus said.
“And I’m thinking maybe a call to Tex to find out what we’re walking into would be good too,” Tiny said.
“Although we don’t want to give them much time to prepare for our arrival,” Gus countered. “So it wouldn’t be smart to wait until tomorrow.”
Reese’s head swiveled back and forth as the men discussed their next steps.
“Where are we gonna get a car?” Tiny asked.
Gus pressed his lips together in thought.
“What about that one?” Reese blurted as she pointed toward a beat-up old pickup truck parked in an alley across the street.
Both men’s heads swiveled toward her.
She pushed down her embarrassment at what she was about to admit. “I mean, I’m sure you guys can do it too…but those older models are fairly easy to hotwire. We could leave some money or something in its place.”
“You know how to hotwire a car?” Tiny asked incredulously.
She shrugged and nodded.
“Marry me,” he joked.
Reese grinned.
Gus frowned. “I don’t know.”
“How else are we gonna get there?” Tiny asked. “You were right, we need to get out there and see what’s up before anyone has time to regroup. You know as well as I do that those guys at the apartment aren’t going to be content to just let us walk away. They’re going to want to know why we were there and what we want. And it’s likely the drugs are connected to Woody’s disappearance.”
“You think the brother is dealing?” Gus asked.
“No clue. But around here, being part of the cartel is considered a good safety net. And having someone like Isabella to translate for them would be a boon.”
“How do you think Woody’s involved?” she asked.
“Bad timing?” Tiny said with a shrug. “I don’t know. But we don’t have any other leads at the moment. If we get to this address and there’s nothing there, or Woody and the others aren’t anywhere to be seen, we can come back to Bogotá and keep looking.”
Gus looked down at Reese, then back at his friend.
“If you leave me at the hotel, those men could come and grab me,” she said. “Try to get information out of me about you two.” She wasn’t trying to be dramatic or manipulative. She was genuinely worried about being on her own now. “If you weren’t with me, there’s no way I could’ve gotten out of that apartment. I’m safer with you two than on my own. I promise I’ll leave the shooting and lurking about to you two. I’ll stay where you put me—but please let me come with you.”
Gus looked at his friend.
“It’s up to you,” Tiny said.
Gus sighed and looked back at her. “If something happens to you, Woody will never forgive me,” he said.
“Nothing’s going to happen to me when I’m with you.” Reese wasn’t a fortune teller. She had no idea what would happen in the future, but one thing she did know, without a single doubt, was that she believed her words one hundred percent.
“All right. But if I tell you to do something, you do it. Immediately. Without question. Understand?”
Reese quickly nodded.
“I’m going to regret this,” Gus said more to himself than to her, but he looked both ways up and down the street. There wasn’t anyone around.
“Come on. Let’s do this. You can show off your hotwiring skills,” he told her.
“And you’ll leave some money in place of the car?” she asked as the three of them quickly walked across the street and ducked into the alley.
“You’ve got a soft heart,” Gus murmured, turning away from the truck to make sure no one approached.
Reese shrugged as she leaned into the driver’s side to get to work on the truck.
“Not saying that’s a bad thing, just an observation,” Gus said. “And yes, I’ll leave some pesos. It won’t be enough to cover the cost of the truck, but if this thing even runs I’d be surprised.”
In seconds, Reese had the engine started, and Gus stared at her with admiration. “That was fast.”
“I’m that good,” she couldn’t help but brag.
Gus and Tiny chuckled.
“Scoot into the middle,” Tiny said. “I’m driving.”
Reese wanted to protest, but she’d promised Gus she would do what they asked without questioning them. So she moved to the center of the seat and soon she was sandwiched between the two huge men. Tiny backed out of the alley and Reese held her breath until they were well away from where they’d stolen the truck.