True to his word, Emeril was knocking on my door three minutes later. I'd pulled on some black pants and a black t-shirt in the time it took him to get here.
"Hey, kiddo." He announced when I opened the door and let him inside. He'd been on Uncle Gonzalo's payroll since I was in high school, at the very least. I just hadn't known what his role was until now. "Gonzalo said you were still a little drunk. It'll take us about two hours to get there, so we can swing by and get you something greasy to sober up on the way." I grabbed my purse, careful to leave my cellphone here, and locked up before following him down to the parking garage.
His windows were tinted all around on the sedan so when we pulled out of the parking garage, even if Sal or Hector had someone watching, they'd never see me.
We hit the highway after stopping off at the nearest open fast-food place to get some food to go – McDonald's it was. While Emeril drove, I ate and listened to him tell me about the target.
"Gonzalo has been cleaning up shop here, eliminating every player in the sex-trafficking ring that comes from Mexico to hide, while Andres takes care of the ones in Mexico and moving into Central America." He glanced at me before focusing on the road again. "The next name on the list is Ulises Ramirez. He's been hopping back and forth between here and California. Lucky for us, he just arrived at his safe house last week. Right now, he's setting up one last auction before he gets out of the game. Word on the street is this auction is something the big players don't want to miss because Ramirez wants to go out with a bang."
"If we take him out now, how will we get information or any of his contacts?"
"The auction is already set up as per the suppliers – he's just the middleman who hosts the auction and collects the money. We take him out, get whatever information we can find, and pass everything off to Gonzalo to figure out." I nodded, tucking my trash back into the bag and taking a few sips of my Coke.
"So, when we take out the target, that's it?"
"Gonzalo doesn't want you to have to pick through the information because even though he's putting a gun in your hand, he doesn't want you exposed to the grime. You can put the gun down, but you can't erase the data seared into your brain."
For the last hour of the ride, Emeril had me reacquaint myself with a gun. I field stripped it numerous times before he agreed I was efficient. Growing up, I'd been shown the way around a gun before I'd gotten my first period in middle school. I just hadn't picked a gun up since moving out on my own, five years ago.
We pulled onto a long, private driveway that veered off into thick woods around one forty-five. Emeril assured me he'd had a fake plumber come out to get the layout of the house and assess any threats we'd have. He pulled off the main drive into the woods and made sure the car was hidden before we walked on foot up the driveway to the house. I carried the backpack, gun in hand so Emeril could have both arms free just in case. He had a gun in one hand, and the other he left free so he could check his watch every so often.
When we finally made it to the house, we paused outside long enough to pull gloves on before we slid into the open basement window the fake plumber had left unlocked for us. It was nearly two, and I could feel Emeril getting antsy. He pulled out a map, checked it, then tucked it away and led the way upstairs to the first floor. I waited on the first floor while he cleared the rest of the house to make sure we didn't have any surprise visitors. Other than a cute little puppy that was locked in a crate, we were alone.
When we got to the bedroom upstairs, he offered me a silencer. I smiled, took it and screwed it on while he picked the lock.
A man was sleeping in the bed, his snores most likely due to the bottle of pills sitting on his nightstand. Guess selling people made it hard to sleep at night. My first bullet went into his right knee, just because I'd had a shitty day. Emeril chuckled behind me, but I didn't take my eyes off the now awake and screaming man, moving to grab his gun from the nightstand before he could. I emptied the bullets onto the floor before tossing the gun aside, smiling as they pinged around.
"You bitch!" I lifted my gun and aimed at his other knee. "I'm-"
"You're not getting out of that bed alive." I started calmly. "You can either give me what I want, and I put a bullet in your head, or I'll keep shooting until you die choking on your own blood. Either way, you're a dead man." I snatched his phone and tossed it to Emeril.
"You don't know who you're fucking with, whore."
"You've got a minute to give me the codes and passwords I'll need for that phone and your safe before you get another bullet." I cocked my gun and waited.
"If I don't check in by five, this place will be swarming-" I shot his left foot this time, chuckling when his toes went flying in a spray of blood. "You're fucking crazy!" He screamed, before rattling off the information I needed through clenched teeth.
"Think that's it?" I asked Emeril, not taking my eyes off the glaring, grunting man. He was getting pale, and his blood was starting to drip from the bed now.
"Plumber said there was only one safe in here, yeah."
"Run down and make sure everything works first." I waited, smirking at the man until Emeril came back. "Good?"
"Yeah, we're good." The man was dead before his head hit the pillow.
Downstairs, I pulled out the backpack inside the backpack I'd carried and emptied the contents of his safe into the bags while Emeril did one last sweep to make sure we got everything useful. On our way out, I snatched a few books and the two duffels of cash by his desk despite Emeril telling me to leave them when I met him out in the hallway.
"The dead man upstairs won't need it. I earned this money." I argued as we hurried down the hall to the side door. "Oh wait, the puppy!"
"Leave it."
"No!" He sighed before running down the hall to where the puppy was whining softly in its crate. A minute later, he was back with it tucked under his arm like a football. He snatched both duffels from me and shoved the puppy into my arms before steering me out the side door. We'd just cleared the tree line when a car came roaring down the drive, out of sight but close enough we could hear it. It wasn't even five yet, so he'd lied to us. Bastard. We moved further into the woods, and I crouched with the puppy behind a tree while Emeril kept watch. The moment the car hit the house and the men got out and ran inside, we took off running. Emeril, surprisingly, stayed right behind me despite carrying the duffel bags and a backpack.
I didn't let out a breath of relief until we were in the car and pulling out of the drive. Emeril didn't talk until we turned onto the highway. Then, all he did was laugh.
"What?" I asked, petting the little Doberman puppy.
"You surprised me." He connected his phone to the car and called Uncle Gonzalo. "You see the footage?" He asked when Uncle Gonzalo picked up.
"Footage?" I asked curiously.
"I had Emeril wear a bodycam." Uncle Gonzalo's voice answered, filling the car. "I wanted to see for myself if you were ready, or if it was all talk so you could take the easy way out of whatever Salvatore has planned at that reunion."
"So?" I pressed, glancing at Emeril. "How did I do?"
"Down to saving the puppy, you did everything I thought you'd do, kiddo. You're a natural." I fed the puppy some leftover bacon I had. "I'll have another assignment in a few days. Until then, get ready for that reunion you have." I rolled my eyes as he disconnected.
When we got back, Emeril stopped off at Walmart to get me a few things for the puppy. I couldn't go in because I had blood on my face from being too close when I'd shot the guy in the foot.
Back at the condo, Emeril waited for me to take a quick shower before we started going through the shit from the safe.
"You want the jewels?" Emeril was asking when Sal and Hector let themselves in. "Didn't you lock that?" Emeril asked when they closed the door behind them.
"I did." I frowned at them as they joined us by the couch. Hector went straight for the puppy, but Sal paused beside the coffee table and observed everything we'd spread out so far. Emeril had tucked the documents into a backpack for later, and we'd spread out the remaining stuff so we could look it all over.
"Is this what I think it is?" He asked curiously, looking at me with a new look in his eyes, one I'd never seen before. At least, not directed at me.
"Wanna see the footage?" Emeril joked.
"There's footage? Hell yeah." Hector interrupted before Sal could. Emeril pulled out his phone and opened an app before clicking on the latest video. Then he handed over his phone so they could watch. Except, after the first shot, Emeril got up to watch it with them. I avoided looking at them, instead focusing on sorting through the jewelry. There were three silk bags full. I dumped the first one out and glanced over it. Necklaces, rings, watches and a single gold tooth. Ew.
"You think he got these from the victims?" I asked, glancing up at Emeril. He was standing with Sal and Hector, all three rewatching the video. They were at the part where I was telling Emeril to get me the puppy. Said puppy was snuggled in Hector's arms, far more content with him than with me. "Emeril?" He glanced away from the phone and met my gaze before glancing over the jewelry I'd spread out.
"He most likely did. As an auction host, he was probably allowed to keep anything they had. And if he wasn't, he probably took it by force."
"Sell the rest of this shit, unless you want some." I ordered, picking out a single ring with a black diamond on it. I slid it onto my right hand and smiled as I admired it. The video cut off when Emeril started laughing in the car.
"Damn." I glanced up at Sal's voice, respect in his gaze as he looked at me like it was the first time he was seeing me.
"What?" I asked. Hector took a seat, scratching the puppy behind the ear. "You want him? He's got food and stuff in those bags." I added, pointing to the bags sitting in the dog bed Emeril had gotten him.
"You sure?" Hector asked, smiling down at the puppy when he nibbled at his fingers.
"Yeah. I was gonna get him adopted out."
"So, I'm assuming because Emeril is here, that you're working with Gonzalo." Sal started as he and Emeril took a seat on either side of me to watch me pick through the jewelry. "How long?"
"Five years." Emeril answered for me.
"Since you graduated and moved out here?" Sal demanded, turning to look at me with that weird look again. "And no one knew. Hell, I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see the video myself."
"And you said you were happy with the desk job." Hector accused, causing me to smile.
"Grandpa Sal know about this?" I shook my head no. "Something funky is going on at that reunion." Sal confessed then. Emeril and I traded a look.
"Marco knows what it is." Hector added, nodding at me when I glanced at him. "He won't tell us what – but him and Dad have been tightknit for about a year now." And that, in and of itself, was a problem. Uncle Markos and Marco did not get along because they were carbon copies, down to the same pet peeves.
"So we figured if we got to you first, Marco's first phase of getting you to Louisiana himself will be fucked."
"Sierra and I had planned to drive there." Emeril added, trading a look with Sal over my head. "We've got a few pitstops to make that we can't make on a plane."
"I think we could all use a road trip." Sal agreed after trading a look with Hector. "Marco can't find us if we're on the move."
"When's he supposed to be here?" I asked.
"Friday. Grandpa Sal wants everyone at the compound for Sunday brunch. That was the deadline Dad gave us to be there."
"So why was he coming here Friday?"
"To 'convince' you to come to the reunion, I'm sure. Hector and I offered to come get you since we were already stateside, but Dad said Marco was handling it. That was our second clue that we had to get here first." Sal paused, reached over to grab a weird necklace and examine it. "This shit has to be worth a pretty penny."
"Take it." He shrugged before tucking it into his pocket. After picking a few rings and a necklace or two, I stuffed the rest of the jewelry back into the silk bags and let Emeril tuck them into the bag with the documents. He bid me goodnight after making plans to get back together after some sleep. "You guys heading back to the hotel?" I asked, glancing between them.
"Mind if I crash on your couch? Doubt the hotel would appreciate a puppy." I nodded at Hector.
"I'll go back to the hotel, catch some z's, and I'll be back with our shit at checkout. We'll talk plans then." Sal started, giving me a hug goodnight. I left Hector to lock up after Sal and headed to bed.
As I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, I got a text from Uncle Gonzalo.
Good job tonight, kid. Knew you had it in you. Don't worry about Salvatore. Talked to Dad. He set plans into motion. When you find out what's going on, call me.