Loving a Bad Boy (15 page)

She nodded and continued. Minutes later, she
returned to the dining room with two plates, and placed one beside
him.

His eyes widened with a glimmer of
appreciation. “Thanks, this looks good.”

Pam tried not to stare as he wolfed down the
eggs, and then speared the sausage like it might run away, before
stuffing it in his mouth. It was all she could do not to offer him
her plate. As he slowed down to take a gulp of coffee, she winced
as he swallowed the hot brew.

He patted his lips with the paper napkin
she’d handed him with his plate. Face tinged an interesting shade
of pink, he met her eyes. “Thanks again, that was really good.”

For some reason his obvious hunger and
compliment made him seem more approachable. “No problem.” She
picked up a sausage and pointed it at Tex. “Did the surgeon have
any additional instructions for me?” The ease that he had secured a
surgeon for Tex bugged her. All of the ones she knew of were
backlogged, and it was near impossible to get one so quick.

“
No. Would you like me to
contact him and ask?”

The question threw her. On the one hand, she
was pretty sure she’d cleaned the area and stopped the bleeding. So
there wasn’t any imminent danger per se. Still he needed stitches.
She refused to do that without a doctor looking him over in case
she missed something.

On the other hand, she
really did not want to get involved.
Period
. Her life was finally
settling after all her years of school. She had a nice home, a good
job, and friends. No matter how she sugarcoated it, an unexplained
bullet wound spelled trouble. Couple that with a muzzle placed on
the news of the incident, and the whole situation stunk.

“
Yes. No! I mean,” she
stammered. “I’m not sure.” She pointed at Tex, who lay peacefully
on the floor. “Whatever is best for him.” There, she’d placed the
ball back in his court.

His brow rose, the corner of his lip
followed suit. “You’re the health care professional.”

That’s exactly what the licensing board
would say if this situation was ever brought to their attention,
she thought. “Right, okay.” She bit the corner of her lip as the
weight of the situation bore down on her. “Contact him, or is it
her?” She waved her hand before he answered. “It doesn’t matter.
Find out what, if anything they want me to do until they get here.
Better yet, let me talk to them when you get them on the phone.”
Her mind slugged through all the information she needed to write
down for the doctor. Old intern habits refused to die, no matter
how tired she was.

“
Will do.” Julio rose with
his plate and cup. He headed into the kitchen. She heard water run,
and then the opening of the dishwasher.

“
Nice,” she whispered as
the realization of what he’d done registered. This was a man who’d
either lived on his own or had been taught well by someone. That
observation released the last remnants of her anxiety.

When he reentered the dining area, his gaze
once again latched onto Tex. Pam wondered if he would tell her what
he suspected happened. “You don’t seem surprised,” she said,
testing the waters.

Without looking at her,
his upper lip curled. “The last time I talked to him, he was on a
high-profile job. I’m
very
surprised to see him lying on your kitchen floor
with a bullet hole in his side.” His head swung in her direction.
Dark, fierce eyes drilled into her, chilling her to the
core.

The acrid taste of apprehension lay on the
back of her tongue. Swallowing hard, she wished she had never
opened her mouth.

“
Believe me when I say
that’s not a good thing.” There was a slow, dark, seductive promise
in his words, and not in a sexy, panty-wetting way.

Looking down at her
half-eaten plate, she escaped his penetrating gaze. Her stomach
twisted as his words fell unfettered into the silence. Desperately,
she fought her flight instinct, especially since this was
her
house.

Think
! Tension filled the room and drew out like a terminally bad
slow-dance. In the end, she could think of nothing sensible to say
and remained quiet. A tingling in her nether parts reminded her she
had been sitting too long. Or maybe it was just as she thought
earlier, a forewarning, that something was about to bite her in the
ass.

Chapter 9

Miguel and Pete arrived at the condo around
the same time, and after being brought up to speed were just as
anxious as him to fuck those fools up. Pete headed downstairs to
watch over Tex and Pam on the fifth floor while Miguel and Julio
headed upstairs.

“
Go up the staircase, make
sure your weapon’s quiet. No need to alert the locals about what’s
going down,” Julio spoke succinctly to Miguel on the cell. “Got
it.”

Gun in hand, Julio toed off his shoes and
stepped into the stairwell on the other side of the building. With
each step, his heartbeat ramped up. His one thought was for the
fools to still be upstairs.

“
I’m here,” Miguel’s voice
came through Julio’s earphone. “No sign of anybody in the
stairs.”

Julio unlocked the secured door entering his
floor and eased in the dim hallway. After searching the hall, he
turned and relocked both the deadbolt and electronic locks. “Lock
it down,” he whispered. If anyone thought to come up behind them or
leave by the stairs, it’d take extensive fire power, which would
give him and Miguel time to take them out.

A sound from the middle of the hall stopped
him. He moved into the shadowy portion of the hall to wait. A
crackle of static filled the hall. Julio cursed softly and turned
off his headset.

“
What’s that?”

Julio tensed as the shadow of someone came
to the doorway of his unit. His hand tightened around his gun as he
thought of how to play this.

“
Don’t know. You about
done?”

“
No, I haven’t found it.
We’re running out of time. ”

“
We can’t leave without
it.” There was some mumbling that Julio couldn’t make out. With
stealth, he hugged the wall and moved closer to the doorway. Miguel
would be coming from the other side.

“
They’recoming up.” Julio
stopped at the note of panic in the man’s voice.

“
Why?”

“
They can’t find
Cardenas.”

“
What the fuck?” The
sounds of running feet filled the air. “Get the bags, we’ll take
what we got already.”

“
But…”

“
Do it!”

Julio raised his gun and walked toward his
door, Miguel beat him to it and fired. “Damn it,” he swore as
Miguel jumped to the side avoiding a bullet in his chest. The two
men ran out the condo, guns blazing. Julio kneeled and took aim as
they ran to the stairwell Miguel had locked.

“
Shit, it’s locked.” One
guy yelled. “What’s the code?” Julio’s brow rose as he took aim and
pulled the trigger. The man fell to the ground and rolled to the
side holding his leg.

“
Oh shit, oh shit,” the
other man yelled as he ran toward the elevator. Julio pulled the
trigger again, but the man ducked, pushed open the garbage shoot
and dove in.

“
Miguel,” Julio called
out.

“
I’m on it.” Miguel walked
away from the fallen man, unlocked the elevator and
left.

Julio strode toward the moaning man on the
floor. When he was a few feet away, he heard a popping sound and
jumped to the side. Heart racing he looked around wondering who’d
fired the shot. Miguel had patted down the man on the floor before
he left. Was there someone they hadn’t seen? He remained still for
a few more minutes, listening. The silence slammed into him. Moving
quickly he walked over to his captive. There was no movement, no
sounds, no breathing.

“
Damn it,” he bit out as
he stooped low for a closer look. Julio pried the small toy looking
pistol from the dead man’s hand and smelled it. Easy enough to
overlook he guessed, but he was still going to kick Miguel’s ass
for this. He pulled out his phone and sent a text.

Gun held low in his right hand, briefcase in
the other, Julio moved with stealth-like precision through the
darkened rooms of his home. Unable to process what his eyes
reported as a trashed space, he shook his head to clear it, and
looked again.

Not a piece of furniture was situated
correctly. Either it was overturned, or lying at an odd angle.
Picture canvases were sliced up. Plants, dirt, and broken planters,
littered the floor. Even the refrigerator had been ransacked.
Foodstuffs clung to the walls and countertops as if a group of
kindergartners had invaded his place and engaged in a food
fight.

The strong smell of piss turned Julio’s
stomach.

Miguel returned, short of breath. “I missed
him. He had transpo waiting and they took off before I got
downstairs.”

“
That’s not all you
missed.” Julio said pointing toward the hallway.

Miguel looked back, frowning. “What? You
didn’t take him out?”

“
No. He had a piece on
him. Small, but it did the job.”

Miguel ran his hand through his hair. “Shit.
I checked him. Wasn’t a long check cause I went after the other,
but I did a quick check. I’m sorry about that, Boss.”

Julio waved off his excuse and kept
searching the room.

“
That’s messed up.” Miguel
pointed at a pile of clothes in the hall leading to the
bedrooms.

As Julio walked over, the odor intensified.
Someone had peed all over his tailored suits. Jaw clenched, he
nodded. “Check out the rest of the place, but don’t touch anything.
I’ve got some people coming to check things out.”

Miguel nodded and walked away.

Eyes narrowed, Julio looked at the massive
destruction of his house. Even the walls had large holes. He wanted
the Cartel’s forensics team here, pronto. The cops weren’t the only
ones with a crime unit. The organization had one of the best,
probably because they paid more and had access to the best labs
money could buy.

Trashing his place was considered a breach
of the highest order since he was operating as a Cartel
representative. It was a real slap in the face to his godfather,
which would make things intense for the next few days.

“
All clear.”

Julio turned. “You sure?” He asked still
pissed that he hadn’t found the small pistol on the dead guy. Hell,
they were all operating on fumes. His eyes itched, craving sleep.
But that would have to wait.

“
Yes.” The one word was
snapped with exactness.

“
Good. Go outside and make
sure no one enters until the special team arrives.” Miguel nodded
and walked outside. Julio checked the ornate wall hooks that held
up a shattered glass shelf. The cameras were still intact. Pleased,
he moved to his bedroom.

The level of destruction here was twice that
in the main areas. He closed the door, righted an upholstered chair
and sat with his briefcase on his lap. Afterward he placed the gun
in the side of his waistband, and opened the case. Inside were a
few documents, a small scanning device, credit cards, cash, and a
small laptop.

After removing the scanner, he activated it.
Moments later, a single beep signified the scan was complete and
all was in order. He widened the scan to take in the entire condo,
and was satisfied with the number of cameras still working. The
absence of any other devices surprised him. He had been certain
those douche bags would have left some bugs. That was the primary
reason he had left instructions for the techs to complete a
thorough sweep first when they arrived.

Julio stared at the small scanning device in
the palm of his hand. Tex swore by these gadgets. So far his man
hadn’t been wrong. It would be interesting to see what the techs
came up with. He returned the implement to the briefcase, and
reached for the computer. After booting it up, he glanced around
the damaged room.

Miami was turning into quite an adventure.
He’d been in town for ninety days and already someone had attacked
him. While that wasn’t a record by any means, it had caught him by
surprise.

That thought rankled. It shouldn’t have. The
computer beeped, regaining his attention.

Once again, he sent out a silent thanks to
Tex for his forward thinking as the security cameras from the
living areas came online. Inhaling, he reset the timer for five
hours ago.

Four hours had passed since Tex had stumbled
to the condo downstairs. Waiting was never Julio’s strong suit, but
he had heeded Francisco’s request to wait for the small team he had
dispatched before leaving Tex in Pam's and the doctor’s care. After
the arrival of the three men, Julio took a quick drive to another
location to pick up the briefcase before returning home.

The screen flashed. For a moment, everything
looked normal. Since the cameras were action motivated, he knew it
wouldn’t be long before he saw something.

Two men entered the living room. Both were
hooded, no surprise there. He watched as they systematically
searched everywhere and everything. The longer the search, the more
agitated the men became. They started throwing things on the floor
and against the walls. Dust particles lingered in the air as their
feet and fists went through walls. One of the men left the living
area. Julio switched to the bedroom cameras and watched as the
hooded man systematically searched every nook and cranny of his
bedroom. The other man had entered Tex’s bedroom and was searching
it as well. The two men said something too low for him to hear
before disappearing into the bathrooms. Tex had insisted every room
be wired, but Julio had objected to cameras in his bathroom.