Ties That Bind (27 page)

Jimmie laughed, glancing up to Mitch. He stood over them, removing his vomit covered shirt and pulling on a clean one. His eyes drifted away only a second, to check the clip in his gun before tucking it back in his waistband.

But the click had caused Toni to stir. “Stop him,” she slurred.

“What?” Jimmie brushed her hair aside to hear her better.

Her broken words were a barely understandable jumble and it took a moment for Jimmie to decipher it. “Make him leave it. He’ll go do something stupid. He always does.”

Jimmie eyed him, unsure of whether he should move to stop Mitch or continue to comfort Toni. But Mitch was already pulling out his gun and sitting it on the chair, the metal against metal clang causing both Jimmie and Toni to jump.

His eyes met Jimmie’s and he nodded. “She’s right. She always is. Never forget that.”

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

“Her heart is just too damn big, you know?” Jimmie asked quietly, sinking into the pew beside Mitch. “She cried for hours. Not for her own pain but for all those girls.”

Mitch nodded but remained silent.

“Masseria...Penny Lane. You said you knew the answer. It was Terenari, wasn’t it?”

He nodded.

“She’s one strong girl with all the hell he’s put her through.”

Mitch nodded again.

Jimmie leveled a gaze at him. “Tell me something here, Mitchell.”

Mitch knew his words were wrong, knew he couldn’t take them back. But he also knew there was no way anyone on the planet would hear them except Jimmie. Jimmie would take it to his grave under questioning from anyone. Of that, Mitch had no doubt.

“I want him dead.”

“We are going to firebomb that place. Everyone will be dead.”

When Mitch didn’t respond, Jimmie let his words sink in. When realization dawned, he sank back against the pew. “Terenari,” he whispered.

Mitch raised his eyes to meet Jimmie’s, knowing there was no way to take back his pronouncement.

“I’d do anything for you. You know that. But he’s head of a family. I can’t-”

“I know. But I can.” Premeditated murder, Mitch thought vaguely. I am planning and orchestrating the capital murder of an individual human being.

“I can’t,” Jimmie continued as if Mitch hadn’t spoken, “help you until everything is perfectly aligned.”

“I’m not asking-” Or maybe I am, he thought.

“You don’t have to. I just need time. So does Toni. Give us that, okay?”

Mitch didn’t trust himself to respond.

Jimmie leaned close to him. “Mitch, he’s not some punk on the street. We do have rules and ethics. But I can make this happen for you, for her. I will. Just don’t go off on some half assed vendetta before then, alright?”

Jimmie slipped Mitch’s gun across the pew toward him, but still keeping it in his grasp. “Promise me.”

“I will give you time,” Mitch assured him. “But my patience with him is a razor thin line. Do you understand me?”

Jimmie released his gun. “Without question.”

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

“Mitch?”

“Hm?”

“Have you ever...I mean-”

“I’ve never hired a prostitute much less bought a person,” he assured her sleepily.

“You’ve worked with people who have?”

“Yes.”

“How do you, I mean, how do you-”

“Live with myself?” he asked, rolling over to face her. “I don’t. There is no forgiveness for the person I have become.”

“You have such a warped perspective of yourself,” she argued, shaking her head. “I don’t know how to even look at my father anymore. To know he is a part of something like this.”

“Is that how you feel about me as well?”

“No.”

“What’s the difference?”

She hesitated. “You try to make the world better. He tries to make it better for himself.”

“That’s a damn fine line between the two.”

“Maybe,” she shrugged. “Maybe only to someone who’s walking it.”

“Very intelligent response. Are you drunk?”

“I think I’m offended.”

Mitch eyed her seriously. “Are you?”

“Not exactly.” She gave him a half smile then let her hand trail over his arm and across his bare chest. “They gave me something.”

“What exactly?”

“The doctor. Nothing illicit. Something for shock or trauma or something. Or so they said.”

“Who is “they”?  Tell me you didn’t trust some Mexican street corner doctor.”

“One of Gino’s people. He sent an entire medical team.”

“He was worried for you,” Mitch hedged.

“I’m not an idiot, Mitch. I know what you and Jimmie are doing tomorrow. I’m not suffering from shock; they just want me unconscious for the whole damn thing. Can’t say I’m opposed to that concept either.”

Mitch chuckled. “I had no involvement in that, just to be clear.”

She nodded, scooting closer and letting both hands trace designs across his olive skin. “Do you remember those girls in the neighborhood? The ones from Guatemala?  They sat on the porch of that house, never talking to anyone.”

“Yes,” he sank back into the covers, putting space back between them.

“Were they-”

“No.”

She shuffled a few inches closer, her fingertips grazing across him in small, calculated movements. “How do you know?”

“Borders were much more secure back then. Smuggling drugs was even a difficult proposition. People would’ve been almost impossible.”

“You smuggled drugs?”

He laughed. “Do you even know me at all?”

“Sometimes? Sometimes I think I know you better than you know yourself. Other times? Times like now? I think I could never possibly learn every inch of you no matter the hours I try.”

“Is that what you’re doing?” he asked, letting his fingers slip down her long hair to twist them at the ends. “Trying to memorize me?”

“Is there something wrong with that?” she asked, tipping her lips to brush against his fingertips.

“About a million things actually,” he whispered.

It did not deter her. Slowly, she moved her face to his, pressing her lips into his. He couldn’t help returning it, an old childhood feeling rising up within him. But just as quickly, the need to protect her overshadowed everything. Taking her face in his hands, he pushed her gently away. “Christ, how I wish you were sober right now.”

“It doesn’t matter-”

“It means everything,” he murmured, kissing her quickly on the forehead. “Jimmie!”

She jerked at the shout but it wasn’t enough to move her off of Mitch before Jimmie appeared.

Jimmie tilted his head to the side. “Don’t you two look cozy? Sure you don’t want me to come back in say, twenty minutes?”

“Gino’s docs drugged her,” Mitch explained, sliding out from underneath her.

She flopped onto the pillows. “I am right here, you know.”

“Oh, I assure you, I know,” Mitch chuckled. Tugging on his pants, he turned to Jimmie. “I need you to step in here.”

“Pardon?”

Mitch leveled a gaze at him. “I trust you. Don’t make me regret it.”

“You’re so fucking comical.”

“I’m serious.”

Jimmie blanched. “No. No way.”

“For chrissakes, Jimmie. He’s not asking you to take over and screw me. He’s asking you to babysit.”

“Anyone ever told you, you have a dirty mouth?”

“Blame him.” she grumbled, pointing at Mitch before curling up with a pillow.

“No idea what they gave her. She’s quite handsy, though. May want to watch for that.”

“Gee, thanks.” Jimmie frowned. “Guys are next door in the chapel. We’ve got cots set up in the wings and they’ve got that Navy Seal guy you handpicked organizing things.”

“I’ll send someone over in a couple of hours once she’s not-”

“Trying to live out her sexually repressed fantasies?”

“Fuck you, Jimmie,” she managed from under a pillow.

Both men laughed but Jimmie moved to stretch out beside her on the bed. “Come here, kiddo.” He tugged her to lay on his chest as Mitch headed to the door.

He turned, his eyes watching her broken form curling into Jimmie’s. Leaving her safety in someone else’s hands was almost impossible. He tried that once already in his lifetime...and this destruction was only part of that decision’s result. He moved his eyes to Jimmie. “Jimmie-”

“With my life, brother.”

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

“She talks in her sleep,” Jimmie murmured. “I ordered the guards to stay outside.”

Mitch nodded, tossing Jimmie some ammo.

“She has this hero thing for you.”

“She’ll be over that tomorrow.”

“And you? Will you be over it tomorrow?”

“It’s just hard to deny her,” he admitted, “with that man as her father.”

“More than you know, I think.”

“Her dreams?” Mitch asked nodding. “I’ve heard some of them. Sierrita will undoubtedly give her a few more.”

“And?”

“Let her keep them. It’s the only thing she has that is hers and hers alone.”

“But-”

“When she’s ready, she’ll call us.”

“Fair enough.” Jimmie smiled mischievously. “She is quite handsy.”

“Told you.”

“And she wiggles.”

“Enough,” Mitch laughed, tossing him a Kevlar vest.

“She has this birthmark on her shoulder-”

“BB gun when she was seven,” Mitch corrected. “Now, Ashli has this tattoo-”

“Truce! Truce!” Jimmie laughed. He let his laughter die then drew in a long breath. “She knows we’re going in then?”

“I wouldn’t keep something like that from her.” His eyes narrowed. “You did call Ashli, right?”

Jimmie’s silence was his answer.

“Jimmie, she’s sitting in a hotel room hundreds of miles away, pacing the floor, terrified of getting a call asking her to claim your body. Don’t deny her this.”

He nodded. “Give me a few minutes?  Hold the guys?”

“As long as you need.”

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

“You survived.”

“You doubted?” Mitch frowned, unsnapping his vest and tossing it to the dresser before heading toward the bathroom.

“You two are not as invincible as you think.” She moved to help Jimmie pull off his vest and, seeing the blood coloring his shirt sleeve she frowned. Gently, she helped him tug it off and examined the damage. “We need to get these cleaned.”

“This felt more romantic last night,” Jimmie grumbled as her fingers slid along his arm.

“You two are never going to let me live that down, are you?”

Mitch kissed the top of her head as he handed Jimmie a clean towel to put on his arm. “Not a chance.”

“How is it you don’t have a scratch?”

“Because he can shoot the whisker off a cat at a million yards.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” Mitch laughed, tossing him the medic kit.

“Is this testosterone filled ecstasy or something?” she asked, taking the kit and pulling out supplies.

Jimmie smiled. “We saved hundreds of lives today, kid. If that’s not reason to celebrate, I don’t know what is.”

“The townsfolk are having a street party, in fact.”

“Can’t miss that,” Toni grumbled. “They stood by-”

“They lived in fear. Don’t mistake that for complicity,” Mitch chided, pulling on a clean t-shirt.

“I know the difference,” she whispered.

“Yeah,” Jimmie squeezed her hand. “We know you do.”

“Enough!  Stick a bandage on that cat scratch and let’s find a tequila bar. There’s a worm with our name on it.”

Hours later, once Jimmie had disappeared into the arms of a local and Teddy had been dispatched to forward the news of success to everyone, Mitch found Toni tucked into a throng of drunken locals. She was twirling among them with abandon and it took him several tries before getting her attention. When she finally moved to his side, he offered her an amused grin.

“Do you remember anything?”

“Everything,” she assured him, slipping into his arms as they moved passed the throng of street dancers. She pinched him in reproach. “You told me you wished I was sober.”

“Are you?”

“No. Not even close,” she laughed. “I figured it was safer that way.”

“Your knowledge of this world?  It breaks my soul,” he said, pulling her into dance steps at a quieter edge of the street.