“Maybe they were looking for you,” he retorted. “Or did it never occur to you that hanging out with a guy like you could be bad for your friends’ health?”
My muscles tightened. My fists clenched. A vein bulged in my forehead. Valentine didn’t know about Carl or Train, but that was about the worst possible thing he could’ve said to me. I was very close to pulling out my STI and putting a bullet in this asshole.
He must’ve read my body language. The expression on his face subtly changed. “Go ahead,” he said, staring me down. “Pull it. You better be quick, motherfucker.”
“You don’t know when to quit, do you?” I growled, tensing up.
“Because you know what will really help you find Jill? Shooting me. Assuming you’re faster than me, which you’re not. And then if you do get her back alive, you can explain to her how you murdered me in a tantrum because I said something that made you mad. After she’s spent days telling me what a great guy you are, I’m sure she’ll understand.”
I grudgingly had to admit to myself that he had a point. This pissing contest was getting us nowhere. Jill’s life was in our hands. I exhaled heavily and tried to force myself to relax. Valentine did the same. “Sorry . . . I’ve been driving all day.” I relented and sat in down in a chair. “Why did you call me, Valentine?”
“Jill’s a nice girl. She told me her story, you know. She was doing fine until she got caught up in the crap that we got caught up in. You and I, and the people we associate with, came into that girl’s life and screwed it up royally. And now, either because she knows me or because she knows you, her life is in danger. Again. She deserves better than that. I don’t want to see anything happen to her. And I didn’t know who else to call. What are the cops gonna do? The people that might be after us are more than the sheriff can handle. Also . . .” Valentine trailed off for a moment. “Jill told me you saved my life. There’ve been times when I wish you’d have just left me there, too. But debts have to be repaid all the same. We owe her a debt, too. We brought this on her. So you and I, we need to make this right.” He was quiet for a moment. What he’d just told me had obviously been hard for him to say. “You know, I honestly don’t know what she sees in you.”
“Hell, me either,” I said, but really I was just trying to be agreeable. I happen to think I’m a pretty amazing guy.
In all of my life, no matter how bad things got, I never once wished I was dead. My survival instinct is too strong. I know I’m not going to live forever, but damn if I’m not going to try. I don’t give up. I don’t quit. And I’d kind of assumed Valentine was much the same. I’d seen him in action, after all. He was a hardened killer, the man that had thwarted me at every turn, my nemesis, but all I saw was a broken young man who’d watched his girlfriend get shot to death right before his eyes. He couldn’t have been much more than twenty-five, and he acted as if his life was over. They’d taken everything from him. That’s when it hit me, slapped me right in the face. I finally understood why I had dragged him out of Fort Saradia.
I’d felt sorry for him.
I hadn’t known that I was capable of pity. I shook my head, and then it was gone. Men like us didn’t need pity, just a balancing of the scales. As far as I could see, what Valentine needed was a cleansing vengeance, but there wasn’t time to ponder on his questionable mental state. We had work to do. “Do you know how they found her?
“I don’t know. She’s been here longer than me. She works at a little diner in town called Shifty’s, but lives under an assumed name, Peaches.”
“Right.”
“It seems we have a mutual friend here. Everyone in town thinks . . . well, thinks Jill is Hawk’s illegitimate daughter that he was reunited with. Hawk didn’t try to dispel the rumors. Thinking she was Hawk’s daughter kept horny ranch hands from sniffing around, and it was better than the town thinking he’d shacked up with a woman young enough to be his daughter, I guess. Hawk’s been letting me crash here, too.”
Hawk? I looked around the living room. Suddenly everything seemed to fit. I knew this wasn’t Valentine’s house. It was Hawk’s. I knew that Hawk would take care of her when I sent her to him. I never imagined she’d end up living in his house.
“How do you know Hawk?” I asked. “And what are you doing living over his garage like the Fonz?”
“You making a scrapbook?” Valentine retorted. “That’s none of your business. And no, he wouldn’t tell me anything about you, either.”
Of course. Hawk was a professional. “Let’s keep it that way. Where is he?”
“He’s out in town talking to some people, trying to find out if anyone saw anything. He’ll be back soon. But money says she’s long gone by now. I wish I had more to tell you.”
“I’ve called in some help. My associates will be here soon.” It sounded more important to say associates rather than lone techno-geek. “They’re good at shaking the trees and seeing what falls out. Right now your buddy Gordon Willis is the only lead we’ve got. He’s a federal employee of some kind, right? It’s a start.” There was the outside chance that Bob might know of him, too, but I didn’t say that.
My phone rang. “Hang on.” I was hoping that it would be Bob with good news about how he’d arranged to get the family to safety, but I didn’t recognize the number.
“Mr. Lorenzo.” The voice was electronically distorted, drastically deep.
“Yes?” My frown must have indicated to Valentine that something was up. He stood, looking nervous, and peeked through the blinds.
“We have your friend, Jill Del Toro. If you ever want to see her alive again, you will do exactly what I say.”
“I’m listening,” I replied calmly. Inside I was raging, wanting to kill, to murder, to drive my knife through someone’s trachea and shower in the arterial spray. “What do you want?”
“You have two videos of Americans in Zubara. One video of two Americans executing a man. A second aerial video of a gun battle between Americans and the Zubaran army. You will deliver those to us. You will do so in person. If you do not, Miss Del Toro will die.”
Videos? I hadn’t even thought of those since getting the key back. As far as I was aware, Reaper had them on his laptop. Jill must have told Gordon’s men about them while being interrogated. “Let me speak to Jill so I can know she’s okay.”
The line was silent for a few seconds. Then Jill’s voice, desperate, “Lorenzo! It’s a tra—” Then she was gone.
Of course it was a trap. Why else would they want me in person? I could easily have made copies. The videos were just an excuse. They wanted the witnesses dead. Back to the distorted voice; the speaker sounded vaguely demonic. “Where are you now?”
“Maine.” My cell phone was untraceable.
“You have twenty-four hours to get to Nevada. We will contact you then.”
“I want to see her in person or you don’t get the videos.”
“Of course.” The line went dead. I resisted the urge to chuck the phone across the room.
Valentine scowled at me. “They’ll be waiting for you. You know it’s a trap, right?”
I nodded. “They won’t expect you, though. Feel like making some trouble?”
Valentine actually grinned. It was an unpleasant, predatory expression, like a wolf eyeballing a rabbit. “I need to break in my rifle anyway.”
“We need to make a plan.”