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I lay down, my shoes on, fully dressed I could be asleep within seconds, and I yawned Still, if we had to run, I wanted to be ready I skipped the blanket and turned to lie on my side

I watched Raize for a beat

I’d never seen anyone like him

He was lean, but he had broad shoulders Hearound, if that made sense He had a pretty face Tan skin Dark eyes His hair was left alone It was brown and he let it be It wasn’t long or anything, but it wasn’t a crew cut He was rough without not being rough at all I knew he had tattoos, so on his neck or face He kept them where they could be hidden And his body, it was lean and cut Right now, shadows cast down over his forehead and his cheekbones, giving hiel look

I suppressed a shiver and turned away What was going on with me?

He settled at the table by the ,the curtain so he could see outside

“What are we doing here?”

He looked over, a flicker in his eyes

Normally, I would never ask Raize always provided inforut told ame

There was a moment of quiet before he said, “The Russians want to set up a business relationship down here We were sent to set up that connection”

I frowned “Here? Who runs San Antonio?”

“Not here We’re leaving once we’ve all gotten sleep”

“Where?” I pressed

“The Valley Carloni wants us to ith the Estrada Cartel”

He stared at me I stared back

Cartel

That was a whole different ball game

Those words hung between us, because we both knehat that meant

I started this journey to find my sister

There were a lot of details about the who, the why, the where, etc, but it’s why I was standing in this uy

Jesus

There’d been many times that I wished I had never started this journey But never once had I considered giving up the search forwhere our path was taking us, I thought about letting her go

Maybe it was time

She’d o, but…

Not yet

I rolled over, curled into a ball, and fell asleep