Page 38 of Dark Reunion

The Hummer drove in utter darkness, it didn’t need light to follow the road, and as they crested the next hill, Dean could see the glow from Santa Lucia.

“The warehouse is on this side of the town,” Ricco said, leaning forward from the backseat. “It’s that building there.”

“How many people know about this warehouse?”

“Carlos doesn’t know about this one,” Matteo answered.

“Okay we need to keep it that way. Sexy, take me to a secondary building out of the way of any cameras or surveillance, that’s at least a fifteen-minute walk.”

“Yes Sir.”

The map showed the new course and within twenty minutes they were parked. The vehicle hidden in utter darkness, wedged behind a tall tower of skids and an old building.

The two men followed him as they walked to the meeting place, neither saying a word as they approached the warehouse crouched at the edge of Santa Lucia.

They stuck to the shadows, moving silently through the older industrial section of the town. Dean peered around the last building and checked for any threat including possible sniper nests. Just because Alvarez agreed to meet, it didn’t mean it wasn’t a trap.

The warehouse was made of corrugated metal walls, tagged with old paint and rust. One floodlight burned above the side door, turning shadows razor-thin. A tall man stood just inside the gate, gun in hand, his face hard like he’d seen too much shit. Dean knew that feeling all too well.

Stepping out of the shadows the three of them walked toward the gate. Alvarez’s guard’s rifle was angled down, but ready. When the guard locked eyes with them, there was a beat where Dean thought he really had walked into a trap, but when they stopped walking the guard nodded at them.

“You Ramírez?”

“I am.”

“You can only bring one guard in with you.”

“I don’t need any.” Dean looked at Ricco and Matteo who both seemed ready to argue. “Stay here, keep an eye out for any sign of trouble and radio me if anything seems off.” Dean handed over his gun but kept his knives that were hidden on him.

The guard unlocked the gate and escorted Dean in. Metal clanged shut behind them as the guard relocked it. Side by side, they crossed the yard until the guard stopped at a door tucked into the side of the building. The place smelled of old paper and dusty, like an abandoned mill. Dim light spilled just enough for Dean to spot a man waiting beneath it.

Dean walked over and didn’t say a word as he stared at Alejandro Alvarez. Age had curved his shoulders, but the eyes were the same—sharp black stones, polished by suspicion and loss.

“Ramírez,” Alvarez said, voice like gravel dragged across a tomb. “It has been a long time.”

“Alvarez…it has.” Dean didn’t offer a hand. “I’m surprised that you agreed to meet.”

“Honestly, so am I. But…you sent me a message about my daughter. Fourteen years gone. Tell me, Mercurio…why now?”

Dean’s jaw flexed at the name. He didn’t bother correcting the older man.

“Because I thought she was safe, and because we both want the same thing.”

Alvarez’s eyes narrowed, suspicion slicing deep. “Safe? There is no such thing as safe. I know what Carlos planned to do, when I heard that she had disappeared…I thought she was dead. That he’d accidently killed her in one of his rages. And now after all this time you send a message saying that she is alive and in danger.”

Dean’s hands curled into fists at his sides. “Yes.”

A humorless laugh escaped Alvarez. “Why should I believe you?”

Dean’s voice was a growl, low and controlled. “Because I’m the one that made her disappear.”

“What?” Alvarez growled, as he stepped closer. The guard shifted uneasily at the sudden tension. “Mind expanding on that?”

“I’m sure you can guess, but my father wanted me to marry your daughter. He told me that when she turned thirteen, she would be the perfect, ripe age. I’d already planned on running the minute I turned eighteen. I had no love for the man and his abusive ways. But I knew that if I didn’t take Isabella with me, then he would marry your daughter himself.”

Alvarez’s voice was quiet, but it struck like a whip. “You disappeared with her. A child. No trace. Do you know what that did to me, to my family? To bury an empty coffin because we thought she was dead?”

Dean’s throat worked. He kept his face carved from ice. “I’m not going to pretend that I understand what you went through, but I couldn’t get to your compound without being killed. I had one shot at freedom, and I took it. I did the only thing I could think of at the time and that was take Isabella with me. We hid out for as long as I could, but money was an issue and my father’s guards kept getting too close. I left her at a fire station, and I joined the army to escape him.”