Page 11 of Digital Desire

“Fine, let me book some rooms.” Will took out his phone and as he did it rang in his hand.

“Will?” the shaky voice asked.

“Yes, this is he.”

“It is Pierre Aubin from the embassy.”

“Hey, Pierre, good to hear from you.”

“I wish the circumstances were happier. I need to meet you—alone.”

“Okay, when?” Will asked, the hair on his neck standing on end.

“An hour. There is a bar near the East of Cali called La Cantina. Meet me in one hour.”

Will looked at his dead phone and frowned, that part of Colombia was not exactly known for its big tourist welcome.

“Who was that?” Liam asked as he took a swig from the bottle of beer he had been nursing.

“Just a friend, nobody important,” Will hedged, and so as not to tip Liam off, he finished his beer before standing. “I’m going to crash for a couple hours. What time do we think they will arrive?”

Liam tipped his head to the side silently assessing Will. “They should be here around zero five hundred hours. Look, Will, we cool? I should have told you about Jack.”

“Nah, it’s cool. We’re good,” Will answered and meant it. It wasn’t his nature to hold a grudge, he left that to his brother. “Later,” he said as he touched knuckles to Liam and left the bar.

As he stepped into the hallway, he saw Drew stepping into the elevator with Siren and grinned. That boy was quick, he sure would have his hands full with a woman like Siren though. Latina women were a handful in all the best ways. Drew might just have bitten off more than he could chew there. Moving to the stairs, he jogged to his room, needing the exercise to stop the angst in his blood from sending him crazy.

Slipping into his room, he scanned his laptop for any updates on a security breach on this floor and found none. Locating the Glock that Jack had given him a few years ago before he left for France, he slipped into the back waistband of his jeans and pulled his shirt over the top.

If he was going to meet Pierre in a dive bar in a dodgy part of town, he was going fully loaded. With a last glance around the room, he left to meet a very nervous friend. And hopefully, find out what the hell was going on before Aubrey got there and he had to split his energy between the upcoming fight he was going to have with Jack and persuading the woman he couldn’t stop thinking about that he was worth a shot.

Chapter 5

Using the stairs, Will bypassed the front entrance and any chance of running into Liam. He moved quickly down the street keeping his head down and away from the cameras pointed at the main road. Reaching the crossroads, he hailed a cab that immediately pulled across the line of traffic and made the other cars honk their horns in anger.

“A donde amigo?”

“Llevame a La Cantina.”

“No no no amigo ese lugar es malo!”

“Sigue manejando por favor,” Will said impatiently as he looked at his watch.

He saw the old driver shake his head and offer up a prayer. “Es tu funeral.”

Yeah going to the Cantina probably is going to be my funeral!

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered low as he watched the bars and hotels give way to more modest homes. Then, as they drove further, he saw the signs of poverty creep into the barrios.

Homes became little more than shacks, and he wondered again what the hell was going on with Pierre. He had met the man when he’d done some work for Hunter McKenzie. Pierre was working at the French Embassy then and had been Louis’—who was Hunter’s head of cybercrime—brother. Pierre had often come out on nights out with them before he had been transferred to Colombia during Will’s last month in France.

Pierre was a nice guy, a little rigid sometimes but when he got a drink in him, he lightened up and was fun. Will had thought perhaps he had a thing for one of the IT test analysts that worked with Louis, but nothing had come of it, and the girl had gotten engaged last he’d heard.

The other burning question was why meet here? Pierre would stick out like a sore thumb in a place like this. At least his tattoos gave him some semblance of fitting in. Pierre was a sports coat and chinos guy and all but screamed money.

As the car bumped over the millionth pothole, Will ground his teeth to stop them from rattling loose. Eventually, the car stopped, and he leaned forward to thrust some cash at the driver. It was way more than the fare had been, but he knew the driver had taken a risk on him, and he wanted him to wait.

“I will give you another two-hundred pounds if you wait for me,” Will said and prayed he said yes.