“Fuck, I can’t wait until you meet her.”
“Probably unlikely with everything going on.”
“I should be glad that Cat’s staying in the house . . . but it’s not healthy to be afraid of going out.”
Reuben looked pensive. “Like Nighthawk, you mean.”
Fuck. He hadn’t thought of that. But yeah, Nighthawk hadn’t left his house in years.
And he didn’t want Cat to end up like that.
“Maybe you should take her out somewhere. She’ll feel better if you’re with her, right?”
“I suggested getting a Christmas tree and she shut me down,” Alejandro told him.
“Shit. Well, let me know if you need me for anything. Everything is running pretty smoothly at the moment. Makes me wonder what’s going to happen next.”
He glanced at Reuben. The other man looked exhausted. “You need help.”
“Huh?”
“You should hire an assistant.”
“An assistant? How the fuck would I find one that wouldn’t faint at the things I have to do? Who wouldn’t run to the cops? A fucking assistant.”
Alejandro shrugged. “Post a wanted ad?”
Reuben rolled his eyes. “Haha. You’re lucky you’ve got excellent taste in Scotch, or I’d quit.”
“You’ll never quit. I pay you too well.”
“Fuck. I knew there was a reason I stuck around.”
Alejandro shook his head.
“Maybe she’s worried about leaving the house because this wannabe-Deity freak is still out there,” Reuben suggested darkly.
Alejandro understood that. He hated that they didn’t have any clues as to who the fuck this guy was. There had been nothing at Mikey’s apartment. Nothing in her or Mikey’s phones.
And who knew how many more Sentinels this Deity had and what they were going to do next? He was obviously playing the long game and that could be even more dangerous.
Fucked if he knew.
“We’ll find him. Unfortunately, we might not get any more leads until he makes another move,” Reuben said.
And that could be on one of Cat’s friends. He was tempted to move them all here to watch over them.
That wouldn’t go over well.
But did he care?
“Cat still wants to call Agent Stubbs.”
“The FBI,” Reuben said like it was a dirty word. “They won’t have shit.”
“I know. But if there’s a chance they have something . . .”
“Fuck. You’re going to let her call him?” Reuben asked with disbelief.
“I’ll be in the room. However, yeah, I think I am.”
“Never thought I’d see the day where you willingly spoke to an FBI Agent.” Reuben shook his head.
Yeah, well, neither did Alejandro.
“How is Dante getting on with Emiliano? He still pushing for you to go down there and meet with him again?” Reuben asked.
“Emiliano wasn’t happy when I had to call our trip to Mexico off, but Cat isn’t up to traveling right now. So he’ll have to get over it. Dante told him she’d been kidnapped and that my attention was needed here. But I think he sees it as a snub.”
Reuben shook his head. “We’re better off not dealing with him.”
Alejandro couldn’t help but feel that way too, but this was Dante’s move.
He just hoped to hell it was the right one.
“Stubby!” Cat grinned into the laptop screen.
Alejandro had Nighthawk set up this laptop especially for this call. It wasn’t connected to their network and had nothing on it.
He was being overly paranoid.
Stubby wasn’t after him.
Stubby sighed. “Cat. I see you haven’t changed.”
“I just sent you your Christmas card. It should get there soon.”
“Goody.” He stared at her with tired eyes.
“What’s wrong, Stubby? You look exhausted.”
“Just the usual shit. What can I do for you? Have you got information about your husband you want to turn over?”
“What? No!”
“And you should know that her husband is here,” Alejandro said dryly, shifting the laptop screen so Stubby could see them both.
“Alejandro, Stubby. Stubby, my hubby. Oh, that rhymes.”
Stubby just shook his head.
“Agent Stubbs,” Alejandro said coolly.
“Mr. De Leon, I’d say it’s a pleasure, but it’s not.”
Okay, so it seemed these two weren’t going to become best friends anytime soon.
“I wouldn’t be talking to you if Cat hadn’t assured me that you were somewhat decent at your job,” Alejandro said stiffly.
Oh, this was going so well.
“Listen, you—”
“How about I do the talking?” Cat interjected. “Stubby, I’m calling you about the Deity.”
Stubby frowned. “What about him?”
She explained everything that’d had happened to Maeve first. Then she moved on to her own kidnapping. She left out the part where Mikey had worked for Alejandro and what happened to him. Just like she didn’t tell him who Gray worked for.
Stubby groaned, running his hand over his face. “We’ve got a copycat?”
“Seems that way,” Alejandro said. “You haven’t heard anything about this?”
“No, and I wish you’d told me earlier,” Stubby snapped at Cat.
“Do not speak to her like that,” Alejandro replied coldly.
“If there’s a copycat, and he’s targeting you and your friends, then perhaps you need to be in protective custody,” Stubby suggested.
Urgh, that was like waving a red flag in front of Alejandro.