Enslaved (Colombian Cartel #6) - Suzanne Steele Page 0,41
outside. Nervousness was construed as possible betrayal, and she damn sure didn’t want these people thinking she’d called the authorities about the accident. Page would count on the cartel to avenge her and not the police. The man who rammed her in the back of her SUV wouldn’t be calling the cops or filling out insurance forms unless he lied and said it happened in a parking lot—even that might raise too many questions.
Mano cleared his throat as if gathering his thoughts.
“Page went out early this morning to get bread and milk at a 24/7 grocery. I guess somebody followed her because when she left, a truck tried to run her off the road. If she’d have gone over that ravine, Antonio, it would have killed her. Whoever it was wanted to do serious damage. It’s Page they’re after for sure. She’s the one connected to the fixers, so I guess it makes sense in his fucked-up mind.”
Antonio Wayne’s eyes lasered in on Page, “She shouldn’t have been going out that late by herself.” He was talking to Mano but glaring at her. Her eyes could only hold his for a couple of seconds—they were too damn intense.
“I didn’t realize I was in that much danger.” She felt the need to defend herself.
“Well, you do now,” Antonio said with no empathy. “You need to realize your life changed when you got involved with Mano. He’s a higher up in the cartel, and that puts a target on your back. You know that. They’ll do anything to get to him, and hurting you is a great way to do it. Women suffer more danger in this lifestyle. They won’t just take your life; they’ll take your dignity and respect too. They’ll break you down until there is nothing left but a shell with an empty hole. I’ve seen it firsthand and it ain’t pretty. I’ve seen catatonic women who ended up in a psych ward. They were never normal again. This thing is real, girl. Because Mano cares about you, we do too.”
There it was: the first sign of belonging.
“Plus, my wife likes you girls.” Was that a smile?
Antonio directed his attention back towards Mano.
“Did you get a chance to ID the guy?”
He shook his head no. “Windows were tinted too dark. Red truck, beard, Latino, and that was about it.”
“If he’s serious about getting to Page, he’ll stalk her—we’re going to put a tail on her. We’ll catch him like that. The only way we’re going to get rid of this problem is to kill him. For some reason, he doesn’t like fixers, and he won’t stop killing until we kill him. This last time he killed kids, and we all know that’s an unspoken rule: no kids—and no women when we can help it, but never kids. This guy is fucked up for sure. I can’t imagine killing kids. Go about your day to day life like normal. Don’t let Page out of your sight. We’ll catch this bastard, and when we do, he’s going down.”
Page was glad it was El Loco they were after, and not her. Better El Loco than me.
Antonio Wayne’s eyes looked like razors cutting through the atmosphere. He wasn’t the kind of enemy to make if you valued your life.
“One more thing,” they all looked at Antonio in anticipation, “do all the research on El Loco you can. Get in touch with Tad and see if El Loco looks the same or if he’s aged so much, he looks different. Try to find out if he’s in the states or Colombia. Find out who his connections here are. Dig up anything you can on the guy.”
“Will do,” Mano stood up and grabbed Page’s hand. The meeting over, they had somewhere to start finding a serial killer.
Chapter Twenty Five
El Loco could barely move his shoulder, and he was beginning to wonder if it was dislocated. The bitch was going to pay.
He was taking a big chance doing what he was doing right now. He had parked his truck down the street and eased his way up to Page’s door. Getting in was easy enough for a man like him, and the fact there was no security system made it simple. Didn’t the man care enough to have one put in for her? That was the first rule of crime: protect your habitat. Worthless bum.
The smell of potpourri and wax melts wafted through the air giving the home a boutique atmosphere. The place was neat with