Walker (In the Company of Snipers #21) - Irish Winters Page 0,17
the process.
Hotrod had to know. “Where in Brazil?”
“Highlands of Minas Gerais.” Oh, shit. And then it got worse. “Ever hear of Domingo Zapata? His brother Orlando?”
Hotrod’s heart all but stopped at the uncanny coincidence that Persia had been precisely where he’d been only weeks earlier. “I’ve heard of them. What’d you do? End the sons of bitches?”
He already knew different. She might have ended Domingo, but it was Julio Juarez who’d ended Orlando. Aka Oz, the dirtbag. With a freakin’ two-fer. In Hotrod’s mind, Julio was a straight-up hero. He’d lined up his shot to blow several diesel gas pumps, but when Orlando stepped in the way, Julio had taken down two birds with one stone, Oz and the pumps. Actually, Julio had taken down every last soldier in Oz’s army, plus a couple Russian spies, with the ensuing explosion caused by that single shot. Zapata’s gravel pit and gold mine were still burning. Juarez was a god.
“I wish,” Persia murmured, her eyes gone flat and her gaze a thousand miles away. “But, no. My mission was only to infiltrate and keep eyes on Domingo. To pass intel back to Washington, DC. Wish I could’ve killed him, but that honor belongs to my buddy, Julio Juarez. Man, I adore that Mexican stud, but he’s married, and he’s in love with his wife.”
Hotrod stifled another grimace. She knew Julio, too. Shit.
“But when he and Meg ended that rat bastard, I had to go back to DC. Domingo thought he was one badassed man, but he was wrong. Julio is. There’s nothing stronger than love, and Julio proved it in spades that day.”
Hotrod cocked his head, not sure who else Julio loved, other than Meg. That had been obvious since day one. Had he married her then? Was she the wife Persia mentioned? “So Domingo kidnapped Meg?”
Which was Domingo’s standard operating procedure. Kidnap a woman, then subject her to all manner of heinous tortures. In the end, they all died the same, with Domingo painting his ugly face with their blood.
“Nah. Meg was hurt, but she didn’t need saving. She can take care of herself. But yeah, Julio was there to rescue Dominic. Do you believe Domingo was his father?” Persia flicked her fingertips dismissively. “Least, that rat bastard was the sperm donor.”
Hotrod listened more intently. Julio rescued Domingo’s kid? Unbelievable. “Really?”
Persia kept talking. “Yeah. Really. You see, Domingo kidnapped Julio’s wife and kid, I think his name was Tomas. Poor Julio went out of his ever-loving mind, searching five years for his wife and that little boy. He finally gets them back, but Tomas isn’t a baby anymore. He wasn’t even the same kid. He was messed up, you know?”
She’d captured one long, silky black tangle with her finger by then, and kept pulling at it, as if she could straighten the curl. “He died after all he suffered in Domingo’s bunkers. But once Julio turned up in Brazil to rescue Meg and her orphanage, he ended up fighting tooth and nail to save Domingo’s kid from his old man.” Again Persia asked, “Do you believe that guy? Saving the son of the creep who’d killed his own boy? Guy’s got big, brass cojones.”
No. Hotrod couldn’t believe the kind of hero Julio was, nor all he’d suffered. “Juarez sounds like a good man, but did he rescue his wife? Or was she…?” He hated to think Domingo had hurt Julio’s wife as much as he’d hurt Tomas.
“Nah. Turned out Domingo didn’t kidnap Bianca or Tomas like Julio thought. She went willingly, the cow. Guess she was into full body tats, sharpened teeth, and” —Persia shivered—“Who knows what else? She deserted her little son. That I know for damned sure. I was there. I watched how she walked away from Tomas. I heard him screaming and crying for her.”
Jesus Christ. Hotrod hadn’t known that, either. He couldn’t imagine any woman tossing her son to a beast like Domingo. Bile climbed up his throat.
Persia had turned into a flowing fountain of information. “Julio did go after Domingo, and he did save Domingo’s little boy, though. Long story, short. Meg shot most all of Domingo’s guards, but it was Julio who finished what Meg started. He’s the guy who put a bullet in the middle of Domingo’s ugly face. Julio, Meg, and Dominic are now living happily-ever-after outside Big Springs, Texas, not far from her parents’ ranch. You both live in the same state now. You ought to stop by and introduce yourself next