Chapter 2 - The Name That Was Supposed to Be Buried
Twenty minutes later, Rosa sat in the back of Mateo Caruso's armored sedan.
She hated every second of it.
“You kidnapped me.”
Mateo sat opposite her.
“I invited you.”
“Your man locked the door.”
“For your protection.”
“He also took my phone.”
Mateo glanced toward his lieutenant.
“Marco.”
Marco handed Rosa the phone.
She checked it.
“Password?”
“We didn't open it.”
“Smart.”
Marco frowned.
“Is that a threat?”
“No. Professional approval.”
Mateo leaned forward.
“Who is Lobo?”
Rosa looked out the window.
“Stop pretending.”
“I know a man called Lobo.”
“You've been fighting him for eleven months.”
Mateo's expression changed.
“How do you know that?”
“I serve your table.”
“We don't discuss business at dinner.”
“Your men do when you go to the restroom.”
Marco muttered, “I'm firing everybody.”
Rosa almost smiled.
Mateo didn't.
“Lobo's real name.”
Rosa hesitated.
“Victor Salazar.”
Marco swore.
Mateo leaned back.
“That Victor Salazar?”
“Yes.”
“You killed his brother.”
Rosa stared at him.
“That's what he tells people.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“Lobo.”
Silence filled the car.
Mateo studied her.
“Why?”
“His brother discovered Victor was selling intelligence from his own organization. Victor needed someone else blamed.”
“And he chose you?”
“He chose Wraith.”
Mateo's eyes sharpened.
“You were working for him.”
“I worked for whoever paid the agency.”
“What agency?”
“The kind you can't find on Google.”
Marco snorted.
Rosa looked at him.
“Do you want the answer or jokes?”
“Answer.”
Rosa turned back to Mateo.
“I was recruited at twenty-two. Languages, surveillance, infiltration. I was good at becoming invisible.”
“How good?”
“Apparently good enough to spend eighteen months pouring your wine.”
Mateo couldn't argue.
The sedan entered an underground garage.
Rosa stiffened.
“Where are we?”
“My home.”
“I didn't agree to that.”
“Lobo knows you're alive.”
“Which is why I need to leave.”
Mateo blocked the door.
“You saved my life.”
“Don't make me regret it.”
“You're not leaving alone.”
Rosa's eyes went cold.
“You don't own me because I saved you.”
“No.”
Mateo's voice softened.
“But I owe you.”
“That sounds like your problem.”
Marco turned away, hiding a smile.
Mateo ignored him.
“Why did you disappear?”
Rosa's expression changed.
“Because I learned what happens when people like us keep doing what we're good at.”
“What happened?”
“My partner died.”
Mateo waited.
Rosa continued.
“His name was Daniel. He wanted out. So did I. We were supposed to disappear together.”
“Lobo stopped you.”
“Yes.”
“You loved him?”
Rosa's eyes hardened.
“That's none of your business.”
“It matters if Lobo uses him against you.”
“He can't.”
Mateo understood.
“I'm sorry.”
“Don't be.”
The elevator opened into a penthouse.
Rosa stepped out and stopped.
A wall of security monitors showed the restaurant.
Traffic cameras.
Garage feeds.
Street views.
Marco approached a technician.
“Anything?”
“Escalade was abandoned six blocks away.”
“Bodies?”
“Empty.”
Rosa walked toward a monitor.
“Rewind camera twelve.”
The technician looked at Mateo.
Mateo nodded.
The footage reversed.
Rosa pointed.
“There.”
A motorcycle appeared thirty seconds before the Escalade.
The rider parked across from the restaurant.
Never entered.
Never helped.
After the attack, he left.
Marco frowned.
“Spotter?”
“No.”
Rosa leaned closer.
“He's filming.”
Mateo's jaw tightened.
“Filming what?”
“Me.”
The room fell silent.
Mateo looked at her.
“They knew you'd be there.”
“No.”
Rosa shook her head.
“They knew someone would protect you.”
“What?”
“The shooters had multiple opportunities to fire into table 7 from outside.”
Mateo stepped closer.
“They deliberately entered.”
“Yes.”
“To force your hand.”
“Yes.”
Mateo's expression darkened.
“Then somebody knew Wraith was working in my restaurant.”
Rosa turned toward him.
“And there are only three people alive who knew where I disappeared.”
“Daniel?”
“Dead.”
“Lobo?”
“Yes.”
“And the third?”
Rosa didn't answer immediately.
Marco said, “Who?”
Rosa looked at Mateo.
“My sister.”
Mateo frowned.
“Where is she?”
Rosa's voice became almost a whisper.
“She died three years ago.”
A phone rang.
The technician answered.
His face drained of color.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Someone breached the west gate.”
Marco reached inside his jacket.
Rosa grabbed his wrist.
“Don't.”
He glared at her.
“Why?”
“Because if Lobo wanted to attack, you wouldn't know he'd breached the gate.”
Mateo stared at the monitors.
“Then who is it?”
A camera switched.
A woman stood outside in the rain.
Mid-thirties.
Dark hair.
A scar along her jaw.
Rosa stopped breathing.
Mateo looked from the screen to her.
“You know her.”
Rosa whispered one word.
“Isabella.”
“Your sister?”
Rosa's eyes filled with disbelief.
“Yes.”
On the monitor, the supposedly dead woman raised both hands.
Then looked directly into the camera.
“Rosa,” she said.
May you like
“Lobo is coming.”
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