Page 64 of Married with Blood
I glanced at Maksim, eager to tell him about that last lookout I’d spotted. They weren’t too obvious, looking like stranded cars or customers at gas stations. It was more inhowthey scanned their environment that gave them away.
He noticed me looking and nodded once.I saw that one.He mouthed it, staying on his call.
I nodded back, letting him know I understood. Facing the window again, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Lines etched on my face in a cringe. There was no hope to mask how uneasy I felt with every mile that passed.
He’s watching us.
My brother was actively spying on the smuggling operation that was happening just outside the Cartel territory.
Is he watching because of me?
Does he worry that Enrique could have tipped me off?
And he wants to punish me?
I shook my head, clearing out the thoughts that didn’t add up.
Arturo had practically erased me from his life by foisting me into this arranged marriage. He did it all so he wouldn’t have to see me and put up with my trying to steer him right with his decisions about the Cartel. Enrique had confirmed it.
A renewed sense of anger lit up inside me that my brother could ever try to shove me aside like that.
He wanted to get me out of the way so he could do as he pleases.
He’s not spying onme.
He thinks I’m too insignificant.
By having these lookouts positioned on this highway when we were making this run, though, he was clearly interested in what the Bratva was doing around him.
Does he regret compromising the trade agreement with them?
Is he starting to realize his mistake in shopping around and looking for someone else to do business with?
Does he wish that he never partnered up with that network?
All these questions and concerns pinged in my mind. They left me bothered and confused, lost about how to proceed with this handoff. A part of me wanted to tell Maksim that we should back up, that we should cancel going through this. Another part of me, though, was stubbornly convinced that I was letting my imagination get the best of me.
Because of the sour status of my relationship with my brother, I was jumping even faster to the conclusion that my brother had to betheenemy. Not just a mistaken and impulsive man, but now my enemy.
Maksim didn’t offer any more comments for the rest of the ride south. The closer that we came to the deserted town where the handoff would happen, I felt less ready to speak up.
I was jumpy, with adrenaline rushing through me and making me want to get up and run somewhere. To fight. Todosomething. Sitting in this car and approaching the handoff site was a slow, agonizing wait that I didn’t want to endure.
The rest of the team was updated about all the lookouts I’d noticed. Dean and the driver of the van would be ready to react if need be. Despite knowing that, and despite the conviction that we were not going to end up being surprised, I felt like this was a mistake.
Maksim seemed to have the same doubts, frowning and scowling—proving that it wasn’t an illusion when we were so in sync that we could seemingly finish each other’s thoughts.
He parked in front of an empty building in the ghost town. But before he turned the car off, he firmly and gruffly reminded me again of what he expected. “You stay with me.”
Even though he was scoping out the place and wasn’t looking at me, through his peripheral vision, he would pick up on the movement of my head.
“We’re not taking any risks with your being here.”
I appreciated that he valued me so much. But I wasn’t supposed to be here as a spectator in the background.
“Am I supposed to stay in the car and not get out?”
That would be a deviation. At all the other smuggling operations I’d attended with him, I had been present. Just one more pair of eyes and ears, to make sure that nothing untoward was happening. Maksim didn’t bring me along for the hell of it. I was here as another spy, as one more member of the team.
