Page 96 of Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad World

McMillan sighed heavily as he attempted to brush a stain from his shirt as if it were lint. Funnily enough, it didn’t work. “Sounds like the Demons have pissed off a South American cartel. That’s all I know.”

“Did they say which one?”

“Alvarez,” McMillan said. “They’re one of the smaller operations, but we’ve been seeing a lot of their product in the city over the past couple of years.” As he reached the door, Johnson shouted from downstairs for him to hurry. “Don’t shoot anybody while we’re gone.”

Once he’d left, Noah turned to face his team. “Alvarez.”

“Guess they realized their money was gone and they don’t have any women to show for it.” Rochelle stood and pulled on her gray suit jacket.

As she did so, the ADA walked back into the room. “Just wanted to let you know that Eddie’s been spotted in Houston Heights. Looks like he hasn’t skipped town after all. Unfortunately, my boss still needs to see me, so I’m going into the office.” She shrugged. “My tech’s left with the equipmentwe need, anyway. Guess we’re trying that out another day. The sooner this trial is over the better.”

“Amen to that,” Noah agreed.

As the ADA left, Rochelle turned to Evan. “Are we absolutely sure Eddie Hanson can’t trace his missing money back to us?”

“Absolutely,” he said solemnly.

Abasi nodded in agreement. “It’s hidden the same way my money’s hidden. And I’m confident nobody’s ever gonna find that.”

“Remind me again,” Logan said, trying to sound nonchalant. “Exactly how much money are we talking here?”

Abasi just stared at him in silence.

Rodrigo held up his phone. “Got a message from a friend saying the Alvarez cartel’s out for blood. The drug house we busted, the women we intercepted, and the money we took are just the icing on the cake. They’re more worried about Hanson’s upcoming trial.”

“There really is a war coming,” Harris said, looking worried.

“Maybe we should hand the money over to the police,” Katrina said. “If there’s a gang war, a lot of innocent people will get caught in the crossfire. I’d hate for law enforcement officers to be hurt because of what we started.”

“Won’t make any difference.” Rodrigo tipped his chair back to a precarious angle and balanced on its two back legs while talking. “This isn’t about the money. It’s about Eddie’s failures. I’m betting he promised the cartel he’d take care of the witness and the trial wouldn’t go ahead, but every attempt he’s made to do that has been botched. Time’s running out, and the Alvarez cartel can’t risk having someone like Eddie turn on them. He knows too much. Add to that the national attention he’s drawn over the past few months, and the cartel will be getting antsy. The Demons have become a weak link in the Alvarez business empire. They have no choice but to bring down the motorcyclegang. All taking the money did was move the deadline forward a few days.”

“Are you saying Hanson has to get rid of Annabelle or the Alvarez cartel will kill him?” Noah’s blood chilled.

Rodrigo nodded. “There’s a chance he could turn state’s evidence to avoid the death penalty. But even if he does keep his mouth shut, with him in jail, there’s nothing to stop law enforcement from putting pressure on the weak links in the Demon Brothers gang. Somebody would eventually crack and sell everything they know about the Alvarez cartel.”

“So even though the cartel’s starting a war with his gang, Eddie’s priority will still be to eliminate the witness,” Noah said, an instinctive dread pooling in the pit of his stomach.

Abasi and Rodrigo shared a heavy look.

“Yeah,” Rodrigo said.

“I need to get Annabelle into the panic room.” Noah strode from the office. “She can stay there until the trial starts.”

Whether she wanted to or not.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Noah strode down the corridor and opened the door to the small office the ADA planned to use as a virtual witness stand. Violet stood at the bottom of the stairs, staring out through the main entrance to the street beyond. She didn’t glance up, even though she must have heard him. When she was in on-duty mode, nothing distracted her.

Without bothering to knock, he pushed the office door open and strode inside. “Annabelle?—”

The room was empty, apart from a bunch of tech equipment scattered on top of the desk and credenza.

She must have gone back to the loft. Noah jogged up the stairs, taking them two at a time, and let himself into the apartment.

“Annabelle,” he called as he entered the vast space.

There was no reply.