Into the Mist (Falcon Mercenary Group #1)(51)

“That makes sense,” she murmured. “It still doesn’t explain why he has no interest in Gabe, in either killing him or having him brought in alive. When Esteban approached Falcon with the job, he was very fixated on you. Less so on Ian and Braden, but then he wanted them dead. But there was never a mention of Gabe then or later when he approached me outside of Falcon.”

“No, it doesn’t make sense unless he simply doesn’t know about Gabe.”

“So you’re men without a country,” she said, foregoing the subject of Gabe for the moment.

“Yeah, you could say that.”

“I guess that’s something we have in common,” she said softly.

“So what about you?” he asked as he drew her a little closer to him. “How did you join up with Falcon?”

She stiffened and realized too late that by asking Eli for personal details she would be expected to reciprocate. Her skin itched just thinking about revealing parts of herself that she hadn’t shared with anyone.

“Shouldn’t we be going?” she asked as she checked the time. By the time they got back to the truck and on the road, it would be getting light.

Eli let out a small breath. “Yeah, I guess we should.”

He stood and pulled Tyana up beside him. They started for the truck, and when they arrived, Eli opened the door to the backseat and handed her a small satellite transmitter.

“Think you can buzz your guy and have him find out what he can on Esteban’s whereabouts?”

She nodded and took the equipment before climbing into the passenger seat. As Eli cautiously drove back out to the main road, she fitted the earpiece and entered a series of commands.

There was a long period, and the connection crackled and hummed in her ear. She adjusted the thin wire leading from her ear to her mouth. “Tits, if you’re there, I could really use you right now.”

She looked over at Eli in the darkness. “Is there a secure frequency I can upload to him?”

He reached over to the glove compartment and dug around, his arm pressed against her leg while he kept the other hand on the wheel. He dragged out a pen and a pad of paper, placed the pad on her knee and quickly jotted down a series of numbers.

“Tyana, long time no hear. You okay?”

“I’m fine, Tits. Look, I need you to switch to a secure frequency. I don’t have my equipment on me.”

“Yeah, I noticed it wasn’t you flashing at me. Fire when ready.”

She punched in the numbers. “I’m switching over. Holler when you’re there.”

She entered the numbers on the small keyboard and went through the complicated series of gateways. The static and interference in her earpiece died as crisp silence replaced it. A few seconds later, Tits’ voice boomed over the connection.

“Now, what is it you need? I hope you’re not wanting me to come pull your ass out of some shithole somewhere.”

“You wish. I need intel on Esteban Morales. I need to know where he is, what he’s doing and who he’s doing it with. Once you figure that out, I need a safe house as close to him as you can manage.”

“I don’t like the sound of this, Ty.”

“You don’t have to like it. Just do it. It’s important, Tits. You know I wouldn’t ask otherwise.”

He grunted. “Yeah, I know.”

“E me the info when you get it. I should have a decent enough signal to be able to read it by the time you collect it. I’d rather not do this live. Make sure it’s encrypted.”

Tits snorted. “I don’t tell you how to do your job, baby girl.”

“Yeah, yeah, do this for me and I’ll give you another kiss.”

“I want tongue this time.”

“You got it last time, ass**le.”

He chuckled then broke the connection.

She pulled the receiver from her ear and pushed the unit off her lap and into the space between her and Eli.

“He should have the info we need by the time we reach Buenos Aires. At least then we’ll know where we need to fly. Are you going to be able to get us out of Argentina?”

Eli smiled in the dim light. “Yeah, sugar. Just leave that part to me.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Tyana dozed fitfully as they drove through small villages and a few larger towns. When Eli stopped for petrol, she dug around in one of the bags they’d packed for food.

They drove on, eating in silence, tension settling over them like a cloud.

She knew she hadn’t been fair. But then it wasn’t her job to be fair. If Eli wanted to unload on her, fine, but it didn’t mean they had to have some mushy meeting of the minds and a therapy session starring her.

Still she could sense something in his attitude toward her. Disappointment? She slouched further down into her seat and turned so she couldn’t see him or his occasional glances in her direction.

“I’m not going to stop tonight,” he said, finally breaking the silence. “If I drive through, we can hit Buenos Aires by tomorrow afternoon.”

She turned to look at him, his profile as he concentrated on the road in front of them. He pushed his hair back behind his ear and occasionally fidgeted with his earring.

“And what then?”

His gaze skittered sideways for a second. “Then we wait for your friend to tell us where we can find Esteban. I’ll work on our flight details in the meantime.”