Canary by Tijan
Carrie
Aloud thud sounded, and I gasped, rolling over and jumping up at the same time.
It took a second to get my bearings. I was disoriented.
I’d fallen asleep on the floor—no blanket, nothing but me. I looked at the door. It was open. Cavers stood there, bending over to grab a bag from the floor. He looked over and grimaced. “Sorry.” He lifted it, pausing to look at me again. “Since you’re awake, the boss wants you downstairs.”
Well.
I “needed to be useful”— Raize’s exact words—so, ignoring the fact that my body so very much did not like sleeping on the floor, I moved into the bathroom. A quick piss, followed by a quick wash-up, and I felt a little… Nope. I didn’t feel refreshed at all. I wasn’t sure I would ever again, but still, I headed downstairs.
Jake was in the kitchen, making coffee with a coffee machine that he must’ve bought and brought along. He lifted his chin in greeting. “You want some?” He gestured to a pizza box on the counter. “There’s a few slices left.”
I ignored the offer of food and pointed to the coffee. “We have mugs for that?”
“Yep.” He reached behind him. “I mean, we have Styrofoam cups. Best I could do.” He glanced toward Raize. “Maybe we could stop and get actual mugs today?”
Raize stood at the table, studying a bunch of papers that were spread out. He looked up. “Get what you need.” He started to go back to the papers, but his eyes narrowed on me. “You need coffee, and you need to eat.”
I opened my mouth to protest.
He growled, “I don’t give a fuck what you’re about to say. Your body needs food. Eat.”
And my mouth closed.
Jake smirked, dropping two slices onto a couple napkins for me. “You want these heated up?”
I glared, taking the pizza and the coffee he’d poured for me, and went over to sit at the table. Raize moved the papers over, giving me some space, and as I started eating, I looked over at what he was studying. It was a map of the Valley and the Mexican border. He had marked some points with scribbles going over the border.
My mouth dried because I knew I needed to ask, but I didn’t want to know. Damn. “What is this?”
I could feel his gaze as a shiver went down my spine. I stuffed some pizza into my mouth and chewed, not tasting a damn thing.
“We’re down here to make a connect. These are some options for us to do that.”
Cavers came into the kitchen, dumping the bag he’d had upstairs onto the counter, along with three others. He started pulling out rope, zip ties, duct tape, and a bunch of other items. He left the guns inside, and I glimpsed a few thick bundles of cash.
“These look okay?”
Raize looked up. His eyes were cool, taking in everything Cavers showcased as he moved over to inspect the bags. He didn’t answer, but his lips pressed tight and his jaw moved around, like he was chewing on something. Eventually he sighed and nodded. “Get it ready.”
Cavers put everything back in, zipped up the bags, and hoisted all three of them on his back. He took them outside, and a second later, we heard the garage open.
Jake seemed stunned. “You’re going to let him take off with that stuff alone?”
Raize lifted his eyebrows.
As if remembering his place, Jake flushed and lowered his arm. “I mean… Never mind. What do you want me to do today, boss?”
A different glint showed in Raize’s eyes. It was one I’d never seen before.
“I need you to follow him,” he said after a moment.
Jake looked up. “You serious?”
He nodded. “Don’t let him see you. Take pics, and record what you think I’d need to know about.”
Jake’s face clouded over, but he grabbed his gun, his phone, and the other set of keys. He was out the door almost immediately.
I looked back, and was startled to find Raize had been watching me the whole time.
He showed no emotion, but he seemed to be inspecting me. “What are your thoughts about that?”
I frowned. “About Jake or Cavers?”
“All of it. Any of it.”
I shifted back a step. A weird churning had started in my gut. “Why are you asking?”
“I’m curious.”
“My gut doesn’t work like that. You need to ask a yes or no question.”
He moved closer. “I’m not asking for that. I had my setup all done and put together in Philly. It’s different here. We’re the ones creating a need, one the Estrada Cartel doesn’t think they have. I have to create that need and reinforce it to them. I trust you the most in our group, and I am asking your opinion. What are your thoughts about what we’re doing here?”
Jesus. I did not want to have this conversation. The churning in my stomach became twisting, but with knives. Twist, slice, twist, slice.
“I don’t know what you’re doing, so I can’t have an opinion.”
Raize moved another step closer, his voice growing softer. “Then ask what you need to know.”
A lump formed in my throat.
It was that easy now? When it never had been? We were told to jump, so we jumped. We were never allowed to have a thought or an opinion. I answered Raize’s questions on command. Now he wanted me to think for him? To be an active participant where people would die?
I knew what I needed to say. “Why are you changing the rules? You never asked before.”
His eyes narrowed. “New situation. New rules. Now stop stalling and tell me.”
I raised my chin and rolled my shoulders back. “I hate when you kill people.”
His nostrils flared, but he didn’t move back. His voice was still soft. “More.”
Okay. More, then. “I don’t understand why we have Cavers here. You don’t want him, so why is he here?”
He stared at me, like he always did, but this time, his eyes were thoughtful. Considering.
I didn’t know what he was considering…
“I worked for the Morales Cartel before I left them for the Estrada Cartel,” he began.
I frowned. “I didn’t know you could do that.”
“You can’t—not usually. I was a special case.”
I remembered Jake telling me how Raize had his come-up. I was so not asking what had made him a special case.
“When Bronski made his move to get you back, Carloni saw his chance. He’s been wanting to use my connection to the cartels for the last three years. I’ve been putting him off. You were there. You know a condition of me keeping you is him using me down here. He’s got no in down here without me, and he knows it. The cartels also know it. They sent Macca for me as a nice fuck off.”
I swallowed over that damn lump. “That guy in the bathroom was a nice fuck off?”
He grinned, taking out a knife. He ran his thumb over the edge. “I’m guessing Macca pissed someone off. They knew I’d kill him. Macca’s stupid—always makes noise when he goes in for a mission. I’m surprised he’s still alive all these years later.”
Damn. He knew that guy.
“Did you like him?”
His grin widened. “I don’t like anyone.”
Right. Cold, dead—that was Raize. I forgot for a second who I was working for.
“You never said why Cavers is here.”
He turned, heading back to the table. He laid the knife down and started to pile the papers together. “He’s here to snitch on us to Bronski.”
Hearing that name, I winced again. It was like an internal slap, followed by a roundhouse kick to the face.
“Why Bronski? Why not Carloni?”
Raize shot me a hard look, pausing before he put the papers in a bag and zipped it closed. “Because Carloni is pitting Bronski against me. Winner gets you.”
Cold dread spilled over me. “How do you know this?”
“Because I bugged Cavers’ room, his phone, and his vehicle. He’s Carloni’s man, but he’s reporting to Bronski, which tells me Carloni doesn’t want me here. I’m being used to make the relationship. Then he’ll send Bronski down here to replace me, and I’m guessing you’re the consolation prize. For Bronski.”
“Why would Carloni do that?”
“Because even though I was sent to Carloni, he’s not my boss. He must’ve found out somehow.”
Did I want to ask? I closed my eyes for a moment. “Who is your boss?”
He shook his head. “That’s not information you need.”
I winced, feeling slapped by that refusal after he’d told me so much. But, okay then. Raize had a boss. That boss sent him to Carloni. Carloni is using his connections, and then he’s planning to kill him and replace him with his own guy—who I refuse to think about—and Raize knew all of this.
Who was this boss? Maybe this might make more sense if I knew? Maybe? I didn’t know. This was kind of the office politics of this world. You got used and then executed.
But I was here. Once I’d started on this path, there was never any going back. I had one choice now, keep going. “You can’t kill Cavers then?”
“No, but I can send him on errands that will do nothing for us.”
“Why send Jake to follow him?”
“Because if I didn’t, Bronski and Cavers would both think I didn’t give a shit what he’s doing, and that would make them suspicious.”
Right. Because all of that made sense. “You told Jake not to be seen when he followed Cavers.”
Raize shook his head. “Jake sucks at tailing. There’s no way Cavers won’t see him, but Jake will at least try to stay hidden.”
“And what are you and I doing?”
He picked up the bag and nodded to my pizza. “The real work. Finish eating and meet me outside in five minutes.”
The real work. I wanted to make a joke about that, but I couldn’t. Dread was my constant friend. It was in me, always. And hearing those words, the real work, my dread turned into an altogether different sensation.
Anticipation. I didn’t like feeling that. I didn’t like it at all, but the other surprise of the day? Raize was a lot smarter than I’d thought.
I’d underestimated him, and that alarmed me. Who else had I underestimated?
“Girl.”
I had to go. I started for the door.
“Don’t forget your food.”
