Canary by Tijan

7

Carrie

After we finished eating, we did as Raize had instructed.

I babysat our bags in the front lobby of a Milton—sitting far, far off in a corner because I had no clue what was in these bags—and Jake went to get us a new set of wheels.

He came back with an older, black Honda Civic, the engine sounding like it was trying to eat its way out of the car.

I didn’t say anything as he approached me in the lobby, just focused on not laughing.

Jake snorted. “Shut it. It’s the best I could do. Boss is going to have to deal.”

We were just settling in at a motel on the outskirts of San Antonio when Raize and Cavers pulled up. Neither seemed happy when they saw us.

“What car did you get?” Raize asked.

Jake nodded to the black one parked in the lot. “That beautiful masterpiece.”

Raize gave him a second look before assessing the car. His lips pressed into a line, but he nodded. “Fine.” He was back to business, stepping inside our room. We’d gotten the same setup with a connecting door between the rooms. Cavers immediately went to the other room, and I could hear him opening some bags.

Raize shut the door and stood with his back against it for a second, his eyes downcast.

Jake and I shared a look. This wasn’t a good sign.

We heard the bathroom door shut in the other room. The fan clicked on, and Raize lifted his head. His eyes were blazing.

This was so not good.

“Go and get a tracker,” he told Jake softly. “I want one on his phone and one on his truck. Now.”

Jake nodded, grabbing his things on the way out.

Raize stepped away from the door and came closer to me. “You and he need to know what we’re walking into, but I can’t.” His eyes flicked over my shoulder, and I knew what he was saying. He couldn’t when a certain someone was close enough to eavesdrop.

I nodded. “What do you need from me?”

“Pack a small bag—bare necessities. We’ll leave it somewhere you can grab it if you need to run.”

Run?

Fuck.

Run. Running was bad.

I swallowed over a knot. “I didn’t get into this life to run.”

“Whatever the reason, you need to live to do it.” His eyes went back over my shoulder. “Pack the bag,” he repeated as he stepped back.

It didn’t take me long, and I used the plastic bag that went over the motel’s hair dryer. Cavers was still in the bathroom when I showed it to Raize. “Done.”

His eyebrows pulled in. “There’s nothing in there.”

“I don’t have anything to start with.”

He gave me a look. “What do you have?”

“Two pairs of underwear, one pair of socks, a sports bra, and two changes of clothes.”

“Money?”

“Whatever you give me.”

He shook his head. “That’s it? You don’t have anything extra on you?”

“You’re the only boss that’s paid me.”

His eyes went flat at that, and he ran a hand over his face. “There’s nothing in here. There’s no point in even doing this bag.” He nodded to the bathroom door. “He comes out, you tell him I went to get food.”

I glanced to the door, but felt Raize move up behind me.

My shirt lifted.

I stiffened, holding my breath.

He pushed something cold and firm into the back of my pants and returned my shirt to its proper place. “You sit. If he moves at you, you shoot him. Got me?”

Fuuck. My mouth was so dry, but I nodded. “Got it.”

He was gone in the next second, and I was left with the shower running in Cavers’ bathroom and my heart pounding in my chest. It was deafening.

I heardCavers come out of the bathroom and walk through his room. He came to the doorway of my room with a wet head and new clothes on.

He glanced around. “Where’d they go?”

My mouth was so dry. I could feel the weight of that gun against my back. “Raize went to get food. Jake’s doing an errand.” I didn’t know if I was supposed to share that last bit, but lying came naturally to me—another skill I didn’t like, but needed for survival.

Also, I didn’t even know if I was lying. Raize might’ve actually gone for food.

He nodded, blinking. I noticed the deep bags under his eyes. “Good. I’m fucking tired and hungry. Mind if I close this so I can take a nap?”

“Raize doesn’t want that closed.”

He narrowed his eyes. I tensed, expecting a fight, but he only nodded again. “Okay. Ignore my snores then.”

I nodded, but didn’t move—not even when I heard him collapse on the bed I couldn’t see. A minute or so later, when I heard his snores, some of my stiffness loosened. There’d be no fight, no sudden… I didn’t know what I was expecting. Still, I sat in the same position until forty minutes later when Raize came through the door.

It opened soundlessly, and he paused, taking everything in.

He didn’t speak. I didn’t speak. He came in, shut the door, still silent, and moved to glance into the other room.

He had another two guns on him, both handguns. He also had food with him and he tossed the bag of food on the table in front of me. He put one of the guns on the dresser and disappeared into the other room for a bit. When he came back, he had all the bags with him. He set them in the corner before going back and returning with Cavers’ personal bag and phone. He put everything on the counter before closing the door and locking it.

After that, he closed his eyes, resting his forehead to the door for a millisecond. Then his neck straightened, his back went rigid again, and he turned, skimming his dead eyes over me before going to the bathroom. He kept one of the guns on him, while he washed up.

“Do you need to take a shower?” he asked after a moment

It was then that I felt like I could relax, as much as I normally could.

I stood and pulled his gun from my jeans.

He waved at me. “You need to keep that.”

“I don’t know how to shoot it.”

He narrowed his eyes, his head cocking to the side. “You don’t?”

I shook my head. “It was my line. Before.” I handed him the gun.

He took it. “Your line?”

“You know, we all have a line we won’t cross. Shooting a gun was mine.”

His eyes darkened, and he gave me the gun back. “That’s a seriously stupid line. You need to learn how to shoot.”

I was aware, but I just didn’t want to tell him that. Or, not yet. I’d wait until Jake became a pain in my ass about getting Raize’s approval before he taught me to shoot. I didn’t know why I was doing this, but I dunno. Maybe it was a new line?

I yawned, lying down on the bed by the door.

“Switch.”

“What?”

Raize took his bag and the guns he’d put on the other bed, the one closer to the bathroom. “Sleep here.” He put everything on the end of the bed I was currently lying on. “I’ll do watch until Jake gets back.”

I was not going to argue with that. My head was now bobbing since I’d given myself permission to let the exhaustion seep in. It came hard and fast.

I lay down, my shoes on, fully dressed. I could be asleep within seconds, and I yawned. Still, if we had to run, I wanted to be ready. I skipped the blanket and turned to lie on my side.

I watched Raize for a beat.

I’d never seen anyone like him.

He was lean, but he had broad shoulders. He moved around without moving around, if that made sense. He had a pretty face. Tan skin. Dark eyes. His hair was left alone. It was brown and he let it be. It wasn’t long or anything, but it wasn’t a crew cut. He was rough without not being rough at all. I knew he had tattoos, some on his arm, I saw one on his back one time, but nothing on his neck or face. He kept them where they could be hidden. And his body, it was lean and cut. Right now, shadows cast down over his forehead and his cheekbones, giving him this whole dark angel look.

I suppressed a shiver and turned away. What was going on with me?

He settled at the table by the window, moving the curtain so he could see outside.

“What are we doing here?”

He looked over, a flicker in his eyes.

Normally, I would never ask. Raize always provided information as needed. But my gut told me this was a whole different ballgame.

There was a moment of quiet before he said, “The Russians want to set up a business relationship down here. We were sent to set up that connection.”

I frowned. “Here? Who runs San Antonio?”

“Not here. We’re leaving once we’ve all gotten sleep.”

“Where?” I pressed.

“The Valley. Carloni wants us to work with the Estrada Cartel.”

He stared at me. I stared back.

Cartel.

That was a whole different ball game.

Those words hung between us, because we both knew what that meant.

I started this journey to find my sister.

There were a lot of details about the who, the why, the where, etc., but it’s why I was standing in this motel room staring at this guy.

Jesus.

There’d been many times that I wished I had never started this journey. But never once had I considered giving up the search for my sister. But today, right now, hearing where our path was taking us, I thought about letting her go.

Maybe it was time.

She’d made her decision so long ago, but…

Not yet.

I rolled over, curled into a ball, and fell asleep.

I was going to need the rest.