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of them look particularly impressed. “Why would any of those guys go to Alabama to kidnap women?” Jamie asks.  
    Eli makes a strangled, grunting sound. “Alabama? No one would bother there. If this woman was taken from Alabama then it’s more likely she was taken across the border.”
    Folding his arms across his chest, Jamie frowns at Cade. “What do you mean, ‘across the border?’ You mean into Mexico?”
    “Not Mexico. Colombia . There’s a crazy bitch down there. A woman, head of a cartel. She fucking skins people for fun. She’s not right in the head. I heard she sometimes sends crews up into the lower states to snatch people. Usually it’s wealthy politicians, but her guys take women too if they think they’re pretty enough. If they think they’ll get a decent return on them.”
    The words ‘ wealthy politician’ almost echo around the room. Jamie’s father is most definitely a wealthy politician. One of the wealthiest, most powerful politicians in America, in fact. If this woman, whoever she is, sent up a gang of guys to try and kidnap Louis for ransom, only to have their plans foiled by the sheer number of people at the property that night, they might well have taken a beautiful blonde woman instead, to temper the sting of losing out on their original target.  
    “Colombia,” Cade says, letting go of Eli. He steps back, shoulders sagging. “How the fuck are we going to find her if she’s been taken to Colombia? She could have been sold on and moved anywhere in the world from there.”
    “Maria Rosa is a patient woman,” Eli says. “Fucking out of her mind crazy, but patient. She doesn’t sell on her people. She keeps them, looks after them. It’s not in her interests to sell on commodities, at least until she knows their true value, anyway.”
    “You seem to know a lot about her,” Jamie says.  
    Eli shoves away from his desk, chest heaving, rage filling his eyes as he looks at the three of us. “I had the misfortune to cross paths with her in Vegas. She stays at the MGM Grand more often than not when she’s in country. I was hired to follow a guy by one of the MCs in Los Angeles. The guy met with Maria Rosa and ended up losing the skin off his back. Safe to say I didn’t hang around to find out why.”
    Jamie looks to me, as though wanting some sort of confirmation that maybe Eli’s telling the truth. Eli’s never had occasion to lie to me before. I doubt he would lie to Jamie and Cade, especially after being on the receiving end of Cade’s temper. The risk of the deception backfiring would be deterrent enough. I give Jamie the nod—yeah, it’s probably true—and then both he and Cade pull back, attack dogs called off.  
    They exit the office without even sparing a glance for the stunned guy they’re leaving behind. Eli shoots me a disgusted look. “Don’t expect to be doing business with me again, Michael. I don’t want to see you around here again. I don’t care who sends you.”
    I slowly pace up to his desk, taking my leather gloves from my pocket and sliding my hands inside them slowly, first my left and then my right. “I can’t think of how, but you seem to be a little confused about who’s higher on the food chain here, Eli. Let me refresh your memory.” I slam my fist into his face, sending him reeling back into his chair. The thing seesaws, groaning under his weight. “You’re small fry, Eli,” I tell him. “And I am a motherfucking Great White. I’ll come back as and when I please, and you’d better be smiling when I do. Otherwise I might just decide to stay a while. Better for you if I’m in and out of here as quickly as possible in future.”  
    Eli clasps both hands over his busted nose, making a pained growling sound, bleeding profusely down his shirt. “Jesus, man, okay! I’m sorry! Please, just leave.”
    “It would be my pleasure.”

FOUR

    Jamie and Cade don’t stick around. They’re already making plans to head off to Colombia by the