Free Flee by Keely James Page A

as you used to be. You require maintenance.” He glared back at me and tried to catch his breath.
    â€œYou have no idea how hard it was to get past your security and up to the house without being seen,” he replied.
    â€œWell, I hope it was hard. That’s why I’m paying them. It alarms me that you found a way, though.”
    â€œHey, I’m good,” he said, grinning. “It comes from years of chasing after a bratty kid who was always trying to lose me. Now the least that bratty kid can do is help me up.” He held up his hand, and I climbed down to him and pulled him to his feet. We climbed up to the back patio and sat down in the shade next to the pool. The teasing atmosphere was instantly gone. If Hector had come all of this way to see me and had gone to some trouble to sneak past security, then something was up.
    â€œWhat is it?” I asked, bracing myself for the worst.
    â€œThere is trouble with Las Lunas. Thomas asked me to come and warn you and check on you and your security. He misses you and your mother terribly, you know.”
    â€œI know. I miss him too.” I spoke quietly. Thomas and I had banded together as kids to torment our oldest brother Juan Carlos. How I wished he were here with us now, that he would find the answer to our dilemma with the family business . I didn’t understand how he could stay in that environment for long. “What kind of trouble?” I asked.
    â€œThe oldest De La Garza son is missing. Las Lunas think we’re responsible. They’re out for blood.”
    The Lunas, along with my dad’s group, The Bajas, were two of the biggest drug cartels in Mexico. Between them, they controlled the trade routes throughout most of the country that carried drugs from both Mexico and South America into the United States. For two years now they had been engaging in a mini war with each other. It was from this that Mom and I had fled.
    â€œ Are we responsible?” I asked, both needing and not wanting to know.
    â€œAbsolutely not. Our sources think he has been arrested. The authorities are not making any announcements. We’re working our inside people, trying to gain information, but so far nothing. We think they’re waiting to see what kind of fallout there will be between the two cartels. Maybe they are hopeful we’ll just take each other completely out and save them the trouble.” Hector sighed and ran his hand through his hair, a sign of worry. I noticed he was graying at the edges, even though he was only in his mid-thirties. Mom was right. The life we led caused premature aging.
    â€œWhat’s being done?”
    â€œIncreased security. A good perimeter around the house. Travel cut down to only what is absolutely necessary and then only in armored vehicles. Juan Carlos is working with our sources in the system, trying to confirm what is suspected so that the situation can be diffused.”
    â€œWhat do you recommend we do here?” I asked. I was all business now, my head analyzing the information and the consequences.
    â€œThomas wants me to stay here, assess your security detail and ensure they are trustworthy and adequate. Follow you and your mom around, stay alert and focused and use my particular set of skills if needed. Basically, I am to make a big pest of myself, eating your food and getting in your way until I drive you crazy. Just like old times.”
    He smiled, but his expression was serious and determined. He would easily give his life to keep Mom and me safe. He was a good man, even if he had chosen the wrong employer and cause to attach himself to. I had compassion on him, though. He had begun working for my father when he thought furniture and accessories import and export was all he was involved in. He knew too much now, though. He could never leave this job, this life, alive.
    â€œSo that is what Thomas says. What do Dad and Juan Carlos say?”
    â€œI’m taking their silence