The man brought his dark eyes to me and I could have sworn they were twinkling. His hair was black and cropped short to his head, a layer of thin stubble on his angular face. He was probably in his late thirties and I could see a wedding ring glinting on his left hand. He looked like he’d be a family man, albeit one in Javier’s cartel. He was built like a runner, tall and lean, but like Javier he had fluidity and grace to his movements. He opened the door wider to let Javier in then extended his hand to me.
“And you must be his friend, Ellie,” he said, his voice light but heavily accented. I gave him my hand and he shook it heartily. There was something impish in his expression as he watched me and I had to figure that he knew I once was the infamous Eden, the heartbreaker.
“I’m not quite his friend,” I said, my words coming out harder than I meant them to.
He smiled. “Of course not. Javi doesn’t have friends.” He dropped my hand and welcomed me into the room.
I went inside and stood against the wall, looking around the room. It looked like an ordinary office, filing cabinets, a messy desk, a fax machine. On the walls were a few colorful paintings of bullfighters.
“Take a seat,” Dom said as he eased himself into his leather chair and gestured at the two chairs across from him.
Javier shook his head. “We have to make this fast. I need your help.”
Dom smiled and brought out a cigar from his desk, pulling it out of the silver canister. He had no interest in making this fast.
“Care for a cigar?” he asked Javier. When Javier refused he looked to me.
I shrugged. “Sure.”
Javier shot me a dirty look but I didn’t care. A cigar would take some of the edge off the day. Hell, it would take some of the edge off the right now.
“I like you,” Dom said. He lit his own with a thick match from an antique-looking matchbox. After a few satisfied puffs, he pulled out another cigar and offered it to me. I went over to him and took them from him. Both he and Javier watched me closely as I lit it and once I showed that I wasn’t an idiot and knew how to smoke a cigar, Dom murmured something in approval.
“Now that the formalities are over,” Javier said, glaring at me for no real reason. I glared right back, my eyes cutting through the cigar smoke trailing up from my lips. “We have something urgent to discuss.”
Dom nodded. “Si. You’ve said so already. What is it?”
“I need a doctor, for my sister. Someone who won’t talk.”
“Which sister?”
“Does it matter?”
Dom shrugged. “No, I guess not. What else do you need?”
“I need you to get us to Travis Raines.”
He frowned and looked at me. “Us? What does she have to do with Travis?”
“That’s not important,” Javier told him. “What’s important is that you’ll do it and do it fast. Dominique, I know you know where he is. This is part of your job.”
Dom smiled wryly. He had this calm, bemused air about him but underneath it all I could see there was that layer of fear. Whether it was for Travis or Javier, I didn’t know.
“My job, Javi, is taking care of my men.” He eyed the paintings on the wall.
“The matadors?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No. Well, yes. But only Americans call them that. We call them Toreros. You see, after Javier decided to restructure the cartel, I was sent back to Mexico. There’s money in bull fighting, yes? There’s not much money in Javi’s business. Not anymore.”
I could feel Javier’s posture snapping. It was like his mood could change the air pressure in a room, maybe even in a whole building.
Dom’s eyes flew to Javier’s face which was struggling to stay calm. “Sorry, Javi. You know it’s true. Travis took a great deal from us. Well, anyway, no hard feelings from me. I much prefer dealing with bulls here than dealing with the bullshit in America.”
Javier swallowed loudly. “You’re still on the payroll, Dom. You owe me this.”
Dom breathed out through his nose and put his cigar down on the silver ashtray. He folded his hands in front of him. “And I’ll be on the payroll till my death, isn’t that the case?”
“You have a lovely wife and two lovely little girls. What were their names again?”
Dom’s eyes darkened momentarily, like a shadow passed over them. He and Javier stared at each other for a few moments, the clock on the wall ticking loud. Then Dom said, slowly, “Estella and Abril.”
“Right. So lovely. They must be what, four years old now? Such a precious age. They live in Aguascalientes still? With your beautiful wife. Does she still work for the bank?”
Dom was starting to look nervous. I looked to Javier who was as cold as stone except for that cunning look in his eyes. He was threatening him.
“Javier,” I warned, hoping I wasn’t jumping to conclusions, that they were still just having a simple business discussion.
“Ellie, shut up,” he said, not even looking at me. “This is for you.”
“This is extortion!” I cried out.