THE THOUSAND DOLLAR SOLDIER: A Colt Ryder Thriller by J.T. Brannan

Author:J.T. Brannan [Brannan, J.T.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grey Arrow Publishing
Published: 2023-10-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

“Congratulations Señor Ryder,” Lopez said as he entered the same room where we’d first met. I’d been escorted back there under armed guard and given an icepack for my nose and a bottle of water, but that was all. Still, it was better than a bullet to the head, so who was I to complain?

“Thanks,” I said, looking up at him from the chair that I was sitting on, resting my aching body. There were two cartel boys in the room monitoring me, but Antonio was nowhere to be seen. He was probably back at work at the front of house. “Enjoy the show?”

“Very much,” he said. “You took me by surprise. You took everyone by surprise, I think.”

“And this isn’t even what I do well,” I told him. “I’m even better with a gun in my hands, and I can teach even better still.”

“Perhaps you’re right,” Lopez said. “You have certainly drawn attention to yourself.”

“The right kind, I hope.”

“Perhaps. Señor Olivar was impressed, anyway.”

“He’s here?” I asked, surprised. “He was watching?”

Lopez nodded. “Yes, he was watching. And he would like to meet you.”

“Now?”

Lopez looked me up and down, taking in my ripped shirt and bloody face.

“Hardly,” he said. “You have a hotel?”

“Yes.”

“And a car?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, my men will escort you back to your hotel, you will get cleaned up and change your clothes, and then they will take you where you need to go.”

“This is the only suit I have with me.”

“I will get you something suitable,” he said, looking closely at me as if to assess my size.

I wondered if his men would take me somewhere to kill me, but I didn’t think it likely; if Lopez wanted me dead, it would be easy enough to do it right here and now. No, I thought he might be genuinely interested in me, as was his boss, the big fish I was here to catch; and he was already seemingly on the hook.

“Okay,” I said, standing up on weakened legs. “Let’s go.”

When I got out of the shower, there were new clothes lying on my bed.

I’d checked into the hotel room before I’d gone to the wrestling event, ensuring I had a base of operations to work from. Kane had come with me, but I’d left him guarding the car. He was back with me now, and I could see that he made the cartel men nervous. They might not mind man-on-man violence, but that delivered by a ferocious animal was a much scarier prospect.

I looked at the clothes, an expensive black suit with matching silk shirt, and nodded in appreciation. Definitely better than anything else I had in my rucksack, which generally consisted of t-shirts, pullovers and utilities. They’d got me new shoes too, expensive loafers to match the suit.

I got changed, not caring that there were three men watching me – all of whom were armed, and might try at any moment to kill me – and then nodded at them.

“I’m ready.”

“The dog stays,” one of the men said, and although disappointed, it was hardly surprising.

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