Sheltered

Chapter 47

"Ian?" A smooth female voice trills.

He presses his cigarette in the ash tray beside his couch. "Si, mi amo?" Ian flashes his perfectly white teeth, tilting his shimmering blue eyes up to look at the woman.

"For you." She smiles.

He takes a small, black flip phone from her hand.
"Bueno?"

"It's me. We locked down her location."
Griffin explains from the other end of the line.

"And the other signal?"

"Still not sure who it is. It's a guessing game at this point, there's no way to trace back the signal any further." Griff sighs.

Ian nods, pursing his lips.
"Keep working. They aren't moving very quickly, just identify the second signal before they reach the damn border."

"You got it. How's Mexico?"
Griffin asks casually.

"Same old, same old, buddy. Not much action. We've only taken out a couple targets, nothing new has come in." He smiles up at the tall, dark brunette woman standing in front of his seat.

"Alright, let me know if you need anything down there."

"Will do. Be safe, Griff."

"Bye, love you, dude."

"C'ya, buddy."
Ian flips the phone shut.

"Little brother?" She sits next to Ian and swings her legs over his lap.

"Yeah." He puts an arm around her.

"Everything going well up there?"

"Yes, mi amo. They're still looking for the other signal." He clenches his jaw, subconsciously tapping his fingers on the young woman's waist.

"What's the location on Peterson?"
She rises, walking toward a laptop on a small wooden dining table.

"Don't worry about it, Cadence." His voice drops an octave.

As she sits in front of the computer, typing away, she looks at Ian with a mix of disappointment and worry.
"They're half way to Laredo, Ian." Her tongue rolling perfectly over the 'R' in 'Laredo'.

"Cadence, come here." He sweetly beckons her to sit with him.

"Ian! How stupid can you all be?" She scoffs.
"If they reach México before the trackers do, everything is screwed. You shouldn't have come here, I told you it was a bad idea."
Cadence takes a breath, and sits back down at the small table.

"It'll be fine, ven aquí." He chuckles slightly worriedly.

She picks up a rolled newspaper and walks toward a closed door behind him. She smacks the back of Ian's head with the paper on her way there and he can't help but smirk.
"We'll figure it out, Cadence."

"Your ass is going to figure this out, Ian. You don't listen to me, do it on your own." And she closes the door behind her.

"You're a mess." Ian mutters, clearly entertained. He walks to the laptop.
"Alright. Time for my ass to figure this out."