Page 35 of Ballistic

“If we start frequenting the places they like to cut loose, we’re sure to run into them there quicker.” I strode across the room for one of the granola bars I’d left in the grocery bags from the night before and tossed one to her. “Let’s start light this time.” From a case of water I’d picked up, I handed her a room temp bottle.

“He hangs out at a club. It’s one of theirs.”

Nabbing another bottle for myself, I fell back into a chair and cracked it open, guzzling half its contents before I set it down on the table. “You’ve been to this club?”

“No.”

“Where is it?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know.” I shrugged and threw my hands up in the air. “So, what’s your plan, Nicoleta? Drive around the city looking for some shady ass club?”

“It’s not open to the public.” She bit into the granola bar, chewing slower than she had with the burger. “You need the tattoo to get in,” she added around a mouthful of food.

“And what then? You can’t just waltz in and start shooting up the place. These assholes have connections to the cartels and shit.”

“I’m well aware. I want to follow him. Find out where he lives.”

Shaking my head, I stroked my palm over my skull, frustrated by the bullshit plan she’d laid out for me. “I never agreed to this shit, Nicoleta. I’ve got my own to deal with.”

“And you’ll never find Tesarik without me.” The proud incline of her chin struck me as both bold and painfully attractive. “Every time you track him down, he gets smarter.”

“So what makes you think he’d take the chance of showing up somewhere, knowing you’re privy to that?”

“I can assure you, he wouldn’t miss it for anything. Even me.”

“What’s so important about it?”

“I suppose you’ll have to help me to find that out.”

Rubbing my hand down my face couldn’t stamp out the urge to shake the shit out of her. Girl had a way of driving me crazy. Must’ve been a pheromone she gave off, or something. In some ways she reminded me of a kitten, but wilder. More cunning. Like a little fucking lynx, all claws and teeth, digging into my soft spots. “What is this club?”

“BDSM, from what I understand. It’s an old hotel somewhere.”

“Hotel? Baby, I’ve been in damn near every building in the city. Pretty sure I’d have seen it.”

“If you’d seen it, I’m certain you’d remember it. A place like that can’t easily be forgotten.”

The very thought tightened my muscles. Wasn’t sure I could venture into that kind of club without my kill switch getting flipped.

“You haven’t known me long. But I’ll tell you, I wouldn’t ask you if I didn’t need your help.”

I rolled my head on my shoulders, trying to rid myself of that nagging fucking ache I’d developed since taking her in. “Fine. I’ll do it. I got some friends who might’ve heard of it.”

“They’d have work in the bowels of the city to know this place.”

“Woody’s Strip Club. Doesn’t get much lower than that. ‘Sides Sphinx.”

“I want to come with you.”

“No. What are you? Two days over eighteen?” I sneered and kicked back another swig of the water.

“I’m almost nineteen. And I’m not staying in this shitty motel, waiting for some asshole to come swipe me up.”

“Last I checked, you do all right on your own. I’ll leave a blade for you.”

“I do all right on my own. But I’m safer with you.”