Chapter 3

Karl’s heart rate quickened as he watched Tomás’s ass while the boy walked up one flight of stairs and unlocked a dented door. The tidy studio apartment smelled clean. “Do you work on your own apartment in a jockstrap?”

“Practice makes perfect.”

“Anywhere to sit?”

“Just the mattress.”

Of course.“I’ll stand. Buddy, you mentioned the background-check obstacle. What if there was a way around that?”

“How?” Tomás asked.

“I won’t lie. The help needed is not something small and would never be asked for under other circumstances.”

Tomás handed Karl a glass of ice water. “What do you mean?”

“Something big triggered a need to hit a trafficking ring. Do you know what I’m talking about?”

Tomás shuddered. “El Sistema? Those guys give me the creeps.”

That wasn’t the response Karl had expected. “You actually know members of a trafficking ring?”

“Know of one or two, but not actually know them. There’s a guy who comes into KJ’s. He has the tattoo.”