Page 41 of Hunter's Revenge
My interest instantly piques. “How the hell did you find him?”
“Believe me, it wasn’t easy.”
“What did he say?”
“He and another guy did jobs for Santiago. The other guy was Santiago’s driver. He used to take him to meet his daughter and her mother at the park a few weeks before Christmas every year.”
“Does this guy have a name?”
“He’s dead.”
I press down on my back teeth in frustration. It’s so fucking convenient that everyone who knew Santiago—who could help me—is dead or off the grid in some sort of way.
“Okay, so maybe we could get surveillance of the park?”
“Way ahead of you. Santiago arranged for the surveillance to be switched off when he was there. But I came up with another idea when I went to check out the place.” He takes a breath, and I can see he’s not entirely confident in whatever idea he’s come up with. “The park has a custodian who I’m told has worked there for over twenty years. He’s parked pretty much in the same spot that’s allocated to staff. His vehicle has its own surveillance, which wouldn’t have been switched off. Although he’s changed trucks several times, he’s kept the same security system. I already hacked into the digital files, and I saw Santiago in the park, but the recording of him was only for five minutes. The custodian left the grounds after that.”
“Jesus, Zakh.” This is where our talents differ in vast quantities.
“Don’t get your hopes up, brother. Everything we’re already doing here is a long shot, but this is an even bigger one, which I’m not sure will work.” He sighs heavily.
“Just tell me what your thoughts are.” I don’t want to give up on something before we even begin.
“If we can get footage of his daughter with him then we know who to look for. We have pictures of both Gwen and Allyson as kids. Even if we can’t get a clear image from the recording we can use facial recognition software to fill in the blanks. The problem is there’s a lot of files to check through and as it’s an old security system we can’t do a quick search without running the risk of missing something.”
“Let’s just do it.”
“Malik, this really might not work. So far, I haven’t found any other footage of Santiago. Also, the custodian might not have been there on the day Santiago visited. Or, like in the one I found, he could have left for the day or left just as everyone got there.”
“How many recordings did you get?”
“Two hundred. I’ve gone through ten. I’ve narrowed the time down to an eighteen-hour window. That covers a wide range, and we can skip through any surveillance that’s not of the park.”
“Okay, I got it.”
“If we focus on this today and tomorrow, we should get through it. Allyson has invited us to a party later. I’m gonna go. You don’t have to go. I figured you could stay here and keep looking.”
“Sure, I can do that. That sounds like a plan.”
An uneasy look enters his eyes, and I know he has more to tell me. I know my brother so well that I know whatever it is, it’s not something I’m going to like.
“What else is there, Zakh?” I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees.
“Desmier called. Aleksander wants us back next week if we’re not able to figure this out.”
My shoulders sag. Aleksandr Ivanov is the leader of the Knights and the Pakhan of the Bratva. What he says is the law. Desmier is the Sovietnik, his second-in-command, so what he says is the law, too.
“Fuck. We’ve only been here for five days.”
“Malik, you know if we don’t figure this out by next week, there’ll be no point anyway, right? Diego is going to be chosen to lead the cartel after his father’s funeral. We’ll have fuck all to pursue if we don’t find Santiago’s daughter.” He tilts his head to the side. “Alexander also doesn’t fully support us being here. He doesn’t think we have enough evidence to investigate either of the women, and he doesn’t want us making a mess where we have no actual trail to follow.”
“Well, he can go fuck himself.” I mean it. I’m always and ever the loyal Knight, but I play by my own rules when I need to. “He of all people should know that sometimes you don’t always get a perfect trail to follow. Sometimes, we have to start with minimal information and work backwards.”
“He just doesn’t want us to get anything wrong. Normally, if we see something we want, whether it’s a person or a thing, we take it. We can’t just do that here.”
“I know. It’s just that I can feel we’re close.”
“Maybe so, but I’m also at my limit with ideas. And I think looking through these recordings might be the last thing I can do for you.” His voice holds regret. “You’re going after the dead, Malik. I hate to say this, but maybe the fact that your enemy is dead has to be enough.”