Maybe for some the reggae is enough to ignore the hotel security doing sweeps of the beach and hotel grounds. A little “One Love” and people forget that love sometimes isn’t enough to ignore that the locals are struggling, frightened, and that this island is no stranger to unrest and disaster. Could be they’re like Lam, who has never learned to be scared. Has been taught he is the largest predator in the world. An idle man with time and money. Who tells me he can buy grudges from a deadly, military-trained operative who sits in his employer’s villa obsessing over women from his past.

38

The suite Lam booked for us has two separate bedrooms that can be accessed by a shared living room. The bathroom is large but also shared. As I step into the suite, part of me hopes now that we’ve found Dao, Brazuca will no longer feel the need to keep up the ruse of being mismatched lovers. But such is not my luck.

He’s waiting for me in the living room. He has something he wants to say but doesn’t know how to broach the topic. So he sulks into his hibiscus tea until it occurs to him that I might want a cup, too. He makes me one without asking. Hands it over, somewhat grudgingly.

Now we’re both sulking.

Our addictive personalities have led us here. Together again, wishing we were drinking something stronger.

I want to say something, too. Rather, ask. Why he takes these hits from Lam, the jabs about him being bought and paid for. But I can’t seem to get there. “How are you going to make contact with Dao?” I settle for instead. He’d been quick to respond when Lam asked.

“He eats at a restaurant near that villa he stays in. Every day at breakfast and for dinner in the evening.”

“You’ve seen him?”

“Today before we met up for the debrief.”

It takes me a moment to absorb this. Suddenly it seems real, the fact that I am finally this close to the man who put a hit on me in Detroit. Who threatened my daughter. There’s something else I’m missing, but I can’t remember what it is.

I stare into my tea. “How did you get this intel?”

“My buddy at the bar. The owner. I’ve been playing the rejected lover. They feel sorry for me, so we’ve been chatting. They really hate him, Dao. He keeps his distance. I asked them about buying property in a gated community, somewhere nice and safe. Didn’t take me long to figure out where Acosta’s house is. There’s a village nearby where he must get supplies. Then I sat around a café with a paper and watched a strip of restaurants. It was easy.”

“So you know what he looks like.”