He heard Despi answer from somewhere in the office. “I don’t know.”

Nando again. “Will he wire the money tomorrow?”

“He won’t tell me.”

“What does he tell you?”

“Nothing. He tells me nothing. He is a hard man.”

“Maybe you’re not good enough. Maybe we need to replace you. With your sister.”

If Despi replied, Evan couldn’t hear it. His eyes picked across the scattered gear, finally lighting on what he was looking for.

A car jack.

The one he’d spotted Samuel using two days earlier to prop up the Rolls-Royce.

When the handle was turned, the scissor jack cranked open into a diamond, but when closed it was relatively thin. Thin enough, he hoped, to hide beneath his bulky sweaters and smuggle back into his room. Given that Manny and Nando no longer came within twenty feet of him, he had a decent shot. He just had to sneak back to the woods, circle around, and then emerge casually from the tree line.

But first he had to get his hands on the jack. It rested in the open just beyond the hood of a Mercedes, three steps onto the wrestling mat.

If he made a move for it, he’d be briefly but completely exposed.

“We send a man by her apartment now and then, watch her watering her tomatoes on the balcony,” Nando was saying in the office. “Beautiful hair, just like yours.”

Despi’s reply was muffled by the walls.

Evan crept from cover. One step, setting his boot down silently, rolling from heel to toe. Another brought him onto the blue rubber mat. He leaned over, reaching for the jack. His fingertips had just reached the metal when the door flew open and Despi filled the frame, her face burning.

Dex and Nando remained behind her in the office, though their gazes were not yet lifted.

Despi stared at Evan, trying to process his being here.

Crouched over the jack, he stared back.

Her expression held a mix of dark emotions; it was unclear which would win out. Keeping his eyes locked on hers, Evan started to retreat behind the hood of the G-Wagon, moving out of Dex and Nando’s view.

That’s when he heard the rear door open behind him.

Claws scrabbled against the concrete floor. The Dobermans erupted in snarls. He was hidden between the two big SUVs, but not for long.

Despi remained unmoving as a statue in the doorway, her lips slightly parted, one hand still raised from when it had shoved open the door, her eyes flared wide. She blinked, swallowed hard.

He held up his hands and nodded at her: Go ahead.

The dogs’ barks grew louder. On the far side of the G-Wagon, the narcos shouted in Spanish. He sensed movement behind Despi, Dex and Nando drawn toward the commotion.

Evan gestured at her more firmly: Do it.