“I don’t know about that.”
“I do,” she assured me. “Without you and Lucia, God knows where I’d be.”
It was interesting that neither she nor Brig nor Eric knew Ella’s real name. Strange to think you knew something and yet could still be missing a big piece.
“I’d love to invite you to my wedding,” Brig said, drawing my attention back to him. “We were thinking that one way to send a strong message of new leadership, out with the old and in with the new, is with a wedding. It would be a great way to mark a new era.”
“Yes, it would,” I agreed. “And I will definitely be there if I can.”
Both men were smiling at me as I retook Ella’s hand.
Agent Lipton showed up then, he and his team ready to escort Brig Stanton, his fiancé, and his sister, home.
“Tell me how Stanton-Downey fits into all this,” Ella asked as we walked back to where we’d been standing, waiting for Dallas. “I know they got ahold of Lane, but what was she doing in Mexico to begin with?”
It was nice that I had something I could share with her.
Fourteen
Since Ella was the one who had been in hell for almost two years, she got to pick what we had for dinner. She wanted Thai so desperately that she was ready to offer up some big money to make it happen. Dallas knew the best place, he said, and drove us off the Strip to the Historic Commercial Center District, to Lotus of Siam. It was dicey without a reservation, and getting food to go didn’t look like it was going to happen either, but between Dallas being a regular and Ella’s hopeful face, wishes were granted and we left with a feast, Ella in the back seat with Lund, sharing chicken satay.
“So,” I said, turning to Dallas. “Bunny Boy?”
He groaned.
“Do tell.”
“I thought maybe you’d forget about that.”
“Not on your life,” I said, chuckling.
His eyes lifted to the rearview mirror, and Lund choked on the iced tea he was sharing with Ella.
“Come on,” I prodded him.
“I’ll tell it,” Lund announced cheerfully.
“No,” Dallas barked at him and then cleared his throat. “Okay, so six months ago we got a tip that a local drug dealer had put a large share of his money into fur coats.”
“Fur?” Ella asked. “Why fur? I get diamonds or rubies, or some kind of stones, because it’s easy to transport, but fur?”
“He wasn’t the brightest bulb, but yeah, so we’re expecting a truck, but we got six of them, and they’re old army trucks, the kind with the tarp over the cargo beds, and when we open them, there’s no coats hanging from racks, there’s only—”
“When you opened the trailer. Just you. It was your bust, buddy,” Lund explained, snickering. “So you were the one to put the tailgate down; let’s be precise here.”
“You know what, Ry, why don’t you––”
“No. Oh no,” I said, chuckling. “Don’t tell me.”
“Yeah,” Dallas groused. “Fuck.”
I didn’t even have to guess what was in the truck; I knew from his nickname. “They had to have been in pens.”
“Nope,” Dallas said miserably. “Which I learned as soon as I lowered the tailgate and moved the flap.”
Just the image in my mind of him dropping the tailgate to be faced with a sea of little pink noses had me pressing my lips together tight.
“It was fine for a second,” Lund said, snickering, “but then there were flashlights, and honking, and Dallas was assaulted.”
I snorted; I couldn’t help it.
“There were bunnies flying at him so fast. I mean, it’s no wonder he fell over.”
Pelted with rabbits. Just imaging that made me smile.
“Ohmygod, I needed this story so much,” Ella said, cackling.
“It was like a wave of cuteness,” Lund continued, “and it didn’t stop. They just spilled out of the back of that huge-ass truck for fuckin’ ever.”
“How many rabbits were there?” I asked gently.
“Thousands,” Dallas grumbled, shaking his head with the memory. “Altogether, there were thousands, but I only opened the one truck, so there were maybe a few hundred that escaped.”
“He means that they were all over the interstate,” Lund said evilly. “Freeway was closed for hours. Little fuckers hoppin’ everywhere, and you can’t shoot ’em ’cause they’re too cute, and animal control had nowhere near the number of nets we needed to catch ’em, and you can’t use the dogs ’cause they’ll eat ’em.”
“It was my op, my CI, me opening the trailer… Christ,” Dallas moaned.
“And like I said, he fell over,” Lund said, coughing to cover his laughter. “I thought the bunnies would just bolt, but no, they swarmed, and there Dallas was, in the middle of a herd of rabbits, and so as he’s trying to get up, more and more and more start hopping all around him and on him, and, well…he got buried in bunnies.”