“Business must be good,” Demarco said as nonchalantly as he could muster. As Damen’s twin, the criminals who now worked for Damen trusted Demarco. They assumed Damen told him everything, or they wouldn’t have let him in the house while they were counting the proceeds of a drug deal. Damen dealt drugs, but not on this scale. From the looks of it, he’d hit the big time.
“Damen got that Sinaloa dealer to work with him,” Bear said. “Things are going to change for him. For all of us. We’re very happy to be working for him.”
Demarco could just bet. Money like that would be a great motivator.
“I won’t keep you,” Demarco said.
“You going after Damen?”
“Yes.” He grinned. “Keep him out of trouble again.” As always.
“All right, man. Hey, if you see him tell him we got the first payment, okay?”
“Sure.”
Demarco left and cursed in his car. He didn’t want anything to happen to his brother, but was it wise to involve himself in any of this? How far would he go for him? Not having an answer and feeling deeply obligated and compelled to save his brother, he called his wife, preparing himself for her reaction. They had a nice life together. He made a good income with his antiques and estate auction house. She didn’t have to work and stayed home with the kids. Their life was so different from Damen’s. Normal. Law-abiding.
“Honey, I have to go to Wolf Creek tonight.”
“What? Why?”
“I found Damen.”
“So call him.”
“I’ve been trying. He isn’t answering.” He explained about the cabin, only telling her that Damen had gone after Korbin for allegedly killing Collette.
“So you’re going to try to stop him? Demarco, this is getting crazy. Don’t go there. Come home.”
“I have to go.”
“He could get you killed.”
“No, he won’t. I’ll call you when I get there.”
“Why can’t you just let him be?” she said. “You’re too protective of him. You enable him, do you realize that?”
Yes, he sure did. “I have to go, honey. I have to stop him from hurting anyone. I have to at least do that.” His wife was sheltered and didn’t understand Damen the way he did. “I’ll be all right.”
Finally she relented and he drove toward the mountains. Even as he still reeled from the prospect of Damen being capable of killing someone.
* * *
The weather was horrible and Demarco berated himself for not checking first. He was amazed the highway was still open, but certain it would be closing soon. He could barely see the road. He passed a sign and couldn’t make out what it said. It was some sort of lodge. The map he’d looked up on the internet showed one close to Julio Chavis’s cabin. Ten minutes later, he spotted a turnoff. The road hadn’t been plowed yet, but his Jeep Grand Cherokee handled it just fine. Plus, in the trees it wasn’t as deep. The road wound up an incline, and then the trees opened to a clearing big enough to fit a log cabin. There was light glowing from the front window and smoke drifting up from the chimney. Either Julio was here or his brother was. He’d put in a wager that it wasn’t Julio.