Page 44 of Cartel King

That’s laughable. I doubt I’ll be lucky enough to leave here, let alone survive whatever Enrique will have in store for me.

Everyone in the room looks at the shattered computer before turning their gaze to me.

“Be glad it’s only the computer I broke. You really fucked yourself over this time, Ignacio. Pay Tommaso what you owe him, get the product to the customers, and maybe I can convince him not to send somebody down here.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t leave,senhoraMessina.”

“You know I’m walking out of here just fine since I already sent my location off. If anything happens to me, Tommaso will burn your fucking labs to the ground. He’ll do that before his hitman puts a bullet between your eyes. He’ll make sure you see everything he’s taken from you. Don’t kill the messenger, Ignacio.”

The man sits back and crosses his arms. He doesn’t intimidate me. He looks like a petulant child instead of a grown ass cartel kingpin. But I don’t put it past him to slice my throat.

“And if you make any trouble for me between here and Rio, I’ll make sure Pasha Kutsenko knows you went after a woman.”

“You’re fucking fair game,senhora.”

“No, I’m not. I’m an accountant. I handle the books for foreign deals. The only women who’re fair game are mercenaries. You had your guards pat me down thoroughly. I had no weapons on me.”

“Maybe you stashed those wherever you stopped to send Tommaso a little love note.”

“Believe you me, love is not what Tommaso and I share. You need me as much as he needs you.” I lean forward, elbows on the table. “What I report to him will determine what happens next. I’m certain from what little I saw, you’d prefer I not give him the full story. So, that service fee I mentioned before went up. It was a million. I’ll cut you a pretty deal at one-point-five.”

“That’s insane,senhora. There’s no way I’m paying one-point-five million dollars for your silence.”

“All right, then. Take your chances by killing me or having me talk. See what happens. The lesser of all the problems is for you to go along with what I’m saying. So, you decide how hard and how expensive you want to make this for yourself.”

I remain quiet, giving him time to supposedly think. But everyone in this room already knows what the only answer can be.

“Very well,senhoraMessina, you’ll get your money. You’re lucky you’re a woman, otherwise I might not take to your negotiation strategies as well as I have been.”

“I seem to have a special touch.”

I push back the chair and rise. Ignacio and the other men sitting here who’ve remained silent throughout the meeting stand when I do, too. At least some manners are so deeply entrenched they almost come across as civilized.

“I expect the money in unmarked bills at the drop point. Make sure you don’t tell your son.”

I lock gazes with Ignacio, and he knows exactly what I mean. The young man is fucking psychotic. He’s a terrific enforcer because he has no boundaries. He loves to torture, but he’s got a big fucking mouth. If Ignacio wasn’t paying off all the law enforcement in Rio and half the politicians in this country, his son would not only be locked up, but Ignacio would be out of business. The guy has no discretion at all.

“If I hear even a whisper of what’s going on from anyone outside this room, I’ll know where it came from. It won’t please my boss if there’re more complications.”

“Please your boss?” Ignacio snorts. “Since when have you ever considered Tommaso your boss?”

“He sent me here to do a job. I did it, and he’s going to pay me for it. Sounds like he’s my boss to me.”

“Come now,senhoraMessina. That’s a pile of shit even you can’t shovel.”

“Regardless of whether I’m a free agent, self-contracted, or an employee, I work for Tommaso Vizzini, and he will have his money. Since you’ve made my life more difficult than it needed to be, I will have my money. The drop place tomorrow.”

I walk to the door, not bothering to wait around to find out if any of them would shake my hand. There’s not enough hand sanitizer in the world to stop feeling scuzzy after touching any of them. When I get to the front door, I stare at the armed guard. He opens it, but I look over my shoulder to where I know they’re holding the two men who accompanied me. I tap my toes and cock an eyebrow.

Sometimes you’ve got to play like you’ve got the biggest pair of balls in the room, even if you don’t have any at all.

The guy in front of me gestures to someone I didn’t see, but the second guy goes down the hallway and knocks. The door opens, and they speak Portuguese. The two men step aside, and my escorts come out. They flank me, and we walk past the guard at the door. None of us say a word. We keep walking until we get to the gate. It’s not until we’re on the other side that my escorts get their weapons back.

All three of us check the horses we rode out here on. They didn’t come through the gate with us. Instead, we had a local man hold on to them. One of my escorts pays the villager, who swears no one came near the animals. We still examine underneath their saddles, their bridles, and all their hooves. None of us can afford for a horse to go lame while we’re trying to get out of this part of the jungle. I ride well enough to get by, so I mount on my own, then we head out.

The three of us remain silent since none of us trust there aren’t cameras in the trees. Maybe they’re only infrared, but they could pick up more than just that. It’s not until we get to the landing zone and the helicopter touches down that anyone speaks.

“Are you all right,signoraMessina? They didn’t do anything to you?”

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