Page 114 of Jagger's Remorse
The Mendoza compound is smaller than I expected.
Family operation, not cartel level. Guards at the gate look bored until they see us coming.
"That's close enough," one calls out.
I dismount carefully, hands visible but ready. "Scarlett Delgado. Eduardo Vasquez sent me."
The guard's face pales. Good. They know the name.
"Señor Mendoza isn't?—"
"He is now." I walk forward, Poncho and Mouse flanking me. "Unless he wants to explain to my godfather why his goddaughter was kept waiting in the sun with a bullet wound."
They scramble to open the gates.
The main house is decent—money, but not fuck-you money. Just enough to be comfortable, not enough to draw attention.
Hector Mendoza waits in his office, trying to look unconcerned. He's younger than I expected, maybe mid-thirties, with the soft look of someone who inherited rather than earned.
"Miss Delgado. This is unexpected."
"Most collections are." I take the chair across from him without invitation. "You owe my godfather three hundred kilos. We're here to collect."
"There have been... complications."
"There always are."
"No, you don't understand. The shipment—" He stops, sweat beading on his forehead.
I lean forward, let him see the calculation in my eyes. "Choose your next wordsverycarefully, Hector. My godfather has limited patience, and I have a bullet hole that's making me cranky."
"The shipment was seized," he blurts out. "Not by cops. By Sombra. Two weeks ago."
Poncho shifts behind me. Mouse's hand drifts to his weapon.
"You let Sombra take our product?"
"Let? They came with thirty men. We had six. What would you have done?"
"Died protecting it."
"Easy to say when?—"
I'm out of my chair and across his desk before he can finish, my knife at his throat. The movement tears something in my shoulder, but I don't let it show.
"Easy to say because it's true. You took Eduardo's money. Promised his product. Failed to deliver." I let the blade kiss his skin. "What do you think happens now?"
"Please—"
"But," I ease back slightly, "I'm feeling generous. Maybe because I'm blood-drunk. Maybe because I see an opportunity here."
"What... what opportunity?"
"Sombra took your shipment. You want it back. We want them hurt." I smile. "Seems like our interests align."
"You're proposing?—?"
"Tell me where they're keeping it. We'll retrieve what's ours, and maybe Eduardo forgets this conversation happened."
