Page 58 of Reacher
“Answer me, woman.” I was towering over her, watching her shrink back in the face of my rage.
“Reacher, you’re scaring me.”
I smirked. “Bullshit. We both know that you’re definitely not afraid of me, woman, but you’re afraid of these other bastards, so tell me. I’m pretty close to losing my shit right now. Was it sex?”
She glared at me. “Because that’s all I’m good for? You think that’s where I learned all my fucking bedroom skills? You’re a judgemental prick, aren’t you?”
“For fuck’s sake, woman. Did you let them in your pussy or not?”
She raised her eyebrows, and folded her arms.
“None of your business.”
I leaned closer, and lowered my voice threateningly.
“Want me to fuck the answer out of you, woman? You really think I won’t?”
Stitch cleared his throat. “If that’s the plan, can you just catch me up later? I really don’t want nightmares, if I actually get back to bed tonight.”
Alicia sighed. “I transported drugs for them, okay?”
We both fell silent, because what the fuck did she just say?
“You’re… What? Drugs? For who?”
She swallowed hard. “The money I owed was to the local loan sharks, but… they have connections. There’s a European drug cartel looking to expand right through London, and they needed drugs taken back and forth. They literally just needed someone who wouldn’t look like a drug dealer, like a mumsy old cow like me. And… you know, if I got caught, I’d end up taking the blame.”
I looked at Stitch, then back at her.
“You were trafficking drugs… for some cartel branch? We’re talking drug cartel guys coming after us?” Jesus Christ. When she said she had trouble, I had no idea it was this kind of trouble. Drug cartels? Around here? London would be a big market for someone from the UK, but from anywhere else? It’s peanuts, surely.
“How long were you doing this for them?” Stitch asked, stroking his beard as he pondered. He was right. I should have asked that, but my head was clearly in the clouds, or my ass, or my pants.
Alicia was chewing at her lip. “About four months, and it was terrifying. They’re terrifying people, and it’s why I ended up working for Tori. It was better than the alternative.” The alternative being drug running for a cartel.A fucking cartel.
“I’m guessing things ended badly with them.”
She started pacing again. “I… I wanted out, but you know… once they’ve got you under their control, there’s no way out. So…” she covered her face with both hands, muffling her next words, “I figured I’d make my own way out.”
Things were about to get worse. I could feel it. In fact, I could almost fucking taste it.
“What did you do?” That was Stitch, probably just wanting to get this done, because he was clearly running on fumes.
“I went to the police.”
“Fucking hell.”
She nodded, moving her hands from her face, her eyes wide and panicked.
“Big mistake, I know. Once someone high up enough actually took me seriously, I was involved in some kind of big ‘sting’ operation. They wanted me to help them trap my contact, just so that they could do whatever the hell it is that they do, but instead, it went horribly wrong.”
“Let me guess. The cops were working with them?”
She frowned, as my words halted her pacing again.
“How the hell did you know that? It wasn’t all of them, just one, but one was enough. He made sure that I was found out, before the sting could go ahead, and they were waiting for me. They were so pissed, and I thought they were going to kill me.”
“Why didn’t they?” It didn’t make sense, unless there was something else they wanted. She was stalling, and I didn’t like it one bit. “Speak, woman.”
