Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 59119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 296(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
I took a swig of my soda as Delgado lifted his head a bit and blinked.
“Morning, sunshine,” I said.
He flinched and eyed me blearily. “Where am I?”
I grinned. “You want the exact address and money for a cab too?”
He didn’t answer. He flicked Ryan a glance, then took in his surroundings.
I looked up at Ryan. “Remember to get him a bucket.”
Because we were gonna be here a while.
I whistled to myself and grabbed the OJ from the cooler, then the skillet from the stove, before I walked back into the living room. Ryan had bought us foam mattresses but no plates. Utensils but nothing to drink out of.
No matter.
I sat down on the mattress strategically placed a few feet away from Delgado, and I made sure he saw the food I’d prepared. Eggs, bacon, and toast. Fine dinner if you asked me. I’d have supper later too, obviously.
Ryan had wanted me to be vegan in front of Delgado, with the ecoterrorist shit and all, but every man had his limits. Okay? I was going after the coal industry and industrial waste management.
“You in the mood to talk, man?” I shoveled some eggs and bacon onto my toast and took a big bite in front of him.
So far, we’d only let him drink water.
“I have nothing to say.” He looked out toward the lake.
“You sure about that? I can repeat the questions if you like. How can we find Carillo Mesa? Has he left the US yet? Where’s Shay Tenley?”
He threw me a glare. “I already told you. I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know who that is.”
“And I already told you,” I echoed. “I don’t believe you, I don’t believe you, I don’t believe you.”
“Dennis! I’m off.” Ryan came down the stairs and into the living room.
“Okay.” I looked back at him. After his dip in the lake, he’d changed back into civilian clothes. I’d removed the tactical gear but kept my utility pants and tee. “Good luck.”
“You too.” He nodded at Delgado. “Don’t let him keep the bucket within reach overnight.”
“I won’t.”
He was hesitating, I could tell. We’d discovered we had no reception out here, so we’d have no way to communicate until he came back from leaving Delgado’s tech with Gray and Darius outside Nice. While Ryan was there, he was gonna pick up a satphone for us.
“Hey. It’s all good, I swear,” I said. “He’s not getting anywhere.” Delgado had just enough room to push down his pants and wriggle his ass over the bucket, then empty it out the window. Into the bushes, not into the lake. ’Cause that was my new bathtub. It’d been hot as fuck today, so I’d already jumped in twice.
The water was fucking amazing.
“He has a roll of toilet paper to play with. That’s it.” I made a shooing motion toward the door. “Get going.”
Ryan sighed. “All right. I should be back before noon tomorrow. If I’m not, you’re a spring chicken, so you can run to the end of the dirt road and call me.”
Yes, five miles was nothing. Accurate.
I stuck a piece of bacon into my mouth. “Make sure to get some rest too, Gramps. Bye.”
He smirked faintly, then offered a two-finger wave before he was out the door.
I went back to eating my delicious breakfast dinner.
It was weird because I wasn’t nervous anymore. Maybe because we’d actually managed to track Delgado down so fast, and I hadn’t had to get close to him by being “undercover.” Now my persona was just a bullshit slinger. He gave me info; I fed him lies. That was the plan anyway.
“You don’t have to be afraid around me, by the way,” I told Delgado. “People may call me unpredictable, but if my boss tells me to inflict minimal damage, I obey for the most part. I may shoot off a finger or a cut off a couple toes, but it’s not like I’m gonna slash your throat, you know?”
His stare was equal parts blank and calculating. Like, I could see he was trying to figure out his next move or…whatever, how to get free somehow, but there was no fear. No intimidation.
“The man who left—” He cleared his throat. “That’s your boss?”
I laughed. “Hell no.”
I left it at that and picked up the OJ, and I drank from the carton.
Mom would be so mad.
“Are you with a cartel?” he asked.
I wiped my mouth. “I already told you I’m not. I don’t give a shit about your disgusting career path. I wanna find my friend.”
“And I don’t know where he is,” he replied impatiently. “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into here, boy. But if you let me go, we can pretend this never happened.”
I smiled slightly. We could add arrogance to his list. He probably thought I was stupid too, if he thought for a second I would fall for that line.