I would be a terrible big cat unless I was in the Chester camp.
Well, fuck.
Now, I want a Cheeto.
“Relax,” Garcia emotionlessly insists between sips of tequila, eyes still fixated on the crossword puzzle he’s been occupying himself with.“Ella está bien.”
“You don’t know that,” escapes alongside me spinning on my heels to pace in the other direction.“You don’tknowthat she’s fine.”
“I do.”
“Youcan’tknow that she’s fine.”
“She is.”
“You’re not clairvoyant.”
“Telepathic.”
“You’re not that either!”
“No,” his eyes finally shift up to mine, “but Iamaware of Salay’s skills.”
Pausing my movements absentmindedly occurs.
“I was aware of them when wehiredher.”
Irritation pushes me to fold my arms defensively across my chest.
“That’swhywe hired her.That’swhyI wentlooking through my pasttofind her.”
My lips pull to one side in discomfort.
“I wouldn’t have gone to those lengths, took thathighof a fucking gamble risking my relationship with her father –the police chief of Spike Village– if she were a liability, I had to be concerned about.”Sternness steeps into his stare.“If I didn’t think she were capable of doing what we’ve asked, I wouldn’t have wasted her time oryours.”
At that, my shoulders threaten to soften.
“Now,” Garcia indulges in another small sip, “be a good boy,” his pinky points at my feet, “anddeja de hacer un agujero en el suelo de tanto caminar.” An amused, arrogant smirk slides onto his face.“Sí?”
I roll my eyes, turn my body, and redirect my focus back out into the water.
I’m not “wearing a hole into the floor”.
I’m just notnotdoing that.
I can’t be his level of calm in this situation.
Not when this is our last chance.
Not whentheir lives –as much as my own – are on the line.
One tiny piece of treasure is literally the difference between life or death.
Treason or freedom.
And that spec of shiny hope she’s searching for has to be found on a very tight schedule because some old royal dude can croak at any second,but more importantlybecause oxygen tanks at the level she’s diving only last so long.
And I’m pretty sure she’s at that point, if not past it.
