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“Dimalona,” I grunt.
“Specifically, Navolato,” Dream says. “There’s a bar there that’s usually closed in the morning, but the Cartel controls it, so they’ll let us in. We’re trading the drugs for Eddy there.” She pats the duffle bag at her feet.
“A two million dollar hostage,” Jasha says to himself, shaking his head. “He’d better be worth it.”
I cringe at his words because I know what’s coming from Dream. I’m just glad the heat is going to be directed at him and not me.
“Eddy’s life is worth more than that. More than your entire career, probably,” she snaps at Jasha.
I peek into the rearview mirror to catch his staggered expression.
Priceless.
“Quite the claim,” Jasha says under his breath.
Dream glares at him, but she doesn’t seem to want to argue. I suppose if she’s already made up her mind, there’s no point in doing that. It wouldn’t change her opinion, and she’s not the type of woman to need validation from other people.
“We’ll be in Navolato in about an hour,” I announce, hoping they’ll settle down for a while. Maybe Dream will go back to sleep, but I doubt it with how wide her eyes are now that she’s awake.
“Is Gabriel joining us?” Jasha asks, leaning forward once again.
Dream gives him a look of pure disgust, but I know she’ll warm up to him. She was the same way with me until she realized we were on the same side.
And Jasha really isn’t that bad. I give him a hard time because he’s my brother, but his heart is in the right place…
Most of the time.
“Gabriel doesn’t know about what we’re doing,” I say, keeping my eyes on the road to avoid any funny looks from Jasha. “He thinks we’re going in on Monday, but I’m going to tell him he has more time to prepare after we make the trade, but probably not why.”
“He’s not going to like being tricked,” Jasha replies.
“We’re not tricking him. We’re just leaving some things out.”
“Like the fact that we’re trading the drugs you promised him for Dream’s cousin,” Jasha says with palpable skepticism.
“Worth it,” Dream interjects.
I sigh. “Babe, let me handle this.”
“Babe?” Jasha asks with a laugh. “I guess you two really are an item, huh?”
“What of it?” Dream blurts, turning to him and pursing her lips.
I put my hand on her shoulder and she turns back around, falling silent in her seat again. It’s endearing how defensive she is of our newfound relationship, but I don’t want too much trouble between her and Jasha. It could get in the way of our mission.
“What Gabriel doesn’t know won’t hurt him. The end result will be the same, and everyone is going to be satisfied,” I continue explaining. “We trade the drugs, then we use Gabriel’s private army to crush the Cartel and get them back. I highly doubt they’re going to sell them all off in the meantime.”
Jasha doesn’t seem completely sold on the idea, but he must realize that we don’t have many other options because he doesn’t bring it up again on our drive to Navolato.
As we get closer, we go over how we’re going to make this safe for Dream, what positions we’re taking, and what to do in case things get messy. We can’t prepare for everything, but we can make sure we’re flexible with how we handle such a dynamic situation.
Jasha will be on the top floor of a nearby hotel, able to pick off targets with a scoped rifle if anything goes down outside the bar we’re meeting at. Meanwhile, I’ll be on the ground outside.
The Cartel hasn’t made it easy to know what’s going on inside, but Dream feels confident that it’ll be as simple as bringing in the bag, dropping it off, and taking Eddy with her. That’s what Diego has told her, and we just have to trust him.
But I don’t trust him, not in the least, so I’m giving it three minutes.
If she’s not out by then, I’m going in.
