AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Tequila?”
“Only on the weekend,” Nikolai says in a way that leads me to believe he’s serious and not joking.
“Whiskey, but put it on the rocks. It’s hot today,” Gabriel says, stepping further into the house. “But I’ll tell you what, the day after Cinco de Mayo is going to be a real scorcher.”
“Indeed,” Nikolai agrees, closing the door. “I will show you the lounge. Jasha, please get us a couple of drinks.”
Jasha narrows his eyes at Nikolai, but sensing the gravity of the meeting, doesn’t protest. He slinks off to the kitchen, his wide shoulders swaying side to side as he walks proudly with his new bottle of mezcal.
Men can be so easy to please. It’s cute.
Nikolai, Eddy, and I gather with Gabriel in the lounge, sitting around a circular table adorned with a mosaic of colorful tiles. Nikolai hands out cigars, which I decline, and we wait for Jasha to return from the kitchen to start the meeting.
Jasha reappears a few minutes later, balancing a tray with crystal glasses and a fresh bottle of bourbon on the palm of his hand. He sets the drinks on the table, serving Gabriel first, then Nikolai, then Eddy, before finally placing a glass of water in front of me.
Nikolai takes a long sip of his whiskey before setting the glass back down, his eyes wandering across the table to Gabriel. “We have a location, a date, and more money than you really deserve for a mission like this. All we need is your army.”
Gabriel chuckles, stroking his clean-shaven chin. “It’s not money I’m after, Nikolai. It’s the drugs.”
“All the same in the end,” Nikolai says with a shrug.
“Not really. I’m planning on keeping a sizable portion for myself, so that it can be purified, studied, and duplicated. I’d like to see the product before we begin. Do you have it with you now?”
The hair on the back of my neck stands up as Nikolai reaches into his jacket pocket. I almost expect him to pull a gun and shoot Gabriel dead for calling him on his bluff, but instead, Nikolai pulls out a small packet of something wrapped in tissue and a blue rubber band.
He lays it on the table, sliding it toward Gabriel. “A sample. Consider it a gift.”
How did he get that? Is it genuine?
Nikolai reaches under the table and squeezes my thigh as Gabriel opens the packet, presumably to assure me that everything is fine. I’m still tense, unable to relax until Gabriel takes a big sniff of the drug and smiles. “Ay, these are some gooddrogas.”
Nikolai smirks. “Don’t get carried away. We still need to discuss the main event.”
Gabriel’s face turns serious. He puts the packet back down on the table and swaps it out for his glass of whiskey. Taking a sip, he tilts his head down and looks Nikolai in the eyes. “I have five-hundred men at my disposal, but we don’t need that many for what we’re about to do. If you have a location, we can just as easily send them a little surprise. Something that goesboom.”
Eddy leans forward, placing a hand on the table and tapping his index finger on the tiles. “They’re occupying a small town just north of Dimalona. They’ve converted an old elementary school into their headquarters, and a few buildings down the street house most of their weapons and drugs.”
“How many would you say are living at the compound currently?” Gabriel asks.
“A few hundred to a thousand,” he replies. “But that’s a rough estimate. They come and go as they please because they control the whole town.”
“Any civilians there?”
“None that I saw. Maybe a few women that the Cartel use for company.”
I frown. “Prostitutes? Are we going to help them?”
Eddy laughs, but quickly goes back to being serious when he sees my face. “Oh, no, Dream, I don’t think you understand. They’re definitely there for the money, but they can shoot back just the same as any of the men. They’re loyal to the Cartel.”
“Not victims, in other words,” Nikolai grumbles.
Gabriel nods in agreement, which makes me feel better. I don’t want to end up hurting innocent people, but there seems to be a severe shortage of them where we’re staging the attack.
“Are they using the headquarters to sleep, or is that somewhere else?” Gabriel asks Eddy.
“Same place. It’s a pretty large building. Three floors.”
“They all fall the same way,” Gabriel replies with a smirk. “If we’re going to school, I think what we need is a school bus. Except we’re not putting kids in that thing. We’re putting bombs.”
