Day Eight:

Saturday, July 13th

Tijuana, Mexico

Jasper

My suspicions about Lado were correct. The same day I met him at some hotel in Tijuana, he met up with El Azul only ten minutes earlier. I even passed him as I was arriving, and he was leaving. Lado didn't give a fuck if I saw him. He was baiting me to run to Elena, but I was fucking smarter than him. At least some of the time. When it came to people closer to me, I was a fucking moron. The web of lies and how they somehow led back to Dennis was a hard pill to swallow, but Edward was right not to trust him. The more I learned about our business partner, the more it disgusted me. Dennis wasn't loyal to anyone – not even to his sick wife. He was sleeping with her fucking sister. So, it was naive of me to think he wouldn't fuck Edward and me over.

Dennis decided to play both sides.

He played for Elena by giving us up and played Edward and me by giving up Elena. It was meant to disrupt the Baja Cartel and put us out of business. You know, kill two birds with one stone.

The actual victim in all of this was Bean.

She absolutely didn't deserve to be kidnapped.

And that angered me.

None of this had anything to do with our weed.

Sure, maybe Elena thought that having the top primo would give her an edge, but Dennis, Lado, and El Azul would make sure she didn't survive for long, and anything she did with us would be meaningless. It was all bullshit. Every single minute of this Hell was for nothing.

I was livid when I got to Tijuana.

The two-hour drive gave me time to sort everything out in my head. All my life, I had tried not to fuck anyone over and treat people with respect, but it got me nowhere, considering our fucked up circumstances. If that wasn't the core of who I was, I would have said, "Fuck it. Fuck everyone. They were all shit. What did it matter?"

I still believe in the teachings of Buddha, and what you put out, you will receive.

I was delivering all the bad karma to the Baja Cartel.

As I arrived at the hotel, the heavy security patted me down, not once, but twice. The deadliest weapon I had on me was in my hand and the most damage it could do was give you a paper cut.

I spotted El Azul as soon as he exited Lado's room. He saw me. We knew each other. But the encounter was brief and we went our separate ways.

Knocking on Lado's door, I waited for him to answer before opening it a second later and leaving it open while walking away.

I followed him into the room.

"Welcome to the barrio," he said.

The man looked like he had just rolled out of bed, and the place was a fucking mess. Liquor bottles were everywhere on the table, while cocaine lines were neatly arranged on silver platters; food was out and rotting. It appeared as if Lado had come into some money and decided to throw a big party.

"So, what are you going to talk about?" He had a butter knife in a pile of coke on the bar top and then did a little bump. He swooped his arm in a grand gesture towards one of the chairs. "Sit down."

Twenty-four hours ago, if you had told me I would be sitting here comfortably with Lado and his fucking ass, I wouldn't have believed you.

Edward told me to get angry.

I was taking his advice for once.

"Well, after our last pleasant chat, I had my IT guys do a little deep research." Unzipping the black folder full of fraudulent documents, I held it out to Lado. "This cost me a lot of money," I said, and technically, that was the truth.

Spin stole a lot of shit.

Lado was suspicious of me, but he was curious. So, he took the folder and reviewed all the phone records, bank statements, real estate deeds, and photos of Alex making 'shady deals' with 'shady characters.'

His eyes slowly rose to meet mine. "What is it?"

"Your informant," I said.

Lado looked nervous. "Who?"

The guy had no fucking clue what he was looking for; either illiterate or high as fuck. I assumed he was the latter.

I said, "I think you guys are paying Alex Reyes way too much."

Lado smiled, and I took it the wrong way.

"You don't believe me? Give this to Jaim. He'll get it. Unless he's in on it."

Lado continued to shuffle through the papers, and then I thought, maybe he was an illiterate.

"There's a lot of information there. Bank accounts, transactions. Take a look at the deposit dates and match them up with the hijackings," I said slowly walking him through it.

My train of thought was interrupted when a half-naked woman emerged from the bedroom behind Lado. She was only wearing panties and a silk robe that she had left open. I tried to be a gentleman by not looking, but Edward reminded me that men like Lado saw women only as objects to be leered at and abused. If I didn't show this type of bravado, Lado would dismiss me as weak or less than a man. It was all macho fucking bullshit that I hated.

"Baby, I want more," she said to Lado in Spanish. Then she sat on his lap, her breasts now in my view, and as much as I tried to behave unfazed, I was uncomfortable, and it showed.

God damn it! I was taught to treat women with respect and refused to allow this asshole to turn me into a savage. So, I looked down and kept my eyes there.

They laughed at me. Fuck, this shit was bad.

Lado said, "Let me see your hands." Turning my hands palm up, he leaned forward and grabbed them. He ran his hands over mine. "Soft, like a woman's."

There it was.

All my credibility as a player was stripped from me. However weak he may have seen me, I was the only one who could meet with him. If Edward had come, both he and Lado would have fucking killed each other.

So, yeah, he could assume that I was harmless and not a fucking wolf in sheep's clothing.

Lado stood up, and I followed his movement. He walked over to the couch where the prostitute sat and turned to her. "He's fucking with me, right?"

The girl giggled loudly.

I stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. Dealing with this asshole might have been a mistake; it didn't seem like he was taking anything seriously.

Lado threw himself onto the couch and leveled his eyes at me. "Let me ask you something."

I shrugged. "Okay."

"Do you love your sister?"

My forehead furrowed in confusion. "I don't have a sister."

"Isabella is not your sister?"

Oh, right, I get it. He wanted to know about my relationship with Bean without coming out and asking.

Well, fuck him!

I won't give him the satisfaction; so, I said, "No."

Lado grinned and tilted his head down in a flirty way. "You're cute, Lambioso," he said, flicking his wrist at me. "You can go now."

Picking up the folder he had carelessly discarded, I held it up to him. "Like I said, follow the money," I said before tossing it on the table beside Lado and fucking bolting.

On the long drive home, I called Bean's phone. There was still hope, no matter how unlikely, that she would pick up and say, "Hey, baby, you coming home soon?"

It was awful how complacent I had become with her presence. She was always within my reach, but I continued to leave, in some self-flagellation, to save the world. When I should have been home, spending time with Bean and Edward. I should have been soaking up every minute and hour with their laughter, smiles, and kisses, but I wasted it all, thinking it would always be there, just on pause and waiting for me to return.

My call went straight to Bean's voicemail. I was fucking thankful that she had taken the time to personalize it, and it wasn't some automated piece of crap. So, I sucked in a breath and listened, like it might be the last time.

Hello! If you are receiving this, it means I am taking a momentary break or avoiding contact. However, as I always carry my phone, you are most likely a telemarketer or someone I do not know. Please leave a message and we will sort this shit out. Thanks, babes!

It was the first time I had heard her message, and I laughed. What was she thinking saying all that? Luckily for me, she always answered my calls—yet another fucking thing I took for granted.

The painful ache was there again and only went away when I heard her voice. So, I hung up and called her again, and again, and again. I was tempted to leave a message, but when we got her back, I didn't want her to hear how weak and pathetic I sounded. Edward, he knew how to put on a brave face and push forward. I envied that about him.

I was going to call her the tenth or fifteenth time, but Edward called me first.

"Hey, man," I answered, but my voice croaked, and of course, he fucking noticed.

"Are you all right?"

"You know, life really sucks right now, but other than that, I'm..." I sighed. "What's up?"

"Well, nothing, not really. It's been a while since you left, and I haven't heard from you," Edward said, a slight edge and panic in his voice.

"Fuck, man. I'm sorry. No, I'm fine. I left the meeting about twenty minutes ago and am on my way home. Christ, I should have called you," I said apologetically.

Edward wasn't the type to guilt-trip people. I was safe, somewhat alive, and he moved on.

He asked, "How did it go?"

I rubbed my forehead in frustration. "We'll see if he bites, but I'm not sure. He was so high out of his mind, I doubt he'll even remember half of our conversation."

"What's the plan if this shit doesn't work out? It's already fucking Saturday, and I refuse to let Bean stay there a minute longer."

Edward put a timetable on our efforts to emancipate our girl, and fuck, it all sounded good, but his expectations weren't realistic. It was nine in the morning, and Lado was shit-faced and would probably continue to party through the weekend. Relying on him to come through would be a waste of precious time.

"We need to get to Elena somehow," I said.

"Right, but what house is she in, how much security does she have, and how many IEDs and RPGs do you think we'll need?" Edward was planning another big combat mission, and I was more interested in the heart.

"If she had someone close, like we had Bean, that we could take and hold hostage, then maybe - " I was just thinking out loud.

"That's fucking genius, man! Yes, why didn't I think of that? We fucking take something she loves, make a swap! We need to meet with Dennis again."

"So, you can stab him in the other hand?" I asked, not joking, but in my current state, everything I said sounded like sarcasm.

Edward laughed. "No, no, no. I'll behave."

Beep, Beep.

"Hold on, someone is calling me." I pulled the phone from my ear and my eyes widened. Shit, that was fast. "Yo, E, I'm going to call you back. It's Lado."

Thanks for reading!