Manipulate (Deliver 6)

Holding the knife with the sharp edge angled down, she stabbed it deeply and firmly into the back of Simone’s neck. When his body jerked, she yanked hard on the hilt, dragging the blade toward the spine and severing everything in its path.

Simone collapsed on Garra’s chest, covered in blood and instantly dead. She pressed her fingers to the pulse point in his neck, just to be sure.

Fuck.

She’d just killed another cartel member.

Garra didn’t move beneath the body as he watched her closely, his eyes stark and unblinking. Then his lips pulled back with a hiss, exposing blood-stained teeth.

“You’re hurt?” She couldn’t see much of him beneath Simone and all the blood.

“Yes.”

“Are you going to kill me?”

“Never.” The intensity of his conviction pulled her to her knees.

She shoved the body, and Garra released a roar of agony. As the weight fell away, she saw the knife.

Buried to the hilt in Garra’s stomach, the eight-inch blade had gone all the way through him. He would be dead within minutes.

Against all logic, an ache of compassion swelled in her throat.

“Some letters came for you.” He heaved a breath, choking on a mouthful of blood. “Forms you needed to sign to complete your transfer.”

“What?” A fresh wave of fear crashed over her.

He knew about her desertion? For how long? Had he alerted the cartel? Would they be waiting for her as she tried to leave?

She bent over him. “What did you do?”

“I hid them from everyone. Forged your signatures and sent them back to the consular.”

“Why?” Her head jerked back. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want you to know I…”

“What?”

“I love you.”

She blew out a breath. Didn’t matter that he was dying. She couldn’t pretend to give a fuck about that sentiment. “Do you know what Hector was doing to children in the sewer room?”

He looked away and coughed out a string of blood. “I didn’t condone it and never helped him with that.”

Disgust burned in her gut. “How did he get them into Jaulaso?”

“They’re drugged. Put inside crates. Brought in with shipments of firearms.”

Firearms? Hector and his men had conversations about those shipments in every meeting. Had they been talking about trafficking humans right in front of her?

She clenched her hands. “You did nothing to stop it. Makes you just as guilty as the rest of them.”

With a slow nod, he closed his eyes and let his head loll.

“You’re not dying yet.” She gripped his jaw and forced his narrowed gaze to hers. “Where’s my sister?”

“With your brothers, but you can’t—” A gulping breath rolled his eyes into the back of his head.

“Garra!” She shook him until he refocused on her.

“Can’t go after Vera. Hector’s sons… They’ll know what you did. They’ll avenge him.”

“They know who I am? They’ll recognize me?”

“Yes. Stay away. They’ll kill you.” His hand fell to his pants and flopped around his hip. “The bag…my pocket. Take it. Show it on your way out.”

His eyes closed, and his breathing slowed to a stuttering wisp. She was losing him.

“Where is Vera? Give me a location. A town. Anything.”

He parted pale lips but didn’t open his eyes. “C-C-Calaaa—” The rest of it died on his last breath.

Calaaa-what? Off the top of her head, she couldn’t think of a town in Mexico that began with those syllables, but she would have plenty of time later to research it.

Shoving her hand into his pocket, she removed a plastic baggie of heroin. “Show this on my way out?”

Confusion morphed to understanding. The drugs were her ticket out of Area Three. Unlike Martin and Ricky, she was a cartel member. She would need a reason for leaving the area.

“Thank you for helping me.” She patted Garra’s lifeless chest and shoved to her feet.

She ran to the sink, cleaned away the blood, and double-checked her face.

Then she left. Out the door, through the corridors, and into the common area. Her body operated on a flood of adrenaline, racing her heart and pushing away the fear.

An armed inmate stopped her at the door to the exit. “Where are you going?”

“Delivering something for the boss.” She pulled the baggie from her pocket and held it up.

He gave it a glance and nodded.

Then he opened the door.

Sunlight baked her eyes as she stepped into the outdoor courtyard and hurried to the other side. It’d been two years since she walked this path, naively following the prison guard that Hector had sent for her.

Only one month ago, Martin and Ricky crossed this same yard.

Where were they now? Did they miss her? Would they try to find her? How would they even know where to look?

She had no way to contact them. No way to tell them she was leaving.

None of this was a revelation. When she made the call to process her transfer, she knew it meant she would never see them again.