If only we had a handle on how Fassi intended on playing his final hand. Was framing me by a misguided use of Eduardo a portion of the game?
What I was certain of was that losing billions of dollars’ worth of diamonds was a huge incentive to exact revenge. Fassi had nothing to lose.
“You have a science lab in your warehouse, but no scientist. It would appear he’d been tipped off Fassi’s men were in the area. I’m curious. What did he develop, Eduardo?” I asked again, admiring the way I was able to keep my cool.
“Truly nothing special. But the addition chemically provides a better product.”
His exasperation was evident, beads of sweat trickling down both sides of his face. And the air conditioning was working well.
With a heavy sigh, I popped the top on the vial at the same time I gripped his chin, forcing his mouth to open wide. “Then you won’t care if I pour the entire vial down your throat. Right? Just vitamins.”
“Stop. Shit.” He nearly punched me in his effort to free himself, even smacking the vial. Fortunately, I had a solid hold on the glass.
“Then what the fuck is in it?” Jago snarled.
“Christ. Okay. It’s no big deal. It makes the cocaine more addictive. I don’t know the goddamn compound. When I asked the dude, he refused to tell me, but it works. But I wasn’t stupid,” Eduardo panted. “Too much of it will kill you. Okay? The shit is lethal. That’s all I know.”
“Meaning?” Jago snapped.
Eduardo shifted his gaze back and forth between us. “I was testing the waters. There was a lot of interest in the product. Or so I was told. I paid a premium price for the shit. When there were issues, I insisted the dude who invented it come fix the crap. But I can tell you profits because of this shit are way up.”
Now Jago and I looked at each other and he cocked his head. “You killed people,” Jago gritted out.
“Not intentionally, but yeah, there were a few overdoses. Okay, more than a few. Another reason to be careful with the shit.” Now Eduardo was nervous.
I jerked my hand away, immediately placing the stopper into the vial. It would appear I’d need to have it tested after all. If Eduardo had learned the components, he couldn’t understand why they were so special. Meanwhile, I had a bad feeling.
“Let me guess, cuz. The first shipment you tried the product on was our container months ago.”
Eduardo would prefer to jump out the window. I could tell by the tic in the corner of his mouth. “Well,cuz… See, I didn’t have any blow on hand at the time and I thought maybe you wouldn’t care.”
Jago sucked in his breath. This time he wrapped his hand around his cousin’s throat, lifting him almost completely off the bed. “You goddamn motherfucker. I’ve told you a thousand times we don’t sell to kids or dealers who do, and we will not jeopardize lives to make a profit. I should kill you right here, right now.”
Now I reached down and turned off the one monitor. The other was already dead.
Just like the fucking idiot was going to be in a few minutes.
“What about Fassi? Did you fucking sell us out to that man?” Jago’s face was red, his anger shifting to a point where he wouldn’t be able to control his actions.
“No. God, no. I don’t know how the asshole found out.”
“But you knew he could possibly show up,” I threw in.
Eduardo was panting, so agitated I was surprised his heart hadn’t stopped. “Okay, I got wind the fucking Alcarez Cartel had partnered with some bigwig from some African country. Hey, I’m not the brightest bulb, but I put two and two together.”
Jago tossed him down. “And you didn’t think about warning us?”
“I kind of did.”
Sighing, I shook my head. “You have a death wish.”
“Look. I didn’t want anything to happen to you. Trust me,” Eduardo insisted.
I shoved the vial into my pocket, retrieving my phone and navigating to my saved photographs. So far, there’d been nothing whispered on the streets about a young American girl, but the day was early. Why not cut to the chase?
I shoved my phone in his face. There was no need to ask a single question. Eduardo recognized Brooke’s picture but did a damn good job of trying to hide it.
“Where the fuck is she, Eduardo, because cousin of the man I work for or not, I will kill you if you either refuse to answer or pretend like you don’t know.” My words were frank and to the point.
