“How do you know that, Sephie? I didn’t even know that,” Armando asked, clearly surprised.
“I thought everyone knew that it takes the specific climate of Colombia to grow the plants. You can grow it further south, as well, but the yields aren’t as high and the quality isn’t as good. Colombia is the prime location for growing the plant that makes the drugs,” she said, somewhat flippantly.
Ivan grinned at her, saying in Russian, “they were today years old when they learned that you could run the organization better than they can.”
She laughed, hopping down from the bookshelves and going to him. She sat down in between him and Misha, so she’d be on Ivan’s good side. He put his arm around her shoulders, letting her curl up beside him. He kissed the top of her head. I glanced in Mike’s direction, who had a strange expression on his face. I couldn’t tell if he was shocked or angry or both. I glanced back toward Sephie and caught Misha’s eye, who had also seen Mike’s expression change. Without a word, he reached over and grabbed one of Sephle’s legs and stretched it across his lap, keeping his hand protectively on her leg. “This is definitely going on the wh ite board,” she said in Russian. “This might replace the creative ways to d ie as my favorite wh ite board addition, even.
Of course, we all laughed, forgetting for a moment about the severity of the situation.
Adrik
We continued to talk with Andy, but it was starting to get late. Armando wanted to leave to go check on Giana, who had been alone most of the day, as she still felt intimidated by being in the same room with so many men. We set Andy up in a spare apartment, close to Armando’s guys. Viktor gave strict orders to all the security that Andy was not to leave the building unless he was with one of us, under any circumstances. They had orders to shoot him if he tried.
I was somewhat relieved for it to be just us once again, so we could relax somewhat. Sephie got up from between Ivan and Misha, declaring, “I need a change of scenery. Everyone come upstairs. We’re ordering food.” She had a grin on her face. I think she enjoyed giving us orders once in a while.
Stephen pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Chinese or Thai?”
We all looked at each other, then looked at Stephen as we all said “Thai” at once.
“Done and done,” he said as he walked out of the room to make the order.
Once upstairs, we continued the conversation about what to do. “I’m going to call Trino in the morning, but I want to keep Armando in the dark for now. I don’t think Trino knows Anthony has been talking to the Mexicans. They have a very strained relationship, at best. I don’t like dealing with them at all. This could start a war between the Colombians and the Mexicans if we’re not careful,” I said.
“I think Trine is on your side completely. I think Armando is too, but I don’t trust Mike at the moment, until we figure out what his issue is,” Sephie said. She thought for a moment. “What does asking nicely entail, exactly?”
Andrei chuckled. “We need more details about the building, so we know where to place the charges. And if we can gain access inside or if we have to do it from the outside.”
“What’s the difference?” she asked.
“Inside is a cleaner demolition. Outside makes a bigger boom, basically,” Andrei said.
“Bubba, I had no idea you enjoyed blowing things up this much,” she said, grinning at him.
“Who do you think blew the ho le in the wall of the Syrian prison to ask nicely if Viktor could come out and play?” he said, laughing.
“I did not bet on you, I’ll be honest. You don’t strike me as that turbulent,” she said.
He laughed. “I’m not. But I really enjoyed chemistry class.”
“Ne rd alert!” she said, laughing, causing everyone to join her in yet more laughter.
Right on time.
“So how do you guys get the details of the warehouse that you need to make it go boom?” she asked, clearly curious about this plan.
Viktor exhaled loudly. “That might be the most complicated part. I’m sure they’re going to have the place surrounded and watched constantly. If It’s at the docks, that could work to our advantage or disadvantage, depending on the exact location. If it’s on the water, that could work in our favor.”
Sephie thought for a moment. “Andy said the area was mostly abandoned. What if we make it not abandoned, so there’s a reason for people to be down there?”
We all thought for a moment, nodding in agreement. “That could work. We’d need a lot of people to make it work well, though,”
Viktor said.
“How many dealers are in the city? If Chen was right and most of the dealers aren’t down with selling brawn, I would bet good money they would help. There’s a hierarchy of dealers, apparently, too. Like, I don’t even think the bosses know all the dealers in the city. The dealers have dealers who have their own dealers,” Sephie said.
We were quiet for a moment, all thinking about her idea. It was a good one. Set up a fake warehouse for a few weeks to give people a reason to be there while they collected information on the building.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.