Outrageous Fortune-Errant Freight Book One

Chapter 22

On the upside, the stall Jagati had chosen provided an excellent view through the window John and Sameen were now approaching.

On the downside, the stall Jagati had chosen provided an excellent view through the window John and Sameen were now approaching.

Do not trust that wasp, do not trust that wasp, do not TRUST that wasp, she thought, her jaw clenched so tight it ached.

"Viper," she muttered as the pair reached the desk.

"Odd, I was thinking the same thing," a familiar voice told her.

Jagati looked over her shoulder. "Why didn't I hear you come in?" she asked as Tariq stepped out of the shadows.

"Like the fog, I move on little cat feet."

"That sounds like poetry," she said. "I hate poetry."

"Imagine how that distresses me. Ysabel," he murmured, and Jagati's eyes widened in surprise as Cheekbones slid through the stable door, her shock stick in hand.

"Hey," she greeted the other woman. "What's the buzz?"

Cheekbones smiled, a flash of white in the ebony of her face.

"If you please," Tariq jerked his gun to one side, indicating Jagati should move from the window. "And leave the rifle."

She sighed, but did as he asked.

Tariq handed his shooter to Ysabel, who kept it trained on Jagati while he took Jagati's place in time to see Sameen step behind the desk, placing her back to the window.

Jagati looked at Ysabel. "I thought we lost you after the Hokey Pokey. How'd you find us?"

"I didn't. After I left the pleasure palace, I reported to Tariq, and we came here together."

Which made zero sense to Jagati. "Why here?"

"Because," Tariq said, his eyes locked on the library, "this is my house."

Jagati's jaw dropped. "Your house?" She let out a low whistle. "I guess crime really does pay," she said. "But wait, why would Sameen want John to deliver the cargo to your house?"

"Presumably because it is her house as well," Tariq replied, adjusting the rifle's scope before adding, "Sameen is my wife."

"Whoa," Jagati said. "So, your wife hired us to rob you?"

"That is what I originally thought," Tariq responded after a beat. "But given the woman talking to your captain is not my wife, I may have been mistaken."

"And it just got weirder," Jagati observed.

Ysabel took one step forward, but said nothing.

"They seem to be having a dispute," Tariq observed, then he froze, eye glued to the scope.

"What's happening?" Jagati asked.

His response was a single word.

No, not a word.

A name.

"Izaldine."

Jagati's fists clenched. "And who on Fortune is—"

* * *

"Izaldine El Karim," the boy introduced himself to John, then looked at Mary, holding the Cooper-mini. "We are not to have such toys in the house. Mama says so."

"Your mama is very wise," John observed.

"They won't let me see her," Izaldine said with understandable resentment.