[MAX]
I stopped caring about how many enemies I had a long time ago. I say that because I'd like to assume that, at some point, I did actually care about how many people had it out for me. But, honestly? I'm not sure I ever did.
When I'd arrived in Madrid, Tinsley de Loughrey wasn't one of those enemies. At least, not wittingly. And for the moment, I preferred to keep it that way. The longer I went without exposing myself to Tinsley and Breaker, the easier it would be for me to figure out who was manipulating Tinsley.
Granted, that became several different types of complicated once you factored in my decision to stop the results of the gun sale Breaker currently headed, but I've never been the kind of person to do things the easy way.
I may have let the situation slide if Oscar hadn't reached out to me, but he had.
Oscar Portales was the first international contact I ever made in the intelligence world, and because we were both relatively new to the scene at the time, our alliance quickly grew into a bond. Oscar is the older brother I never asked for, and I know he claims me as the younger sister he always thought he had wanted.
Oscar Portales was both the first person to full on berate me for my pride, and the first to respect me as I began to make a name for myself.
He had reached out, and my being in Madrid was serendipity. Since he was like family to me, I took what he said seriously. Which meant that now, instead of leaving with the psych-eval of de Loughrey, I was going to keep American military-grade weaponry out of the hands of terrorists.
The meeting between Breaker and said terrorists took place in an abandoned portion of Madrid's subway system. It was sectioned off, isolated, and dust coated just about everything. In order to not be discovered, Alexei and Harper and I crept into the station through a secret passage which was connected to an underground nightclub.
Harper had clung to the back of Alexei's shirt with a stubborn fist the entire time, and even now with our backs pressed against the wall, eavesdropping on Breaker's conversation with the buyers, she had yet to release her hold on him. She looked paler than normal in the dim lights of the hall we were hiding in, but to her credit she hadn't protested once since we had left Alexei's safe house.
"That is the shipment?" I heard a man with a heavy, raspy Spanish accent ask.
My head was tipped back against the cold concrete, turned slightly toward the break in the hallway which led to the rest of the abandoned station. I could sort of make out shadows against the floor if I squinted, but the shift in lighting between the hall and the station itself made it too difficult to be worth it.
"It is." Breaker's voice was distinct. His words came in a smooth as molasses drawl, colored with an accent that came famously from the deep south of the United States. "The truck and its contents are yours as soon as the payment is complete."
"Sí, sí." The buyer's tone suggested he regarded the act of payment as trivial. "And where is your boss? The Empress, sí?"
Harper lurched forward upon hearing the title, her bright eyes wide. She opened her mouth to begin asking a question, but before any sound could come out Alexei had pushed her back against the wall with a gentle but stern hand. Even though his head was turned away from me I knew he shushed her, and thankfully, she listened.
I knew both the question that died on her tongue and the answer I would've given. And though it had almost exposed us, her excitement was justified.
You see, the Empress was a title that the FBI had been trying to connect to Tinsley for years now. But given how vague it was, and how illusive Tinsley was, it was no wonder they were struggling so mightily to prove it was her. It didn't matter that the Empress was a feared name that was whispered across the black market and smuggling communities; ratting out Tinsley de Loughrey would lead to a fate worse than death. It was better for any criminal to grit their teeth and bear their prison time rather than condemn themselves to such torture, and so far, they had all had enough self-preservation to recognize as much.
