Painkiller, Princess by Chester Gattle

Author:Chester Gattle [Chester Gattle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chester Gattle
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

XIII.

Day Twelve, Monday

Two Dead

Avispón’s squad stepped out of their SUV. The woman, Xiaolian, was counting the days until she could return to Tianjin. Rubén, Oscar, and David were monsters. They hadn’t an iota of conscience, and when paired with their belief that their association with Avispón made them untouchable, they were like Justin Bieber at peak Justin Bieber. David even looked a bit like him with his string-bean figure and pop-music hairstyle. His wispy, neatly trimmed mustache pushed the resemblance more into pedophile territory, though. Maybe early twenties Bieber.

Rubén and Oscar liked to say David’s mustache flair was an attempt to distract from the inadequacy of his manhood.

David argued that even if that were true, it was better than having Rubén’s pockmarked face or Oscar’s misshapen head, both of which could only attract dollar whores.

This sort of exchange was an hourly occurrence that inevitably escalated into swatting and punching until someone cried out, “Fuck!”

But these provocations were nothing compared to when they turned their attention to Xiaolian. Crude jokes and stories about the women they’d killed in Mexico were just the tip of the iceberg. Xiaolian was certain they’d have murdered her already if Avispón hadn’t specifically told them not to. Or at least they would’ve tried. It was one thing to go after unsuspecting women in rural Mexico; it was another to go after her.

She’d kill all three of them before a single hair on her head was put out of place again. So in a way, she thought, Avispón is actually keeping them alive.

At the moment, the clueless heathens were slapping and jostling one another as they headed toward a strip mall for lunch. There were three restaurants: one Chinese, one American, and one Tex-Mex. After giving David a solid thump on his shoulder, Oscar told Xiaolian they’d see her in thirty minutes. She nodded, happy to be alone.

But that was short lived. They all went for the American burger joint, and Xiaolian could only shake her head as she held the door open, stuck now, since if she went elsewhere, ROD would read it as intimidation and the harassment would only intensify.

She’d just have to make sure they didn’t slip anything into her food again.

The restaurant, a narrow space with wood-paneled walls and a tin ceiling, smelled of grease, beef, and bacon as tendrils of steam poured from the semi-exposed kitchen.

The group took an open booth halfway between the entrance and the back door emergency exit, since a local turf war had recently been fought, and they needed to keep their options open. The CJNG had pushed out both the Sinaloa Cartel and the Beltran-Leyva Cartel, but there were still some pockets of holdouts, like over in Commerce City, so ROD and Xiaolian were keeping their eyes open and their escape routes numerous.

Xiaolian counted eleven patrons: three teenagers (private-school bookworms, maybe track and fielders), three men (road construction workers; their trucks are out front), and one family (middle-to-upper class; they have the Porsche). Everyone was shooting sideways glances at her and the men, but these people presented no danger, so she sat and grabbed a menu.

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