When Villains Rise (Market of Monsters #3) - Rebecca Schaeffer Page 0,34
to throw that aside.”
Gold was quiet for a long moment before she said, “Where do we go from here, then?”
“Nita and I are leaving. You’re free to do whatever you want. I’ve left your phone in the front hall. It’s dead, I’m not sure where your charger is. If you can’t find it, just knock on one of the apartment doors in the building. I’m sure someone will let you borrow theirs.”
Gold blinked at him, long and slow. “You’re really just letting me go?”
“Yes.”
She opened and closed her mouth, her face a picture of confusion. “I don’t understand.”
Kovit sighed. “You don’t have to understand, May. It’s okay. I hope you have a good life.”
He gave her one last smile, took a deep breath, and turned back to Nita. “Okay, let’s go.”
Gold watched them leave with huge eyes as the door closed behind them.
Kovit’s steps were heavy as they crossed the hall to Fabricio’s room. Nita wanted to say something, anything to make him feel better, but she didn’t know what. She didn’t think she could understand the emotions that led him to release a threat, that led him to care about a person who so clearly hated him.
She tried to imagine that their roles were reversed and she’d been betrayed by a friend. But Nita didn’t have any friends except Kovit. She imagined it was her mother who betrayed her instead.
Well, that wasn’t too far from the truth. Her mother was always disrespecting Nita and doing evil shit. And if it was a choice of Nita’s life or her mother’s, Nita would pick her own without question every single time.
In many ways, that was the big difference between Nita and Kovit. Nita would always pick her life over anyone else. And Kovit . . . Kovit would always pick his friends’ lives over his own. More than anything, that convinced her that her mother’s threats about Kovit betraying her were utter bullshit.
She couldn’t find the words to make Kovit feel better, so she put her hand on his shoulder, and he looked at her, eyes soft and sad. Then he smiled gently at her. It was enough.
Nita took a deep breath and opened the door to Fabricio’s room.
Fabricio lay on the floor, unbound and free. His brown hair was still wet from the shower, and it clung to his forehead as he lay on his back and stared up at the fluorescents above him. His hand had been carefully bandaged, so that there was no sign of the horror beneath. He’d taped his broken nose, though he couldn’t hide the swelling or the black circles under his eyes from pooled blood. He turned his head when they came in.
His eyes were tired. “Nita. Kovit.”
Kovit blinked. People didn’t usually acknowledge his presence with a name. Just a fearful expression or a desperate plea for Nita not to let him hurt them, like Kovit was a vicious dog and Nita held the leash.
“Fabricio.” Nita stepped forward. “It’s time to go. We have a flight to Buenos Aires waiting.”
He turned away. “Is there anything I can say to talk you out of this? Anything to make you reconsider trying to rob my father?”
“No.”
He sighed heavily, and began the laborious process of getting to his feet. He winced when he moved too quickly, and Kovit twitched with his pain.
“I thought about what you said, Fabricio, about the carrot and the stick.” Nita gave him a smile.
“And?” he asked.
“And I’m taking it under consideration. But for now, I want to make sure we get to Buenos Aires without problems.”
Fabricio eyed her nervously. “Wait, what—”
Nita darted forward and stuck the needle in his arm. The last vial she’d gotten from Adair yesterday, the drug she’d used on Quispe and the other INHUP agent. She couldn’t take it with her, so she might as well get one last use out of it.
Fabricio stared at her a long moment before his eyes moved down to the needle in his arm. Finally, he whispered softly, “We’re all going to die in Buenos Aires.”
Then he crumpled to the floor.
Nita rolled her eyes. “So dramatic.”
She hoisted him over her shoulder, his head flopping against her back, and the three of them left the apartment behind.
Fifteen
THE AIRPORT was much easier with Fabricio unconscious. They put him in a wheelchair when they arrived. Online check-in meant that they didn’t have to go to the counter, and they went straight through the priority security lane.
When they hit customs, Fabricio was groggily beginning to wake,